TIM [Italy] Promises "Best Streaming Quality Experience" for Netflix

Yet another Net Neutrality problem coming up? it depends on what Telecom Italia will be doing to keep-up its promise for "best streaming quality experience" to the upcoming Netflix service in Italy (here).

Related post: "The EU 'Enshrines Net Neutrality’s no Blocking or Throttling Rules'" - here.

Telecom Italia group and Netflix announced an "..agreement to deliver easy access to Netflix to TIM's customers directly on the TIMvision set-top box ..  TIM customers will have easy, on demand access to Netflix, the world’s leading Internet TV network .. Netflix programming will be available in HD quality, directly on the TV via the TIMvision set-top box, on TIM’s fixed ADSL and UBB networks, the most broadly available networks in Italy. 

TIM and Netflix will work together to provide TIM’s customers an easy way to access the Netflix app and enable best streaming quality experience". 

See "Telecom Italia to bring Netflix to TIMvision" - here.

TIM Brazil Uses Amdocs UC to Fight OTT Services

Amdocs announced that "TIM Brasil has deployed Amdocs Unified Communications to power its new "blah" service. blah provides an unmatched user experience across all the subscriber's devices centered on a unified address book, merging device and social network contacts. The app saves money for the subscriber and keeps them inside the TIM Brasil brand while they use messaging and communication services such as VoIP, video chats and rich instant messaging .. The blah app is available to any mobile subscriber, not just TIM Brasil customers"

Roger Solé, CMO, TIM Brasil said: "With the launch of blah, we are the first Brazilian operator to enable mobile subscribers to enjoy state of the art, over-the-top type experiences with an intelligent address book, keeping the interface with customers and facilitating all communication".

Rebecca Prudhomme [pictured], VP product and solutions marketing, Amdocs said: "Service providers are facing increasing competition for voice and messaging revenue from over-the-top players, and one way to combat this is to leverage their relationship to offer enhanced communication services to subscribers"

With blah you can talk simultaneously with up to four people via blah calls (VoIP) and Video calls, and up to 100 people in group chat. In the contact list, all contacts are identified by circles. This helps to identify contacts who are TIM Brasil customers, helping TIM Brasil customers make calls to other TIM Brasil customers and so save costs.

• Multi-device support: Multiple devices using a single account
• Smart Call: Automatically corrects the number format when placing a call.
• SMS Interception: send and receive text messages alongside instant messages
• Send Files: Share files like PDFs and Word documents with your contacts
• Send location, pictures, videos and voice messages.

See "TIM Brasil Deploys Amdocs Unified Communications to Power "blah"" - here.

Amdocs: Telus [Canada]; TIM, Nextel [Brazil]; Vodafone, Telefonica [Germany] Selected Actix/Celcite

Amdocs announced "a number of customer wins [and expansions] for mobile network optimization capabilities resulting from its recent acquisitions of Actix [see "Amdocs Acquires Actix ($120M) to Provide Geo-located Network Information" - here] and Celcite [see "Amdocs Acquires Celcite for $129M" - here]:

[see also "Amdocs Explains Celcite/Actix Business" - here]

• TIM Brasil [here] to improve data traffic transmission across Brazil
   
• TELUS (Canada) for 3G and LTE geo-location and radio access networks (RAN) consolidation into a single, unified solution that will enable TELUS to improve customer experience while realizing significant engineering efficiencies
   
• Nextel Brasil (NII Group) selected ActixOne to be one of the network optimization solutions for its recently deployed 3G network in Brazil
   
• Vodafone Germany to continue Vodafone's strategic RAN optimization program to increase efficiency, improve customer experience and enable advanced optimization
   
• Telefónica Germany added 2G optimization to the company's existing ActixOne optimization platform and extended 3G and LTE coverage to 100 percent"

See "Amdocs Announces Customer Sales Momentum for Mobile Network Optimization" - here.

NI Deployments [250]: TIM [Brazil] Uses Commprove to Control LTE Performance

CommProve announced an ".. LTE network monitoring expansion contract in South America with TIM Brasil worth $1.2million .. TIM Brasil is deploying CommProve’s performance management platform, CommProve GSP, in its network. GSP captures statistical counters from across the monitored network and will then provide TIM with the aggregated information in a powerful data set for network management and optimization".

At the end of 2012, TIM Brasil had over 261M mobile subscribers. LTE service was launched in April 2013, and will be available in 2014 in all the 12 cities hosting the FIFA World Cup 2014 (see "TIM Brasil selects Nokia Siemens Networks to build 4G LTE network" - here). 

Source: TIM

FIFA 2014 Cities

Carlo Filangieri (pictured), CTO, TIM Brasil said: “We want to be able to provide to our customers a very good data service both on 4G and HSDPA+ so that they don’t need to worry about technology layers and commercial offers as our 4G service is at the same price as our 3G service. Not only for professional but for every kind of usage, the quality of the mobile data connection is a key factor for people that are demanding the same kind of experience they have as with fixed broadband. We need to strictly control the performance of our service; this is why we are extending CommProve’s monitoring technology to our new 4G network”

See "TIM Brasil Awards CommProve $1.2M LTE Network Monitoring Expansion Contract" - here.

Offload Deployments [187]: TIM [Brazil] Prepares to the 2016 Olympics with Aptilo

      

Aptilo Networks announced that TIM Brazil  ".. has begun a major Wi-Fi initiative to deploy wireless broadband throughout Brazil. Through systems integrator Retis, Aptilo Networks .. is providing TIM Brasil with a complete Wi-Fi and mobile data offloading solution .. The Aptilo solution offloads mobile data from TIM Brasil’s HSPA and HSPA+ networks through Aptilo’s Wi-Fi platform. Utilizing the fiber network of TIM Intelig and TIM Fiber as a backbone, TIM Brasil will leverage Aptilo’s mobile data offloading and Wi-Fi solutions on a national basis".

At the end of Q2, 2012, TIM Brasil was the 2nd largest MNO in Brazil, with around 69 million lines (about 1.7 million added in the Quarter).

".. TIM Brasil’s aggressive expansion plans are expected to offload mobile data traffic, using over 10,000 hotspots to be deployed throughout Brazil .. TIM Brasil also innovated being the first operator in South America to utilize EAP-SIM Authentication. Aptilo’s SIM Authentication Server™ is highly scalable and optimized to deliver an automatic, secure and seamless mobile data offload experience. It authenticates users via the SIM card (utilizing EAP-SIM/AKA) in their mobile device as they move from TIM Brasil’s 3G network to Wi-Fi, ensuring an “invisible” handoff as users move from 3G to the Wi-Fi network"
 
See "TIM Brasil Rolls Out Wi-Fi Offload with Aptilo and Retis In Advance of Major Sport Events in Brazil" - here.

Italian MNOs Offer Unlimited Plans with Fair-Use Policy

 
A post to the Daily Wired/ Banda Stretta blog by Alessandro Longo (picture) covers the recent unlimited data plan by TIM, which follows similar plans by Vodafone and Wind - unlimited use but with a fair-use policy. Fair use kicks in after a certain level of consumption has been reached (10GB, in the case of TIM). Then the carrier throttles the download speed to 64Kbps (Vodafone is also to 64Kbps, while Wind is going lower - to 32 Kpbs).

See "Tim, banda larga illimitata, con lo shaping" -  here (Italian).

TIM explains the new rules (here) - "Con Internet Senza Limiti si naviga in Internet (GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSPA) senza limiti di tempo. Solo al raggiungimento di 10GB di traffico al mese, la velocità di navigazione si riduce a 64KB al secondo senza costi aggiuntivi. Il bundle di 10GB di traffico al mese viene conteggiato a scatti unitari anticipati di 1KB. La navigazione è valida per 30 giorni per i Clienti Ricaricabili, per un mese solare dall'attivazione per i Clienti con Abbonamento"

See also the fixed side policy - "Telecom Italia DPI Policies - Limiting only P2P Traffic" - here