VoIP News: September 2008

The telecom industry is a leader in "green IT" and is two or three years ahead of other sectors, according to IT PRO. Chris Green, the editor of the magazine, pointed out that those in the telecoms industry were the first to buy blade servers, "which allow them to reduce not only the size of the servers in use, but the number of servers they're using and again the power consumption".

The government has been criticised by the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) for not investing enough money in next-generation broadband. A report by the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) - which recommended no central government investment - is "seriously blinkered", according to the CLA. The rural economy would be particularly harmed without investment ensuring fast broadband services for all, with technologies like VoIP phones only available to those with fast connections.

Some mobile networks face a data load from laptop dongles that is greater than that of all other phone-based services put together, according to an expert. Simon Bransfield-Garth, managing director at Carrier IQ in the UK, writes on Mobile Entertainment that this sudden increase in traffic could have large consequences on network management and the charges customers face. He believes that operators are to face some tough choices and doubts that the "all you can eat" tariff will be viable for much longer.

The Communications Management Association (CMA) has welcomed the recent report on next-generation access (NGA) by Francesco Caio, vice chairman of Lehman Brothers Europe. It specifically supports the proposal in the report that telecoms and internet companies should finance NGA infrastructure with Ofcom leadership, supported by the government. David Harrington, regulatory forum leader at the CMA, also agreed that government money was unnecessary.

BT believes it is "essential" for regional authorities to help in the development of super-fast fibre broadband, its chairman told the Welsh Assembly. Sir Michael Rake does not think that central government funding is required, but regional help is vital, especially in parts of the country where population factors hinder the process, reports the Western Mail. "What will be essential in terms of prioritising capability and investment, is for the various regional authorities to look at what they can do from a funding point of view to develop fibre early, particularly in areas where population factors may not make it as immediately capable of being done as in other locations," the newspaper quoted him as saying.