Comms Dealer

ProVu’s Sales Account Manager, Gavin Sykes has taken a massive leap of faith to net a bumper sum for Weston Park Cancer Charity.

Gavin undertook a skydive in memory of his dad who sadly lost his battle with Cancer back in January this year.

Gavin said, "The first moments when I jumped out of the plane were almost surreal. It was like nothing I've ever felt before. Even now, a few weeks later, I cannot get over how amazing the experience was.

"It was a huge honour to be able to do this for Weston Park. The work that
they do is vital to both current and future cancer patients all over the
UK and needs everyone's support to keep going; that's why I've already committed to doing it again next year!"

Gavin and his family plan to go on raising funds for Weston Park Cancer Charity. To date, they have raised over £1200.00.

Anyone wishing to support Gavin can donate at: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Paul-Sykes8

Microsoft's UK channel ambitions have intensified following the launch of Skype for Business (S4B) PSTN calling.

The man at the centre of Microsoft's new channel campaign is Ian Woolner, Senior Product Marketing Manager (UK), who said becoming a provider of phone lines was a natural progression for Microsoft following the development of its S4B telephony platform.

The new cloud services enable customers to acquire and assign numbers and provide inbound and outbound calling over the PSTN on mobiles or softphones via MS Office 356.

Speaking at the Cisilion-TeleWare 'Voice in the Cloud' event Woolner said: "We have built relationships with key telcos and are effectively wholesaling their minutes and bundling them to make it cost-effective for customers."

He said that subscribers to Microsoft PSTN services would have 'no concept of phone lines or SIP trucks' and would just pay for bundled domestic or international packages.

There would also be no differentiated rate for calls to landlines or mobiles within the bundles under what he described as a 'fair usage policy'.

"If I have 1,000 people in an organisation and they take the 1,200 minute bundle, that organisation has 1.2 million minutes of domestic calling at its disposal," he said. "It means predictable costs for CFOs and departments."

Woolner's channel strategy hinges on the formation of collaborative partnerships such as the link-up with MS Gold Communications partners Cisilion and Teleware and jointly staged launch events targeted at end users.

"There is an opportunity to grow our partner channel massively," added Woolner.

"Customers are moving away from on-premise telephony. Some may become Skype for Business users, other may want to develop converged solutions. We're building a channel that can remove the complexity."

The first Dark Fibre Symposium held by CityFibre at the London Stock Exchange on July 20th marked a new phase in its ambition to provide cities outside of the M25 with a much needed pure fibre infrastructure.

The event brought together local authorities, MNOs and CPs and demonstrated the benefits of a well planned Gigabit City build with enough fibre to serve all parties and future proofed by unlimited capacity.

"This collaborative approach creates connections between the potential beneficiaries of a new network build and connects people from the outset to make that network the best it can be, while ultimately bringing down costs," said Rob Hamlin, Commercial Director, CityFibre.

"This was the first time we brought together a cross section of partners and prospective customers to share our vision for a dark fibre future for the UK. We were blown away by the support and enthusiasm from everyone who attended and are following up on a number of mutual opportunities."

CityFibre's vision is for every building to be connected to fibre and with sleeves rolled up the company is not afraid to dig and create a modern fibre and duct network architecture.

"We are not shying away from doing something disruptive and often difficult in the short-term to deliver transformation for the future," added Hamlin. "We are funded to keep building out to 50 cities and extend existing builds as part our business model."

According to Hamlin, CityFibre is turning conventional R&D on its head when bringing dark fibre to a city.

"Flexible access to an abundance of low cost pure fibre capacity renders investments in traditional networks, especially copper, to deliver more capacity an exercise in strategic and commercial folly," added Hamlin.

CityFibre is also taking a lead on other matters of importance including regulation, holding high level discussions with Ofcom, and driving reform of fibre tax, aiming to establish an 'enterprise zone' that helps rather than hinders investment in infrastructure.

TalkTalk, Sky, Vodafone and the Federation of Communication Services (FCS) have launched the Fix Britain's Internet campaign in response to Ofcom's decision not to separate Openreach from the BT Group.

"The campaign marks a new beginning," stated FCS CEO Chris Pateman. "Openreach customers have had enough, and they are not willing to put up with another 10 years of fudge and compromise. 

"Ofcom needs to deliver an Openreach that is fit for the future, not simply re-working the past. That means a much stronger response, not a watered-down compromise.

"This campaign is our only chance this decade to move the industry forward."

Pateman believes that Ofcom's proposals do not go far enough to avoid another 'undertakings' situation. 

"Slapping a fresh coat of paint on the ship and re-arranging the deck chairs won't help when the crew's all working to rule," he stated. "Especially when the rule book is the whole BT corporate culture. 

"Ofcom's focus on creating competition at the reseller level has been a great success. But its failure to promote competition at the wholesale, network and backhaul level has played to BT's monopoly, stifled innovation and short-changed business customers who have no choice but to buy the connectivity BT chooses to make available in their area with unthinkable lead times." 

FCS is also concerned that Ofcom's proposals fall short on a number of key issues, including the make-up of an Openreach board and the refusal to consider full budgetary autonomy. 

"It is utter nonsense to talk of 'functional separation' when the Openreach CEO is appointed by, and reports to, the BT Group board," added Pateman.

"It is hard to see how Openreach can be simultaneously independent and tied to a 'spending envelope' and associated cost of capital which might bear no relationship to market rates."

Excell Group's acquisition of London-based City Voice and Data and City AVS adds considerable audio and video conferencing expertise to the business and boosts revenues to over £30m.

The Group will take on both teams of field engineers and ICT consultants and a London-based service desk.

The existing senior management team will continue to run the business, led by directors Robert Boyne and Alex Smith who will report into the Excell Group board.

Darren Strowger, Chairman of Excell Group, said: "The acquisition provides a strong foundation for Excell Group in the audio visual space, and is a great strategic fit for the evolution of our business, helping drive further cross selling opportunities within our enlarged base while also providing City Voice and City AVS customers with direct access to the Group's full portfolio of products and services."

Excell Group's Finance Director Edward Pettit (who heads up the acquisition strategy) said: "We are continuing to pursue our acquisition strategy with intensity.

"The Group has strong cash reserves, meaning we are well placed to quickly capitalise on other opportunities in the near future."

Robert Boyne, co-director of both City Voice and City AVS, added: "The acquisition marks an exciting time for the teams. Excell Group will allow us to continue nurturing our expertise and resource, while also significantly growing our offering."

The acquisition follows last year's purchase of the Resource Utilities and Green Mobile customer bases.

Fidelity Energy has unveiled its new price comparison portal for ICT resellers looking to add energy services to their portfolio.

The new portal allows reseller teams to compare 14 energy suppliers instantly, add their mark-up and send directly to customers.

Rob Baldacci, Managing Director at Peterborough-based GreenCity Solutions, says the portal has already given his business an edge over the big power firms.

"Selling energy is simple and transactional and because we are dealing with existing customers we have already developed a trust relationship which puts us ahead of faceless energy brokers and companies," he said.

"Adding energy to our portfolio with Fidelity made perfect sense, we can now offer our customers a fuller range of utility services.

"We know that our customers are being poorly served by their energy providers and are not being offered the best rates, sometimes paying up to 60% above the market rate.

"Following recent acquisitions we can support our communications s solutions with a nationally based, expert team of technicians and engineers and the addition of energy to the mix means our offering is rounded and thorough."

Sean Dixon, Partner Account Manager at Fidelity Energy, ADDED: "GreenCity haS been on the energy journey since the start of the year.

"Its team has grasped Fidelity's simple energy proposition and added this to its customer offering.

"Greencity's success has been due to their longstanding customer relationships that have taken years to build and are now realising an additional revenue stream with Fidelity Energy."

Distributor ALSO Group closed the first half of 2016 with a consolidated profit of €27.8m and improved its profit by around 14% compared to last year.

Profit before tax (EBT) climbed by about 12% to €40.3m. Sales increased over the same period by almost three percent to €3.771bn.

"We were able to increase earnings and significantly outpace sales. And this despite continued high investments in our future. Both in Poland and in Benelux, we are expanding our presence. We are still expanding, "said Gustavo Möller-Hergt, CEO of ALSO Holding AG.

The Central European market segment recorded a slight declining sales of 2% to €2.304bn but with a 'significantly improved' EBT margin of 0.9%.

This is partly due to measures to stabilise earnings at ALSO Switzerland and ALSO France.

Business development in Germany was above average in the first half, it says. 

The previous year's figures for the segments have been adjusted because ALSO International B.V. and ALSO Nederland B.V. (Benelux) are new to the Northern/Eastern Europe region and no longer belong to the Central Europe segment.

In Northern/Eastern Europe, sales increased by 11% to €1.467bn, while the EBT margin declined to 0.4% from 1.2%. This is mainly due to start-up investments in Poland and Benelux.

In addition, cost-reducing investments were carried out in a warehouse in Finland.

International expansion remains a central component of the growth strategy of ALSO. In the past six months, ALSO opened up in Slovenia and Belgium.

The subsidiary ALSO Polska founded twelve months ago is also in a build-up phase while a new warehouse was opened In Pirkkala/Finland. 

The business expansion was also supported by new strategic partnerships and collaborations, it says.

Microsoft is working with ALSO on expansion of 'Workplace as a Service' while working with Logicom offers ALSO customers in southern Europe and the Middle East a cloud-based software service.

Entanet has called on Ofcom to make Openreach focus more on quality of service, believing that the regulator's plans to make Openreach a distinct company within the BT Group don't go far enough.

Neil Watson, Entanet's Head of Service, said: "Ofcom's chief executive, Sharon White, said that splitting Openreach off from BT completely - as we and many others in the industry have called for because we believe it's the only way to ensure free and fair competition - would take too long. 

"This sounds like a bit of a cop-out. It remains to be seen just how ‘independent' Openreach becomes while it is still a division within the BT Group.

"If there are improvements to responsiveness and service levels, it will be most welcome. But that's a big ‘if' in our view. We don't see how this organisational change will make Openreach perform better. It will still be part of BT, within the walls of the larger organisation.

"Until it is completely outside and independent of BT, we don't believe it can ever deliver truly fair and balanced service levels to the industry and to the UK's businesses and consumers."
 
Watson dismissed the claim that it would take too long and be too complicated to divest Openreach from BT due to land and pension arrangements as little more than excuses. "Ofcom is effectively saying that BT and Openreach can never be separated. We don't accept that. The commercial world faces challenges like this all the time. Of course it could be made to work. Where there is a will, there is a way."

Two directors of Telecoms World, Sam Diamond and Neil Barrall (pictured), have completed the Bikeathon, cycling 26 miles around London in aid of Bloodwise, a non profit organisation dedicated to Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.

The aim was to raise £200 for the charity, but thanks to the support of Telecoms World clients and staff they raised £1,170.

Barrall, a dedicated supporter of Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, said: "I want to say a big thank you to everyone
who kindly donated. Sam and I rode the Bikeathon in memory of my father, Anthony Barrall. It means a lot to us that we can give back to the people who are dedicating their lives to beating blood cancer."

Over 1,200 people took part in the event raising an estimated £150,000 for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.

ITSPA has welcomed Ofcom's proposals for an increasingly independent Openreach, but called for a greater focus on measures to ensure Openreach's performance improves to a level that the communications industry and the UK needs.
 
Eli Katz, Chair of ITSPA, stated: "Members of ITSPA are pleased that Ofcom has proposed an increasingly independent Openreach, but has avoided full structural separation of Openreach from BT.

"In ITSPA's opinion, full separation would have been unlikely to address our key concerns around performance and could have created more difficulties than it would have solved.
 
"It is now essential that Ofcom continues to work on tough performance rules for Openreach, setting out minimum requirements on fault repairs and line installation.

"We look forward to further details on performance requirements being published later this year and to improved measures for closely monitoring Openreach's performance."
 
Commenting on Ofcom's update on its other ongoing work streams, Katz added: "ITSPA has already expressed concerns on Ofcom's proposals around a scheme for automatic compensation for customers of telecoms companies, and has highlighted the need for very careful implementation of this system to ensure that the competitiveness of the UK telecoms industry, and the presence of smaller communications providers in the market, is preserved.

"Additionally, we look forward to the publication of Ofcom's proposals on landline switching and urge Ofcom to include reform of the system for fixed number porting as part of this."