Pat Phelan: Telecomms DisruptorSubverting telecomms from the edge of industry

Palm have all but confirmed that they have entered into an agreement with 02 for exclusive distribution of their much praised Pre.
From pretty limited sources it appears that the Pre has sold 300,000 units in its first month in the USA, this is quite successful especially in a market where the Iphone has been an enormous success.
The Palm will be a huge hit in Europe in my opinion but its really quite surprising to see O2 going for a second premium device and you would think that Apple may not be the happiest at this development.

Hopefully this news will force Vodafone to start pushing the Android based machines, I for one cannot wait to get my hands on “The Hero”
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I have been watching developments closely on this non issue around Nokia’s involvement in supplying Nokia Siemens switching for mobile communications equipment to Iran.
I think Nokia’s behavior in the whole sordid issue has been exemplary given that the so called monitoring equipment (intercept) is supplied by every Mobile switch manufacturer at every installation on the planet.
U.S. Government Has Same Wireless Monitoring Ability as Iran (businessWeek)
Now that we have the usual rent a mob who know zero about the technology starting a fucking dumb campaign with an anti Nokia twist I feel I have to comment.
“It’s hard to tell whether the problem is ignorance or hypocrisy, but Senators Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) are making fools of themselves with their war on Nokia Siemens for supplying the Iranian government with equipment that lets authorities monitor wireless phone calls and data transmissions”
This monitoring (Calea) has been in existence since 1994 in the USA and if the equipment was supplied by USA firms it would have the exact same monitoring tools onboard.
An excellent release from Nokia hopefully will put paid to this rent a mob.

Zero Mobile launched with a blast at CTIA Las Vegas and immediately won an award for its $69.95 unlimited Voice/data/sms package in the USA which hadn’t even launched at the time.
I have been hearing fishy stories regarding Zero ever since and decided to have a look around.

1. There appears to be no update or launch date on the Zero site.
2. A new player has now appeared on the horizon, Buzzirk Mobile is now an official partner of Zero and will resell it services, terrible website, cue customary celebrity pictures and a main site that has a Plesk control panel in place.
3. Sign-up to be a partner looks like a classic MLM offering
4. “$69.95 a month, with no roaming fees, contracts, credit checks or commitment. The prepaid service also includes unlimited wireless data connectivity at no extra cost” tells me how out of touch some voip writers are with market reality.
5. Lots of the usual MLM nutcases sniffing around.
6. It would be an idea to own your own domain.
7. Just plain weird.
8. Respected VoIP bloggers and industry experts who have attempted to learn more about Zero Mobile are either offered fluff interviews but no replies in writing.
9. 5G??? What happened to 4G

Someone is going to loose a packet here, trust me

On March the 12th 2007 I wrote that Magic Jack would be a winner.
A couple of days later they sent me the device
Now we hear that Magic Jack will hit $100 million turnover this year.
“The company is selling about 9,000 to 10,000 MagicJacks a day, according to Borislow, and customers are using about 500 million minutes a month. The company will do more than $100 million in sales this year, Borislow says, and is cash-flow positive”
I had a chat a few years ago with the founder Dan Borislow and told him how I loved the product, Dan has had a very successful business career and is one of the most unassuming guys I have met.
Whats MagicJack?
its a USB stick that you plug into your PC/laptop and plug a normal household telephone into the other end, it gives you a USA number and you get to make and recieve calls to all USA numbers for zero cost in year one and $19.95 in year two
So how does MagicJack do this?
its really quite simple
As a CLEC MagicJack gets USA numbers for pretty much free, all telco’s that call this number must pay MagicJack a fee for “landing” on its network, so its pretty much telecoms arbitrage, if in evens with out the profit is 100% on the yearly fee, add on the profit from the device and you have a very successful business model.

So who are the MagicJack customers?
Travelers, people overseas with relatives in the USA is a huge portion of this business as you can imagine and people with no landline

The bad news
A huge amount of complaints in forums plus a certain amount of jealousy from telecoms quarters feeling that the sales model of MagicJack (late night infomercials) is cheap and tacky.

Me
I’m a huge fan, simple device, does what it says on the box
Sells millions.

Its like the team the never learns at O2 Ireland
Its beyond disgraceful and they just don’t seem to give a damn about the Irish consumer on the Iphone 3GS launch.
Check the UK prepaid pricing out here
Check the Irish prepaid pricing here

Retail for 8GB iPhone 3GS
Ireland €519
UK €522.77 (Equivalent)

Packages
Ireland: free wifi roaming-Data roaming 99c a day, capped at 50mb
UK: free unlimited wifi and data usage for no cost.

Its really quite incredible, cost of purchase and ownership of the device for one year costs the Irish prepaid consumer AN EXTRA €361.35 if they use the data connection daily compared to the UK purchaser.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse for “The Government” maverick (translate fucking eejit who speaks without thinking) Noel O Flynn decides to reignite that other tit Leo Varadkar’s plan for forced repatriation.

“It’s time for the government to look at a package where people are paid to return to their own countries. Unemployed non-nationals here would prefer to go home but the difficulty is our social-welfare system is one of the most generous in the world, so it makes sense for them to stay. We need to offer them a generous package to return home.”
O’Flynn said the “front-loaded” scheme would initially be costly, but that in the long term it would save the government a significant amount. If all of the 79,077 foreigners on the Live Register draw social welfare for a year, the cost to the exchequer is almost €840m, he said”

After a local election where Mr Flynn’s party Fianna Fail got their asses kicked and result’s in from Europe suggested a pretty large swing to the ultra-right politics of the 1930’s you would think that the guy would have had some common sense, nope its the loose cannon politics of the Mallow Road again.

I spent 8yrs out of the country a decade ago where I was welcomed with open arms like the many hundreds of thousand of Irish who had to leave in the 80’s, we are a nation of forced emigre’s through unemployment in cycles for the last 40 years and I find it unbelievable that this guy would even bring up this subject.
Back to the dark ages, eh?

At last a move in Europe for Mobile
Virgin France have taken the lead and launched a voice/data/sms plan.
The fully unlimited option, including calls, SMS, internet up to 500 MB, e-mail and Messenger. It costs EUR 89 per month with no contract or handset.
Although it seems all is not well according to Novelobs
Virgin is an MVNO and its supplier Orange Telecom have just announced they are not renewing their exclusivity contract with Virgin. Virgin has been trying to bid for a 4G license in France but apparently they are giving up because of their cash position. This move might bring them the necessary 250M € needed for the bid.
Hopefully with Virgin breaking the mold we are going to see more of this closer to home.

Additional reporting by Florian Seroussi

It was around September 1981 I was 16 and the world was my oyster, I was waiting on my inter cert results and looking forward to going back to school.
Results came 4 A’s 4 B’s and 1 C , Ireland was in the grip of a major recession/depression and I was listening to this amazing band called Depeche Mode with New Life running through my head.

I had worked after school and summer holidays with a friend of my dads in his butchers shop and with things being so bad my parents decided I should get a “trade” as it was probably the only way to make sure I had a job, so on my sixteen birthday I signed my papers and became an apprentice butcher after getting my results
Looking back now it was the last thing I wanted but my parents done what they thought was best.
Its been a huge insane road to get to here and that post would take a book but why do I write like this today?
My son Andrew is finished college tomorrow and hopefully will have a degree in electronic engineering.
Here’s hoping he doesn’t have to become a butcher.

A few friends have added the new super trendy .tel domain to their already super trendy .mobi domains. I had a long twitter discussion with Michele Neylon of the Blacknight who host this blog and come highly recommended on the pros and cons.
Michele suggested that I give it a try and gifted me a .tel domain
Well here it is
What happens now?
This is the part I really don’t get, the people who already have my contact details now have them in a different place
What the .tel am I missing?
Any thoughts?

I had a stroke of good fortune this week besides the obvious one.
I really dislike answering caller ID withheld and mostly ignore them, I had been pestered with them for the last few weeks and just wouldn’t bother.
Got a call last night from a number and finally picked it up.
It was someone from Canada Life saying I have a savings policy that had matured and where should they send the cheque.
I took it out when a friend was getting sober, he got a job with them and sold me his first policy and the pay day came yesterday.
It was a huge surprise and means The Phelan’s might get to Monaco for the F1 GP, I have wanted to go forever but couldn’t afford it.
No good turn is forgotten