At LCC Communications, we are not only dedicated to saving you money on all your telecom services, but also to keeping you informed about how developments in the world of communications can help to make your business more effective and productive. We would be interested to hear your views on Telecoms Business and to receive suggestions about the topics that you would like us to cover in future issues.

Customer Services, LCC Communications Limited email: support@lcccommunications.com

Benefiting from Broadband

how to get more than just high speed from high bandwidth

Talk to people who have only started using broadband in their business recently and you could be forgiven for thinking that they had stumbled on some kind of business holy grail. Over the past two years, there has been more choice for businesses of high bandwidth, low-contention services, accompanied by pricing and marketing that is more focused on the business market. Broadband also opens up new marketing possibilities, by offering applications such as data streaming which enable your business to improve the service you offer to your customers and to turn plain old 'brochure' web sites into true channels for e-commerce. The number of users of broadband is growing exponentially and will exceed the installed base of ISDN lines by mid-2006, according to a recent report by Ovum. Broadband also puts you in control. Our customers can manage key elements of the service in-house, performing tasks such as setting up new sub-domains, new email or URL addresses or managing passwords directly from their own desktops.

What SMEs want from telecoms

the result of a major Ovum survey

The independent consulting firm, Ovum, has recently published a report entitled 'SME needs in a converging market', which was commissioned by our partner, Gamma Telecom. Over the next few months, Telecom Business will bring you highlights from the study, starting with a look at how SMEs are using communications technologies to respond to growing competitive pressures. Mid-size businesses are demanding value for money, time saving, a single contact from their supplier and insisting that they are trustworthy and offer services relevant to their needs - in just the same way as their customers are demanding these qualities from them. Smaller organisations are working to overcome limitations set by a lack of in-house expertise - plus limited capital resource - by relying on their communications supplier to deliver the services they need. UK SMEs now spend more on data, Internet, value add services and mobile services than fixed voice - and that trend is set to continue as organisations converge their voice and data applications.

Voice over IP

getting ready for business

Using the Internet for voice traffic is on the increase and it is estimated that around half the businesses in the UK are now using Internet Protocol (IP) networks to carry at least some of their voice traffic. We will be introducing a Voice over IP (VoIP) service in the near future which will enable our customers to extend voice networks quickly and easily. However, some businesses are nervous of trusting their voice traffic to IP, remembering stories of sub-standard quality and reliability that dogged VoIP in its infancy five or more years ago. The technology is now further developed and offers a way of delivering voice between sites at a low cost - even for smaller organisations. Once launched, our Voice over IP service will offer: