BIC, the French purveyor of billions of lighters, pens and razors, recently launched the anti-iPhone. No waiting in line, no activation, no costly plans and no frills whatsoever. BIC phones, which retail at EUR 49 and come in orange and green versions, are ready to go: the battery is charged, SIM card installed and the phone comes with 10 talk minutes that are valid without registering with network provider Orange. Once the 10 minutes are up, customers can activate with Orange for a further 50 free minutes, and can buy top-up cards for more talk time.

BIC/Orange stress that this isn’t a disposable phone, more of a back-up phone for households to use when an extra, dedicated line might be useful—when selling a car or an apartment, for example. We can also see these selling well at airports, for travellers who want a local phone to avoid roaming charges, and want to be able to use it immediately without first having to charge or activate. Which makes for a good vending machine opportunity: set up machines near gate exits at Charles de Gaulle.

Website: www.bicworld.com

Sholl Communications

 

My name is Garry Sholl, formally of Sholl Communications (Aust), a company I started and managed successfully for the past 21years.

After building a successful company from the back room of my home in Essendon Victoria to over 80 staff in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, It was time to move on and sell Sholl Communications (Aust) P/L to a Public Listed Company.

I remain a major Shareholder in Sholl Communications and look forward watching Sholl Communications evolve in the public domain.

A few companies I have done work for and still continue to consult for include: 

Sholl Communications

DesignLive.com.au

EveryTel.com.au

FixTel.com.au

Silcar Communications

Melbourne Uni,

Servicestream
VisionStream
Grand Prix Organisation,
Ryder Hunt,
Becton
Royal Woman’s Hospital,
Royal Children’s Hospital
Mercy Hospital,
Flight Centre,
Nylex,
BHP,
Rio Tinto,
Readers Digest,
Nissan,
Chubb,
Australian Government
Australian Army
Education Department

My experience at Sholl was in sales, service, marketing and management of a wide range of Telecommunications equipment including,
AVAYA, Samsung, Alcatel, Siemens, Commanders etc.

At Sholl Communications I gained experience in all types of Cabling including Data, Electrical and Security.

I have training in Website Marketing, SEO Management and built this website for Sholl Communications http://www.sholl.com.au which is still receiving over 90,000 unique visitors per month for Sholl
By having the foresight to invest in website marketing it put Sholl 4 years in front of its competitors and still to this day is returning on the investment.

I am a member of the CEO Institute, 500 Club, MCC, VRC, HKABA, and the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD)

Regards

Garry Sholl

 

Mb.      0419 37 6000

Email.  garry@garrysholl.com

FixTel Pty. Ltd

has over 35 years experience with installations and maintenance of a wide range of Telephone Systems and Data products.

They sell, AVAYA, Siemens, Commanders, NEC, Panasonic, Samsung and Alcatel Telephone Systems to name a few.

They can supply a wide range of services and products, including Headsets, Video Conferencing, Polycom Sound Stations, PA Systems, Long Range Cordless Phones, New and Used Phone handsets.

Have a vast range of services include Voice, Data, Electrical and Security Installations designed to save you time and money whether you are moving office, expanding or starting a complete new business.

Install and terminate all types of Fibre Optics including, Fault finding, Network Audits and Fusion Splicing.

Call them on 1300 85 95 20

FixTel.com.au

It seems that every vendor has to have its own store these days.

Despite the hoopla surrounding Apple’s new glass-fronted mega-shop in Sydney, the same architect who designed Apple’s New York retail therapy clinic was responsible for the Telstra T[life] shop just across the road, which opened last November.

This week Telstra has opened another T[life] shop down in Melbourne. According to the telco, the shops are just what customers have been demanding, and are designed to give you a hands-on preview of exactly what life will be like with one of their phones. Oh really?

Sure, they have sections for [my]business and [my]place and even [my]network to entice punters with the possibilities of perfection in phones. But is this reality? There are several departments missing from this store.

First off, where is the [my]rural section? That’s where you can’t get a signal no matter what you do, but there would be ladders and ledges for you to climb on while you try and get connected, and several people trapped under a tractor.

Another desperately needed department is [my]invoice. This would let customers know what it’s likely to cost them when they choose to sign on the dotted line, and how many body parts they’ll need to sell in order to pay the outrageous bill.

Right alongside would be [my]callcentre. In this department, nobody would speak the same language as you do, and this would be truly global. If you happened to only speak Urdu then you’d be connected with English-speaking call centre staff instead.

In the far corner of the store would be [my]technicians. Parked there would be a T[life] van, with several techs eating sandwiches, having a smoke and talking to their mates on their company-provided mobile phones. If you go over and ask them for assistance they’ll ask you to call [my]callcentre first to make an appointment.

Then they’ll return to eating, smoking and chatting amongst themselves. Alongside them would be [my]backhoe with a tangle of fibre-optic cables drooling from its bucket.

Nobody in the shop would be able to help you with your questions, but an army of annoying drones would [my]phone you at random to offer you things you don’t want or need. You’d also get [my]SMS messages inviting you to participate in fabulous giveaway contests for tickets to last year’s grand finals.

Now that’s what I call a reality T[life] store.

By Ian Yates
27 June 2008 12:12PM
Tags: telstra

cheers

GS

Australian-owned supplier of retail and wholesale telecommunications, People Telecom, has signed a two-year agreement with M2 Telecommunications Group for the wholesale supply of Optus 3G and GSM mobile services.

People Telecom’s CEO, John Stanton, said under the agreement People Telecom will be able to offer 3G and GSM mobile and Wireless2Go wireless broadband services to existing and new customers.

“The agreement provides stronger operating margins for People Telecom’s existing mobile business, which will assist our earnings growth,” he said.

Stanton said further details about People Telecom’s multi-network mobile arrangements will emerge in the coming weeks. This new agreement will pave the way for the telco to become a mobile virtual network operator.

“[This offers] our customers the flexibility to operate on a range of different major mobile networks across Australia,” said Stanton.

By Lilia Guan
27 June 2008 02:34PM
Tags: people | telecom | 3g | m2 | telecommunications

Cheers

GS

Embattled Australian service provider, Commander Communications, has been forced to take its Affinity IT Recruitment subsidiary and internal recruitment services off the sales table.

Commander has previously announced its intention to sell the Affinity division, but after extensive discussions with external parties, the service provider wasn’t able to conclude a suitable deal for the Affinity, said Commander’s managing director Amanda Lacaze.

“When we identified the ‘Turnaround Plan’ for Commander we identified Affinity as a subsidiary that was not core to our strategy,” she said. “We are disappointed that we were unable to conclude an external sale of the Affinity IT Recruitment business and therefore have taken the decision to close down operations,” she said.

According to Lacaze, a full review of Affinity’s operations has been completed and management now believes it can be cost effectively managed within Commander’s internal HR division, rather than a separately run division.

“Commander will no longer seek to divest the Affinity business as an ongoing operation. Instead, certain recruitment professionals from Affinity will be appointed to new roles within Commander,” she said.

Affinity IT Recruitment will no longer provide services to external clients. However all current candidate selections will be finalised and Affinity will manage its existing contractor base until the expiry of the contracts, said Lacaze.

However 15 employees, mainly from the sales and administration division, will be retrenched, due to these changes and consequent reduction in overheads, said Lacaze.

cheers

GS

Australian telecommunications provider, Telstra has opened what it claims to be one the “largest state-of-the-art interactive telecommunications store in Australia”.

Telstra believes the T [life] store transforms the Melbourne CBD landscape and brings a touch of ‘Times Square meets 5th Avenue’ to the corner of Bourke and Swanston Streets.

Telstra CEO, Sol Trujillo, said the T [life] store is an “interactive retail environment” that allows customers to experience Telstra products first hand. “Australians told us that they want a store where the display mobiles work so they can play before they buy, where one-on-one expert advice accompanies live demonstrations, and where how to classes are available,” he said.

The store is accompanied with a 22 metre x 2.5 metre LCD screen. Telstra consumer marketing and channels group managing director, David Moffatt, said the new T [life] store in Melbourne followed on from the success of the Sydney store.

“The Melbourne store is equivalent in size to seven tennis courts and brings to life what’s possible, showcasing the present and the future. It also has two levels that encompass a dedicated area for business customers called [my]business and [my]place – which offers free advice; and [my]networked home where customers can see for themselves how to connect at home and while on the move,” Moffatt said.

According to Moffatt the store also features an interactive zone to explore and play with over 100 live and working devices, technology where customers can interact with future products and a TelePresence meeting room for face-to-face state of the art video conferencing.

cheers

GS

Continuing its push to become one of Australia’s dominant broadband players, Internode has installed its own DSLAM equipment in over 100 telephone exchanges.

The South Australia-based ISP has a further 50 exchanges planned for its ADSL2+ rollout schedule.

Simon Hackett, managing director at Internode, said the deployment schedule was being hampered by Telstra.

“Of the 106 exchanges we have equipped with our own DSLAM gear, 10 have limited capacity due to Telstra either restricting access to the exchange or declaring it full,” he said.

Hackett has previously criticised Telstra, arguing the carrier should open up access to its nationwide ADSL2+ network, and arguing that access for competing ISPs is being held up by delays.

Despite the restrictions, Hackett said that Internode remains committed to providing its customers with the best Internet experience possible.

“With our ADSL2+, ADSL1 and Naked ADSL2+ services, we provide customers with a great range of options for Internet access,” he said.

“ADSL2+ delivers the real Internet experience by letting us deliver a full range of rich online applications including our NodePhone voice-over-broadband service, great streaming video and games and business systems such as high-speed tails for our Internode Business Connect (IBC) private IP network.”

The ISP is continuing its partnership with Optus Wholesale to provide its Naked ADSL2+ service across 350 exchanges Australia wide. Naked DSL allows broadband over a dial tone-free phone line, avoiding the monthly line rental charges usuallu required for ADSL broadband.

Internode currently has 45 of its own DSLAM exchanges in its home state of South Australia. NSW has approximately half this with 21 exchanges, followed by the ACT with 13 and Victoria with 12. Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania trail behind with 10, 3 and 2 respectively.

By Mitchell Smith
23 June 2008 03:50PM
Tags: internode

cheers

GS

HiPath 1220 System

 Key Features:

• Sophisticated low-cost solution.

• Up to 3 ISDN2 services (6  lines) and 16 extensions.

• Fax, answering machine, modem integration.

• Internal Voicemail.

You run a medical practice, a legal practice, a small business, or you work from home? Direct contact with your customers is crucial to your success, which is why you expect far more from the perfect telephone system than simply the standard features? You want easy-to-use, convenient terminals? And all that without breaking the bank? No problem. With HiPath 1220, Siemens brings all the features of a professional telephone system within the reach of small companies.

With the HiPath 1220 telephone system, Siemens offers an exceptionally high performance communications system for small, but nevertheless demanding, companies. A multitude of professional features supports all phone-based communications processes– at every workstation and in every working environment. You want to grow – no problem. With HiPath 1220, you have the freedom to expand with ease, two-by-two, to as many as 14 phones. Decide for a new quality in telecommunications.

You can buy them here     http://www.everytel.com.au

Cheers

GS

Australian consumers will have to pay 15 percent more for broadband access if Telstra is successful in its bid to build the Federal Government’s $4.7 billion funded national broadband network (NBN), according to a new report.

The report, estimates Telstra would have to charge 15 percent more for network access for it to achieve its publicly-stated 18 percent after-tax return profit target.

The report was conducted by independent economic consultancy group, the Centre for International Economics (CIE), at the request of the Competitive Carriers Coalition (CCC) – whose members include Telstra rivals; Macquarie Telecom, iiNet and TransACT.

“To be able to achieve its targeted return on equity of 18 per cent, Telstra would have to extract additional revenue from the network users through higher prices,” said the report’s authors, Mayela Garcia and CIE director Kerry Barwise.

“Higher prices in industries will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices for consumer goods and services, leading to a general increase in the level of prices.”

Exacting a further 15 percent from consumers’ pockets for network access would equate to an additional $897 million in Telstra’s coffers, claimed the report.

If the network was to cost $15 billion, an estimate Telstra boss Sol Trujillo recently quoted to The Australian, consumers would pay an additional $1.4 billion a year for broadband services.

The CIE estimates were based on Telstra’s calculations that the NBN would cost approximately $9 billion to build and comparisons of what consumers would pay for broadband services from an alternative operator.

The report also hypothesised that a network build based on Telstra’s cost estimates would increase inflation, reduce national growth, lower wages and reduce national consumption.

Telstra Wholesale managing director Kate McKenzie lashed out at the report, branding it as a “bogus”.

“This is a completely bogus report that has been bought and paid for by a bunch of competitors who want one thing only — to stop the building of Australia’s national broadband network and keep their current cosy arrangements,” she said in a statement.

“The report has no basis in fact. It is a dishonest distortion that is designed to do nothing but delay the process.”

 

   

Cheers