US telecoms giant Verizon is rolling out new services for businesses that rely on smartphones inside and outside the office in a number of European countries, including Ireland, the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.
As companies increasingly rely on mobile phones and other handheld devices to drive employee productivity both in and out of the office, the costs associated with operating these devices are becoming a major issue.
To help meet this challenge, Verizon Business is introducing Global Fixed Mobile Convergence, a new service that can significantly reduce mobile phone roaming charges for European workers who make and receive calls outside of their home service area.
The new service also offers a universal phone number with “find me/follow me” capabilities to reach employees on a wireline or mobile phone for immediate attention, reducing the number of voice mails and spurring productivity.
“With Global Fixed Mobile Convergence, companies no longer need to wrestle with productivity versus cost management to keep their business in full gear,” said Anthony Recine, vice-president of network and communications solutions for Verizon Business.
“This innovative new service helps on-the-go workers remain in touch with customers and other business colleagues while reducing the cumulative roaming charges for hundreds or thousands of roving workers,” Recine said.
Verizon Business enhancing European network infrastructure
In related news, Verizon Business is enhancing its European network infrastructure to help meet the data-growth demands of its enterprise customers and prepare for the activation of the Europe India Gateway submarine cable network system later this year.
The company is expanding its ultra-long-haul network; increasing the number of new and diverse multiprotocol label switching nodes for private IP customers; adding converged packet architecture sites to help customers move their services onto one common access interface; and making final preparations at the Marseille, France, cable terminal, where customer traffic will move from the 15,000-kilometre Europe India Gateway cable system directly onto the Verizon Business European network.
“We are enhancing the European network capabilities to prepare for the growth of traffic from the Middle East and India that will follow the implementation of new IP and ethernet nodes, as well as the next generation of cable systems currently under construction,” said Ihab Tarazi, vice-president of Verizon global network planning.
By John Kennedy
