The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, approved the proposal the Department of Telecom on the issue related to pricing and auction of the 3G mobile spectrum, to cause no further delays in 3G’s roll out. However, the announcement of the policy will be after July 22, once UPA government survives the vote of confidence in the Parliament.
“The Authority is of the view that incidence of financial burden should be estimated in totality and isolated or piecemeal hikes with a view to mopping up additional revenue may hurt the growth of infrastructure and in the long run the telecom sector itself. However, as the reserve prices are only to fix the minimum price and the final price is determined through the auction process, the Authority in order not to further delay the process of roll out of 3G services in India agrees with the reserve price proposed by DoT.” TRAI said.
The DoT’s proposal states a higher reserve price of about Rs.2,260 crore, exactly double the price recommended by the TRAI, for telecom companies that want to participate in a pan-India auction for 3G spectrum.In the proposal , the base price for metros and category A circles is Rs 160 crore, while for category B and C circles it is Rs 80 crore and Rs 30 crore respectively.
In order to accelerate the allocation process, India’s Telecom Commission will cogitate on DoT’s guidelines on the 3G spectrum auction.Telecom Minister A Raja ensures to bring out the policy within next two weeks. He has already got the Prime Minister’s approval to go ahead with 3G spectrum auction that is likely to see foreign players’ participation in the bids.
On the other hand, TRAI does not favour the participation of foriegn players in the bid, which according to the Telecom Minister, will fetch a big money to the exchequer of the country. Companies like AT&T Inc, Deutsche Telekom AG, Etisalat and NTT DoCoMo have already expressed interest in the Indian market.
Nokia Corp., Sony Ericsson, Motorola Corp. (MOT) and NTT DOCOMO Inc. said Tuesday they will create an open mobile software platform based around the Symbian operating system and the S60, UIQ and MOAP technologies.
Together with other companies including AT&T and LG Electronics, they intend to establish the non-profit Symbian Foundation, with membership open to all organizations, in order to drive innovation in mobile services.
Shareholders and managers of U.K.-based Symbian Limited, which develops the Symbian operating system for mobile devices, support the initiative.
To enable the creation of the foundation, Nokia said it has launched an EUR3.647 a share cash offer for the 52% of shares in Symbian Limited which it does not already own, equating to a net cash outlay of around EUR264 million.
Nokia expects the transaction to complete during the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory approval, after which all Symbian employees will transfer to Nokia.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
NTT DoCoMo Inc, Japan’s largest wireless operator said it’’s in talks with Middle East carriers- Qatar Telecom QSC, Emirates Telecommunications Corp. and Saudi Telecom Co., as the company intends to expand its overseas business.
While speaking in an interview, Toshinari Kunieda, senior vice-president of Global Business at DoCoMo expressed the company’s keenness in the Middle East and Africa and didn’t rule out the possibility of future partnerships with the Middle East carriers.
A stake in a Middle East firm would ensure DoMoCo an easy access to markets of Egypt and South Africa. Emirates Telecommunications and Saudi Telecom, the Arab region’s two largest phone carriers, operate in countries such as Egypt and Indonesia, while Saudi Telecom has customer base in countries like Turkey and South Africa.Earlier in the month, DoMoCo acquired 30 percent stake in Bangladesh’s mobile-phone carrier TM International Ltd. for $305 million.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Nokia expects the role of the Linux operating system in its product portfolio to increase as the role of its internet-focused devices grows, a Reuters report said.
Nokia itself has used Linux for years in its internet tablets, large phone-like devices used to access internet on the go, but without calling functionality.
“We will expand that range, and we believe that the role of Linux will grow,” Nokia spokesman Kari Tuutti, quoted by the Reuters report, said.
Linux has so far had little success on cellphones, but its role is increasing as more new Linux-based models reach the market, while Google gave it a vote of confidence by using it to build its Android platform on, the Reuters report said.
Linux is the most popular type of open source operating system which is available to the public to be used, revised and shared — meaning it has a large developer community which could result in more attractive programs and lower costs for the likes of Nokia.
“It’s going to be terribly important,” Nokia’s Chief Financial Officer Rick Simonson told an investor conference when asked about the role of Linux-based tablets.
He said the company has been developing the next generation of Linux-based products, which are starting to come to the market.
The market for software platforms on cellphones is led by Nokia’s S60, built on the Symbian operating system, well ahead of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile.
However, many mobile industry heavyweights, including Vodafone , Motorola , NTT DoCoMo , Samsung Electronics , Huawei and LG Electronics , have joined Linux alliances, the Reuters report further said.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Japanese cellco NTT DoCoMo has placed an offer for a 30% stake in GSM operator Telecom Malaysia International Bangladesh (AKTEL) currently owned by Bangladeshi conglomerate AK Khan & Co, reports local newspaper the Daily Star. The stake, valued at around USD300 million, has also been targeted by UK-based Vodafone Group, which has previously sent representatives to negotiate with AK Khan & Co. ‘It is true that we have tendered a bid for the AKTEL stake,’ an official of NTT DoCoMo confirmed to the Star, whilst an AKTEL official told the paper, ‘We are still in the dark about our new partner. But something is going on. NTT DoCoMo is on the priority list.’ AKTEL is 70%-owned by Telekom Malaysia, and is currently in third place in Bangladesh’s mobile market. According to regulator the BTRC, the Malaysian-owned firm’s subscriber base rose by 90,000 in the first three months of 2008 to 7.45 million users, but it fell behind Orascom Telecom subsidiary Banglalink’s customer base, which grew by 430,000 to 8.31 million in the same period.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Japan’s third largest cellular operator by subscribers Softbank Mobile reported more net new additions than either of its larger rivals NTT DoCoMo and KDDI in April – its twelfth consecutive monthly win – while second-placed cellco KDDI reported its first ever net loss after closing its TU-KA service on 31 March. Softbank Mobile added a net 192,900 customers last month, compared with 96,000 for DoCoMo, 92,400 for newcomer eMobile and a net loss of 118,700 for KDDI.
Softbank Corp has been enticing users away from rivals with an attractive low price plan strategy for its mobile arm since acquiring Vodafone Group’s Japanese mobile unit Vodafone KK in 2006. By the end of April this year it had 18.779 million subscribers, up nearly 20% in a year, out of a total of 102.987 million Japanese users. NTT DoCoMo had 53.483 million users at the same date and KDDI had 30.220 million, with its au Corp brand adding 115,400 users on a net basis. eMobile had 503,900 subscribers by 30 April.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Japanese wireless start-up Japan Communications could launch a mobile service using internet protocol (IP) phones as early as July, according to sources familiar with the situation. Last month, CommsUpdate reported that the newcomer had submitted a request to the country’s largest cellular network operator, NTT DoCoMo, asking to interconnect its own infrastructure with the mobile giant’s 3G FOMA network as part of a plan to launch data services in the summer. At the time Japan Communications said it hoped to begin offering data services to corporate users between July and September, and that it would offer a fixed fee service model at launch, which would be offered through a range of smart phones. Japan Communications hopes to attract new users to the fledgling service by undercutting the tariffs currently charged by its rivals.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Handset maker admits it is reevaluating Japanese operator’s product plans, but insists it is not scaling back.
Sony Ericsson Monday confirmed it will carry on making mobile handsets for NTT DoCoMo, denying an earlier press report alleging it was to halt development of new models for the Japanese operator.
A report in the Nikkei Business Daily said that Sony Ericsson would stop producing handsets for DoCoMo once it had delivered its range of models scheduled for this summer.
The article said that the handset vendor would instead source mobile phones from other suppliers under original equipment manufacturing deals (OEM) and sell them to DoCoMo under the Sony Ericsson brand.
The report went on to say that Sony Ericsson had mulled pulling out of the Japanese mobile market altogether, but had instead decided to keep developing products for Japan’s number two operator KDDI, on the back of a mobile music-sharing pact the companies signed last October.
“Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Japan does not have any plans to scale down its mobile phone R&D operations,” Sony Ericsson said in an email to Total Telecom.
Despite refuting claims made by the Nikkei Business Daily, Sony Ericsson admitted it is reevalutating part of its product plans for NTT DoCoMo, but did not elaborate further.
While Sony Ericsson might not be looking for a way out of Japan, competition in the country’s mobile market has proved too intense for some.
After months of speculation Sanyo agreed in January to sell its struggling handset business to rival electronics company Kyocera in a deal valued at Y40 billion (€250 million).
And Mitsubishi last week also retreated from the Japanese market when it announced it was discontinuing its handset operations.
The conglomerate’s electronics division had forecast device shipments of 2.1 million in the financial year ending 31 March 2008, a modest figure compared to the 133.5 million handsets shipped by market leader Nokia in 2007.
However, Mitsubishi has not exited the mobile equipment sector altogether, and said it plans to strengthen its infrastructure operations, and will continue to work with DoCoMo, its main customer.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
- 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.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
- February 28th, 2008
- 2:23 pm
At Google’s offices in Tokyo, they talk about “John’s magic.” That refers to the Internet search giant’s dealmaking frenzy in Japan since John Lagerling joined the company more than a year ago as manager for strategic partner development. To the astonishment of many insiders, the trim, blond 31-year-old Swede has finessed tieups with Japan’s two biggest wireless carriers, giving Google’s search technology top billing on the tiny screens of as many as 82 million mobile subscribers.
Even Yahoo Japan, which boasts the country’s most popular Web portal, lags far behind. Fewer than 18 million mobile subscribers whose service is with wireless operator and Yahoo Japan owner Softbank own handsets that go directly to Yahoo’s search page.
Last month’s deal with NTT DoCoMo (DCM) adds to Google’s edge in the fast-growing Net search and advertising business in one of the world’s most sophisticated wireless markets. Now, the first thing DoCoMo mobile subscribers see when they go online from their handsets is the carrier’s site featuring a search box and the phrase “enhanced by Google.” Ditto for KDDI users. That means someone in Tokyo’s Shibuya shopping district who wants to find a store selling vinyl records no longer has to type in Google on a numerical keypad to gain access to the company’s search engine.
A similar plan for other countries
Google’s online traffic will likely surge. While relatively few Americans use their mobile phones to tap into the Net, millions in Japan do so daily. Government data show that Japanese are as likely to go online from a mobile handset as they are from a desktop PC. And when they do, they often search the Net, look at maps, and check train timetables. Those activities rank third among the most popular online activities from a mobile handset, behind e-mailing and reading news stories, according to research firm comScore (SCOR). (Google’s mobile services cover all of these areas.)
What’s happening in Japan is likely to be repeated in other countries, Google officials say. Their courting of Japan’s carriers suggests that the battle for control of the mobile Net—with operators on one side and companies like Google, Yahoo (YHOO), and Microsoft (MSFT) on the other—won’t necessarily be the bloodbath that many analysts are predicting. In a report last November, Oppenheimer & Co. (OPY) analyst Sandeep Aggarwal said winning over wireless carriers and handset manufacturers would be one of Google’s biggest challenges.
Google and DoCoMo officials have taken pains to stress their cooperation. They will share search data and split ad revenues, and stand to benefit in other ways. Google gets access to a huge pool of behavioral data about cell-phone users in Japan, which it needs to make its online software easier to use and more useful (BusinessWeek.com, 2/14/08). It also gains more sites to sprinkle with mobile ads and make search results more accurate. DoCoMo’s and KDDI’s sites for video, music and ringtone downloads, comics, and other exclusive services are no longer off-limits to Google. The carriers, meanwhile, can piggyback on Google’s search know-how and rely on its transcoder, which converts Web sites normally formatted for PC or laptop software into a readable format for a tiny mobile-device screen.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
DoT’s 3G spectrum pricing gets a thumbs up from TRAI (India)
