France Telecom announced plans for an IP telephony solution for small-to-midsize businesses. The forthcoming e-Telephony service will be a hosted IP solution on the France Telecom/Equant network. It will provide on-net calling as well as interconnection with the PSTN via IP gateways. The e-Telephony service will include new features such as integrated messaging, call rerouting and simple, centralized network management by either the operator or a customer-designated administrator via a secure Web page.
France Telecom published the following rates for e-Telephony on Equant IP VPN Service:
- a monthly subscription fee of EUR 12 (plus VAT) per user
- a one-time service activation fee of EUR 70 (plus VAT) per user
- unlimited calls between the equipped corporate sites
- competitive communication costs for calls within French metropolitan areas
The service will be commercially available in France by the end of this year.
For large enterprises, France Telecom will provide customized VoIP solutions. The company said its consultative approach would span every phase in the transition from the existing corporate telephone network to an IP environment: audit assessment, design and specification to propose an optimum migration scenario for each enterprise, followed by operating support or complete outsourcing. http://www.francetelecom.com
- As of 31-March-2004, France Telecom was serving over 4.1 million ADSL lines, up from 3.3 million at 31-Dec-2003 and up from 1.8 million at the same time in 2003. This represents nearly 770,000 additional ADSL lines activated during Q1 2004.
- During Q1, France Telecom’s Business Services recorded a 4.3% decline in revenues on a historical basis (a decline of 4% on a comparable basis) due to a decrease in revenues from voice calls, reflecting increased competition, particularly the development of alternative local loops in dense areas. Meanwhile, the growth in volume of business networks has continued, accompanied by fast migrations to new technology: the number of IP VPN accesses has more than doubled in one year, and represented 28% of Business Internet accesses at 31-March-2004, compared to 16% one year earlier.