Category Archives: Telecommunications

Telecommunications

Answering Service Employees Make a Difference For Your Business

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Don’t underestimate the talent that you get when you select a professional answering service. Many of the leading answering service companies in the industry are very particular about the employees they hire. They obviously make it a point to hire only articulate individuals who can think on their feet and can handle multiple calls while staying poised. They also clearly realize the importance of answering calls promptly and in a professional manner at all times. Answering Service owners and managers know about the importance of the voice and its tone, and how an operator’s voice can truly make a welcoming and helpful difference when answering calls. Of course, being able and determined to help a caller is equally as important.

Industry leading answering service companies like 1-800 We Answer ( http://www.efls.com ) are very selective about who they hire. Before any hiring takes place, operators are thoroughly screened and their communication and listening skills are put to the test. After skilled operators are hired, they receive training in the company’s policies and answering service procedures. They’re closely supervised so that their performance is consistent. Training doesn’t stop once an operator’s evaluation period is over. Answering service operators receive continual training on new accounts, and learn customer service skills throughout their careers.

Answering service companies attract a steady stream of excellent employees. Many companies are realizing the advantages of outsourcing inbound telephone call answering to an answering service. The growth of outsourced business support areas and the virtual service industries has spurred a growing need for skilled customer service representatives across all fields. Answering service businesses constantly need fresh talent. While many customer service experts work in the answering service industry full-time, some of these employees are part-time workers, including people working second jobs. These employees, who work full-time in other areas, often have useful professional experience to offer an answering service company. That broad experience is evident when they answer calls and provide exceptional customer service.

An answering service can be an appealing place to work. For those individuals who love to talk, be helpful and who know they have strong communications skills, are well suited to work for an answering service. A clear speaking voice, known as a “great phone voice” is a plus for answering service employees. Answering service companies provide fair pay, and the hours are often very flexible since an answering service can provide call coverage at all hours, 24/7, 365 days a year. Employees can usually choose to work a specific shift that accommodates their lifestyle and schedule: early morning, afternoon, late night, and overnight.

Working for an answering service can be a path to higher levels of customer service experience. Answering service companies attract quality employees who are drawn to the latest technology in the telecommunications industry. By working at a professional answering service, customer service employees sharpen their technical skills since messages are relayed to clients in a variety of ways via phone and also through new technology: mobile e-mail, fax or directly to a client’s PDA. Some answering service employees update databases and they get to work on a variety of telecommunications software applications, some of which were created by their own IT departments.

Answering service companies partner with their clients to provide seamless call coverage. Keeping this concept in mind, the employees of an answering service become quite important. When a company’s receptionist goes home, it’s the answering service live operator who takes the reins. The operator becomes an extension of that company whose calls they are covering. A valuable answering service worker realizes their voice and presence is just as important as the company’s daytime receptionist’s.

Employees are the key ingredient that distinguishes one company from another. Answering Service companies also realize this, and hire only the best communicators: good listeners who are ready at all times to consistently help and service callers. Answering service companies actively recruit online just like the Fortune 1000 companies, and utilize key job search sites such as Monster.com, Careerbuilders.com and Craig’s List. The job front for answering service employees looks bright, since there is a growing demand for qualified and skilled employees. Unlike many other US industries, many answering service companies are expanding and hiring rapidly.

Competition, Telecommunications and our Country’s Prosperity

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Let’s review briefly what competition today has done for us. We have long-distance prices that are 50 percent lower than they were 10 years ago. We have fiber-optic network, four bands of it, across the country. We have tremendous capacity for transmission of digital signals over this fiber-optic network. We have an explosion of products in computers, in telephone equipment, in faxes, in voice mail, in all of the products that just 10 years ago we as consumers couldn’t even imagine.

It is competition in breaking apart the local network from the long-distance network and allowing competition in the equipment side of the business which has caused this tremendous forward movement for consumers, lower prices, and bringing the United States to the forefront of the telecommunications revolution.

It is a fact that competition has made this country the preeminent leader in the world in telecommunications. Japan is behind us, Europe is behind us. We are exporting products, we are creating jobs, but more than that we have tremendous productivity and we have products and lower prices better than anywhere in the world. It is competition that has gotten us to this stage, and it is the antitrust decree and the modified final judgment which is responsible for that.

The time has come to move this important industry from the courts to legislation. The time is here, the time is now, and by taking the next step and opening the local loop, still monopolized by the Regional Bell Operating Companies, to competition, which only this bill can do fully and effectively and immediately, we can move into the next phase of the telecommunications revolution in this country. If we do that, if we do it wisely, if it we do it promptly, if we do it smart and with courage, we can continue to lead the world in this basic and vital industry which is now 10 percent of our gross domestic product.

The job of building the Nil the infrastructure that will permit broadband, interactive communication between all members of our society has been aptly compared to the building of the nation’s interstate highway system. Like the construction of the highway system, the construction of the Nil will create hundreds of thousands of jobs. And just as roads have enhanced this nation’s productivity and living standards, the completion of the Nil will make firms and individuals more productive. The Nil will also enliance the quality of our lives by creating new ways to educate adults and their children, improve our health care, give us better and cheaper ways of buying products and services, and entertain us at home.

There is no question that it affects the life of every American. It affects the economy of this country and it affects our competitiveness and productivity.

Himfr.com reports China becoming the world’s largest exporter of telecommunications equipment

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According to French media reports, since 1997, just ten years, China has become the world’s biggest telecommunications equipment exporter, exports from 1997 to 27 billion dollars to 2007 of 845 billion dollars. At the same time, Huawei, ZTE and other Chinese domestic telecom equipment manufacturers have begun to compete for foreign markets.

Chinese telecom equipment exports rank first the United States as the world’s largest importer of

According to the French “Les Echos” reported (www.lesechos.fr), a decade later, China has become the world’s largest telecommunications equipment producer, far ahead of other countries.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) statistics, China’s exports of telecommunications equipment from 1997 has been 2.7 billion dollars to 2007 of 845 billion dollars. The organization released a report this month, said: “10 years ago, China’s telecommunications equipment (telephone, Internet, cable, etc.) is lower than the OECD exports to major countries. By 2007, China’s exports than the The latter, almost three times more.

The United States is produced in China the largest importer of telecommunications equipment. China’s telecommunications equipment on the OECD’s total exports of 84.5 billion U.S. dollars, the United States the proportion of up to 40%.

A double reason: Overseas giant plant in China + China’s rise

One of the reasons for this phenomenon, in recent years a large number of Western companies invest and build factories in China. As the major telecom equipment manufacturers will move their investments, have set up factories in China.

The world’s largest mobile phone maker Nokia has five factories in China; Alcatel-Lucent’s 1.5 million employees in China, its products are mainly sold to emerging countries in Africa and Asia; Motorola mobile phones are the majority of production in China; Apple put the entire phone assembly is contracted out to a Foxconn, which only had 270,000 workers in Shenzhen, and at the same time Hewlett-Packard, Motorola and Nokia and other companies; headquartered in Singapore, Flextronics’s global 16 10000 that most staff in China, it is for Cisco and Sony Ericsson to provide processing services, and is responsible for the production part of the BlackBerry.

Another reason is that in order to Huawei and ZTE Corporation of China, represented by local manufacturers in Western markets become increasingly competitive. Huawei’s case, its 2008 signed a contract of 23 billion U.S. dollars in sales, 75% of the partner is a foreign company, or about 17.2 billion U.S. dollars from overseas markets.

Mozila Download – Easy To Use And Secure

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Mozilla is a not-for-profit Foundation started in 2003 in California. Mozilla includes a group of people from around the world who are dedicated to improving the experience of all Internet users. Mozilla Firefox is free as are other Mozilla products, however, as a non-profit organization, Mozilla accepts donations. All Mozilla products have copyrights and members adhere stringently to copyright rules and laws.

Mozilla strives to develop the very best products possible by collaborating with others. Mozilla members believe the key to good use of the Internet is sharing information and technology openly and honestly. Mozilla welcomes input from users of their products regardless of their technical knowledge. Mozilla listens and responds to concerns, ideas and suggestions of those who use their products and those who have difficulty using a product. It is a goal of Mozilla to improve products, and educate and expand the knowledge of Internet users through communication and collaboration.

The most popular Mozilla product is the web browser, Firefox 2, released in June 2007. This version of the original Firefox is more powerful, with added features to bring Internet surfers and researchers a dependable and efficient Internet experience. When using Firefox, a tab with a close button will open each new web page. If, you close a tab and later want the page back, you will find the link in History under “Recently closed tabs.”

What happens, if you open too many tabs? Mozilla Firefox handles this in a simple and efficient manner. No scary warnings, no deleting of your links, Firefox courteously, places scroll arrows on each side of your tabs and adds a button on the right side. Click the button and get a list of your open tabs, click on the one you want to open. When finished with a tabbed page, just click on the black X on the right side of the tab and the tab will close the web page.

Mozilla Firefox is very helpful when you want to find something on the web, but you are not certain what you need to type into the search bar. Firefox comes with search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Answers and others to help you find what you need by making suggestions. Type a word or phrase into a search bar and click. A drop down menu will appear and there will be a list of suggestions to help you find your information. For instance, you want to find a list of places in Daytona Beach, type Daytona Beach, a list will appear with suggestions such as: attractions, churches, events, entertainment, hotels, museums, parks, etc. Click on one of these and receive pages of links from which to choose information. For great surfing, try Firefox.

Bbg Communications – Australia Telecommunications History

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The telecommunications sector in Australia is predominantly saturated by telecoms provider, Telstra. But despite this, space is also a playing ground for  other telephone carriers which include Optus, AAPT and Powertel, Soul, Vodafone and Hutchison 3G.

According to BBG Communications, the main telephony network in Australia is connected through optical fibre networks, with households tapped to the network through copper lines that are linked in local exchanges. For mobile telephony, Australia runs on the GSM platform, like those in Europe and majority of its neighboring countries in the Asia-Pacific. In 2003, 3G mobile phone services were introduced, adding another plus to the generally considered good domestic and international telecommunications services in the country.

Primarily the Optus satellites C1 D1 and D2, are the domestic satellite systems in use for very remote areas.

Telstra, Optus, Nextgen Networks, PowerTel and AAPT are the main Intercity Networks with a collection of other providers having regional networks or Eastern Coast links.

Telstra is the main user of microwave links in remote areas; WIN Television provides a network of microwave towers for distributions of Television, and provides common carrier services. Other providers such as Agile Communications provide backhaul services in South Australia.

Section 51(v) of the Australian Constitution gave the new national government power over all postal, telegraphic, telephonic and ‘other like services’. The last clause embraced future developments in the telecommunications front, which from then meant radio, television and the internet.

The colonial telecommunications network infrastructure (staff, switches, wires, handsets, buildings etc) were handed over to the Commonwealth and became the responsibility of the first Postmaster-General (PMG).  The PMG position is a Federal Ministerial post,  overseeing the Postmaster-General’s Department that was in charge of all domestic telephone, telegraph and postal services. With 16,000 staff, it accounted for 90% of the new federal bureaucracy. That figure went up to over 120,000 staff (around 50% of the federal bureaucracy) by the late sixties.

Public phones were then available only in few post offices. Other limited phones installations were made available to major businesses, government agencies, institutions and among propertied residences. There were around 33,000 phones across Australia, with 7,502 telephone subscribers in inner Sydney and 4,800 in the Melbourne central business district. A trunk line ran between Melbourne and Sydney starting 1907, with extension to Adelaide established in 1914, Brisbane in 1923, Perth in 1930 and Hobart in 1935.

Meanwhile, overseas cable links to Australia remained to be privately owned and managed by then, reflecting the dynamics of imperial politics, demands on the new government’s resources and the allocation of responsibilities at that time. The PMG department became responsible for some international shortwave services – particularly from the 1920s – and for a new Coastal Radio Service in 1911, with the first of a network of stations operational in February 1912. Australia and New Zealand had ratified the 1906 Berlin Radio-telegraph Convention in 1907.

During the 1930s the PMG became responsible for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC). PMG’s management of the telecommunications network ABC echoed BBC’s own story.

As privatization has been changing the landscape of all service and utility providers, many tend to romanticize and era when enterprises were supposedly ran not for profit but for service.  It has become fashionable for some quarters to praise those times when PMG was supposedly an enlightened technocratic management, moved only for the national interest, and public service, over and above profit.

The image of a benevolent PMG is not without problems, as it is apparent that decisions on location and management of facilities were reflections of local political demands and the ‘Australian Settlement’ first articulated by Alfred Deakin.  The PMG was, after all, a major employer in rural areas, the Minister generally came from the Country Party and there was an emphasis on in-house development and local manufacturing.

The observation then was that governments of whatever party affiliation benefited from the organisation’s revenue generating nature.  Many would say that PMG was not a discrete statutory body, with no power on its own to retain its revenues, and was captive to national political dynamics.

In 1982, a Davidson Enquiry on Australia’s telecommunications services sector, made a recommendation to end Telecom Australia’s monopoly. In the following year, Aussat Pty Ltd, another government agency, had been established to operate domestic satellite telecommunication and broadcasting services.  But  Aussat’s charter did not allow it to be a direct competitor to Telecom.  A case in point is its charter’s prohibition on interconnecting public switched traffic with Telecom’s network. Aussat’s viability as a telecommunications player was greatly undermined by difficulties in raising capital, tepid government support and spiraling operation costs.

It wasn’t until 1985 that Australia’s first geostationary communications satellite was operational; by late 1990, however, it was saddled with debts amounting to about $400 million.

The Australian Telecommunications Commission was restructured, giving way to the Australian Telecommunications Corporation.  The new entity traded as Telecom Australia, in 1989. It was also the same year which saw the last domestic telegram handled by Telecom, as responsibility for telegram operations was handed over to Australia Post.

There were proposals floating for a merger of Aussat and OTC, but all were rejected in favor of the disposal of the satellite operator to a non-government entity that would be allowed to compete with Telecom.

Immediately after, Optus Communications – a private sector entity owned by a consortium that included BellSouth – was given Australia’s second general carrier licence.  Optus proceeded to purchase the Satellite assets with many of the Non Satellite Assets remaining with the Government as part of Telstra.  Cable & Wireless, privatized after several decades of UK government ownership, took a controlling stake in Optus in 1998 before control passed to SingTel in 2001.

Optus was initially allowed to cater the national long distance and international telephone calls service in the Australian telecommunications market. The restrictions on  players that can enter the general telephone market until 1997 and ‘pro-competition’ mechanisms under the Trade Practices Act 1974, among which guaranteed access to Telecom’s existing infrastructure on reasonable terms, meant to ensure Optus’ viability.

Competition in long distance corporate voice and data service operations was so steep. It was also felt by Telstra versus AAPT which was active from 1991, MCI Communications, later absorbed by the ill-fated WorldCom, was an early major shareholder of AAPT but got out in 1994. New Zealand’s Todd Corporation took a 24.5% stake in AAPT in 1992. In 1995 AAPT launched a mobile phone service, using Vodafone as its network supplier, acquired a 50%  share of the Australian ISP connect.com.au Pty Ltd and bought NewsNet ITN. In the same year SingTel acquired a 24.5% shareholding in AAPT.

AAPT went on to muscle up. In 1996, it bought 40% of Cellular One Communications, followed by QNET Communications. In the same year it gained a carrier licence, offering long distance services to the residential market and building communications networks for the South Australian and Victorian governments.  Subsequently, it moved to 100% of CorpTEL Communications, its AAPT Sat-Tel satellite joint venture, connect.com.au and Cellular One. US-operator Primus acquired Axicorp in 1997, gaining a carriers license and expanding
into internet services.

AOTC had a brand makeover as Telstra Corporation in 1993, trading internationally as Telstra starting the same year and domestically from 1995. Its attempts for expansion to Indonesia and other Asian markets did not live up to the company’s expectations, with the group winding back overseas involvements in 1997-98. In 1996 Telstra recorded the largest profit in Australian corporate history, some $3.8 billion and was partly privatised in November 1997 through sale by the Commonwealth of around 33.3% of its shareholding.

After Australia’s telecommunications market was fully opened up to full competition in July 1997, privatization followed. A further 16.6% was sold by the Commonwealth in September 1999 bringing the shares sold to a total of 49.9%.  This figure is safely below 50.1%, at which rate, any sale of government-owned properties involves legislation. With the new regime came the adoption of a single national phone numbering scheme and any-to-any connectivity requirements.  Mobile phones, fixed-line phones and other devices was designed to communicate with each other irrespective of whether the service was provided by Telstra or one of its competitors. In November 2006, an additional 33% was sold by the government. The remaining 17% was placed in a Future Fund to provide full separation from government and regulations. This followed to avoid many possible conflicts of interest with the government being primary shareholder and competition regulator.

By July of 1997 the Australian telecommunications sector was fully liberalized for full competition with removal of restrictions on the number of licensed operators and anti-competition mechanisms.

By the end of 1998, there were over 20 licensed telecommunications carriers in Australia, with several hundred other entities using those carriers’ facilities to provide services. By May 2002, this figure climbed to 99 licensed telecommunications carriers.  The Australian Communications Authority estimated that the benefits to consumers of telecommunications services from competition in 2000/1 were between $5.5 billion and $12 billion.

Telecommunications Financing Options for Small Business Telecom Companies

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If your small business were a grocery store or automotive mechanic shop, most every lender in the U.S. would immediately understand your business model. If you were to approach them looking for a line of credit, they would be able to rather quickly determine if your business is able to receive some small business financing from them or not. However, as the owner of a telecommunications company you know that this is not always the case for your industry. Traditional lenders just simply do not understand how telecom companies do business and the intracacies of telecommunications funding.

If you are a large multi-national telecom company, funding abounds for you just simply because of the huge amount of revenue your business generates month after month. However, if you are a small telecom business, obtaining that line of credit can be much more difficult. When you approach a traditional lender for funding, you will likely find that they do not understand your business model and telecommunications financing in general. It is not in the traditional banker’s interest to work with telecommunications businesses with receivables that are all small amounts with many customers. Generally, your receivables take 45 or more days to receive after delivery of services. Because these billing issues are unique to the telecom industry, traditional lenders do not fully comprehend the fine details and tend to choose to deal with businesses in more traditional roles.

Once your small telecommunications business is on solid ground, and you are looking to expand your market base, there are three options readily availablec to you for obtaining small business financing. These three options are: factoring, asset based solutions, and investment capital. Let’s take a quick look at each of these options:

Factoring: Factoring is a financing process which allows your company to borrow money against its receivables; your receivables are used as the collateral for the loan. The down side to traditional factoring is that this type of funding generally comes with high interest rates. By finding a lender with telecommunications financing experience, you can sometimes find a lower rate. This makes factoring a strong consideration only if you are able to locate a specialized lender with telecommunications financing experience.

Asset Based Solutions: Asset based funding solutions involve using your existing contracts, equipment, and other assets, as the collateral for your funding. This can be a good option to consider if you have a lot of assets or large contracts to leverage. However, if you own a very small local telecom company, your company may not have the assets or contracts to make this form of funding work. In that case, investment capital may be a good option to consider.

Investment Capital: If your business is open to the idea of investment capital, versus a traditional line of credit, investment capital can be a win-win situation for everyone.

While finding small business financing can be challenging in the telecommunications industry, it is not impossible. When it is time for your small telecom company to expand you should consider factoring, asset based solutions, and investment capital as possible options. Whatever your decision may be, as long as it fits within your long-term business plans, then you are sure to succeed.