Twitter is mulling further acquisitions in order to capitalise on its growing popularity.
Co-founder Biz Stone remarked to Reuters at a conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday that the micro-blogging Website's acquisition of search engine Summize in 2008 "turned out to be an outstandingly good decision," and that another shopping spree "is something we are definitely interested in."
Stone on Monday once again told reporters, this time in Oxford, U.K., that Twitter is not for sale; although it may pursue an IPO.
He added that Twitter will focus in 2010 on generating revenue from non-traditional Internet advertising.
Caught in the crossfire
Egypt's Orascom Telecom found itself on the wrong end of football fever in Algeria this week.
Sadly, the battle between Algeria and Egypt for qualification for next summer's World Cup finals in South Africa was not confined to the pitch.
Angry that attacks against their own fans in Cairo had apparently gone uncensured by Egyptian authorities, Algerian fans went on the rampage in Algiers and Orascom was caught in the crossfire; according to numerous press reports, rioters trashed the telco's offices in the Algerian capital, causing several million dollars worth of damage.
As a smart-alec Total Telecom reader and football fan pointed out, it's a good job Orange does not have a presence in the Republic of Ireland...
Sadly, the battle between Algeria and Egypt for qualification for next summer's World Cup finals in South Africa was not confined to the pitch.
Angry that attacks against their own fans in Cairo had apparently gone uncensured by Egyptian authorities, Algerian fans went on the rampage in Algiers and Orascom was caught in the crossfire; according to numerous press reports, rioters trashed the telco's offices in the Algerian capital, causing several million dollars worth of damage.
As a smart-alec Total Telecom reader and football fan pointed out, it's a good job Orange does not have a presence in the Republic of Ireland...
Talking about our feelings
At a telecoms event that was probably more male-dominated than the industry average, and that's saying something, it was unusual to hear a speaker encourage his audience to talk about their feelings.
But that's exactly what Rob Keve, CEO of Fizzback, did at the FT World Telecoms Conference on Thursday.
In a presentation designed to introduce conference attendees to his company - and to be honest once he'd finished I was still a little unsure exactly how Fizzback works - Keve must have used the word "emotions" several dozen times.
Apparently, Fizzback is a way of capturing feedback from consumers "at the point of experience", which can then be packaged up for telecoms operators to use. But more than that, Fizzback "interprets the rich emotions they are expressing", Keve explained, sort of.
Frankly, whenever I've had a bad experience with a service provider - in the telecoms space or otherwise - it would not require a fancy service to interpret my emotions; a loud beep to protect the innocence of any children in the immediate vicinity would suffice.
Once consumer data is captured, via email, SMS, social networks and so on, Fizzback uses a black box, which "is neither black nor a box," Keve said, to interpret those emotions. Well, that clarifies things then.
I may still be somewhat in the dark about what Fizzback actually does, but the message was pretty clear: operators need to get touchy-feely and listen to their customers in order to prevent churn. Simples.
But that's exactly what Rob Keve, CEO of Fizzback, did at the FT World Telecoms Conference on Thursday.
In a presentation designed to introduce conference attendees to his company - and to be honest once he'd finished I was still a little unsure exactly how Fizzback works - Keve must have used the word "emotions" several dozen times.
Apparently, Fizzback is a way of capturing feedback from consumers "at the point of experience", which can then be packaged up for telecoms operators to use. But more than that, Fizzback "interprets the rich emotions they are expressing", Keve explained, sort of.
Frankly, whenever I've had a bad experience with a service provider - in the telecoms space or otherwise - it would not require a fancy service to interpret my emotions; a loud beep to protect the innocence of any children in the immediate vicinity would suffice.
Once consumer data is captured, via email, SMS, social networks and so on, Fizzback uses a black box, which "is neither black nor a box," Keve said, to interpret those emotions. Well, that clarifies things then.
I may still be somewhat in the dark about what Fizzback actually does, but the message was pretty clear: operators need to get touchy-feely and listen to their customers in order to prevent churn. Simples.
BT CEO hints at mobile return
BT CEO Ian Livingston on Thursday once again suggested that the telco is eyeing a possible return to the U.K. mobile market.
When fielding the obligatory 'what is your mobile strategy?' question during BT's fiscal second quarter results, his answer was far more open to interpretation than the usually evasive, 'it's something we look at' type of response.
"What is a mobile service? It's a chunk of spectrum that connects to a base station which connects back to a fixed network," he said.
When asked if BT would participate in any upcoming U.K. spectrum auctions, he said:
"We will be looking ahead to the upcoming spectrum auctions... We will also look at the MVNO option. We're in the wholesale business but we don't mind being wholesaled to."
This is a far cry from the first quarter, when in response to a similar question, Livingston replied:
"I don't feel that our business is compromised by not being able to offer mobility solutions."
Livingston also sparked rumours at the beginning of 2009 when the Observer reported that BT had held informal talks with T-Mobile and 3 UK over a possible return to the mobile sector as part of a three-way joint venture.
When fielding the obligatory 'what is your mobile strategy?' question during BT's fiscal second quarter results, his answer was far more open to interpretation than the usually evasive, 'it's something we look at' type of response.
"What is a mobile service? It's a chunk of spectrum that connects to a base station which connects back to a fixed network," he said.
When asked if BT would participate in any upcoming U.K. spectrum auctions, he said:
"We will be looking ahead to the upcoming spectrum auctions... We will also look at the MVNO option. We're in the wholesale business but we don't mind being wholesaled to."
This is a far cry from the first quarter, when in response to a similar question, Livingston replied:
"I don't feel that our business is compromised by not being able to offer mobility solutions."
Livingston also sparked rumours at the beginning of 2009 when the Observer reported that BT had held informal talks with T-Mobile and 3 UK over a possible return to the mobile sector as part of a three-way joint venture.
Vodafone CEO relaxed on capacity contraints
The mobile industry has been abuzz with talk of network expansion and upgrade as operators plan for the projected explosion in traffic that will come as smartphone take-up and data usage increase.
But Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao is adamant that there is nothing to fear.
"Our total traffic... is up 300% versus two years ago," he told attendees at the mobile operator's third-quarter results presentation on Tuesday.
However, capital spending on the network is determined by peak saturation, that is, cell sites that operate at over 90% of their capacity during peak times, Colao explained.
He added that 5% of Vodafone's sites operate at above 90%, which is slighter lower than it was a few months ago, largely thanks to spectral efficiency and "better versions" of HSPA.
Voda plans to upgrade 20,000-25,000 more sites to become more efficient in the next six months, as well as investing in backhaul.
"The vision is supportable for the foreseeable future," Colao said.
But Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao is adamant that there is nothing to fear.
"Our total traffic... is up 300% versus two years ago," he told attendees at the mobile operator's third-quarter results presentation on Tuesday.
However, capital spending on the network is determined by peak saturation, that is, cell sites that operate at over 90% of their capacity during peak times, Colao explained.
He added that 5% of Vodafone's sites operate at above 90%, which is slighter lower than it was a few months ago, largely thanks to spectral efficiency and "better versions" of HSPA.
Voda plans to upgrade 20,000-25,000 more sites to become more efficient in the next six months, as well as investing in backhaul.
"The vision is supportable for the foreseeable future," Colao said.
Femtocell trial: update
Well, I have placed the femtocell at a greater distance from the router - but given the limitations of where to put routers and the length of cables this is still not an ideal scenario, I would say.
I was talking to an executive from Nokia Siemens about this yesterday, and he said the spectrum filters in current femtocells are still quite poor and really need to be further refined - although this would make them more expensive initially.
I'm no engineer, but as a consumer my view is that it's not good enough to just ask consumers to locate a femtocell six feet away from their router. Sometimes that's just not always that feasible, and it's hardly user friendly. It might be OK for the early adopters to do this - but what about the mass market? I can't help but think that if femtos are to take off as a mass-market solution for indoor coverage or even data offloading then these interference issues need to be eliminated. I'm just trialling a femtocell; not sure I would buy one just yet.
I was talking to an executive from Nokia Siemens about this yesterday, and he said the spectrum filters in current femtocells are still quite poor and really need to be further refined - although this would make them more expensive initially.
I'm no engineer, but as a consumer my view is that it's not good enough to just ask consumers to locate a femtocell six feet away from their router. Sometimes that's just not always that feasible, and it's hardly user friendly. It might be OK for the early adopters to do this - but what about the mass market? I can't help but think that if femtos are to take off as a mass-market solution for indoor coverage or even data offloading then these interference issues need to be eliminated. I'm just trialling a femtocell; not sure I would buy one just yet.
TT Makes the Shortlist
Total Telecom is delighted to have made the shortlist for this years PPA Independent Publisher Awards in the category of ONLINE BRAND OF THE YEAR.
The Independent Publisher Awards are described by the PPA (Periodical Publishers Association - one of the leading publishing trade bodies worldwide) as the ultimate accolade for the achievements of independent publishers and so Total Telecom is delighted to make the shortlist alongside two other extremely strong brands, The Moodie Report and Clash Magazine.
The winner will be revealed during the glamorous awards ceremony on Tuesday 1 December 2009 where Total Telecom will be crossing fingers that we are named ONLINE BRAND OF THE YEAR.
Watch this space!
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