South Africa’s second national operator (SNO), Neotel, has launched its first voice and internet services for residential users. The SNO is offering a CDMA-based fixed wireless service called NeoConnect to users in parts of Johannesburg and Pretoria. The initial launch is for users who have already registered an interest with Neotel; a full commercial launch is scheduled for next month. The NeoConnect Prime tariff offers 1,000 minutes to Neotel numbers, 50 SMS to Neotel numbers, an e-mail account and up to 10GB of internet access a month for ZAR599 (USD78). Internet download speeds will average between 300kbps and 700kbps on the CDMA2000 1x EV-DO network.
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Affle’s short messaging service termed SMS 2.0 claims that it has crossed 100 million impressions in mobile advertising. The service is currently available in alliance with Airtel but the company aims to rope in more operators now.
“The user uptake for SMS 2.0 was unprecedented as the primary focus was to provide quality service to users. They can now send their messages with attractive background colours or emoticons. We look at adding about 10-11 lakh users by the end of the year,” said South Asia Executive Director Anuj Kumar.
Affle claims that its SMS 2.0 service is neutral to GSM and CDMA platforms. The SMS 2.0 application enhances the user-friendliness of using messaging services.
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Israeli company Koor Industries has expressed interest in acquiring a minority stake in CDMA network operator Tata Teleservices. According to a statement by Koor filed with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, it has sent a non-binding letter of intent expressing its interest in investing USD577 million in Tata Teleservices. It acknowledged, however, that there was ‘no certainty’ a deal would be reached. Tata is reported to be aiming to raise over USD1 billion by selling up to 30% of the company to private equity firms and other investors. Tata had over 22.4 million wireless customers at the end of 2007.
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Hutchison Telecom International (HTIL) has sold Kasapa Telecom to EGH International for a cash price of HKD584 million (USD75 million), reports Ghana daily The Statesman. A buyout agreement was originally signed in January between the two parties. The deal is now waiting to final regulatory approval.Kasapa is Ghana’s smallest cellco, claiming a 3.8% share of the subscriber market at the end of 2007. The sale comes as part of a wider move by HTIL to divest certain CDMA-based businesses and concentrate fully on its subsidiaries operating GSM networks.
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Motorola Inc. announced six new products and technology demonstrations today that are designed to improve the consumer mobile media experience. The devices include a new mobile television with a touch-screen user interface.
The new Mobile TV DH02 and the other five products will be shown at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) mobile and wireless conference in Las Vegas next week, Motorola said. The previous version, the DH01, did not have the touch-screen capabilities.
U.S. regulators have not allocated wireless spectrum to allow digital broadcasts for handhelds such as the DH02, but Motorola believes that area will open up later this year or early in 2009, a spokeswoman said. The standard is “far more prevalent” in other areas of the world, she added.
Users of Mobile TV DH02 will be able to click, drag and scroll through icons in menus to reach mobile TV content. For wireless carriers, the device will include support for HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) and GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) networks to allow the carriers to provide interactive services for customers.
A few details of the DH02 were released. It has the ability to provide 25 frames per second of digital video and offers portrait view for navigation as well as landscape view for mobile TV and personal media entertainment. Pricing will depend on individual carriers.
Also today, Motorola announced a plug-and-play desktop device to support indoor fixed WiMax networks, which are rolling out in some states from carriers such as Clearwire Inc. The new CEPi 150 will likely be sold to consumers by carriers and is designed to provide automatic connections to a WiMax service from a carrier for use with devices within a home. It is also certified for mobile WiMax connections in vehicles. Motorola also will present it during a mobile WiMax demonstration at CTIA.
Analysts noted that Motorola’s product announcements came on the same day that the company announced its intention to split off its mobile devices division from its other divisions, probably in an attempt to show that it still has a robust product line with new innovations.
The other four products are devoted to ways that carriers can improve wireless networks. A new CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) femtocell will be demonstrated next week, to be installed in a home or small business to enhance wireless voice and data services. Motorola has previously announced a 3G UMTS (third-generation Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) femtocells. Femtocells are small, low-power, self-installed wireless base stations.
Also, the company plans to demonstrate a single device to be installed in a carrier’s wireless base station that can support both LTE (Long Term Evolution) and WiMax technology and can be software-configurable to support either technology.
In addition, Motorola will provide a separate demonstration of an LTE wireless network supporting high-definition video transmissions, well in advance of the expected rollout of LTE networks in two or more years in the U.S. Finally, the company plans to show at CTIA a network handoff of a voice-over-IP call and a streaming video from a CDMA EV-DO (Evolution Data Optimized) Rev A network to an LTE network.
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India added six million GSM mobile subscribers in February to reach 184.67 million, industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said on Monday.
This, however, excludes the number of users added by Reliance Communications, which is mainly a CDMA major, a rival technology to GSM.
Bharti Airtel, India’s leading mobile phone service firm, added 2.25 million subscribers, taking its total base to 59.67 million and market share to 32.31 per cent.
Vodafone-Essar, promoted by British telecom giant Vodafone, registered 42.55 million subscribers by adding 1.41 million new users in February against the preceding month’s 1.28 million.
Aditya-Birla Group’s Idea Cellular added 918,871 users last month, and as of February 29 had a total customer base of 22.87 million.
State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) added 824,284 new users taking its total subscriber base to 34.57 million and a market share of 18.72 per cent, COAI said.
India is the world’s fastest growing mobile phone market with the lowest call tariffs of below two US cents. The market has emerged as the cynosure of global telecom giants. The latest to make a foray is the Richard Branson-promoted Virgin Mobile, which announced it entry into the Indian market last week in partnership with Mumbai-based Tata Teleservices.
The Indian government has set a target of 500 million users by 2010; half of this, 250 million, was reached last year.
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Bharti Airtel builds on its market lead with biggest gains followed by Vodafone Essar.
Indian GSM subscriptions reached 184.67 million in February, up 6 million from a month earlier, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said Monday.
India’s biggest carrier by subscribers Bharti Airtel recorded the biggest gains, adding 2.25 million users, giving it a total customer base of 59.67 million.
That figure represents a 32.31% market share, according to a statement from the COAI.
Vodafone Essar added 1.41 million customers in February, up from the 1.28 million it gained a month earlier, giving it a total of 42.55 million subscribers.
Idea Cellular and state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) gained 918,871 and 824,284 new users respectively. At the end of February Idea had 22.87 million customers, while BSNL reported 34.57 million, giving it a market share of 18.72%.
However, the figures published by the COAI do not include Reliance Communications, which is predominantly a CDMA operator, but also operates what is currently a limited GSM service. It had 5.7 million customers at the end of January, according to the COAI.
GSM subscriptions are set to get a further boost, since nine of India’s CDMA operators, including Tata Teleservices and the aforementioned Reliance, were granted licences in 2007 to enter the GSM space.
Tata in January issued an RFP for a network contract valued at $4.8 billion, with reports at the time suggesting the deal could go to Huawei, Nokia Siemens Networks or Ericsson .
“India is the world’s fastest growing mobile phone market with the lowest call tariffs of below two U.S. cents [per minute]. The market has emerged as the cynosure of global telecoms giants,” said the COAI in a statement.
Virgin Mobile became the latest global player to enter the Indian market, when it signed a deal last week to sell Virgin-branded services on Tata’s CDMA network.
According to the COAI, the Indian government aims to reach a total of 500 million mobile users – both CDMA and GSM - by 2010, having passed the halfway point to that total last year.
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Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson announced Sunday the launch of Virgin Mobile in India through a partnership with Tata Teleservices.
“Tata has got the network, we have got the brand…it makes a win-win for both companies,” said Branson.
However, Virgin and Tata both insisted the agreement will not see Virgin Mobile operate as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), which is not permitted in India.
Instead, Tata will sell Virgin-branded mobile services as part of a revenue-share agreement.
“This is not an MVNO agreement between Virgin and Tata Teleservices,” said Anil Sardana, managing director of Tata Teleservices.
“Virgin Mobile is just another brand that the company would offer, it is us who will invest in infrastructure and get regulatory approvals and operate as a network service provider. Virgin on its part would just lend its brand and the value-added services (VAS) that come with it to us,” he commented.
However, both companies declined to disclose the exact details of their revenue-sharing agreement.
Virgin Mobile’s Indian operation will be targeted at the youth market, offering music and game downloads to appeal to a younger demographic.
It has set a target of attracting 5 million customers in the first three years.
“India is an exciting market. There are more than 215 million Indians aged between 14 and 25 years. Over the next three years, we expect this segment to be adding over 50 million new youth subscribers and to have revenues of over 350 billion rupees (€5.75 billion),” said Branson.
Branson revealed last November that Virgin Mobile had found a telecoms partner for its Indian venture, although the regulation of foreign ownership of Indian businesses proved to be a source of frustration for the entrepreneur.
Tata offers mobile services across India through its Tata Indicom brand which according to the Economic Times serves 22.5 million customers, representing a 9.3% market share.
“It’s the size of the market that is attracting so many foreign companies to India… The growth is going to be here in the coming years, compared with the U.K. and the U.S. where it has plateaued,” said Harit Shah, an analyst at Angel Broking in Mumbai, to the Hindustan Times Sunday.
According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the country added a total of 8.17 million mobile subscribers in January, bringing the total user base up to 242.4 million.
Tata’s services are CDMA-based, however Branson said he is keen on entering the GSM sector as well.
“It’s a pain to do GSM at the moment because the network is completely full,” he said.
“In another nine months, when the new GSM players start rolling out their services, we would look to offer similar services on GSM as well,” he added.
However, Branson will have to wait for India’s final decision on how best to distribute additional GSM spectrum.
Delhi’s High Court in January delayed ruling on an ongoing spat between the country’s CDMA and GSM providers over which operators should be entitled to receive extra chunks of 2G GSM bandwidth.
The row was sparked off specifically by the government’s decision last October to allow CDMA operators to apply for GSM spectrum.
The move is opposed by GSM industry body the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which is driven by the country’s biggest GSM operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular.
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- February 29th, 2008
- 12:20 pm
A fingernail-sized chip that stores subscriber information is set to change South Korea’s mobile phone culture, allowing people to choose which handset they want to use according to their outfit and occasion. In addition, roaming fees in China are expected to be cut by up to 70 percent starting next month.
Korea’s second-largest mobile carrier said Thursday that it will lift the “lock-in” function on its universal subscriber identity module (USIM) cards starting next month.
The announcement was made by KTF president Cho Young-chu during a ceremony marking the one-year anniversary of the company’s Show third-generation mobile service.
Market leader SK Telecom also plans to lift the lock-in function for its T Live third-generation service starting March 27.
Subscribers to 3G services are currently not allowed to use their USIM card, which stores their subscriber information, in different handsets. That means if a subscriber wants to change mobile phones, he has to go through an authentication and opening process all over again. But starting from March customers will be able to switch from one handset to another just by swapping the USIM card into the new phone.
Customers who buy new handsets will also be spared the trouble of entering phone numbers again as their phone book is stored in their USIM. They can also use mobile payment services as well, by including a credit card function in the chip. All this means that people with more than one handset can choose which they want to use to match their clothes or occasion.
The sharing of USIM cards, however, will be limited in the early stage to handsets linked to the same service provider. Those who want to share their card among phones linked to different carriers will have to wait until the second half of this year.
LG Telecom, which uses code division multiple access (CDMA) technology, is not going to join the move. Both SK and KTF use wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA).
In addition, KTF plans to cut its roaming fees in China by up to 70 percent. Under the plan, KTF executive vice president Kim Ki-chul said Show subscribers who make local calls in China will be charged at local rates starting next month.
For this, KTF will make available to its roaming subscribers a pool of 10,000 Chinese phone numbers through a partnership with China’s top operator China Mobile. The service will be rolled out in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong Province before it is expanded to other regions.
KTF also plans to cut its roaming fees in Japan by forming an alliance with NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s largest cell phone company, which holds a 10 percent stake in the Korean operator.
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- February 28th, 2008
- 2:49 pm
The lucrative promise of 4G is luring mobile operators to announce their migration plans in an effort to ensure their brands are viewed as cutting edge, followed by massive investment to overhaul their existing networks while betting on a long-term payback. As operators introduce mobile data services to the mass market today, it is imperative that they are perceived by the customer as “sexy” and of a very high quality level. The problem is that mobile operators currently involved in early data trials over 3G HSPA/EVDO networks are experiencing many problems that must be overcome before a 4G migration can even be considered. Beyond technical network issues, new problems related to service quality and availability are challenging the operators. Because many of these issues have never been seen before, most operators are ill equipped to address them.
Network-level issues
As mobile operators embark on a migration path with the eventual goal of 4G, they will experience a burst in network usage. The impact will be the same as that experienced after the deployment of DSL: the network resource impact from the shift of analog modems to DSL was enormous. The evolutionary path from 3G to 4G will result in a similar phenomenon.
Historically, access has been a bottleneck for data services, with the core network tailored to the access bottleneck. Thus the evolution of access from 3G to 3.75G (HSPA) and then to 4G must proceed in tandem with the migration of the legacy core network to an all-IP core network, while simultaneously supporting legacy voice services and introducing new high bandwidth data services. To achieve this, active network monitoring and ultra-fast reaction times become of paramount importance.
Monitoring the network is not simple, however. There are many signaling exchanges and interfaces involved during data transactions, each giving a different level of visibility into network and service issues. While deploying probes everywhere in the network is unaffordable and inefficient, there are key network points that provide the required visibility.
For example, in a UMTS HSPA network, one of the key interfaces is the Gn, which represents the focal point where user data can be analyzed and where services can be associated to the individual or to groups of subscribers.
By combining information from the control plane and the user plane in the Gn interface, operators can extract several kinds of information such as subscriber ’group’ behavior, QoS, quality of experience (QoE, described below) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). By correlating the control and user planes, the operator now has visibility into how users affect the network and how the network affects the users.
Service-level issues
Compared with voice, mobile data services require many new monitoring and troubleshooting techniques. This is mainly due to the fact that for voice, it is generally assumed that simple network metrics (e.g. those associated with classics QoS) can ensure good voice quality from users’ perspective – especially for legacy networks such as SS7 and ISDN.
For data services, this does not always apply. For data services, QoE – that is, understanding how the user experiences the service – now becomes the important metric.
In addition to latency, delay and jitter, which are well-understood by operators, new measurement types must be mastered in order to troubleshoot data services and ensure high QoE, including TCP statistics (such as retransmissions, resets, round-trip time and set-up time provide a window into quality of sessions), packet loss (essentially ‘jitter’ for streaming data services), protocol anomalies (how malformed packets effect TCP and UDP transmissions), throughput per session (the actual data rate the call is occupying) and traffic per session (how much aggregate bandwidth the call used).
Additionally, the ability to proactively address potential problems before the user experiences them becomes important. By correlating real-time analysis on user and group-level behavior with actual network and node behavior, the operator can predict and alarm on emerging service issues such as network congestion, service breakdown and roaming/handoff problems. For example, a monitoring system can generate alarms based upon thresholds to detect degradations of specific traffic indicators grouped by various destinations.
Another important requirement is a fast reaction cycle from the time the front office receives a trouble ticket to the time the back office is able to determine the root cause of the problem. Issue resolution will now be measured in minutes, rather than hours or days. Again, effective use of troubleshooting and monitoring tools are mandatory. For example, the operator should have the ability to rapidly drill down on detail records such as calls, transactions and multimedia services, and also to search by variables such as phone, transaction and video ID.
Further they should have the ability to recover and zoom in on any element of the frame(s) related to that traffic.
High stakes
Before considering a migration path towards a 4G infrastructure, mobile operators need to address the complexities and issues associated with current 3.5G and 3.75G technologies. A new generation of test and monitoring tools exists that can enhance the success of these deployments and accelerate the migration path towards 4G. These tools provide visibility into both network and service issues and correlate them to ensure the highest QoS and QoE achieved for both legacy voice and new mobile data services.
The stakes are high, however. Selection and proper utilization of the right troubleshooting and monitoring tools will help the operator achieve glitz and glamour in the eyes of the customer, while improper selection and utilization will hasten the operators inevitable trip to the grave.
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Neotel soft launches consumer services (South Africa)
