As
Jamaicans revel in the price drops in Cross-Network, International and by
extension On-Net Calling Rates brought on by the new interim Telecom Regulation
powers of the OUR (Office of Utilities Regulation) as noted in my
blog article entitled “OUR's
JA$5.00 Cross Network Flat Rate ratified by Judge Ingrid Mangatal - GOJ's Telecoms Tax applied and Digicel's
victory in FTC Case assured”, another battle is simmering to
boil.
This
as Telecom Provider LIME
albeit lowering its Cross-Connection Rates to other Networks to JA$6.99 as
noted in my
blog article entitled “LIME's
new TALK EZ Plan drops Cross Network Calling to JA$2.99 - Digicel's Game of
Thrones vs LIME Return of the King” and my Geezam blog
article entitled “LIME
drops Cross Network Calling Rate to JA$6.99 to kick off a 3 year Battle for Mobile
Market Dominance” is not playing fair an in fact is being "hypocritical" according to
President and CEO of FLOW Michelle “Dallas” English. Fixed Line Networks, ironically, are
still experiencing higher termination Rates than Mobile.
An irony, as traditionally, Fixed Line Landline, basically Copper-based POTS (Plain Old Telephone Systems) are usually cheaper than Mobile. The reasoning is that Mobile customer pay extra for their Prepaid and Postpaid packages due to the fact that they can receive phone calls as long as the Telecom Provider has GSM (Global System Mobile) Network coverage in the area.
Fixed
Line, as the name implies, has calls routed to customers who are in a fixed
location at all times. Combined with the fact that the facilities to route
calls are based on Routing Tables based on the fixed location of the customers
UE (User Equiptment) and not having to track the location of your Mobile phone
all the time using Mobile triangulation as described in my
blog
article entitled “Mobile
Triangulation without GPS - A solution to crime under out noses”
and the irony becomes clear.
That
is, in Jamaica, since Sunday July 15th 2012AD, on that historic day,
it has now become cheaper to call a Mobile phone than a Fixed Line phone, a
truly incredible paradigm shift that has occurred worldwide that has finally
reached Jamaica. So one would have expected the same price cuts to trickle down
even to the Fixed Line Mobile and Landline business!
Even
more ironic, Triple Play Provider FLOW
calls, which are effectively VoIP Calls on their DOCSIS 2.0 based Digital Cable
Network, are still being charged a “transit” fee of JA$0.13 per minute as per
the article “Flow
joins telecoms battle”, published Friday, July 27, 2012 BY
PAUL RODGERS Business Editor, The
Jamaica Observer.
According
to President and CEO of FLOW
Michelle “Dallas” English this “transit” cost on calls is still a problem as:
2.
Calls from FLOW
Landline to Mobile phones still incur a “transit” fee as they are still being
routed through Telecom Provider LIME’s
Landline Network MGW to then go to their Mobile MGW.
A
mathematical breakdown of the problem which President and CEO of FLOW
Michelle “Dallas” English refers to as being “hypocritical” is thus required to
understand this problem. This as it has implications for Fixed Line Service
Providers soon to set up shop in Jamaica, as 100MBps LTE (Long Term Evolution)
as described in my
blog
article entitled “Phillip
Paulwell allocates 700Mhz and Fiber Optic License for LTE - Broadcasters
effectively on notice for Digital Switch Over” is good enough Backhaul
Services for persons wishing to get into the Fixed Line Services.
Ditto
too Dekal Wireless,
who may upon achieving islandwide coverage with their Municipal Wi-Fi Network,
opt to also expand their Fixed Line Services as explained in my
blog
article entitled “Telecom
Providers 4G vs Wi-Fi Calling - Galaxy Rangers”.
Telecom
Provider LIME
charges FLOW
Landline customer a transit fee through their Landline Network as explained
above of JA$0.13 per minute. Triple Play Provider FLOW
then charges its customers JA$0.95 per minute to make calls to LIME Landline Networks.
Thus the full cost of a call from FLOW
Landline to LIME Landline is JA$1.08 per minute. Add on 26% worth of margins
and taxes and that comes to JA$1.37 per minute.
Interestingly,
Telecom Provider LIME
charges a Rates of JA$3.40 for its customer to call FLOW
Landline; a cost most likely due to a higher termination Rate Tariff by Triple
Play Provider FLOW
to make back lost revenue from calls to Telecom Provider LIME’s Mobile Network
and Fixed Line Mobile and Landline Networks.
Thus
explaining the complaints of President and CEO of FLOW
Michelle “Dallas” English of not making money on LIME Calls, which account for
15% of all calls terminating on FLOW
Landline Network, quote: “I make virtually nothing on LIME calls”!
In
effect the same ring-fencing tactics that was being used by Telecom Provider
Digicel in its ten (10) year campaign for Mobile Dominance in Jamaica as noted
in my blog article
entitled “CLARO
vs Digicel - Cross-Network Flat Rate Calling and MNP Cometh”. Surprising
but true, even to this day, now seven (7) years since Triple Play Provider FLOW’s
debut in the Jamaican market!
This
in effect means that calls from FLOW
Landline customers are still being routed to the MGW (Media Gateway) Switch for
LIME’s Landline Fixed Line Landline Network via dedicated DTI (Digital Trunk
Interface) T1’s and being routed unto their Mobile Network like a regular POTS
Calls to terminate on their Mobile MGW.
I
remember this problem, as Digicel had a similar complaint against the then
C&W Jamaica Limited when they had to interconnect to our PTSN back in
2001AD when I worked there as a Network Maintenance Technician. This was due to
the fact that the then C&W did not have the facilities in place to connect
DTI (Digital Trunk Interface) cross connections from Local Networks only for:
1.
International Call from the USA, Canada
and the UK
2.
Cross Network Calls between its Mobile Network,
which back then was a TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) Network built by
Canadian Telecom Equiptment Supplier Nortel and Landline Networks
After
all, being a monopoly makes you somewhat complacent, especially
technology-wise. It was for that reason that the new GSM Network was launched
in 2002AD. This upgrade C&W Jamaica used to install the following:
1.
A new MGW to handle Cross Connections from
other Local Networks to their Mobile Network
2.
A new company Carrier Services Ltd, that
handles interconnecting other Local and Foreign Networks to their Mobile and Fixed
Line Landline and Mobile Networks
C&W
Jamaica Limited up until their upgrade in 2002AD only had connectivity to other
Local Networks via their DMS100/200 Gateway Switch (the MGW in this case) at
Duke Street built by Canadian Telecom Equiptment Provider Nortel. Thus C&W
Jamaica Limited really had no choice but to eventually get new equiptment in
place to connect DTI’s and also upgrade their TDMA (Time Division Multiple
Access).
An
upgrade which they did under the guise of launching a new GSM Network back in
2002AD via my suggested idea of bfree and bMobile as chronicles in my
blog article entitled “Google
and Apple - Case to point on Public and Diplomatic Relations”.
President
and CEO of FLOW
Michelle “Dallas” English (….think of the hit TV show “Dallas”!) is making it a
point to call a spade a spade and is “talk up di ting dem” in a complaint interview
at The Jamaica Observer
entitled “Flow
joins telecoms battle”, published Friday, July 27, 2012 BY
PAUL RODGERS Business Editor, The
Jamaica Observer.
Triple
Play Provider FLOW
have invested an eye-popping US$30 billion over the next five (5) years in
Jamaica as mentioned in the article “Flow
to invest another J$30b in five years”, published Friday
February 3, 2012 by Steven Jackson, Business Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner.
This
to build out their faster DOCSIS 3.0 300MBps Cable Broadband Internet and push
3D HDTV Channel Service by 2017AD as deduced in my blog article entitled
“FLOW goes 3D HDTV as Netflix cometh - XFinity follow-on
indicates Streaming's Deep Impact” and the Geezam Blog article
entitled “FLOW goes 3D HDTV et al – Netflix to make FLOW Extinct”.
Fixed
Line Mobile and Landline, facilitated by Digital Cable Triple Play Services and
FTTH (Fiber to The House) Services, is expected to see growth in the next three
(3) years. This as more people begin to settle into retirement in Jamaica and
desire to have reliable Telecom Services, inclusive of Fixed Line, Mobile
Broadband and Mobile Postpaid services.
More
specifically its more modern counterparts in the form of Digital Triple Play
Cable Services such as those provided by Triple Play Provider FLOW
and the coming FTTH (Fiber to The Home) services provided by Telecom Provider LIME as stated in my
blog
article entitled “LIME
goes FTTH like Verizon's FiOS - Free ADSL after FTTH Mass Adoption”.
This
as concluded based on statistics from
the OUR for the period 2009AD to 2010AD as per my blog article
entitled “OUR Records Voice Decline for the Fourth
Quarter of 2010 - Postpaid, Data Services and Fixed Line Mobile and Landline
Saturday Night Fever for Telecom Providers”.
Telecom
Provider LIME
has pledged to have fixed in order to facilitate true Flat Rate Cross-Network
Calling in line with the OUR’s Ruling. But with Telecom Provider Digicel
calling for what is effectively LNP (Landline Number Portability) and not just
MNP (Mobile Number Portability) as noted in my
blog article entitled “Digicel
calls for MNP for Fixed Line - LIME's Brave Homefone Xpress coming with
Telecoms Tax and Flat Rate Tariff”, FLOW
may have to wait a little longer for Telecom Provider LIME to comply.
This
as MNP means the loss of their lucrative Fixed Line Landline Network at a time
when 80% of their revenue comes from Fixed Line, mainly PBX (Private Branch
Exchange), both the older Nortel Based Meridian Systems as well as the VoIP
(Voice over IP) based Avaya Systems as per the article “Avaya,
LIME partner in communications solution for SMEs”, published Sunday, July
03, 2011, The
Jamaica Observer.
To
make matters worse, Telecom Provider LIME
is yet to transition its dwindling Residential Landline Xpress as described in my blog article entitled “LIME Landline Rental Increase and
HomeFone XPress - The Dead Zone is the Sum of All Fears
”.
Not to mention finish testing and then deploying its FTTH Network islandwide as
noted in my
blog
article entitled “LIME
goes FTTH like Verizon's FiOS - Free ADSL after FTTH Mass Adoption”.
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