Catherine Riungu, Special Correspondent
Nairobi

Telkom has posted staff at various public telephone booths in Nairobi to assist callers

TELKOM KENYA is set to commission public telephone services to private operators by the end of this year through a project that will see its existing 10,000 telephone booths replaced by a structured system of telecare centres across the country, creating 3,000 jobs.

Bernard Rubia, chief marketing manager at Telkom, said the system is modelled along that operating in Uganda, South Africa and the UK. The telecare centres will help in stemming the more than Ksh30 million ($375,000) the corporation loses every month through cash pilferage and machine vandalism.

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By Alyce Lomax (TMF Lomax)
August 24, 2004

Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, may be about to zoom into homes everywhere. The next step closer to mainstream is the deal through which AT&T’s (NYSE: T) CallVantage VoIP service will be available through Best Buy (NYSE: BBY). VoIP is hot; traditional long distance is not.

Up until now, privately held Vonage was one of the best-known start-ups to offer VoIP to the first-mover market, though that phase seems poised to end. The possibilities in the space haven’t been lost on the heavyweights, and now mainstream consumer adoption will likely explode. In addition to AT&T, for example, Verizon (NYSE: VZ) offers its own VoIP package.

Yesterday’s word that AT&T will offer CallVantage through Best Buy’s 600-plus stores could do a lot toward making the technology a common household item (not to mention, it’s an interesting parallel to AT&T’s recent decision to discontinue marketing consumer long distance altogether).

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Wireless ISP to Enhance Broadband Offering with CommPartners’ Privately Branded VoIP Platform

Las Vegas, Nevada – August 23, 2004 – CommPartners, a Voice over Internet Protocol („VoIP“) facilitator providing IP telephony services and connectivity to service providers, today announced its selection as WisperTEL’s vendor of turnkey, wholesale VoIP services.

Based in Evergreen, Colorado, WisperTEL is a Wireless Internet Service Provider („WISP“) currently providing high-speed Internet transport and other IP-based services to customers in 5 Colorado counties. WisperTEL will leverage CommPartner’s comprehensive VoIP platform to launch „wisperTEL-E-phoneSM“ service to its 1,700 broadband Internet subscribers. WisperTEL’s E-Phone service will incorporate unlimited local calling and such popular features as voicemail, Caller ID, and Call Waiting for $19.95 per month. Nationwide long distance services can also be purchased through WisperTEL at the flat rate of three cents per minute.

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CommPartners, a company marketing VoIP services to telecommunications providers, says it is helping wireless ISP WisperTEL provide phone service to its customers in Colorado.

WisperTEL, based in Evergreen, Colo., will use CommPartner’s VoIP platform to offer phone service to 1,700 high-speed Internet customers, according to a joint news release the companies issued Monday. WisperTEL will provide unlimited local calling and such features as caller ID and call waiting for $19.95 a month, plus long distance service for 3 cents a minute.

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AT&T, AT&T Wireless, and Cingular unveiled a road map for their complicated branding and provisioning agreement.
By W. David Gardner, TechWeb

Enterprise customers doing cell-phone business with the confusing mix of AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless, and AT&T now have a future roadmap, after the three companies revealed the details of their branding and provisioning agreement.

Cingular is in the process of acquiring AT&T Wireless, and AT&T has taken steps to offer cell-phone service under its own name. AT&T spun off AT&T Wireless several years ago.

«The enterprise customer base has understandably been confused,» said Michael Voellinger, director of wireless services at Telwares Communications, in an interview. «The question at cell-phone RFPs [requests for proposals] is always: ’What about the merger?’ We now have some clarity.» He indicated that the branding agreement will facilitate the signing of enterprise contracts.

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