There is an internet edge to this story, as this money was created using open source software only. For the full story behind the coin, follow the link, but the money is dedicated to "The Netherlands and Architecture". On the one side it shows the face of Queen Beatrix made out of the names of Dutch architects, sorted by how often they are named on the internet. Rem Koolhaas, Pierre Cuypers, Aldo van Eyck, Gerrit Rietveld are the top 4. All of them are very interesting. The reverse side shows the Netherlands, with birds at the locations of capitals of provinces. the shape is made through lining up the backs of books on architecture by Dutch Architects (eg. you can see S, M, L, XL by Rem Koolhaas)
Friday, 31 October 2008
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Location based services another missed Telco2.0 opportunity
Telco's went out of their way to prove that they have no position in the Location Based Services market this month:
- Super colleague mailed the story of Nulaz a Dutch Location based service idea. They presented at the Dutch Telecom Society and complained that KPN wouldn't give them access to their Location information as KPN was of the opinion that that their own LBS services/brainswaves were too competitive to allow others use of the data
- Different but equally valued colleague, different incumbent of different country thought similarly of itself. Colleague forwarded a mail he received regarding an opportunity for the use of Location Based Services to the incumbent . Telco reaction: OOH cant tell you the super secretive commercially sensitive LBS ideas we have. No, we might loose money here, don't you know we are set to be a major LBS player?
Twice! a network saying no to someone paying for LBS information. Well dear Web 2.0 start ups and Telco's with 2.0 aspiration, forget about the Telco playing any role in this market. Google has just donated its LBS knowledge to the world and now you can find out where your potential customers are for free.
Dear Telco's why do you say no to free money from people who might be willing to pay you for some of your network location knowledge? You might have had a minor competitive edge with the real time location knowledge. The minor money companys might have paid you would have been free money for minimal effort. Instead you thought you could stun the world with your own inventions. (You are not global players, services companies are. You have access to a small part of your local market, service companies to everyone in the world) Now the world bypasses you and uses the stuff you already broadcast and other antenna's broadcast for free.
- Super colleague mailed the story of Nulaz a Dutch Location based service idea. They presented at the Dutch Telecom Society and complained that KPN wouldn't give them access to their Location information as KPN was of the opinion that that their own LBS services/brainswaves were too competitive to allow others use of the data
- Different but equally valued colleague, different incumbent of different country thought similarly of itself. Colleague forwarded a mail he received regarding an opportunity for the use of Location Based Services to the incumbent . Telco reaction: OOH cant tell you the super secretive commercially sensitive LBS ideas we have. No, we might loose money here, don't you know we are set to be a major LBS player?
Twice! a network saying no to someone paying for LBS information. Well dear Web 2.0 start ups and Telco's with 2.0 aspiration, forget about the Telco playing any role in this market. Google has just donated its LBS knowledge to the world and now you can find out where your potential customers are for free.
Dear Telco's why do you say no to free money from people who might be willing to pay you for some of your network location knowledge? You might have had a minor competitive edge with the real time location knowledge. The minor money companys might have paid you would have been free money for minimal effort. Instead you thought you could stun the world with your own inventions. (You are not global players, services companies are. You have access to a small part of your local market, service companies to everyone in the world) Now the world bypasses you and uses the stuff you already broadcast and other antenna's broadcast for free.
Sunday, 19 October 2008
The house always wins
The way the stock market works has always given me the idea that it is a big casino. I've always had trouble seeing people buying stock on an exchange as investors. They didn't really put money down to finance the company. They bought somebody elses shares in the hope that the shares would pay dividend or (now happening more often) that the shares will rise. Shareholder value? Only for the guy financing the company buying stock directly from the company, to put money to share in its profits, not for gamblers who think the stock is going up.
Especially the last thing has always amazed me. If theory dictates that all we know, understand and predict about the share is incorporated in the share, then why should it go up? That is a paradox. (Corollary: If the stock moves up or down, is that because we understand the future better? Or is it because we don't understand it allow and were all in some mass delusion?)
Well, today I learned from The Guardian that the financial markets are even more like casinos than I thought. It seems that many banks have bonus pools. Bonus pools that fill up regardless of the performance of the company. "At one point last week the Morgan Stanley $10.7bn pay pot for the year to date was greater than the entire stock market value of the business. In effect, staff, on receiving their remuneration, could club together and buy the bank." That sounds exactly like a rake . A fee given tot the casino for playing poker there.
So you see, the house always wins...
Especially the last thing has always amazed me. If theory dictates that all we know, understand and predict about the share is incorporated in the share, then why should it go up? That is a paradox. (Corollary: If the stock moves up or down, is that because we understand the future better? Or is it because we don't understand it allow and were all in some mass delusion?)
Well, today I learned from The Guardian that the financial markets are even more like casinos than I thought. It seems that many banks have bonus pools. Bonus pools that fill up regardless of the performance of the company. "At one point last week the Morgan Stanley $10.7bn pay pot for the year to date was greater than the entire stock market value of the business. In effect, staff, on receiving their remuneration, could club together and buy the bank." That sounds exactly like a rake . A fee given tot the casino for playing poker there.
So you see, the house always wins...
Teacher on Demand
A while ago I wrote a plan for a Leraar on Demand (teacher on demand). The idea was that we could record good teachers, while they explained their subjects in class and then put the video online. This way the students could access the teachings even though they might have missed the class, had forgotten it or similar problems. The idea originated during beer nights with a group of friends at Twente University. It had been pitched to the faculty of Eductional Technology there, but didn't receive attention. I tried to pitch the idea to Kennisnet and the Ministry of Education in The Netherlands, but I didn't find anyone who was really interested and as it isn't my main field so I didn't pursue it full force.
I thought about entering the idea into Google's 10100 project as I still think it's a great idea. It would be great for both the First as well as the Third world. In both the First and the Third world we have a huge lack of good qualified teachers (both in numbers as well as quality). Fortunately I did a bit of research tonight and you know what, there are now two initiatives pursuing the same kind of idea. One in Sweden called "Teacher on Demand" (looks very good) and one in the US called Teacher Tube. So I am not going to submit it to Google as I'm hardly original anymore. However I do want to spread the word on these good initiatives and it's nice to see good ideas will find their way.
What I am still missing is that not an entire curriculum has been put online and can be downloaded. That would be cool. It would allow students to really search for the stuff they didn't understand well. Also it would allow third world countries to download these movies and distribute them via DVD's. At 35 dollar for a DVD player, this has become an idea that can be easily realized.
I thought about entering the idea into Google's 10100 project as I still think it's a great idea. It would be great for both the First as well as the Third world. In both the First and the Third world we have a huge lack of good qualified teachers (both in numbers as well as quality). Fortunately I did a bit of research tonight and you know what, there are now two initiatives pursuing the same kind of idea. One in Sweden called "Teacher on Demand" (looks very good) and one in the US called Teacher Tube. So I am not going to submit it to Google as I'm hardly original anymore. However I do want to spread the word on these good initiatives and it's nice to see good ideas will find their way.
What I am still missing is that not an entire curriculum has been put online and can be downloaded. That would be cool. It would allow students to really search for the stuff they didn't understand well. Also it would allow third world countries to download these movies and distribute them via DVD's. At 35 dollar for a DVD player, this has become an idea that can be easily realized.
Thursday, 16 October 2008
Aftappen in Nederland, Hoofdstuk 13 uitgelegd.
Apologies to my international friends, but this one is in Dutch. I was given the opportunity to give a class at Leiden University on Chapter 13 of the Dutch Telecommunications law. This is the (revised) presentation.
Dit is een presentatie die ik gegeven heb in een gastcollege in Leiden. Erg leuke ervaring. De feedback heb ik gebruikt om vooral de eerste sectie meer uit te breiden. Ik hoop dat de Nederlandse lezers er plezier van hebben en het studiemateriaal waarderen. Mocht je vragen hebben, dan hoor ik het wel. :-)
De centrale stelling is: In Nederland kunnen we tappen omdat we het op orde hebben. Ik had nog wat meer kunnen doen met uitleggen hoe het buitenland werkt, maar daar kan ik later nog wel eens wat tijd aan wijden. Zie anders Stratix en Norton Rose over Aftappen in het Buitenland.
Addendum
Ten aanzien van webhosting bedrijven geldt dat zij veelal niet onder de Telecommunicatiewet vallen. Een ruwe sortering van de branche levert de volgende indeling van de rollen die partijen spelen:
- Pure colocatie - leveren een pand, een rack, stroom. De klant levert zelf de computer, doet het beheer etc.
- Verhuurder van computer rekencapaciteit: Levert een computer (of een deel van een computer) waar de klant mee kan doen wat ie wil. Wordt veelal geleverd met een netwerkverbinding naar het internet. (theoretisch gezien hoeft dit niet)
- Systeembeheer: Voert voor de klant beheer op een computer/netwerk. Klant kan eigenaar zijn van de systemen of deze huren van derden, deze systemen kunnen staan bij de klant of ergens anders.
- Applicatiebeheer: beheert specifieke software voor de klant, levert soms wel en soms niet de licenties voor het gebruik als onderdeel van de dienst. Bv een CMS. De klant doet zelf de content, kan wel of geen eigenaar zijn van de computer etc.
- Content/designbeheer: beheert de content voor de klant.
Dit zijn allemaal rollen die niet zoveel met telecommunicatie van doen hebben. Of het een CMS, mailserver, VoIP server of eCommerce applicatie is, de functies lopen steeds meer in elkaar over. De beheerder routeert het telecommunicatieverkeer niet.
Qua telecommunicatie heb je twee opties.
- Inkopen bij een leverancier van een toegangsdienst. (bv een ISP of andere telecomaanbieder). Geen mogelijkheden om zelf verkeer te routeren. Nog steeds niet tapplichtig.
- Zelf gaan routeren. (vergt in de internetwereld een AS-nummer en eigen IP-space) Pas dan ben je echt een telecommunicatienetwerk of dienst aanbieder.Dit betekent dat je dus ook je eigen aftapverplichting moet regelen. (Andere partijen kunnen de tap niet meer uitvoeren, want je kunt zelf je eigen routering doen dmv BGP)
Disclaimer: Dit is mijn mening, geen uitspraak van de Hoge Raad.
Dit is een presentatie die ik gegeven heb in een gastcollege in Leiden. Erg leuke ervaring. De feedback heb ik gebruikt om vooral de eerste sectie meer uit te breiden. Ik hoop dat de Nederlandse lezers er plezier van hebben en het studiemateriaal waarderen. Mocht je vragen hebben, dan hoor ik het wel. :-)
De centrale stelling is: In Nederland kunnen we tappen omdat we het op orde hebben. Ik had nog wat meer kunnen doen met uitleggen hoe het buitenland werkt, maar daar kan ik later nog wel eens wat tijd aan wijden. Zie anders Stratix en Norton Rose over Aftappen in het Buitenland.
Addendum
Ten aanzien van webhosting bedrijven geldt dat zij veelal niet onder de Telecommunicatiewet vallen. Een ruwe sortering van de branche levert de volgende indeling van de rollen die partijen spelen:
- Pure colocatie - leveren een pand, een rack, stroom. De klant levert zelf de computer, doet het beheer etc.
- Verhuurder van computer rekencapaciteit: Levert een computer (of een deel van een computer) waar de klant mee kan doen wat ie wil. Wordt veelal geleverd met een netwerkverbinding naar het internet. (theoretisch gezien hoeft dit niet)
- Systeembeheer: Voert voor de klant beheer op een computer/netwerk. Klant kan eigenaar zijn van de systemen of deze huren van derden, deze systemen kunnen staan bij de klant of ergens anders.
- Applicatiebeheer: beheert specifieke software voor de klant, levert soms wel en soms niet de licenties voor het gebruik als onderdeel van de dienst. Bv een CMS. De klant doet zelf de content, kan wel of geen eigenaar zijn van de computer etc.
- Content/designbeheer: beheert de content voor de klant.
Dit zijn allemaal rollen die niet zoveel met telecommunicatie van doen hebben. Of het een CMS, mailserver, VoIP server of eCommerce applicatie is, de functies lopen steeds meer in elkaar over. De beheerder routeert het telecommunicatieverkeer niet.
Qua telecommunicatie heb je twee opties.
- Inkopen bij een leverancier van een toegangsdienst. (bv een ISP of andere telecomaanbieder). Geen mogelijkheden om zelf verkeer te routeren. Nog steeds niet tapplichtig.
- Zelf gaan routeren. (vergt in de internetwereld een AS-nummer en eigen IP-space) Pas dan ben je echt een telecommunicatienetwerk of dienst aanbieder.Dit betekent dat je dus ook je eigen aftapverplichting moet regelen. (Andere partijen kunnen de tap niet meer uitvoeren, want je kunt zelf je eigen routering doen dmv BGP)
Disclaimer: Dit is mijn mening, geen uitspraak van de Hoge Raad.
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Safaricom, M-Pesa is just cool.
This is just cool. Bart de Rijk, a colleague at Logica Management Consulting went to Kenya to help a micro-credit organisation that is supported through Logica's Bloom corporate responsiblity initiative. There he learned about Safaricoms M-Pesa, mobile payment platform. M-pesa allows anyone with a mobile phone to recieve money from a Safaricom customer. In a country where most people don't have a bank account this has become the default bank payment system. It started 15 months ago and currently carries €200 million per month. That's 5% of its GDP. There is a cost involved, at 25-35 eurocents per transaction it is not cheap, but it is still appreciated (by the people, not by competing banks)
My colleague learned about how much it was appreciated when he asked a group of women who formed a micro-credit group if they would prefer to pay their loan via mobile payments. The resounding answer was: YES PLEASE. It saves them from making long walks to meetings, risks of robbers and lions etc. To read about his experiences: Google Translate or the Bloom blog (in Dutch)
My colleague learned about how much it was appreciated when he asked a group of women who formed a micro-credit group if they would prefer to pay their loan via mobile payments. The resounding answer was: YES PLEASE. It saves them from making long walks to meetings, risks of robbers and lions etc. To read about his experiences: Google Translate or the Bloom blog (in Dutch)
Saturday, 20 September 2008
WIK report for ECTA on the economic of Next Generation Access released
WIK in Germany has finally released the PDF of the research that ECTA had been PR-ing for months already. The WIK-report on economics of Next Generation Access networks is a very handy overview of a series of research papers on FTTH (including mine). It contains a summary of many research papers and a state of play in various countries, like the US and Australia and it models the roll out of NGA networks in various EU countries. Some interesting tables are:
There is also a presentation available:
Sunday, 7 September 2008
Slashdot reading list
After having read Slashdot for 10 years one of my articles made it to the frontpage. I won't lie . It feels cool and yes I did submit it...
So for those Slashdotters who end up here and wonder what else I wrote, here a reading list:
- Telecom Cool Wall
- Telecommunications in one slide
- I wrote a paper for the OECD on the future of broadband networks
- Submarine fibre and public policy
- European Telecom Authority a threat to democracy
- There is no economic basis for Quality of Service
- A simple proposal to fix mobile roaming charges
- Adsense should have a possibility to contribute the money to good causes
- Knowledge Management in large organizations
- Promiscuous wireless information
Hope it provides some enjoyable reading :-)
Saturday, 6 September 2008
How the internet works: Peering and Transit
A while ago I wrote an article here on Peering and Transit and Ars Technica picked it up and wanted to publish it on their site. I reworked it for them and now here it is. Unfortunately I missed that it had been published for a couple of days, but still cool to see how many people have read it. Please follow the link here:
http://arstechnica.com/guides/other/peering-and-transit.ars#
http://arstechnica.com/guides/other/peering-and-transit.ars#
Monday, 1 September 2008
Telecom Cool Wall
Top Gear, the hugely successful BBC car program, has an item called the Cool Wall. Its the most subjective way of dividing cars up from subzero, via cool, uncool to seriously uncool. An Audi TT is seriously uncool a Landrover Defender is subzero.
I thought I do the same for the telecom industry. Being cool or uncool is as subjective here as it is there. Cool is defined as novel, alternative, fun, smart,benefiting the end-user and society. Uncool is benefiting the company and the company alone. I would love to hear readers opinions too
To quote ICON at the end of the Salone Internationale del Mobile 2005 (design): “We also make no apologies for the heavy representation of Dutch designers and brands: Milan once again shows how this small nation continues to produce the most innovative and intelligent design.”
The same goes for the Telecoms industry, though it isn't the best in everything, the climate still is exceptional.
Subzero
Free (France) 30 euro a month buys you 28mbit/s DSL (design their own DSL modems), free calling in France and to fixed numbers in 50+ countries, IP-TV, HD-TV, recorder, TV-Perso + native IPv6 (thanks Jap), etc. It has redefined the French broadband market by teaching marketeers that its not about new services that generate new revenues, but that it's about delivering more for the same money. Delivering something new every month drives churn to 0%. This company is so cool that it actually upped the ante by investing in fibre networks! For 30 euro per month of course. It is the perennial favorite for the fourth French mobile license, sending shivers up the spines of it competitors. Best of all it makes a healthy profit every year.
Internet Exchanges (mostly Europe and Asia) Most internet exchanges are cool. They are the not-for-profit associations (or similar) where ISP's interconnect their networks. The effect of internet exchanges has been massive competition in the European telecoms market. Their stats are flabbergasting (400Gbit/s traffic in Amsterdam). People working for Internet Exchanges are also good for having a beer with that's bonus points. Sub-zero then.
Internet Network Geeks: Beards, T-shirs and Sandals. Most of these men are great to have a beer with. They know why the network works. Because it imposes as little constraints on the end-user as possible. Most of them will not try to sell you a dysfunctional protocol or worse force it unto you by government regulation (though DNSSEC might be an exception)
Cool
Rabo Mobiel (Netherlands) A bank with its own MVNO. Cheap calling included with integration with your bank account. Better even, they've introduced SMS payments for everybody in The Netherlands, regardless of whether they have a bank account with the bank. All you need is a mobile phone number. That is just cool.
Telekom Slovenije (Slovenia): They are an incumbent, so that almost defines them under uncool or seriously uncool, but they have their own FTTH program called F2, without being pushed by anyone, just a general idea that it might be good to the country (I think). Just realizing that dream, makes you Cool in my book.
KPN (Netherlands): The smartest incumbent in Europe and maybe the world. Decided a while ago to invest in an All-IP network, which meant VDSL2 50mbit/s symmetric to every home. Now take that BT, that's what you call a network upgrade... And of course a brilliant way to kill of the competitive DSL-network. On the one hand it was forced by the potential of the cable industry in The Netherlands, but it has done so without the mistakes of fighting over the investment and access to it with the regulator. Much smarter then Deutsche Telekom and BT again. It knows exactly how to appease its shortsighted shareholders and still invest in FTTH. Yup, by investing in Reggefiber for 41%. You just know they will be the reigning incumbent for the next 50 years in The Netherlands, leaving the scraps for others.
FON and Eduroam: Fon and Eduroam are cool. Sharing wireless is cool. It should be mandated by law that all wifi access points should be shared amongst the customers of the ISP. Ofcourse almost no incumbent does it, because it might hurt their mobile data revenues.
Google: Google is cool, but getting less and less so. It used to be you wanted to talk to the Google guy at a party... in the Telco world I'd much rater shake hands with FON, Free, Internet Exchanges etc. Their ideas were once the coolest on the planet. Now they are just part of a larger group. Google is good at ideas, but not always at execution. Their bluffs (Android and White Spaces) in the telecom business are amusing and they are the only thing that really grabs the attention of Telco CEO's, who mistakenly see Google as a competitor. However all their forays in the telco market will result not result in Google becoming a telco, but hopefully scare the telco's into not seeing themselves as application and content providers.
Uncool:
British Telecom: There is much against BT to be listed in the Cool section. Incumbents are not cool. BT's 21CN is not cool, as it's all hype and nothing of substance to the end-user. Only delivering ADSL. Expensive backhaul (Ofcoms fault but still). Whining about the fibre investment (better then Deutsche Telekom), dumb enough to sell mobile branch. Only thing going for it is its cooperation with FON. That's Cool. Fon is cool, but the association is not enough to get BT on the cool list.
Reggefiber: Reggefiber is behind most investements in FTTH in the Netherlands. Therefore it should be cool. The problem with Reggefiber is that I see only calculations and no conviction. They haven't offered novel things in the market, nothing to brag about except connections. My image of someone working for Reggefiber is that of an accountant. Not cool.
Cable companies: I don't know any cool cable company. Some smaller ones like Reka, Kabel Noord and maybe Caiw may come into touching distance of being cool, but the big brothers, Comcast, Virgin, UPC, Telenet, Kabel Deutschland just aren't. They've promised us everything and haven't delivered a thing. Video on Demand anyone? ah yes, that's something iTunes gives us. Cable companies delivering fibre? Only in the advertisements, never to the end-users. Never a front runner, often only a runner on paper. So why are they not on the seriously uncool list.. well they sometimes keep the incumbent honest, like in the Netherlands.
European Commission: Mrs. Reding has many qualities that would list her in the subzero section. Taking on the mobile sector is really cool. However the solutions generally don't lead to permanent competition. The EU way of regulating roaming is a cent at the time. My mobile roaming solution (kind of carrier preselect for roaming) would solve it. The Commission is getting better at working on tough problems like structural separation etc. However it is an undemocratic institution that so often caused the problems it is now trying to solve, including sanctioning the GSMA-cartel. So the good stuff is keeping it from being seriously uncool.
Seriously uncool
Incumbents: Almost by definition they're uncool. Some even seriously uncool. They've been given this great asset and a perennial monopoly, that is impossible to crush. But instead of using it in a benevolent anti-competitive way (the way KPN works) most of them are just plain evil. Worse still almost all of them have cornered both the fixed and wireless market and their steps into the FTTC market will kill of any potential the competition may have.
Mobile companies (and the GSMA): In Europe all of them are money hogging, price fixing, cartel supported, marketing companies. It's not even about telecoms anymore. Most of them wouldn't know why the roaming rules are the way they are, why we're paying outrageous interconnection tariffs etc. The GSMA even argued for increasing traffic charges if internet traffic crosses a border. Hello! It does offer great value to the shareholders. However overcharging is only cool if you know your doing it and the customer doesn't. Mobile are completely the other way round. They have no clue about their business and the customers know that they are being ripped off.
Deutsche Telekom: In 1994 my student room had more bandwidth (10mbit/s) to the internet than all German universities together. The main cause: Deutsche Telekom. In Germany connecting a fax or modem to a phone line was illegal --> Deutsche Telekom. Even today: VDSL2 is a service according to Deutsche Telekom and therefore exempt from EU regulation. Are you kidding, a modulation technology cannot be a service. All this results in an enormous legal fight with the EU. They could have done what BT does. Same thing, different reaction. Oh come on Germany will never improve on a national scale as long as DT is there, seriously hurting its competitive chances.
North American Telco's: Yes Canada that includes you too (except for some bits touched by Bill St. Arnaud) None of them are cool. Most of them are very seriously uncool. Level 3 and Verizon are a bit more on the positive side. All the others are a shame for the industry. Passive collusion is rampant in the industry. All their employees seem to be lawyers. They seem to be clueless about what's going on in the rest of the world and every investment in the network is seen as an unbearable burden. Yuck. Even Munifi and FTTH initiatives in North America have the image of being a miserable failure. About the only thing good in North America is the absence of regulated mobile termination tariffs... unfortunately this is more then offset by all the rest.
I thought I do the same for the telecom industry. Being cool or uncool is as subjective here as it is there. Cool is defined as novel, alternative, fun, smart,benefiting the end-user and society. Uncool is benefiting the company and the company alone. I would love to hear readers opinions too
To quote ICON at the end of the Salone Internationale del Mobile 2005 (design): “We also make no apologies for the heavy representation of Dutch designers and brands: Milan once again shows how this small nation continues to produce the most innovative and intelligent design.”
The same goes for the Telecoms industry, though it isn't the best in everything, the climate still is exceptional.
Subzero
Free (France) 30 euro a month buys you 28mbit/s DSL (design their own DSL modems), free calling in France and to fixed numbers in 50+ countries, IP-TV, HD-TV, recorder, TV-Perso + native IPv6 (thanks Jap), etc. It has redefined the French broadband market by teaching marketeers that its not about new services that generate new revenues, but that it's about delivering more for the same money. Delivering something new every month drives churn to 0%. This company is so cool that it actually upped the ante by investing in fibre networks! For 30 euro per month of course. It is the perennial favorite for the fourth French mobile license, sending shivers up the spines of it competitors. Best of all it makes a healthy profit every year.
Internet Exchanges (mostly Europe and Asia) Most internet exchanges are cool. They are the not-for-profit associations (or similar) where ISP's interconnect their networks. The effect of internet exchanges has been massive competition in the European telecoms market. Their stats are flabbergasting (400Gbit/s traffic in Amsterdam). People working for Internet Exchanges are also good for having a beer with that's bonus points. Sub-zero then.
Internet Network Geeks: Beards, T-shirs and Sandals. Most of these men are great to have a beer with. They know why the network works. Because it imposes as little constraints on the end-user as possible. Most of them will not try to sell you a dysfunctional protocol or worse force it unto you by government regulation (though DNSSEC might be an exception)
Cool
Rabo Mobiel (Netherlands) A bank with its own MVNO. Cheap calling included with integration with your bank account. Better even, they've introduced SMS payments for everybody in The Netherlands, regardless of whether they have a bank account with the bank. All you need is a mobile phone number. That is just cool.
Telekom Slovenije (Slovenia): They are an incumbent, so that almost defines them under uncool or seriously uncool, but they have their own FTTH program called F2, without being pushed by anyone, just a general idea that it might be good to the country (I think). Just realizing that dream, makes you Cool in my book.
KPN (Netherlands): The smartest incumbent in Europe and maybe the world. Decided a while ago to invest in an All-IP network, which meant VDSL2 50mbit/s symmetric to every home. Now take that BT, that's what you call a network upgrade... And of course a brilliant way to kill of the competitive DSL-network. On the one hand it was forced by the potential of the cable industry in The Netherlands, but it has done so without the mistakes of fighting over the investment and access to it with the regulator. Much smarter then Deutsche Telekom and BT again. It knows exactly how to appease its shortsighted shareholders and still invest in FTTH. Yup, by investing in Reggefiber for 41%. You just know they will be the reigning incumbent for the next 50 years in The Netherlands, leaving the scraps for others.
FON and Eduroam: Fon and Eduroam are cool. Sharing wireless is cool. It should be mandated by law that all wifi access points should be shared amongst the customers of the ISP. Ofcourse almost no incumbent does it, because it might hurt their mobile data revenues.
Google: Google is cool, but getting less and less so. It used to be you wanted to talk to the Google guy at a party... in the Telco world I'd much rater shake hands with FON, Free, Internet Exchanges etc. Their ideas were once the coolest on the planet. Now they are just part of a larger group. Google is good at ideas, but not always at execution. Their bluffs (Android and White Spaces) in the telecom business are amusing and they are the only thing that really grabs the attention of Telco CEO's, who mistakenly see Google as a competitor. However all their forays in the telco market will result not result in Google becoming a telco, but hopefully scare the telco's into not seeing themselves as application and content providers.
Uncool:
British Telecom: There is much against BT to be listed in the Cool section. Incumbents are not cool. BT's 21CN is not cool, as it's all hype and nothing of substance to the end-user. Only delivering ADSL. Expensive backhaul (Ofcoms fault but still). Whining about the fibre investment (better then Deutsche Telekom), dumb enough to sell mobile branch. Only thing going for it is its cooperation with FON. That's Cool. Fon is cool, but the association is not enough to get BT on the cool list.
Reggefiber: Reggefiber is behind most investements in FTTH in the Netherlands. Therefore it should be cool. The problem with Reggefiber is that I see only calculations and no conviction. They haven't offered novel things in the market, nothing to brag about except connections. My image of someone working for Reggefiber is that of an accountant. Not cool.
Cable companies: I don't know any cool cable company. Some smaller ones like Reka, Kabel Noord and maybe Caiw may come into touching distance of being cool, but the big brothers, Comcast, Virgin, UPC, Telenet, Kabel Deutschland just aren't. They've promised us everything and haven't delivered a thing. Video on Demand anyone? ah yes, that's something iTunes gives us. Cable companies delivering fibre? Only in the advertisements, never to the end-users. Never a front runner, often only a runner on paper. So why are they not on the seriously uncool list.. well they sometimes keep the incumbent honest, like in the Netherlands.
European Commission: Mrs. Reding has many qualities that would list her in the subzero section. Taking on the mobile sector is really cool. However the solutions generally don't lead to permanent competition. The EU way of regulating roaming is a cent at the time. My mobile roaming solution (kind of carrier preselect for roaming) would solve it. The Commission is getting better at working on tough problems like structural separation etc. However it is an undemocratic institution that so often caused the problems it is now trying to solve, including sanctioning the GSMA-cartel. So the good stuff is keeping it from being seriously uncool.
Seriously uncool
Incumbents: Almost by definition they're uncool. Some even seriously uncool. They've been given this great asset and a perennial monopoly, that is impossible to crush. But instead of using it in a benevolent anti-competitive way (the way KPN works) most of them are just plain evil. Worse still almost all of them have cornered both the fixed and wireless market and their steps into the FTTC market will kill of any potential the competition may have.
Mobile companies (and the GSMA): In Europe all of them are money hogging, price fixing, cartel supported, marketing companies. It's not even about telecoms anymore. Most of them wouldn't know why the roaming rules are the way they are, why we're paying outrageous interconnection tariffs etc. The GSMA even argued for increasing traffic charges if internet traffic crosses a border. Hello! It does offer great value to the shareholders. However overcharging is only cool if you know your doing it and the customer doesn't. Mobile are completely the other way round. They have no clue about their business and the customers know that they are being ripped off.
Deutsche Telekom: In 1994 my student room had more bandwidth (10mbit/s) to the internet than all German universities together. The main cause: Deutsche Telekom. In Germany connecting a fax or modem to a phone line was illegal --> Deutsche Telekom. Even today: VDSL2 is a service according to Deutsche Telekom and therefore exempt from EU regulation. Are you kidding, a modulation technology cannot be a service. All this results in an enormous legal fight with the EU. They could have done what BT does. Same thing, different reaction. Oh come on Germany will never improve on a national scale as long as DT is there, seriously hurting its competitive chances.
North American Telco's: Yes Canada that includes you too (except for some bits touched by Bill St. Arnaud) None of them are cool. Most of them are very seriously uncool. Level 3 and Verizon are a bit more on the positive side. All the others are a shame for the industry. Passive collusion is rampant in the industry. All their employees seem to be lawyers. They seem to be clueless about what's going on in the rest of the world and every investment in the network is seen as an unbearable burden. Yuck. Even Munifi and FTTH initiatives in North America have the image of being a miserable failure. About the only thing good in North America is the absence of regulated mobile termination tariffs... unfortunately this is more then offset by all the rest.
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