FT-IT and FT Telecoms - Complete forward schedule
Updated: Jan 20 2002

Here are synopses for the next few months, and summaries of later issues of the FT-IT Review and FT Telecoms, with an updated list of contributors and correspondents. Please note: this is the only document we release which gives writers' names, where they have been decided.

The FT-IT Review and the FT Telecoms supplements are published on a regular twice-a-month format, appearing on the first and third Wednesday of each month. FT-IT takes up three of every four slots. FT Telecoms will take up the fourth slot (i.e. the third Wednesday of alternate months).

NB: The inclusion of an article in the synopsis does not necessarily guarantee the article will appear in the newspaper, because of occasional space constraints. The associated web sites, www.ft.com/ftit and www.ft.com/fttelecoms, are published on the same day as the newspaper version and carry the full list.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Background information and suggestions for articles or themes that have not yet been assigned to individual writers should be sent, by e-mail only please, to itsurveys@ft.com where they will be considered by Andrew Baxter, FT-IT editor. Please do not use individual e-mail addresses, fax numbers or post.

Once articles have been assigned, please send information directly to the writers concerned, but PLEASE THINK BEFORE YOU SEND - SPAM IS AN IRRITATION. All the writers are on e-mail, please see list of freelance writers at the end. (FT staff writers are all on firstname.surname@ft.com) Information should arrive six weeks ahead of publication.

PICTURES, ILLUSTRATIONS:
Pictures, illustrations and charts can also be sent to itsurveys@ft.com - as JPEGs, PDFs etc.

FT Telecoms - January 23 2002

Editorial deadline, December 16, 2001

1. Cover story
After a bruising year for much of the telecoms industry in 2001, we look ahead to the main themes and likely emerging trends for the New Year. Richard Waters

2. Viewpoint
Regular opinion column from Alan Cane, the FT's senior technology correspondent.

Main theme - pan-European networks

3. Overview
With a diverse range of technologies and business models, pan-European telecoms networks have spent billions of dollars over the past two years on installation costs. But the initial scramble to set up the mainly fibre-based networks, with their metropolitan and inter-city backbones, has come to a halt before some of these networks have been completed. The strong growth opportunities identified two years ago have given way to concern over the financial state of many of the new names, hit by lower-than-expected business levels and falling tariffs. A period of consolidation may now be in the offing as some once high-flying networks succumb to financial gravity. Who will be left when the dust settles and what is the future for these networks. Gautam Malkani (FT)

4. Financing
To implement their plans, the new players in pan-European telecoms have had to borrow billions of dollars. Where has the money come from, and what is the attitude now of banks and other financial institutions to this struggling sector as its needs for refinancing increase? Gautam Malkani

5-8. Profiles/interviews
A series of interviews and profiles with some of the leading pan-European networks.

5. Carrier1: Nuala Moran

6. Interoute: Alan Stewart

7. Colt: Ben Hunt

8. Level 3: Rod Newing

9. Where has all the money gone?
Into the ground is the short answer. A look at how the networks have surmounted the physical challenges of installing their systems in Europe's city streets, and the costs and machinery involved in the task. John Blau

Second theme: telecoms fraud

10. Overview
According to one estimate, the telecoms industry loses around $12bn a year worldwide from fraud. Some single hits can be as big as $8m, and operators can lose up to 15 per cent of revenues to fraudsters. It is an ongoing problem, exacerbated by the decline in customer loyalty: as competition mounts in the telecom industry, telcos are having to relax their pre-screening processes to gain new customers. Who is responsible for protecting against losses: customers or telcos? What kind of fraud can customers protect against and what are telcos doing to help them? What role can organisations such as TUFF (The Telecommunications United Kingdom Fraud Forum) play in this? Priscilla Awde

11. Glossary
From identity theft to shoulder surfing, there are many different types of telecoms fraud, whether in fixed corporate networks or in mobile telephony. A bluffer's guide to the main frauds currently being perpetrated. Priscilla Awde

12. E-business issues
E-commerce, and especially mobile commerce, is raising the ante - as telcos take on the responsibility for payment of goods bought on their networks are they also responsible for losses of those goods should they be fraudulently purchased? If so, they will add the value of the goods stolen to traditional losses of minutes. What is being done to prevent credit card fraud and how far along is the MeT Initiative in its recommendations? Priscilla Awde

13. Voice authentication
Forget PINs and pass codes. All you need is your voice. You speak down the phone, software recognises your voice and lets you into your bank account without all the usual security questions. Is biometric-based security the best form of protection against fraud? Just how accurate or secure is it and what will it take to convince banks etc to leave drop PINs and trust the sound of your voice. Edwin Colyer

14. Neural networks and AI
"We knew our fraud analysts were finding activity - primarily subscription and premium rate fraud - but not as quickly as we would like. What we needed was neural network software capable of detecting the unusual activity more quickly so we could minimise our losses," says Steve Fisher, head of fraud and investigations at NTL. The company implemented ATACS neural network software from HNC to solve the problem, but there are a number of other vendors also active in this area. Neural Technologies, for example, recently licensed its Minotaur fraud management solution to Sprint, and Cerebrus Solutions (formerly known as Nortel Fraud Solutions) use artificial intelligence to detect fraud. Fiona Harvey

15. Legal issues
Most fraud is still dealt with under national legislation, but this is inadequate for dealing with telecoms fraud, which, like drug-dealing, tends to happen on a global basis. How can legislation be updated to ensure that laws are applied across national boundaries? Kim Thomas

16. Corporate telco fraud
What are the latest innovations in preventing theft of telecom time from companies? And what cultural changes are companies having to make in order to deal with it? There was a time when use of the long distance line at work was seen as a perk of working for a given company. But in these tough economic times, are companies clamping down on employee use of long distance time - or finding that employees are billing to phantom client codes? Geof Wheelwright

Other themes and regular features

15. View from the Top - Bill Esrey of Sprint
Following an attempt to merge with WorldCom that failed to get US government approval, Sprint Chairman and CEO Bill Esrey announced in November 2000 that the company would focus its efforts on the high growth areas of the telecom industry, including a plan to continue to build Sprint PCS into a wireless powerhouse. How is the plan shaping up, and how does he see 2002 playing out for the wireless industry, with 3G waiting in the wings? Richard Waters

16. News column. Joia Shillingford

17. 3G + GPRS update
Licensing and other news from across Europe. Neil McCartney

Click on any link to read a synposis: