IPWireless partners with leading mobile operator to provide seamless E1-type speed WiFi backhaul to trains

IPWireless has announced UMTS RailLink, a new network solution that allows operators to offer high-speed broadband connectivity and WiFi access even in the world’s fastest trains.  Passengers will be able to use their WiFi-enabled laptops or other devices to enjoy a broadband experience while they travel that’s as fast and easy to use as a regular hotspot. UMTS RailLink, which is based on IPWireless’s commercial UMTS TD-CDMA mobile broadband technology, was successfully proven to reach speeds up to 220 kilometers per hours in a series of recent road and rail demonstrations with a leading European GSM operator.     

UMTS RailLink allows mobile operators to work with rail operators to provide passengers with uninterrupted WiFi hotspot access with similar or better performance than fixed hotspot services.  The solution supports very low network latencies, which is critical for delivering real time applications, and handover, so the connection is never lost, even at high speeds.  During the demonstration in Europe, uninterrupted megabit-plus access was provided to a train across multiple cell sites over 39 kilometers of track, including a bridge span.

The UMTS RailLink solution can be deployed over the existing unpaired IMT-2000 1900MHz spectrum owned by GSM operators, as well as any of the other commercially available TD-CDMA spectrum bands.  Because UMTS RailLink is based on UMTS TD-CDMA, the 3G high-speed data technology designed for mobile operators, the solution integrates seamlessly with a GSM operator’s existing network, leveraging existing infrastructure to provide wide area seamless coverage for rail lines.

IPWireless is also working with operators in other European countries that are interested in providing the services enabled by UMTS RailLink.  The UMTS RailLink solution is particularly attractive because unpaired IMT-2000 1900MHz spectrum is available across Europe, which would enable mobile operators to seamlessly support the many cross-border rail routes across the continent.

The UMTS RailLink solution is optimized to overcome Doppler shift and can currently support speeds of up to 220 kilometers per hour, including handover between cell sites at that speed, without losing the connection. In the future, IPWireless expects that the solution will support speeds of more than 400 kilometers per hour.

“We are very pleased with the feedback that we have received from operators on our UMTS RailLink solution for providing carrier grade connectivity to train passengers,” said Dr. Bill Jones, chief operating officer, IPWireless. “We believe that UMTS RailLink is the optimal solution that will allow mobile operators to serve the many rail systems that want to provide mobile broadband services right now.”

Ericsson and Avea signed contracts to expand GSM radio and core networks. The network expansion increases Avea's coverage and traffic capacity, allowing Turkey’s youngest operator to fulfil the needs of its increasing number of subscribers.

Tayfun Çataltepe, Avea Network Vice President, says: "Avea is continuing network investments paralel to its growth in the market thanks to Ericsson as a successful partner and sole supplier."

Jan Kemvall, General Manager of Ericsson Turkey, says: "This contract strengthens our position as end-to-end leader in the Turkish telecommunications market and confirms Ericsson as the preferred partner and primary supplier for radio-core networks and Service layer solutions to Avea in Turkey.

"We see a great potential in the Turkish mobile market, where mobile penetration rate is about 50% and operators are focusing more and more on data services," he added.

Ericsson's partnership with Avea started in 2002 when Ericsson signed an expansion agreement for the operator's GSM network in seven major Turkish cities.

Colibria AS, a leading international developer of mobile Instant Messaging and Presence Service (IMPS) technology platforms, has announced the completion of an €8.5 million investment funding round.  Demonstrating the strong market confidence in Colibria's position in the telecommunications sector, the investment package includes substantial further investments from existing investors - Northzone Ventures and Four Seasons Venture - together with a major component from a new investor, Norwegian venture capital specialist Ferd Venture.

Torleif Ahlsand, Chairman of Colibria, and a partner of Northzone Ventures, commented: “This announcement represents an important turning point for the company. It underlines the confidence being shown in Colibria's technology by network operators and handset manufacturers worldwide, while emphasising its position as the supplier of choice for instant messaging and presence-based solutions.  The level of new investment will enable Colibria to accelerate a number of development programmes and grow its market share substantially.”

Bjørn Erik Reinseth, Investment Manager at Ferd Venture, also commented: “Our decision to invest €3.8 million in Colibria reflects the degree of market acceptance being shown in its technology, and in its IM and presence solutions.  Colibria is well positioned with a strong potential and is ideally placed to capitalise on the broadest market opportunities available.”

Colibria's IMPS technology is deployed by mobile network operators and MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) worldwide, to deliver advanced revenue-generating instant messaging and presence services.

As part of the global cooperation between Siemens and France Telecom (FT), a contract has been signed in Poland between Siemens and Polska Telefonia Komórkowa Centertel (Centertel Polish Cellular Telephony) or PTK Centertel, a subsidiary of Telekomunikacja Polska and France Telecom. The contract entails the construction of a signaling network based on the Surpass hiS 700 platform, together with the implementation of the NetManager system.

The implemented solution will help the carrier improve its signaling traffic management. It will also provide an important element for the company’s GSM and 3G networks, now under construction, making them both more secure. The Surpass hiS platform from Siemens will allow PTK Centertel to provide the number portability service required by Poland’s new telecommunications law (subscribers will be able to retain their previous numbers even if they change networks). The Siemens NetManager system will enable the Polish operator to supervise and control the network as well as efficiently manage the signaling network and mobile number portability service.

The decision in the Top Sourcing process of the FT Group to opt for the Surpass technology was due to its high technical quality and the economic value of the solution provided. “We are delighted about our new cooperation with PTK Centertel, aimed at building out and upgrading the company's telecom infrastructure. We are confident that this relationship will result in innovative services for the customers of the Idea network,” said Christian Unterberger, President of Fixed Networks at Siemens Communications.

Contract outsources SIM ordering process, delivery and card activation to Gemplus

Gemplus International, the world's leading provider of smart card solutions, has won the contract to be the sole supplier of yallo, the new Swiss mobile offering via the Internet from TDC Switzerland AG. TDC Switzerland with its main brand sunrise is the leading independent Swiss full-service provider.

Since the launch of yallo in May 2005, Gemplus has been providing yallo SIM cards and personalisation services which were delivered direct to yallo customers through Swiss PostExpress. The yallo service targets users who want to simplify their mobile communication to voice calls and SMS. The business model of yallo is similar to the concept of a “no-frills” airline company. Subscribers to yallo simply purchase their SIM cards via the Internet and provide their own handsets.

Core to Gemplus’ success is a tailored ‘one-stop-shop’ approach to customer service activation. On receipt of the customer’s details direct from www.yallo.ch, Gemplus’ card personalisation centre immediately prints, produces and posts the new SIM to the customer through Swiss PostExpress within two working days. Small volumes are personalised on a daily basis according to the number of orders placed. yallo does not keep physical SIM stocks as it outsources order management and card delivery to Gemplus. Thus, they are able to reduce their working capital. Intermediary steps in the process have also been reduced, further lowering administrative costs.

“Our yallo business requires a different approach to customer service because end-users expect to receive their SIM almost immediately,” said Norbert Egli, project leader of yallo. “Many customers only want a service for calls and SMS messages which is exactly the aim of yallo. We wanted a simple, efficient service which Gemplus’ one-stop-shop approach provides.”

“By taking on the responsibility of card production and delivery through this ‘on-demand’ approach, we can help MVNOs reduce the cost and complexity of their logistics,” commented Philippe Vallée, Executive Vice President, Telecom Business Unit, Gemplus. “Operators who want to outsource their customer SIM activation while providing a fast, simple and flexible solution will benefit greatly from our service.”

According to a recent report from Strategy Analytics, low-cost MVNOs could obtain a share of the available market share over the next five years, shaking up a mature European prepaid market. Prepaid users now account for 60 percent of mobile users in Western Europe and are being targeted by low-cost MVNOs offering significantly lower call rates. Gemplus’ outsourced approach is aimed at exactly these types of operator.

Axiom Systems, a provider of service design and delivery software, has announced that Telekom Austria is provisioning its broadband DSL services using AXiOSS products, in partnership with Alcatel.

One of Europe’s most advanced telecommunication Operators, Telekom Austria will use the products as the foundation for a provisioning platform for all future services. One aim will be to consolidate the multiple legacy provisioning systems into a single solution with streamlined business processes.

Utilizing the unique componentised functionality of AXiOSS, this technology is crucial in tackling the changing resources, protocols, delivery chains and business processes involved in the delivery of global, multi-media communications services.

The introduction of AXiOSS will enable the following benefits:
• Fewer manual processes which may lead to errors.
• Shorter provisioning times through improved automation.
• Increased scalability to be able to deal with increasing numbers of customers.
• mproved customer service.

Gareth Senior, Chief Executive Officer, Axiom Systems, said, “The ability to quickly configure the series of tasks necessary for provisioning IP services is critical to an operators’ ability to drive revenues from these service offerings.  Our service design and delivery solutions are helping operators worldwide to achieve business results in short time periods."

Alcatel and Axiom Systems have a long history of working with cutting-edge service providers such as Telekom Austria. The AXiOSS Suite of products employ the latest advances in OSS technology which are based around components.

British telecoms company Switch Call is launching a simple, low-cost VoIP service to consumers and small businesses which it believes will start to replace landline services in the UK.  The company is launching its VoIP service for GBP5.00 a month, combining the simplicity of a landline service with the low cost of a VoIP service.  VoIP has recently attracted the interest of the world’s largest technology companies including Microsoft, Google & eBay.

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a technology that allows people to make telephone calls using their internet connection.  In contrast to more complex services available through some rivals, the Switch Call VoIP service provides normal ‘geographic’ telephone numbers (eg with normal area codes 020, 0118 etc), a free telephone handset and a simple, 5-minute set-up.

2005 has been the breakthrough year for VoIP, with media interest reaching fever pitch.  Now, Switch Call believes that with the quality of voice calls available and the simplicity of services such as theirs, VoIP is ready for the mass-market.  The Switch Call service will put it head-to-head against VoIP services such as SkypeOut from Skype, recently bought by eBay, as well as services from US-based Vonage.  Microsoft & Google have also both recently made some steps to compete in the VoIP market.

The company's approach is based primarily on simplicity, despite being feature-rich.  Many VoIP services in the market require complex technology work-arounds or do not allow you to call normal landlines and mobiles, which drastically reduces the usefulness of the service.  Unlike some other VoIP services, Switch Call’s service allows subscribers to call any telephone number in the world.

Entrepreneur Nick Kaulbach founded Switch Call in 2003.  Seeing the potential for mass-market VoIP services, Switch Call began investing in VoIP equipment and systems over 18 months ago.

Bristol-based Switch Call is undaunted by the interest in VoIP being demonstrated by technology giants such as Microsoft, Google & eBay. Managing Director Nick Kaulbach commented “You can never write off players such as Microsoft, Google & eBay.  Nonetheless, we believe none of those companies have a true landline replacement service and that's where the real market is.”

Kaulbach continues: “Technologies tend not to become truly mass-market until they become simple as well as beneficial.  Many people fully understand that VoIP services are beneficial to them based on their low-cost.  But until now, I think that there has not been a service simple enough to break through into the mass-market.”

Packaged broadband backbone will facilitate the rapid roll-out of competitively priced broadband services to business and consumers in 14 European cities

Global Voice Group Limited (GV), the Irish founded and Singapore listed owner and operator of fibre networks across Europe, has announced the launch of a packaged broadband backbone offering, called Xchange Connect, targeted at DSL and Wi-Max service providers, network integrators and telecommunication operators throughout Europe. The offering which has been developed around GV’s advanced high-speed, high-density Metropolitan Fibre Networks, will facilitate immediate access for providers to over 60% of the exchanges in 14 major cities across Europe and support a wide range of broadband services including, Wi-Max, DSL, ADSL, VDSL, and a full range of SDSL services for offering businesses VoIP.

GV’s broadband backbone offering will be aimed at potential market entrants and incumbent carriers alike, allowing Broadband Service Providers (BSPs) to be unburdened by either the constraints and limitations associated with utilising existing copper infrastructure or the enormous capital investments necessary for the construction of a proprietary network. GV is positioning its offering as a superior alternative for unique operators aiming to compete successfully with market incumbents.

Noel Meaney, Chief Executive, Global Voice Group said, “EU governments have been called upon to speed up measures to make broadband access cheaper and more secure for consumers. GV’s Broadband Backbone offering will enable immediate entry to the market for new players and facilitate the provision of a far more cost effective and secure solution that incorporates access to voice, data, picture, multimedia and interactive media transported on one dedicated single carrier technology.”

The broadband backbone solution is highly flexible and designed to enable customers to scale easily without a requirement for further investment. In addition GV’s broadband backbone network reach will continue to expand in line with its growth strategy and international connectivity agreement with AboveNet. The network is monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days a year from GV’s European Network Operations Centre (NOC) and consists in the main of high performance 432 strand fibre optic cables.