Wireless Federation

Haier, with looking at strong revenues from GSM based mobile phone business, is planning to get back to the same and is working with various software company and US based Qualcomm to add more applications for better functionality in its cellphones, reports ET.

“We are more focused this time and are looking at GSM business more aggressively,” says Haier Mobiles India Marcom director Avijit Dutt.

It is also reported that the company will not exit it’s CDMA business.

“Though the company has done pretty well in the CDMA business and among the top three handset players in this category, it is seeing a better revenue inflow than the other business. But, there is a limit as the operators are more attracted towards the other technology, and the real money and business is in GSM,” Dutt added.
Haier, 2 years back had exited the GSM business and is now making a comeback into the GSM segment as the growth is going to come in future.

According to the analysts, India which has 290 million mobile subscribers and out of which 220 million are GSM subscribers and with Reliance Communications and Tata Tele, the leading CDMA operators, entring the GSM market, the market in India is heading towards a GSM market.

Haier has also launched three new mobile phones for the GSM segment ranging from Rs 1,999 to Rs 11,999.

The company, reportedly, is working with a leading Indian software firm and Qualcomm to develop some applications that can be built into its handsets to give some ‘unique’ advantage to the subscribers.

The applications, which targets niche subscriber segments like farmers, students and others, would be a first of its kind service in the world.

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China Mobile Ltd, the world’s biggest mobile carrier, said it is interested in the South Africa market but has not bid for MTN, the subject of takeover interest by India’s Bharti Airtel
“China Mobile has not joined the MTN bidding, but we are interested in the South African market and we are looking at various opportunities for entering that market,” Chief Executive Wang Jianzhou told reporters on Thursday following the firm’s annual general meeting.He declined to elaborate on the firm’s intentions.
Bharti and MTN Group said on Monday that they were in talks which may or may not lead to a deal.
China Mobile, UK-based giant Vodafone and India’s Reliance Communications were cited by the Financial Times this week as also likely to be interested in MTN, which operates in Africa and the Middle East and has a market value of $40 billion.
Marvin Lo, an analyst with Daiwa Institute of Research in Hong Kong, said that if China Mobile were to bid for MTN, it would likely do so at the parent company level — an approach often taken by Chinese state-controlled companies when making acquisitions.Those assets are then eventually injected into the listed units of state enterprises.
“China Mobile is always interested in overseas expansion, especially breaking into emerging markets,” Lo said, noting that China Mobile’s edge in a competitive auction would be its cash pile of more than $11 billion.
Hong Kong- and New York-listed China Mobile also has access to credit from China’s huge financial institutions, including policy lenders such as China Development Bank, which led financing earlier this year for state aluminium giant Chinalco’s $14 billion stake purchase in global miner Rio Tinto “It’s the cash position that makes all the difference, given that China Mobile does not have an edge in technology,” Lo said.
China Mobile dominates its domestic market with roughly 400 million subscribers, more than three times the combined customer base of Bharti and MTN, but has a mixed track record of acquisitions.
It came close to buying emerging markets operator Millicom International Cellular in 2006 before pulling the plug on the deal.
Last year, it bought Pakistan’s Paktel Ltd from Millicom for $284 million. China Mobile was also rumoured last year to be eyeing MTN, but denied at the time that a deal was in the works.

 Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Mobilepundit writes…Sunil Jain makes compelling arguments against TRAI’s recommendation of not allowing entry of new operators to provide 3G services in the country. Recommend that you read the full article.

This was the import of a recommendation made by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on 3G spectrum last September but, thankfully, the then Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran chose to ignore it and said he’d invite new players into the field. Now that Maran’s been asked to go, the industry’s making one valiant attempt to win over his successor into accepting Trai’s recommendations in toto.

Trai’s recommendations, of course, were amazing and, presumably, Maran saw through the inconsistencies in them. While the mobile phone firms argued that 3G services (which allow vastly superior services to be offered wirelessly, including internet data speeds of at least 144 kbps) should be given to them without a one-time entry fee as they were just an extension of their existing 2G licences, Trai rejected this.

It said 3G was a new service and so it should be auctioned. But if it was a new service, how did Trai arrive at the conclusion that the auction should be limited to just the existing mobile phone players- that’s both the GSM-cellular lot as well as the CDMA-lot (also called the Unified Access Service Licence, or UASL holders) like Reliance Communications and the Tatas?

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Gulf-Times writes… Struggling to boost sales in a maturing mobile phone industry gripped by cut-throat competition, several Asian handset makers are heading for extinction.
NEC Corp of Japan, Taiwan’s BenQ Corp and China’s Ningbo Bird Co Ltd are among those suffering from the absence of economies of scale in production and distribution to compete with leaders like Nokia and Motorola.

But a handful could survive by growing their partnerships with telecoms carriers in developed and emerging markets, and supplying them with attractive, quality phones.
“The trend is that regional players are struggling and global players are winning,� said Bengt Nordstrom, chief strategy officer with research firm inCode. “For a smaller Asian handset maker to compete with Motorola and Nokia in the low-end segment is almost mission impossible.�

Some small South Korean players are already teetering on the brink. Pantech Co Ltd and Pantech&Curitel Communications Inc are undergoing debt restructuring, hit by heavy losses from stiff competition and eroding margins, while VK Corp, once known for its ultra-slim phones, was placed under court receivership this month.
BenQ, Taiwan’s top mobile phone vendor, posted its fifth straight quarterly loss earlier this week, dragged down by its ailing handset business after it declared its German unit insolvent late last year, and warned of weaker sales.

Even sector heavyweight Motorola has not been spared. The US firm warned on Wednesday of a first-quarter loss and a worse-than-expected 2007 outlook due to weak sales and pricing pressures, despite growing its global share last year.
Industry leader Nokia expanded its market share last year, while Sony Ericsson overtook South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc to grab fourth position.

But most of the smaller Japanese cellphone makers, which command less than 1% share of the global market, are suffering. Many have retrenched staff over the last few years, hit by the industry’s competitive environment.

These players could grow their miniscule share by offering revolutionary products ahead of their larger rivals, such as fuel cell-powered phones and handsets capable of ultra-fast data transmission, said Gartner analyst Michito Kimura.

The niche strategy of supplying premium handsets to operators in developed overseas markets, which has boosted margins and profits for these firms, would also ensure their survival, said Gartner analyst Ann Liang.

Japan’s top mobile phone supplier Sharp Corp works with Britain’s Vodafone Group Plc, while Toshiba Corp has partnered with Orange in Spain and France.
“It’s hard to imagine a global player emerging from Japan at this late stage, although one exception to the rule might be Sharp,� said Neil Mawston, analyst with Strategy Analytics.
Sharp has built a healthy niche position in third-generation (3G) mobile technologies across western Europe, thanks to its advanced offerings and attractive phone designs.

“But despite its success, it is unlikely to move beyond niche status globally, due to limited economies of scale,� he added.

Likewise, many Chinese mobile phone makers, with less than 1% share globally, will have to exit the market or merge with rivals, as the industry’s supply glut bites. Analysts estimate that at least 35 domestic brands exist.

“The outlook for Chinese brands is weak. Nokia and Motorola have been flexing their muscles in China since 2005 and have already crushed most of the domestic competition with their larger marketing and distribution budgets,� Mawston said.

But a handful of Chinese phone makers such as Lenovo Group Ltd, ZTE Corp and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, which supply reliable and feature-rich handsets at reasonable prices to operators in Europe, Latin America and Africa, are emerging as credible niche players.
Their small scale, however, would still limit their global reach.

iSuppli analyst Kevin Wang is forecasting declining overseas and domestic shipments for Bird this year, but expects Huawei and ZTE to boost their sales sharply, thanks to phone supply contracts from carriers like Vodafone and India’s Reliance Communications Ltd.

Wireless Mobile Telecom 

IBNlive writes…The long-drawn ‘bid battle’ for Hutch-Essar finally came to an end on Sunday as UK telecom giant Vodafone acquired India’s fourth largest mobile venture for an estimated enterprise value of US $19 billion (Rs 85,000 crores).

Essar welcomed the offer and said it is indeed “good priceâ€? for the company. “This is a good price, which reflects the premier position of Hutchison Essar as India’s leading operator. Essar owns 33 per cent of the company and we are delighted that Hutchison and Essar have together created this value,â€? said the company in a statemnt.

Sources told CNN-IBN that Vodaphone has offered Essar to become a partner firm. The board is evaluating the option and is likely to appear with a decision shortly. “We have been offered by Vodafone to be their partner. We are at the moment evaluating all our options in the best interest of the Group,� said Essar in a statement.

Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile phone group by revenue, emerged winner at the Hutchison Telecom Ltd’s Board Meeting at Hong Kong convened for considering the four bids for its 67 per cent stake put on the block late in 2006.

Essar, a conglomerate, that owns 33 per cent of Hutchison-Essar Limited has 21 days time to decide on whether to exercise its RoFR (matching the top bid) or the tag-along right (to sell its 33 per cent stake in the venture).

The company’s India operations expects reaching out to 180 million mobile phone users by end-2007, up more than 25 per cent from 143 million now.

Hutchison Telecom first announced in December last year that it had been approached by various bidders for acquisition of its stake in the Indian venture.

This was followed by announcements by Vodafone, Reliance Communications, Essar Group and Hindujas expressing their interest in the acquisition.

Wireless Mobile Telecom

InfoWorld writes…Operators in India and China are waiting for government approval to roll out 3G (third-generation) mobile services based on CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), according to an industry group that backs the technology.

In China, mobile operators and equipment makers have long waited for the government to issue licenses for 3G services. In the meantime, operators such as China Mobile Communications (China Mobile) have built trial 3G networks to prepare for the eventual rollout of commercial services, widely expected before Beijing hosts the 2008 Olympics.

The country’s second-largest mobile operator, China United Telecommunications Co. (China Unicom), which now operates a CDMA2000-1X network, is ready to roll out services based on CDMA2000-1X EV-DO (Evolution Data Optimized), which offers much faster data speeds than its current network.

“China Unicom is ready to launch that network,” said James Person, chief operating officer of the CDMA Development Group, an industry group that promotes CDMA technology. The only factor holding them back is government approval for 3G licenses, he said.

Indian operators Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices are also waiting for the go ahead to roll out 3G services based on EV-DO, Person said. Approval from India’s Department of Telecommunications could come as soon as next month, he said.

Indian licenses for 3G services have been held up by issues related to how the radio spectrum is allocated, said Kunal Bajaj, director of telecommunication consulting company BDA Connect (India), in Delhi.

While Indian government ministers have been meeting to discuss how to resolve the impasse, so far been no decision has been reached on 3G licenses. However, some observers expect a decision to be made this quarter, but not necessarily this month. “The expectation is that March may be a more reasonable time frame,” Bajaj said.

When China’s Ministry of Information Industry will issue 3G licenses is also not clear. The government has not issued a timeline for when it expects to issue the license, leading observers to speculate the licenses will come when China’s homegrown 3G technology — TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous CDMA), which is now in testing — is ready for commercial deployment.

Wireless Mobile Telecom 

EXPRESSComputeronline writes…The world’s first commercial roll out of Yahoo! Mobile Instant Messenger (IM) on Java, BREW and WAP phones has been done for Reliance Mobile World users.

Reliance Communications and Yahoo! India have come together to offer Yahoo! Instant Messenger for Reliance Mobile customers across India. The alliance will offer the Instant Messenger (IM) PC experience on Reliance Mobile phones. Reliance Communications is the first telecom service provider in the world to offer Mobile IM across Java, BREW and WAP phones on a mobile operator network. Mobile IM will allow Reliance Mobile customers to chat live with other Reliance customers, as well as any Yahoo! IM user in the world who’s using a PC. Customers can send instant messages and chat online with their friends and family, using all of the Yahoo! IM features such as simultaneous multi-chat windows, presence status icon, emoticons, Yahoo! personal contact list and profile, multiple chat windows and viewing off-line messages etc ….

Yahoo! Instant Messenger service client interface for Reliance was developed by ACL Wireless. Yahoo! Messenger for mobile is available on all BREW, WAP and Nokia colour handsets using Java technologies. Reliance Mobile customers will be charged Rs.5. for each session logged and can send and receive unlimited instant messages.

Yahoo! Mail has been part of Reliance Mobile World’s suite of WebMail services for over two years now.

Wireless Mobile Telecom 

Convergence writes…At the end of December 2006, India has 146.1 Million Mobile subscribers. [40.7 Million CDMA + 105.4 GSM].

Top 5 Mobile Service Providers in India [GSM and CDMA]:

Bharti Airtel Ltd - 31.2 Million subscribers
Reliance Communications Ltd - 29.7 Million subscribers [26.3 Million CDMA + 3.4 Million GSM]
BSNL Cellone - 23.61 Million [Excludes MTNL in Mumbai and Delhi]
Hutchison Essar - Hutch - 19.06 Million [Excludes BPL Mumbai]
Tata Indicom Mobile - 14.4 Million [All CDMA]
Top 5 GSM Service Providers in India

Bharti Airtel Ltd - 31.2 Million subscribers
BSNL Cellone - 23.61 Million [ Excludes MTNL in Mumbai and Delhi ]
Hutchison Essar - Hutch - 19.06 Million
Idea cellular Ltd - 12.43 Million
Reliance Telecom - 3.3 Million
For the quarter ended Dec-2006, Bharti-Airtel and Reliance Telecom saw a marginal increase in market share at the cost of Idea Cellular and BSNL. According to Macquire Research, Indian wireless subscriber base is all set to touch 400 Million, while Citigroup Investment Research has revised the figure to 387 Million from 365 Million for 2010.

Wireless Mobile Telecom 

TechTree writes…Yahoo! India has joined hands with Reliance Communications to offer Yahoo! Instant Messenger (IM) for Reliance mobile customers across India.

This alliance marks a powerful partnership to offer a rich, live IM PC experience on Reliance mobile phones.It is learnt that with this first-of-its-kind initiative, Reliance Communications is the first telecom service provider in the world to offer Mobile IM across Java, BREW, and WAP enabled phones on a mobile operator network.

Mobile IM will allow Reliance Mobile customers to chat live with other Reliance customers and Yahoo! IM users in the world using their PCs. Customers can send instant messages, and chat online with their friends and family, using Yahoo! IM features like simultaneous multi-chat windows, presence status icons, emoticons, Yahoo! personal contact list and profile, and viewing off-line messages amongst others.

Speaking on the occasion, Mahesh Prasad, President of Applications Content and Solutions Group, Reliance Communications, said, “As an innovation leader, Reliance is bridging the digital divide by extending the Internet-rich IM experience of PCs to its mobile subscribers for the first time in India. This brings us one step closer towards the convergence of mobiles and PCs.”

Talking about this alliance, George Zacharias, Managing Director of Yahoo! India, said, “We are glad to partner with Reliance for Mobile IM services in India. This unique service will add a new dimension in enhancing our user experience, and provide yet another compelling way to stay connected, instantly, and at all times.”

Meanwhile, Yahoo! IM for mobile is available on all BREW, WAP, and Nokia color handsets using Java technologies. Reliance mobile customers can access Mobile IM by clicking on Reliance Mobile World > Hot n New> Yahoo! Msgr. Customers will be charged Rs 5 for each session logged, and can send and receive unlimited instant messages.

Wireless Mobile Telecom 

EconomicTimes writes…Reliance Communications (RCL) and Yahoo! India have tied-up to offer Yahoo! Instant Messenger (IM) for Reliance Mobile customers. Mobile IM will allow users to chat live with other Reliance customers as well as any Yahoo! IM users across the world.

Customers can send instant messages and chat online using the Yahoo! IM features such as simultaneous multi-chat windows, presence status icon, emoticons, Yahoo! personal contact list and profile, multiple chat windows and viewing off-line messages. Reliance’s Yahoo! IM is “always connected”, RCL said in a statement in Mumbai.

“Reliance is bridging the digital divide by extending the IM experience of the PCs to its mobile subscribers for the first time in India,” said Mahesh Prasad, president-Applications Content and Solutions Group, RCL.

George Zacharias, MD, Yahoo! India said, “This unique service will add a new dimension in enhancing our user experience and provide yet another compelling way to stay connected, instantly and at all times”

Yahoo! Mail has also been part of Reliance Mobile World’s suite of WebMail services for over two years now.

Wireless Mobile Telecom