Cable Cuts Highlight Opportunity

Several recent undersea cable cuts that interfered with Internet connections in India and the Middle East might ultimately focus attention on other ways to get call center and business process outsourcing handled. By some reports 20 to 25 percent of outsourced call centers initially were unable to do any work at all while many had only 50 percent of capacity once restoration work began and traffic was rerouted.

At some point, at least some providers and some customers will conclude that if the price is equivalent, it makes more sense to base call centers and other business process outsourcing operations on shore. The issue is how to operate them more efficiently.

Perhaps there is a role here for IP voice interconnections. Though other costs are less malleable, it ought to be possible to create highly-distributed call overflow mechanisms using "voice over private network" IP connections in ways that allow economical call center operations in lots of rural areas that are more protected from cable cuts.

Will Yahoo Get Another Offer?

Will a Yahoo white knight emerge? Financial blogger Henry Blodget thinks it is possible. Now that Microsoft's bid has put Yahoo into play, there's speculation that Yahoo will try to escape Microsoft's clutches by turning to a private equity firm. Observers recently have doubted that any public company would be able to justify buying Yahoo. Apparently the growing size of private equity deals now makes even a private buyout conceivable. Look for more Yahoo layoffs if that happens.

Yahoo still gets lots of traffic, but is not growing revenue as fast as Google, as this data from 2007 illustrates.

Enterprise Software: Negative 1st Quarter

If you buy enterprise software, you most likely will be spending less, or no more, than you did last year. For what it says is the first time in years, a ChangeWave member survey shows negative growth for enterprise software spending for the first quarter of 2008.

Better than 22 percent of members polled now say their company will spend less for software over the next 90 days compared to the previous 90 days.

For the time being, that will put some discretionary buying plans on hold, while some providers might do better by touting lower upfront cost or lower recurring cost or both. That ought to be good for providers of Web-based software as a service providers.

Does iPhone Hurt BlackBerry?

If Changewave Alliance members are an accurate reflection of broader market trends, sales of Apple iPhones do not hurt sales of Research in Motion BlackBerries, Curves and Pearls. Since January 2007, it appears the percentages of new phone buyers who plan to buy either an iPhone or RIM device have increased fairly steadily, with Apple retaining a slight edge in buying intention.

Of course, things could change once poll respondents actually go to the retail outlet to buy. But the poll suggests that the iPhone is not hurting RIM's handset sales. Instead, sales of smart phones seem to get a boost. Among brands, it most likely it is Motorola devices that are taking a hit.

FLAG Telecom Loses Undersea Cable

As a reminder of how important undersea cable redundancy is, FLAG Telecom has lost a cable of its own in Persian Gulf. FLAG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of India's number two mobile operator Reliance Communications, says its Falcon cable was reported cut at 0559 GMT, 56 kms (35 miles) from Dubai on a segment between the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

Tata Restores Service

Tata Communications (VSNL) has restored a majority of its IP connectivity into the Middle East and North Africa region within 24 hours of the Egypt cable breakdown on Jan. 30, when the SEA-ME-WE 4 and other undersea cables were severed off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt.

These cables serve as the principal Internet connections between the Middle East and westward on to Europe and North America. They also connect the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia.

"VSNL is proud of the team effort that united the company’s network and operations teams across three continents to execute an ambitious recovery plan in 24 hours," says Radwan Mousalli, Tata managing director. "Our cable layout and design allowed us to survive a double cable failure as well as develop enough capacity eastward across the Pacific for the internet to reach North America and Europe."

Indian Company Slashes Voice Rates

India's State-run communications company MTNL has slashed international call rates to one Rupee per minute (about three cents) for its Voice Over Internet Protocol customers to about 100 countries such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Japan, Malaysia and Kuwait.

The call rates to the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong are already stand at one Rupee (3 cents) a minute. For countries to which the calling rates were at Rs 6 (18 cents), 8 (24 cents) and 12 (36 cents) have now been reduced to Rs 4 (12 cents), 6 (18 cents) and Rs 8 (24 cents) per minute respectively.

For countries where call rates were Rs 2 (6 cents) and Rs 3 (9 cents) per minute, the rates have been reduced to one Re (3 cents) per minute.

The issue now is how market forces will work to lower mobile-initiated or terminated calls, as that's where the future lies in India, China and other markets.