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NGMN Alliance and TM Forum sign co-operation agreement on managing future mobile networks

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The Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance and the TM Forum today announced that they have signed a co-operation agreement to work together on optimized management systems and operations of the next generation of mobile networks.

The introduction of the next generation, simplified all-IP network infrastructures requires matching advances in the operational processes and systems that create, deliver and monetize the services that run over these networks. The co-operation between the two organizations will facilitate the delivery of solutions that directly address the operator needs in managing these networks.

The NGMN Alliance is an initiative of a group of leading mobile operators, technology vendors and research institutes. This initiative complements and supports the work within standardization bodies by providing a coherent view of what the operator community is going to require in the decade beyond 2010.

The TM Forum is well positioned to address the requirements for managing end-to-end all-IP networks. The global industry association already has significant experience in addressing both business and technology challenges for operators, having developed a mature set of best practices and standards which are widely adopted across the industry. TM Forum Frameworx, which includes the Information Framework(SID), Business Process Framework (eTOM), Application Framework(TAM) and software interfaces, will be considered the foundation for meeting the operators’ needs.

NGMN and the TM Forum agreed to work together on Operational Efficiency enhancements for next generation multi-technology networks in a joint project. The project aims to: Define deliverables and timelines within TM Forum to support the NGMN Operations Requirements for next generation mobile networks; Address the wireless-wireline convergence aspects of the operational requirements; Under the umbrella of NGMN, achieve collaboration with other standards forums, e.g. 3GPP, in the area of  NGMN Operations Requirements for next generation multi-technology networks

“Self-optimising capabilities and standardized O&M systems are essential for the successful operations of next generation mobile networks,” said Dr. Peter Meissner, Operating Officer of the NGMN Alliance. “We will work together with TM Forum to ensure broad, industry-wide support and adoption of NGMN’s requirements and use-cases in those areas for the benefit of the whole industry.”

“With widespread broadband service all the way to the handset as next generation mobile networks will provide, scalability and customer satisfaction will be the keys to monetization of the network,” said Keith Willetts, Chairman of the TM Forum.  “Working with the NGMN Alliance will provide us with an invaluable set of requirements firsthand so that the standards that will enable cost effective and flexible operating environment are ready for the market, when the market needs them.”

Industry gets next gen voice quality standard

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After a four year process led by ITU-T, three companies have pooled their resources to create a new standard to address next generation voice quality.

 

Opticom, SwissQual and TNO have combined to create the test standard, POLQA – which stands for “Perceptual Objective Listening Quality Analysis”. The standard updates the current standard, PESQ/P.862.
The POLQA coalition is the outcome of a competitive standardisation process run by the ITU- T. An expert group within ITU-T spent more than four years evaluating various candidate algorithms to find a suitable successor to older standards. The joint solution is expected to be standardised and made available commercially in an aligned release process during September 2010.
The three partners involved claim that POLQA will offer immediate, strong support for testing of new wideband 4G/LTE networks delivering HD-quality voice services. Tests carried out during the POLQA evaluation also included future technologies such as Unified Communications, Next Gen Networks and 4G/LTE, which might support HD Voice, i.e. “wide-band” and “super-wide-band” telephone calls of 7kHz and 14kHz frequency range. 

TNO’s Senior Researcher Dr. John Beerends, who introduced the first perceptual speech quality metrics to the ITU-T in 1996 and was co-author of the PESQ standard stated: “We received a clear message from the telecoms industry, demanding a uniform successor of the PESQ standard, and I’m delighted that the rigorous testing that has gone into this evaluation shows clearly that the jointly-developed POLQA solution will be superior to existing and alternative approaches.”After a four year process within ITU-T, the standards sector of the ITU, three companies have merged their technology to create a single voice quality standard for next generation voice – including HD Voice, 3G and 4G/LTE.
“Over the last ten years test and measurement vendors have widely adopted ITU-T Recommendation P.862/PESQ and there are now more than 20.000 installations worldwide,” explains Michael Keyhl, Founder and CEO of OPTICOM. “However, recently developed speech codecs for 3G and 4G, and new techniques for delivering an enhanced voice quality experience have generated strong demand for an update to this industry standard. POLQA is the answer the industry has been looking for.”

Mobile ticketing to drive m-commerce growth

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Transactions from the usage of mobile devices for ticketing will double by as soon as 2012, according to a study from Juniper Research. Juniper forecast that mobile ticketing transactions will exceed $100bn (based on gross transaction value) as soon as 2012: this is more than double the market in 2010.

Although ticketing will lead the way, the mobile commerce report also establishes that the rapid adoption of mobile devices for commerce related applications is by no means limited to ticketing. All segments — money transfers, banking, payments and coupons — are forecast to see significant growth rates.
Report author Howard Wilcox said, “Our report demonstrates the spectacular growth that we forecast across all the segments of mobile commerce. Four of these segments (Ticketing, Money Transfers, Physical Goods and NFC) will more than double in transaction value over the next two years, whilst Digital Goods, Banking and Coupons will still post very healthy growth of 30% to 50% over the two years.”
The Juniper report, however, stressed that commerce providers need to keep users top of mind when developing their applications. If the initial user experience is poor for mobile payment methods — either based on cost, security, reliability or ease of use — then customers will reject them.
Further findings include:
•    Mobile banking is becoming a must-have channel for banks;
•    The mobile coupons market will approach $6bn by 2014;
•    Mobile payments for physical goods will treble within three years as sites such as eBay Mobile and Amazon Mobile are used increasingly.
The new Juniper report features segment level assessments of mobile payments for digital and physical goods, NFC, mobile money transfer and remittances, mobile ticketing, mobile coupons, smart posters and mobile banking. The study pinpoints the key market drivers and constraints and sizes all seven mobile commerce market segments through global five year forecasts of gross transaction values.

 

3 UK launches £100 Android phone and makes network pledge

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3 UK launches £100 Android phone and makes network pledge

“Entire strategy” rests on the network

Three UK and ZTE have jointly launched the Racer, an Android-based handset that will be available to pre-pay customers for £100.
The device will be marketed as an entry level mass market mobile internet device, but also one that offers the Android experience – including the Marketplace and Google apps and services.

David Kerrigan, Head of Internet Services at 3 UK, said, “We want to bring the 3G mobile internet experience to as many customers as we can. Pricing has been a barrier to that, by bringing the price down to £100 then that is the next step to the mass market.”
For 3, having an Android based handset at this level means that he can run services in a unified way across as many handsets as possible. The operator has to date targeted this segment with the Inq phones, which up to now have been based on Brew. O2 launched the HTC Smart earlier this year – a phone that was also based on Brew but also carried HTC’s Sense UI.
So how mass market is mass market? Well, ZTE’s Director of Mobile Device Operations, Wu Sa, told Mobile Europe that the handset vendor expects to ship “tens of thousands” of the devices this year.
So will 3 have the network in place to support the mass mobile internet market?
Those who follow these things will be interested in a couple of remarks from Kerrigan at the event. The first is that 3 bases its “entire strategy” on having the best 3G network in the UK. The operator plans to increase its number of sites from 11,570 to 15,949 by 201, he said. 3’s focus on its network has led to it having a live tracker on its intranet, telling employees whenever a new site comes on line.
“We’re all supposed to be able to talk knowledgably about the network,” he said, “even though I’m from sales and marketing,” he added.

 

From launch to closure to open source in a few short months

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Vodafone makes Wayfinder code open source

Back in September 2009 we reported this. How full of bright intentions Vodafone was back in those heady autumn days.

 

Then in March Vodafone said it was shutting Wayfinder, for which it paid €24 million, down. The move followed the launch of free navigation from Ovi Maps and Google onto handsets.

Today, the operator said it was making the Wayfinder code open source to developers.

Remember, Google and Nokia are the operators’ friends, right?

Today’s press release from Vodafone

Vodafone will make its location based services software open source on http://oss.wayfinder.com. The code will be made available on github. The aim is to offer other organisations the opportunity to use a code base which has been developed over the past decade so that they can build new and innovative navigation products which widen choice for consumers.

“Given our decision to stop developing turn by turn location based services as part of our core business, it seemed an obvious choice to make the code we own open source” said Pieter Knook, Director of Internet Services at Vodafone Group. “We look forward to seeing its continued use in all sorts of different applications in the future.”

In addition to making the software open source and in recognition of the specific needs of the blind and partially sighted community Wayfinder Systems will offer all Wayfinder Access subscribers a fixed refund on their existing service. Full details of this will be made available in September on the Vodafone.com website.

Product developers are supportive of the decision. “At Code Factory we welcome this Vodafone initiative and we are willing to add new products to our accessible navigation software product line. Mobile Geo, our GPS solution for Windows Mobile has become a world reference among the blind community and we are now ready to start new GPS projects”, explained Eduard Sanchez, Code Factory’s CEO.

VoLGA Forum adds new capabilities to voice over LTE specifications

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The VoLGA Forum today released an updated set of specifications for delivering mobile voice and SMS services over LTE. The latest release is said to add key new features and capabilities to facilitate rapid deployment, including: the use of VoLGA over HSPA; support for SIM-less emergency calling; optimised voice-bearer routing; and host APIs for HSPAhandsets.

“We are pleased to see that the VoLGA Forum has continued to add valuable new capabilities to the specifications,” said Karl-Heinz Nenner, chairman of the VoLGA Forum. “Voice continues to be a critical service for next-generation mobile networks.  The additional features make VoLGA a very complete solution.”

The VoLGA Forum has 19 member companies, including Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Deutsche Telekom, Ditech Networks, GENBAND, HTC, Huawei, Kineto Wireless, LG Electronics, Mavenir, Motorola, Samsung, Sonus, SPA, Tecore Networks, Ulticom, Vitendo, WiChorus and ZTE.

Shazam Encore launches on Android

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Shazam, the mobile music discovery provider, today announced two new versions of its application on the Android platform, providing users with more choice through a free and premium service. Also provided are additional features, including song lyrics, tour information and YouTube videos for tagged artists.

“Music discovery is, and always will be, at the heart of Shazam. Consumers want to find as much information about a song or artist as possible and they want it fast,” said Andrew Fisher, CEO of Shazam. “Whether they now opt for our freemium or paid-for service, that is exactly what our Android customers can rely on from us – a fast and easy way to discover, buy and share music in more ways than ever before.”

For the first time, Shazam’s premium app – Shazam Encore – will be available to download on Android Market. Available at $4.99, €3.99 and £2.99, Shazam Encore  offers unlimited tagging and also unlimited Recommendations – enhancing a user’s music collection by introducing them to other music similar to the track that’s been tagged. Shazam users in the US can also directly access Pandora through Shazam Encore to listen to a station from their Tags.

From today, Android users opting to download the Shazam free version will receive a seven day premium trial, followed by the option to upgrade to Shazam Encore or have five tags a month thereafter.

Local chart information to discover popular artists in specific regions will be available in both versions of the Shazam app.  All users will also have access to the Shazam blog and receive tag result editorial including lyrics, artist biography, discography and track reviews.

Shazamers that like to share their music moments with their friends can post their tag result through Facebook, Twitter, SMS and email. They can also browse videos and find out when their favourite artist is playing a gig nearby.

Fisher continues: “As the market leader in mobile music recognition we are continuously innovating and improving the experience for our customers. Our latest offering on Android Market is testament to our commitment to bring the most compelling applications to market and provide our customers with a unique music journey”

Shazam applications are live in all Android Market territories across the world; specifically Encore is available in the 13 countries where Android Market supports billing. Shazam also supports a variety of local language versions including English (UK), French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Polish, Czech, Japanese, Russian, Portuguese and Chinese (Traditional). Shazam and Shazam Encore are available directly from the Android Market store.

Flirtomatic raises $9m in Series C funding

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Flirtomatic, the global ‘flirting’ company, today announced that it has raised $9 million in Series C funding from Nauta Capital and existing investors Doughty Hanson, Seraphim Capital and Chairman Avi Azulai.

Flirtomatic says it will use the new funds to further its growth across Europe and the US, expanding its co-marketing efforts with partners that include: AT&T, MetroPCS, Virgin Mobile, T-Mobile and the recent distribution deal with a multi-national operator, launching Flirtomatic across an initial eight countries, under a single payment and billing system.

This year, Flirtomatic, which has more than 2.5 million users in the US and UK, also launched its iPhone, iPod Touch and Android apps and this summer is making its service available via a Blackberry application and on Nokia’s Ovi Store.

“Flirtomatic’s success is built upon ground-breaking monetisation techniques, coupled with a multi-channel distribution strategy. This new investment will allow us to accelerate development in international markets, to continue to drive innovation and build on our position as one of the most viewed mobile sites according to the GSMA and comScore,” said Flirtomatic CEO and co-founder Mark Curtis.

“Flirtomatic is the international market leader with a proven team, best of breed monetisation, and high-profile distribution partners. The fundamentals are compelling and we are excited to be a part of the company’s extensive expansion,” added Javier Rubio, General Partner at Nauta Capital.

“We have been with the company since the early days and are delighted to be an ongoing part of its impressive success. Flirtomatic has really figured out how to attract and engage mobile consumers,” commented Ivan Farneti, Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures.

O2 launches international mVoIP service

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NOW UPDATED WITH Q&A WITH JAJAH CEO TREVOR HEALY:

O2 has launched its first service using technology from Jajah, the IP Telephony company it acquired six months ago.

O2 Germany is launching ‘O2 Global Friends’, a service that allows users to call five friends who live abroad using a local number.

 

Telefonica said that the German service is the first in a series of services it will launch using the Jajah technology. The advantage of the operator-based system is that users can access IP Telephony without the hassle of software downloads, new hardware or complex installs.

The obvious downside of the service for users is that it is a “limited” service so far – keeping users to a international friends and family product. It’s not Skype. But for the operator it is a start in the process of marketing ad exploiting IP telephony at the customer end.

The introduction of an IP-based calling service by a mainstream carrier shows the maturity of this market and we can expect other telcos to follow with similar services,” said Charlotte Patrick, Principal Analyst at Gartner. “Telefónica’s purchase of JAJAH has given it some really interesting long distance calling propositions and their impact on the market should give us an insight into carrier’s future strategy in this area.

Trevor Healy, CEO of JAJAH and an executive director on Telefonica Europe’s board, answers Keith Dyer’s questions on this service.

KD: How does the service work?

TH: The cool thing is that we take a lot of the complexity out of VoIP. There’s no need for a new phone, headset or software download. The user simply enters a local number against his contact’s name, and that number acts as an international number.
The nice thing about our technology is that it uses traditional GSM activity to the handset, and then when contact is made with the Jajah servers we take that across the ocean on IP, and then deliver that to AT&T.

KD: So in that regard – breaking out international traffic onto IP – it’s not that different to how operators already handle international traffic, aside from the number translation aspect?

TH: I think it’s different in that it’s quite a complicated algorithm that helps you use the numbers, carrying out the look up so that you can call a number and find your friend in Cairo, and I could call the same number and find my friend in Dublin. But yes, the days when it would be a strange thing for a carrier to use an IP network are over.

KD: The release says this is the first of many services, what other services do you have planned?

TH: I think we’ll see this service rolled out in other territories. In terms of other services – at Jajah we want to act as a platform for innovation within O2, delivering a range of new products to market. Of course, I can’t share what they are yet.

Mondial Telecom secures new funding of over €5.5m

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Mondial Telecom, which in 2009 launched Cherry, the first fully converged WiFi and GSM mobile operator, has announced that it has raised further funds of over €5.5m. The company will focus on the growth of its Cherry mobile brand as well as launch into the international wholesale market where several operators are said to have shown significant interest in its Mobile-to-Mobile Convergence (MMC) solutions. The new investors include SRIW (Société d’Investissement de la Région Wallonne), Philippe Bodson (formerly of Tractebel/Suez), as well as recognised institutional investors.

The funding was organised by the corporate financing boutique Semcap. Mondial Telecom says its target is to quadruple its turnover within three years and double the total number of staff on its payroll.

The funds will enable Mondial Telecom to address an ever-increasing market for Smartphone devices and to invest in infrastructure and staff. New product and service development will focus on its MMC services to bring new capabilities to Cherry. The company says that hiring has begun to meet the expected requirements of these new developments.

Chairman of the Board José Zurstrassen sees this development mainly as “an opportunity to implement the company’s international vision, the foundation of which is the “Wholesale” range. This should enable Mondial Telecom to break even within a relatively short time, while opening up the world a little further to this innovative technology.”

The management team has been substantially increased in both the Retail (headed by Gaetan Jamar, formerly of Mobistar) and Wholesale (under Mark Collins, formerly of Muzicall, Equador) departments. The development team has been consolidated to boost development based on other platforms (Iphoneã, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile 7.0), and continues to increase under the management of Davy Van de Moere. The product management department is also being organised under the supervision of Joeri Uyttendaele.

Bernard de Burlin, founder and CEO, said “The secret of the success of the latest of our Mondial Telecom products – Cherry, Version 2.0 of which will be placed on the retail market by September, and will shortly be available on a wholesale basis – is that it is part of a fundamental trend in telecommunications. On the one hand, the use of Smartphones and Iphones is booming and a number of mobile-telephony operators (more specifically their networks) were not prepared for the subsequent bandwidth volume consumption. Also, Wi-Fi coverage is being improved by ever-increasing numbers of corporate, private and public hotspots. Finally, it seems that landline, cable and Internet operators are interested in supplying their users with unlimited mobility or maximising the use of their networks. More than ever, network complementarity is the key. With its Cherry solution, Mondial Telecom is able to meet all three of these demands without variable operating costs – which at this point in time other solutions simply cannot do.”

The company will be opening a new office in Wallonia in the near future to house its Wholesale department and enable it to expand.

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