By Editor on August 14, 2006 · Leave a Comment
The number of mobile subscribers in India is expected to grow from just over 100 million today to more than 350 million by 2010, an addition of 250 million subscribers in just four years, according to The Diffusion Group. The analysts predict that the evolving mobile markets in China and India will reshape the global telecommunications and technology landscape and realign market share among today’s mobile market leaders.
| According to The Diffusion Group, China market is widely heralded as the most immediate and largest market opportunity for mobile vendors. India’s growth rate will be equally explosive. When combined, China and India — what TDG calls “New Asia” — have a population of approximately 2.5 billion people and comprise the single largest opportunity for mobile vendors in the history of mobile telecom.”While India’s mobile market growth will in many ways follow China, the reasons for its growth are very different,” noted Michael Greeson, founder of The Diffusion Group. “India continues to experience a level of poverty far deeper than China and has little in the way of fixed-line infrastructure to support telecommunications. More than half of India’s 700 million rural inhabitants have no access to residential electricity and must rely on community pay phones. It is because of this unique confluence of factors that mobile technologies make so much sense to both India’s government and to operators.”
As Greeson notes, modern mobile telecommunications technology offers developing nations a way to cover expansive ‘greenfield’ territories — in this case, areas bereft of home or personal telecommunications — in a faster and less expensive way than traditional fixed telecom infrastructure. Combined with the world’s lowest per-minute charges, inexpensive handsets, and the social status of mobile phone ownership, India’s mobile operators are preparing to exploit this opportunity.
Other key findings from TDG’s study of India’s mobile markets include the following:
- Despite 12 years of deregulation, the number of fixed-line telecom subscribers has increased less than 15% in the last three years: from 41.5 million to 47.5 million, most of which has been confined to urban areas.
- In India, the cost of installing new fixed lines is roughly three times the price of installing a mobile line.
- As of early 2006, about half of all the towns and villages in India could receive a mobile signal. The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has set a goal to reach 90% coverage by the end of 2006 – a very ambitious goal, but one that could be within reach given the steps that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Indian government have taken to enable competition and increase foreign investment.
- Despite the fact that government taxes on mobile phone revenues are amongst the highest in the world, TDG expects that taxes, levies, and spectrum fees will be reduced to cover only the Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund and administrative costs.
- Given the rapid pace of growth, upgrading current infrastructure has taken a backseat to network expansion and quality of service in most areas is extremely poor.
- Total mobile service revenue will increase over 170% from 2006 through 2010, which translates to a compound annual growth rate of 22.1%.
While India offers tremendous opportunity for mobile telecom vendors, exploiting these opportunities requires understanding India’s regulatory and business environment, as well as comprehending India’s unique social and demographic landscape.
About the market research report
TDG’s 65-page report, “India’s Mobile Markets – Analysis & Forecasts” (July 2006) by Thomas Wolf and Kambam Deepak with Michael Greeson, presents an in-depth analysis of the social, political, technological, and market forces that are shaping India’s telecom evolution and pushing mobile subscriptions to record levels. The report provides forecasts for total subscriber demand, an analysis of 3G subscriber growth, market share analysis among India’s mobile operators, and forecasts for mobile ARPU through 2010.
Source- http://www.tekrati.com
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Technorati : China, India, Mobile
Ice Rocket : China, India, Mobile
Filed under Mobile ·
Tagged with Analyst, Annual Growth, Authority, Calls, China, Community, Demographic, Fixed-line Infrastructure, Foreca, Forecast, Foreign, foreign investment, Fusio, Fusion, Global Telecom, Government, India, indian government, Informa, Information, information technology, Invest, Investment, ministry, Ministry of Communication, Mobile Operators, Mobile Subscription, Mobile Subscriptions, Mobile Telecommunication, mobile telecommunications, Notes, nvestment, Obligation, Offers, On mobile, Political, Population, Pound, Predict, Regulation, Regulator, Regulatory, Regulatory Authority, Signal, spectrum, Spectrum Fees, Status, Study, Subscriber Growth, Subscription, Taxes, Technology, Telecom Infrastructure, Telecom Regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Unity, Univer, Universal, Urban Area, Vendor, Vendors, Villages
By Editor on August 14, 2006 · Leave a Comment
Meridian Mobile, which is part of the UK based Meridian Group and pioneered the FMCG distribution in many parts of Europe, now launches its flagship brand for GSM phones “Fly” in India. Fly was launched about two years ago in East and Central Europe and has since emerged as a strong player in that market. It has in a short span also carved a credible market in these countries and is now ready for a launch in UK, Spain, Germany and South Asia. Meridian Telecom is now poised to become one of the fastest growing companies in mobile telephony today.
Product development is a key strength of Meridian. Sourcing professionals from the German office of Meridian Telecom have selected models for the Indian market that are both at the cutting-edge of features, design and incorporate the best of international styling. Also, Meridian Telecom has over a period of one year carried-out extensive and rigorous testing and customization of Fly products for the Indian market.
Fly is being launched with a variety of exclusive and differentiated mobile phones. Stated Rajiv Khanna, CEO, India Operations, “It is important to have fully loaded phones as the replacement market gets stronger. This is likely to result in huge demand for feature rich and stylish phones. Meridian will offer the critical buyer with smart value choices.”
Further stated Mr. Khanna, “Our marketing strategy is to focus on store branding and forging alliances with retailers. In the 1st phase our focus is on placement. We hope to reach 5000 premium counters by the end of 1st quarter, which will together account for 70% of the over-all retail sales.”
Given the contemporary styling of Fly phones, the diva Malaika Arora has been signed-on as the brand ambassador. Malaika Arora has been selected from among other contenders to be the brand ambassador, and is very excited to be associated with Fly. She would personally kick-off the launch of Fly both in print and electronic media. Fly phones, which reflect the best of trendy & glamorous styling, would be aptly showcased by the style icon Malaika Arora.
Fly SL 500M is a chic and very thin slider phone, has 1.3 Mega-Pixel camera with expandable memory, video ring tones with MPEG 4 and IRDA, Bluetooth and every other conceivable feature such as video recorder and player, MP3 player and 64 tone polyphonic and MP3 tones. This model would be available at Rs 10,990/- ( MRP ).
Fly SL 300M is a very smart slider camera phone and comes in a very attractive black color. Fly SL 300M will lead ‘Fly’ positioning in the media blitz to follow. It has features like MP3 player, video player and recorder, 64 tone polyphonic and MP3 ring tones and expandable memory.This model would be available at Rs 8,990/- ( MRP ).
Fly MP 330 – The Stereo Phone, is the only phone in the market that can enhance equivalent volume of 40 Watts. It has features like 1.3 Mega-Pixel camera with woofer and speaker console, which is yet to be launched even in the West. It also has video recorder and player, 64 tone polyphonic and MP3 tones. This model would be available at Rs 10,490/- ( MRP ).
At only 9.2 mm width, Fly 2040 is one of the slimmest phone in the market that can easily fit into a wallet. It comes laden with features like 1.3 Mega-Pixel camera with Flash, Bluetooth enabled ( voice, data and music ), MP 3 player, continuous video recording and playback, 262K TFT display, Video Ringtones, 60 MB Internal Memory ( Nand Flash ), Micro SD Card Slot and IrDA connectivity. This model would be available at Rs 8,490/- ( MRP ).
Fly MX 300 is a slim clamshell phone, with 262K TFT main LCD display and 65K CSTN sub-LCD display. It is one of the slimmest in its category at only 14.9 mm. It has features like video ringtones, 1.3 Mega-Pixel camera with Flash, Bluetooth enabled (voice, data and music), MP 3 player, continuous video recording and playback, 60 MB Internal Memory ( Nand Flash ), Micro SD Card Slot and IrDA connectivity. This model would be available at Rs 9,990/- ( MRP ).
MARKETING PLANS
Our key success is getting more value with targeted marketing. Regular promotions reinforce our brand values. Stated Mr. Khanna, “Our product roadmap is very vibrant and will differentiate us easily.”
The marketing spend in the first year is likely to be USD $2 Million.
The trade has shown an unprecedented enthusiasm for Fly phones, which can be seen from the fact that it is the first time that any new brand of mobile phones has been presold, and it reflects the attractive product value proposition of Fly.
Fly is known internationally for its distinctive, chic styling and features that appeal to all segments of the youth. Indeed in Europe, Fly has received a fantastic fan-following from the youngsters and commands a leading position in this segment. Fly has a range of models that are smart value and packed with features and have unique styling, which gives them a differentiated edge over other key players.
Meridian enjoys a 3-5% market share in the market we operate from. We aim to get the same market in India.
SERVICE SUPPORT
States Mr. Khanna, “At Meridian, we believe that superior sales service in an intrinsic part of our business model. For our mobile phones we have a tie-up with two blue chip service partners, AFL which is an affiliate of DHL worldwide for Logistics and Accel for after sales service, which has over 50 locations in India.”
Source- http://www.agencyfaqs.com
Technorati : Meridian, Mobile, UK
Ice Rocket : Meridian, Mobile, UK
Filed under Mobile ·
Tagged with alliance, Appeal, Bluetooth, Brand Value, Business Model, Camera Phone, Central Europe, Connect, Connectivity, Display, distribution, Exclusive, Fanta, Germany, India, Indian, Internal Memory, Logistics, Market Share, Marketing Strategy, Memory, Merge, Meridian, Meridian Mobile, Mobile Phone, Mobile Phones, Mobile Telephony, Model, Models, music, office, period, Phase, Players, Premium, Professionals, Promotion, Promotions, range, Ringtone, Ringtones, ROADM, segment, Shell, Slider, South Asia, Spain, Store, Support, Target, Tempo, Tender, Tenders, TFT Display, the UK, Video, Video Recording, Video Ringtones, Volume, Wallet, Youth
By Editor on August 1, 2006 · Leave a Comment
What kind of cellphone do you use? If you’re in the majority, it’s a Motorola handset. Motorola now has — by far — the largest share of the handset market in the U.S. and appears to be making a global run at Nokia to try and regain the top global spot for the first time in a decade. The jury is still out on whether Motorola can do this, but if the ultra-popular RAZR phenomenon continues — and it does almost two years after release — then Motorola will continue to make headway. It’s rare that a single product carries a company like this, but just like Apple’s iPod, Motorola’s RAZR re-defined the category.
But it does not stop there. According to Forrester Research, Motorola is one of the top trusted brands in the wireless market, which includes hardware manufacturers and wireless carriers alike, from Motorola and Samsung to Sprint Nextel and Cingular Wireless. Samsung and Sprint Nextel rank among the least-trusted brands in the U.S., while Motorola and Verizon Wireless coming in at most-trusted levels, with Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile also pulling the same score. Just slightly off was Sprint Nextel, but that slightness was enough for a “least trusted” rating.
How about wireless handset manufacturers? In what I consider more perception than actual reality, handset makers Palm scored 4.3 and a B+ overall, while Motorola — maker of the RAZR and other popular offshoot handsets, scored 4.2, for an overall grade of B. LG Electronics and Samsung fared the worst, both scoring 4.0, for overall grades of C- and D-, respectively. The “aura” around the Treo line of smartphones and the RAZR line of phones is probably due to the enormous loyalty customers have to both brands when such a subjective topic of “trust” comes along.
Samsung and LG and other makers have wireless handsets that topple the Motorola RAZR and other phones in terms of features and ease-of-use, but the sheer popularity and loyalty Motorola users have cannot be underestimated. If you create the market — like the RAZR did for slim phones and the Treo did for on-the-go productivity — then customers will always have “trust”. MOT shares seem happy these days as a result.
Source- http://www.bloggingstocks.com
Technorati : LG, Motorola, Samsung, USA, Verizon Wireless, operator
Filed under Mobile ·
Tagged with Apple, Brand, Brands, Carrier, Carriers, cellphone, Cingular, Cingular Wireless, Company, Electronic, Feature, Features, Forrester, Global, handset makers, Handsets, hardware, LG Electronics, Loyalty, majority, Manufacturer, Motorola, NEXTEL, Nokia, Research, Result, Search, Share, Shares, Smart, smartphone, smartphones, Sprin, Sprint, Sprint Nextel, Stock, Stocks, USA, Users, Verizon, Verizon Wireless, wireless carrier, Wireless Carriers, wireless handsets, Wireless Market
By admin on August 1, 2006 · Leave a Comment
TELES has announced the successful installation and launch of its Mobile Centrex solution at T-Mobile Austria. The TELES Mobile Centrex solution enables T-Mobile Austria to offer SME customers a complete solution that fulfills both their land line and wireless telephony requirements at a competitive price. Using the service enables the SME’s manager to better control their expenses by both turning CAPEX to OPEX and matching the OPEX with the actual corporate size.
“Using the TELES Mobile Centrex solution we can address the large SME market with a complete, new and unique service that enables our customers to benefit from economic efficiency while, simultaneously, improving the quality of their telephony solution,” said Bela Virag, Executive Vice President of Business Marketing at T-Mobile Austria. “At the same time, we can increase our penetration and generate new revenues with business customers.”
Leveraging the TELES Mobile Centrex solution enables mobile service providers to offer the complete replacement of an in-house PBX with a centrally hosted and managed solution including a software based attendant console for use with standard GSM phones as well as auto attendant service, ad-hoc conference service, voice mail and user presence functionality.
“The successful launch of the T-Mobile service is an important milestone in our strategy to supply worldwide wireless service providers with advanced telephony solutions that enable them to address the SME market with new, attractive services,” said Eyal Ullert, CO of Sales and Marketing at TELES.
Using the system’s browser-based Customer Self-care interface, the user can independently manage and configure their service, relieving the mobile service provider of basic, repetitive and costly maintenance.
TELES will be presenting its Mobile Centrex solution at the Barcelona GSM Mobile World Congress.
Filed under Mobile ·
Tagged with Austria, Barcelona, Business Customers, Business Market, CAPEX, Centrex, Conference Service, Congress, Control, Executive, Executive Vice, Expenses, GSM mobile, Import, Installation, IP and Mobile Centrex, Launch, Margin, marketing, Mobile Centrex, Mobile Service Provider, Mobile Service providers, mobile world, Mobile World Congress, Penetration, phone, Phones, Porta, Quality, Revenue, Revenues, S Tel, Sales, Service Provider, Service Providers, software, Solution, Solutions, Strategy, system, T-Mob, T-Mobile, T-Mobile Austria, the US, Unique, vice president, Voice, Voice Mail, Wireless Service, wireless service provider, wireless telephony, World, Worldwide
By Editor on August 1, 2006 · Leave a Comment
Southeastern Europe mobile operator Cosmote has reported second-quarter revenues up 31.6 percent from a year ago to EUR 540.7 million. EBITDA increased 13.5 percent to EUR 203.6 million, while net profit slipped 2.9 percent to EUR 81.5 million. Cosmote attributed the drop in net profit to higher depreciation and financing charges from expanding its operations, as well as losses from its recently re-launched Romanian operation, which had a net loss of EUR 26 million in the quarter. Cosmote said it expects to complete the earlier announced acquisition of telecom retailer Germanos in the fourth quarter.
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
Technorati : Cosmote, EBITDA, Mobile, Romania
Ice Rocket : Cosmote, EBITDA, Mobile, Romania
Filed under Mobile ·
Tagged with Acquisition, Charge, Charges, Cosmo, Cosmote, Depreciation, Eastern, Eastern Europe, EBITDA, Expand, Germanos, Launched, Losses, Net Loss, Net Profit, Oman, Operations, Profit, Report, Retail, Retailer, Romania, Romanian
By Editor on August 1, 2006 · Leave a Comment
Bharti Airtel has signed a $1 billion (approximately Rs 4,500 crores) network expansion contract with Ericsson, a Swedish telecom equipment maker.Under this contract, Bharti Airtel will expand and upgrade its GSM and GPRS network, as well as managed services. The deal will enable Bharti Airtel to rapidly extend its GSM footprint in the country, and increase its network capacity.
The three-year services agreement will see Ericsson manage design, development, and deployment of Airtel’s network, including capacity and coverage, enabling the operator to expand in rural India, and reach out to all towns and cities in around 15 regions.Speaking at the occasion, Manoj Kohli, president, Bharti Airtel, said that their partnership with Ericsson allows them to focus on delivering better customer experience, even as they leverage the world-class expertise of their partners to roll out their networks across all census towns by March 2007.
Kohli said that they are also sourcing next generation products that will allow them to deliver innovative products and services to customers.
The contract also involves Ericsson upgrading the Airtel network with mobile softswitch (Media Gateway and MSC server), the solution that paves the way to an all-IP network. Bharti Airtel will be able to cut operational costs, and introduce new services in a cost-efficient way.
The scope of the agreement extends to 15 Airtel circles of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, UP (East and West), Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, and the North East.
In a statement, Mats Granryd, managing director, Ericsson India, said that rollout speed plays an extremely important role in large expansions of this nature, and that Ericsson has demonstrated expertise in this area. They are honored and pleased that Bharti Airtel has chosen them as a partner to expand its coverage across the country, particularly in untapped rural areas.
Source- http://www.techtree.com
Technorati : Airtel, Ericsson, GPRS, GSM, India
Ice Rocket : Airtel, Ericsson, GPRS, GSM, India
Filed under Mobile ·
Tagged with Airtel, Andhra, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bharti, Bharti Airtel, Casio, Chennai, Circle, Circles, Cities, Contract, Costs, Country, Coverage, Customer Experience, Delhi, Deploy, Deployment, Develop, Development, Director, Equipment, Ericsson, Expansion, Focus, Gateway, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Imate, India, IP network, Jammu, Karnataka, Kashmir, Kerala, Kohli, Managed Services, Managing Director, manoj, Manoj Kohli, Media, mobile softswitch, Network Capacit, Network Capacity, Network Expansion, Next G, North East, operational cost, Operational Costs, Order, Partner, Partnership, product, Products, Punjab, Quipment, Rajasthan, RollOut, Rural, Rural Area, Rural Areas, Speed, State, statement, Swedish, Switch, Tamil Nadu, Three, Upgrade
By Editor on August 1, 2006 · Leave a Comment
Following T-Mobile’s recent announcement, market leader KPN has also decided to cut the commissions it pays to retailers for selling mobile services in The Netherlands. From September, KPN will gradually reduce handset subsidies and sales commissions. The handset subsidies and excessive sales commissions have been a thorn in the side of operators in recent years amid an increasingly saturated Dutch mobile market. The handset subsidies and sales commission contribute to very high churn rates, reaching 30 percent, but do not add to service revenue growth, putting pressure on profit margins. A reduction was inevitable, but the question was which operator dared to take the first step and risk giving the competition an advantage? The first move by T-Mobile and the recent success of E-Plus in Germany may have helped KPN take the decision to pull the plug on handset subsidies in The Netherlands.
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
Filed under Mobile ·
Tagged with Advantage, Churn, CHURN Rate, Commission, Competition, Dutch, Dutch mobile, Dutch Mobile Market, E-Plus, First, Germany, Growth, Handset Subsidies, Margins, Mobile market, Netherland, Netherlands, Rates, Reduce, Reduction, Retailers, Revenue Growth, September, Service Revenue, Subsidies, The Netherlands
By Editor on August 1, 2006 · Leave a Comment
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) agreement has been signed between Tele2 Telecommunications Services GmbH and VIAG Interkom in Germany as per which Tele2 will use Interkom’s wireless network to provide the air interface for Tele2′s fixed line customers.
With over 1 million residential and business fixed telephony customers, Tele2 is one of Germany’s largest Indirect Access Operators.
According to Lars-Johan Jarnheimer, President and CEO of Tele2 AB, Germany is the largest telecoms market in Europe and this MVNO will enable Tele2 to offer an attractively priced offering of both fixed and mobile services on one bill to its customers.
The MVNO is expected to be operational in Q2 2002.
Filed under Mobile ·
Tagged with Access, Agreement, Business, Communication, Communications, Customer, Customers, Europ, Europe, Fixed, Fixed Line, Fixed Telephony, German, Germany, Interface, Market, Mobile, Mobile Service, Mobile services, Mobile Virtual Network Operator, MVNO, Network, obile, Offer, Opera, Operation, operator, operators, perators, President, Price, Service, Services, Tele2, Tele2 AB, Teleco, telecom, Telecommunication, Telecommunications, telecommunications services, Telecoms, Telecoms Market, telephony, VIAG Interkom, virtual network, Wireless, Wireless network, WirelessFederation
