Trucking Technology Report - July 5
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Deutsche Telekom to Buy Cable & Wireless Soon: Report
Deutsche Telekom intends to acquire Cable & Wireless, according to an article to set to appear Thursday in Focus Money. Industry sources believe a deal will be formed in the near future, the magazine reported. Deutsche Telecom intends to finance the purchasing using the proceeds from its recent $14.6 billion bond offering, Focus Money revealed. However, a deal will not be announced prior to July 19, the final day of the blackout period following its third share offering held last month, according to German magazine Teleboerse. Dow Jones News (07/05/00)NTT DoCoMo, KPN to Buy 35% of Hutchison Unit
NTT DoCoMo and KPN Mobile are planning to invest up to $2 billion in Hutchison Whampoa's U.K. operating unit, according to theinancial Times. The purchase would provide access for the two operators in Britain's competitive third-generation mobile services market.
DoCoMo and KPN had previously considered partnering to purchase Orange, which is the third biggest mobile operator in the United Kingdom. The purchase may lead to an alliance with Hutchison and KPN through which DoCoMo would expand its overseas operations. DoCoMo has a 15% stake in KPN worth $4.5 billion. Bloomberg News (07/05/00); Fujita, Junko; Yamazaki, Tomoko
Law on Electronic Signatures is Seen as a Boon to E-Business
A new law signed by President Clinton last week legalizing online signatures is expected by analysts to greatly reduce administrative costs and the time taken to complete online transactions. The law will not end the competition for dominance in the e-signature field, which is currently controlled by companies such as VeriSign, Entrust Technologies, RSA, and Baltimore Technologies. These companies provide electronic certificates and coded messages to help businesses process online transactions. The system ensures that electronic messages are from the person or party that sent the message and that the message was not altered through a technology called public key encryption, which is utilized by all of the dominant e-signature companies.Signature-mail.com, which enables customers to attach a picture of their signature with their e-mails, hopes to benefit from the new law, but the company's co-founder, Michael Lloyd, maintains that this feature may be sought by companies such as VeriSign in order to simplify encryption products for consumers.
Other methods of e-signatures could be determined by biometrics, which includes the pressure patterns of individual's signatures rather than the actual picture of the signature, digitized thumbprints, or retina images. Even voice may be utilized. The traditional public-key encryption companies, such as VeriSign and Entrust technologies, have been moving to offer e-business with a complete spectrum of management services. New York Times Online (07/04/00); Feder, Barnaby J.
License Auction For Faster Wireless Phones In the Netherlands Starts on July 6
The Netherlands is scheduled to begin its auction of third-generation UMTS mobile phone licenses on Thursday. UMTS technology is expected to provide transmission speeds 40 times higher than the current GSM standard. With this capability, mobile phones will be able to provide high-speed Internet access.The Dutch licenses, which provide exclusive spectrum rights until 2016, will be contested for by eight bidders – KPN Mobile, the largest mobile operator in the Netherlands; Libertel, the second leading mobile operator in the region and in which Vodafone AirTouch has a 70% stake; Telfort, owned by British Telecom; Dutchtone, owned primarily by France Telecom; Ben, owned by Belgacom and Tele Danmark; Nogenta Swedish Acquisitions, owned by cable company NTL; Hutchison 3G Netherlands, and Dutch telecom network firm VersaTel.
The opening price to acquire a 3G license in the auction has been set at 470 million guilders ($202 million). The bidding for two licenses will begin at 100 million guilders, with the remaining three licenses beginning at 90 million guilders. The bidding process will continue until bidders stop submitting tenders. The winning bidders will have a period of two weeks to pay for the licenses. The Dutch government said it decided on an auction process to allocate licenses because of the small amount of frequencies available and as a way to provide a non-biased selection approach.
UMTS services should be available in the Netherlands on January 1, 2003, with an estimated 60% of Dutch residents having access to the network. Reuters (07/05/00)
Telefonica, Xfera Consortium Studying Alliance: Report
Telefonica Moviles, a the wireless division of Telefonica, is close to finalizing an agreement with the Xfera consortium for collaborating on future bidding for next-generation mobile licenses in Europe and Latin America, according to a report from the Spanish newspaper Cinco Dias on Wednesday.Vivendi and its Spanish construction subsidiary Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas own an 28% holding in Xfera. The remaining stake holders in the consortium include Mercapital, Sonera, and Activades de Construccion y Servicios. Orange, which owns a 7.9% interest, must divest itself of its stake to comply with telecom regulations.
The consortium members declined to comment on the rumors of Telefonica Moviles joining Xfera. Sources close to Xfera said the Cinco Dias article over characterized the discussions as being on the verge of completion. Dow Jones News (07/05/00)
Ericsson President Reportedly Wants to Fortify Mobile-Phone Unit
Ericsson says it is ready it implement new plans to increase its mobile phone unit's competitiveness, according to a statement by the company's president, Kurt Hellstroem. The statement, which was reported in the Dagens Industri newspaper on Tuesday, indicates Hellstroem is focusing on fast and broad availability of new handsets. In addition, Hellstroem said the company is interested in producing a wider range of mobile phones, with the creation of lower priced models as a central theme. Ericsson's mobile phone subsidiary had a 53% increase in sales during the first quarter. However, operating margins were low as 3%. Dow Jones News (07/04/00)IBM, Manugistics in Financing Pact for Supply Chain Systems
IBM has expanded its alliance with Manugistics Group, offering financing options to users of Manugistics' supply chain systems for enterprises and e-business exchanges. The deal will allow Manugistics customers to lower their upfront costs while buying and deploying IT systems. Dow Jones News (07/01/00); Degen, DorotheaCyberhubs Set off a Chain Reaction
The Internet is revolutionizing the supply chain as companies link online through e-marketplaces. The marketplaces act as central hubs through which companies can conduct their procurement and distribution negotiations. Many companies are also going one step further, integrating their ERP systems with these centralized hubs to allow products to be tracked as the move through the supply chain.Because e-marketplaces have dramatically strengthened supply chain efficiency, companies are beginning to view the exchanges as invaluable. "[Exchanges] are becoming as critical as the fax machine and telephone," says Delphi Group analyst Nathaniel Palmer.
The advent of the Internet has not only served to transform supply chain processes, it has revolutionized traditional supply chain relationships as well, says Bob Anastasi, senior managing director of equity research at Raymond James & Associates. "The big-contract OEMs are moving into direct order fulfillment, repairs, warranties," Anastasi says. "There's growing functional overlap between all participants, and we're headed to less inventory, less touches, less paperwork." Computer Reseller News (06/26/00) No. 900, P. 141; Campbell, Scott
Improving Online Customer Service
The call center services of many telecom service providers are being moved online to address the growing demand for improved online customer service. Online call center services allow agents and customers to trade email messages, to participate in real-time text chat sessions, to complete forms together, and, if the customer has a computer with a microphone, to talk together. The new online services would reduce company costs, increase the number of available employees, and integrate customer service operations from multiple geographic locations.Call centers deciding whether to move services onto the Internet "don't have to make their final decisions today, but they need a plan in place to develop this capability over the next six to 18 months," warns Frank Nigro, director of call center convergent services for MCI Worldcom.
Before the move onto the Internet can take place, service providers still need to improve their skills, including being able to develop online call center services that meet customer's demands, integrating those services into company systems, and convincing customers of the value of online call center services. Online call center services are sensible because the carrier does not have to construct fault tolerance and redundancy, scale the system after company growth, or invest in technology that quickly becomes obsolete. tele.com (06/26/00) Vol. 5, No. 13, P. 65; Wilde, Candee
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