Curated Links

• Carriers

  Video streaming service gives Korea's KT new way to charge for data
  South Korean telco launches interoperable mobile video-sharing service based on technology from Syniverse; vendor in talks with other potential operator partners. South Korean operator KT has rolled out a new mobile video broadcast service that enables users to share video, regardless of the device they are using or the connection type. But more than that, it also provides KT with a different way to charge for mobile data usage, according to Syniverse, which supplied the interoperability technology that powers the service. In addition to meeting consumer demand to be able to share video easily, “they are also using this as a way to change their business model,” said Tony Holcombe, president and CEO of Syniverse at Mobile World Congress this week. It enables KT to charge for the data as a value-added service, Holcombe explained. He did not have details of KT's pricing, but said the operator is billing for the data used, rather than offering the solution as a subscription service. “I'm curious to see if this takes hold,” Holcombe said.
  
  Visit Site

  T-Mobile USA offloads 5M Wi-Fi callers
  T-Mobile USA said 5 million of its 34 million subscribers route some of their cellular calls over a Wi-Fi network, and that around 1.25 million of those subscribers use the carrier's new Wi-Fi Calling Android application. Further, the carrier said its subscribers place around 40 million calls per month over Wi-Fi--a significant figure considering the world's wireless carriers continue to seek ways to reduce traffic on their wide-area cellular networks. T-Mobile in 2007 debuted its Hotspot@Home Wi-Fi calling service, which relied on technology from partner Kineto Wireless. The effort was intended to replace users' landline phones. Handsets supporting the service included select Nokia(NYSE:NOK) and Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerry gadgets. In the intervening years, however, T-Mobile adjusted the program from a landline replacement play into an offload and coverage enhancement technique. Late last year, the carrier introduced its Wi-Fi Calling application for Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android phones from Kineto, which allows Android phone users to route their calls and text messages through a Wi-Fi connection.
  Visit Site

  Telefonica's O2 to Add More Application-Store Billing in Payments Push
  Telefonica SA’s German unit will begin managing applications-store payments for two additional mobile-operating systems this year as telecommunications operators look for a greater role in delivering mobile services. O2 Germany will announce agreements in 2011 to provide billing for apps for two “major” technology providers, Chief Executive Officer Rene Schuster said today in an interview at the Digital-Life-Design conference in Munich, declining to name the partners. O2, the fourth-largest German telecommunications operator, said this month that it would begin letting customers pay for apps for Samsung Corp.’s Bada technology on their phone bills, rather than by entering credit-card information at the time of purchase. Phone companies are increasingly looking to payment services to avoid being shut out of mobile transactions such as downloads from Apple Inc.’s iTunes App Store. Vodafone Group Plc CEO Vittorio Colao said last year that his company, the world’s largest mobile operator, would offer third-party billing for service providers, taking advantage of the bank details already held in Vodafone’s payment system. “Payments are a huge opportunity for mobile operators, and we have more projects in the pipeline,” Schuster said today. So-called near-field communication, which allows mobile users to pay for physical transactions such as supermarket purchases by waving their devices across a reader, will extend their reach, Schuster said.
  Visit Site

  Service Providers Transform Prepaid Strategies to Meet Diverse Customer Needs
  Three-quarters (73%) of mobile networks plan to expand their prepaid offerings to include services that are traditionally offered only to postpaid customers, according to a survey commissioned by Amdocs. The research, conducted by Ovum, also found that nearly half of the service providers polled said they needed to make moderate to large changes to their business and operational support systems (B/OSS) in order to answer the technical challenges involved in expanding prepaid services. "Greater availability of high-end devices such as smartphones, along with services like messaging, mobile broadband and applications, are increasing customer expectations from prepaid wireless services," said Sara Kaufman, analyst at Ovum. "Prepaid wireless services are becoming even more prevalent around the world. Ovum forecasts prepaid will grow from 75 percent of total connections worldwide in 2010 to 77 percent by 2015. Service providers understand that the prepaid wireless strategies they adopt today will have a major impact on future profitability." Research reveals a fundamental shift in service provider strategies for prepaid wireless: Move to offer prepaid customers services and devices traditionally available only to postpaid customers: 73 percent of respondents would like to expand prepaid offerings or have already begun doing so. Main services added will include mobile data and content services, such as application downloads, mobile broadband and messaging. 47 percent of respondents already offer high-demand consumer devices, such as smartphones and other mobile broadband devices, to prepaid customers.
  Visit Site

  T-Mobile UK backs down on smartphone data cap
  T-Mobile today was forced into a humiliating climbdown as it reversed its plans to cut data allowances for all its users from a maximum of 3GB to 500MB a month. But it warned that the revised plans would apply to any new customers and those upgrading their phones, though not to existing customers. The reverse came after protests, threats of legal and regulatory action and a day of dithering by the company, which had initially put out the statement announcing the unilateral change in a posting on its company website on Monday. But late on Wednesday the vice-president of T-Mobile UK, Lysa Hardy, said: "On Monday 10 January 2011 we announced that, in line with the rest of the industry, T-Mobile would be reducing its fair use policy (FUP) for data usage to 500MB a month for all mobile phone customers.
  Visit Site

  Past Carriers Links...