Monthly Archives: January 2010

Spending on heating is cut by Brits

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There is one such individual out of every four who has to reduce the amount of money, he spends on heating. It is primarily because of high heating costs is the statement of charity.

Despite of the fact that there is sub-zero temperatures and it is the coldest winter in 30 years, it can be widely seen that millions of Brits are cutting back on heating.

In the research conducted by housing charity Shelter said they are reducing their energy usage in order to meet their mortgage and rent payments.

Its director of policy and campaigns says that “It’s shocking to think that high housing costs are forcing people to make a choice between keeping warm and keeping a roof over their heads.”

She further commented saying that “In these extreme temperatures, those without proper heating could be risking their lives.”

The huge population of over 1.4 million children are living in households that are cutting down on heating.

On this, one of the industry expert showed his concern towards the situation, in the view of considering the current weather situation.

Rural communities to benefit from fibre broadband fund

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According to a latest declaration, a share of the Government’s £1 billion fibre broadband fund would prove beneficial to the rural communities and hard to reach areas that do not have access to next generation Internet.

The main purpose behind the introduction of the plan which is funded by the controversial 50p landline tax, is to provide the next generation, superfast broadband access to around  90% of the UK by 2017. According to the Government, this is “essential if the UK is to remain globally competitive”. According to an estimate, the private investment will reach only up to 70% of the population.

Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson, said: “This investment is about bringing the future of broadband to areas of the country that would otherwise miss out. We cannot underestimate the opportunities this will bring for homes and businesses which is why we are taking action to make sure everyone benefits.
“Already the market is delivering superfast Internet speeds of 50Mb to half the country but we cannot be certain that it will reach the communities that are not currently served, which is why we are putting in an extra £1 billion to support the market.

He further added “By upgrading our networks we will put the UK at the fore of rapidly developing technologies which will bring jobs, boost business potential and grow our digital economy,” .
The areas with little or no broadband provision are expected to derive advantage from the investment, in an attempt of closing the digital divide assuring that rural communities are also taken into consideration. Michael Phillips, Broadbandchoices.co.uk product director, said: “While it is important that the Government works towards closing the digital divide, our concern is that the upgrading of the UK’s broadband infrastructure is a huge undertaking and this unpopular tax will barely make a dent in the likely total cost.
“The majority of telecoms suppliers have already increased their line rental charges increase significantly over the past year, and this is just another body blow to consumers.

He further advised “While you can’t avoid paying the tax, if you aren’t on paperless billing and paying your bills by direct debit then we would recommend immediately doing this. The savings will – thankfully – more than cover the new broadband tax costs. Alternatively, you could switch broadband provider to a cheaper package, and even get a better service at the same time,”.

XLN observed increased user base and enhanced customer satisfaction in 2009

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The service provider reported a 25 percent increase in its customer base and a flawless customer feedback in the past year

XLN, the UK’s largest independent provider of telecom services to small businesses has unveiled that it had drawn 25 percent more customers during the year 2009. The company also procured flawless result in its annual customer service survey.

The service provider based in London, offers fixed line and mobile services to the B2B customers. It has divulged that the 25 percent increase in the customer base is equivalent to 125,000 more mobile users in the past year.

Also, the annual satisfaction survey conducted by the service provider on 700 mobile users revealed that its services are being recommended to other users by 94 percent of all the customers surveyed.

The other revelations of the survey include that almost 86 per cent of all the respondents were happy with key areas such as billing and credit control, 72 per cent of all, said they would be happy to recommend XLN to other customers based on price and 69 per cent said they would recommend XLN based on service received.

Christian Nellemann,  XLN Group chief executive said: “In an industry renowned for low customer satisfaction levels and high churn rates, we believe our customer satisfaction levels are creating a new benchmark in the independent telecoms sector.

“As a company, we deliberately don’t advertise on TV or use above-the-line advertising instead choosing to plough back potential marketing spend into lower product pricing, product innovation and customer service.

“We are therefore delighted to see our customer satisfaction scorings reach these levels. Word of mouth recommendations are always the most powerful form of marketing.”

The service provider also ushered in its first mobile service with the partner Gamma Telecom. It is also all set to become a full MVNO in the coming months.

Winter sales show dip, summer holidays indicate rise

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The travel agents in the UK have indicated that the winter sales of their holiday packages are still not picking. However, they said that they are ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the summer holiday sales at the start of the peaks period.

It has been revealed that most of the sales taking place are for the summer 2010 than the winter holidays. The strongest of all sales made remained the all-inclusive and non-euro destinations.

The commercial director of Advantage Travel Centers, Julia Lo Bue-Said stated that the winter sales was not doing well and the agents of Advantage Travel had seen peak  sales drop by 10%.

The company, however indicated that its summer 2010 sales package have shown a spurt of 20% for the first week post Christmas, that could be driven by a 40% increase for eastern Mediterranean sales.

“The enquiry levels are up and agents are very positive as the conversions are there in very significant numbers,” said Lo Bue-Said.

A number of travel agencies did open for three or four days during the Christmas period as they were no mood to loose the business. Most business took place on Saturday, January 2 and was reported as the busiest day.

The owner of Britaly Travel in Peterborough and trade-only tour operation Typically Italian, Daniele Broccoli, said: “It is a pretty steady sell at the moment and I am cautiously optimistic.”

Paul Dayson, the owner of Wetherby-based Spa Travel said the sales showed leap by 24% but complained that few tour operators did not entertain the queries of the customers during the festive holidays.

“We were really busy on Saturday [January 2] and I couldn’t get through to some operators, while some closed at 1pm,” he said.

Worldchoice said ”pricing is holding up, with an average booking price after December 29 2009 of £1,000 per person, up from £570 last year.”

Operations director Bill Pickering said: “Flight-only and cruise did well and represented more than half of the bookings.”

Johnny Pollard, commercial director of On the Beach said: “We are up around 70% year on year so far. There are a lot of bargains out there and people are taking advantage. It has been all summer holidays so far, no late winter bookings. Turkey and Egypt are very busy and all-inclusive is ahead of everything else.”

Tom Costley, TNS head of travel and tourism said: “The overall picture of 2010 holiday plans seems very similar to last year, but we know from experience that people’s intentions can differ quite substantially to what they eventually choose to do.”

FibreCity Calls for Open Next Generation UK Broadband ISP Network

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The Fibrecity ISP has called for all future next generation broadband access (NGA) services for the purpose of adopting an open infrastructure approach. Presently, the Fibrecity ISP is working to introduce new 100Mbps FTTH fibre optic broadband services through underground sewers in UK cities (e.g. Dundee and Bournemouth),

By providing a “self service portal” to the first homes connected in Bournemouth, they are already doing something similar. This will permit the people in selecting next generation services from a range of ISP and content operators without any hassle. According to i3 group, the Opencity Media interface resembles in approach to selecting iPhone apps or Google.
Adrian Crook, Development Director at Fibrecity, said:

“Our Fibrecity model has reinvented the way that service providers can deliver their services to the consumer as well as the way that the consumer can access their services. We are building a fibre optic network, or a technology platform, which allows multiple service providers to deliver their services over the one fibre optic connection into each household so an ‘open standard interface’ is crucial.

This Fibrecity approach means that the consumer is able to choose which services they want to meet their requirements by simply logging onto the Fibrecity portal and clicking on the service and buying it online. When the consumer buys a service they deal directly with the service provider as Fibrecity is only providing the connection.”

As stated by Fibrecity, if 2009 was treated as the year of broadband debate, then 2010 will prove itself as the year of actually building networks. It has also made a commitment of reaching 750,000 homes over the next two years.

A report was revealed by Ofcom recently. This  ‘Meeting the needs of next generation access’ report  gave a hint that the interface between infrastructure providers and ISPs could be a ‘cost bottleneck’ for consumers. Improving access to new technologies would help in removing such fears.

Vodafone bullish about promoting I-Phone amongst UK’s business community

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The mobile operator promises to offer best customer experience on any network. The device will be distributed via 20 direct and indirect dealers in UK

Vodafone is quite aggressively promoting and pushing the sales of Apple I-phone in to the business fraternity of UK as indicated by the  company’s enterprise director, Peter Kelly.

‘There is a lot of demand for the iPhone in the enterprise marketplace, not only from SMEs, but public sector and corporate clients too,’ Kelly told Mobile.

He added: ‘But to be deployed in that market on any scale it will have to be seen as a strong business device; applications will be key here.’

Kelly justified his point by saying that businesses require utile and convenient applications to run effectively and flawlessly. The Apple I-Phone is one such device that has many inbuilt critical applications to simplify the arduous business operations.

‘Applications are the way into the enterprise market for the iPhone as they will help provide lower costs and drive productivity. The device does lend itself to a different way of working. The iPhone is a smartphone plus,’ he said.

The mobile operator is quite assertive of the fact that the mobile device when used on its  3G network will tender the mobile users with the best and impeccable customer service experience of any network.

For the most effective operation of a mobile device (when used for business operations), a strong and reliable coverage is crucial. Kelly said ‘To make sure we can guarantee that service in as many places as possible we have our Vodafone Access Gateway product [a femtocell signal booster]. So long as you’ve got a Vodafone mobile with data access, you can get five bar coverage with a femtocell.’

Originally, the Access Gateway offering was conceived as a home consumer product, but Kelly said a significant number of SoHo and SME customers were also buying it.

‘There will be ongoing development of the Access Gateway to extend its capacity to make it more applicable to SMEs. We will be rolling this out in significant volumes in 2010,’ said Kelly.

Vodafone will start rolling out the Apple I-Phone from 14 January. The provider has also selected a number of direct and indirect dealers who would sell the sell the handset. These are categorized in to ‘Premier partners’ and ‘Gold partners’.

The Premier partners includes names :CBS Comms Center, Cellular Solutions & Services, CCS Mobile, Excalibur Communications GB, Garnell Corporate Comms, Grapevine Premier Telecom Ltd, The General Telephone Co, The Word Direct Totel.

While the Gold partners include the following dealers: Active Telecom, Fone Solutions,  JHL Communications, Olive, Premier Mobile, Pure Mobile, Red squid, Sprint Communications, Totility, Wish Communications .

O2 again offering free service for two months

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This time also the users can enjoy the award winning service of O2 free for two months.

The users can avail this offer till 31 January. The offer will enable the new customers to save up to £45 on their broadband bills. Presently, three regular broadband packages are provided by the O2 Broadband to the users. These include Standard, Premium and Pro which can be availed by paying just  £7.50 a month – like an existing O2 customer – for 8Mb broadband and “unlimited broadband”  downloads, subject to a fair usage policy.

The existing O2 customers can avail the Premium and Pro packages starting from £10 a month and £17.50 a month. Both these packages support 20Mb broadband and “unlimited” downloads. Up to 2.5Mb uploads is supported by the Pro package. It also includes a dedicated customer service number along with an enhanced wireless broadband router.

The customers who are outside the local loop unbundled network of O2 can avail two months free broadband by signing up to O2’s Access package using the BT broadband network which starts by paying £17.50 per month for current customers.

For the non-O2 customers, an additional amount of £5 a month is charged for their broadband.
Michael Phillips, Broadbandchoices.co.uk product director, said: “O2 Broadband has won a host of awards for its fast, reliable service and high standards of customer service, making it a great choice for any broadband user.

“The free, UK-based customer service makes it the perfect provider for technophobes, while the 20Mb broadband and generous fair usage policies – starting at just £10 a month – make it great for anyone who wants to download music and movies, play games online or watch Internet TV like the BBC iPlayer,” he added.

BT’s aversion to the Digital Britain Plan ruffles operators

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The mobile operators in UK criticized the British Telecom claims that the nation’s Government plans of extending their 3G licenses will lead to ‘a gift of several billion pounds from the UK taxpayer.’

British Telecom is completely non-supportive of the 3G license extension and is threatening legal action if the Government continues to carry on with the plans of extending operator’s 3G licenses under its Spectrum Modernization Programme, which is a part of the Government’s Digital Britain programme.

British Telecom is furnishing claims that the license extension may be anti-competitive and would curb innovation and entry of new emulators into the market.

However, the other mobile operators in UK disagree to BT’s claims and opposed the telecom service provider this week. The entire spat has extended the programme’s consultation period by another month and could also lead to major delays.

A 3 spokesman said: ‘Claims that mobile service providers are set to get a handout are wrong. A 3G license extension is not a giveaway. It is simply a move in 11 years’ time to the same annual fee structure levied on the vast majority of radio spectrum used by mobile operators today, including the spectrum currently used for 2G services.’

3 also slammed BT’s claims that entry of new entrants would be curbed and competition would be sniffed. The spokesman said: ‘The spectrum proposals do not disadvantage new entrants as the proposed caps limit the amount of spectrum that any of the four big operators can license, giving smaller players and new entrants the opportunity to win spectrum at auction. Far from stifling competition these proposals have the potential to enable real choice for consumers in rural areas for the first time and they will do so without either government subsidy or requiring a tax on internet access.’

O2 said the Digital Britain programme would be an equitable exchange. A spokeswoman said: ‘Under European law, the UK Government has the discretion to allocate licenses to certain users and classes of users. We feel that the exchange of higher coverage commitments and payment of a proportionate fee from 2021 is a fair exchange for the certainty we need to continue investing in our 3G network in the run up to 2021.’

Vodafone also offered its opinions on the same. David Rodman, head of regulation, commented: ‘The 3G licenses expire in 2021 and we can’t see how extending them beyond that date acts as a barrier to competition or innovation in today’s mobile market. The licenses won’t be free as the operators will be expected to extend their 3G coverage as well as pay an annual spectrum charge.’

The opposition by British Telecom could lead to manifest delays in the implementation of the Spectrum Modernization Programme. The entire scuffle could push the programme back beyond the General Election, which are expected to take place in May, hence giving birth to the possibility that the plan would be withdrawn by the new government.

Travel operators rubbishes which? Customer satisfaction survey

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The giant travel operators in UK – Cosmos, TUI and Thomas Cook smashed the results of the holiday survey conducted by Which?, that showed the three have not scored good points for the customer satisfaction.

The survey was conducted this week and observed an online panel of 4,507 members who voted for and against the various travel operators in UK on the basis of their holidays including journey, accommodation, customer service and value for money.

A total of 28 companies were listed in the survey. Out of which Cosmos came last with an overall score of 57%, followed by Thomas Cook, which scored 58%, First Choice and TUI-owned Crystal both scored 63%, while Thomson came 23rd with a score of 66%.

Cosmos Tourama is also included in Cosmos and scored just 44% for efficiency, while Thomas Cook was harshly slammed by the disgruntled members for poor quality hotel rooms and unhelpful resort staff.

The three travel operators Thomas Cook, Cosmos and First Choice have been bestowed two stars for value for money, while Thomas Cook got just two stars for the quality of its reps.

Meanwhile, the survey report also acceded to the fact that the big travel operators relatively face more issues as regards to service because they are likely to rely on charter airlines, coaches for transfers and large hotel complexes.

Stuart Jackson, the director of Cosmos mainstream products managing director said: “We carry out our own holiday satisfaction surveys with our customers [some half a million in 2009] and can confirm that less than 3% have had cause to complain during this time.

“We will continue to listen to our customers and strive to improve our quality, value and choice as well as providing them with the best possible consumer protection.”

Ian Derbyshire, the chief executive of Thomas Cook UK and Ireland added: “The Which? Holiday report is in total contrast to the high levels of service that our customers tell us about and that we pride ourselves on.

“From our own surveys, which number more than 100 times more people than the Which? Survey, our customer satisfaction scores have increased year on year, with 94% of our holidaymakers rating Thomas Cook as either excellent or good for their holiday last summer.

“With almost nine out of 10 holidaymakers rating our reps equally as high, we find these results difficult to accept.”

Christian Cull, the director of TUI UK and Ireland communications asserted in a statement: “More holidaymakers rank their holiday with us as excellent or good than any of our competitors. We also know that 4.6 million people would happily recommend us to their friends.

“Again, 4.6 million tell us they will come back to us for another holiday, and a similar number rate our holiday advisors [reps] as excellent or good too. We intend to raise each of these numbers further in 2010.”

The survey revealed that the top companies as marked by the members were  largely specialists and direct-sale only operators with the top five slots taken by VFB Holidays, which scored 94%, Trailfinders and Explore, both of which scored 89%, Voyages Jules Verne on 88%, and Ramblers Worldwide Holidays with 87%.

Scheme of boiler scrappage now available

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By trading of a old boiler for a new one, households can get discount of £400 on a new energy efficient boiler with the launch of much anticipated boiler scrappage scheme by the government.

The discount of £400 on a new energy efficient boiler can be availed by households in England, when the trading of older boiler is done.

According to the government, the scheme of boiler scrappage reduces energy bills. It also helps in cutting CO2 emissions. Moreover, it also supports thousands of jobs in the heating industry.

As per the energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband” replacing an old boiler for a new, more efficient one will save households around £200 on their heating bills each year.”

He further commented that “in total, the scheme will save the same amount of carbon equivalent to taking around 45,000 cars off the road.”

But the point worth mentioning here is that households must have a working boiler which should be “G-rated” or worse.

The individuals can apply for boiler scrappage voucher through Energy Saving Trust which entices them £400 off the price of a new, modern “A-rated” boiler or a renewable heating system like a biomass boiler.

One of the industry’s expert says that it is Npower and BritishGas who offers to match the government’s discount that literally means households can save up to £800 on a new boiler.

A valuable peace of advice at this point of time is that one should shop around and compare boiler quotes so as to assure of getting a better dfeal.