FEATURE MOBILE VOIP
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at least, 3 is happy with the progress made
on the Skypephone: “We have seen a very significant
uplift in the amount of data flowing
across our network over the past year, driven
largely by the uptake in USB modems, but also
through much greater usage of services such
as Skype, instant messaging, search and social
networking through customers accessing the
internet directly from their mobiles,” the firm
says. “The growth in usage is significant and
sustained and shows how competitive internet
communications can be when they are taken
truly mobile.”
The UK carrier is benefiting from increased
customer retention among its Skypephone
user segment and an overall increase in
mobile usage says Sue Powell, director of
product management devices and mobile
with Skype. “3 is also focused on letting people
access the mobile internet. So people can
use the new Skypephone as a dongle as well
as a phone, so they have been able to reach
people who wouldn’t buy a dedicated dongle
to surf the internet for a flat rate charge of £5
per month. And of course Skype is provided
free of charge on that device as well and it
is very easy to use,” she says.
Powell says Skype has talked with a
number of other operators regarding a
partnership. “When we first launched the
Skypephone in November last year there
was significant interest as people realised
the potential for Skype on a mobile.”
Rebecca Swansen, research analyst for
VoIP services with IDC, who earlier in the
year authored a report that predicted half
a billion personal IP communications subscribers
worldwide by 2012, confirms that
other operators are looking seriously at the
space: “I have heard of one provider, and
there are a few mobile VoIP providers that
use a USB that plugs into the laptop. There
are some providers looking at partnering
with mobile providers to let their customers
travel internationally and have the same
minutes,” she says.
Arguably the largest mobile VoIP player
in the world operates in Japan. EMobile,
a wholly-owned subsidiary of broadband
internet provider eAccess, is a 3G data-only
carrier. It received a WCDMA commercial
licence in November 2005, launched its
HSDPA mobile data service EM Mobile
Broadband, using JaJah VoIP technology,
in Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka in March
2007 and, as of March 2008, had 85 per cent
coverage of Japan, with 752,400 subscribers
40 Mobile Communications International | First for news, best for business
nationwide. It is an impressive standalone
figure, but as with 3 in the UK it only represents
a small proportion of the country’s
total mobile user base.
The three dominant MNOs in Japan were
granted their 3G licences in beauty contests,
while in many other markets carriers paid
billions. It is unlikely that other regulators will
follow Japanese regulator the MIC’s move in
granting a new data-only licence in addition
to those already in place. In short, like much
else, the EMobile model is likely to remain
a curiosity of the Japanese market. Still, it
provides an interesting glimpse into what is
being widely tipped as the end game of all
markets, namely that of an all IP network.
“Everybody tells you that, in the future,
mobile calls will be purely IP-based,” says
Roman Scharf, president and co-founder of
JaJah. “They just disagree on whether it will
be three years, five years or 20 years. Nobody
believes that existing voice standards will
survive. The more the industry moves towards
flat-rate models, the easier it will be for them
to switch into IP.”
The move to fully flat-rate could take some
time, though. Carriers are in no hurry to open
up, and unlike fixed ISPs, they are currently
under no regulatory pressure to embrace true
net neutrality. Until then, consumers might
have to exploit VoIP predominantly over wifi
connections.
“Mobile VoIP is still best suited for use with
WLAN networks, at least as long as the greedy
mobile operators continue to manipulate EU
legislation,” says Jan Berger, CMO of VoIP
provider Vyke. “In most developed countries,
I believe it is fair to say, people who have
phones that can be used for mobile VoIP also
have access to WLAN (wifi) both at home
and at work. This can then save people huge
amounts on their mobile calls.”
“If you look at every single market, the
mobile operators rank within the top ten
corporations of that country,” says Allen
Scott, general manager of IM firm Neustar
NGM. “They have invested a huge amount in
3G and the regulators are not likely to start
hammering the operator too much. Even if
regulation kicks in, it will take some time.
You’ll hear about it before it kicks in, which
means the MNOs will use their networks a
lot longer,” he says, concluding:
“The operators will fight tooth and nail to
stop the networks being fully open and the
regulators will be on their side. There has
been too much of an investment.” »
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