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BT Drops the Cost of Local Loop Unbundling

For a very long time UK broadband providers have claimed that BT have had an obvious lack of enthusiasm for letting them in to telephone exchanges to install their own equipment, to offer services to rival BT’s. Known in the trade as local loop unbundling (LLU), BT’s rivals see it as the only profitable way to provide broadband and high-speed services, so they don’t have to pay BT for each customer, as they do if BT equipment is used.

Following on from continuous pressure from Ofcom, the UK super-regulator, and LLU price reductions announced in May, BT has now cut the cost further.. . They put this down to   their investment in new automated processes. From now the cost of a shared LLU line is 62% less than it was in June of this year, the connection charge is now standing at £37 (~$64, ~€52) while the annual rental is £27.12 (~$48, ~€36).  It looks like BT might be on a roll and if it continues, prices may be reduced by up to 70% by the end of the year.

Ofcom already indicated its enthusiasm for LLU to play a greater role in stimulating competition in the wholesale broadband sector. Last April its chief executive, Stephen Carter, hinted that Ofcom would be proactive in making LLU more attractive to rival operators.

In real terms, cutting the cost of LLU will encourage the deployment of more 3rd party equipment in BT’s exchanges, giving more choice to UK customers.  As if to prove how serious they are about it, BT is appointing an LLU director of ceremonies.  NTL and Cable & Wireless (Bulldog) have already announced multi-million-pound plans to invest in LLU in the UK, and they must be chomping at the bit to install their kit in BT exchanges and get on with the business of offering a service to their customers.

The UK is now a respectable 8th in the list of DSL countries, according to the DSL Forum. And as a member of the European Union, it is in the number one DSL region with more than 23 million subscribers.  With lower prices bringing the UK more in line with its European counterparts, and higher speeds, customers should notice improvements as the LLU market in the UK is finally ignited.

DSL Forum

Ofcom

Nintendo DS debuts in US on 21 November

Nintendo DSAnnounced last January, the Nintendo DS goes on sale in the US on 21 November and in Japan on December 2nd, with a price tag of $149.99 (~£84, ~€122), while Europe must wait until early 2005.

The Nintendo DS has heralded a season of innovations.  It will be a two active screen portable gaming device (building on their game & watch dual-screen history), and the first time such a launch is happening outside of Japan. A new level of sophistication incorporating voice recognition and multi-player wireless features has been brought to the handheld game console market. As well as the touch screen allowing for touch input using a stylus, and embedded microphone for voice recognition control, it has chat software that caters for up to 16 simultaneous users. A flip-top cover protects both screens, while two speakers on the unit’s face let you hear virtual surround sound.

At 148.7mm (5.85 inches) wide, 84.7mm (3.33 inches) long, and 28.9mm (1.13 inches) tall, the Nintendo DS has a wireless range of 30 to 100ft (nine to 30m), so that multiple users can play multi-player games using one DS game card.

While it is not meant to be successor to the GameBoy Advance, it can play games from the current
GameBoy Advance series. New games will come from 100 different companies, while Nintendo itself is developing 20 titles.

If you have no more spare cash after splashing out on the Nintendo DS you can still get stuck in immediately because it comes with a free software feature, PictoChat, embedded in the system hardware.  PictoChat allows you to write messages using the on-screen keyboard or the stylus, and send them wirelessly to other DS users nearby, as well as getting started on text chat.  The  Nintendo DS doesn’t snooze on the job either.  When in sleep mode it will wake up if it senses another DS in transmitting range.

Nintendo will have a battle on their hands as Sony will be releasing the equally heralded portable entertainment device, the PSP.

Nintendo

Vodafone announce 10 3G handsets

Nintendo DSVodafone is launching their 3G voice services in Europe and Japan with a big splash by announcing 10 handsets at the outset.

The range of handsets, which Vodafone is excited to tell us contains some models and designs that are exclusive to them, contains Europe’s first 2 mega pixel camera phone, CD quality music and stereo speakers. The Sharp 802, 902 and the NEC 802N are exclusive to Vodafone and a further three will be exclusive at launch. The launch features the handset that we are particularly excited about, the Motorola E1000, that includes has all of the desirable features including A-GPS for location based services.

Vodafone Live!, their content play, is also heavily featured as this is the great hope in trying to gain back some of the billions they have spend to 3G licenses around the world.

Following our calls to Vodafone, they confirmed that no further details on the handsets or services would be released before November.

Vodafone

Nokia to Buy Psion Out of Symbian

Nokia has announced its intention to try and nearly double its shareholding in Symbian by buying Psion shares in the venture, taking them to a 63.3% holding. Symbian, created arguably the most successful rich media Operating System (OS) which is primarily used on mobile phones and portable devices. Almost 2.7m units were shipped with their OS in the first six months of 2003 and it is currently owned by seven partners; Ericsson, Panasonic, Nokia, Psion, Samsung, Siemens and Sony Ericsson.

Nokia propose to pay Psion in two ways; £93.5 million (~$173.8m, ~€137.1m) as a fixed payment, plus £0.84 (~$1.56, ~€1.23) for every Symbian OS equipped phone Nokia sells during 2004 and 2005. Psion are currently estimating the deal will be worth around £135.7m (~$252.1m, ~€198.4m).

This is not the first time there has been a significant shift in the Symbian ownership. Back in August 2003, co-incidentally Symbian’s fifth anniversary, Motorola announced it would exit Symbian, selling its 19% holding. The two partners picking it the holding were Psion who increased its holding from 25.3% to 31.1% and Nokia bought the rest of the Motorola shares, increasing its holding from 19% to 32.2%. Psion paid Motorola £17m (~$31.5m, ~€24.8m) cash, valuing Symbian at that time at £300m (~$557.4m, ~€438.4m). The current Nokia/Psion deal values Symbian at £430m (~$798.9m, ~€628.4m).

At that time David Potter, Chairman of Psion gave hints at their possible exit from Symbian, “Psion will continue to play its role in driving Symbian towards the successful exploitation of its market. At the same time, realising the value of out investment in Symbian for the optimal benefit of Psion shareholders is a key strategic goal”

This leaves two questions hanging in the air. What will happen to Symbian’s other minority shareholders now Nokia is far and away the largest shareholder? Where are Psion going now?

The other owners, lead by Ericsson, the next largest owner (17.5%), may feel shouldered out of Symbian or indeed be uneasy providing income to their largest competitor. Currently the only other option they would have is to go the Microsoft route with their less than perfect offering.

A few years ago Psion got out of the consumer hardware business and they also sold Psion Software to Visto in February for an undisclosed amount. They are now placing their bets on wireless applications in the enterprise. Initially growing Teklogix, which manufactures rugged, wireless devices to help companies streamline their logistics. They also plan to move into providing support to mobile workers in the field, such as medical staff who are visiting patients in their home.

Teklogix is an area they feel they have a strong footing in this business already, making it is a defendable area with potential for great expansion. The CEO, Alistair Crawford says they plan to focus on RFID and Voice. The benefits of RFID in the warehousing business are well known. Psion also feel there is benefits in using voice input there, as the operators quite often need to have both hands free, or their not able to use their hands, for example in a refrigerator unit.

Psion is a company that has changed considerably over its 25 years from its start writing software, in particular Chess for Sinclair computers, through single handedly pioneered the handheld computer market back in the 1980’s., to defending themselves against the onslaught from Microsoft. We’ll watch this space with interest.

Nokia to purchase Psion shareholding in Symbian – Press release

Interviews with Chair and CEO of Psion

Visto Corporation Purchases Psion Software – Press release

UK Telco, BT Group Move Towards TV

There were two pieces of news today about the UK incumbent telecom provider, BT, getting closer to broadcast television. One, an official announcement that they will joint market UK Freeview (UK Free-to-Air Digital TV) receivers, the other in today’s Financial Times, that they are set to announce plans to enter the pay-per-view TV market with the launch of a new BT-branded digital TV and Internet service. It is possible that they are both the same story.

The financial markets response to BT previous discussion of getting involved with broadcast back in January 2003 was not positive, with their shares price dropping.

The FT Telecoms Correspondent, Robert Budden, reported that BT are in discussion with two companies that currently make Freeview boxes, SetPal and NetGem, with an aim to retail the STB’s for £129 when the service formally launches in the summer of next year. The exact details of the services are not know, but Time Shifted, PVR-type functions are expected as a minimum. It should also be noted that BT was granted a licence to broadcast back in March this year.

BT have realised that providing just the DSL connectivity to peoples houses will become a commodity – a utility in effect. With this area only become more competitive, it is not where the money will be made.
BT shares rose 1.62% today.

FT – BT piece

SetPal

NetGem

Apple Announce iTunes Online and New iPods

As previously rumoured, Apple announced two music-related products yesterday – the new iPod‘s and their iTunes Music Store service. The iPod is essentially an upgraded, thinner version of the current machine that holds up to 30GB. It comes with a new docking cradle and the same unit will work on both Mac and Windows (later in the year).

The iTunes Music Store is the really exciting part. It sounds like it’s simplicity itself, as they provide 30 second, full quality previews of each track and buying is easy as they’ve licenced the Amazon 1-click system. The initially 200,000 tracks available provided by the big five record companies (BMG, EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal and Warner) and are individually purchasable prices at 99 cents a track. They’re stored in AAC format but users will be able to burn unlimited CD’s for personal use and will be able to copy to unlimited iPods Old and New, and to three different Macs. Interestingly downloaded music is sharable between machines on the same wired or wireless network – and by using streaming rather than copying they will placate the music industry. Sadly, due to the licencing restrictions from the music companies, the service will only be available in the US – at least initially.

Video: Steve Jobs launches new iPod’s and Music Store service – watch it

Apple secrecy on unreleased products is legendary, so it was amazing to see that all of the details of todays announcements were disclosed on slashdot back in December. I wonder if the poster is still working at Apple?

MS announces US Xbox Live start

Microsoft has announced the finalised US release date of its new “online, broadband, multi-player” service for Xbox – Xbox Live, to be 15 Nov. It will retail in shops for around $50 including a years worth of subscription, a headset (enabling players to talk/insult fellow players) and a mini-game.

At launch there will be a minimum of seven Xbox live enabled games with at least sixty publishers working on new titles.

There’s only a small paragraph on how the Xbox will be able to receive and store additional content via the service. I think this is the area that holds some of the most exciting potential but I think they still concerned about highlighting this fact to people, in case people think MS is taking over their lounge – which I’m sure has crossed MS’s minds.

Intel’s hand-held audio and video player

Intel’s Emerging Platforms Lab have designed a paperback-sized platform that will be used to play back digital audio and video content. Although always based on Intel chips including the XScale processor, the manufacturers, who will be announced later in the year, have freedom over display and storage. The initial pricing is thought to be around $500 then later moving to $399.

The device has to be loaded with content from the owners PC via USB 2 or WiFi and won’t be able to access content direct from the Internet. This give two benefits, Intel can’t be accused of promoting piracy and they ensure a PC is also needed – which will most likely have an Intel processor inside.

What isn’t clear is how much DRM software will be forced into the device. [CNet video]