Archive for December, 2008
Reliance Communications Starts Nationwide GSM Service (India)
Reliance Communications Ltd., India’s second-largest mobile-phone company, started nationwide wireless services based on the global system for mobile communications, or GSM, to gain customers.
Reliance Communications, which operates services based on the code division multiple access, or CDMA, standard, will initially cover 11,000 towns and 340,000 villages with its GSM service, Chairman Anil Ambani told reporters in Mumbai today. The operator has completed most of the capital spending on the second network and has spent 100 billion rupees ($2.1 billion), he said.
Ambani will use the network based on the popular GSM standard, which accounts for about 75 percent of India’s 336 million wireless users, to help Reliance Communications catch up with Bharti Airtel Ltd. and keep ahead of rivals such as Vodafone Group Plc and NTT DoCoMo Inc.
“We see no reason why we shouldn’t have a 100 million customers,” Ambani said. The operator had almost 60 million customers at the end of November, while Bharti had 83 million and Vodafone’s Indian unit had almost 59 million users.
Reliance Communications gained 7.2 percent to 228.15 rupees in Mumbai trading, the most since Dec. 10. The stock was the second-best performer today on the benchmark Sensitive Index, which rose 1.9 percent.
3G Services
India, the world’s second-largest mobile-phone services market after China, added more than 10 million subscribers for the third straight month in November and is set to attract more operators as it prepares to auction licenses for starting high- speed wireless services next year.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman Nripendra Misra said in October, operators in the U.S., the U.K., France, Italy and Australia may bid for permits to offer the so-called third-generation, or 3G, services, further increasing competition.
Reliance may spend between 20 billion rupees and 40 billion rupees on 3G gear, Ambani said.
DoCoMo, Japan’s biggest mobile-phone operator, considers Asia its biggest priority for expansion, President Ryuji Yamada said on Nov. 18, a week after the company agreed to pay $2.7 billion for 26 percent of India’s Tata Teleservices Ltd. The purchase is aimed at giving the Tokyo-based company entry into the world’s fastest-growing major wireless market and is its largest acquisition in about eight years.
Tata Teleservices will spend $2 billion in the next two years to provide GSM-based wireless services, the Press Trust of India reported in August. Tata Teleservices, which currently offers CDMA mobile-phone services plans to start the GSM services by the end of the year in India, Press Trust said at the time, citing Anil Sardana, the company’s managing director.
Add comment December 31, 2008
ETK’s Subscriber Base Exceeds 2Million (Krasnoyarsk Krai)
The customer base of ETK, the leading telecommunications company of Krasnoyarsk Krai and the Republic of Khkassia, has exceeded 2 million subscribers. Fully owned by Siberia’s largest telecommunications company Sibirtelecom and with 40% of the local market, ETK is the leading company in Krasnoyarsk Krai, far outpacing its federal competitors. Today, it runs GSM-900/1800 and IMT-MC 450 networks.
Add comment December 31, 2008
Pakistan sees mobile user base drop to 90.41 million
Pakistan ended November with 90.41 million mobile phone users decreasing by 0.1 percent compared with 90.51 million in October, according to figures from market regulator PTA. Mobilink was the market leader with 30.06 million customers, losing 827,000 customers during November, followed by Ufone with 19.1 million. Telenor was in third place with 18.88 million subscribers, followed by Warid with 16.66 million subscribers. Zong’s subscribers reached 5.39 million, while Instaphone subscribers remained steady at 321,134. Mobile teledensity stabilised at 56.20 percent in November.
Add comment December 31, 2008
Russia’s MTS Brand Expands into India
India’s Shyam Telelink, which is controlled by Russia’s Sistema has announced plans to use the brand-name of the Russian mobile network operator, MTS in the Indian market. MTS is itself 52.8% majority-owned by Sistema. Sistema guaranteed US$520 million of the total US$630 million that Shyam Telelink paid for obtaining its operating licenses. The company recently used a call-option to increase its shareholding in India’s Shyam Telelink from 51% to 72% – just shy of the 74% which is permitted under Indian laws.
At STL, our endeavour is to provide world class affordable mobile services to the customers, said Mr. Vsevolod Rozanov, CEO, Shyam Telelink Limited. Coming to market with a fully developed and globally recognized brand will give us a clear competitive advantage in the marketplace. The MTS brand offers Shyam Telelink a valuable portfolio of marketing guidelines that will provide time and cost advantages. The universality of MTS’ brand values and the simplicity of its design will resonate well among potential customers in India, and we are confident that the brand will aid in the expansion of our business.
Add comment December 31, 2008
AT&T mobile service back to normal (USA)
An AT&T wireless spokesman said this morning that virtually all service traffic in the Midwest is operating normally after mobile services were disrupted on Sunday in several states, including Wisconsin.The problem began about 9:30 a.m. Sunday when a power failure knocked out an AT&T facility in suburban Detroit.The situation resulted in intermittent disruption of mobile services for customers in some Midwest states, the spokesman said.Backup power was restored later Sunday, and the Michigan facility was restored to service Sunday afternoon.There are still some areas of Michigan without service, the spokesman said.
Add comment December 31, 2008
India to auction 3G spectrum on 30th Jan’09
The 3G spectrum auction will take place on 30th January’09. Govt has postponed it by 15 days. According to Telecom Secretary, Siddartha Behura, In view of the large number of requests from the potential bidders, it is only fair that they should be given some time. Accordingly, it is decided that the auction process be shifted by a fortnight. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs decision will be available by then. After the decision, we will have a clear mandate to proceed according to their decision.
New Revised Timeline:
Jan 9: Applications will be invited
Jan 15: Final date for submitting the application
Jan 20: Bidder ownership compliance certificate will be given for the 3G auction
Jan 22: Prequalified bidders will be shortlisted
Jan 27-28: Mock auction
Jan 30: Auction will take place
Add comment December 30, 2008
Motorola launches M-Com solutions for consumers
Motorola announced that the company has launched a mobile commerce solution for financial and retail merchandising needs.
The solution, according to the company, consisting of an M-Wallet and back-end management platform, has been deployed by Union Mobile Pay (UMPay), a mobile payment company established by China Mobile Communications Corp. (CMCC) and China UnionPay.
Motorola said that the fmobile commerce deployment in China marks a significant milestone in its global M-Commerce initiatives.
According to the company, Motorola’s M-Wallet solution provides enhanced user interface with secured and reliable service as compared to existing technologies based on Short Message Service (SMS), Interactive Voice Response (IVR), Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). Consumers can personalize financial needs such as account inquiries, money transfers, bill payments, utility payments and e-ticketing on their mobile phones, which will eliminate the need to go to banks or carry bank cards. In addition to mobile banking, the platform also provides business-to-consumer (B2C) solutions for merchants that include merchant membership cards, electronic couponing and prepaid cards.
In addition to the end-user mobile solutions for banking and merchandising needs, Motorola’s mobile commerce offering also includes a back-end management platform. The back-end management platform, part of the Motorola’s Service Delivery Framework called GAMA (Global Application Management Architecture), is interoperable with back-office network elements for OSS/BSS for mobile network operators, financial institutions and merchants, the company said.
“The M-Commerce market is rapidly evolving,” said T.K. Ng, General Manager of Motorola Global Services, Home & Networks Mobility, Motorola China. “Solutions like M-Wallet provide network operators, financial institutions and merchants with distinct advantages, giving customers convenience, speed and simplicity, allowing them to shop or perform bank transactions whenever and wherever they want. The M-Wallet solution deployment for UMPay underscores our commitment to making M-Commerce a reality. Not only does our flexible end-to-end solution simplify end users’ day-to-day tasks, but it also streamlines electronic transactions and optimizes the customer management processes for service providers, financial institutions and retailers.”
“We are the leader in offering a mobile payment platform in China, and we see tremendous value in our relationship with Motorola to further strengthen our position in the market,” said Zhang Bin, Managing Director of UMPay. “With Motorola’s expertise and experience in M-Commerce, we can create new solutions and services that address the needs of customers, bringing easy to use, secure and reliable services to them.”
Add comment December 30, 2008
T-Mobile brings BlackBerry Curve 8900 to USA in February
Research In Motion’s new and improved BlackBerry Curve will reportedly be available in the United States via T-Mobile USA. It is already available in Germany, the UK, and Canada, with the U.S. release is anticipated to take place on 18th February’09. No financial details are yet disclosed for the new device.
Add comment December 30, 2008
NatWest launches mobile money service for its Polish customers
UK based bank, launches new mobile money service for its Polish customers with Welcome Accounts enabling them to send money home to Poland. The commission-free, international mobile phone payments transfer service allows customers to transfer money from their current accounts in the UK to their PKO BP accounts in Poland. It becomes the first UK bank to launch an international money transfer service via mobile phone. Roy Vella, Group Director of Mobile for NatWest, said the company’s research shows that the UK Polish community sends home GBP 1 billion each year. The service is provided in co-operation with mobile banking company Monilink, a JV between Monitise and VocaLink.
Add comment December 30, 2008
India reports a mobile subscriber base of 336.08Mn, Bharti Airtel tops the chart
India’s telecom sector has reportedly added 10.35 million mobile subscribers in the month of November, in comparison to 10.42 million in October. The subscriber base of mobile users in India reaches the mark of 336.08 million at the end of November, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said in a statement.
Bharti Airtel, country’s leading mobile operator added 2.72 million users in November, totalling its subscriber base to 82.92 million. Followed by Reliance Communications which added 1.76 million users and took its subscriber base to 59.56 million subscribers. Vodafone Essar added 20.60 million users, taking its total number of subscribers to 58.76 million. BSNL’s reported a subscriber base of 44.57 million after adding 700,937 subscribers in November.
Add comment December 30, 2008
Vodafone UK begins ‘Vodafone IOU’ service
Vodafone UK has introduced “Vodafone IOU” which is an out-of-credit service for PAYG users. The subscribers who add the IOU service will get a £2 credit to use when their normal credit runs out, charged at 30 pence, the next time the user tops up (plus the £2 they owe). This service can be for voice, text, browsing, or music track downloads.
1 comment December 30, 2008
Government of Sultanate of Oman stops Omantel sale process
Oman’s Ministry of Finance today announced that it has taken the conscious decision to stop the proposed sale of a 25% stake in Omantel to a strategic partner as a result of the current conditions in the global capital markets.
H.E. Darwish Ismail Al Balushi, Secretary General of the Ministry of Finance and Chairman of the Steering Committee overseeing the Omantel strategic partnership process, said, “Despite the solid progress we have made with the sale process to date, and the continued strong interest shown by the bidders, the unprecedented market volatility and economic conditions that we are seeing globally has led to the Government taking the prudent decision to stop the sale process.”
Omantel has continued to record strong operational and financial performance, with profits for the nine months to 30 September 2008 increasing by 29.6% to RO106.9m compared to RO82.6m recorded during the same period in 2007. Revenues in the quarter grew 16.7% to RO314.5m compared to RO269.5m for the same period last year.
The sale process was launched in July 2008 to find a strategic partner to further strengthen Omantel’s market position and establish Omantel as a world-class provider of telecommunications services both in the Sultanate and internationally.
Add comment December 30, 2008
FNAC sells contract-free iPhone 3G in France
After the recent ruling by the French telecoms regulator, the people in France will now be able to buy an iPhone 3G without the contract which is Apple-sanctioned for Orange.
The French retailer FNAC is now selling a contract-free version of the black 8GB iPhone for $1,123, while black or white 16GB models are fetching $1,263. The cost will be five times more than the $210.01 in-contract cost for the 8GB model sold by Orange.
Add comment December 30, 2008
RTEC Mobile Lanka soon to launch as a GSM operator in Sri Lanka
RTEC Mobile Lanka, a privately owned telco is all set to launch itself as a GSM and SCDMA operator in the Sri Lankan telecommunication market. According to the Managing Director of RTEC Mobile Lanka B.A.C. Abeywardena, the telco will provide mobile (GSM) services and fixed phone with broadband internet services islandwide.
The service provider is expected to invest $100 million in the project initially. The firm has obtained TRC approval and planning to commence their operations within six months and intends a 100% coverage in two years.
The fixed phones will be manufactured in China according to designs provided by the company and the GSM equipment will also be imported from China. RTEC Mobile Lanka will set up 1000 base stations in the country and also expects to utilise the existing base stations to provide the service.
“We are confident that we could compete with the other players in the industry by providing our services for a cheaper rate with high quality. The company expects to price its call charges at least 25 per cent less than the cheapest call charges available in the market at the moment, he said.
“Maintaing minimum operational cost and using local expertise could help us to provide our services for a lesser price. We are planning to manufacture most of our equipment in the country”.
“We think this is the right time to enter into the market even with the current economic conditions. The whole world is facing an economic crisis and it will last for another one to two years. “This economic crises has resulted in price declines in construction goods and lessened competitiveness. It will create more opportunities for newcomers, he said.
1 comment December 30, 2008
Phone users in Uganda reach 7Mn driven by liberalisation and competition in the market
The subscriber base of phone users in Uganda has reached the mark of 7million, reports Minister of Information, Dr Ham Mukasa Mulira. The Minister says the growth is driven by liberalisation of communication sector and then coming of competition among the private entrants to the market.
Dr Mulira commended the government for having liberalised fully the communications sector. “I am pleased to inform you that the policy adopted has yielded extremely positive results with penetration growing from 5 to 6 per cent in 2006 to over 20 per cent in just over two years,”.
Over the years, the rise in numbers has been driven by slashing calling rates, aggressive marketing and product innovation by both the existing and latest phone companies. At the start of the year, there were about 5.4 million subscribers but the number tremendously rose with the commercial entry of Warid Telecom on February 7 this year.
Add comment December 29, 2008
Zain shifts focus on high-end mobile phone subscribers
In order to lure more subscribers to its data and productivity services, Zain has launched the first of a range of high end mobile phones.
“About 5% of our post paid customers are already Blackberry customers. We want to increase that number and also provide the market with innovative new products that will help people work better,” said Michael Okwiri, Zain Corporate Affairs Director.
This move marks a new shift in the telecommunications firms strategy to lure new subscribers. Since, last six months, Zain is targeting younger and less affluent user, which has augmented its subscriber base and gives tough competition to the new entrants such as Telkom’s Orange Mobile and Econet’s Yu.
Add comment December 29, 2008
Zain Sudan posts a subscriber base of 5Mn, aims 7Mn by 2009 end
Zain Sudan, one of Sudan’s leading mobile operator, has reportedly exceeded the subscriber base of 5million in nearly 22 months of its commercial operations in the country. According to the Managing Director of Zain-Sudan, Elfatih Erwa, the telco aims to raise this number to 7million by 2009 end.
The Sudanese telco has also been a key driver in country’s economy, injecting $3.5 billion in the country over the past three years.
Add comment December 29, 2008
AT&T offers iPhone 3G for $99
AT&T, USA largest mobile service provider, unviels it plans to sell the pile of pre-owned iPhone 3Gs with a brand new price tag of $99. These iPhones will be available under the contract plans like Nation 450 w/Rollover Minutes – which offers 450 anytime minutes, 5000 night and weekend minutes, unlimited mobile to mobile minutes, no extra charge for long distance or roaming calls, $0.45 per minute for additional minutes. The activation fee is $36.00, and the user will have to pay $39.99/month (for two years) for all the benefits listed above.
There are other cheaper plans like, the $15.00/month plan, the iPhone Text Messaging 1500 contract which offers the user 1500 SMS (or text) messages to send or receive in the U.S.
Add comment December 29, 2008
3G auction likely to be postponed, CCEA yet to approve the policy
The much-awaited auction of 3G spectrum is likely to be postponed by at least a few weeks as the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) may not get the Cabinet’s approval on vital proposals relating to the services — a move that could delay the start of high-end mobile services like high-speed wireless internet in India.
According to senior DoT officials, the auctioning of 3G spectrum slated for January 16 may be delayed, as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) is yet to approve the policy. The DoT had decided to take the Cabinet’s approval on higher 3G spectrum charge and number of blocks to be auctioned in each circle.
The Telecom Commission had discussed the issue in its meeting on December 19, the officials said, adding that the decision to go to the Cabinet was taken as a precaution in view of the allegations during the allocation of 2G spectrum and new licences in January this year. Sources, however, pointed out that in case the approval was delayed beyond January 2009 the entire process of auctioning of 3G spectrum and the start of high-end mobile services may get derailed due to the general elections.
The DoT had last week held a pre-bid conference of the potential 3G players and had noticed the absence of foreign players, sources said. This could be another reason for the government to delay the process as this may not fetch the expected revenue, they said.
Union IT and Communication Minister A Raja had earlier estimated that the government may garner about Rs 35,000-40,000 crore from the auction of 3G spectrum.
Add comment December 29, 2008
DoCoMo-Tata open offer delays, regulator’s clearance awaited
NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s largest mobile-phone operator, and Tata Sons have postponed their joint open offer for up to 20 per cent of Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd as it is yet to be cleared by the market regulator.
Add comment December 29, 2008
Mobile Connections Reach 4 Billion Worldwide
3G Americas, a wireless industry trade association representing the GSM family of technologies including LTE, today announces that a historic milestone was achieved for the wireless industry in December 2008 with 4 billion connections to mobile devices worldwide. This estimate by Informa Telecoms & Media represents 60% of the entire global population today. In some countries, millions of people are now experiencing connectivity to the world for the first time through wireless and changing their economic, social and political fortunes forever.
The Latin America and Caribbean region continues to show steady consumer growth with 16% year-on-year growth as subscription numbers are expected to reach in excess of 440 million, equating to 76% penetration, noted Marisol Gomez, Americas regional analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media.
Add comment December 26, 2008
T-Mobile Netherlands sells 100,000 iPhones
T-Mobile Netherlands has sold its 100,000st iPhone 3G. The device is available in the Netherlands since July. Both, T-Mobile and Apple are pleased with the popularity. T-Mobile says that the device has caused an uptake in mobile internet. In December, the average data usage grew to 2 TeraByte per day. The iPhone 3G was awarded as the ‘product of the year’ in the television programme Kassa.
Add comment December 26, 2008
Spanish mobile subscribers pass 50 mln mark in Q3
Spanish mobile phone users rose to 50.74 million for a 109.9 percent penetration at the end of the third quarter from 47.61 million, or 105.3 percent, a year earlier, according to telecommunications regulator CMT. Postpaid lines rose to 29.46 million from 27.06 million, and prepaid lines fell to 20.22 million from 20.55 million. Notably, the number of datacards doubled to 1.06 million from 554,218 over the same period, with 574,201 UMTS cards and 482,131 HSDPA cards at the end of September. Mobile call minutes grew to 18.44 billion from 17.75 billion, with calls to fixed lines rising to 1.84 billion from 1.83 billion and calls to mobiles growing to 15.49 billion from 14.84 billion. Movistar had a 45.8 percent share of customers, followed by Vodafone with 30.6 percent, Orange with 20.7 percent, Yoigo with 1.5 percent, Euskaltel with 0.5 percent and other MVNOs 0.9 percent.
Add comment December 26, 2008
Palm receives USD 100 mln in funds from Elevation Partners (USA)
US-based smartphone developer Palm announced that Elevation Partners has agreed to make an additional USD 100 million equity investment in Palm. Under a definitive agreement, Elevation will increase its investment in Palm by acquiring newly issued Series C preferred stock that is convertible into Palm common stock at a price of USD 3.25 per share, a 31 percent premium to the closing price of Palm common stock on 19 December of this year. The Series C preferred stock carries a 0% dividend rate. Elevation will also receive warrants to acquire 7 million shares of Palm common stock at the same price. Prior to 31 March 2009, Palm may elect to cause Elevation to sell up to USD 49 million of this new investment to other investors on the same or better terms than on which Elevation invested. Palm CEO Ed Colligan said that the additional capital from Elevation Partners will enable Palm to put added momentum behind the new product introductions scheduled for 2009 and will provide it with enhanced stability in unsettled economic times. The transaction is expected to close by 31 January 2009, subject to customary closing conditions.
Add comment December 26, 2008
Etisalat wins Iran’s third national mobile licence
The government of Iran is thought to have awarded the country’s third national mobile licence to a consortium headed by UAE-based telco Etisalat. A report from CellularNews which cites Iran’s semi-official news agency FARS says that Etisalat has beaten off rival bids from the likes of Omantel of Oman plus MegaFon and Vimpelcom of Russia. The government has said that the new cellular operator is expected to attract investment of around USD3 billion. Iran currently has two national cellular networks run by state-backed operator TCI and private firm MTN-Irancell, which have around 40 million customers between them. Another operator, Taliya, operates a sizeable regional network which serves around 1.5 million users, while there are also at least two other localised mobile networks with only a few thousand subscribers each.
Add comment December 26, 2008
Orange Romania invests EUR200m in 2008
Orange Romania has announced that its investments in 2008 totalled EUR200 million (USD280 million), including EUR5 million on the expansion of its network of retail outlets. The French-owned cellco says it has now spent a total of EUR1.6 billion on the development of its operations in Romania. It claimed more than 10.2 million subscribers and a 38% market share at the end of September.
Add comment December 24, 2008
Mobile TV licensing expected by mid-2009 (Hong Kong)
The Hong Kong government will relax the rules on cross-media ownership to issue two mobile TV licences by the middle of next year with the aim of seeing services rolled out by the end of 2010. Permanent Secretary for the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau (CEBD), Duncan Pescod, yesterday said the two licences, covering 20 and six channels respectively, will require operators to roll out services within 18 months and must reach at least 50% of the population. ‘Mobile TV exemplifies technological advancement and media convergence. The market worldwide has called for timely response from governments and regulators to facilitate the launch and growth of this innovative service,’ he said. Half the channels within the winners’ spectrum must be used for mobile TV services while the rest can be used for non-mobile services such as digital audio broadcasting or datacasting. According to a CEBD spokeswoman, successful bidders will be able to set their own prices for consumer use, and though the new medium will be regulated by laws, including the Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance, and via codes of practice for self- regulation by operators, it will not be bound by restrictions of cross-media ownership.
Add comment December 24, 2008
Digicel ups mobile coverage, prepares for WiMAX launch (Honduras)
Latin American mobile operator Digicel (Honduras) has expanded its mobile coverage to five additional municipalities in Honduras, BNamericas writes citing an article in local paper El Heraldo. The five areas covered are in the departments of Atlantida, Francisco Morazan, Choluteca, Olancho and Cortes, it said. Irish-owned mobile group Digicel became the fourth wireless operator in Honduras when it launched commercially in November this year. It intends to invest USD450 million (including USD80.1 million for its licence) to deploy at least 1,200 cellsites and other related infrastructure and currently has 500 points of sale nationwide. Digicel is looking to sign up 5,000 customers by year-end and hopes to become the country’s second largest mobile operator within a year of launching.
Add comment December 24, 2008
Zain launches 7Mbps mobile internet service (Tanzania)
Zain Tanzania, a unit of the Kuwaiti group Zain, yesterday launched what it claims is the country’s fastest 3.5G mobile internet service. The unit’s managing director Mr Khaled Muhtadi, told reporters that the 3.5G technology will offer a theoretical maximum speed of 7Mbps over its mobile network, and will initially be available in the capital Dar es Salaam with other regions covered by the end of 2009. The ultra high speed internet service is currently available to Zain customers in parts of the city centre, Kariakoo and the Peninsular, he said.
The Tanzanian unit’s parent company has invested in excess of USD180 million this year in expanding and enhancing its network in Tanzania – including the HSDPA investment. In October this year Zain Tanzania said it was looking to increase its mobile subscriber base by 15% to 3.8 million by the end of the year. At that date, Mr Muhtadi said: ‘We have reached over 3.3 million customers today and our target is to exceed 3.8 million by the end of the year’. The Zain official went on to say that the key challenges facing the cellco in its bid for expansion were falling subscriber revenues (particularly from new customers), the high cost of handsets and the slow movement of equipment and supplies through the port and customs.
Add comment December 24, 2008
Research in Motion 3rd-qtr profit grows 7 percent
BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion Ltd. reported better-than-expected revenue guidance for the fourth quarter and strong holiday sales of its new smart phones despite the slowing economy. The Canada-based company met Wall Street expectations on Thursday by reporting income of $396.3 million, or 69 cents per share, for the three months ended Nov. 29, compared with $370.5 million, or 65 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Sales grew 66.3 percent to $2.78 billion from $1.67 billion. Excluding one-time charges, RIM said its profit was $477.3 million, or 83 cents per share, the high end of its guidance. Profit is 7 percent higher from the same period last year.
Analysts polled by Thomson, who typically exclude one-time items from their estimates, expected income of 82 cents per share on sales $2.8 billion. RIM said it added 2.6 million BlackBerry subscribers net users during the quarter and shipped 6.7 million devices, as it launched three new smart phones in the quarter, including a touch-screen BlackBerry geared for consumers.
Add comment December 22, 2008
Total Market Grows to 6.7 Million Customers (Afghanistan)
The battle for market leadership in Afghanistan took another twist in Q3 08, with Roshan regaining first place from Afghan Wireless. The latter first took the lead in Q4 07, although it was ahead by just 3k customers; however, this advantage increased to 130k at the end of Q1 08. Roshan fought back in Q2 08, narrowing the deficit to 30k, and Q3 08 saw it surge ahead with 2.34m customers to 2.20m for Afghan Wireless.
The third-placed operator is MTN, and although it remained more than 0.4m customers adrift of second place at the end of Q3 08 with 1.79m, it was by far the fastest growing of the top three. While Roshan and Afghan Wireless both saw annual growth rates of around 45%, MTN more than doubled its customer base year on year with a rate of 104.4%. Roshan topped the market for quarterly net additions for the second successive quarter with a gain of 315k, but MTN’s 166k was good enough to beat Afghan Wireless (+ 144k) for the sixth successive quarter. Moreover, in terms of annual net additions MTN led the market with a gain of 916k, compared to 723k for Roshan and 685k for Afghan Wireless.
Add comment December 22, 2008
Cell Phone Carriers Lose Their Grip
A few years ago, if someone asked what sort of cell phone you had, your response would probably be to name a network, like Sprint or Cingular. Wireless carriers so completely controlled the business, especially in the U.S., that many manufacturers weren’t even allowed to put their brand names on handsets. Now this relationship is changing in ways that will reduce the power of carriers and, with luck, increase consumers’ choices.
The relationship started to shift when people began using phones for more than voice calls and text messages. As browsers and e-mail systems became important, it mattered more whether you had a Palm Treo or a BlackBerry than whether your phone ran on the Verizon Wireless or AT&T network. Then along came Apple’s iPhone to rewrite the rules completely.
Add comment December 22, 2008
Motorola’s cost-cutting affects top executives
After Motorola announced that they were freezing pension plans and cutting salaries-due to the economic downturn. It now seems co-CEOs Greg Brown and Sanjay Jha –will both voluntarily take 25 percent pay cuts in 2009. Additionally, Brown will skip out on his 2008 bonus while Jha will have his bonus reduced by the total amount of Brown’s forfeited bonus, and will take the remainder as restricted-sale stock instead of cash.
Add comment December 22, 2008
Thailand’s True Move to sell iPhone 3G?
Apple is talking to every operators in Thailand about iPhone 3G, but seems True Move will be the first to seal the deal. True Move, the country’s third largest, said in its statement, “True Move has signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone 3G to Thailand in the coming months.”
Yet, no official date is revealed. Currently, Thailand has not ready yet for 3G network, as it is being tested. Thai users may use available EDGE or GPRS for data connection. True Move has 13 million subscribers, while country’s largest, AIS, has 26.8 million subscibers.
If this condition is true, Thailand will be third country in the region, after Singapore and Philippines, that officially sell the Apple phone. Previously, Singapore and Philippines were joining other countries to sell iPhone 3G starting August 22.
FYI, there are tons of pirated iPhones available in Bangkok’s MBK centre. The US-original phone is offered around 29,500 bath (US$ 842), while Hongkong-original phone–offers easier way to insert the SIM card–is sold for 35,000 baht.
So, when will Malaysia and Indonesia join the legion to sell iPhone 3G?
Add comment December 22, 2008
France Telecom Exclusive Deal To Sell iPhone In France Banned
In a move that France Telecom itself has called a “serious blow,” France’s Competition Council has temporarily suspended the agreement the firm has with Apple that lets its French operator Orange sell the iPhone 3G exclusively. The competition watchdog said the ban, which takes effect on Thursday, is aimed at letting consumers buy the gadget on contract from competing operators SFR and Bouygues Telecom, right in time for the holiday sales season. France Telecom said it would appeal the decision.
So, how angry are France Telecom execs with this decision? In a statement issued today, the global telecoms group had nothing but sharp criticism for the Competition Council whom it accused of making a decision without “in-depth examination,” that would not only “undermine Orange’s efforts to develop high-speed mobile services in France,” but would have a “major impact” on the market, with possible “serious consequences on manufacturers, as well as their subcontractors and software suppliers.” The best, however, was reserved for the number three operator Bouygues Telecom, which initiated the complaint in mid-September.
France Telecom basically accused its smaller rival, which it noted was “most behind” in rolling out its 3G network,” of crying to the Competition Council, rather than “offering genuine competition based on innovative offers.” It also noted that Orange has had the iPhone exclusive deal for a year now, but that it took Bouygues Telecom until now, just before the lucrative holiday sales season to request these “urgent conservative measures.”
The Council said in a statement that France Telecom’s five-year deal with Apple, which locks subscribers into a 12-24 month contract with Orange, adds another obstacle for consumers in a market already suffering from a lack of competition. Any future exclusivity deals would also be limited to three months at a time. As for an appeal, it’s going to take a long time for France Telecom to get the decision reversed, if at all. An “in-depth examination of the agreement” would likely take 12-15 months to complete, a Council spokesperson told Reuters.
Bouygues Telecom said in a statement it hoped to start selling the iPhone as soon as possible, while France’s second largest operator the Vivendi-Vodafone owned SFR, said it has “always been interested” in selling the iPhone, “but not at any price.”
L’iPhone, as its known in France, has been good to France Telecom, which said it has sold 450,000 of the 3G gadgets to date. As for other operators around the world, the iPhone has helped lure subscribers and boost data usage. The council estimated that Orange raked in 220 million euros ($308.2 million) from iPhone 3G sales from its July 18 launch to November 5. As for Apple, the ruling probably won’t be as much of a blow, especially as it has already dropped its exclusivity strategy in favor of selling through multiple operators in other European countries.
Add comment December 18, 2008
BlackBerry Bold To Launch In Korea
SK Telecom has launched corporate services for RIM’s BlackBerry Bold smart phone, with the device expected to debut at the end of the month, reports AP. RIM, along with other foreign-made internet-enabled phones were long hindered from rolling out in South Korea by a rule that required all handsets to run a local technology, though an exception to that law, allowed for Bold’s launch. Telecoms regulator, the Korean Communications Commission, lifted the ban last week, with the abolition of the rule to go into effect in April 2009.
Add comment December 18, 2008
Nokia And Motorola Dominate China’s Smartphone Sales
Apple and RIM may be eating into its share of the smart phone market in developed markets, but Nokia is still king of the smart phone in China, where its third quarter share of sales reached an overwhelmingly dominant 69.3 percent, according to a new research report from China research group CCID Consultancy.
Nokia does especially well, CCID found, as the handset maker has a product offering that spans the low, mid, and high tiers of the market. There was also good news for the embattled Motorola, which has the second largest share of the Chinese smartphone market, cornering 19.9 percent of Q3 sales. Motorola does best with the mid-range of the market. The combined share of the two companies accounts for nearly 90 percent of smartphone sales in China. In third place, was local handset maker Dopod (4.7 percent), followed by Korean electronics firm Samsung (2.5 percent).
As for the actual number of handsets sold, the figure was 7.474 million, staying mostly flat (up 0.6 percent from the second quarter). Sales revenues in the third quarter hit 18.17 billion yuan ($2.65 billion), up 4.5 percent from Q2. Smart phone sales accounted for 19.3 percent of total mobile phone sales in China.
CCID expects China’s smartphone sales to grow moderately, but may see a boost from the launch of Android-based smart phones, which the research group said has caught the attention of many phone manufacturers in China.
Add comment December 18, 2008
Zain reaches the million mark in first month (Saudi Arabia)
Zain Saudi Arabia, the cellular operator which launched the country’s third national mobile network in August, says it had signed almost a million subscribers by the end of September. ‘Things are moving much faster than expectations,’ company executive Marwan Al-Ahmadi told Reuters. Around 90% of Zain’s subscribers have signed to pre-paid packages. The firm says it expects to turn its first profit in its second full year of operation and it aims to have networks covering up to 95% of the population within two years, up from 55% currently. ‘Our ultimate aim is to get a third of the market,’ Al-Ahmadi said. ‘This is definitely not going to happen in the short term… I believe we should be able to achieve it in the range of five years.’
Add comment December 18, 2008
Brazil: 147m active mobile connections at end-November
The total number of active mobile phone lines reached 147 million at the end of November, up 1.55% on the previous month, according to preliminary data from the country’s telecoms regulator Anatel. BNamericas reports that monthly net additions totalled 2.2 million, compared with four million in October this year. In the last twelve months a total of around 30.7 million new mobile connections have been added.
Add comment December 18, 2008
India emerging leader in mobile marketing
Lowe Lintas, the agency whose work is behind conspicuous campaigns for products like Sunsilk shampoo and Fair and amp; Lovely cream, is eyeing India as an emerging leader in mobile marketing, with significant potential for digital advertising, its new chief executive officer Charles Cadell says.
“The biggest initiative (for us) will be digital, which we’re driving across the agency,” Cadell told Hindustan Times in an interview. “Globally, Lowe has acquired two digital companies in mobile and Internet marketing. India is still a long way behind the West and a lot of Asian markets on digitisation but in two to three years, India will lead in mobile marketing in the world. It’s going to happen very fast and agencies will not have the luxury of time on this,” he said.
The boom in mobile phones, in which India already has more than 32 crore connections, is expected to acquire a new momentum as people go beyond voice calls and text messages to use it to draw content that can be accompanied by ads.
Lowe is one of the biggest ad agencies in India and part of the global Interpublic Group. Cadell said Lowe Lintas was also focusing on new approaches to advertising in which content, rather than follow set campaigns, could be tied to them after being created as original property.
“There’s a headline thought that is taking us from being an advertising agency to being a communications company – we will be all about content creation, be it Bollywood film scripts, or in opportunities whenever a brand intersects with the consumer,” Cadell said.
“We will also be involved in property creation – something like Sunsilk’s Gang-of-Girls (an interactive Internet initiative to bring together Sunsilk consumers in sharing their lives and hair concerns),” Cadell said, adding that the agency will hold intellectual property rights (IPRs) while taking the content to clients or media houses. “We are looking at different revenue models,” he said without elaborating.
Add comment December 17, 2008
