Eu :: VoIP Biz-News.com

Number of results 17 for eu

23/04/2012 - Swedish operator TeliaSonera to charge for VoIP, Skype

Swedish telecom service provide TeliaSonera is taking a step that other European operators--as well as some of their U.S. counterparts--have been loathe to because of concerns about net neutrality interpretations. The company, today said it would start charging for VoIP calls, including those made across the Skype platform, in an effort to "start exploring new business models."

Not only will it charge for the services, TeliaSonera said that it plans to charge more for VoIP than it does for other data.

The telco said it will bump prices in Sweden and in its Spanish market, too, in an effort to recoup revenues lost as the free services increasingly encroach on voice and SMS revenues.

"We have been in the forefront stating that while prices for voice will continue to come down there must be a stronger correlation between usage and pricing of data," the company wrote in its interim report. "We have been early in introducing tiered pricing of data, lower costs for data roaming and recently openly communicated that we will start to charge for mobile VoIP."

VoIP and Skype have sometimes faced a tough go in Europe as some operators have looked for ways to make it less appealing to consumers.

In March, A Europen telecom regulator accused telecom companies of routinely using traffic management rules to interfere with VoIP traffic as well as peer-2-peer file sharing.

Data from some 400 European operators--250 fixed and 150 mobile--shows blocking of VoIP calls, especially on mobile networks, is common, according to a study from the Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications (BEREC).

For more:
- see this article

17/01/2012 - XConnect Announces Partnership with Germany's DE-CIX

XConnect has entered an exclusive partnership agreement with DE-CIX to establish the first Next Generation Network/VoIP federation in Germany, enabling service providers to directly exchange IP voice and multimedia traffic.

The partnership will create a secure and scalable federation hub and central carrier ENUM-based routing and number-management platform that will enable hundreds of fixed, mobile, ASP and Web 2.0 operators to interconnect securely end to end on an all-IP basis.

Interconnection via the hub will benefit operators significantly. It will reduce the technical complexity and commercial and operational costs of NGN interconnection, allowing for migration from bilateral, legacy-network TDM interconnects to IP. In addition, operators will be able to securely and multilaterally interconnect to multiple networks via a single IP connection to the hub, supporting the interworking and interoperability of IP voice and multimedia services, such as HD voice, video and Unified Communications.

The ENUM registry will, for the first time, offer a central number-management and number-portability platform for German operators, facilitating ENUM-based number discovery and routing that will enable calls to be delivered accurately and directly across networks.

DE-CIX, a wholly owned subsidiary of the largest European Internet industry association, eco, already provides direct and settlement-free Internet interconnection infrastructure services to more than 400 operators.

The partnership agreement announced today combines DE-CIX’s experience in managing high-volume Internet exchange services and market reach with XConnect’s expertise and global leadership in carrier-neutral NGN interconnection services and technology. XConnect currently operates other national federations in Europe, Asia and Africa, and the company is in talks about establishing additional federations.

10/10/2011 - EU gives nod to Microsoft's $8.5B Skype acquisition

The European Union, as expected, has approved Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) $8.5 billion acquisition of VoIP provider Skype, meaning the company has cleared the last major hurdle to closing the deal it proposed in May. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission already has OK'd the purchase.

Despite some concerns expressed that a Microsoft-Skype tie up would impact competition in the European VoIP market, European regulators disagreed.

"The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of the Internet voice and video communication provider Skype by Microsoft because the deal would not significantly impede effective competition, " a release from the EU said, pointing out that the market-and the number of companies competing in the space-has grown.

"This is an important milestone, as we've now received clearance from both the United States and the European Union," Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said. "We look forward to completing soon the final steps needed to close the acquisition."

Microsoft plans to integrate Skype services into a number of its products, including the Xbox, Kinect, Windows Phone and other Windows devices, as well as services like Lync, Outlook and Xbox Live.

For more:
- see this article

16/09/2010 - TalkSwitch UK Distributor ICON Expands Coverage to Ireland

TalkSwitch announces it has appointed ICON as distributor for Ireland. This expands ICON's market, which includes the United Kingdom. ICON has a proven record with TalkSwitch IP PBX phone systems and outstanding reseller support, making it ideal to service Ireland.

Supporting up to 64 users per location, TalkSwitch IP PBX phone systems come loaded with the features small businesses need to sound professional, save money and stay connected anywhere. The features include built-in voicemail, voicemail to e-mail, auto attendants, call forwarding to mobiles, remote management and support for analogue and IP handsets.

15/07/2010 - Sonus expands to Central and Eastern Europe with NewTelco partnership

Sonus Networks and NewTelco, an infrastructure supplier in the EU region, have announced a partnership that will help bring Sonus to more markets in Central and Eastern Europe. Sonus will use NewTelco's relationships with customers throughout the region to offer its VoIP products to new business.

NewTelco will act as a reseller of the complete Sonus product portfolio, including the GSX9000 Open Services Switch, PSX Call Routing Server, SGX Signaling Gateway and the NBS9000 Network Border Switch. The deal will also include the new NBS-5200 Network Border Switch on Sonus' new ConnexIP platform.

"The combination of Sonus' market leading VoIP and session management portfolio and our proven sales and service experience represents a tremendous opportunity as we expand our footprint throughout Europe and the CIS region," said Ivan Soldo, Sales Director for NewTelco in a release.

Back in May, Sonus debuted the NBS-5200 SBC platform, a high density, scalable Session Border Control solution that includes integrated transcoding and media interworking while supporting IPv6 and IPSec encryption, that is also the first product launched on the Sonus ConnexIP platform. The company claims the device is the most advanced SBC on the market today.

For more:
- read the release

01/06/2010 - Eastern Europe Takes Control of VoIP

As VoIP technology expands rapidly throughout the world, Eastern European Communication companies are ensuring their long-term success by demanding the very best services from Industry experts.

By interfacing VoIP networks to traditional SS7 PSTN based telephone networks, companies are looking to rapidly and cost effectively launch VoIP services and distributed networks with incumbent VoIP Media Gateways. Simon Dinnage of Squire-Technologies speaks about the importance of a robust Media Gateway Controller to control third party gateways.

“We developed our SVI-MGC SS7 Media Gateway to enable SS7 on leading VoIP Media Gateways, using industry based standards – MGCP, MEGACO H.248, SIGTRAN, SIP, SIP-I, SIP-T and H.323. This helps operators to reduce costs, increase the speed of deployment and provides a future proof NGN solution. Our system has had to be fully featured to exceed the demands of East European and ICS providers while still reducing the cost per installed E1 port. We are able to scale the SVI-MGC to match clients bandwidth requirements as and when needed through software based license key updates. Our rapid remote deployment removes the time, cost and issues of shipment.”

World leading providers IPVOIP s.r.o, based in the Czech Republic, are a universal Carrier providing both TDM and VoIP services to wholesale and retail markets throughout Europe and CIS. “We adapt our network in accordance with our partners and clients needs” says Dmitry Shubin Director of Business development at IPVoIP s.r.o “We offer a premium quality service at the lowest and most competitive prices in the market. To ensure this level of service we chose the SVI MGC management to maintain SS7 calls on our existing Cisco gateways. We can see why Squire-Technologies are the industry experts they are providing unprecedented levels of control while delivering astounding results, as a result our customers will experience best service available in the market”.

Simon Dinnage concluded “As the UK’s premier provider of SS7 / VoIP technology our focus on delivering to industry leading standards of customer service, evolving technology, adaptable solutions and highly competitive pricing structures has been the key to our success throughout the world.“

11/05/2010 - Verizon Business Unveils New Fixed Mobile Convergence Offering in Europe

Verizon Business introduces Global Fixed Mobile Convergence, a new service that can significantly reduce mobile phone roaming charges for European workers who make and receive calls outside of their home service area.

The new service also offers a universal phone number with "find me/follow me" capabilities to reach employees on a wireline or mobile phone for immediate attention, reducing the number of voicemails and spurring productivity.

Using advanced software from MobileMax, Verizon Global Fixed Mobile Convergence determines cost-effective routing for mobile calls. The service dynamically directs calls to either Verizon's cloud-based global voice-over-IP communications platform, powered by Broadsoft, or to the customer's mobile network service if that is the more cost-effective option. This is particularly powerful in helping to contain roaming costs for workers placing and receiving calls outside of their network coverage area, or when making international calls from their home country.

Verizon Global FMC is available immediately to Verizon Business customers in nine European countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. In addition, enterprises headquartered in the U.S. and Asia-Pacific can also take advantage of the offering for employees based in this initial service area.

The new enterprise solution works with an array of mobile devices across most GSM-based mobile operator networks located throughout the initial service area. As a result, new and existing companies can achieve cost-savings for international mobile calls without any additional capital investment and without changing mobile operators or company-issued handsets.

Verizon Global FMC will be integrated next month with the company's VoIP platform, enabling more advanced capabilities afforded by PBX office phone systems and cost savings opportunities for Verizon Global FMC customers who are also Verizon VoIP customers. By combining the power of voice over IP in a mobile, wireless environment, individuals will be able to activate the same familiar office phone features directly from their mobile handset.

Verizon Business' unified communications and mobility consultants can help businesses prepare for and employ Verizon Global FMC in the context of their overall UC&C and mobility strategies. The new service complements Verizon's comprehensive suite of unified communications and collaboration solutions, and is being integrated with Verizon Managed Mobility to simplify management of a multitude of global devices, expenses and applications across multiple carriers around the globe.

In a separate announcement Tuesday (May 11), the company introduced Enterprise Mobility as a Service, a cloud-based solution for businesses to more simply and cost-effectively manage and use mobile devices to access corporate resources.

12/01/2010 - Skype Names David Gurle to Lead Skype for Business Team

Skype today announced that it has hired David Gurle as the new General Manager and Vice President of its Skype for Business unit. He replaces Stefan Oberg, who will be leaving Skype in March 2010.

"Moving forward, our goal is to educate and attract larger organizations that can not only save money by using Skype to communicate, but also increase their organizational productivity and enhance the way they interact with customers around the globe," said David Gurle.

07/12/2009 - Why is Net Neutrality is important to start-ups?

GigaOm says, just ask anyone using voice-over-IP in countries like Singapore or China to find out... Article

09/11/2009 - Euro-VoIP Telio posts strong Q3

European VoIP provider Telio posted strong numbers in its recent earnings release. Operating profits increased by 43 percent in third quarter 2009 while revenues were up NOK 3.3 million coming in at NOK 96.3 million from NOK 93 million from the same quarter last year.

"We have continued to deliver record results for the last 10 quarters, and we are naturally very satisfied with revenue growth and 43 percent growth in operating profit compared to third quarter 2008," said Eirik Lunde, CEO of Telio Holding ASA in the release.

The Norway based VoIP provider has recently expanded its business into Holland and Denmark. Blogger Jon Arnold calls them the Vonage of Europe and has made a number of comparisons between the two companies offering that Telio is doing a number of things Vonage could do to increase their success. Vonage recently posted losses for Q3.

For more:
- read the release
- read Arnold's blog post

29/10/2009 - BT Brings Unlimited Calls to Businesses

BT announces it is offering unlimited fixed line calling packages for small businesses. The new high value BT Business One Plan Inclusive packages offer unlimited calling minutes to UK landlines, UK mobiles, international destinations and 0845 and 0870 numbers for a fixed fee*.

BT Business is also offering businesses greater savings by introducing 500 free UK calling minutes per calendar month per line (fixed or VoIP).**

Businesses opting for one of the new BT Business One Plan Inclusive packages can also combine unlimited calls with a range of communications options including broadband and mobile, consolidating their fixed, mobile and broadband spend under One Plan.

Under BT Business One Plan all service and billing enquiries are dealt with through one number, and customers will receive one bill for all services. BT Business Broadband offers a 99.99% reliable broadband service; nine out of 10 faults are resolved in under four hours and 95% of calls to the 24/7 UK help desk are answered within 30 seconds.

*Available to customers that (re)sign to OnePlan by 30.04.10. Minimum yearly spend and requires commitment to 2 core products. Fee - £15 per month - further reduced to £12.50 per month if customers take the unlimited package on a VoIP line. Fair usage policy applies.

**Offer ends 30.04.10. Exclusions, terms and conditions apply.

05/04/2009 - Skype iPhone restrictions stir up lobbying to Europe, FCC

The release of Skype for iPhone may have opened a Pandora's box of legal headaches for carriers. In Europe, Deutsche Telekom (DT) has said it will prohibit the use of VoIP apps on its 3G network, restrict use of said apps on the company's hotspot network, and cancel the contract of customers who try to work around the restrictions. Meanwhile, public advocacy group Free Press is asking the Federal Communications Commission to investigate AT&T's implementation of Skype on the iPhone, wondering if restricting use of Skype to WiFi and locking out 3G is a violation of federal law.

Skype is turning up its political lobbying efforts to turn up the heat on DT, calling on supporters to contact European politicians in a blog posting. The Voice on the Net (VON) coalition Europe (http://www.voneurope.eu/, not to be confused with the American version or the dead trade show, is also gearing up against DT's banning of Skype for iPhone with a press statement saying that blocking of voice apps on mobile devices is "highly detrimental" for European consumers; Skype is a member of the group, along with Google, Microsoft, and Intel.

On Friday, Free Press called for the FCC to confirm that wireless networks must adhere to the FCC Internet Policy Statement, saying that consumers should have the right to access any online content and services on any device of their choosing. Skype for iPhone is one of three examples cited where wireless vendors are limiting the functionality of applications and/or content.

Whether or not the FCC as currently constituted is in any shape to make a policy statement is another issue. Currently, Michael Copps is serving as acting FCC chairman while Julius Genachowski awaits confirmation on Capitol Hill, while there are only two other FCC Commissioners seated at this time.

For more:
- PC World about the call for FCC review. Article.
- Skype blogs about DT banning Skype for iPhone.
- Free Press calls for FCC examination of Skype for iPhone blocking. Post.

08/01/2009 - UK VoIP Distributor ICON Adds TalkSwitch IP-PBX Phone Systems

TalkSwitch has appointed ICON as its distributor for the United Kingdom. At recommended retail prices starting from GBP499, TalkSwitch comes complete with an extensive feature set that includes built-in voicemail, auto-attendant greetings, call forwarding to mobiles, remote management, and support for both analogue and IP handsets for up to 16 extensions, with modular growth to 64.

"TalkSwitch is an established and proven product in the UK, delivering an exceptional value. We are especially pleased to have been chosen as the strategic partner for the UK market. TalkSwitch offers our channel partners a very cost-competitive and versatile solution for their SME customers," said David Marshall, Technical Director at ICON.

"We are very pleased to partner with ICON to build on the increasing popularity of TalkSwitch in the UK market. ICON is an experienced value-added distributor specializing in VoIP products, with nationwide regional account managers, and a strong focus on channel and technical support," said Jan Scheeren, president and CEO, TalkSwitch.

16/12/2008 - Patton Opens Sales Office in Milan to Support Rising Demand

Patton has inaugurated a regional sales office in Milan, Italy. As Patton's center of operations and business development for Southern Europe, the Milan office supplies Patton's full catalog of over 1,000 data, voice, VoIP, and triple-play networking products to carriers, enterprises, VARs, and integrators throughout the region.

The announcement follows recent carrier Ethernet rollouts from KPN, Tiscali, and AT&T.

As operators and enterprises migrate to all-IP services such as VoIP, carrier Ethernet and digital TV, Patton's Milan office is strategically located to support evolving network infrastructures in southern Europe.

Patton's catalog now includes the recently acquired OnSite S10 next-generation network transport product line that supports seamless migration to IP/Ethernet services while interfacing to existing SONET/SDH networks.

Commissioned in July and operational since August, the Milan operations center provides business partners with local-language marketing, administration, technical support, and training.

During 2008, Patton trained Certified SmartNode Specialists through a global training program delivered in five languages at locations including Bern, Paris, Prague, London, and Barcelona, and recently, the Milan office.

Patton VoIP solutions have won Internet Telephony's Product of the Year Award for three consecutive years. In September, Patton announced a high-precision clock feature for SmartNode that solves VoIP Interop challenges for DECT, PBX, and FAX in ISDN deployments.

13/11/2008 - EU Investigating Mobile Operators Blocking VoIP

An inquiry has been launched by the European Union into whether blocks on VoIP service by Europe's mobile phone operators are in breach of competition laws.
The EU's antitrust authority has written to every mobile phone operators how they deal with internet based voice calls.

17/09/2008 - European VoIP Spending to Rise to USD $12bn in 2012

Market intelligence expert IDC forecasts that VoIP spending in Europe will grow at a CAGR of 22 per cent, from USD $4.6 billion in 2007 to $12.4 billion in 2012.
The projected increase represents about a third of the TDM-based voice services market.

08/09/2008 - credativ UK Launches Open Source Telephony Consultancy and Support

credativ launched its new Open Source Telephony service, as part of its Open Source Support Centre, which offers 24/7 support. The new telephony service provides consultancy, specification and implementation of open source based PBX telephony systems using VoIP.

credativ supports a range of tried and tested open source software based platforms including Asterisk, SIP express router, and trixbox to provide all the features currently available from a hard wired PBX. Through open source based PBXs and switching platforms, credativ offers cost effective alternatives to existing telephony and traditional PBX systems.

By installing open source PBX systems with a switching platform such as VoIP, the new consultancy provides businesses with customised phone systems that incorporate new features such as voice mail and teleconferencing, in addition to facilitating least cost routing.

Open Source Telephony systems can be configured for use with current and next generation telephone networks to provide benefits such as free VoIP calls and low cost mobile phone calls. credativ's new service provides support for IP PBX platforms which can run on a wide variety of operating systems including Linux and Solaris. Open source telephony has features to develop advanced communications systems at relatively low cost, so access to an advanced telephony system can be achieved quickly and simply.

Businesses with existing telephone systems can also benefit without compromising their current investment. credativ can provide advice on open source solutions that compliment and increase existing system efficiency and functionality.

Open Source Telephony is the future for businesses looking for a competitive edge. credativ is synonymous with providing an operating advantage to companies in challenging markets.

Key services available from credativ include:

Consultancy (System appraisal and feasibility assessment)

Infrastructure design and deployment (including VoIP/PBX options)

Failover, clustering and high availability solutions

Custom feature and application development

Project Management/Implementation and configuration

Performance monitoring and optimisation

Training including user documentation

Support service (up to 24hrs/day, 7 days/week)