Wireless Federation

Subscribers of Hutchison 3G Ireland Ltd., the operator of 3 Ireland network, are starting to enjoy high-speed mobile broadband services across the whole country as 3 expands its WCDMA/HSPA services in response to the growing demand for high speed broadband connectivity across Ireland.

Nokia Siemens Networks is upgrading and extending 3’s network and is also providing the innovative flat network architecture solution known as “Internet High-Speed Packet Access” (I-HSPA), a technology optimized for carrying huge volumes of data traffic, with its all-Internet Protocol (IP) backhaul.

With the network extension, end users, whether they are on PC’s, using laptops, or on the move with Internet enabled handsets will have access to high-speed and high-capacity wireless broadband, with enhanced voice, data and multimedia services, enabled by the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) functionality. In addition, with the higher data rates and increased network capacity the subscribers of 3 will have access to a vast range of service offerings.

Robert Finnegan, Chief Executive of 3 said, “This strategic agreement with Nokia Siemens Networks reinforces our position as the leading mobile broadband network and 3’s commitment to deploying the very best technologies available. 3 has constantly challenged the established broadband providers to up their game and we’re already seeing huge changes in the market place – mobile broadband connections are growing far faster than fixed line and we believe Ireland will be at the forefront of mobile replacing fixed line altogether, much like the trend we’re seeing in the voice market. Not only is the mode of access changing but prices have dropped dramatically across the board since 3 introduced its 19.99 per month for 10 Mb last May. The broadband market is changing at a rapid pace and 3 is leading the charge to bridge Ireland’s digital divide.”

Under a three-year contract, Nokia Siemens Networks has already started to replace 3’s legacy radio network with it’s energy-efficient 3G connectivity solution, bringing 3 both environmental and operational benefits. The advanced solution, featuring the market-leading Flexi Base Stations, provides significant power savings of up to 70 percent.

The setup will also simplify 3’s network thanks to I-HSPA, the cost-effective flat network architecture innovation, which provides scalability to meet the demands of growing traffic and, at the same time, offers a smooth migration path to the future mobile networks, or Long Term Evolution (LTE).

“We are very pleased to extend and consolidate our partnership with this important agreement,” said Sampsa Lahtinen, Head for West Europe at Nokia Siemens Networks. “We are also glad that our innovative solutions which simplify mobile networks, like the Flexi Base Station and Internet-HSPA, will provide the Irish consumers with a fast, reliable broadband experience.”

Nokia Siemens Networks are also providing 3 with the NetAct network management and service management solution for maximizing network performance.

Professional services from Nokia Siemens Networks will ensure a smooth and timely network expansion and improved network reliability. Included are a swap of the existing equipment, installation and commissioning, integration of central radio nodes and running the pilot for I-HSPA. In addition, care services for the equipment deployed will help optimize operations to meet the quality demands of the Irish subscriber base for years to come.

Nokia Siemens Networks is the undisputed industry leader in 3G (WCDMA/HSPA) networks, supplying radio access to more than 130 operators’ networks connecting over 120 million 3G subscribers to date. At the same time, it enables its customers to minimize their environmental impact and address escalating energy costs through the industry’s most innovative, energy efficient solutions.

For more info log on to www.3ireland.ie

About Wireless Federation

Wireless Federation is an industry research conglomerate headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The mandate of the Wireless Federation is to provide its members and customers industry knowledge that can further enhance their understanding of the wireless industry. Wireless Federation conducts bespoke research and produces boxed reports in collabaration with Industry Bodies, Telecom Operators for Issues that revolve around ARPU, CHURN and Loyalty.
They have been associated with more than 225 mobile operators globally to set their Pricing/ Tariff Strategies, Go-To-Market Strategies for Mobile Advertising, Mobile Payments, Cutting VAS among others amongst 59 countries globally.

For more information you can log on to www.wirelessfederation.com

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Mobile Handset market of Korea experiences a rapid fall. In its third quarter of 2008 the sales dipped 27% and there seems no potential in fourth quarter. Asn the credit crisis hits globally this adds up to low consumer confidence in-turn leads to low mobile handset sales. Mobile users are not showing any interest in purchasing new mobile. Even the demand for WCDMA mobile phones has reduced sharply which had a a very positive effect on the phone industry for the first half of 2008. Considering the statistics, 2.1 million handsets were sold in July and it started declining in August then held on at 1.67 million in September.
Market share percentage shows
Samsung-48%
LG-27%
Pantech Group-17%

An increase in number of foreign phones coming into the Korean market in the fourth quarter of 2008, Korean brands are facing acute competition.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

China Unicom trials it’s 3G WCDMA services in Baoding City in northern China, where China Mobile is all ready to launch the TD-CDMA trials.
China Unicom has 129.46 million subscriber base for its GSM services, up from 128.55 million at the end of July.  As of the end of April 2008, the company had 43 million CDMA subscribers.

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Taiwan ODM/OEM handset makers seem positive about the new Nokia and Qualcomm licensing agreement , stating that the new deal may result in more handset orders from Nokia, according to sources from the Taiwan handset industry.

Nokia and Qualcomm after a long-running dispute over patent has finally reached a settlement where Nokia has been granted a 15-year license to various Qualcomm mobile technology for use in it’s handsets. The agreement includes standards like GSM, EDGE, CDMA, WCDMA, HSDPA, OFDM, WiMAX, LTE and others.

As a partr of the deal, both parties will have to withdraw all litigations and Nokia has to withdraw its complaints to the European Commission over Qualcomm. Nokia agrees not to useany patents against Qualcomm which in turn will enable Qualcomm to integrate Nokia’s technology into Qualcomm’s chipsets.

The financial structure of the settlement includes an up-front payment and on-going royalties payable to Qualcomm. Nokia has also agreed to assign ownership of a number of patents to Qualcomm, including patents declared as essential to WCDMA, GSM and OFDMA. The specific terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Nokia said the “positive financial impact” was within its previous expectations and it expects the deal will be positive for the entire industry.

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Sony Ericsson has managed to overtake Nokia in terms of handset sales value in Taiwan. A report from Taiwan’s Economic Daily News, citing sources in the retail trade said that Sony Ericsson took 31.6% of the sales value. This compared to 30.8% of the cash value for Nokia.

In terms of handset sales volume though, Nokia still leads the Taiwan market with over 30%, compared to 24.8% market share for Sony Ericsson.

The market has been strongly moving towards selling 3G handsets which would support Sony Ericsson as it has fewer low-cost handsets than Nokia. The operators have also stepped up subsidies for their higher end handsets.

According to earlier figures from the MIC (Market Intelligence Center, Taiwan), Taiwanese mobile phone market volume for the entire 2008 is expected to slightly advance 0.9% to 7.2 million units, with the share of WCDMA models expected to top 40%.

The share of WCDMA models jumped to 35.8% in the first quarter of 2008, up 7.8 percentage points from the fourth quarter 2007, with its market volume increasing by 181,000 units to 679,000 units in the first quarter. The share of GSM/GPRS models fell 7.4 percentage points to 60.6%, as many subscribers switched to WCDMA models.

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Apple, according to analysts, in order to achieve it’s goal of expanding it’s market and a worldwide presence for product has favoured cost reduction in terms of design instead of it’s cutting-edge features of its 3G iPhone.

The iPhone 3G uses an Infineon Technologies AG baseband chip that supports the HSDPA, WCDMA and EDGE air standards, plus the integration of three separate TriQuint Semiconductor Inc. tri-band WCDMA Power Amplifier Modules (PAMs). 

Analysts’ cost estimate for the new iPhone is at $174.33, significantly less than the $227 for the first-generation, 8Gbyte 2G iPhone in June 2007. 

Analysts believe Apple aimed for a more cost-effective design for the 3G iPhone compared to the 2G, in order to lower the retail price, which will allow the company to seed adoption and to capture maximum market share. 

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Sprint has withdrawn from the Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance after the group expressed its support for LTE (Long Term Evolution) for 4G.

The NGMN is a group of global mobile operators that banded together last year to push for a common vision for networks and technologies beyond 3G and was supposed to endorse the co-existence of various technologies without favoring one over another.

Founding members of the NGMN Alliance include China Mobile, NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone, Orange, KPN and T-Mobile, all of whom back LTE. Majority of the 18 operator members come from the WCDMA community, whose 4G path is LTE.

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Africa surpasses North America in terms of mobile subscribers; WCDMA rollouts well under way.
The number of mobile phone users in Africa exceeded 280 million in the first quarter of this year and will reach the 300 million mark next month, according to Wireless Intelligence. 

As a result, the continent has surpassed North America in terms of mobile subscriber numbers, with the U.S. and Canada together having 277 million users, the company said in a report published Thursday.

In the year to the end of March Africa counted 70 million new subscriber additions, up from 60 million the previous year, and cemented its status as the world’s fastest growing mobile market. It recorded 38% growth in 2007, putting it ahead of the Middle East with 33% and Asia Pacific with 29%.

All eyes will be on the rollout and take-up of high-speed mobile services this year.

Wireless Intelligence predicts that the adoption of services based on WCDMA will be slow, with network coverage and the price of handsets constituting the two biggest barriers to growth.

There are currently 19 WCDMA networks in service in Africa, with a further six planned, while operational HSPA networks number 14, with another five in deployment and three planned.

Wireless Intelligence estimates that subscribers to WCDMA and HSPA-based services passed the two million mark in early 2008, a number it says will double by the end of the year. In addition, it predicts HPSA customers alone will reach 1 million by the fourth quarter.

As the most advanced market in the region, it comes as no surprise that South Africa accounts for three of its WCDMA networks.

The country’s three operators, Vodacom, MTN and Cell C, have all launched WCDMA networks and connections are estimated to have reached 1.2 million by the end of 2007.

MTN has revealed data traffic in South Africa is “becoming significant”, the research firm said, and reported that non-SMS revenues represented 37% of its total data revenue in the fourth quarter of last year. Vodacom and MTN are expanding their WCDMA network coverage and introducing data bundles.

Vodacom leads the South African market with more than 24 million subscribers and a 57% market share. MTN has around 10 million fewer customers and claims 34% of the 44 million-strong market.

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Celcom today became the first operator in Malaysia to establish a single core network platform for both GSM and WCDMA technology with the deployment of Mobile Softswitch solution from Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC), in its network.

The move is in line with Celcom’s continuous focus to modernize its network to deliver classic telephony services over a more modern and cost efficient network while creating a common foundation for new services. The deployment of Ericsson Mobile Softswitch also marks the first crucial step for Celcom in migrating its core network to an all-IP architecture.

Upon completion, Celcom will benefit from the convenience and simplicity of having a single, common infrastructure that can handle both 2G and 3G network services, including the current available voice, data and TV services such as MMS, mobile broadband and mobile TV.

The common infrastructure will also enable Celcom to be ahead of its competition in introducing innovative services such as dual numbers in one SIM card or same number in multiple devices, 3G services on 2G SIM card and mobile number portability, to name a few.

By deploying Ericsson Mobile Softswitch, Celcom is able to introduce a layered architecture design in its GSM/WCDMA mobile circuit core. Layered architecture enables separation and centralization of the equipment responsible for call control and network intelligence, enabling a reduction in the number and size of main core network sites for Celcom. This will ultimately provide significant savings for Celcom and reduces the company’s core network operating expenditures (OPEX).

“As a long-time partner to Celcom, Ericsson is excited to play a prime role in supporting Celcom’s decision to create yet another milestone in the industry. Ericsson is fully committed to ensure a smooth evolution of Celcom’s core network to an all-IP architecture.” said Krishna Kumar, President and Country Manager of Ericsson Malaysia.

Ericsson is the world’s leading provider of technology and services to telecom operators. The market leader in 2G and 3G mobile technologies, Ericsson supplies communications services and manages networks that serve more than 185 million subscribers. The company’s portfolio comprises mobile and fixed network infrastructure, and broadband and multimedia solutions for operators, enterprises and developers. The Sony Ericsson joint venture provides consumers with feature-rich personal mobile devices.

Ericsson is advancing its vision of ‘communication for all’ through innovation, technology, and sustainable business solutions. Working in 175 countries, more than 70,000 employees generated revenue of USD 27.9 billion (SEK 188 billion) in 2007. Founded in 1876 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Ericsson is listed on the Stockholm, London and NASDAQ stock exchanges.

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