In this Washington Post video, Cleland Says FCC Airwave Sale May Exclude AT&T, Verizon and favor Google. Of course, he does. Cleland is the guy behind NetCompetition.org. "Scott Cleland is the world’s leading Google critic. He has testified before the U.S. House and Senate three times regarding Google, and is author of the new book, Search & Destroy: Why You Can’t Trust Google."

Being anti-Google has paid him handsomely, especially since there are companies like AT&T and VZ that like the way he demonizes their competition.

Cleland blogs here about how the FCC is out of control and just wants to raise revenue for the US Treasury. That is actually the history behind spectrum auctions: revenue! Rarely does spectrum get taken back or enforcement of auction rules occur. Even deployment rules are not enforced. Even the GAO is behind the FCC's auction ability.

ASIDE:: Sinclair has an alternative plan for TV spectrum here.

Peter Radizeski is a telecommunications consultant and analyst with RAD-INFO INC. Service Providers have called on RAD-INFO INC for assistance building a channel, improving sales, managing online marketing efforts, and overall company strategy. Contact RAD-INFO INC at 813-963-5884 or http://rad-info.net

According to this article, 'Customer loyalty, according to consulting firm Protiviti, is at the top of business challenges that non-financial services firms will face in 2012. Other challenges include managing supply chain risks, privacy and security issues, and attracting and retaining top talent."

I think the big 2 in 2012 will be Retention and Security.

In security, we have hackers everywhere, including inside the organization. To wit, this Windstream employee who stole numerous accounts to buy stuff. Then you have the 24M Zappos accounts that were hacked. Security is something to take seriously -- and to make certain that your customers take seriously.

The other challenge is Customer Retention. I face it all the time. Circuits come off term and clients bounce for a few dollars, even when they didn't have a single billing issue or outage.

Part of that is my not having a retention plan in place. Proactively calling customers 90 days before the circuit expired to discuss their needs, growth, etc.

The article mentions "there is one other critical element to customer retention – customer service." However, if there are no issues - billing or otherwise - the customer won't call, so how do you provide service? Thank you notes, phone calls, surveys, and needs analysis. Provide Value Upfront!

I liked this tidbot from the article: "Studies have shown that IT customers are more interested in reliable technology and efficient customer service than getting the best price. For managed services providers (MSP), this requires explaining the value of the services upfront and continuously showing proof of that value to maintain the customer relationship."

These are just two things to think about - security and retention - for 2012 as we close out month 1.

Peter Radizeski is a telecommunications consultant and analyst with RAD-INFO INC. Service Providers have called on RAD-INFO INC for assistance building a channel, improving sales, managing online marketing efforts, and overall company strategy. Contact RAD-INFO INC at 813-963-5884 or http://rad-info.net

As we head into ITEXPO East 2012 in Miami Beach next week, one topic of discussion will be metering of bandwidth. The carriers must be happy that this is finally being talked about. Apparently, about half of American broadband users already have a cap. Certainly, mobile data is metered and capped. Satellite is definitely capped.

As usage continues to increase and as more data goes to the Cloud, how will network operators keep up with demand not just for capacity, but throughput and latency? Will Metering will bring in the extra dollars to pay for it?

One viewpoint from LogiSense is in this article from Channel Vision magazine.

There are companies now that are just providing the ability to meter services (at least one will be at ITEXPO). It should make for an interesting year as both Cloud and Hosted UC try to take off (so that those service providers who have invested millions in these services can gain revenue) at the same time that broadband access will increase in price (and uncertainty because with metering you don't know what your bill will be month to month).

Peter Radizeski is a telecommunications consultant and analyst with RAD-INFO INC. Service Providers have called on RAD-INFO INC for assistance building a channel, improving sales, managing online marketing efforts, and overall company strategy. Contact RAD-INFO INC at 813-963-5884 or http://rad-info.net