On Saturday, October 13, 2001, at 11:44 , Michael Turner wrote:
> Or, to sharpen the analogy, a public phone box that charged 10 cents
> for
> Europeans, 12 cents for Americans and Australians, 5 cents for
> Africans, 7
> cents for Koreans, and 20 cents for Japanese, on credit cards calls.
On credit card paid calls this is technically not too difficult to do.
So, if it is so tempting why has nobody done it then ?
> Still, companies use price discrimination, wherever they can get away
> with
> it, to make money. There is nothing I've seen in your technical case
> that
> argues against such a business case -- if anything, the technology
> enables
> it, even automates it.
On credit card based payment yes. However, if the local account is
prepaid, it would be quite a challenge. I haven't seen any prepaid
platform that would have a tariff model flexible enough to do this.
Would require significant rewriting of software.
Not impossible, but then again, in most countries you have to show a
passport to get a prepaid phone and details about the owner are kept on
the prepaid platform. They could have done it already on that base, but
nobody cared to. Wonder why.
>
>> BTW, there is strong relevance to Japan.
>>
>> A "visited network charges" based roaming service in Europe would (due
>> to its simplicity and the availability of a GSM/PHS dual handset by
>> NEC)
>> allow Japanese users to roam seamlessly in Europe at reasonable rates.
>>
>> This would be a benefit to Japanese consumers but also Japanese
>> business
>> travellers.
>
> But would be money left on the table to the telcos, so why would they
> bother
> with equal treatment? Especially, as I've noted, since Japanese don't
> vote
> in Europe.
>
> All the technical simplicity in the world won't change human nature.
>
>> Furthermore, it would allow Japanese manufacturers to gain ground in
>> the
>> GSM handset market, as GSM/PHS handsets would eventually have a raison
>> d'etre.
>
> Eventually. But, as Keynes said, "in the long run, we're all dead."
> Telcos
> have to think about making money now. Or be dead even in the short run.
True, but the interesting thing is that the Japanese have already got
the GSM/PHS handset and NTT has relevant experience with their DoChiMo
PDC/PHS dual service. That would indicate that the Japanese are well
prepared for venturing into GSM/PHS roaming at short notice.
Also, there is a world cup coming up, half of which is held in Japan. It
is fairly safe to assume that nobody will be able to roam onto FOMA by
then. OTOH, GSM/PHS could possibly still be within reach by then.
And afterwards ? Well, there are a lot of European business travellers
who might leave their money with Japanese PHS operators if only they
could roam here. Those PHS operators might find this to be an
interesting proposition to make money in the short run.
PS: Michael, do you just like yourself in the role of Devil's Advocate
or are you also that pessimistic about anything else around you ? What
about FOMA, what about 3G worldwide ? Judging by your comments you must
have already written off 3G as politically impossible quite a while ago,
or haven't you ?! No offense intended - just curious.
rgds
benjamin
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Received on Sat Oct 13 07:38:09 2001