The Editor's Cut: January 2012

Start the week: 10 #telecom stories not to miss

Last week Total Telecom published over 220 news stories, plus company news, white papers, viewpoints and more, making it the unmissable source of telecom news.

So here are the 10 most popular:

Registered users can now access all Total Telecom stories up to 1-month old.

Breakfast: #LTE Opportunities, Register for free

The successful ‘Breakfast with Total Telecom’ series continues in 2012; our first edition will take place on March 14^th focusing on the hot topic of LTE opportunities. Our fantastic line up of speakers will take the stand to discuss their strategies and ideas within the LTE space for 2012 and beyond.

Join the breakfast briefing and hear from:

Kevin Baughan, Director Metro Wireless, Virgin Media, discussing the role that small cell technology will play in creating truly super connected cities across the UK.

Dan Warren, Senior Director Technology, GSMA, will be looking at the true path to 4G and why we have to make the journey.

Francesco Liberatore, Associate, Jones Day will be focusing on the legal challenges associated with LTE opportunities; and the tension between current policy objectives and what the rules allow.

Following on from the presentations we have our panel discussion comprising of

Steven Hartley – Principal Analyst – Ovum Telco Strategy Practice
Ajay Joseph – CTO – iBasis (A KPN company)
Philip Marnick – CTO – UK Broadband (A PCCW company)
Kevin Baughan – Director Metro Wireless – Virgin Media
Dan Warren – Senior Director Technology – GSMA

This panel discussion will be looking at the current scenario in the LTE space whilst also examining the case studies and looking at the opportunities for Telco’s to exploit.

Our sponsors for the event are:

UK Broadband, holders of the largest commercial LTE network in the UK.

iBasis, the leading international voice carrier and a provider of data services for mobile operators.

Join Breakfast with Total Telecom March 14^th and discover the LTE opportunities. This event is free for operators, click here to register.

Get more from @totaltelecom for free: #register

We all like more for less, so more for nothing must be even better! Especially when it comes to registrations and subscriptions.

Total Telecom has adjusted it's access rules, so you need to log-in less often to access our content, and when you do log-in you get more for your time by #registering

In summary:
>> all articles less than 14-days old are now freely available without having to log-in at all
>> registering for access to Total Telecom now gives you:
1. access to articles up to 1-month old
2. the ability to download white papers without having to complete a form each time
3. the daily email newsletter for the latest headlines
4. notifications for the latest issues of Total Telecom+ that you can view online, on your iPad or Android tablet or download as a PDF.

Remember the Total Telecom Daily Email is customisable to your interests in your PROFILE - select content areas including Mobility, Media & Entertainment, Business & Regulatory, Networks & Services, Finance, and People.

And if you need more information, Total Telecom still has one of the most extensive archives in telecommunications. Subscriber access allows you to access news and analysis dating back to 1997. Get details on the SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS HERE

It's patently obvious

Is 2012 set to be the year of the patent? A quick search on Total Telecom reveals no less than 12 patent related news stories in the first two weeks of 2012, compared to just 5 in 2011.

With virtually every major player embroiled in some form of patent related action, you can't help but feel that there has been a shift in the telecom industry from selling products and solutions to gaining maximum possible leverage from patents that you hold, can sell or acquire. This message is certainly reinforced by headlines such as:

To keep up with the latest stories in this space, add this RSS feed to your reader

Operators On the Nose

Lunchtime leisure, how are different operators represented on Twitter? I started working down the 2011 Global 100 Operators report to see how different telco's were using Twitter and found some stark (if unscientific) differences.

The most notable thing I observed was that ranking high in the Global 100 in no way correlates with a strong presence on Twitter. Whilst AT&T (#1 G100) are right up there with almost 12,000 followers (@ATTCustomerCare), NTT (#2 G100) aren't. Indeed the only significnat NTT account I could find was @NTT_America which has 787 followers, and China Mobile (#6 G100) don't appear to have a Twitter account at all.

I then enlisted the help of Klout (@klout) to see who they deemed influential and came up with a top 5 that looked like this:

AT&T Inc. (#1 G100)
T-Mobile USA (#4 G100 - Deutsche Telekom)
O2 UK (#5 G100 Telefonica)
Sprint (#14 G100)
BT (#15 G100)

Klout also give an idea of what the Twitters are influential about, so it was interesting to that whilst the top 4 are all deemed influential on Smartphones, only Sprint is deemed influential on Branding and O2 on Social Networks.

Finally, I looked at how Klout classifies the various Twitterers and found all the top 5 to be deemed Pundits- a phrase that to me conjures images of the esteemed John McCririck. With this image in mind I wait to see which major telco CEO is the first to be seen sporting tweeds and deerstalker hat? Anyone think they can get this one On the Nose?

And I'm the Twit!

Just came across my blog post from 6 March 2009 that reads: " Fad maybe, but over 90 people are now following Total Telecom on Twitter".

I'd added a note on 5 May that said now 377 followers. Unfortunately I didn't continue with the updates but now @totaltelecom is at 6,851 followers. Wonder if that's still a fad?

Doesn't quite rank amongst the greatest failed predictions of all time though - but here's a better list "Ten Failed Technology Predictions" from the blog Skeptoid - I especially like "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home"

Total Telecom on #LinkedIn

We're delighted that we now have another way for you to enjoy Total Telecom, via LinkedIn.

This continues our ambition to make it as easy as possible for you to get your daily fix of telecom news wherever you are and on whatever device.

Having Total Telecom on LinkedIn also gives a slightly different perspective to our content. Whilst our homepage www.totaltele.com reflects the stories that our editors feel are the most important, the page on LinkedIn is driven by users, reflecting the articles most shared via Twitter and LinkedIn.

To follow Total Telecom on LinkedIn visit www.linkedin.com/today/totaltele.com

Don't forget to mention @totaltelecom to reference our Twitter account!

Welcome to 2012 - a new year in #telecom

As you warm up for the new year (not literally if you are in London this week), now is the ideal time to look at our special issue of Total Telecom+, Welcome to 2012.

Inside the seasonal cover you'll find a raft of invaluable information including:

A Review of the Year for 2011 - appropriately entitled Deal Breakers after AT&T pulled the plug on its $39 billion merger plan as we were about to go to press!

Our predictions for 2012 including European mobile consolidation, a new owner for Nokia Siemens Networks and an LTE iPhone in 2012.

Phoney War - a look at Mobile device developments

Analyst predictions from leading mobile analyst companies for 2012 and beyond.

The Female of the Species - movers and shakers were lead in 2011 by the women in the industry.

As well as a massive timeline of the year - all the news you cannot afford to have missed...

Of course if you want to catch up on the insight you might have missed in 2011, you ought to check out some of our back issues in the Archive.

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