www.comms-dealer.com
FCS COMMS PROVIDER 09 SPECIAL REPORT
Comms Provider, the annual flagship event
for telephony members of the Federation of
Resellers gain
Communication Services (staged on October 15th),
COMMS DEALER
brought to the fore key issues affecting all players in
Official media sponsor the UK communications market. Adam Oxford reports.
more strength
Regulators highlight key
A FLURRY of recent acquisitions
may have stolen the summer head-
lines, but the reseller market is
industry issues for NGNs
still strong and new start-ups are
appearing all the time, says James
Palmer, MD of Nine Telecom.
IMPROVING and futureproofing the matter is that it needs a more Palmer, whose company
the process of fixed line transfers radical reform.” bought out Club and Shipton
and number portability for next Halliday says that dialogues Communications earlier in the
generation networks is a key con- with Openreach and Ofcom have year, made the comments while
cern for Ofcom and the Office of been promising, but more feedback delivering the keynote speech at
the Telecoms Adjudicator (OTA2). from VoIP providers is required to the Federation of Communication
“What we have in place are ensure the final plans are suitable Services (FCS) annual conference,
rules and processes that were built for the industry as a whole. Comms Provider 09 (CP09).
James Palmer
around the original voice network,” He added: “I need to see a bit The theme for this year’s confer-
explained Programme Director for more from the new world. I need ence and topic of Palmer’s presenta- ket. We still see a lot of high street
the OTA2, David Halliday. to hear more from the VoIP pro- tion was the ‘Rise of the Reseller’. shops, petrol stations, off licences
“Everything that’s come since viders explaining their concerns, so “For all the recent consolidation where we don’t buy on price alone.
then has been an adjunct, and the we can support them in the process activity,” Palmer explained. “We see We buy in these places because its
dialogue has been about accom- groups when the hard commercial a new start up every week at Nine convenient and there’s a quality of
David Halliday
modating changes. The truth of decisions are made.” and Club.” service. That’s where telecoms is
The strength of smaller resell- heading. People will be prepared to
Openreach to build strong reseller trust
ers is being able to interact with pay for the service.
local business communities on a “SMEs like to do business with
pledging, ‘every line is precious to us’
personal level, says Palmer, and firms that are a similar size to
understand their customers in ways themselves.”
INCREASED competition in and consumer states it’s got to the the premises (FTTP), and welcomes which larger organisations can’t. Even if resellers are hoping to
the wholesale market from LLU stage where every line is precious reseller feedback on the issue. “Successful resellers need to be bought out in the near future,
operators has seen Openreach face to us. Resellers are our growth “Our interests are aligned,” focus on the details and the per- Palmer says the basic strategy
‘unprecedented levels of line loss’ opportunity in a market that we’re Chalfen claims. “We want to devel- sonal relationship they have with should be the same.
over the last 12 months, driving the desperate to defend.” op the type of products that resell- their customers, but at the same Palmer added: “If you want to
company to improve its relation- Chalfen said that Openreach is ers need and want, and not just be time appear as professional as BT,” make yourself a target for acquisi-
ship with resellers. working hard to win the trust of forced into providing the type of he explained. “The model exists in tion you need to apply the same
Openreach’s MD for Comm- resellers. She added that Openreach infrastructure level products that retail. Tescos and Sainsbury’s have rules. Get as close to your customer
ercial, Portfolio & Policy, Amy is open to debate about the nature of only two or three organisations will a significant share of the market- as possible and know what they
Chalfen, said: “Across the business future services provided by fibre to be able to offer.” place, but they don’t own the mar- want, even if you can’t sell it.”
BT learns key lessons
Opportunity
from early FTTP pilot
in residential
THERE’S opportunity for growth
BT’s FIBRE to the premises running around in circles trying in the residential area, says James
(FTTP) pilot scheme, which was to figure out how to do battery Palmer of Nine Telecom. According
rolled out at Ebbsfleet last year, has back up.” to Ofcom’s figures, resellers take
provided valuable lessons about the Keeping the service as simple around 36% of fixed line revenue
pitfalls of delivering next genera- and straightforward as traditional for business calls, while BT has
Magnus Kelly
tion access (NGA) for the corpora- services is key to ensuring custom- 60% market share. The remaining
JUST over a year after its initial launch, the UK’s sixth fully
tion, Openreach’s Mark Logan told ers and resellers adopt VoNGA 4% is taken by cable operators.
interoperable mobile network operator, UK01, is up and running
delegates at CP09. (Voice over NGA) in the future, In the residential sales, BT’s
in the London borough of Newham. UK01 is the brainchild of
One key issue, he highlighted, according to Logan. market share is the same, but other
Magnus Kelly, MD of parent company Mundio Mobile. It was
has been maintaining compliance As BT’s 21CN project nears operators, including TalkTalk, only
launched last autumn and began operating on 13th March, and
with General Condition 4 (GC4) fruition, debate is likely to focus on account for 20% of the market.
specialises in international VoIP calls from mobile handsets offering
rates to Asia from 1p/minute. Kelly says he chose to launch in – access to emergency numbers – in whether or not Openreach should “Smaller resellers tend to focus on
Newham because it’s home to a large Pakistani population. Unlike
the event of a power outage. provide the termination box in the business market,” says Palmer.
the big five MNOs, UK01’s coverage isn’t provided by large base
“BT is spending £1.5bn on customers’ premises to ensure con- “But I see residential as a big
stations and mast towers, but by a mesh network of 250 low
next generation rollout,” Logan tinuity of service, or take a wires- growth sector. There’s opportunity
power transceivers mounted on local buildings. Customers are
explained. “And one of our big dis- only approach which risks creat- to develop niche products, and
paid up to £30 a month to supply sites for the equipment. Kelly
cussions is about AA batteries. We ing problems for compatibility and customers aren’t making decisions
admits that the process has been difficult, but says: “I’m happy
to help anyone who wants to try and get into this space.” have got our two topmost vendors number portability. based purely on price.”
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