Gameloft to host Orange mobile games fest
Players will come head to head to play Gameloft’s Asphalt 3 Street Rules between July 5th and 8th at the Parc des Expositions, Porte de Versailles in Paris. The competition is part of the Electronic Sports World Cup 2007. It’s Orange Trophy’s second year of existence.
Following pre-event qualifying, 56 players will take part in the tournament. The winner will earn the title of World Champion and trouser 1000 euros.
Asphalt 3 Street Rules has been especially developed by Gameloft for the Trophy. It’s been adapted on nearly 60 handsets and optimised to a tenth of a second, ensuring all participants have an equal chance at making the best score and qualifying.
Gameloft is to run the Orange Trophy international mobile games competition next month.
Players will come head to head to play Gameloft’s Asphalt 3 Street Rules between July 5th and 8th at the Parc des Expositions, Porte de Versailles in Paris. The competition is part of the Electronic Sports World Cup 2007. It’s Orange Trophy’s second year of existence.
Following pre-event qualifying, 56 players will take part in the tournament. The winner will earn the title of World Champion and trouser 1000 euros.
Asphalt 3 Street Rules has been especially developed by Gameloft for the Trophy. It’s been adapted on nearly 60 handsets and optimised to a tenth of a second, ensuring all participants have an equal chance at making the best score and qualifying.
Nintendo Developing Games for Apple’s iPhone?
Okay, this could be second- or even fifth- or sixth-hand, so take it with a big grain of salt. Over at NoHeat, which bills itself as Tech news that’s just too cool,†an anonymous poster says Nintendo (NTDOY), maker of the Wii†and Gameboy†gaming machines, has agreed to license a number of its video games to Apple (AAPL) for sale on the company’s iPhone cell phone, which hits stores in the U.S. a week from today.
The report, quoting no one in particular, says the games are to be released on Apple’s iTunes at $29 a pop a few months after†the phone goes on sale. The posting notes the lack of buttons on the face of the iPhone (it has only a home†button to get to the main menuâ€) as a tricky obstacle in adapting the games. The posting suggests the move is a way to hedge against the threat posed to Nintendo’s traditional game market of mobile games on phones. Asked anonymously whether or not these games would cut into Nintendo DS sales, we heard a resounding no,†says the author, without saying who, exactly, was asked. The logic is that because the licensed games will be exclusive and cater to an older audience they should not intrude into Nintendo’s existing markets.â€
Meantime, Apple has posted on its Web site a long movie you can watch that walks you through the features of the iPhone.
Apple shares today closed down three-quarters of a percent at $122.98, while Nintendo’s American Depository Shares closed up half a percent at $45.05.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
AIS joins Bridge Mobile Alliance
Asia-Pacific’s Bridge Mobile Alliance announced last week that Thailand’s Advanced Info Service (AIS) has joined as the group’s 11th operator member.
With the addition of AIS, the alliance’s combined subscriber base now exceeds 160 million across 11 territories in Asia Pacific, the industry group said.
“Being part of the largest regional mobile alliance group will further enhance our position as the leading operator in Thailand,” said CTO AIS Vikrom Sriprataks.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Saudi Telecom, Maxis deal may spur more investments
The $3.05 billion investment by Saudi Telecom in Maxis Communications may help spur more Middle Eastern investments in Malaysia.
SJ Securities research head Cheah King Yoong said the deal, which is one of the most significant Middle Eastern investments in the region, signified an increased confidence from Middle East investors in Malaysia.
“I believe more Middle East investments will be pumped into the country for a few reasons. We have a strong Islamic investment banking system, making it easy for them to put their money into our syariah-compliant structures.
“Let’s not forget that the central bank has issued three Islamic banking licenses to foreign players, so this is just only the starting point,” he said.
He said that Malaysia’s corporate earnings growth is also one of the most robust in the region, making the companies attractive investment targets.
OSK Investment’s research head Kenny Yee noted that Middle Eastern investors are “overflowing with money” due to the oil effect, and as such are looking at other viable destinations for investments.
These investors, however, have been scouting for opportunities not just in Malaysia, but also the region, said TA Securities’ research head Kaladher Govindan.
He pointed out that Saudi Telecom’s purchase of a 25% stake in Maxis was to leverage on opportunities not just in Malaysia, but more for other growth markets like India and Indonesia that Maxis already had a presence in.
Nokia says rivals emerging in China
Nokia is seeing small local rivals entering the Chinese market, filling a gap left by Motorola.
“Last year Motorola was aggressive, but not any more. This year we have come to see Chinese rivals using this chance,” Nokia’s China head, Colin Giles, was quoted as saying.
“There have been very small local players appearing in the market.”
Motorola, the world’s second biggest phone maker behind Nokia, has suffered the effects of sharply falling phone prices after it tried to hold on to its market share amid stiff competition in emerging markets and against Nokia, which leads in low-cost phones.
Nokia has felt the benefits of an early entry into emerging regions, including China, where it often has market shares of more than 50%, due to the efficiency of its distribution system.
Nokia’s Giles was also quoted as saying that it was difficult to say if Nokia had benefited from Motorola’s problems but it had a winning formula with a network of 40 regional distributors in China, enabling the supply of phones all over the country.
He added Nokia had been involved with developing the Chinese 3G standard TD-SCDMA for several years and is set to begin manufacturing TD-SCDMA phones for the market and will announce more details by June next year.
Telecom Argentina launches contract-free broadband service
BNamericas, quoting a company statement, reports that fixed-line incumbent Telecom Argentina has launched a broadband service that does not require the client to sign a contract to pay a monthly fee, but rather only pay for airtime used. The new service, called Arnet Libre, was launched through Telecom’s ISP division Arnet and has a download speed of 640kbps and includes one email account plus anti-virus and anti-spam services. Telecom Argentina had 526,000 ADSL subscribers at the end of March 2007, more than double the 244,000 it had a year earlier.
HITS to raise USD300m from equity sale (Saudi Arabia)
Saudi Arabia-based House of Integrated Technologies and Systems (HITS) is rumoured to be considering selling a stake in its wireless holding company HITS Telecom, to help raise the USD1 billion needed to fund expansion in three African countries, Uganda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The firm plans to raise USD300 million by selling a stake in HITS Telecom to private equity investors and borrow USD700 million to bolster its business portfolio on the continent.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Digicel receives green light
Digicel has received full authorisation from regulatory body SIT to launch services in Guatemala. A quoting local daily Prensa Libre, the Caribbean mobile holding company has one year from now in which to launch. Digicel gained a mobile licence for Guatemala when it acquired Digicel Holdings Ltd – an entirely separate company – in September 2006. Digicel Holdings had a cellular operation in El Salvador and held a GSM licence in Guatemala since March 2003, but it had failed to roll out a network.
Vodafone to cut Internet tariff
Vodafone said Friday that it is reducing the cost of roaming in Europe.
Laptop users will have a reliable and competitively-priced alternative to WiFi starting this summer, when from July 2 Vodafone drops its laptop data roaming prices to EUR12 per day (excl. VAT) for wireless roaming across Vodafone subsidiaries in Europe, Egypt, Australia and New Zealand, and with partners in France, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium.
In countries where there is an HSDPA network, Vodafone Connect Abroad customers using a Vodafone Mobile Connect USB modem or a Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G broadband data card will be able to connect just as they do in their home country and benefit from download speeds of up to 3.6Mbps.
Any Vodafone customer who uses a wireless data product, uses their mobile handset as a modem or has a laptop with an embedded SIM card, can sign-up for Vodafone Connect Abroad free of charge.
Customers will pay nothing until they choose to connect abroad for a 24hr session. They can access the internet, emails or business network as many times as they choose for EUR12 (excl. VAT) in the same 24 hr period on any Vodafone or partner network included in the offer.
Tariff details The Vodafone Connect Abroad tariff replaces ‘per Megabyte’ tariffs with a simple flat fee for practically unlimited data usage. The daily tariff structure enables Vodafone customers to send or receive data at ease within a 24 hour period or one calendar day (depending on the Vodafone market) for a fixed fee of EUR12 (excl. VAT).
The fixed fee covers consumption within either a 24 hour period or a calendar day, of up to 50 MB of data, after which the customer’s standard per-megabyte rate applies.
Vodafone will launch the tariff across the majority of its European footprint on Jul. 2. It will be introduced into the remaining European markets soon thereafter. There is no activation charge for opting into the Vodafone Connect Abroad tariff.
The EUR12 (excl. VAT) flat rate tariff is applicable when a Vodafone customer is roaming on a Vodafone network in Europe, Egypt, Australia and New Zealand, and partner networks in France, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium (see Notes to Editors).
If customers use their Vodafone Connect USB modem or Vodafone Connect 3G broadband data card on other networks, other costs are incurred for international roaming.
MTS pays $250m for Uzbek subsid
Russia’s largest cellular operator by users OAO Mobile TeleSystems (MBT) late Thursday said it had acquired the remaining 26% of its Uzbek unit Uzdunrobita from a private investor for $250 million in cash.
Previously, MTS owned 74% of Uzdunrobita; as a result of this transaction, MTS’ ownership has increased to 100%.
MTS first acquired its 74% stake for $121 million in August 2004. As announced at the time of the acquisition, MTS also signed a three-year put and call agreement with the remaining shareholder of Uzdunrobita to purchase the outstanding 26% stake.
An amendment to the original option agreement, announced in August 2006, extended the exercise period of the put option to Jul 14, 2008. Following the put option exercise, an independent valuation opinion of Uzdunrobita for the purpose of determining the option exercise price was provided by Renaissance Capital.
MTS said Uzdunrobita was the largest mobile phone operator in Uzbekistan at the end of May with approximately 1.85 million subscribers. The company holds licenses for GSM, or Global System for Mobile Communications, and 3G services for the entire country.
