Vodafone Egypt Questions Legality of WhatsApp Voice

In a letter to Egypt’s telecommunications regulator, Vodafone Egypt has inquired about the legality of WhatsApp’s free voice-calling feature, which is due to be released later this year. The government previously stated that it was considering banning popular OTT messaging and calling services such as WhatsApp and Viber, for reasons of security as well as because of financial considerations. According to Egyptian telecommunications law, international VoIP services are illegal. One article of the law prohibits establishing or operating telecommunication services without obtaining a license from the country’s regulator. Existing mobile operators are licensed to offer VoIP services only within Egypt. This case indicates one avenue of approach for MNOs seeking to counter the OTT challenge—legal action. In the Egyptian regulator, Vodafone has likely found a particularly receptive audience, as the country’s law is notably unfriendly to VoIP. One may not want to generalize too much from this case, as the legal systems of other countries may not be so draconian on the subject; however, WhatsApp’s potential difficulties in that market expose a certain weakness of OTTs in their global struggle to take market share away from MNOs, which have greater government protection than apps do. The above item appeared in a recent issue of Tarifica's "The Story of The Week", a weekly report that analyzes noteworthy developments in the telecoms industry from around the world. For past issues or to learn more about Tarifica: http://www.tarifica.com/contactus.aspx

Dutch Regulator Fines KPN, Vodafone for Net Neutrality Violations

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets has imposed fines on two of the country’s operators, KPN and Vodafone, for violating net neutrality regulations. KPN was fined €250,000.00 (US $287,237.00) for not allowing users to access various services including VoIP via its free Wi-Fi hotspots. Vodafone received a penalty of €200,000.00 (US $229,790.00) for offering plans that allowed its subscribers to watch HBO via an app without using any of their data allowances. The regulator in a statement said, “It is forbidden for internet service providers to determine what their customers can and cannot do on the internet.” It added, “Under Dutch law, ISPs are not permitted to charge different access rates for specific online services.”

In 2011 the Netherlands became the first European country and the second in the world to incorporate net neutrality into its laws. The law was put into effect to ban mobile operators from blocking or charging consumers extra for using services such as Skype or WhatsApp. Chile passed a net neutrality law in 2010, and following the Netherlands, Brazil put net neutrality into law in 2014. It is interesting to note that in the Netherlands, although mobile operators raised their charges overall to compensate for lost revenue when net neutrality was adopted, the law was still hailed as a consumer victory. In the recent events for which KPN and Vodafone were fined, only KPN was blocking access to its subscribers. Vodafone was actually allowing customers to use data at no charge, but it violated the law by influencing its customers’ online behavior.

As these fines are being handed down to the Dutch MNOs, proposed reform of net neutrality across the European telecom market is at the center of discussions of the European Council of Ministers, the presidency of which recently passed to Latvia from Italy. Earlier this year, the EC’s published list of priorities said that it would push for a compromise on net neutrality over the next six months. It wants to strike a balance “between high-quality services and a reasonable cost for consumers.” This stance is seen as somewhat opposing the draft of a law passed by the Parliament last April, which strengthened net neutrality rules. While it does not appear that a two-tier internet will exist in the EU anytime soon, it is clear that data use will continue to increase on a global level and have a pronounced effect on the speed and delivery of information. Since operators will not be able to charge extra to discriminate among various internet traffic streams, we believe that they should look for other revenue sources that can be used to invest in infrastructure to enhance their networks and ensure subscribers continued access at reasonable speeds to everything on the internet.

The above item appeared in a recent issue of The Tarifica Alert, a weekly resource that analyzes noteworthy developments in the telecoms industry from around the world. To access all of the latest articles and issues or to speak with the research team: http://www.tarifica.com/contactus.aspx

Atlant Telecom to Offer Cloud Video-Surveillance Service

Belarusian IPS Atlant Telecom will offer cloud-based video surveillance service to its subscribers. Users will be able access video surveillance cameras from any location in the world via smartphone, tablet or PC. Three tariff plans will be offered for residential customers: Starting, Home and Home+. Subscribers will create a customized plan costing from BYR 1,000.00 (US $0.09) per day for just video surveillance up to BYR 4,000.00 (US $0.37) for video streaming, notifications, a weekly archive ability, and exporting capabilities. For law enforcement entities, two tariffs will be offered, Video Monitor and Video Monitor+, and for business customers Atlant will offer a customizable solution based on their needs.

Belarus’ economy has struggled since 2008, and inflation has affected operator revenue contributing to reduced investment. Nevertheless, analysts predict many opportunities for growth in the coming years, particularly in the broadband segment, where penetration is relatively low. Continuing the trend of merging the telecommunications and information technology sectors, cloud-based video surveillance services can provide a significant revenue stream for broadband operators. Analysts have projected that global revenue for the video surveillance equipment market will increase to US $20.5 billion in 2016. Atlant Telecom is the largest commercial Internet service provider in Belarus and is focused on broadband data transmission for internet, IPTV and VoIP services. Video surveillance over its broadband network would be a natural extension of its existing service offerings.

Through 30 October, Atlant Telecom provided a free test of its cloud video monitoring service to existing customers who can view online video streaming in a private office using applications installed on a computer or other devices using either IP or online cameras. These customers were allowed to evaluate the merits of the video streaming and cloud-storage services for their surveillance systems. Video cloud surveillance has traditionally faced challenges such as bandwidth allocation, significant upload and download speeds, ease of use, storage, and security. Given its position in the market, Atlant should have the resources and infrastructure to provide the bandwidth with sufficient speeds. It can address storage issues by providing one-to-four-week storage capability and an export tool to download the data, off-loading its servers and thus avoiding storage problems.

Atlant’s offering appears well-timed to capitalize on increased security awareness among governments, businesses and consumers. It should position the company to increase revenue from the video-streaming capability, which requires significant bandwidth, as well as from the cloud-storage requirements. By offering the service to existing customers, Atlant avoids infrastructure build-out costs while it rolls out this service. As revenues increase, infrastructure expansion will be possible in order to expand their subscriber base.

The above item appeared in a recent issue of The Tarifica Alert, a weekly resource that analyzes noteworthy developments in the telecoms industry from around the world. To access all of the latest articles and issues:  http://www.tarifica.com/TarificaAlert.aspx

3 UK to Launch App for Calls, Texts Via Wi-Fi

Mobile operator 3 UK has announced a new app called Three inTouch that allows customers to talk and text over a Wi-Fi connection. The app will be available beginning in early August and will be offered free to all contract, SIM and pay-as-you-go customers. Any minutes or texts used are charged against a customer’s existing monthly allowance or prepaid credit. The Wi-Fi usage is not charged against the customer’s data allowance.

This is an interesting service option. The calls and texts and not carried over IP; rather, a Wi-Fi signal conveys the calls and texts to 3 UK’s cellular network, which then completes the connection. Unlike with a VoIP or other OTT service, the charges are made to the user’s existing voice and text allowances. So it appears that the purpose of Three inTouch is not to compete with OTT providers but to ensure connectivity for 3 UK customers, especially if they are in a place where cellular coverage is poor or nonexistent, as long as a Wi-Fi connection is available.

 According to the operator, once the app is installed, the transition from standard service to Wi-Fi-assisted service is intended to be seamless.

Also in the U.K., operator EE has announced trials of a Wi-Fi voice service that is intended to create a “zero-defect” calling experience in the country’s busiest regions and get rid of “whitespots,” or no-service areas. In the U.S., T-Mobile currently has a similar service in which calls can be placed over a Wi-Fi connection and are charged based on monthly plan minutes.

“Using Wi-Fi to fill in low- or no-coverage “whitespots” makes sense in a country like the U.K., where free public Wi-Fi is available in many areas. In other markets, it is an open question whether operators would do better to invest in expanding and strengthening their cellular networks or in promoting the proliferation of Wi-Fi. In truth, while apps such as Three inTouch can offer some advantage to users, they are, in the long run, no substitute for reliable, gap-free mobile networks. “

John Dorfman,

Editor-in-Chief,

The Tarifica Alert

The above item appeared in a recent issue of The Tarifica Alert, a weekly resource that analyzes noteworthy developments in the telecoms industry from around the world. To access all of the latest articles and issues:  http://www.tarifica.com/TarificaAlert.aspx