German VoIP Consultation

REGTP has noticed that telecommunications networks will largely convert to packet switched technologies. Businesses are increasingly using IP-based applications for their internal and external voice communication. In Germany VoIP service offers also has been targeted at the mass market. The strong growth in broadband connections is now making this look a distinct possibility. Securing the interoperability of services and networks is therefore likely to become more important than ever for the regulators.

Guess who is the biggest voice over IP service provider in the US?

You probably said Vonage, which has roughly 200,000 paying customers. Wrong. There's another company with more than four times the subscribers delivering voice capability over broadband. It's a company you've probably heard of, though not in this context.

Give up? It's Microsoft, with its XBox live online gaming service. Xbox Live has over one million paying customers for multi-player online games. And all of them have a headset that plugs into the game console, enabling real-time voice communications with other players (TCS, August 25th, Kevin Werbach).

With the aim of the German VoIP Consultation, REGTP is seeking for clarification on how VoIP services should be regulated and how they are to be classified under the EC directives and the German Telecommunications Act. The main subjects of the public consultation are:

1.Competitive developments of VoIP;
- Business models
- Regulatory classification of VoIP models
- Numbering
- Access/ Interconnection
- Market entry barriers
2. Consumer protection and public interest
- Universal service, obligations for providers
- Telecommunications privacy
- Data protection
- Emergency calls
- Technical safeguards
- Technical implementation of intercepts
- Directory enquiry procedures

REGTP, without being explicit about it, is trying to implement the harmonised approach of regulation of electronic communications of the European Community. This approach is characterised by a three stage process with respect to regulatory obligations:
1. Market definition: NRAs define markets susceptible to ex ante regulation, appropriate to national circumstances
2. Market analysis: NRAs analyse the degree of competition on the market in a manner consistent with SMP Guidelines
3. Remedies: NRAs match the competition problems and the remedies avaibable.

Much of the consultation of REGTP has to do with stage one, the market definition:
- Is the concept of publicly available telecommunications services relevant?
- Is the concept of publicly available telecommunications network operator relevant.

I’ll have my fingers crossed. Kevin Werbach in his article in TCS, makes it very clear, that VoIP isn’t the same thing as telephony. The headset of the Xbox, enabling real-time communications with other players, the online users of Playstation 2, AOL’s ICQ and AIM, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger offering voice chat features, the extensive VoIP functionality of Microsoft Windows Longhorn, all these developments make clear that voice communication will become a standard feature of many applications! By the way, I checked Microsoft didn't hand in a Stellungnahme to REGTP.

Visit to Jan Smits

Monday I visited Jan Smits at home in Utrecht. Jan holds a chair in Law and Technology at the University of Eindhoven. We are working together in projects concerning digital radio, FTTH and telecom regulation.

We talked about the poor performance of DGTP of the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the Netherlands. First I assumed it had something to do with a lack of professionalism. But this is unfair to the staff members working in the Ministry. After studying several documents about the European regulatory framework, the real explanation should be sought in the weak position of DGTP and the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the policy making process of the European Community.

The starting point for policy making of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and DGTP in particular is formed by the common regulatory framework for electronic communications and services. The preceding policy process consists of reviews, public consultation and hearings, working documents and proposals. During this process, DGTP is just one of many contributors, like other Governments, Regulatory Authorities, Industry Associations, Consumer and user bodies, market players and other commercial organisations, research institutions and universities. Later, in the Netherlands, the directives of the European Community are implemented in the Dutch Telecommunication Act. OPTA and the other National Regulatory Authorities (NRA’s) increasingly work together to ensure a consistent and harmonised approach for the regulation of electronic communications.

The preceding makes clear that the European Directives are far more important then the Dutch Telecommunications Act and that the role of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and DGTP today is modest. I wonder which competences are realistic and necessary to establish a better performance of DGTP in the communication policy making process for the Netherlands.

FTTH: Amsterdam compared with Nuenen

In the Netherlands roll out of FTTH will happen at last. In Nuenen, according to the expectations, by the end of 2004 all households have been connected on the fiber optic network. Amsterdam has started with a public invitation to tender. Although the aim is the same, the approach by the municipalities is totally different.

Amsterdam is forging ahead with plans to connecting all 450,000 homes, businesses and organizations in the city with a fiber optic access-network. The Municipal Executive has declared that it strives for that open and universal infrastructure to reach every Amsterdam household, business and institution by 2010. The local authority will not be supplying those connections, but will entrust that task to an intended development company, Citynet Amsterdam (www.citynet.nl). This will be a communications network which is accessible to all service providers subject to the same favorable conditions, while ensuring that no vertical integration or undesirable monopolies emerge. With regard to the services, the underlying principle is that at least three basic types will be offered via this network: TV, telephone services and Internet data transmission(‘triple play’) plus services using low cost high bandwidth Intranet-type data transmission within the network.

Citynet Fiber Amsterdam will be the owner and financier of the passive infrastructure. The passive component of this infrastructure will then be let to a wholesale network operator for an agreed period of time (10 years) and the latter will operate the network subject to certain terms and conditions. This operator will be responsible for putting the network into service.

In Nuenen, 97% of the residents have signed a contract to connect their homes to the local fiber optic network. The residents, by their membership of the Nuenen Cooperative Telecom Association Our net, are joint owner and shareholder of the Network Exploitation Society (NEM). These NEM has given to Dutch company VolkerWessels the assignment to build broadband optic fibre network, with the guarantee that it must remain operational for at least 10 years. The construction of the fiber optic network will take place within the built-up area of the town of Nuenen. At the start, the services offered will be high-speed internet access and the opportunity to subscribe to a VoIP telephony service. The negotiations concerning radio - and television services are at an advanced stage.

In the short term, the approach of Nuenen offers many advantages above the approach in Amsterdam.

Marketing
The marketing in Nuenen is very successful. In a short periode one has reached 97% penetration. This success can be explained by the subsidy supplied by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Every participating household acquires the right for complete compensation of the connection costs of 500 euro and the fee for subscription to high-speed Internet.

Project management
Nuenen realiseert de aansluitingen bijzonder snel. All houses of which become the eigenaren or tenants that have announced for 1 august next, to provide with a glass fibre connection for 31 December 2004. In Nuenen zijn initiatiefnemers, eigenaren, opdrachtgevers en contractonderhandeling namens de afnemers, allemaal bij één en dezelfde partij. Zowel de passieve als de actieve infrastructuur wordt door Volker Wessels geleverd. Dit maakt dat de slagvaardigheid groot is

Knowledge
In Nuenen there are a just a minor legal problems to solve. They don’n have to gain in-depth knowledge concerning all kinds of problems with NMa, OPTA and existing service providers. Also there are no complex organisational problems. VolkerWessels takes the responsibility for the design, construction, management and maintenance of the fiber optic network. Therefore, there are no uncertainties caused by lack of knowledge.

I belief the Amsterdam approach is more sustainable than Nuenen approach in the long run. There is more thorough knowledge of fiber optic networks and the organisation is much more robust. It seems history repeats itself. We'll still travel to Amsterdam go to the Van Gogh museum, although it was in Nuenen that Van Gogh painted most or his Dutch paintings. Amsterdam will draw a lot of attention, but Nuenen wil be the first Dutch town with a fiber optic network.

Next blog???

I accepted entirely Google Ad's are shown at the top of my weblog. A few days ago, Google decided it would be nice to show NavBar instead. What for? I already could search a web page by means of my browser. Therefore’s no added value in it. BlogThis! and Get your own blog seem nice. But I really am frustrated about the Next blog option. Choosing this option, several of my weblog readers visited the weblog of Jenny who had a very weird dream last night. This isn’t funny at all.

How easy is it to change from Blogger to Typepad? Or are there still better alternatives?

FTTx Knowledge update

Yesterday I wondered how I could brush up my knowledge about FTTx in a fast and effective manner. After some Google searches, I noticed an interesting conference. Particularly the track concerning Business Issues is promising a lot of state-of-the-art knowledge.

• Latest Developments in the Legal Issues surrounding Fiber Projects, Jim Baller
  Marketing FTTH Services to the Customer, the Things You Need to Know, Hilde Verhaegen
• Single-Service Cost Recovery for FTTP, Guy Swindell
• The Real Deal about the Fiber Thrill - Real World Case Study of Fiber Deployments, Eniola Campbell
• Why Stop at a "Triple" When You Can Have a Grand Slam?, Derrick Herbst
• If You Build It…Will They Come? FTTH Consumer Marketing and Take Rates, Michael Render
• An Approach to Securing Video Services Via Broadband IP Networks (IPTV), Bo Ferm
• Focused Solutions to Complex Wired Community Transactions Issues, Lawrence Freedman
• The Fiber Advantage for Delivering Advanced Video Services, Yvette Kanouff
• Pondering PON Deployment, Phillip Elliott
• FTTH from Three Perspectives, Allison Hift, Esq.
• Why Should I Deploy Fiber for my Development? The Basics for Real Estate Developers, Diane Kruse

Visit of Marcelino Kropman

Yesterday, Marcelino Kropman came to visit our office. Marcelino is a former manager of Interpolis and Univé, currently director of Euphyia. Euphia is his privately owned business consultancy firm. Marcelino wants to write a thorough report about the C2000 project in the Netherlands.

The C2000 project is a joint initiative of the Ministries of Interior and Kingdom Relations, of Justice, of Defence and of Public Health, Welfare and Sports. The intention is to replace the approximately 100 regional analogous radio networks, which are in use for the mobile communication at different regional police, ambulance fire centres and the royal military police, by one digital radio network on the basis of the Tetra-standard. This new network is named the C2000 radio network.

Marcelino wanders if this very costly C2000 project couldn’t have been organised in a different, more efficient way. I wish him all the luck of the world. It won't be an easy task to open up all the secret doors to unclosed information of this notorious complex project

Skype Business Strategy

We all wonder how Skype will make money and give their investors a attractive return on investment. Andy Abramson hopes some VC's helps him to resolve the mystery.

VC on Skype: A Wolf In Sheeps Clothing or A Rooster In The Hen House

I half thought about blogging the recent E-Commerce News item about Skype and what one of their VC's had to say but decided to wait for those more schooled in the VC world to comment. Malik's stint as an investment banker and VC makes him the perfect commentator on this story. Now I'm only waiting for Ted Shelton, another one of the insightful and rightful bloggers who have enough of what it takes to really get under the hood of the hype to tell, not sell, the story.

Andy Abramsom refers to VC Steve Jurvetson in eCommerce Times.

"One day, we will look back and wonder why we ever paid for phone service, in the same way that we now look back and wonder why we ever paid for e-mail," says Steve Jurvetson, a managing partner at venture-capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson. His firm was one of the early investors in both Hotmail and Skype. Jurvetson and other investors see Skype as a massive multibillion-dollar business ultimately and hope it will be the next big tech IPO after search-engine Google goes public this month (eCommerce Times, August 14, 2004)."

Of course Steve Jurvetson isn't telling you the complete story. Free phone service is just a small piece of the business strategy of Skype (see wednesday July, 28th of this weblog).

Here is maybe another piece of the profit pattern of Skype:
Soon Skype will develop some amazing new functionality, which is only available in a premium version, but will cost just a few extra euro’s … Another possiblity to make profit happen.

PURE Digital Bug Revisited

Concerning the FCC, I always thought they are among the first to signal new developments which need ajustments of current legislation. Somehow the RIAA missed the market launch of the PURE Digital Bug.

Radio broadcasters have begun rolling out a new digital radio technology, known as "HD Radio," which piggybacks digital signals onto traditional analog FM and AM frequencies. The new technology, developed by iBiquity, is meant to supplement, not replace, traditional analog radio.

The recording industry sees the introduction of this new radio technology as an opportunity to renew their decades long effort to take away your right to make personal recordings off the air. Taking a page from the movie business, the recording industry is asking the FCC to force technology companies to incorporate "content protection" technologies that would hobble home recording technologies for HD Radio. Led by the RIAA, the recording industry is particularly eager to make sure that there will never be a TiVo-like recorder for radio. (EFF, August 6th, 2004)

When visiting their website recently, I noticed PURE digital named their TiVo-like recorder ReVu. I think I should give FCC and RIAA a call. This will speed-up their communication processes a little bit more. By the way, the French verb revu is meaning Reconsider. Spread the word!

Major OFCOM report released

The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union released in 2002 Directive 2002/21/EC on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services in 2002. Anticipating on the convergence of the telecommunications, media and information technology sectors, networks and services are covered by a single regulatory framework. Since then, most country’s in Europe have released new Communication Acts.

Ofcom is the regulator for the UK communications industries, with responsibilities across television, radio, telecommunications and wireless communications services. Ofcom exists to further the interests of citizen-consumers as the communications industries enter the digital age.

This month, Ofcom released the first in a series of annual Communication Market reports, The Communications Market 2004. I strongly advise everybody who is interested in business and regulator affairs to read the Overview. Ofcom is by my knowledge, the first communication regulator in the world, which really has an interesting overview across the electronic communications sector, covering television, radio and telecoms. Today, I only summarize chapter 2 of the overview, concerning recent major developments:

1. Radio spearheads the move towards convergence,
2. Progress towards a digital UK continues,
3. Household usage of communications services increase,
4. Public service broadcasting continues to face challenges,
5. Increased competition in telecoms – consolidation in broadcasting,
6. International regulatory developments (not the most informative section, Hotze),
7. The balance of industry finance shifts

Of course, the report gives a wealth of facts and stories from across the communications industries. But that’s not what makes this report so important. The importance is that Ofcom leading the way by showing how a regulator can contribute to the rapid development of converging communications markets.

Visit to Prismant

Yesterday, I visited Herbert van Petersen, senior-consultant of Prismant, former director of BMLc, and a former colleague of mine. I had lunch with him, the canteen test was quite succesfull.

He started working for Prismant just a few weeks ago. Prismant is the consulting and research office for the Dutch health care. Their aim is to develop, assist and evaluate developments in the Dutch health care. They work for care institutions, government, and insurance company’s. The work area covers both the macro economic and the micro economic aspects of health care. Core issue’s are policy making, budgetting, care processes, organisational processes, information techniques and information products. Moreover Prismant organises topic-related education. Prismant is a not-for-profit organisation.

Prismant has always had a very strong position in the heathcare information market of the Netherlands. But it's position is weakening, because nowadays, most health care organisations have adapted a lot of knowlegde which used to be supplied by Prismant. So, although not for profit, they have to rase their Business IQ. Herbert is one of the new business people of Prismant.

We talked a bit about change management for organisations with a lot of highly qualified professionals. In a few years time, Prismant has to be an example of what David Maister calls The Professional Service Firm. As a former director of BMLc, I'm sure he will fix the transformation of Prismant. Not on his own. Maybe with a little bit help of his friends. But I know he is capable of doing a lot all by himself.

Business IQ and Regulator Affairs

Regulations of new electronic communications services like VoIP en digital radio are a hot topic in the U.S. A lot of opinion leaders follow closely the steps of the FCC.

Broadband providers and Internet phone services must comply with wiretapping requirements designed for the traditional phone network, the Federal Communications Commission said in a preliminary decision Wednesday.

The 5-0 vote by the FCC is a major step toward regulations designed to help police and spy agencies eavesdrop on all forms of high-speed Internet access, including cable modems, wireless, satellite and broadband over power lines (News.com, August 4th, 2004).

Skype CEO Niklas Zennstrom believes Skype has no legal obligation to provide any means for interception in his company's VoIP software. How will U.S. governemt force a company based in Luxembourg to insert backdoors in its software when it has no obligation to do so? (News.com, August 9th, 2004).

Responding to new technology and consumer demand, the telecom market surpasses whatever legislators could have envisioned in 1996, as telecommunication companies are implementing new business models. The legal distinctions maintained in telecom law don’t make any sense in light of the reality of the communications marketplace (LocalTechWire, August, 8th, 2004).

Telecommunications services in the EU are governed under the 2003 Regulatory Framework (the New Regulatory Framework (NRF). Some VoIP and associated convergent services do not fit within the NRF. The European Commission has issued a study which identifies and explains the important issues associated with the transition from the existing circuit-switched telephone network (PSTN) to IP packet-switched networks for the provision of voice and associated convergent services. These main issues are:
- Definition of Public Available Telephony Services and access to emergency services;
- Location independence and emergency access;
- Network availability in cases of disaster;
- Possible pressure on national numbering plans;
- Possible issues arising from extraterritorial service providers.

For instance, whether or not a VoIP service is a PATS (Public Available Telephony Service), has important implications for the provider of the service:
- having the ability to make international calls using the 00 prefix;
- to have a phone bill;
- to be able to prevent publication of the number in directories;
- to be able to block certain numbers from calling the number;
- to be able to withhold the number when making calls.

In my opinion there is a strong relation between Business IQ and Regulatory Affairs. The Business IQ of VoIP service providers all has to do with pricing, quality and strategic positions of the incumbent telco’s.
The former EU regulatory framework for telecommunications has been successful in creating the conditions for effective competition in the telecommunications sector during the transition from monopoly to full competition. The current framework is designed to establish open network provision. All transmission networks and services are covered by a single regulatory framework, which anticipates on the convergence of the telecommunications, media and information technology sectors.

The essential questions for the National Regulatory Authorities should be:
- What will be new relevant markets?
- What in these markets, is the dominant Business IQ?
- Which kind of behaviour of market players should be regulated?
- What do we need to effectively influence behaviour in the right directions?

These questions are just as essential for the incumbent. Existing regulation can have substantial negative effects on the pace of adaptation of IP technology! For instance, if Skype really is a disrupting innovation, the incumbent telco’s are going to study current regulations trying to slow down Skype’s business. From the point of view of the incumbent, it would be of great help if Skype might be obliged to supply something they are incapable of providing. But this is a defensive strategy which only will work temporarily. It would be much better for them, if telco’s would concentrate on the same essential questions as the EU and National Regulatory Authorities. This will surely give them better opportunities in new communication markets.

Two billion DAB euro's

Last week I received the The Catalyst in my e-mailbox. It is the e-zine of db Europe. Like always director Willem Toerink enthusiastically writes about its pursuit to play a role in the introduction of digital radio in the Netherlands.

db Europe solves the problem of the government.

db Europe communicates that it has submitted a business plan at the government that assumes an annual macro economic turnover of 2 billion euro per year! With macro economic it is meant that by introducing of T-DAB, local, regional and local broadcasting, completed with suppliers of date services, are able to generate 2 billion extra income flows. This pronounces an enormous business IQ. But the details still remain uncovered, for us as readers of the Catalyst. The business plan is, as it happens, secret. But 2 billion euro, I am nevertheless enormously curious!

DAB & innovation = no words but action

What is it all about? db Europe suggest innovative services become possibly with an economic value of 2 billion euro. Therefore, it concerns providing services! What are the innovative DAB services that create value in a magnitude which give such a huge extra income flow? It’s more than all current radio advertising expenditures. It’s even more than the turnover of the music retail business in the Netherlands. I will be waiting for some brilliant suggestions.

TRANSUMO

Yesterday and today I studied the plans of TRANSUMO, the Knowledge Investment Programme for sustainable mobility in the Netherlands. The main question is how the Netherlands remain at the same time mobile and livable. TRANSUMO wants to improve the sustainability of persons - and goods mobility. Transumo is subdivided in five research fields.

I have among other things taken notice of the proposal for the BSIK-programma, version January, 16th, 2004 and the Procedure Decision Making for Projects, version May, 25th, 2004. The first document describes the context, objectives, contents, organisation and finance of TRANSUMO. The second document gives a point by point enumeration of the procedure along which decisions will be taken concerning a project proposal. This second document also contains a standard format for a project plan.

There are a couple financial aspects which in attracted my attention:
- Research Field Management and Consortium Partners have a pre-emptive right if it concerns submitting projects. A tender will be written out just at a later stage;
- Research Field Management must pursue for projects with a budget of 1,000,000 euro or more;
- A maximum hour tariff of 65 euro (based on a cost model) applies for contracting additional reseach capacity.

Think big and act small? Penny wise, pound foolish? I'll have my fingers crossed. Let's hope the beautiful substantive striving isn't frustrated by accountants and bureaucrats.

Furthermore an interesting new abbreviation has been invented: K2P. This stands for Knowledge Institutes, Public Authorities and Private Companies. It won’t last long before this abbreviation also will be used outside TRANSUMO. It’s sounds great and reflects the nature of well-known existing forms of partnerships.

Weblogs and marketing strategy

Startup's should try to get attention from webloggers, as pointed out in a recent article of RedHerring, Next Wave: How to build buzz on the blogs. Let me contribute to the example they mentioned, so download Blinkx.

If I use weblogging as part of a corporate communication strategy:
- Can I use it to communicate directly with potential customers?
- What will they say about my company and my products?
- Why should someone else use my weblog as a publicity vehicle?

I’m interested in the do’s and don’ts if you want to add a corporate weblog to your communication strategy. Here is the result of my web research, starting with a few conclusions bases on RedHerring:
1. Mind your own business, so stick to talking about your company, products, customers, competences, employees.
2. Give provocative opinions. Don’t be shy to say what you really think about your company or its products and services. Don’t use it for press releases or public relations. Keep track of what bloggers are saying about your company and its products. Respond to their postings.
3. Allow your employee’s to become a blogger; the weblog can be the “holy grail” of the individual employee who can become a recognized expert almost overnight under the right circumstances.
4. Succesfull networking requires charisma above content. Website visitors want to talk to real people. Popularity is the key.
5. Wave your message into a mechanisme that people want to share. Bring in a few links; general search results for your weblog will improve.
6. Don’t start weblogging if you’re worrying about possible conflicts with your corporate communication and internet policies. Be honest, don’t be scared.
7. A good weblog is an interactive blogs allow the readership to participate by providing comments. Many readers will appreciate a representative of the company listening to their comments.
8. Don’t use fake weblog’s and fake authors to promote your products; Bloggers smell rats.

Time’s up. I would appreciate to receive further suggestions.

Business IQ

I visited the AlwaysOn meeting on wednesday July, 14th 2004 and listened to the presentation of Padmasree Warrior, CTO, Motorola. On one specific sheets she mentioned a couble of interesting balances for Motorola:

- Current approach and Disruptive technologies;
- Creativity and Execution;
- Near term value creation and Long term search;
- Technical IQ and Business IQ.

When I was a student, okay, that's 20 years ago now, the only interesting was Technical IQ. But why don't we teach our children Business IQ? It's not that difficult at all. Why bother about noisy management, if professional techy's claim knowlegde and competences in the field of Business IQ?

Visit to Eyefi Interactive in Amsterdam

Eyefi Interactive, digital architects in the Netherlands. Yesterday I had an appointment with Kasper Luursema and Thijs Muller, the Executive Board of Eyefi. We talked about their business. Eyefi Interactive is a Internet communication office that strategy and internet technology combines to realise an optimal result for its customers. On the basis of their technical, creative and conceptual experience, they advise how Internet can contribute to better business performance.

Heading in the right direction, unsure of what the internet and its technologies can do for your business, we can help.

I was interested in their future business perspective. They are planning a next step. This will change both their business model and business strategy, and introduce new ways for creating value and making profit. This month, I will be helping them with their business development. The main goal for Eyefi is to create a clear description for value creation, which emphasises the distinguishing activities and the approaches which will Eyefi enable to provide more profitable products and the services.

Research Evaluation OPTA

The management of Market and Organization of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZ) has put out to public tender the study into the efficiency and effectiveness of the functioning of OPTA. Parties have been invited to bring out a tender according with the project description, procedures and instructions as described in the document Research Evaluation OPTA, version July, 13th, 2004.

The legal basis of the OPTA lies in the Law Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority (law OPTA). This forms the legal framework for the position of the government as a regulator in a competitive market for telecommmunications and post. OPTA has been given dedicated supervisory and executive tasks in that framework.

Article 25 of the law OPTA stipulates that the Minister of Economic Affairs evaluates each four year the effectiveness and efficiency of the OPTA evaluates and sends a report to the parliament. The evaluation must produce insight in the way in which OPTA gives interpretation to its legal tasks and uses its instruments and competences. The evaluation period runs of 1 December 2000 up to 1 October 2004.

For the evaluation the following areas become distinguished for special attention:
- Implementation of legal tasks;
- The internal organisation and management of OPTA;
- The effective cooperation between EZ and OPTA;
- The relations with other institutions and organisation.

In the point of view of the government on the earlier Evaluation OPTA, July, 6th 2001, 2005 is called as a year on which the institutional design of the regulation can be evaluated within the framework of the law OPTA. Sectoral supervision of the telecommunications - and post market (the OPTA) is then possibly part of the NMA as a chamber. At this point it is unclear what the current point of view of the government is.

Directive 2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7th March 2002 on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services, states in Article 3.2 that Member states shall guarantee the independence of national regulator authorities by ensuring that they are legally distinct from and functionally independent of all organisations providing electronic communications networks, equipment or services. Member States that retain ownership or control of undertakings providing electronic communications networks and/or services shall ensure effective structural separation of the regulatory function from activities associated with ownership or control. The Dutch government still is a shareholder of KPN. In 2002 the government has communicated that the OPTA will merge with the Netherlands Competition Authority. On 24th June, 2004, a Cooperation protocol was signed between the Commission of the Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority (OPTA) and the Director General of NMa on the method of cooperation in matters of mutual interest. What happened with the issue of the integration of OPTA into NMa? Why isn’t it anymore on the political agenda?

Skype Names Carrier Partners

Skype Technologies S.A., the Global Internet Telephony Company that offers consumers the ability to make free superior quality voice calls using their Internet connections, today announced agreements with COLT, iBasis, Level 3, and Teleglobe to provide call termination services worldwide. (Lightreading, Luxembourg, July, 23)

The competitive advantages of these partnerships are global reach, competitive pricing, trust, quality of service and reliability. These represent the business models for the incumbent telecommunication carriers.

On wednesday, July 28, I showed that Skype is a disrupting innovation because it delivers new important quality improvements. The above quotes show that due to the succesfull vertical disintegration of telecommunications in structure, Skype delivers the old quality characteristics of telephon communications through partnerships with telecommunications carriers. This will speed up the innovation process of Skype, because it can concentrate on service configuration and the possibilities for telecommunications service innovation.

Skype Product Recall

I'm one of the early adaptors of SkypeOut. SkypeOut was the only reason I instantly downloaded Skype and told my friends of this disrupting innovation. I don't feel like an early beta user who has already been rewarded by being there early. I didn't know prices where subject to change.

Skype Phone Beta testers were very disappointed with the public release of Skype 1.0 and swamped the public bulletin boards with complaints today and criticism on Skype users web blogs.

Many of these first Skype users also subscribed to SkypeOut, a service which also allows you to make calls from your PC Skype Phone to any telephone in the world, at greatly competitive prices - greatly that is - until today.

The bulletin boards on Skype are now swamped with complaints at a price hike with the release of the first official version yesterday, averaging around 40% increase in prices, some destinations being up 500%.

These testers, who are at present still almost the entire Skype community, are not upset only by the price increases but the manner in which it was done: no warning, no announcement, and no honouring of existing account balances. (Adam King, Mathaba.net, 07/28)

Skype should be ready for a recall of the public release of Skype 1.0. Nothing to worry about. Everything we always wanted to know about product recalls is already on the Internet. For instance, look at When Bad Things Happen to Good Companies or The Ready Recall Program. I believe Skype needs some lessons learned too. Why should it take the unnecesarry risk of a large recovery and rehabilitation effort?