Category: Political

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Jump Ship If Your Network Raises The Price

The UK for the past few years has been rife with the argument surrounding rising electricity prices and the cost of living going up. This has even been the main bone of contention that the Labour party use as their angle to ensure the Conservative party don’t come out smelling of roses from any Parliamentary debate. However, rising electricity prices aren’t the only rising cost that is going up year upon year, there’s also the telecoms industry to take into account.

This was the subject of a recent policy change pushed forward by Maria Miller, Culture Secretary. Under the new policy telecoms company will be obligated to inform customers at the start of a contract if the price will increase during their agreed period. Customers will also be able to cancel a contract half the way through if the prices are becoming too much, without fear of incurring a penalty. Ms Miller said:

“This agreement with the telecoms companies will deliver real benefits to consumers and help ensure people are not hit with shock bills.”

As part of the agreement between the Government and various telecoms giants, including BT, Sky, EE, Three and others also states that data roaming charges will be abolished by 2016. This will allow customers to use mobile data without the fear of £8 per MB charges.

The hope for consumers will be that these changes and the freedom being afforded to customers will reduce the likelihood of mid-contract price hikes – as customers will almost certainly jump ship as long as the process is made simple to follow through on.

Article By Darren Kingman

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Mexican Village Launch Telecoms Service

After being forgotten by the biggest telecom companies in the world, including those owned by one of the world’s wealthiest men and Mexican born Carlos Slim, Villa Talea De Castro have launched their own service to reach the outside world.

The village is in the southern state of Oaxaca and is considered an indigenous village with a population of just over 2,500 people. Classed as not profitable enough by the networks, this mountain village had seeked the help of Rhizomatica, civil organisations and universities, who have helped them erect a rooftop antenna, install radio and create the micro telecom service called Red Celular De Talea (RCT).

The micro service has a basic monthly charge of 15 pesos (£0.73p), which is 13 times cheaper than the residents of the countries largest city, Mexico City, pay. They’ve even made it possible to make international calls only a few pennies per minute, allowing residents to call the United States for very little, where a majority of migrants travel to for work and to live.

Rhizomatica who were integral to the creation of the network hope that such a project will break down the barriers preventing other community based projects from working in a similar way. President Enrique Pena Nieto approved the project, with the non-for-profit company hoping it will be the first of many more. A spokesman said “Many indigenous communities have shown interest in participating in this project and we hope that many more can join this scheme”.

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Telecoms is centre-stage in potential EU – China trade war

Karel De GuchtJust like everything in China lately, the telecoms networks are expanding. China Mobile will be selecting winners for the their contract to create a huge next-generation wireless network soon and the EU will shortly afterwards launch an incendiary trade case against them.

The project that China Mobile are embarking on is expected to be worth half of the global investment in telecoms next year. The Commissioner of Trade in the EU, Karel De Gucht, is believed to be willing to drop the case as long as EU companies are allowed to be part of the project.

The telecoms debate has opened up and become the number 1 discussion between the territories after closing the case over Chinese made solar-panels last week. The on-going disputes for trade are now coming thick and fast, causing an air of concern that a trade war could erupt.

Mr De Gucht is keen to see the case through before his term as EU Trade Commissioner is over, and is hopeful that the agreements made last week will “set the tone” for future disputes.

At the moment there are a few European companies, such as Nokia, Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent all keen on being involved in the China Mobile project. However concerns have been raised since De Gucht found solid-evidence that illegal subsidies had changed hands involving some of China’s largest network equipment manufacturers in the past.

The size of the tender is not only vast due to the amount of immediate capital being invested but it is also believed that companies able to tie up relationships now will also have a better chance of winning contracts when the 4G auctions roll out.

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European roaming charges fall

Just in time for the summer holidays, European roaming charges have fallen dramatically, capping them at something resembling a reasonable cost. Roaming charges are what networks charge you for when you are outside of your networks home country. So say for instance your network is O2 in the UK and you travel to Germany, you would have been charged these roaming costs if you had made or received a phone cal, sent a text message or tried to access any mobile data. The costs of doing so were previously uncapped, with some networks across Europe charging £1.70 per minute to make a cross boarder phone call.

The new cap, which was put into place on July 1st sees prices for all European roaming charges set to a much smaller £0.20p per minute. Data has also tumbled from a high of £0.70 per MB to £0.38p or €0.45 if you speak in Euros. These prices are exclusive of VAT.

As we recently mentioned in our blog, Neelie Kroes is the lady behind the cut in roaming charges – intent on creating a cheaper and easier method of European communications. Neelie had this to say upon the success of the recent cap – “This is good for both consumers and companies, because it takes fear out of the market, and it grows the market.”

It also appears that neither Neelie or the EU will stop their cuts there. There are still plans for a single European telecoms market, which would scrap roaming charges altogether. Plans had previously been for this to be implemented in 2015, however it seems that it could be possible by 2014 instead.

Hopefully this will put an end to the unfair and unjustified phone bills that had snuck up on holidaying individuals who’d never have thought watching an episode of Doctor Who on their mobile abroad would cost so much.

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Nigeria finalising $6 billion loan for Telecoms Infrastructure

Nigeria, part of a collection of countries whose population have an increasing need and demand for ICT have seen a rise in the past few years in their adoption of both broadband services and mobile phones subscriptions. Since 2011, mobile subscription have gone from 68.5 percent of the population to 83% in 2013. Similarly, the use of internet services has risen from 29% in 2011 to 36% in 2013. These rises have fueled the countries desire to invest heavily in their telecoms infrastructure, in order to keep pace with the rest of the world and offer the economic opportunities that come with it.

The Nigerian Minister for Communication and Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson has now made it known that they are finalising a loan of $6 billion, which will largely be used to improve the country’s telecoms infrastructure. This means building more base stations, which allows people to connect with the telecoms providers from more locations. It also means that the base stations that are lost to continued bombings and flooding will not affect as many residents as it has in the past – allowing them to connect to another base station instead.

The loan is seen as a much needed instrument in overcoming the barriers that have plagued the growth of the industry and base station development. Mrs Johnson referred to “Delays and operational costs, due to multiple regulation and unstandardised application” as the main protagonists behind the developments, also citing separately that crime and vandalism were to blame.

We’re currently unsure when the loan and the effects of the loan will be seen, but this is surely good news for Nigerian telecoms and those that want to phone Nigeria as well.

Article by Darren Kingman

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Impartiality in telecoms regulation see Estonia referred to Court of Justice

Estonia are set to face the EU Court of Justice after failing to provide evidence that their ties within the countries telecoms and broadcasting sector are separate enough so not to affect their policies. The country were sent a request by the Commission in 2012 asking them to separate their ownership of broadcasting company Levira, who are the countries largest provider of TV and radio as well as providing broadband and telecoms services, from their policies being implemented into the telecoms sector.

There is a fear that the policies being laid down could be designed to create an immediate profit for Levira, whilst also reducing the competitiveness of the industry. The activities of granting frequency authorisation and radio frequency are not allowed to be controlled by a state-owned company, which has now prompted the Court of Justice to become involved.

If found in breach of the Impartiality requirements the Court could demand that the country make immediate changes to the telecoms infrastructure. If they then fail to do so, another infringement case would be opened, taking action to a more costly level.

The real winners of this scenario are likely to be the Estonian consumers. If the market is currently being controlled illegally, then changes will see a more competitive marketplace and likely cheaper prices or improved services from a range of suppliers.

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Article By Darren Kingman

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Business Health Miscellaneous Mobile Phones Networks News Political

Single EU telecoms market by 2015 – No more roaming charges

Roaming charges are the bane of many travellers lives. Most frequent travellers have little choice but to unlock their phones so they can use local SIM cards when travelling, aiming to avoid the often extortionate roaming charges that creep up.

The EU has recognised this and are now vowing to make them a thing of the past. Neelie Kroes, who is the the digital commissioner for the EU and the same age as the recently retired Sir Alex Ferguson, said “I have no intention to retire until I’ve knocked down all the barriers to the single market” even making reference to her age and comparison to the former Manchester United manager. She expanded, “just think it through, a telecoms market without borders, without fragmentation, and that is the major priority for the rest of my mandate.”

The dream certainly does sound good and would solve many headaches of even the simplest cross-border travel. With many companies having a majority sharehold of neighbouring markets, such as Orange and Vodafone, you would think that such a task would be simple – however, we know that roaming charges are big business and something the networks will want to hold on to.

Kroes has criticised the European Governments in the past for slowing down the process of selling spectrum space and causing delays in the implementation of 4G. She has also already made changes to EU roaming charges, placing a cap on the amount of penalty they can incur. Kroes hasn’t yet released information on how the restructuring would work but the vision of networks sharing an infrastructure would open up the possibility of investment in other areas and reduce prices to consumers. With her track record of change, we’re hoping she can make the difference once again.

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