Research in Motion has received clearance to sell its popular BlackBerry device in China after eight years of trying.
The Canadian-based company says it is finalizing the delivery of its products there.
RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie, speaking on a conference call with analysts last week, said the company was planning to serve corporate customers in key Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
RIM’s move into China comes as it competes in the US with Apple’s heavily hyped iPhone, which began selling in the US last week. The iPhone can handle phone calls, email, Web browsing, music and videos.
A manager in RIM’s Beijing office was quoted on Wednesday as saying RIM expects to start selling its 8700g handset in Chinese shops at the end of next month and has already received 5,000 advance orders.
Balsillie says they will continue to strengthen their relationship with China Mobile and they plan to increase BlackBerry awareness in China. The BlackBerry already sells in India and Japan.
The company said BlackBerry subscriber accounts grew by about 1.2 million during the first quarter for a total of 9.2 million.
RIM stock has surged 26% since the company announced first-quarter earnings grew 73% thanks to increased sales and subscriber additions, many of them international subscribers.
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Alcatel-Lucent’s Chinese flagship company, Alcatel Shanghai Bell, and Datang Mobile have announced that they have been tasked to deploy half of the TD-SCDMA expansion project China Netcom is launching in the coastal city of Qingdao, Shandong Province. The contract builds on another TD-SCDMA contract the two companies recently secured with China Mobile for trial networks in Shanghai and Guanghzou.
Under the project, Alcatel Shanghai Bell and Datang will provide China Netcom with core and radio equipment to expand the network. In addition, Alcatel Shanghai Bell will provide intelligent network (IN) and streaming media service platforms. Upon completion, China Netcom will be able to provide a broad suite of advanced 3G services to subscribers in central business districts, government, tourist locations and sites related to the 2008 Olympic Games.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
China invested 73.06 billion yuan ($9.6 billion) in telecommunications sector in the first five months of this year, rising 32.7% year on year. The statistics also show that subscribers of mobile phone increased by 33.514 million in the first five months to reach 495 million, and that of fixed phone increased by 4.394 million to 372 million.
The broadband users increased by 6.342 million in January-May to reach 58.241 million. China Mobile injected 26.7 billion yuan ($3.5 billion) in construction of TD-SCDMA commercial-use network for trial operation in eight cities including Beijing and Shanghai in March this year.
The start of expansion of the TD-SCDMA network in Baoding and Qingdao cities launched by China Telecom and China Netcom will push up the investment in fixed assets of telecommunication sector.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
EBT Mobile, a China-based retail chain selling mobile phones and related products and services, Wednesday announced its Chinese subsidiary, EBT International Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. expects, subject to completion of final contractual arrangements, to open 7 mobile phone stores in the next few weeks within hypermarkets operated by Tesco Hymall, Tesco plc’s vehicle for expansion into ChinaThe first EBT Mobile store within Tesco Hymall has opened Wednesday in Shanghai.
As part of Tesco plc’s international expansion strategy, it has acquired 90% of the equity of Hymall from Ting Hsin, one of China’s leading consumer food and beverage producers.
The 48 existing Hymall hypermarkets in China are mainly located in the east, north and northeast regions. Tesco plc has forecast that this number will increase to 56 by February 2008, as part of its Asian expansion policy.
The agreement with Tesco Hymall is an important step and the latest move in EBT Mobile’s strategy to enhance its expansion by rolling out stores within leading Chinese hypermarket chains. EBT Mobile already has similar agreements in place with Carrefour, Metro, Lotus, RT-Mart, Wu-Mart, Auchan and Trust-Mart (35% owned by Wal-Mart).
Zhang Ge, CEO of EBT Mobile, said:”EBT Mobile is delighted to be selected by Tesco Hymall as its mobile partner. Tesco has an outstanding international reputation and I believe China will become an important market for the U.K. retailer following its success in other Asian markets. Working with Tesco Hymall is another major step in our strategy to develop key relationships with world class hypermarket groups operating in China.
“EBT Mobile can leverage its competitive advantage of products, management and capital to establish an even bigger platform, starting in our home base of Shanghai. EBT Mobile will provide Tesco Hymall’s customers with a wide choice of mobile telephone products and services, while benefiting from a cost effective roll out of stores within the Tesco Hymall stores.”
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
China Mobile Ltd., the world’s biggest wireless-phone carrier by users, added a record number of subscribers for an eighth consecutive month as it won customers from fixed-line rivals such as China Telecom Corp.
China Mobile gained 5.46 million users last month, compared with 5.28 million in April, the Beijing-based company said today on its Web site. The customer additions in May rose 25 percent from a year earlier, according to the mobile-phone carrier.
More consumers in the world’s most populous nation have opted for wireless services since China Mobile introduced a billing system in February that no longer charges users for incoming calls. China Mobile’s users increased 20 percent this year from the first five months of 2006, while China Telecom’s plunged 84 percent.
China Mobile has been very good in adding users, better than I expected,'’ said Tiffany Feng, an analyst at Guotai Junan Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong. Feng previously estimated China Mobile would add about 4.9 million customers a month this year.
The company’s stock rose 1.9 percent to HK$81.90 in Hong Kong as of the 12:30 p.m. break, headed for a record close. China Mobile’s shares have gained 22 percent this year, compared with an 11 percent increase for China Telecom’s stock.
China Mobile added 25.6 million users in the first five months of 2007, compared with 21.3 million last year, according to its Web site. The company had a total of 326.8 million subscribers at the end of May, more than the combined populations of the U.S. and Australia.
Lower User Spending
Most of the wireless carrier’s new users are from smaller towns and rural areas, where average incomes are lower than in larger cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. That will probably drive down China Mobile’s average revenue per user, Guotai Junan’s Feng said.
Average spending won’t fall much,'’ she said. “Lower prices are attracting people with less income, but it also encourages other subscribers to make more calls.'’
Rival China Telecom, the nation’s biggest fixed-line phone operator, said today it added 200,000 subscribers in May, down 85 percent from a year earlier. The company gained 1.24 million users in the first five months, increasing its total subscribers to 224.3 million.
The fixed-line carrier signed up 510,000 broadband subscribers last month, increasing its total number of high-speed Internet users to 31.6 million, it said.
China Telecom’s stock fell 1.1 percent to HK$4.73 in Hong Kong as of the 12:30 p.m. break, headed for its first decline in four trading days.
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It has been announced that a patent fee imposed by China Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting (CMMB), will be repealed in the next two years. They will however be collecting a token patent fee of RMB 1.
This amendment will allow subscribers to watch TV on their mobile phones for free come 2008. This would also help elevate the commercial standards of the CMMB, marking the advent of the convergence of TV and Internet networks in China.
Since the launch of the CMMB mobile TV, users have free access to CCTV1 or CCTV News channel on their mobile phones, as well as other paid channels. To date, about 120 enterprises have joined the CMMB network.
The “mobile TV business” uses an intelligent mobile phone with an operating system and video functions to watch TV.
China plans to broadcast the CMMB network in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Qingdao, and Qin Huangdao in 2008.
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Shanghai-based mobile marketing services company Madhouse has received approximately $8 million in its second round of funding, reports Pacific Epoch. First round backers JAFCO Asia and Gobi Partners also participated in this second round, in addition to an unnamed strategic investor. Madhouse claims its MadServing platform has served more than 247 million impressions since it was launched in July last year and its mobile advertising network covers 65 percent of China’s mobile internet traffic.
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The world’s largest cellco by subscribers, China Mobile, plans to finish its TD-SCDMA network rollout in six months, according to reports in Southern Metropolitan News quoted by Pacific Epoch. Deployment began in eight cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Qinhuangdao and Xiamen) on 20 May. The operator’s long term plan is for its TD-SCDMA network to cover 95% of the areas currently covered by its GSM network. TD-SCDMA forum chief secretary Chen Haofei revealed that the cellco will begin purchasing TD-SCDMA handsets in September or October 2007.
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RIM gets clearance to sell BlackBerry in China
