BELTUG Update 14 January 2011

Lobbying
1. January should bring lower F2M tariffs– Time to talk to your fixed operator!
2. Survey on F2M: Did you benefit from the decrease of the mobile termination rates?
3. Consultation on draft bills for electronic communications
4. EU consultation on roaming

Networking
1. A warm welcome to our newest members
2. INTUG has busy end of year
3. Companies struggle with policy on employees’ own devices
4. BELTUG Tip: LinkedIn connector
5. She goes ICT

Information and vision
1. NEW: BELTUG Replay
2. New cases online
3. New presentations and reports available

Agenda 

As of January 1st, BIPT has further reduced mobile termination rates (MTRs), which means fixed-to-mobile tariffs should go down. You can compare the past and future evolution of the MTRs for each of the three existing mobile operators on the market in this table:

Don’t wait: contact your fixed operator now to ask how the changes will affect your costs, and what benefits you will see directly.

BELTUG wants to check whether the serious decreases from Augst benefitting the telecom operators are being passed on to you. With your input BELTUG will monitor and report the changes on the market.

To ensure your voice is heard, participate in our survey. The questions only take 5 minutes of your time. For every 10 responses we receive, we will give away a BONGO champagne breakfast for two.
 

Minister Van Quickenborne and the BIPT are organising a consultation on the draft bills covering electronic communications, for the transposition of the European directives. The deadline to submit opinions is January 31st. Are you interested in helping us to write our position? Just let Danielle know.

4. EU consultation on roaming

The European Commission is carrying out a consultation on the next stage of the EU Roaming Regulation, with most observers expecting retail price caps to be both reduced further and extended to mobile data. But would price control linked to domestic prices rather than a single, fixed price be better? European Commissioner Kroes wants international roaming tariffs to be equal to the national tariffs by 2015. In the meantime, politicians in Spain and Portugal are talking about abolishing roaming rates between those two countries. Are attitudes finally maturing?

BELTUG is preparing our position for the Commission, together with other user groups within INTUG. Your wants, comments and proposals on roaming are very welcome until 20 January. 

Networking

We would like to welcome all our new members who joined since the last Update: SunGard Availability Services, Etex Group, Katoen Natie, Symantec, Securitas Alert Services, 3IT, Level3 Communications, UZA, Wit-Gele Kruis Antwerpen, BIS, Ores, Alpha Credit, Coca-Cola Services and Roularta.

What a great end to a great year! In 2010, we grew from 780 to 980 members. That’s 200 more ICT decision makers, solution providers and associations that can share their experiences, needs and priorities. You can check out the complete list of our members on our website.

At our users only X-change on mobility, held on 21 December, it became clear that the issue of employees using their own mobile devices at work becomes a challenge for companies. Individuals increasingly have their own smartphones and PCs, and the popularity of tablets is expected to increase, as well. How can companies develop policies that allow employees to use these devices and connect to the company’s network? Companies can no longer rely on the attitude of  ‘we choose the devices you use’. But security, billing and other issues make the topic very complex. BELTUG will organise a X-change on this topic.

Do you use the LinkedIn connector for Outlook? We at BELTUG are strong supporters of this powerful app that allows you to see the profile photo from any connection that sends you an email, and to connect very easily. Check it out.
 

5. She goes ICT

Who will be the successor of Ingrid De Latte – Managing Director NextiraOne as ICT Woman of the year? Vote now for the next ICT Woman of the year.

BELTUG is launching a new service: the BELTUG Replay. Now, you will be able to listen to a replay of selected presentations, synchronised with the slides – all on our website.

Already available:

Tom Van Wint, Helpdesk & Telecom Manager of SITA recycling services/Suez, “From TDM to SIP: Best practices and added value”. If you missed this presentation at our 24 November X-change, or if you just want to review what he said, now’s your chance!

“Case: Application Optimisation Solution”, by Ignace Jacobs, ICT Manager, Nexans Cabling Solutions. Ignace presented this case study at the X-change on The Business Value of WAN Optimisation, 7 December.

At BELTUG activities, case studies play a very prominent role. 25 case stories are written down as short easy-to-read texts.

Dexia (Hervé Bouquaiux, Telecom Manager, Dexia Technology Services) on Unified Communications Roll-out Experience (for members only)

Tom Van Wint, Helpdesk & Telecom Manager of SITA recycling services/Suez, “From TDM to SIP: Best practices and added value”.

We have lots of new presentations for you to check out this month on our website:

X-change: The Business Value of WAN Optimisation, 7 December
Presentations and report
X-change: Desktop virtualisation strategies and the WAN, 7 December
Presentations and report
X-change: Mobility remains a hot topic: how best to deal with it?, 21 December
Presentations, with case: Implementation of Wi-Fi at UZ Antwerp
Wolfgang Wauters, ICT Manager Infrastructure, UZ Antwerp
BELTUG Challenges Mobistar
Presentation by Mobistar