SK Telecom's Joyn service reaches 1million users

Operator enables Joyn subscribers to send instant messages to feature phone owners.

SK Telecom claimed on Monday that its joyn.T service has become the first RCS offering to surpass the 1 million subscriber mark.

The operator launched Joyn – the consumer-facing brand of the GSMA's Rich Communication Suite (RCS) – under the joyn.T brand in late December 2012. Since then it has tweaked the service so that data fees incurred from sending and receiving instant messages are not deducted from an end user's data allowance – a similar strategy that has been adopted by Joyn operators in Europe.

In addition, SK Telecom has also enabled subscribers to send Joyn messages to phones that do not have Joyn installed, which includes feature phones that are not compatible with the service. Any instant messages sent to a non-Joyn phone appear in the recipient's SMS inbox.

"SK Telecom aims to integrate all means of mobile communication into joyn.T to make it the most attractive choice for customers seeking an accurate and enriched communication service," said Wi Eui-Seok, EVP and head of product planning at SK Telecom, in a statement.

It will start by integrating joyn.T with its high-definition (HD) voice over LTE (VoLTE) service, which will become a standard feature on all phones sold by SK Telecom from March.
SK Telecom said it will also make its joyn.T APIs available to third parties in a bid to foster an ecosystem of entertainment, m-commerce and ICT services around its RCS offer.

Related:

• SK Telecom rolls out Joyn:http://telecomsrev.blogspot.pt/2013/01/rcs-e-joyn-sk-telecom-rolls-out-joyn.html
• RCS-e Joyn: Deployment world map:http://telecomsrev.blogspot.pt/2013/01/rcs-e-joyn-deployment-world-map.html  
• Korea "joyns" the club (theartofmessaging blog): http://theartofmessaging.com/2013/01/17/korea-joyns-the-club/

Source: http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=479508

Acme Packet and CounterPath Partner to Give Operators the Solution to the Internet OTT Threat

​ Acme Packet, the leader in session delivery networks, and CounterPath, a leading developer of award-winning desktop, tablet and mobile VoIP software products and solutions, today announced a joint solution based on CounterPath's market-leading Bria softphone and Acme Packet's market-leading Net-Net session border controller (SBC). The solution is targeted at service providers looking to extend service footprint and increase subscriber base by tapping into the growing demand for "over-the-top" (OTT) services that leverage the Internet for real-time voice and video communications.
News Highlights:

• The joint solution is the first to leverage Acme Packet's implementation of an emerging standard known as Tunneled Service Control Function (TSCF), which delivers an infrastructure-based alternative for real-time, over-the-top (OTT) communications.
  
  
• CounterPath's Bria mobile edition, a SIP-based softphone for Apple iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, as well as Google Android, now integrates tunneling innovations from Acme Packet that enable increased secure connectivity, enhanced firewall traversal, and interoperability with Acme Packet's SBCs.
  
  
• The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the standards organization that oversees the development of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), is currently working to standardize the TSCF function.
  
  
• Acme Packet and CounterPath designed this solution for service providers looking to provide secure voice, video, IM, presence, and SMS to mobile apps -- with higher levels of quality and reliability than current solutions.
  
  
• The joint solution helps customers extend the reach of their services by allowing tunneled sessions to traverse network borders, even in the presence of strict firewalls.
  
  
• With Acme Packet's patent-pending tunnel redundancy, the solution improves media quality under adverse network conditions and the Internet, where packet loss is common. Both signaling and media are replicated to ensure the highest possible quality of experience.
  
  
• The solution also features CounterPath's Client Configuration Server, which is used by service providers to deploy and provision the CounterPath mobile app.
  

Joint Solution Benefits:

• Secure VoIP and video communications for mobile applications on iPhone, Android, and Windows devices
• Maximum service reach with strict firewall traversal
• High voice quality and surmount packet loss for off-net or OTT VoIP services
• Call continuity across Wi-Fi and mobile networks
• Open and standards driven tunneling technology for both signaling and media
• Service provider-grade IP communications and security leveraging hardware assisted encryption and tunneling technologies
• Protection against malicious attacks and non-malicious overloads for OTT services
• Support for standard codecs, regardless of signaling or media type

Quotes:

• "This partnership with Acme Packet only enhances our Telco-OTT offering to service providers with a high-quality, real-time solution that guarantees secure calls in even the strictest network environments. As a result, we believe this joint solution will provide a better experience than what Skype and other OTT players currently offer," said Todd Carothers, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Products, CounterPath. "This solution demonstrates our ongoing commitment to innovation as we continue to provide operators with the technology to beat Internet OTT offerings."
  
  
• "In order to compete in the emerging telecommunications industry, traditional telephony providers must learn to embrace Internet philosophies and deliver new and differentiated services via a Telco-OTT model," said Dean Bubley, founder, Disruptive Analysis. "Acme Packet and CounterPath's joint solution enables service providers to strengthen their OTT service portfolio by improving quality and security."
  
  
• "Traditional service providers are increasingly concerned with OTT providers taking subscribers away from their business," said Pat MeLampy, chief technology officer, Acme Packet. "This joint solution enables service providers to compete directly with other OTT offerings and keep customers on their networks. By choosing CounterPath, an industry leading VoIP technology, and Acme Packet, the market leader in SBCs, our customers can deliver all the benefits of OTT services, offer security and reliability, as well as simply interoperate with pre-existing services."
  

More about Acme Packet and CounterPath:

• Acme Packet and CounterPath will be demonstrating the joint solution at the upcoming Mobile World Congress, offering select attendees the opportunity to "test drive" the solution through a service offered exclusively during the event.
• Acme Packet at Mobile World Congress
• Acme Packet and OTT Communications

Source: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/acme-packet-counterpath-partner-give-operators-solution-internet-ott-threat-nasdaq-apkt-1755681.htm

Improved traffic distribution indicates that operators are managing assets more effectively

There are likely to be a few last-minute adjustments to slides before this year’s Mobile World Congress, given that the industry’s most popular traffic forecasts were downgraded. Last week, Cisco released its latest mobile data forecasts, which show a significant decline from previous estimates. The company has lowered its figures by more than 30 per cent in the period 2012-2016 compared with their figures published this time last year.

February 2013: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/ns827/white_paper_c11-520862.html
February 2012: http://www.puremobile.com/media/infortis/documents/cisco_mobile_forecast.pdf

Some of the main reasons cited for the downgrade include

• The implementation of tiered mobile data packages.
• A slowdown in the number of mobile-connected laptop net additions.
• An increase in the amount of mobile traffic offloaded to the fixed network. Cisco says that about 33 per cent of mobile traffic was offloaded to the fixed network in 2012.
• Higher-than-expected tablet usage on wifi.

Although it is encouraging to see that Cisco has now brought its forecasts more into line with those of most other commentators, no one should be surprised to see further reductions as many of the points highlighted above bite down on future cellular usage.

Looking beyond the downgrade of its forecasts, another conclusion from the company’s research could bring much more positive news for the industry. Cisco has found that mobile data usage is becoming more evenly distributed among users. In 2010, the top one per cent of users generated 50 per cent of traffic; in 2012, the proportion dropped to 16 per cent, below the fixed-traffic ratio of 1:20 that has been evident for years.

Because of the dynamics of a growing market, this flattening of usage distribution was inevitable as we move to mass-market adoption; but the speed and scale at which it has occurred (according to Cisco) is surprising and just goes to show how fast the industry moves.
We can hypothesize a number of factors that have contributed to this change, including:

• Targeting of extreme usage by operators through yield-management strategies such as fair-usage policies, data caps and throttling.
• The increasing availability of free wifi acting as a substitute for cellular usage.
• The natural limit of consumption of high-bandwidth data on cellular. This is something that we have been saying for a long time at Informa. Essentially, high-bandwidth applications, such as video, are more suited to stationary, indoor consumption, which is not the natural sweet spot for cellular.
• The huge increase in the number of smartphone users attracted by affordable handsets and data plans

So why is this encouraging? Well, operators need to manage their core asset and scarce resource, namely bandwidth, as efficiently as possible. For years we’ve heard complaints about the “data hogs” that consume disproportionately large amounts of bandwidth for relatively low ARPU, but now it would seem that operators have been able to significantly modify usage to broaden the consumption on their networks. However, this is just part of the equation. Investors don’t care about traffic distribution: They want to see evidence that this traffic management translates into greater value.

The current reporting season has been littered with CEOs confirming that their traditional revenue streams of voice and SMS continue to fall against the relentless onslaught of free internet-communication services. Swisscom’s CEO believes that the company’s voice and SMS revenue will be gone within three years. If we strip away these declining revenue streams, we’re left with the future of an operator’s business, namely internet/data connectivity. To derive incremental value from this source, operators must therefore be able to differentiate the “data” they provide, a topic further explored in a recent Informa white paper, Understanding today’s smartphone user. We are indeed seeing evidence of progress in this area, and if you listen carefully, there are even murmurs that yield-management strategies are beginning to benefit bottom lines. For example, AT&T’s 4Q12 results show that the company now has “two thirds of smartphone subscribers on usage-based plans” (as opposed to all-you-can eat data plans) and cite take-up of these plans as a major contributor to increasing year-on-year wireless EBITDA by seven per cent.

It’s clear that it has never been more critical for operators to demonstrate that they can monetize their bandwidth, and although it’s taken a while, perhaps we’re now just starting to see real evidence of a more sustainable approach to network management and pricing in mobile. Cisco might have recently adjusted its view of the market but, thankfully, it would seem that operators have started to as well.

Source:  http://www.telecoms.com/96532/improved-traffic-distribution-indicates-that-operators-are-managing-assets-more-effectively/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=improved-traffic-distribution-indicates-that-operators-are-managing-assets-more-effectively

Report: Minimizing the OTT threat

The growing threat from over-the-top providers such as Netflix and YouTube has wireless operators on the defensive. Consumers are increasingly watching video content on their smartphones and tablets, rather than their TVs, and many are using services such as Netflix, YouTube and Hulu to access that content.

According to Nielsen's most recent cross-platform report, the amount of time Americans spent watching video via traditional TV rose less than 1 percent year-over-year as of third quarter 2012. Yet time spent watching video via the Internet increased 37 percent, while minutes spent by mobile subscribers watching video on a mobile phone rose 25 percent during the one-year period.

Of course, the big dilemma facing operators is that these services eat up valuable bandwidth on the network, which cuts into their bottom line. But there are alternatives. Some operators are deploying platforms and products that promise to make OTT content better and easier for consumers to access and will help operators monetize these content offerings.

Rich Communications Services or RCS is one solution operators are deploying in an attempt to circumvent the OTT threat. MetroPCS (NYSE:PCS) is the first U.S. operator to commercially launch RCS, under the GSMA's joyn brand. According to MetroPCS, the service is humming along just fine despite the fact that Deutsche Telekom is said to be experiencing technical difficulties in Germany. DT has indefinitely delayed launching joyn there.

The jury is still out on whether the GSMA's RCS/joyn initiative will be successful. Although the trade group maintains that the service is gaining traction with 19 vendors offering RCS on a hosted basis others say that the RCS effort is too little, too late and doesn't solve all the challenges presented by OTT providers.

FierceWireless' latest  ebook, "Minimizing the OTT Threat," takes an in-depth look at the threat from OTT providers, and examines how operators are making progress in delivering content to their customers.

Source: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/minimizing-ott-threat/2013-02-05

Deutsche Telekom indefinitely delays Joyn launch date, admits to technical issues

​Deutsche Telekom (DT) is indefinitely delaying the commercial launch of its Joyn RCS service after admitting that implementing the technology is taking much longer than originally expected.
The company had initially confirmed Oct. 1, 2012, as a launch date for Joyn services, but this then slipped to December and has now been delayed further due to complex integration issues, according to Teltarif.de.

Incorporating the Joyn software into DT's handset portfolio is a lengthy process that requires thorough testing, DT spokesman Dirk Turning told Wirtschafts Woche. "Our goal is, of course, to move as quickly as possible to bring Joyn to market," he said.
The problems appear to be focused on the Joyn messenger service and its lack of stability, the German website reported.

While the aim is to launch Joyn on Android-based handsets, DT is worried about the current fragmentation of the Google smartphone platform and ensuring that its Joyn services will work with other German operators and those elsewhere.

Vodafone Germany launched its Joyn service in August at the IFA event in Berlin--albeit in beta format on the Android platform, but has given no indication when an iPhone version might become available. Telefónica's O2 Germany has said it is committed to launching Joyn in the future, while E-Plus has given no sign regarding its intent.

Separately, WhatsApp, a major over-the-top messaging and social messaging rival to Joyn, has been criticised for breaching privacy rules following a joint investigation by Dutch and Canadian regulators, according to a BBC report.

Investigators said concerns centred on the messaging app asking smartphone users to enable access to their address book once they had downloaded the WhatsApp software. The privacy issue arose when the app transferred users' address book details to the WhatsApp servers, and failed to delete those belonging to people who had not signed up to the service.
"This practice contravenes Dutch and Canadian privacy law, which holds that information may only be retained for so long as it is required for the fulfilment of an identified purpose," the regulators said, according to the BBC.

The Dutch Data Protection Authority told the BBC it could take punitive action if U.S.-based WhatsApp does not change its software.

Source: 

• http://www.fiercewireless.com/europe/story/deutsche-telekom-indefinitely-delays-joyn-launch-date-admits-technical-issu/2013-01-30
  

MetroPCS says joyn launch proceeding smoothly despite DT's troubles

MetroPCS said its deployment of Rich Communication Services under the GSMA's joyn brand is humming along just fine. The comments are notable considering the technical difficulties Deutsche Telekom is experiencing in Germany that have forced the carrier to indefinitely delay launching joyn there.

MetroPCS, the only U.S. carrier so far to have launched joyn, said all of its LTE handsets--including the Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy Admire 4G, ZTE Avid and LG Spirit--now support joyn via a downloadable client available in Google's Play storefront.
MetroPCS spokesman Drew Crowell told FierceWireless that the company's plans for joyn remain unchanged, and that the carrier hopes to sell phones with joyn built in by the middle of this year. "We are working with handset OEMs to build-in joyn as a fully integrated feature, without the need for a download," he said.

Deutsche Telekom said earlier this week is indefinitely delaying the commercial launch of joyn in Germany after admitting that implementing the technology is taking much longer than originally expected. Incorporating joyn software into DT's handset portfolio is a lengthy process that requires thorough testing, DT spokesman Dirk Turning told Wirtschafts Woche. "Our goal is, of course, to move as quickly as possible to bring joyn to market," he said.

MetroPCS first launched joyn in late October. "As with any new service or feature rollout, there were challenges that needed to be addressed but we are proud to have been the first LTE operator to successfully launch RCS v. 5.0," Crowell said.
Crowell declined to provide usage statistics on MetroPCS' joyn users. MetroPCS has said the technology will allow users with compatible handsets to:

• See when other users are available;
• Conduct threaded text conversations;
• Share content via one click from an address book;
• Share video, images and files while on a call;
• And conduct voice and video calls over Wi-Fi networks.

MetroPCS has said it launched joyn to enhance its customers' mobile experience and not necessarily to protect against losing messaging or data revenues--MetroPCS is not charging extra for the service. However, many European carriers have embraced joyn in order to stem losses to over-the-top messaging services like WhatsApp, Apple's iMessage and Facebook's Messenger.
Late last year in Spain Telefónica's Movistar, Orange Spain and Vodafone Spain jointly launched joyn service.
As operators rally around joyn, over-the-top providers continue to expand. For example, Facebook recently updated its Messenger app for iOS to support voice calling between Facebook users.

 

Source: 

• http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/metropcs-says-joyn-launch-proceeding-smoothly-despite-dts-troubles/2013-01-31 

Facebook adds video recording, voice messaging to iOS app

Facebook is overhauling its flagship mobile social networking application for Apple's iOS, adding in-app video recording and sharing capabilities as well as voice messaging options.

Although consumers could previously upload video clips directly to Facebook accounts from their iOS device photo roll, the Facebook for iOS 5.4 update implements the functionality directly into the app, promising a smoother, more efficient user experience. The built-in video recording and sharing features also mirror functionality found in rival Twitter's new Vine video app, which launched last week--The Verge states that Facebook app updates are released on a strict schedule, suggesting the timing of the latest revamp is likely coincidental, although it's worth noting that Facebook has already blocked Vine from accessing its network.

Facebook for iOS 5.4 also brings voice recording options previously available in the company's standalone Messenger apps for iOS and Google's Android; potential use case scenarios for the new feature include hands-free messaging or more complex messages that are too long and detailed to type as conventional texts. Facebook is additionally improving the iOS app's Nearby tab, which suggests local businesses and landmarks based on the user's interests and preferences.

Facebook is now the most popular application in the U.S. with 85.6 million unique visitors per month, according to comScore data released last week. Facebook also dominates user engagement rankings, accounting for 23 percent of all time spent on mobile apps each month. Facebook-owned photo sharing Instagram occupies another 3 percent of users' time.

For more:
- read this Verge article

Source: http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/facebook-adds-video-recording-voice-messaging-ios-app/2013-01-29