The suppliers selected are: BT, C&W, Capita Business Services, Eircom, Fujitsu, Kcom, Level 3, Logicalis, MDNX, Thales, Updata and Virgin Media.

The new regulations state that mobile users will pay no more than:

• 29 Euro cents per minute to make a call

• 8 Euro cents per minute to receive a call

• 9 Euro cents to send a text message

• 70 Euro cents per MB to download data or browse the Internet

The following should give you an idea of how much data is used by some common activities on the web:

• A 10 minute-long  YouTube video will use about 25MB of data

• The average mp3 song is around 3.5MB depending on the quality and length

• An hour of Internet radio streaming at good quality (128Kbps) will use around 57MB

• An average text-only email is about 75KB

• Uploading high quality photos (12 Megapixels  or more) will be around 5MB per image

This is welcome news for those who have no choice but to use their device whilst travelling abroad for work or pleasure, without access to Wi-Fi access points. We have seen many instances of users receiving shock mobile phone bills, almost always due to using data abroad.

However, these rates are still very high and much more than we would expect on a typically multinational corporate contract.

There are a number of tips to reduce your expenditure on data whilst travelling:

• An obvious one, but try to use Wi-Fi as much as possible. It is not only a much quicker connection but is drastically more cost effective than a 3G connection.

• Speak to your network service provider, advise them on where you are going and ask what options for roaming data bundles they offer. These give you a data allowance for a much lower cost per MB than usage without a bundle.

• There are many ‘data counter’ apps for most smartphone platforms which can help keep a track of how much data you are consuming, most of which are free.

To find out how BBW can help your business reduce its roaming costs, please contact us click here

In 2010 Parliament increased the maximum fine that Ofcom can levy from £50k to £2m.  This fine of £750k shows that Ofcom are very willing to use the powers they now have available.

Ofcom lays down strict standards on the use of diallers to minimise inconvenience to the consumer.  This includes the availability of agents, use of answering machine detection and call back rates.  Clearly failing to conform to these standards and being able to prove they have been met, has serious consequences both financially and in terms of bad publicity.

More information on Ofcom’s ruling is available from http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2012/04/homeserve-fined-750000-for-silent-and-abandoned-calls/

Global Crossing (GC) – The Global Crossing brand has disappeared following their acquisition by Level 3. The two companies complimented each other fairly well and therefore major changes are unlikely. In the UK market, GC has been a provider for many years, whereas Level 3 had a minimal presence.

Telstra – The former Australian based carrier Telstra has reviewed its corporate strategy and as a result changed its target markets. Telstra have sold their mid-market UK customer base to relative newcomer 6 Degrees.

These latest changes follow a number of telecoms consolidations over the past year, for example the purchase of companies by Daisy. A number of BBW customers have had problems with customer service, contracts and billing following past consolidations. We will monitor the latest changes carefully.

Historically, telecommunications services in Latin America have been a challenge. Even though most of the countries speak the same mother tongue, they are worlds apart in culture and how they conduct business.  Traditionally it has been less expensive to run circuits back into the U.S. than to run circuit’s intra-South America.

That being said, Brazil, which speaks Portuguese, has always presented an even greater challenge by imposing 100% -300% import duties, not allowing equipment out of the country once it was brought in, and insisting that a local company be used to install and maintain equipment even if no local company was trained or competent to do so.

Intra-country, telecommunications services were traditionally provided by Telebras, the state-owned monopoly telephone system, while international telecommunications services were provided by Embratel. Telebras was broken up into twelve separate companies in July 1998: three land line companies (Brazil Telecom, Telemar, Telefonica), one long distance company (Embratel, acquired by MCI) and eight mobile telephone companies.  Telmex acquired Embratel in 2003.

BBW looks forward to working on many more projects in their exciting new market in the years ahead.

A more recent development is to make the WAN circuit a multiservice connection, i.e. using the same physical connection for different separate services.  For example, a single WAN supplier connecting Internet and SIP based voice services across the same corporate WAN circuit.  The same physical connection, although obviously separate logical connections.

The emergence of cloud based voice services creates an additional layer.  For example a cloud based contact centre solution, connected to the multiservice WAN, and supporting agents in many different locations.

For examples of how BBW is support clients exploit both UK and multinational WAN’s please contact us.

Potential benefits include:

• Faster swap out of hardware in the event of failure
• Users profiles follow them on any device, including BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)
• Rapid deployment of applications to users
• Improved license management
• Devices last longer as they have less moving parts
• Less time visiting the users for break/fix repair of their hardware
• Could enable homeworking
• Reduced power consumption
• Reduce support overhead

Quite simply, the technology has the ability to reduce costs (hardware, licencing, support overhead), extend reach (to mobile devices such as tablets) and improve service to users.

However, the business case is complex with many different factors.  BBW have the expert knowledge and skills to provide independent advice on both the business case and any subsequent procurement.

Some of the key criticisms of Skype include:

Criticism: Skype is just a consumer tool

Answer: It is surprising how many large corporates use Skype in their day to day operations.  Features such as business accounts and Skype gateways also provide business functionality.

Criticism: The call quality is not good enough for business

Answer: In fact the reality is often the opposite – calls on Skype often have much greater call quality, including depth of sound and clarity, than on a mobile or international voice calls.

Criticism: Unlike Lync (or OCS) it doesn’t have a business interface

Answer: This is true although in BBW’s tests we often find call quality on Skype to be superior to Lync.  That said, Lync includes comprehensive integration with corporate applications.  Microsoft have announced their plan to integrate Skype and Lync.

Criticism: Call quality isn’t guaranteed

Answer: This is true, the calls route across the open Internet and are vulnerable to network problems such as poor quality WiFi in hotels.

Criticism: Skype uses lots of bandwidth

Answer: Skype claim, “If you are signed in to Skype but not making any calls, Skype will use on average 0-4kbps. When you make a call, Skype will use on average between 24-128kbps.”.  For details of bandwidth requirements for video calls can be found at: https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA1417/How-much-bandwidth-does-Skype-need

Criticism: Skype is not secure

Answer:  Skype is peer to peer, i.e. it routes directly between the two callers and not via a central system.  In addition, all Skype calls are encrypted.  Therefore in general it appears to be a reasonably secure service, at least as secure as the public telephone network, which has its own challenges and risks.

To conclude, the Skype service is used extensively in business and is likely to expand substantially once added to Microsoft’s other services.  It certainly isn’t perfect and we wouldn’t suggest Skype as a standard telephony method to communicate with customers but for internal voice and video conferencing use, for little or no cost, it is quite compelling.

Of course, the cost case varies from client to client depending on the tariffs negotiated, usage and amount of roaming.  However we can draw a few general conclusions:

Hardware – In general Blackberry hardware is a lower purchase price, although it is important to compare on a like for like basis.  For example avoiding comparing a mid-range Blackberry with a top of the range iPhone (previous generation iPhones are still available).

Data Use – Due to the numbers of apps, the attractiveness of the interface and the efficiency of data transfer, data usage on the iPhone is often higher.

RIM Network – Blackberrys use the RIM network in addition to the service providers network, creating a monthly cost.  iPhones only use the service providers network.  As a result, in some countries such as the UK, like for like iPhone monthly fees are lower than Blackberry.

Country Specific – The costs vary considerably between countries.  For example, in a recent study completed for a BBW client, iPhones were the lowest cost option in the UK but the highest cost in Spain.

As a result of the above there is no general rule to say that one is more expensive than the other, in reality they are quite close together.  A specific cost case needs to be calculated in each instance.

Major projects include:

• UK Construction Company – Procurement of a WAN.
• UK Legal Firm – Procurement of a large WAN, SIP services and data centre services.
• Multinational Contact Centre – Strategy review and procurement of a large multinational contact centre.
• Housing Association – Review and benchmarking of mobile and fixed line services.
• Multinational Telecoms Procurement – 15-country procurement of fixed and mobile telecoms services.
• Charities – Procurements for two major UK charities.

We are now looking forward to a good second quarter.