 | Issue: | Latin America II 1999 |
| Article no.: | 1 | |
| Topic: | Brazilian Payphone Market Driving Technology | |
| Author: | Valeria Alvares and Roberto Do Coutto | |
| Title: | Systems Engineer; Business Development Manager | |
| Organisation: | Splice do Brasil Telecomunicacaes e Eletronica, Brazil | |
| PDF size: | 20KB |
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Article abstract
ANATEL’s targets for Brazil are very ambitious, particularly in the Payphone field. From the year 2000 onwards, the target is that Brazilian users will walk 300 metres at the most to find a payphone. In addition to this perspective is the payphone technology evolution, which after ten years of stagnation, has become an attractive service to be provided by telephone carriers, as the operational costs are reduced and value-added services are offered. The following article examines the payphone advances that have already been observed in Brazil.
Full Article
The state telephone company, Telebras, began incorporating Brazilian private telephone carriers in 1972. The public telephone services were almost entirely provided by Telebras and its property companies. In 1976, the Centro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento or the Research and Development Centre (CPqD) was created to be the Telebras technology research and normalisation core. At this time, new features were being introduced in public telephone terminals, like mechanisms for call automatic billing and the installation of token operated payphones, known as ‘moedeiros’ (coin-holders). Until the current generation card operated terminals, these less sophisticated payphones were used. Inductive Card The inductive card payphone prototype, developed by CPqD, was submitted to rigorous tests for over a year. The commercial launching of the final product took place in 1992, during ECO-92, in Rio de Janeiro. At the event, according to a bulletin issued by CPqD, more than 33,000 inductive cards with 10 to 800 credits, were sold and used in local, long distance and international calls. Due to this success, the old coin-holders were reaching the end of their usage. The periodic and expensive token collections, the sanitary upkeep of the coin-holders, petty theft and vandalism, frequent failures in token collection devices and fraud were costly compared to the cost incurred with the use of the new card payphone technology. As new local card suppliers began to emerge, the inductive card payphone quickly dominated the market. The use of these cards became popular with users, eliminating the inconvenience of carrying tokens or coins. Payphone card collection has become a new past-time, which is attracting many enthusiasts. Today, the payphone card is very prominent in Brazil, generating attractive business opportunities for telephone carriers, such as the card trade, which offers publicity space for advertisers. For example, Telefonica, a private telephone carrier operating in Sao Paulo State, mobilised intensive efforts during the international telecommunication fair Telexpo 99 to sell space to the visitors. In the middle of 1998 at the end of the privatisation of the Brazilian telecommunications sector, there were about 500,000 card payphones operating in the whole country. Some Brazilian States had already replaced all of their coin-holders payphones with those using inductive cards. This is evident as in the case of Telemar-RJ, formerly Telerj, a telephone carrier in Rio de Janeiro State that disconnected its last coin-holder payphone in 1996. Others such as Telefonica, in Sao Paulo, are following the same course. Attractive Market The Brazilian Telecommunication National Agency(ANATEL) has established the targets that are to be accomplished by the recently privatised telecommunications carriers up to the year 2005. These targets mainly involve the basic public telephone service. However, the electronic and computer technologies evolution has enabled value-added telephone services that have transformed the older, less attractive services to generate profit from other avenues. The payphone market target, projects the installation of about 1.25 million terminals up to 2001, which is equivalent to an increase of about 2.5 times the present installation. In 2003, the expected payphone density is 10 for each 1000 inhabitants and in 2005 this figure shall surpass 10.5. Advanced Payphone Technology This outlook on the future of payphone services in Brazil is supported by advantages offered by the new technology terminals, such as: · strong terminals, resistant to vandals, compact and easy to install, like the TP-9400, a non-battery terminal, weighing only 5 Kg, produced by SPLICE, the Brazilian manufacturer of payphones, located in Votorantim, Sao Paulo; · current spread usage of inductive cards, a proven technology, leveraged by other cashless solutions, as credit cards and smartcards, available at the same terminal; · availability in making local, long distance and international calls by using the same card; · use of conventional telephone lines; · two billing modes: local and remote, through the sending of signals by the telephone switch offices; · liquid crystal display, with back light, enabling the advertising of messages during the terminal use; · prepaid cards, as the inductive type, which indicates the card credits balance; · long distance operator choosing (up to 64 options), by the user; · centralised management, enabling configuration, maintenance, billing data collection and a database for reports; · issuing of detailed call records for the purpose of clearinghouse systems; and, · terminal features customisation, available through the open platform used for management software implementation, promoting the carriers profitable value-added services. Several payphone applications are now available for the Brazilian telephone operators. The most frequently used is the community payphone (terminal is installed in residential concentrations, like condominiums) and the semi-payphone (terminal that can work as a common telephone or as a payphone through a selection key). The cellular payphones could propel emerging opportunities to the carriers, matching some advantages inherent to wireless technology. The payphone usage in transportation (buses, trains, etc.) could be one of these opportunities. Another usage would be the terminal installation in remote and hard access sites, and its integration to a satellite transmission system, like DAMA, or even to a single system in Ku band. The operational costs of card payphones can be reduced even more by their integration into the telephone carrier Management Systems. The centralised management of this new payphone generation enables a ‘trouble ticket’ to be issued when an alarm in one of the terminals is detected. This ‘trouble ticket’ is forwarded to an automatic dispatching system to be processed and treated, according to the operational procedures of each operator. For instance, priority could be given to serious failures, such as handsets being removed or faulty doors. In these cases a signal would be sent immediately to the management system for ‘trouble ticket’ issuing, indicating to the dispatching system that a technician must be sent urgently to carry out the repairs. Future Expectations From an international perspective, the telecommunication sector occupies a remarkable position in today’s global landscape. On one hand, it acts as a globalisation process agent, when providing, in a permanent symbiosis with the computer world, instantaneous access to information. It does not matter where the players are or what they are doing. On the other hand, as a process creature, the telecommunication sector receives directly the impacts of globalisation, such as the growing international integration in economy and technology fields. This integration is already present in all levels of the sector, including telecom operators, equipment manufacturers, network infrastructure vendors, system integrators, service suppliers, users and investors. In this ‘self-globalisation’ process, the telecommunication industry today faces tremendous competitive pressures to become efficient service providers or equipment suppliers while attempting to stay at the cutting edge of new developments in the marketplace. As a result there is a constant pressure to grow and expand while maintaining or enhancing the market positioning, through the integration of capital, technology and commercial skill. In the technology field, some remarkable facts have characterised this process. The network digitalisation provides an integrated way for voice, data and image services. The digital form assumed by voice, data and image signals, makes them indistinguishable from each other, and they are considered to be an integrated way of providing telecommunications services. Landline and wireless telephony are working together through inter-connected networks and technology integration. Internet services can already be accessed by telephone landlines and cable TV networks or satellites. In the near future, what impact will the wireless, cellular-like Internet access have? The evolution of Internet Protocol (IP) telephony will broaden the scope for telecommunications applications, in creating IP-based data, voice and video services over wireline and wireless networks. The new families of card payphones allow Internet access, and the inductive card is currently under experimental operation in some Brazilian shopping centres. The card payphone would be considered as a real Point of Presence for transactions in the financial and commercial system, when installed in public locations. Conclusion In this highly competitive environment, with several regulatory and strategic requirements, applications and solutions, the true winners will be those players that can adapt and capitalise on the changing markets, customer demands and technology evolution. As we move towards the next millennium, Sorocaba is no longer as peaceful as it was in the 1960’s, but it has become an important economical and industrial pole in both Sao Paulo State and in the whole country, with more than 500,000 inhabitants and 80,000 telephones. People today are still using payphones, not only to talk but also to gain Internet access. In the future, they will compare these Current applications with those that will be available. One of them will probably even start to write about the new market-technology round on the global telecommunications.
