Over the past few years the number of broadband subscribers in China has increased exponentially. According to the Ministry of Information Industry, there are 122 million users towards the end of 2007. But due to a low penetration rate, there is still plenty room for expansion. While this may come as good news to the nation’s telecom operators, growing the business is not without its challenges. Telecom operators not only need to struggle with having to lower costs but also develop enticing services to attract new subscribers and reduce churn. Another major goal is to devise a business model for such services to make a profit and find ways around the existing barriers.

fring launched a new version of its popular free to download, free to use mobile phone application, packed with additional features which enable anyone with a compatible handset1 to talk, chat, and interact with other fring users (fringsters) from their mobile phones. The new feature-rich fring offers an enhanced chat client, unique file transfer functionality, and local language options.

Over the past 12 months since the soft launch of its service, the fring offering has developed rapidly, and with its next generation version launching today, fring is going beyond it’s mobile VoIP heritage, evolving into a mobile internet service & community in its own right, enabling users to talk, chat & interact with other fringsters and with all of their favourite online communities, from their mobile phones.

Pulvermedia announce details regarding the conference, speakers and sponsors for the eleventh annual VON Europe Spring event, set to take place 2-5 June 2008 in Amsterdam. The upcoming event, now branded as VON.x will address the unprecedented changes taking place in the Internet Communications industry.

"VON.x in Amsterdam will discuss how today's diverse networks will soon transition to IP, to create a single, unified infrastructure that produces next-generation communications services, and enables intelligent handheld devices to take over many of the tasks performed today by PCs," said Bob Emmerson, European Editor for VON Magazine, and one of the content creators for VON.x Europe, based in Amsterdam. "VON.x Europe will focus on wireless technologies, and unified communications more than any previous VON event has, and it's sure to be one of the most leading-edge events of the year."

Jajah has selected Voxbone as its primary supplier of DID numbers for its Jajah Direct service. Introduced in November 2007, Jajah Direct enables customers to make phone calls without Internet access. Customers can simply call a local number to get in touch with their international friends. Local phone numbers are allocated to their contacts and stored in their address books. This works with any phone, regardless of make and model.

Local DID numbers enable Jajah customers to receive calls in 40 countries using dedicated, direct local numbers. Beyond the cost savings of using local numbers, Voxbone provides its customers with a simple means to expand their global presence quickly.

VoIP Monitor supports Hannover Fairs USA, the U.S. subsidiary of CeBIT organizer Deutsche Messe AG, in promoting IPCentral @CeBIT 2008, a special display and forum area at CeBIT 2008, focused on IP applications and products.

VoIP Monitor is pleased to invite their readers to exhibit and attend.

CeBIT 2008 will be held from March 4-9, 2008 in Hannover, Germany.
The show is the largest international Information and Communications Technology event - it features 27 halls, more than 6000 exhibitors from 77 countries, and 480 000 attendees from 100 countries.

InfoCom estimates 73% of these residential broadband connections will also support a VoIP subscription meaning 87.8 million VoIP subscriptions, i.e. a household penetration of 50%.

The number of residential broadband connections will reach 121 million in Western Europe, i.e. a growth of 88% over June 2007, and will thus mean a household penetration of 68%. InfoCom estimate 73% of these residential broadband connections will also support a VoIP subscription meaning 87.8 million VoIP subscriptions, i.e. a household penetration of 50%. 87.8 million VoIP subscriptions represent 240% growth over the 25.8 million VoIP subscriptions estimated for June 2007. The results derive from infoCom latest VoIP study on 16 Western European countries.

I'm a huge UFC fan and who doesn't love the Super Bowl right, so this weekend is going to be a great one. Saturday night UFC 81 takes place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. This event has lots of hype around it because of Brock Lesnar's debut in the UFC. He'll be matched up against Frank Mir who's current 10-3 record isn't anything to overlook. However, in previous fights Mir has looked sluggish and at times out of shape after coming back from a motorcycle wreck back in 2004.

I could see this fight going two different ways both of which will be on the ground. Either Lesnar will ground and pound Mir into a pulp, or Mir will submit Lesnar with a submission hold while on his back. That being said it's not even the main event of the evening! There is still Tim Sylvia vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira as the headline fight. I have a feeling Antonio Nogueira will win this match up, but then again I've never been a fan of Tim Sylvia.

No matter what fights I win or lose money on, I'm sure it'll be a blast at our UFC 81 party.

Now on to Sunday and early pre-game shenanigans. I'm sure the grills will be fired up from 11am till just before game time. Giving me and friends plenty of time to gorge on all the super bowl snack goodness. I'm going to have to go with the Patriots in this Super Bowl. However, I'll be putting a cash bet on the Giants to not lose by more than 12 points and hopefully keep it exciting.

I've got a friend who's a big Giants fan and he's already laid down this years side bet. If the Patriots lose, I'll be buzzing my head (with the largest attachment of course). That being said might I remind you how cold it is in Nebraska at this time of year! If the Patriots win he'll be returning the favor, so either way one of us is getting a new haircut in February.

Who are you picking to win in the UFC 81 fights?
or
Who you are picking to win the Super Bowl?

Let us know!

A partnership bringing free video sharing and VoIP services to Taiwan was announced Friday by Globe7 and ChinaTimes.com.

The agreement will allow ChinaTimes.com to provide users with Globe7’s free Internet calling to 25 countries as well as free sharing and downloading of pictures, videos and music. One of Taiwan’s largest domestically owned Websites, ChinaTimes.com is the fourth largest recipient of online advertising in Taiwan.