Vidtel Launches Video Calling Service

Vidtel, a Sunnyvale, Calif. company lead by Scott Wharton, CEO and former BroadSoft VP, has launched its videoconferencing service, which today supports video calls between Vidtel users. In addition to video calling, users can also make and receive regular voice calls to anyone in the world with a telephone number.

In 2009, Vidtel will add the capability to call other video users around the world regardless of the service or type of device they use.

That means interoperability with Skype, iChat, Google and video-enabled mobile phones (3G and 4G mobile phones), Wharton says, arguing Vidtel will create the first interconnected video calling network, offering a standard by which all video callers can call each other, regardless of service they are using.

Vidtel uses the Grandstream GXV-3000 video phone, sold separately at a cost of $199.95 plus tax. Two service plans are offered. The "Standard" plan costs $14.95 per month or $99.95 a year. The standard plan offers unlimited video calling within the Vidtel network (Vidtel-to-Vidtel customer) using a regular 10-digit phone number.

Users also can make domestic and international phone calls in addition to video phone calls. Calls within the US, Canada and Puerto Rico are 3.9 cents per minute. Enhanced 911, a dedicated telephone number, call waiting, voicemail, caller ID and call forwarding, plus enhanced features you can’t get anywhere else like video mail.

The "Premium" plan costs $29.95 per month or $249.95 a year. The premium plan includes unlimited video calling plus unlimited telephone calls within the US, Canada and Puerto Rico. Like the Standard plan, the Premium plan includes enhanced 911, dedicated telephone number, call waiting, voicemail, caller ID, call forwarding, and video mail) and simultaneous ring.

Vidtel charges a one-time account activation fee of $19.95 and shipping and handling fee of $19.95. Vidtel monthly service packages are also charged the required federal and state taxes and 911 fees.

The video mail feature allows users to send and receive video messages from friends and family. Video messages can be retrieved on the phone or in email. Video messages can be forwarded to any email address, anywhere in the world.

At present, the service requires getting a new phone number. In 2009 uesrs will be able to transfer an existing number to Vidtel.

Billing is by credit card and users obviously require a broadband Internet connection.

Wharton says target customers include family and friends who live far away. Wharton also thinks some small or medium-sized businesses might use it as an affordable conference calling system.

Mobile Penetration at 90% of 18-Year-Olds

Some three quarters of online youth in North America have a mobile phone today, including more than 90 percent of 18-year-olds, says Charles S. Golvin, Forrester Research analyst. These young people rely heavily on their cell phones for a wide variety of communications and content services, he says.

In fact, they report spending more time texting than on any activity other than face-to-face contact with their friends. Almost one quarter of these young mobile users access the Internet on their phones, as well.

Broadband is Demand--Not Supply--Constrained

Broadband access in the United States now is a demand-constrained "problem," not a supply-constrained issue, for the most part. That is not to deny there remain some homes too expensive to reach economically using wired networks. But it is hard to ignore existing satellite broadband, terrestrial wireless broadband and multiple mobile broadband networks in service, even when a wired connection is not available.

Indeed, a recent study by Connected Nation found that nearly one-half (44 percent) of those with no home broadband connection say "I don’t need broadband." That suggests availability is not the actual problem.

Likewise, the top barrier to computer ownership is also a perceived lack of need. Nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of those who do not own a computer say "I don’t need a computer," Connected Nation finds.

That isn't to say cost is not an issue at all. Nearly one-fourth (24 percent) of those who do not own a computer cite the up-front cost as a barrier. Similarly, nearly one-fourth of those without a home broadband connection say broadband is too expensive.

Four out of ten parents with children who are without a home computer see no need for having a computer in the home. And nearly one-third (30 percent) of parents with children who do not have a home broadband connection see no need for a broadband connection.

More than one-half (56 percent) of people with disabilities who do not own a computer see no need for having a computer in the home. Four out of ten people with disabilities who do not have a home broadband connection see no need for a broadband connection.

Predominantly, even in contexts with reliable supply of broadband, it is consumer demand for broadband that is the tallest barrier to adoption and represents America’s competitive vulnerability, Connected Nation argues.

For example, among residents with children at home but without a computer at home, 41 percent did not see a need for a computer at home and 30 percent did not see a need for a broadband connection.

So which segments are most commonly receptive to broadband and use of computers? Households with children who need Internet access for homework are a high-adopter segment. About 84 percent of households with children own a computer, compared to 74 percent computer ownership among all residents.

And 62 percent of households with children choose to subscribe to broadband services at the home, contrasting with the overall broadband adoption rate of 50 percent. Parents, therefore, generally recognize the importance of what broadband has to offer their children. However, even among these parents with children at home, 13 percent still do not own a computer and 38 percent do not have a broadband home.

According to consumers, the primary barrier to computer ownership and home broadband adoption is not expense or lack of available broadband service, but rather, a perceived lack of need. When asked why they don’t subscribe to broadband or why they don’t own a computer, consumers responded most often with, "I don’t need it."

FCC Free National Wireless Plan Set for Dec. 18 Discussion

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is pushing for action at its December 18 meeting on a plan to offer free, pornography-free wireless Internet service to all Americans, the Wall Street Journal reports. The plan would require the winner of to set aside a quarter of the airwaves for a free Internet service. 

The frequencies are the Advanced Wireless Service-3 block, which the FCC originally hoped would attract bidders to create a nationwide public safety network. The FCC reportedly wants the winner of the AWS-3 auction to devote 25 percent of the bandwidth to free wireless nationwide broadband with a downstream speed of 768 Kbps.

Predictably, carriers and service providers aren't happy about the idea, as readily-available free service would crimp demand for "for-fee" alternatives. But some policy advocates object to the "pornography free" provisions. 

Separately, a coalition of groups is calling for spending on a national broadband program as part of a possible infrastructure investment program Congress has been talking about. Precise details so far are vague, but the 57 member group, "A Call to Action for a National Broadband Strategy," includes Google, AT&T, Verizon, trade associations, labor unions and others.

The stated objective is to provide every American with affordable access to a high-speed broadband connection. Presumably that also means enacting policies to stimulate private investment and consumer adoption of broadband.

Tax incentives, grants and subsidies from the FCC's Universal Service Fund and different approaches to spectrum allocation are examples of possible policies the group suggests are worthy of consideration. 

One might note a growing body of evidence suggesting that demand, not supply, is the issue, for most potential consumers. Notable issues remain in rural areas, of course. 

Mobivox Decides to Work with Service Providers

Mobivox, which has operated as an over-the-top application, is changing its business model. Rather than compete with other over-the-top VoIP providers, Montreal-based Mobivox, which allows people to make free or cheap phone calls, is increasingly interested in partnering with service providers. 

In particular, Mobivox is white-labeling its platform of services, such as voice-enabling calls and an online hosted address book. Jajah, for example, uses Mobivox to provide voice-enabled dialing.  The Jajah Concierge service activates a phone call to anyone in a user's address book.   

Mobivox can provider a number of features for service provider partners in addition to voice-assisted calling. It also can be used to support group communications for social and business users, allowing users to say the name of a predefined group in the

address book or use the voice assistant to add contacts to a live call. 

Mobivox also can enable voice-activated calls to Instant Messaging voice clients from any phone. 

The reverse charging feature can enable receiving calls from anywhere in the world at local termination rates. Call costing and screening tells users who is calling and what it will cost to accept a call.

The voice-to-text feature supports hands-free recording of messages from any device, the messages being transcribed into text for delivery as email or text messages.

The issue here is that Mobivox now is an example of a "VoIP 2.0" firm concluding that its business interests are better aligned with "VoIP 1.0 service provider partners" rather than battling them as a stand-alone entity. Voice is a scale business, and Mobivox seems to have concluded that scale can be gotten a lot faster working with service providers than going it alone. 

Clearwire Might Use LTE

Clearwire CEO Benjamin Wolff says the company would consider using Long Term Evolution, the fourth-generation platform global mobile providers have settled on as their preferred 4G network. Wolff says that if LTE becomes a dominant wireless technology, Clearwire would consider using the technology in addition to WiMax.

The issue is not "if" LTE becomes a dominant technology, but probably only "when." That suggests LTE is in Clearwire's future, one way or the other. That isn't to say Clearwire would abandon WiMAX completely, or that other providers would. Such a move by Clearwire might well relegate WiMAX to "niche" status in the U.S. market, though.

Hawaiian Telcom Declares Bankruptcy

Carlyle Group's $1.65 billion bet on Hawaiian Telecom has gone bust. When the 2004 purchase from Verizon Communications was announced, Carlyle Group executive and former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Bill Kennard called it an "exciting opportunity" that was expected to add many new jobs, according to the Washington Post.

The bankruptcy filing by an incumbent local exchange carrier is extremely rare.

Hawaiian Telcom has about $1 billion in debt and missed $26 million in interest payments last month. It had been trying to work out a debt-restructuring plan with its creditors but apparently was unable to do so.

Of its current $1 billion in debt, about $574.6 million is in bank loans and $500 million is in bonds.

It isn't clear yet whether there will be other similar problems popping up. It might happen that a major proposed private equity buyout fails to occur, though.

Bell Canada Enterprises and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, which is leading a BCE buyout plan along with three U.S.-based private equity firms, are haggling over the deal's $1.2 billion break-up fee, according to a report in the Toronto Globe and Mail.

The acquisition, valued at around $35 billion recently, had been expected to close by Dec. 11, but might now be in question after independent valuation firm KPMG advised that market conditions and other factors would make it unable to render a solvency opinion on the deal.