IN THE CHANNEL
Twickenham Stadium April 1st & 2nd, 2009
www.comms-dealer.com
ANALYSIS
Tim Johnson
How Focus4U
“LLU
did well
in the
quarter”
unifi ed Union
BROADBAND LINES SUFFER Q4 SPIRAL
Point Topic, an industry watcher that tracks
CASE STUDY: The Transport and
broadband numbers and market shares in
the UK, has been adding up the stats for Q4
General Works Union (TGWU) is
2008 and the result falls short of expectations.
the UK’s largest general union
Number crunchers found that the UK added
less than 200,000 new broadband lines during
with over 800,000 members
the period, less than half of the predicted
throughout the UK and Ireland
figure before the recession hit. “The main
loser was BT Wholesale and its resellers
and 80 sites across the region.
who dropped almost 300,000 lines in three
months according to our estimates,” said Tim
Johnson, Chief Analyst at Point Topic. “The
local loop unbundlers, mainly Carphone
Warehouse, Sky, Tiscali and Orange,
did comparatively well in the quarter as T
he Union aims to represent members
of the workforce and improve their
rights and conditions, and a key factor
consumers churned to their low cost bundles.” in achieving its objectives is an efficient
comms system. The TGWU’s legacy system
According to Johnson, the broadband offered insufficient services and was inflexible
market has been growing rapidly in the last and expensive to run and maintain. TGWU
few years and he projects it will continue approached Focus4U to solve its telephony
to add numbers through the recession, issues and help find an alternative solution that
but much more slowly. “In Q3 2008 the matched the organisation’s needs. With over 80
economy shrank by 0.6 per cent and sites throughout the UK, the TGWU was spending
broadband adds were 20 per cent below a substantial amount making site-to-site calls.
pre-recession forecasts, in Q4 a 1.5 per The company was also undergoing continuous
cent reduction in GDP has gone with a 50 changes, such as internal relocations and
Ralph Gilbert
per cent shortfall compared to our pre- resizing and needed a telephony system
recession predictions,” added Johnson. “For which was flexible and easy to transfer. Its auto attendant and hunt groups, meaning
every 0.3 per cent fall in GDP there seems previous phone system was costing money that customer calls will never be lost. The cost
to be a 10 per cent drop in broadband in manpower to engineer and was also saving is substantial. For example, as well as the
adds compared with expectations. By our complex and time consuming to maintain. free site-to-site calls the system saves money
calculations, even if the economy shrinks by reducing the manpower costs involved in
by a further three per cent in 2009 there The TGWU required a more flexible and lower managing the system. The system is also easily
will still be about 900,000 new broadband costing phone system and the Union didn’t scalable and flexible for a company that is
customers by next December. That would want to be stuck with a phone system that expanding, shrinking, or on the move, the
take the UK total to over 18 million.” required ongoing investment. TGWU also needed company only has to pay for what it needs.
an entire upgrade of its old and outdated
On the other hand, claims Johnson, Internet phone systems, and needed a service that Richard Bligh, Marketing Director at Gamma
access as a whole is struggling to increase. offered new and improved features. Focus4U Telecom, commented: “The Communicator is
Broadband has grown mainly because deployed Gamma Telecom’s Communicator treated as one phone system per company
homes and businesses are migrating from telephony system designed for multi-site as opposed to having one phone system
their dial-up connections. “The 200,000 businesses, offering of free site-to-site calls. per site. This is much easier to manage and
broadband gains in Q4 2008 were probably makes the billing much for straightforward
offset by a similar reduction in the number Ralph Gilbert, Managing Director at for the reseller and the end user.”
of people relying on dial-up. This means that Focus4U, commented: “Focus4U has been
the onward march of the Internet has been working with Gamma Telecom for the last Tony Johnson at the TGWU added: “We are
brought to a halt, at least for the moment,” four years. Focus4U currently holds about finding our new phone system much more
commented Johnson. “There are still over 350 licensees of the Communicator phone efficient. The main benefit is that the TGWU
nine million homes and 700,000 businesses system and there is potential for this number has seen some significant cost savings, which
without the benefits of Internet access. If the to increase in the upcoming months.” was the dominant reason for the upgrade in
government is looking for ways of spending the first place. The Union has also seen many
money to stimulate growth, then bringing Free calls also extend to employees who other advantages, such as the extra features
access to no-net homes and businesses work from home, in distributed offices or which we have found useful and now can’t be
would be a good choice.” � international satellite offices. The system also without, and crucially it has offered us a much
gives all staff access to their own voicemail, more flexible service.” �
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40 COMMS DEALER FEBRUARY 2009
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