Wireless Federation

New Delhi, Aug. 24 (UNI): The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., (BSNL) has floated a tender for procurement of 63.5 million mobile telephone lines with the aim of achieving the largest ever expansion, IT and Communication Minister, Dayanidhi Maran, said today.

“The capacity expansion of BSNL alone in the next two to three years will be equivalent to the capacity expansion of all the private players put together,” Maran said in the Rajya Sabha.

Answering a supplementary, he said with the implementation of the capacity expansion, not only the coverage of mobile telephony would increase, but the quality of service would also improve.

Members belonging to different parties, including the treasury benches, complained about the poor quality of mobile phone services by the MTNL and BSNL.

Senior CPM member, Sitaram Yechuri, went to the extent of asking the Minister whether the government companies were not installing communication towers so that the private operators could flourish.

Source- http://www.hindu.com/

Technorati : BSNL, MTNL, Mobile
Ice Rocket : BSNL, MTNL, Mobile

Kiev, August 18, PRIME-TASS. According to a study carried out by ComNews Research, Ukraine’s content services market volume stood at around 30 million dollars in the first six months of 2006, excluding indirect gains from mobile marketing and content sold independently of mobile operators.

Analysts state that the five leading content providers control 48 percent of the market. Jump Ukraine holds the top position for the first half of 2006 with 17%, while the daughter company of Russian provider Inform-mobile comes in second with 12%. The Ukrainian branch of the Russian company Solvo International takes 8%, and Ukrainian content providers Point Com and Dnepr Telecom have 7 and 4 percent respectively.

The success of the top five is mostly attributable to their participation in projects to provide content under mobile operator’s brands or sub brands: Kievstar, Djuice, JEANS, UMC and Beeline.

The Ukrainian daughter companies of Russian market leaders i-Free, Infon and Logoton were in the next five, along with UPT-Mobile and Mobiline Media. Their appearance in the rating highlight trends in the development of the Ukrainian mobile content market. UPT-Mobile specialises in WAP projects and partners with the majority of popular Russian WAP sites. The content provider Mobiline Media is an offspring of ‘1+1′, one of Ukraine’s largest TV channels.

ComNews Research analysts predict that providers specialising in WAP projects will see a long-term growth in market share. They also foresee the migration of successful content projects to WAP, conditional to operators opening WAP-CPA. Media projects will also enjoy an increased share, although they are overly tied to competing media such as television and printed publishing, whose ratings are difficult to predict.

The analysts consider the Ukrainian content services market attractive for investment, and expect to find such major Western players as Jamba and Jet Multimedia entering the market in the near future.

Source- http://world.procontent.ru

Technorati : Beeline, Djuice, Dnepr Telecom, JEANS, Kievstar, Mobile, Point Com, Russia, Solvo International, Ukraine
Ice Rocket : Beeline, Djuice, JEANS, Kievstar, Mobile, Russia, Solvo International, Ukraine

ASIA : The 3GSM World Congress Asia - the fastest growing mobile communications event in the region - will bring together a host of industry leaders and personalities from across Asia’s booming mobile industry.

The mobile operator CEOs speaking at the 2006 event, which will be held in Singapore between October 16th and October 20th, include Sunil Mittal from Bharti Televentures, Dr Young-Chu Cho from KTF, Naguib Sawiris from Orascom, Lee Hsien Yang from SingTel Group, Dato Abdul Wahid Omar from Telekom Malaysia, Arve Johansen from Telenor, Sol Trujillo from Telstra and Alexander Izosimov from VimpelCom. Produced by the GSM Association (GSMA), the global trade association for the mobile industry, the 3GSM World Congress Asia will also feature top executives from other mobile-related industries, such as Alejandro Zubillaga, Executive Vice President Digital Strategy and Business Development at Warner Music Group, and Dr Sachio Semmoto, Founder and CEO of eAccess.

“For this year’s 3GSM Congress in Asia, we have assembled a top-class, yet diverse, line-up of speakers that will pinpoint the key trends in the region’s dynamic and complex market for mobile communications,” said Bill Gajda, the chief marketing officer of the GSM Association. “The Congress is the only event in Asia to attract the top ranking executives from the region’s operator community.”

The Congress presentations, revolving around the central theme of ‘Risk and Reward’, will cover topics ranging from new business models for mobile operators, to the role of China, universal access in emerging markets, the mobile boom in India, mobile virtual network operators and infotainment and content. The 2006 event will also host the GSMA Members Forum - the only annual meeting open to the entire GSMA membership.

This year’s Congress also sees the introduction of the GSMA’s “Asia Mobile Innovation Awards.” These awards are designed to support innovation in the Asian mobile industry by bringing together start-up companies, industry investors, mobile operators and vendors

Source- http://www.3g.co.uk

Technorati : 3 GSM, Asia, Bharti Televentures, China, KTF, Orascom, Singtel, Telekom Malaysia, Telenor, Telestra, Warner Music Group, eAccess, operator
Ice Rocket : 3 GSM, Asia, Bharti Televentures, China, KTF, Orascom, Singtel, Telekom Malaysia, Telenor, Telestra, eAccess, operator

AU : THE Federal Government last night vowed to introduce laws protecting children from pornographic images being distributed via mobile phones.

Communications Minister Helen Coonan told The Daily Telegraph the Government would extend censorship and regulatory laws to mobile phones and include penalties.

“I will introduce to Parliament legislation to extend the current safeguards that apply to content delivered over the internet or television to content delivered over convergent devices,” Senator Coonan said.

The changes will include prohibition of content rated X18+ and above, as well as requirements for age-restrictions on access to content suited only to adults.

These prohibitions will be backed by strong sanctions for non-compliance with the new regulatory framework, including criminal penalties for serious offences.

The move comes as child safety groups called on parents to not buy their children phones with internet access.

NetAlert corporate affairs adviser Rod Knockles said last night many parents may not know of the capabilities of latest generation mobiles.

About 40 per cent of mobiles sold are internet enabled, meaning they can download clear images either via email or direct from the internet.

“Parents should think about what age it’s appropriate to give their children mobile phones that are internet enabled,” Mr Knockles said.

These mobiles are expected to grow in use in the years ahead as telecommunications companies push for more revenues through online content.

Among internet-enabled phones, lower end devices have access to their operator’s “walled garden” of content which can include songs, pictures and ringtones.

Recent phones have full HTML browsing - they offer an identical internet experience to your PC, only on a smaller screen. This means the user can visit websites, including adults-only sites.

Third generation networks will make accessing the internet even faster.

Mr Knockles said the images were generally downloaded from home computers, so a family-friendly filter would provide protection.

NSW Parents and Citizens president Dianne Giblin said mobile phone were an essential part of life for children

Source- http://www.news.com.au

Technorati : Australia, Mobile, Operator
Ice Rocket : Australia, Mobile, Operator

Qualcomm to acquire Qualphone for $18 million

US based mobile telecom company Qualcomm has said that they are acquiring privately held wireless technology developer Qualphone Inc for $18 million.

The deal would be conducted in a cash only transaction and would help Qualcomm in this market.

The company is basically involved in development of mobile phone technologies and licenses their technologies to mobile phone makers and service providers around the world.

This deal would help Qualcomm to enable integrated features such as photography and video for phones that have high-speed wireless links to the Internet.

Qualcomm added that they expect this deal to be closed by the end of the month

Source- http://business.techwhack.com/`

Technorati : Mobile, Operator, Qualcomm, USA
Ice Rocket : Mobile, Operator, Qualcomm, USA

Nigerian mobile operator Vmobile’s new 65 percent stakeholder, Celtel, is preparing to rebrand the company, reports This Day, citing Martens Pieters, group managing director of Netherlands-based Celtel. Pieters explained that the company is making a strong financial commitment to Nigeria with the backing of its shareholder, Kuwait’s MTC.

Source- http://www.telecompaper.com

Technorati : Celtel, Kuwait, MTC, Netherland, Nigeria
Ice Rocket : Celtel, Kuwait, MTC, Netherland, Nigeria

SINGAPORE/SEOUL: Wrestling with falling mobile phone sales and shrinking market shares, South Korea’s Samsung and LG yearn for the days when their high-tech, pricey phones were the talk of the town.

The South Korean makers face stalled volume growth whereas rivals Nokia Oyj and Motorola Inc are cashing in on trends to go slim and stylish in advanced markets or cheap in emerging markets, such as India.
Analysts say Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and LG Electronics Inc should shift their focus to low-cost phones to catch up, or take the lead, in next-generation technology phones or mobile TV handsets.
“Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson have experienced tremendous growth globally over the last few years - much of this can be attributed to the low-cost handset market, an area where LG and Samsung are not particularly strong,” said Bengt Nordstrom, an analyst with wireless consultancy inCode.
Another issue has been their inability to establish a strong brand, analysts said. Nokia has the scale and brand to control the market, Motorola has achieved cult-status with its blockbuster ultra-thin RAZR, and Sony Ericsson has focused on music and photography, leveraging the Sony Walkman and Cybershot brands to enhance its appeal to younger users. “Samsung and LG’s lack of differentiation is holding them back,” Nordstrom said.
Just two years ago, Samsung was poised to overtake Motorola’s number 2 spot, but its market share is now half the size of Motorola’s, with 26.3 million phones sold against the US rival’s 51.9 million in the April-June quarter.
One reason is the RAZR. Take Chua Chin Yang, a 27-year-old Singaporean freelance writer, who ditched his Samsung C200 handset this year. “I switched to Motorola because its handset designs look better and feel better, compared with Samsung’s, which are bulky and so uncool,” said Chua. “I love the RAZR because it’s so slim, easy to carry and the materials used to make the phone are also hardy.”
Nokia saw a 29 per cent boost to 78.4 million phones, but LG yielded its number 4 position to Sony Ericsson, selling 15.3 million phones against its rival’s 15.7 million.
LG also saw Motorola and Nokia eating into its business with key operators Verizon Communications Inc and Hutchison Telecommunications, leading to losses in its handset business for the second quarter in a row.
“The two megatrends in GSM over the last two years are ultra-thins and smart phones. Samsung has underperformed in both markets,” said Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Mawston. “Samsung cannot afford to miss the next megatrend, whatever it may be.”
With a focus on advanced cellphones and a few low-cost models, Samsung and LG have also missed out on the boom in emerging markets.
“Both Samsung and LG have advanced in next-generation technologies, such as WCDMA, HSDPA, WiMax and multimedia, but these markets have not blossomed yet,” said Suran Seong, analyst with research firm Ovum. “The convergence trend where several technologies or functionalities are packed into a phone, which the Korean vendors have stressed, may not be what all users want,” she added.
LG also had a late entry into the GSM market - the dominant digital mobile standard. About 60-70 per cent of its revenues come from CDMA technology, which is facing shrinking demand. “Starting the GSM business late was one big mistake we made,” LG Electronics finance chief Y.S. Kwon told investors recently.
The world’s two 2G mobile standards are GSM and CDMA. GSM was advocated by governments of western Europe and by firms, including Ericsson and Nokia, while CDMA was backed by the US and companies like Qualcomm Inc.
“The core problem for LG is its limited GSM distribution network. It launches a cool device like the chocolate phone, but struggles to get them on operators’ shelves,” said Mawston. - Reuters

Source- http://www.btimes.com.my

Technorati : GSM, HSDPA, Hutchison, LG, Mobile, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sony, South Korea, WCDMA
Ice Rocket : GSM, HSDPA, Hutchison, LG, Mobile, Nokia, S, Samsung

NEW DELHI: India’s telecom sector has a cause to celebrate, with strong evidence of domestic valuations keeping pace with the highest valued mobile telephone companies in the world - China Mobile and Vodafone.

An analysis of Bharti Enterprises subscriber numbers and stock performance, for example, shows its ratings comparable with China Mobile, the big daddy of mobile telephony in China and Vodafone, the world’s second largest mobile company.
Last week, China Mobile toppled Vodafone to become the world’s most highly valued telecom firm. China Mobiles shares closed at HK$51.50, valuing the company at US$131.46 billion, while Vodafone’s shares closed at 110 p in London, valuing the firm at US$123.11 billion.

China Mobile, with 200 million subscribers, is also the world’s largest mobile operator, ahead of Vodafone’s 186 million global subscribers.

Vodafone, however, remains ahead in terms of its global footprint across 54 countries. In India, it invested US$1.5 billion in Bharti in October 2005.

China Mobile’s subscriber base works out to about 8.3 times and Vodafone’s roughly 7.75 times Bharti’s 24.3 million subscribers. Bharti Enterprises boasts of a 21.2% market share, in comparison to China Mobile’s 40%.

Interestingly, at an average share price of Rs 412, Bharti’s valuation works out to about $16 billion or Rs 72,000 crore. Analysts point out that this mirrors China Mobile and Vodafone, as their valuations, just as with subscriber numbers, works out to around 8.3 times and 7.75 times that of BhartiTele ’s respectively. The striking feature of this comparison is that subscriber and valuation multiples are exactly comparable and proportionate across three firms.

This is a conclusive evidence that Bharti’s valuation (minus some of its other businesses such as Long Distance, and others), even at a fraction of China Mobile and Vodafone’s subscriber base, is globally benchmarked.
Given economies of scale and projections of doubling of mobile subscribers to 200 million by December 2007, it should be fair to expect Bharti to exceed 40 million subscribers before the close of financial year 2006-07, with a proportionate increase in shareholders value.

With these impressive valuations, it is no surprise that like Birlas and Tatas in the recent past, Hutch and Essar are similarly embroiled in bitter battles for control.

The flip side of this spectacular performance is its propensity to strengthen the argument for charging big bucks to these multi-billion dollar corporations in the controversial allocation of 3G spectrum.

Source- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Technorati : 3G, Airtel, Bharti Televentures, Birla, China Mobile, Essar, GSM, Hutch, Tata, Vodafone
Ice Rocket : 3G, Airtel, Bharti Televentures, Birla, Essar, Hutch, Tata, V

The rollout of Japan’s newest W-CDMA nationwide mobile network by eMobile, the new mobile subsidiary of leading DSL wholesaler eAccess Ltd, is gathering pace and causing not a few surprises and disappointments among vendors.
eMobile announced late in July that it had selected Huawei Technologies from 15 global vendors as a second prime network vendor to work alongside Ericsson, which in March was awarded the contract for the nationwide core network and the 1.7-GHz radio network in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya.

Huawei will start by deploying networks in Sapporo and Sendai. This is the first contract for Huawei or any Chinese network vendor in Japan, and it means that Japanese vendors have completely lost out on this pioneering 3.5G network business worth $3 billion to $4 billion. “The choice of Huawei was an extraordinary shock to Japanese vendors,” eMobile and eAccess CEO Dr Sachio Semmoto told Wireless Asia.
Japanese vendors are not the only shocked and disappointed vendors. Lucent Technologies was passed over yet again. One year ago Lucent appeared to be in pole position with eAccess after working on apparently successful trials combining HSDPA and Lucent’s IMS. Lucent was presented as eAccess’ partner in several high profile PR social and events.
Among the reasons cited for the selection of Huawei by eAccess are its strong product development skills, quality management systems in IP technology and small base stations.
eAccess has done an impressive job of fundraising for the new venture. eMobile now has equity and debt financing totaling 363 billion yen ($3.16 billion). The companies are planning to offer seamless IP-based fixed and mobile services with data services starting in March 2007 and voice services following in Spring 2008.
Putting up a state-of-the-art nationwide mobile network, of course, is costly and eAccess will struggle to reach the 85% coverage required by the government within five years under its present business-financing plan, even though the network will be IP-based.
NTT DoCoMo spent $20 billion on its W-CDMA network and Vodafone Japan around $10 billion on its latest network. From this perspective, it is easy to understand the decision to partner with Huawei, which has risen quickly by combining advanced technology with low prices.
eMobile’s ambitious strategy contrasts sharply with IP Mobile, Japan’s other mobile start-up, which announced that it has secured just over 4 billion yen to build its network. Non-Japanese vendors have also secured a significant part of the contracts so far awarded by IP Mobile.

Source- http://www.telecomasia.net.

Technorati : Asia, Cell Phones, Ericsson, HSDPA, Huawei, Japan, Vodafone, eAccess
Ice Rocket : Asia, Cell Phones, Ericsson, HSDPA, Huawei, Japan, Vodafone, eAccess

The Egyptian government is expected to officially sign on Aug. 21 the third mobile-network license contract with a consortium led by Etisalat, a UAE-based telecom company, the state-run daily Al-Gomhuria reported.

Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif will attend the signing ceremony, said the daily.

The new company led by Etisalat is set to begin providing mobile services by mid-February in 2007 in major Egyptian cities and resorts, such as Cairo, Alexandria, Hurghada and Sharm el- Sheikh, according to Egyptian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Tareq Kamel.

The Etisalat-led consortium has deposited the full amount of the license fees to an designated Egyptian bank account, said Amr Badawi, Chairman of the National Agency for Regulation of Telecommunications.

On July 4, Etisalat beat eight other bidders to win the third mobile phone network license, along with its three other Egyptian partners, namely, the Egypt Post, the National Bank of Egypt and the Commercial International Bank.

The consortium won the bid by offering a staggeringly high price at about 2.9 billion U.S. dollars.

The new service provider will use the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) system and the third-generation (3G) technology for its network.

The current Egyptian mobile service market is shared by Vodafone Egypt and Mobinil, a joint venture between Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Holding and France Telecom.

Vodafone Egypt and Mobinil had a combined subscribers of about 13 million at the end of 2005.

Source- http://english.people.com.cn

Technorati : 3G, Egypt, GSM, Mobinil, Orascom, Vodafone Egypt
Ice Rocket : 3G, Egypt, GSM, Mobinil, Orascom, Vodafone Egypt