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Table of Contents:
 TMF Gets Into Content Delivery
Comcast: Balancing Network Management with Net Neutrality?
Sprint Nextel Unveils New Bill Format
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TMF Gets Into Content Delivery
The TMF’s November catalyst in Dallas will mark a foray into new territory: content delivery. Deemed “Content Encounter,” the purpose of the initiative will be to empower network operators to lead the charge toward personalization. As location-based, presence- and social networking services evolve, the TMF wants to drive telcos to leverage existing infrastructure so that cable, search and Internet companies can take advantage of existing infrastructure. Most stakeholders in the content delivery chain lack sophisticated activation and provisioning, AAA, charging, billing, customer care and multi-party settlement systems. By creating and endorsing an open framework, the TMF hopes all stakeholders will more readily share content to drive innovation and position telcos as leaders.
Within its virtual “village” called Forumville, TMF members will demonstrate how the same piece of content can be repurposed for all “three screens”—PCs, mobile devices, and TVs. By showing how one-off integrations can be eliminated, the TMF hopes to mitigate the need for operational silos that currently plague convergent service bundles.
The project is sponsored by AT&T, and thus far involves Leapstone (acquired by Motorola), IBM, Alcatel-Lucent, Microsoft, Cognizant, and content provider Westwood One. Each member is working on different pieces of an overall framework through which content will be “normalized” for standardized formatting that allows all parties to ingest content—regardless of their esoteric needs.
Comcast: Balancing Network Management with Net Neutrality?
The AP confirmed through its own nationwide tests that Comcast Corp. has been blocking some online file sharing. That raised a few eyebrows, since the FCC had ruled that AT&T and other service providers would have to agree not to block Internet traffic of any type. Comcast denies blocking “access” to applications such as BitTorrent, eDonkey and Gnutellaefforts, but it concedes it uses “sophisticated network management tools” to ensure the bandwidth-hungry music, movie and software files do not slow other subscribers’ Internet speeds.
Comcast’s denial of blocking “access” to file sharing applications raises the question of what is “access.” For now, subscribers can download files without interference, but uploads are blocked or delayed through messages that tell the PCs to “stop communicating,” according to the AP tests, which reports the messages do not originate on either PC in the sharing interaction.
Critics liken it to an operator breaking it into a phone conversation and disguising its voice to sound like the other person to end the conversation. Comcast argues, however, that “traffic shaping” is necessary to be fair to the majority of Internet users. The AP cited traffic management vendor ipoque GmbH, which earlier this year indicated that peer-to-peer applications can account for as much as 90 percent of overall Internet traffic.
The cable giant complains that small groups of subscribers bog down Internet speeds for the greater whole of subscribers. Though some of the file sharing involves legitimate content, Comcast also contends that much of the content is pirated music, software, and video.
AT&T and other telcos will no doubt watch the FCC’s reaction to Comcast closely. There is a nuance of difference in that telcos have been warned about discriminating based on the origin of traffic, whereas Comcast is discriminating according to traffic type. In 2005, the FCC tried to strike a balance but in some ways fostered ambiguity by acknowledging consumers should be entitled to run applications and services of their choice, but also conceding that carriers would have to employ “reasonable network management” to ensure quality to customers.
Sprint Nextel Unveils New Bill Format
Sprint Nextel redesigned its bills to improve customer satisfaction. It’s no secret that most consumers get lost in the sheer volume of data presented on their bills. As of press time, little specifics were offered by Sprint Nextel, but it has stated in its press releases that its redesigned bills will be easier to read. That has been achieved, according to Sprint Nextel, by adopting best practices touted by companies that boast high customer satisfaction ratings around billing.
The most drastic change will be the fact the average bill will shrink from seven pages to about three. That was achieved by removing CDRs from the paper bill. Instead, the company will drive customers to the Internet, where they can view details. Customers can also receive their new bills via email. Sprint Nextel hopes to increase interest in EBPP by enabling people to make automatic payments using their bank accounts or credit cards online.
The company also has mentioned that it would eventually pursue more personalized marketing by targeting messages to geography and relevancy to the individual customer. Consumers will be migrated to the new bill in phases, and Sprint Nextel believes the new bill will replace the old completely by year’s end.
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