NEWS
businesses, allowing them to exploit new market opportunities and more efficient operating models. Competition has driven the success of the current generation broadband service and this has been shaped by regulation and the availability of local loop unbundling, allowing CPs to compete using regulated wholesale inputs from BT. The result has been greater choice, innovation, lower prices and high levels of broadband adoption.
COLIN’S BLOG B
roadband is
increasingly central to the success of
Colin Annette
Ofcom’s recent Wholesale Local Access (WLA) review is an attempt to adapt the existing regulatory framework to reflect the emergence of superfast broadband. There has been a lot of talk in the press about the importance of BT having to open up its ducts and poles to competitors, but what I think is more important for our business is that Ofcom agrees with our view that Openreach’s existing fibre service – rather than duct access – will be the main basis for sustainable competition as BT rolls out its fibre broadband network. Something that we believe provides a better and more cost-effective solution for CP customers.
Businesses and service providers are looking to deliver a wider range of content, applications and services over broadband. Superfast broadband will have a key role in addressing these requirements and in turn delivering significant benefits to UK consumers and
businesses. Competition in the provision of superfast broadband services remains in its infancy but what this new regulatory framework gives us is the certainty and confidence to unleash investment, plus the transformation that these investments will enable for our customers.
BT is investing heavily in both fibre and advanced copper broadband (ADSL2+) and so having this level of regulatory certainty, at least for the next four years, is important. Ofcom’s decisions will influence our investment decisions and those of others in the industry and ultimately the scope and capabilities of our networks. A number of ISPs have already announced the launch of their services based on BT Wholesale’s superfast broadband products which use Openreach’s GEA product as a component, and we fully expect the numbers to grow over the next half of the financial year.
We are already
pushing ahead with this transformation process, building on the recent launch of our next generation voice services with a number of newly added features including a pre-pay option for IPX. n
JACK Wooldridge, Relationship Manager from Salisbury-based 4Com, has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of charity. The six day ascent of Africa’s highest mountain in Tanzania has so far raised over £1,000 for the Breast Cancer Campaign. The mountain rises to over 19,000ft above sea level and at the summit temperatures dip to a freezing minus 19. “This was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” commented Wooldridge. “It was the most physically challenging event of my entire life.”
COLIN ANNETTE, DIRECTOR, BT WHOLESALE
Aastra’s new incentive for deskphones
AASTRA is aiming to spur hand- set sales and secure greater market share with a ‘six for five’ incentive on deskphones for the IntelliGate call control manager. The vendor has also introduced reductions on its SIP DECT handset range. The incentive, offered exclu-
sively to existing Aastra partners, runs to the end of 2010. Debbie Hage, Head of UK
Marketing at Aastra, commented: “We want to make it easier for our partners to make sales and offer the best value in a competitive market. “This deal offers the chance to make great savings which our resellers can pass on to their cus- tomers or use as increased margin. “Aastra is driving forward with the aim to substantially increasing its market share in the UK.”
www.comms-dealer.com
Voicenet gets call reporting
VOICENET Solutions has emb- arked on a joint venture with new SaaS provider Akixi, which is head- ed up by the former MD of Swan Solutions Bart Delgado.
Akixi 1000 is a just launched
call reporting service now available through the Voicenet Solutions hosted VoIP offering.
Akixi 1000 and 2000 is a host- ed call management service which is scalable and offers multi-site reporting as standard on a monthly rental basis.
The Akixi service will be licen-
sed through Voicenet Solutions in a joint venture between the two companies. The primary focus will be to offer the call reporting ser- vice to UK businesses of any size through the Voicenet Solutions
Kevin Scott-Cowell
reseller channel as well as to exist- ing customers. Delgado, MD of Akixi, said:
“The market has been crying out for a cost-effective, scalable and hosted call reporting facility.” Kevin Scott-Cowell, CEO at
Voicenet Solutions, added: “Akixi’s stakeholders are major players in the sector and are exactly the types of people Voicenet Solutions wants to be associated with.”
TCA links up with CompTIA
THE Technology Channels Ass- ociation has joined forces with CompTIA, the global IT trade association, to form the CompTIA TCA Community, claimed to be the UK’s largest trade association for IT resellers. Matthew Poyiadgi, European VP of CompTIA, told Comms Dealer magazine: “This marks the start of an exciting period which
will give the channel the single, powerful voice it needs.” Poyiadgi pointed out that as a single unit the CompTIA TCA aims to become the de facto forum for the channel to work together, share best practice, collectively identify challenges and promote closer collaboration between ven- dors, distributors, resellers and ser- vice providers.
Robert French, Chairman of
the TCA, commented: “We have been very impressed by the way CompTIA runs its communities, and we’re delighted our members can now enjoy these services while retaining the benefits they enjoyed as TCA members.”
Got a news story? email:
sgilroy@bpl-business.com
NeoWave to stock system
NEOWAVE is to warehouse its first phone system following an agreement with Aastra. The dis- tributor is to supply Aastra’s 800 soft call control manager which can support up to 200 users. NeoWave’s MD, Justin Blaine, commented: “We have reinvented Neowave in the last six months. The Aastra 800 is our first move into the phone system market, and our reseller partners will be able to offer it as a complete, ready to run telephony solution.” Mark Cooper, New Business
Development Director, Aastra Tele- com (UK), added: “It is our inten- tion to grow UK sales through a strong channel marketing strategy.”
When it’s important to be online all the time, choose Dedicated Internet Access from Kcom. Call 0800 915 5298 or visit
www.kcom.com/channel-partners
22 COMMS DEALER NOVEMBER 2010
www.comms-dealer.com
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