Real cost of telecoms fell 6 percent in 2017

Consumer Price Index data from Statistics New Zealand shows the real cost of telecommunications services dropped 6.3 percent in 2017.

The price falls are not evenly distributed across the industry. According to research company IDC the average price of a residential 100/20 Mbps fibre plan with uncapped data fell from $119.07 to $87.78. That a 26 percent drop.

Telecommunications Forum CEO Geoff Thorn says the cost of comparable utilities have been increasing over time. He says: "The latest figures continue a trend seen across the board in New Zealand since 2006; the real cost of telecommunications services is decreasing, even as the quality and quantity of services provided is increasing."

Jason Attewell, Statistics New Zealand's senior manager, Labour Market and Household Statistics says the price consumers pay for technology effectively falls over time. "In the Consumer Price Index, we adjust prices to reflect improved products or services, even if the sticker prices stay the same", he says.

Kordia revamps with a new TV broadcast-as-a-Service

Kordia is making it easier for local content producers to distribute their content with its Cloud for Digital Playout service. A one-stop shop, it treats the transmission part of broadcasting as a service which is paid for monthly.

Kordia's Head of Media, Dean Brain, says there is already a lot of interest. Several shopping channels and ethnic television companies – Chinese and Indian, but also smaller ethnic communities – are interested.

"To play their content, our TV customers have to first load it on to a server, then create a play list, then play it. Some of them can't afford the equipment needed, so we've developed a customer-agnostic service that distributes to web platforms like YouTube or to their own branded platform, like Rhema TV's, the Christian broadcaster."

Brain said the new service was aimed at New Zealand-focused television content providers. The service is an initiative of Kordia's revamped media division. Brain is its newly appointed head.

Last days of 2G at 2D

Mobile phone customers using old school 2G devices on the 2degrees network have five weeks to upgrade their handsets. The company plans to shut down 2G service across its network on March 15.

The change won't affect many people. The old handsets were already on the way out and 2degrees CEO Stewart Sherriff says a good proportion of 2G customers upgraded their devices after the company first announced the network closure in September.

Nokia posts better than expected result

Telecom equipment maker Nokia posted better-that-expected 2017 profits late last week. The company says it has now rebounded from an earlier series of setbacks even though investors remain worried by a soft market for network technology and problems integrating acquired companies.

Nokia's profit was boosted by a one-off patent payment of €210 million from Huawei. Otherwise the operating profit was down 25 percent year-on-year.

Equipment companies are in a trough as demand for 4G mobile hardware is falling as the market waits for 5G sales to start. That's not expected before next year and won't ramp up until after 2020.

Traditional voice succumbs to OTT

CommsDay reports on TeleGeography research confirming that over‐the‐top applications are replacing traditional voice networks for international voice services. These include computer-based apps like Skype and mobile phone based services such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Apple FaceTime.

TeleGeography senior analyst Patrick Christian says the volume of traditional international voice traffic is declining. He says 2015 saw the first drop in annual minutes since the Great Depression in the 1920s. That year it fell just half a percent. In 2016 things accelerated with a 4.5 percent fall.

Christian then worked the flip side of these numbers to show OTT apps delivered nearly 730 billion minutes of international traffic in 2017. He says that 40 percent more than all of the telcos in the world, combined.

Spark TaaS portfolio grows

Spark has added contact centre, unified communication, cloud security access brokerage and site connectivity to its Telecommunications as a Service portfolio.

Enable joins Tuanz for Christchurch Flint chapter

Enable is sponsoring the Christchurch chapter of Future Leaders in Technology or Flint, the leadership and networking programme run by Tuanz. The first Christchurch meeting is on February 21 at Dux Central.