Mobile Number Portibality for the Malaysian mobile phone users (Malaysia)
Mobile Phone users of Malaysia can now enjoy the number portability service, wherein they can switch over to other mobile operators without changing their phone numbers. The service will be effective from Friday and will be available to the postpaid subscribers after two weeks.
“Service providers are allowed to charge up to RM25 each time a subscriber changes their mobile phone service provider. This will give the users choice and freedom to choose their service providers without the inconvenience of having to change their numbers.The nationwide launch for the MNP will be in October,” Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor said
He said that until the nationwide launch, each service provider would only be able to accept 100 requests per day, adding that prepaid subscribers are advised to finish their credit balance before changing the service provider as any remaining credit would not be refunded.
“Mobile phone users are advised not to rush into porting but should first study the various packages being offered before choosing the new service provider of their choice,” he said.
BlackBerry Bold suffers 3G connection problem, same as iPhone 3G
Testing the BlackBerry Bold, sources reveal, that the new QWERTY handset suffers from the 3G connection problems just like the iPhone 3G.
If they persist, network issues will come as a concern to BlackBerry Bold customers. BlackBerry owners are primarily enterprise users, and dropped calls would stifle productivity.
Such unstable behaviour by the BlackBerry Bold will create a menace for it’s enterprise customers, as due to dropped calls they’ll suffer low productivity.
Ofcom reports 85% of British Adults are mobile (UK)
Ofcom reports 85% of the UK’s adult population have a mobile now and has become a part of their lives.
The number of mobile phone subscribers in the UK is over 70 million, the number higher than the population of 60 million of the country.
The households tend to have mobile phones rather than fixed line.
Figures for the market include:
- Number of mobile connections: 74 million
- Number of mobile voice calls: 115.6 minutes per month per subscriber
- Number of SMS and MMS messages sent: 59.1 billion
- Average time spent texting and calling per mobile connection: 10 minutes per day.
The UK has the most competitive mobile industry in Europe – with five operators and a healthy number of virtual network operators competing to offer services,†Ofcom said.
The sector generates over £15bn a year – 51 per cent of overall retail revenue for telecoms in the UK. The mobile sector now produces more revenue than fixed voice and broadband services combined.†it added.
MTN continues to seek expansion, earnings rise by 26% in H1’08 (South Africa)
MTN, South Africa leading mobile operator, has reported it’s H1’08 earnings. It posted 26% growth in adjusted headline earnings. The firm is will continue to seek expansion opurtunities in emerging markets.
According to the mobile operator it’s adjusted headline EPS rose to 408.5 cents.
BSNL plans to roll-out a CDR Based billing system (India)
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd is planning to switch over to the Call-Detail-Record (CDR) billing system for its 3.5 crore landline subscribers in couple of months. BSNL Deputy Director General, (Enterprise Business), Sunil Kumar said that our landline billing system as of now works on the conventional technology, and we are unable to give a customised offer to subscribers. But very soon all that will be a thing of the past. Telephone exchanges spread over 20 major cities across the country would switch over to the CDR system for billing in the next 2-3 month, he added. The entire project is being carried out in a phased manner and over the next 6-8 month, all the exchanges will be connected to this technology, he further said .
According to BSNL official, One of the advantages of the new billing system is that one single bill could be generated for an entire corporate house, and the payments also, accordingly be made from any where in the country. In addition, we will be able to offer various tariff plans to landline customers on the lines of mobile tariff plans. In addition to this we will be able to offer various tariff plans to landline customers on the lines of mobile tariff plans, official added. Kumar further said that BSNL is also looking at providing managed network services (MNS).
Primus launches new mobile broadband service (Australia)
Primus launched a brand new mobile broadband service which will be speed-shaped once the data quota has been reached, instead of charging excess.
“Today’s consumers want the freedom to be online at any time and the existing mobile broadband pricing packages have potential risk for excessive and unexpected download charges, often amounting to several hundred dollars in a month,” Primus CEO Ravi Bhatia said in a statement.
Once the subscriber reaches the monthly data allowance, the connection would be rate shaped for the remainder of the monthly billing period to 64Kbps.
Practical speeds for the service will be 384Kbps to 3.6Mbps for HSDPA devices, 200Kbps to 384Kbps for 3G and 20Kbps to 40Kbps for 2G. Primus will be offering 6GB for $39.95 per month with a free modem on a 24-month contract as a special offer for September.
The other tariffs are, $29.95 for 1GB, or $19.95 bundled with a mobile and $79.95 for 12GB, or $69.95 with a mobile.
If the subscribers want additional data, they can buy it using their account toolbox.
The service will be provided using the Huawei E220 modem, which runs on 2,100MHz.
Although Optus also uses the 900MHz spectrum for parts of its network.
Sluggish Mobile phone sales due to inflation!
According to a report, With the increase of economic difficulties growth in worldwide mobile telephones will slow sharply in 2008. Research unit predicted that 11 per cent growth in global sales to 1.28 billion units this year, down from a rise of 16 per cent in 2007. Further it said that sales reached nearly 305 million in the second quarter, a rise of 11.8 per cent on a year earlier. The report reveals that the economic environment continued to negatively impact mobile phones sales in both mature and emerging markets. Considering mobile handset maker giants, statistics shows that Nokia of Finland, sold more than 120 million telephones and augmented its share of the market to just under 40 per cent. Samsung had 15 per cent of the market with 45 million units sold, shooting far ahead of the former world number two, Motorola, on 30 million.
China’s total mobile subscriber base grows to 608.38 million subscribers (China)
China at the end of July 2008 had a total of 608.38 million subscribers of mobile communication services, growth rate being 1.27% on month and by 19.63% on year, as reported by by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The density of number of subscribers at the end of July was 45.6% of the country’s population.
In July 2008, mobile phone subscribers in China sent 57.76 billion short messages, averaging 3.08 short messages per phone number a day.
iPhone ads ban in UK!
Advertising Standard Authority has outlaw an advertisement for the iphone that promises users access to “all parts of the Internet” on their Apple device.
The ad prompted two arguments with the ASA, both of which claimed the ad was misleading because the iPhone doesn’t offer Flash or Java and not all Web sites can be seen in their entirety. But Apple said that advertisement is not misleading and instead refers to the iPhone’s ability to offer “full” Internet access rather than WAP pages or the walled-garden approach.
Algeria’s subscriber base may grow to 36 million in 2010 (Algeria)
The $6.4 billion Algerian telecom market is one of the fastest growing sectors of the country. With fast adoption of mobile services 2003/4, the mobile subscriber base has shown exponential growth over the last three years with a CAGR of 78% during 2004-2007. As of 2007, the Algerian mobile market was 81% penetrated.
Djezzy (Orascom), Mobilis (AT), and Nedjma (Wataniya) together sharing the market.
Notable highlights of the 3Q08 Algeria Mobile Forecast include:
- Total subscribers in Algeria will increase by 12%, from 32.21 million in 2008 to 36 million in 2010.
- Djezzy will continue to receive much higher ARPUs than the other two operators. In 2007, Djezzy’s ARPU was $12.34 compared to $7.76 for Nedjma and $3.06 for Mobilis. In 2010, it is forecasted that Djezzy’s ARPU levels will increase slightly to $12.7 per month. We think that market share gains by Nedjma will come primarily from price reductions, and are forecasting a -11.5% reduction in its ARPU over the forecast period. ARPU at Mobilis will remain at $3.06 from 2008 to 2010
- On average over the forecast period, Djezzy and Nedjma will continue to enjoy some of the highest EBITDA margins in the Middle East (for covered companies). Djezzy will continue to enjoy the highest average EBITDA margin among Algerian operators of 61.5% over the forecast period.
- Algeria to have the lowest ARPU levels in the African region and operator-wide ARPU levels in Algeria will be US$ 8.13 in 2010.
- In 2010, the operator which will bill its customers at the lowest rate in our coverage list will be Mobilis in Algeria with an ARPU of only US$ 3.13 per month in 2010.
