How banks can learn from telecoms | Crash course | The Economist

Great article from the Economist - clearly one place telecoms rules the world is in crashes, but at least we can show the banks a thing or two!
How banks can learn from telecoms "Lessons from the telecoms bubble"
Looking at the number of stories on Total Telecom featuring keywords such as "crash", "cut" and "axe" of late, it looks like we continue to lead the world when it comes to case studies, but just in case you want to keep track, here's an RSS feed to spread some cheer...

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Jobs Trivia

Nothing trivial about finding a job at the moment, so it's good to know there are lots of telecom jobs in our NEW jobs sections!

For example currently there are:

• 20 for Directors
• 18 in Germany
• 17 relating to broadband
• 140 in mobile
• 11 paying between £100k and £110k

Check it out, it's been a long time since Total Telecom offered jobs and I think we offer the only TRULY global telecom specific jobs board - currently showing almost 400 jobs. www.totaltele.com/jobs

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Gmail down shock

Like a lot of people I have been using Gmail as my personal email account for some time now. I switched over when my laptop got stolen and I decided I would feel safer having all my email on a remote server rather than stored on a laptop that could be lost or snatched at any time!

After more than a year my Gmail account is a well-organised area containing a lot of very important information for me.

So when I - and millions of others - tried to log on to the service this morning, imagine my horror when I got this message:

Server Error

The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request.

Please try again in 30 seconds.

A quick search indicated that the problem is global and not just limited to the UK. I have already received emails from panicked freelancers who use Gmail not just for personal matters but also for business.

This is REALLY bad news for Google. They cannot afford to have outages like this and expect people to continue to use the service. If this happens again I for one will be seriously reconsidering my options.

I just checked again and Gmail is still down. It's now been down for well over an hour. Anyone out there know anything at all about this?? Google?? Help??

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Tumbleweeds or bursting at the seams?

There seems to be some difference of opinion when it comes to the level of attendance at this year's Mobile World Congress.

Members of the press seem to be largely in agreement: it's really quiet here. Ques to get into the Fira are tiny, you can get a seat at a terminal in the press room without running the risk of losing a limb in the crush, and most of the time it's possible to get a taxi anywhere in Barcelona within a few minutes.

Even more unusual, I've managed to eat lunch three days in a row. That's definitely never happened before; the queues for food in previous years snaked around for miles.

But, show organisers the GSMA insist that MWC 2009 is as busy as ever before.

"It's full," Tom Phillips, chief government and regulatory affairs officer for the GSMA told us over dinner last night.

"About the 50,000th person went through the door today," he said, which puts the show on a par with last year.

There are 2,000-plus members of the press here, he added, and 13,000 exhibitors. Exhibition space is sold out.

All of which leads us to wonder where all these people are. Is one of the exhibition halls that we haven't visited yet simply crammed with attendees, while the rest of the Fira breathes easily?

Let us know what you think. Has your MWC experience this year been as hectic as in the past?

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The true meaning of MWC

From a "socialising" point of view, this year's Mobile World Congress has been uncharacteristically quiet, largely, I must admit, because a couple of us at Total Telecom decided we might not survive the week if we "networked" in as committed a fashion as we did last year.

Nonetheless, we in the online team were very grateful to a PR colleague, who asked not to be named, who came to our rescue with a cool beverage in a crowded bar yesterday evening. Trust me when I say we'd earned it.

So, to the fella that both impressed and surprised when he took the cap off a couple of bottles of cider with his teeth for us last night - Total Telecom salutes you!

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Chasing Telstra

Australia's Telstra on Monday revealed that its 21-Mbps mobile broadband service will be available to business customers from 23 February, with a consumer launch to follow in April.

The telco is the first in the world to launch a commercial 21-Mbps service. And while some operators elsewhere in the world claim to be hot on its heels, the Australian incumbent is streets ahead when it comes to live deployment.

A total of 286 mobile operators have committed to launching HSPA services and 219 of those have already gone live, said GSMA chairman Rob Conway at Mobile World Congress this morning. Those figures refer to operators with services running at 1.8 Mbps and above, Conway said.

There are three operators with services of 4.4 Mbps, and of course Telstra at 21 Mbps, he added.

But one operator in particular is keen to show it is not being left behind.

"Vodafone is trialling 21 Mbps," said Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao.

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Why are we here?

"Why did we call this press conference. What do we want to talk about?" said Alexander Izosimov, CEO of Russia's VimpelCom and chairman of the GSMA, in a bid to summarise the content of a press conference organised by the GSMA at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona yesterday.

Little did he know that those of us in the audience were thinking much the same thing.

But, sadly, when it comes to having nothing much to say but saying it anyway, the GSMA isn't the only culprit at this year's event.

Truly interesting presentations and press conferences have been very thin on the ground, leaving us all a little nonplussed, and wondering 'why are we here, anyway?'

Nonetheless, we at Total Telecom have done our best to wring the most exciting droplets of news and commentary for you, so check out the website for all the latest from MWC 2009. There you will find details of Telstra's move to 21-Mbps mobile broadband, Android announcements from Vodafone and Huawei, and the GSMA's new initiative to create a universal mobile phone charger, likely to be shipping with the majority of handsets by 2012.

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The year of the App Store?

What will be "the big thing" at Mobile World Congress this year?

That's the question on everyone's lips in the mobile industry right now. Cue scratching of heads, shuffling feet looking at the floor and mumbling "errr... LTE, probably."

But my prediction for this year's event, which is almost among us, is that EVERYONE will be talking about applications. Or, more specifically, applications stores, akin to Apple's famous App Store.

I've heard along the grapevine that a number of different players, from all corners of the telecoms world, are planning to use MWC 2009 to unveil their own versions of the hugely successful App Store.

Watch this space... Or better still, monitor developments at the show by logging onto to Total Telecom - that's http://www.totaltele.com/ - from Monday, when our dedicated Mobile World Congress news service goes live.

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Nokia Siemens offers flexible LTE option for MNOs

Nokia Siemens Networks on Thursday said it would start deployment in 2010 of a new base station that would enable mobile operators to continue to exploit existing GSM networks and spectrum while readying themselves for future LTE network needs.
-For more on this story, as well as comments from Marc Rouanne, see tomorrow's Total Telecom.

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Moto not interested in Nortel

Motorola has no plans to acquire assets from Nortel Networks, the U.S. vendor revealed yesterday, as it presented a set of woeful Q4 financials, once again largely due to its underperforming handsets business.

Asked whether he is interested in building scale at Moto's networks business through M&A, or via a deal with troubled Nortel in particular, Motorola co-CEO Greg Brown told analysts on the results call that such a move is not on the cards.

"[We have] no current plans... to lead a consolidation move in that segment," Brown said.

While Moto has a strong cash position, it was never a likely candidate to snap up any of Nortel's constituent parts, having plenty of work to do on its own businesses. The U.S. vendor posted a staggering $3.6 billion Q4 loss yesterday - more on that on Total Telecom.

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Why I won't be using my mobile broadband service at MWC

During a brief pit stop on my way home through the frozen wastes of London today, I noticed my mobile phone was on the blink. So I decided to ring Vodafone and enquire when my next upgrade was due. It seems I am long overdue (thanks for the phone call to tell me, Voda!) and I therefore proceeded to select a new handset for the next 24 months. It occurred to me that Mobile World Congress is around the corner, so I asked how much it would cost me to use my mobile broadband service while in Spain.

Imagine my horror when the customer services person told me, somewhat hesitantly, that it would cost me £10 per megabyte.

So that's why I won't be using my mobile broadband service in Barcelona.

UPDATE: It seems Vodafone customer services are not that clear themselves on mobile broadband pricing abroad. A check on the web site and a further call to customer services revealed that the cost is £9.99 a day for up to 50 megabytes within a 24-hour period; each megabyte thereafter would cost you £5. So it's not as bad as I thought, but still bad enough! I'm glad I didn't use it when in Spain!

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Let it snow!

London, and much of the U.K., woke up to a blanket of snow this morning, and once again modern technology has let us down.

The transport system in and around the capital ground to a halt, which means today's Total Telecom will be brought to you from various remote locations. But not all other Internet-based services are running so efficiently.

"Forget the Internet," was the advice on the BBC's television breakfast show this morning. Travel advice Websites have collapsed under the weight of traffic, leaving disgruntled would-be commuters unable to log on.

"Tune into your local radio station," BBC presenters advised.

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