NEWS
www.comms-dealer.com
MONEY MATTERS RFL Comms
Philip Carse
in Panasonic
Ofcom urged
partnership
to À x mobile
PANASONIC Network Comm-
September
unications Group has formed
a new partnership with RFL
marked a
Communications, the South West-
pick-up in
based IT and telecoms firm.
John Byron, Panasonic Area
corporate
Sales Manager, said: “The partner-
activity
ship shows Panasonic’s commit-
ment to the IP and applications
0 space. We are recruiting data deal-
BUSINESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUITY NEWS
ers looking to move into the voice
Jacqui Brookes
and convergence market.
September marked a pick-up in corporate activity, “RFL’s IT and networking skills THE FCS has called on Ofcom to Central to the FCS responses is
with several telcos announcing financial results combined with Panasonic’s NCP, conduct a mobile market review the call for fair and open access to
and Redstone securing its future. In recent weeks TDE and Communication Assistant that looks at changes in market networks, which the FCS argues is
Redstone sold its telecoms division to Daisy Group for range offer end users a complete IP structure, and to draw together the essential to drive competition and
£17 million, finally signed the £150 million Birmingham and networked solution.” separate strands of work currently innovation in retail services.
BSF contract, extended its overdraft, downgraded RFL is big in the international under individual consultation. The FCS reports that there
its EBITDA estimate for FY 2008/9, admitted a bid Power Utilities markets, as well as In its recent responses to UK are still problems for mobile new
approach, and then secured £6 million in funding as the Education, Health, SME and Government on Digital Britain and entrants and limitations on net-
well as renegotiating its £2.7 million debt to Eckoh. Local Government sectors. to Ofcom on the mobile market, work access by competing comms
FCS has welcomed the clarification providers and resellers.
The company is, however, paying a high price. The that telecoms – delivered by fixed This amounts to a call to the
two institutions providing the £6 million could end
Uniworld links
or wireless – is a utility. regulator, says Brookes, to construct
up owning 90 per cent of Redstone, and making Furthermore, notes the FCS, a mobile market review now, draw-
a nice return if Redstone can achieve industry
with ShoreTel
implementation of the Digital ing together the parallel reviews of
profitability margins. Existing shareholders might be UNIWORLD has forged a rela- Britain project is to include new aspects of the mobile market into a
lucky to make any return, but at least won’t lose tionship with ShoreTel to sell inte- duties on Ofcom to promote effi- single comprehensive overview.
everything. Redstone shares fell 29 per cent over a grated IP phone systems via the cient investment in infrastructure. Brookes also noted that the
four week period, and 87 per cent over the last year. channel. Matthew Lambert, Sales Jacqui Brookes, FCS CEO, review could assess whether the
& Marketing Director of Uniworld, commented: “With the recent convergence of fixed, mobile and
Other news involving telcos shows continued top commented: “We can now provide announcement of the proposed broadband services leads to a
line pressures but, for some, improving profitability: completely integrated and scalable Orange and T-Mobile merger, the requirement for common consum-
• Adept Telecom (shares up nine per cent) announced
IP phone systems, presenting excel- mobile market landscape enters a er policies for migrations, number
that revenues are running below last year’s
lent opportunities for our chan- new dimension, clearly demon- portability and call price transpar-
£28.6 million, but with EBITDA being maintained
nel partners to win business and strating the limitation of network ency managed by the industry in a
at around £3.5 million we estimate a £1.5 million
improve customer retention.” competition in the UK.” co-regulatory manner.
reduction in Adept’s £10.8 million net debt.
• Maintel’s half year revenues were down by 3.8
per cent to £9.4 million, but EBITDA grew 10.7
Gamma offers pain-free path to
per cent to £1.18 million, aided by improved
gross margins. Maintel also announced a
being a mobile service provider
£0.7 million pa maintenance contract.
• NetServices announced a delay in monitising its
GAMMA Telecom has released commitments, together with no
Cisco accredited Managed Service Channel
BrandBuilder, a service that offers direct customer ownership, and the
partner status, and is likely to report a small
mobile dealers customer ownership situation is difficult. Gamma can
operating loss for the latest half year.
without revenue commitments. offer flexibility and the opportu-
It also offers a cost plus com- nity to be a mobile service provider
Several mobile services companies reported well petitive tariff and a bundle tariff, without the usual associated pain.”
received results. WIN and Zamano (whose shares rose including value added services such Andrew Skipsey, Director at
23 per cent and 26 per cent last month) demonstrated as email and mobile broadband. M12 Solutions, said: “BrandBuilder
progress in transitioning from older premium rate Gamma Telecom said it deliv- gives us complete control over price
mobile content (eg, ringtones) towards richer media ers the full suite of back office and profit. Significantly, it allows
services. While Synchronica announced a seven-times tasks such as handset fulfilment, us to deliver solutions to busi-
increase in revenues from mobile email services. managed billing with the dealers’
Richard Bligh
nesses with lower ARPU without
brand, first line support, end user dealers face many challenges where us incurring any penalties.
Philip Carse is an independent telecoms equity contracts and the network services commissions are being cut and “We see Gamma Telecom’s
research analyst and consultant. He writes an industry including CDRs, portals, SIMs, businesses are often being funded offering initially sitting alongside
blog focusing on UK quoted telecoms companies credit checking and fraud tools. through cashbacks. Add to this the the other networks which gives us
(http://teleq.blogspot.com).
www.teleq.co.uk Richard Bligh, Marketing Dir- inflexible nature of MNOs with flexibility on the type of solutions
n
ector at Gamma, said: “Mobile fixed tariffs and minimum ARPU that we can offer our customers.”
6 COMMS DEALER OCTOBER 2009
www.comms-dealer.com
6 News.indd 1 30/9/09 15:24:23
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56