China Telecom Plans to Offer Wireless Service in U.S. in 20129

If you are going to start a new mobile service provider in the U.S. it helps to have a clear niche, and that is what China Telecom Corp. seems to be thinking. China Telecom says it will start selling a wireless service to U.S. consumers under its own brand early next year, seeking to sign up Chinese-Americans, students and tourists who travel often between the two countries.

China’s biggest fixed-line provider will offer users of the service handsets with two lines, one that will work in the United States and another in China, says Donald Tan, president of China Telecom Americas.

China Telecom Plans to Offer Wireless Service in U.S. in 2012

Truphone Becomes a Mobile Service Provider

These days, any company that really wants to become a mobile service provider can do so. Recently Mitel, a provider fo business phone systems and solutions, became a mobile service provider to deliver turnkey communications solutions for its business customers.

Now Truphone has launched "Truphone Local Anywhere," allowing local mobile calling initially in the United States and the United Kingdom, using a subscriber information module (SIM) approach. Addtional markets, including European countries, Australia, Hong Kong and South Africa, will be added in 2010.

Initially, the service will be most valuable for U.K. mobile users who want to call the United States, but the service soon will extended across Europe and other markets U.K. callers may frequently wish to reach.

The new service offers mobile users local rates for voice, data and text services for all countries where Truphone establishes operations, all on a single SIM.

In conjunction with the launch of Truphone Local Anywhere, the company announced it has become a mobile virtual network operator in the United Kingdom.

Truphone Local Anywhere eliminates the need for users to swap SIM cards, juggle multiple mobile devices or use complex dial-back systems in efforts to avoid costly roaming charges.

Google Phone: Will Second Time be the Charm?

Remember Zer01 Mobile, the mobile virtual network enabler, which says it "is the first mobile virtual enabler company to offer true mobile voice over IP services at a carrier level?" I don't mean "remember" as in, "they're gone," but only in the sense that you might not have heard quite so much about them since they switched business plans and became an MVNE rather than a retail provider.

At their original unveiling, some of us thought the most interesting angle about Zer01 was the way it went about providing voice services, at that time not a classic mobile virtual network operator,. but as something else. Up to this point, MVNOs essentially have bought capacity from some underlying carrier and then rebranded and resold those services under their own names.

Zer01 Mobile did something different. It leveraged intercarrier connection rights to essentially roam on other 3G GSM networks. It's the same sort of business arrangements mobile providers create when they want their own subscribers to use other networks where the home network does not actually have infrastructure.

By such mechanisms, Zer01 Mobile essentially was able to create a VoIP offering using the data connection only, with no need to buy wholesale voice minutes.

At the time Zer01 Mobile launched, at least some of us found the approach intriguing, though we were not then, and probably are not now, convinced the company would be first to really make a wild success of the approach.

So that's where a new Google-branded phone might just make sense. Nobody knows now whether Google is, or is not, readying its own branded phone. But one thing is clear: Google posseses the carrier interconnection rights it would need to create such an IP-only phone that relies completely on 3G bandwidth for all services.

So Google might not be frontally competing with any other service providers, or necessarily with any other mobile phone or smartphone providers, in the sense that it could bring to market a "data only" device that relies solely on the data connection to handle all voice functions.

There might be occasional quality issues, for the same reason there might occasionally be quality issues for any data services running on any mobile network that is at peak load. Over time those issues can be resolved.

Ability to prioritize voice packets clearly would help, but it is not clear whether that will be permissible, going forwad, because of possible network neutrality rules. If ever there was a good reason for prioritizing bits, maintaining the quality of voice conversations on an all-data network would be one of the best.

It's all conjecture at this point: the Google phone, the method of providing service and voice prioritization. But there is a possibility that something Zer01 Mobile cleverly devised might succeed in a very-big way if Google were to do anything similar.

Disney Launches Mobile Service in Japan

Disney's new mobile phone service in Japan, based on use of Softbank Corp.'s mobile network, will be Disney's third attempt to define a new content-heavy or otherwise segmented approach to the mobile market.After experimenting with sports content and service for kids, it now is targeting Japanese women in theirDisney's new mobile phone service in Japan, based on use of Softbank Corp.'s mobile network, will be Disney's third attempt to define a new content-heavy or otherwise segmented approach to the mobile market.After experimenting with sports content and service for kids, it now is targeting Japanese women in their 20s and 30s.

The reeason? The company reasons that since females older than 20 represent 75 percent of the 3.5 million subscribers to Disney's myriad Japanese mobile websites, Disney Mobile can use designer handsets and that content interest to drive adoption.

The new service launches with three phones, each programmed to speed access to Disney websites. Users also can personalize their screens and emails with Disney characters.

You have to appreciate Disney's willingness to experiment. It launched two segmented wireless services in the U.S. market, Mobile ESPN, based at male sports nuts, and Mobile Disney, used by children but aimed at worried parents. Neither got traction. Other retail providers arguably should hope the latest attempt will fail as well.

The reason is that if a content brand can carve out a new space for itself in mobile, with a slightly-different business model (driving traffic to content Web sites, supported by advertising or commerce, for example), it attacks the subscription-based traditional model.

Just as important, it would represent a further shift in value towards independent brands in the communications space, much as Apple as emerged as a mobile brand in its own right, and as Google hopes to. Some will argue that Disney has learned nothing from two earlier unsuccessful efforts. Others will say the Japanese market is sufficiently different that it is a reasonable bet.

It's an experiment of the sort IP Multimedia Subsystem is supposed to provide mobile operators: allow rapid new service trials to see what sticks. One has to appreciate Disney's willingness to keep experimenting, despite earlier lack of success.

Traditional prDisney's new mobile phone service in Japan, based on use of Softbank Corp.'s mobile network, will be Disney's third attempt to define a new content-heavy or otherwise segmented approach to the mobile market.After experimenting with sports content and service for kids, it now is targeting Japanese women in their 20s and 30s.

The reeason? The company reasons that since females older than 20 represent 75 percent of the 3.5 million subscribers to Disney's myriad Japanese mobile websites, Disney Mobile can use designer handsets and that content interest to drive adoption.

The new service launches with three phones, each programmed to speed access to Disney websites. Users also can personalize their screens and emails with Disney characters.

You have to appreciate Disney's willingness to experiment. It launched two segmented wireless services in the U.S. market, Mobile ESPN, based at male sports nuts, and Mobile Disney, used by children but aimed at worried parents. Neither got traction. Other retail providers arguably should hope the latest attempt will fail as well.

The reason is that if a content brand can carve out a new space for itself in mobile, with a slightly-different business model (driving traffic to content Web sites, supported by advertising or commerce, for example), it attacks the subscription-based traditional model.

Just as important, it would represent a further shift in value towards independent brands in the communications space, much as Apple as emerged as a mobile brand in its own right, and as Google hopes to. Some will argue that Disney has learned nothing from two earlier unsuccessful efforts. Others will say the Japanese market is sufficiently different that it is a reasonable bet.

It's an experiment of the sort IP Multimedia Subsystem is supposed to provide mobile operators: allow rapid new service trials to see what sticks. One has to appreciate Disney's willingness to keep experimenting, despite earlier lack of success.

Traditional providers will be watching as well, for signs a further shift in value towards "applications," and away from "access," might be possible. On the other hand, naysayers will say the communications business has only so much room for content-centric approaches. At the end of the day, they argue, the quality of services, measured in terms of dropped calls performance, audio quality, access speed and so forth, plus service attributes, are far more important to the typical mobile user than "content" features.

So far, the naysayers have been largely correct. The issue is who, and where, this might not prove to be such an iron-clad rule. Disney hopes to find out.oviders will be watching as well, for signs a further shift in value towards "applications," and away from "access," might be possible. On the other hand, naysayers will say the communications business has only so much room for content-centric approaches. At the end of the day, they argue, the quality of services, measured in terms of dropped calls performance, audio quality, access speed and so forth, plus service attributes, are far more important to the typical mobile user than "content" features.

So far, the naysayers have been largely correct. The issue is who, and where, this might not prove to be such an iron-clad rule. Disney hopes to find out. 20s and 30s.

The reeason? The company reasons that since females older than 20 represent 75 percent of the 3.5 million subscribers to Disney's myriad Japanese mobile websites, Disney Mobile can use designer handsets and that content interest to drive adoption.

The new service launches with three phones, each programmed to speed access to Disney websites. Users also can personalize their screens and emails with Disney characters.

You have to appreciate Disney's willingness to experiment. It launched two segmented wireless services in the U.S. market, Mobile ESPN, based at male sports nuts, and Mobile Disney, used by children but aimed at worried parents. Neither got traction. Other retail providers arguably should hope the latest attempt will fail as well.

The reason is that if a content brand can carve out a new space for itself in mobile, with a slightly-different business model (driving traffic to content Web sites, supported by advertising or commerce, for example), it attacks the subscription-based traditional model.

Just as important, it would represent a further shift in value towards independent brands in the communications space, much as Apple as emerged as a mobile brand in its own right, and as Google hopes to. Some will argue that Disney has learned nothing from two earlier unsuccessful efforts. Others will say the Japanese market is sufficiently different that it is a reasonable bet.

It's an experiment of the sort IP Multimedia Subsystem is supposed to provide mobile operators: allow rapid new service trials to see what sticks. One has to appreciate Disney's willingness to keep experimenting, despite earlier lack of success.

Traditional providers will be watching as well, for signs a further shift in value towards "applications," and away from "access," might be possible. On the other hand, naysayers will say the communications business has only so much room for content-centric approaches. At the end of the day, they argue, the quality of services, measured in terms of dropped calls performance, audio quality, access speed and so forth, plus service attributes, are far more important to the typical mobile user than "content" features.

So far, the naysayers have been largely correct. The issue is who, and where, this might not prove to be such an iron-clad rule. Disney hopes to find out.

Luster Off MVNO in U.S. Market

Ed Mueller, Qwest Communications CEO, now can be counted among executives who believe their mobile virtual network operator ventures have been a bust.

After operating an MVNO using the underlying Sprint network, Qwest now has concluded it simply hasn't worked well enough to keep doing. "We have a hole in wireless and we don't have the assets and we aren't going to invest," he says.

In Qwest's case, at least, an MVNO isn't financially attractive, but also is weak in the market place," Mueller says. One of the issues is access to the latest, greatest phones. "We don't have scale to get the new phones," he says.

"The financials and economics are really difficult," he says. "Only six percent of our customers bought, where the national average is 200 percent."

"Even if we had access to all the new phones, it would still have been difficult," Mueller says. And he also acknowledges a historic reality resellers of basic communications products of all sorts have faced: low margins. "We won't get rich on this, even if we have wireless that works," he says.

So why bother? "As part of a bundle, though, wireless gives us great stickiness," he says. He likes the resale agreement with DirecTV just fine, for many of the same reasons. "We have nine percent penetration of video," Mueller says.

That's about the same penetration as at&t or Verizon get in some of their markets in the first year. But at&t as well as Verizon expect, and get, higher penetration than that after as few as six to nine months. By the end of a year of full marketing, penetration can be in the 13 percent range.

The real money in wireless over a three-year time frame is data, not voice, Mueller says. "Voice will be a ride-along on the data," he adds.

The other thing is Qwest's interest in fixed mobile convergence, especially ways to use mobile handsets inside the home. "FMC is about strong signal inside the home," he says. "So we want a partner with a data network."

Nor does Qwest want to wait for handsets. "We want to be equally advantaged on the product set immediately, not in six months," Mueller says. "Two of the four wireless networks do not have wireline assets and should be a good fit for us. "

In other words, Qwest doesn't want an MVNO agreement, even if it is reselling another provider's network services.

Amp'd Customers Were a Collections Nightmare

Amp'd customers were heavy data consumers. Unfortunately, they also tended not to pay their bills. Amp'd apparently experienced an unprecedented growth of subscribers between November 2006, and February 2007 after running ads on MTV about the wireless phone company's lineup of mobile music and video content.

"Approximately 90 percent of the debtor's customers were on 18-month service contracts," according to Amp'd. By May this year, the number of nonpaying customers reached 80,000. That's nearly half of Amp'd's current customer base of 175,000 subscribers.

The filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, which says the company owes more than $100 million to creditors, including Verizon Wireless. Since Verizon is one of the largest creditors, it might make sense for Verizon to salvage something out of the mess, and acquire the 50 percent of customers who actually do pay their bills, and exhibit behavior Verizon wants to encourage.