According to sources, Some of the biggest achievers selected for Communication Awards 2007:
Allen Timpany, CEO, Vanco
VNO pioneer. Now every value-added reseller wants to be the “next Vanco”.
Arun Sarin, Chief Executive Officer, Vodafone Group
His deals with Google and eBay “started the Mobile Internet”. That’ll be the one regularly used by 6% of mobile owners, then.
Ben Verwaayen, CEO, BT
Split local access and services in UK as an example for all the other EU countries. Then took over the broadband revolution. But has he reached the crest of the New Wave?
Bill Gates, Founder and Chairman, Microsoft Corp
He may be adrift in online adland, but his company’s Communications Server has brought the LAN to life.
Carl Henrik Svanberg, CEO, Ericsson
Has kept the strategy clear and built a leadership position in wireless into a total communications offer whilst others have dug themselves deeper into their problems.
Cesar Alierta, President, Telefonica
Last of the great global Telco heroes? No blockbuster deals last year though.
Chua Sock Koong, CEO, SingTel
SingTel veteran Chua is in the regional hotseat; tasked with making sense of the company’s expansionist strategy across Southeast Asia to Australia.
Dayanidhi Maran, Telecom Minister, India
Revolutionised the Indian telecom scenario with liberalised policies, promoting Foreign Direct Investments and providing clear strategies for mobile and broadband expansion.
Dr. Saad Al Barrak, Deputy chairman and managing director, MTC
MTC Group’s champion has transformed the Kuwaiti operator into a regional investment player. Can he take his 3×3x3 strategy global?
Ed Whitacre, Chairman and CEO, AT&T
Retiring after driving telecom consolidation, with the integration of SBC, Cingular and AT&T. Now going after Telecom Italia and the iPhone.
Helmut Leopold, Head of Platform and Technology Management, Telekom Austria AG
Put Engerwitzdorf on Europe’s IPTV map. Leads development of IPTV and IP-driven multimedia services at Telekom Austria, as well as president of the Broadband Services Forum (BSF). .
Ildar Zhuravlev, Partner, Ernst & Young
He is one of the most influential persons in the Russian telecom sector. He provides consulting services to 18 of top 20 major Russian telcos. At least he isn’t being called a revolutionary.
Ivar Plahte, CEO, OnRelay
”Defining the next era of [mobile] PBX.” Cisco, Nortel, IBM, Verizon, and others are following his lead, some say.
John Chambers, CEO, Cisco Systems
He’s putting Cisco on Second Life. That’s how determined he is to win this award again.
John Legere, CEO, Global Crossing
Two years ago a $24 billion accounting ‘fresh start’ helped bring GX back to life. Now it is a model for how to use IT to speed up your telecoms services delivery.
John Pluthero, Executive Chairman , Cable & Wireless
He’s “blown the whistle on the telecoms industry” for its lack of customer care, apparently.And he knows how to reinvigorate a demoralised company.
Josep A. Aliagas, CEO, Arena Mobile
This content aggregator is currently working in 60 countries and with 110 mobile operators as well as worldwide Media Groups including Shanghai Media Group in the mobile TV area in China. China is potentially the biggest revenue generator in the industry and Arena Mobile is the leading company in China.
Larry Page, Co-founder, Google
Telcos are running a bit less scared now Google is concentrating on TV and radio advertisers.
N Srinath, CEO, VSNL
”The CEO of the last year”, according to one nomination. He has “single-handedly” changed VSNL from an incumbent niche operator to a multinational telecom player, according to another. He must have a little help, though.
Niklas Zennstrom, Co-founder, Joost TV
Since he sold Skype to eBay, the IP telephony service has reached 150 million users, reducing the price paid from $68 million to $23 million - per subscriber.
Patricia Russo, CEO, Alcatel-Lucent
Running a combination “too big, too exotic and too powerful to be ignored.”
Phuthuma Nhleko, President & CEO, MTN Group
Phuthuma has revolutionalised telecoms in Africa and the Middle East by providing telecoms to 21 countries in MEA.
Sol Trujillo, CEO, Telstra
”Creating a Telstra that is more adaptable to market needs.” Really? The “only real ass-kicker and visionary in the industry”. That’s more like it!
Steve Jobs, CEO, Apple
He seems to understand consumers better than most. The iPhone has raised expections high this time.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman - Bharti Group, Bharti Airtel
A “Telecoms Tsar”- in India? No, he’s “a revolutionary”. He can’t be both.
Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner, EU
She has upset mobile operators, NextGen network builders and even outsourcing associations, so she must be doing something right.
'’ONE in two Australians want to access the internet over their mobile phone, while more than a third want to view live television'’ according to Himanshu Johar, Wireless Federation’s Senior Analyst
Internet access was the most popular form of content, desired by 52 per cent of respondents, followed by live TV (37 per cent) and TV clips (31 per cent). While half those surveyed wanted to use their phone to watch the news and check the weather, the most popular content was entertainment news, nominated by 58 per cent.
According to the global study Anytime, Anyplace by media agency Universal McCann, Australians have been slow to use the full suite of mobile phone applications.
The study found that only 33 per cent of Australians had used their phone to surf the mobile internet, send messages and emails or take photographs.
That ranked far behind the leading nation, Japan (47 per cent) and a number of other European and Asian markets, including China (43 per cent), India (34 per cent) and well behind the global average of 37 per cent.
But the study, which was conducted among 10,000 people who had a mobile phone and broadband access in 21 markets, found the US was last, with just one in five Americans engaging in complex mobile phone use.
The mobile is the world’s biggest portable media and computing platform. By 2011, 3.3 billion people are expected to be connected, according to data from the Wireless Federation, with the use driven by growth in Asia, Latin America and Africa.
“These people are really content-hungry,” Universal McCann Insight director Natalie Pidgeon said. “They like to have their scanner on 24/7.
“But the content they’re looking at on their mobile is quite perishable. They don’t want to keep it. Laptops are more about content they can keep: TV series, films and music. It’s the collectable content.”
3G-enabled mobile phones are the most in-demand device globally, with more than 40 per cent of respondents saying they planned to purchase one, followed by a video-capable iPod (39 per cent) and a wireless laptop. In Australia, penetration is higher than the global average of about 20 per cent.
But the study found people expected content to be device-neutral, or able to be viewed on a number of platforms.
“About the only thing they don’t want to transfer content to is a gaming console,” Ms Pidgeon said. “That seems to be for games only.”
The study also found phone users welcomed advertising as long as they had opted to receive it and they received something of value in return.
Two-thirds of respondents globally found branded content was an acceptable form of advertising.
Ads that appear in the middle of video clips were the least acceptable format.
And Hutchison’s 3 Mobile launched the 20-minute-long cricket show The Pitch, which it is billing as the first in-house telco-made-for-mobile program.
Mira Bashi, 3’s general manager of content and services, said the show, which is available as part of 3’s paid cricket packages, would help develop new media habits.
“I think consumers will sit down and watch it and look forward to it at the end of the day,” she said
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The entrance of a second player in the Iranian market has heralded the beginning of an era in the country’s mobile industry. With the expectation that it will start offering services in mid-2006 and a third player in late 2008, Wireless Federation forecasts the country’s mobile penetration to more than double over the next five years, increasing subscriptions from 7.1m at YE2005 to 18.6m by 2010.
For years, subscribers in Iran were at the mercy of the country’s largest and only telecommunications provider, TCI. Although TCI has done a fairly decent job of establishing a telecommunications infrastructure in the country, the lack of competition never really compelled the operator to offer services at a level on-par with operators from rest of the world. Service issues and an extremely high one-time connection fee of up to US$1,200 have kept potential subscribers at bay.
The expected entry of IranCell in 2006 and a third operator in late-2008 will drive significant growth over the next five years. Wireless Federation Iran Mobile Demand Forecast charts the growth from a mere 7.1m subscriptions at YE2005 (penetration of 10 percent), to 18.6m by YE2010, equally 25 percent penetration. This growth will be driven by the introduction of competition (only 14 percent of net additions will be on TCI’s network), and the introduction of prepaid in a country which until 2004 only had post-paid subscriptions. Although TCI introduced prepaid subscriptions for the first time in 2005, only a mere 30 percent of 2005’s net additions are expected to be TCI’s prepaid platform. However, with the new entrants expected to add vibrancy to the market beginning in 2006, 84 percent of net additions from 2006 to 2010 are expected to occur on the prepaid platform
The introduction of competition will result in the lowering of connection/activation fees to levels in-line with global standards, average revenues per subscriber (ARPS) in local currency should rise due to operators’ increasing per-minute tariffs. Driving an increase of per-minute tariffs (in local currency) is due to that fact that TCI enjoyed healthy revenue growth and EBITDA margins primarily because of their high connection fees. TCI could then subsequently afford to offer lower per-minute tariffs to its subscribers. The lowering of connection fees due to increased competition and the introduction of prepaid, operators would need to raise per-minute tariffs in order to maintain profitability. Since Wireless Federation ARPS calculations exclude one-time connection, activation, and termination fees, the increase in per-minute tariffs will result in our forecasts indicating a rise in ARPS.
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2007 CEO Achievements
