Silent Roamers

A recent conversation with a friend of mine revealed that a lot of persons are still terrified of being hit by their mobile operator with a large roaming bill and as a result switch their phones off altogether when abroad as my friend did whilst in Miami, switching on only when free Wi-Fi is available.

In doing some research I came across a recent report which identified 90 percent of phone users are ‘silent roamers”. This obviously accounts for reduced revenue for providers from roaming subscribers as they seek cheap local calls in the country they are visiting or stay off the grid and use free Wi-Fi. With global roaming review set to increase to $90 billion by 2018 operators should be concerned about silent roamers.

The report, which summarized data gathered from 114 mobile operators in 83 countries also identified that 86% of subscribers lacked knowledge about how smartphones work whilst roaming, which may present an opportunity for local operators via further customer education to increase revenue. I wonder how many of us switch off whilst roaming?

Are you a silent roamer?

How secure is your personal data?

In the last three months we have seen issues arise with respect to the privacy of personal data and within the last few days one prominent citizen has indicated that their Facebook account was “hacked”. It begs the question how secure is our personal data and credit card information? In todays environment just having a demilitarized zone (DMZ), HTTPS and a VeriSign logo is not sufficient. These need to be supported by frequent vulnerability test, application of relevant security fixes, encryption and key management solutions to ensure that information in case of theft is unusable for the attacker and analytics to identify potential fraudulent transactions before the good or service is provided . Last but not least a security incident response team to address suspicious activity or suspected intrusions.

In October 2015 T-Mobile reported that confidential financial data for 15 million of its US customers was stolen from a server hosted by a third party. Also The Trump Hotel Collection reported a security breach of the credit cards used at certain hotels. With hackers working around the clock customers should be concerned about the data stored with their providers. Using a scale of 1 – 10 how confident are you that your personal data is secure?

Whatsapp and what’s next for providers?

Whatsapp, Facebook Viber and Skype and other social media applications that support messaging continue to erode voice revenue for telecom providers as a result of cost differences between these Over the Top (OTT) competitors and telecom providers.

Whilst traditional messaging services revenue is under threat from OTT offerings Short Messaging Services (SMS) still dominates the market with growth coming from the A2P (Application to person) market as it provides a cost-effective channel for engaging customers. Locally the increase in the adoption of smartphones is further leading to growing usage of mobile messaging services. Smartphones will account for 19% (4.6 billion) of all networked devices by 2019. One local operator has attempted to address the situation by blocking certain OTT apps. But there is hope for operators as they move customers to 4G, where Voice Over LTE (VoLTE) promises greater efficiency and enables providers to offer voice almost like an application. So let's see who will be first to market in TNT.

Note an advisory posted on the 19^th October 2015 notes that millions of Android devices are at risk because they lack the "appropriate permissions model" for LTE networks. A remote attacker on the provider's network may be able to establish peer-to-peer connections to directly retrieve data from other phones, or spoof phone numbers when making calls," the advisory warned. "A malicious mobile app for Android may be able to silently place phone calls without the user's knowledge." Not only that, by exploiting the way that Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) works, the researchers found that they could obtain free bandwidth from carriers without incurring additional charges.

TSTT retracts VSEP/EERP offer to Junior and Senior Staff employees.

Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) Limited implemented its strategic plan back in 2013 to transform the organization based on three pillars, which were:

• Automation –IT enable key processes.
  

• Infrastructure – Upgrade infrastructure to improve customer service and keep pace with technological advancements and customer demands.

• Organizational Transformation – Rationalization of all categories of staff via Voluntary Separation (VSEP) and Enhanced Early Retirement programs (EERP) as well as a shift in knowledge, skill sets and culture in addition to the implementation of new structures along with corporate rebranding.

The company offered VSEP/EERP packages to all categories of staff as a result of mounting personnel cost given that 25 percent of the company’s revenue was used to satisfy wages. It should be noted this was prior to the 2015 Industrial Court judgment that would have further inflated this position. 

This matter was referred by TSTT to the Industrial Court in 2014 as a trade dispute with respect to the terms of the VSEP/EERP packages offered to junior and senior staff employees. On October 13th, 2015  TSTT withdrew the matter from the Industrial Court.

Given the rising personnel cost (Two collective agreements outstanding) and increased competition in all lines of business along with the potential sale of Cable and Wireless 49% interest in the company. It begs the question how does TSTT plan to address its operating cost?

Is the residential fixed line business dead?

Fixed line voice traffic in Trinidad and Tobago stood at 1.28 billion minutes in 2014, a 2.3 percentage decrease over the previous period. With a household penetration at 56.6 in 2014, which is a decrease of 1% from 2013. A comparison among CARICOM countries, places Trinidad and Tobago seventh (7th) in terms of fixed line penetration.

Globally, the downward trend in fixed line ownership is set to continue as identified by the International Telecommunications Union(ITU). As of 2011 the trend in the US is the same with nearly 32% of American households being cell phone-only households.

With penetration decreasing some operators have increased their rates locally, which is similar to what British Telecom, did to recover their costs whilst internationally others have sought to sell their fixed line copper assets in rural areas.

As Facebook, Whatsapp, Viber and Skype eat away at voice minutes and consumers push for mobility it begs the question. What is the dominant fixed line local operator likely to do with this traditional line of business?

Impact of Arcelor Mittal Point Lisas Ltd vs. Steel Workers Union Privy Council decision.

On the 6^th August 2015 the Privy Council dismissed an appeal brought by Arcelor Mittal Point Lisas Ltd (Company).

The Industrial Court in its judgement dated the 31st July 2009 found that the contract workers were engaged by agencies for the purpose of providing their services to the company. The consequence of that finding, is that the company is deemed by s 2(4)(b) of the Industrial Relations Act to be the employer of the contract workers under labour only contracts and as such existing collective agreements applied to these workers.

Section 2(4)(b) of the Act states “When a person engages the services of a worker for the purpose of providing those services to another, then, such other person shall be deemed to be employer of the worker under a labour only contract”

With most local telecom providers utilizing more and more contract labour what is the likely impact of this judgement on providers?