BuddeBlog

Since the release of the 2001/2002 Edition of Telsyte’s Industry Profile: Australian DSL Services report, Telsyte conducted a second level DSL tariff analysis in order to provide further insight into the various ADSL service plans available in the Australian market.

Using ABSD statistics – Internet Activity, Australia (June Quarter 2001) released in September 2001, that detail download patterns for residential subscribers and business/government subscribers it was found that most DSL providers target business clients using services and tariffs designed for residential users.

In fact, for a business that uses the Internet to move large number of content – eg graphics, presentations, even video or video conferencing – the monthly bill could well be in excess of the published tariff, thus causing a shock to the unsuspecting business client.

Telsyte’s research shows that 85.7% of DSL service providers described that market as their sole target or one of their few target markets. However, most of these providers offer asymmetrical services, even though most experts in the telecoms industry maintain that ADSL is a flavour that is more suitable for the residential sector. Residential users tend to download more information than they upload. SHDSL or other symmetrical services are more suitable for business and government since users in that sector tend to download and upload a similar amount of data.

Telsyte’s tariff analysis suggests that Australian DSL service providers still need to develop and offer a product that is truly designed for business and government. The service must be reasonably costed, have no hidden usage charges and have high levels of availability, backed by a strong SLA.

Very few symmetrical tariff plans were available for analysis and it was unclear as to whether the low take up of Symmetrical DSL was due to pricing or to lack of marketing. Current pricing strategies, at both retail and wholesale levels, serve to make DSL a more expensive technology than it has to be. This is seen as hampering the widespread adoption of this broadband technology in the business sector and in Australia.

Some of Telsyte’s research is also available from our Website: Telsyte

Bluetooth is a short-range radio interface designed to provide wireless connection between communication and other electronic devices. It is expected to be particularly useful in close-range applications including mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptops and the like. Bluetooth is supported by 1,200 organisations, including 3Com, Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Lucent, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia and Toshiba.

Pyramid Research in August 2001 forecast €2.26 billion in revenues from Bluetooth by 2006, by which time some 175 million Western Europeans are expected to pay for Bluetooth access.

Another short-range wireless technology making inroads in the Western European markets is the wireless local area network (WLAN). A WLAN is a flexible data communication network used as an extension to, or an alternative for, a wired LAN in a building. WLANs are useful when employees are on the move, in temporary locations or where cabling may hinder the installation of wired LANs.

Some commentators thought that Bluetooth and WLAN would compete, but Forrester Research released in October 2001 reports the two technologies to be complementary because they involve different devices and different transfer speeds. Bluetooth is expected to outnumber WLAN 10 to 1, totalling 235 million Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones, PDAs, and laptops. WLAN-enabled devices will number just 22 million.

The greater reach, bandwidth and support for fixed LAN interaction means WLAN will be deployed in hotels, airports, railway centres and public Internet access locations. Forrester predicts WLAN to be in 20% of laptop computers in 2002 and up to 72% by 2006.

Communication between small personal devices like mobile phones and PDAs will be the domain of Bluetooth however. By 2006 Forrester expects the technology to be in 73% of mobile phones and 44% of PDAs. In 2002 Bluetooth is expected to be included in new mobile phone handsets and greatly increase its installed base across Europe.

This article is extracted from the Web report Europe – Wireless Communications Market, Regulatory and Technology Overview.

See also Global – Wireless – Paging, Telemetry, Bluetooth, PMR for more information about Bluetooth. And for an introduction to WLAN, see Technology – Wireless – An Overview.

WorldCom has emerged as the largest international long-distance carrier in the world, according to a report from research firm TeleGeography (www.telegeography.com). WorldCom’s rise marks AT&T’s fall: In 2000, for the first time since competition was permitted in the US, AT&T lost its hold on the top spot.

From the US, WorldCom carried 12.4 billion minutes of international telephone calls in 2000, well over runner-up AT&T’s 9.7 billion minutes. WorldCom’s wholly-owned overseas operations carried a further 4.4 billion minutes, giving it the number one global carrier ranking with a total of 16.8 billion minutes. The multinational operations of Concert, the dissolving global venture of AT&T and British incumbent BT, came in second for 2000 with a total of 14.3 billion minutes.

Around the world, former monopoly telephone companies have been losing ground to new competitors. TeleGeography found that over 31% of the world’s international phone calls last year were carried by new companies founded in the 1990s. Four years before, new competitors carried less than 10% of global voice traffic.

Worldwide, international call volumes reached 132.7 billion minutes in 2000, on higher than normal annual growth of 21%. Growth was particularly strong in the highly competitive markets of North America and Western Europe, most of which posted annual gains of more than 20%.

Total revenues from international telephone calls increased by approximately 5% in 2000, to over $70 billion. It remains a huge the industry and revenues are continuing to grow.

Carrier outgoing traffic by origin country (millions of minutes) – 1999-2000

Rank Company Country 2000 1999 Change

1 WorldCom US 12,399.5 8,294.9 49.5%

2 AT&T US 9,680.1 10,816.5 -10.5%

3 BT UK 4,559.3 4,029.1 13.2%

4 Deutsche Telecom Germany 4,525.0 4,385.0 3.2%

5 France Telecom France 4,393.0 4,390.0 0.1%

6 Sprint US 3,922.8 3,714.4 5.6%

7 C&W Com UK 3,487.6 2,528.9 37.9%

8 Tel. Italia Italy 2,706.0 2,390.0 13.2%

9 China Telecom China 2,050.0 1,950.0 5.1%

9 Swisscom Switzerland 2,050.0 2,259.0 -9.3%

Note: Traffic figures are for public switched telephone network (PSTN) circuits and International Simple Resale only (service resale is excluded). Carrier rankings based on originating country minutes only.

(Source: TeleGeography)

The idea of adding a new second level domain (2LD) has been raised again with a proposal put to InternetNZ in October 2001 for the creation of a .maori.nz level. The main difference between the latest proposal and the last one is that it will be an unmoderated level. Moderated levels require someone’s permission before a Website is allowed to use the 2LD, whereas an unmoderated one would allow anyone to sign up for a .maori.nz site. The process can take up to eight months.

See Web report: New Zealand – Internet Market

ANZ announced the introduction of its multi-application chip credit card system, the first credit card system in Australia supported by chip-enabled merchant terminals.

As part of an A$50 million investment in new chip technology, ANZ commenced:
Upgrading one million ANZ-branded credit cards to chip technology, starting with ANZ First and ANZ Gold Visa credit cards. ANZ chip cards will initially feature a secure online shopping guarantee using Verified by Visa, electronic vouchers and an electronic sweepstakes offer.
Replacing 80,000 merchant credit card terminals in Australia and New Zealand with new chip-enabled MultiPOS terminals. 15,000 terminals will be replaced by mid-December 2001.