Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

Om breaks a story about the death of XOHM, the rebirth of Clearwire and a lot of interesting partners.

Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com

AT&T  and MediaFLO now has announced AT&T Mobile TV with FLO™ service. This powerful new mobile television service will provide around-the-clock access to some of today’s most popular television programs — live and in color on the mobile phone.

To ensure an unmatched mobile television experience for consumers, AT&T is introducing two new exclusive handsets: the Vu from LG Electronics MobileComm U.S.A. Inc. (LG) and the Access from Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung).

3Screens News Summary:

• The service will offer unmatched TV-quality programming from leading news and entertainment brands: CBS Mobile, ESPN Mobile TV, FOX Mobile, NBC 2Go, NBC News 2Go, MTV Networks’ COMEDY CENTRAL, MTV and Nickelodeon, as well as PIX and CNN Mobile Live, which are both AT&T-exclusive channels on MediaFLO USA’s FLO TV™ service.
• PIX, from Sony Pictures Television, offers a variety of contemporary films, including comedies, cult classics, action films and family favorites from the studio’s vast library.
• CNN Mobile Live provides users with access to 24 hours of breaking news with live streaming anchored coverage from CNN.com Live as well as CNN’s most popular programs, including "American Morning," "Lou Dobbs Tonight," "CNN Election Center," "Larry King Live," "Anderson Cooper 360°," and "CNN International."

Below are examples of some of the entertaining TV programs and events that are scheduled to air the week of May 4:

• CBS Mobile: New episodes of "CSI," "CSI:NY" and "How I Met Your Mother"

• CNN Mobile Live: Live breaking news coverage, including real-time results from the Democratic and Republican primaries in North Carolina and Indiana on May 6.

• Comedy Central: New episodes of "The Daily Show with John Stewart" and "The Colbert Report"

• ESPN Mobile TV: Live game coverage as well as ESPN Mobile TV shows such as "ScoreCenter," "ReSET" and more

• FOX Mobile: New episodes of "Bones," "Back to You," and LIVE Big 12 College Baseball

• MTV: New episodes of "The Hills," "Real World: Hollywood" and "The Paper"

• NBC 2Go: LIVE NHL Stanley Cup Playoff and Final games and finale episode of NBC’s "30 Rock" (Thurs., May

• NBC News 2Go: LIVE coverage of the Indiana and North Carolina Democratic Primaries

• Nickelodeon: Episodes of "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "iCarly"

• PIX: "Memento," "In The Line of Fire," "Groundhog Day," "Kung Fu Hustle" and "Resident Evil"

AT&T Mobile TV will launch in 58 markets including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

Costs….

• Monthly access packages for AT&T Mobile TV begin at $15 a month for the Basic package, which includes unlimited access to Mobile TV, as well as access to the exclusive CNCRT channel for a limited time. AT&T also offers a Mobile TV Plus package for $30 a month, which includes unlimited Mobile TV, unlimited mobile Web browsing on MEdia™ Net and unlimited CV mobile video.
• Customers can also subscribe to a limited basic package for $13 a month, which gives them access to four channels: CBS Mobile, FOX Mobile, NBC 2Go and NBC News 2Go.
• Because AT&T Mobile TV operates on MediaFLO USA’s own dedicated multicast network, AT&T customers do not incur data or voice charges. Additionally, programming is subject to change, and sports programming is subject to blackout restrictions.

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

If you want to see why a Fixed Mobile Convergence play is a good thing, just look at T-Mobile here in the USA. Their numbers continue to look good, they keep growing and they continually emphasize how well the fledgling T-Mobile @ Home service is doing.

As a user of it, I’m thrilled with its performance to date. It works perfectly, even with all the different routers and networks running in my house. When I travel, I’m able to connect most of the time over my travel router, as long as the hotel’s networks aren’t all double NAT’d or run in some silly way.

What’s more is there’s no change in how I make calls…anywhere. Since it always is using my USA number I just dial from the contact directory, giving me the feeling that I’m home, no matter how far away I may be.

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

If Vonage wasn’t publicly traded, hadn’t dropped to 2 bucks a share one has to wonder if this would be news.

My take is that Vonage has put their legal woes behind them, knows what they have to pay for technology royalties and may just be on the road to a more measured balance sheet recovery to a point. That said, the cable guys have won the consumer home telephone battle, the telcos are about to win the DSL consumer voice game, leaving the business of business as where the money is.

Unfortunately that’s not Vonage’s sweet spot, so JC can spin all he wants, Vonage is not a player in multiline voice for business and really can’t be without making some key moves.

Source: voipcentral.org

China will very soon surpass US and hold the number one position in the broadband world, the analyst and consulting company Ovum claimed. While, India is far behind in the broadband race in comparison other emerging powers.

The research company says the number of broadband customers in China is increasing steadily recording 79 percent yearly. By the end of 2007, China will have more than 79 million broadband connections. It would touch nearly 130 million by 2010.

As of now, America is leading the broadband world with around 51 million broadband connections. However, China will topple the USA within a year.

Kevin Lee, a senior analyst at Ovum comments on the Chinas progress,

We believe that China’s broadband development will continue to benefit from a booming economy, growing incomes, expanding PC penetration and new applications such as VoIP and IPTV. The Olympics will provide another boost.

The report says IPTV and online gaming are the major factor for the steady growth in Chinas broadband market.

For India, there is nothing to feel good in the report. India is far behind in the broadband race. The countrys new broadband policy targets 20 million broadband subscribers and 40 million internet subscribers by 2010. A recent data shows India had a subscriber base of only 13.1 lakh as of March 2006. It is increasing by one lakh every month.

Read

Source: voipcentral.org

In its IP Telephony report, Point Topic claims that there are about 24 million people pay to access retail VoIP services. It is mainly due to cheap VoIP offerings by the service providers.

The IP Telephony report says the number of retail VoIP subscribers increased by 80 percent to 18.7 million during 2005. Obliviously, the figure does exclude users who make PC to phone calls using Skype.

Highlights of the report

Maximum number of VoIP users is from the Asia-Pacific region, however fastest growth takes place in Europe and the USA.

The number of VoIP subscribers in Europe has increased three times to touch 5.3 million mark last year.

In Europe, France has the highest VoIP adoption. It has now more than 2.8 million paying subscribers.

BTs VoIP package could not get expected number of subscribers last year but is picking up in early 2006.

In USA, VoIP is popular because of the marketing strategy. In terms of Point Topic, VoIP is described in simple terms customers understand such as digital telephone.

Read

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

Last April we reported that usage of IP Telephony is on the rise. The article VOIP IP Telephony: US consumer VOIP usage increases with Vonage leading the way gave the breakup of major companies.
Company………………………………..Market Share….Households
Vonage…………………………………….47.5%…….1,861000
Skype……………………………………..11.8%………463000
AT&T Call Vantage………………………….. 5.6%………218000
Verizon Voice Wing…………………………..5.0%………196000
Google……………………………………..2.5%……….97000
8×8 (Packet8)……………………………….1.7%……….67000
Other VoIP Providers (excluding cable companies) 25.9%…….1,013000
But now there is another research report is out!
The Subscriber rate has jumped 21% to 6.9 million in the second quarter, according to TeleGeography report issued on Wednesday.
Now Cable-TV companies are joining the foray. Even challenging the likes of Vonage and Skype.
Her is a brief summary;
Cable TV companies now account for 60 percent of VoIP subscribers, up from 52 percent in mid-2005. Vonage and other pure-play VoIP providers serve the remaining 40 percent, or about 2.8 million subscribers.
"Even more significantly, (cable companies) accounted for 68 percent of new subscribers added in the second quarter, a sign that (their) aggregate consumer VoIP market share will continue to grow in coming months," the report said.
Vonage still leads the way with 1.8 million subscriber lines. Time Warner Inc.’s cable TV business was second again at nearly 1.6 million. The companies added roughly the same number of accounts, with 243,000 for Vonage and 234,000 for Time Warner.
Cablevision Systems Corp is the third-largest provider, growing by 122,000 subscribers to 987,500, No. 4 Comcast Corp. posted a 73 percent jump in users during the second quarter, finishing with 721,000.
VoIP revenues for the second quarter were up 173 percent at $607 million across the United States, compared with a year-ago level of $221 million.

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

According to a study conducted by Telephia, VoIP penetration as a home phone service solution is slowly gaining traction within U.S. households, reveals Telephia, the leading provider of performance measurement information to the converging communications and mobile industries.Overall penetration for VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) increased to 3.5 percent or nearly 3.9 million households in January 2006, up from 2.9 percent in June 2005. Vonage led the VoIP market, which includes all pure-play VoIP companies and providers who actively promote their VoIP service as Internet telephony. Vonage secured a 47.5 percent market share or nearly 1.9 million households in January 2006, up from a 40 percent share in June 2005.
Read about the released study at Telephia…..
Here is a sample from the study;
Company………………………………..Market Share….Households
Vonage…………………………………….47.5%…….1,861000
Skype……………………………………..11.8%………463000
AT&T Call Vantage………………………….. 5.6%………218000
Verizon Voice Wing…………………………..5.0%………196000
Google……………………………………..2.5%……….97000
8×8 (Packet8)……………………………….1.7%……….67000
Other VoIP Providers (excluding cable companies) 25.9%…….1,013000
Source: Telephia EPCO Survey, January 2006