Telefónica and Nokia to launch the first totally ‘green’ mobile phone offer
Spain is the first country to run this initiative, which will gradually be introduced into the other markets in which Telef³nica is present, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Argentina, Peru and Chile.
This launch is the first fully integrated sustainable†offer involving an operator and phone manufacturer. Nokia has created an exclusive green†version of its two most innovative handsets the Nokia N8 and Nokia C7, which can be acquired from €69 and €0, respectively, when the customer signs up to a call plan and the Internet M³vil Plus tariff.
The phones feature ecological applications, less packaging, a high-efficiency phone charger and a final recycling offer.
Telef³nica and Nokia today presented the first sustainable mobile phone offer on the commercial market, featuring two of the most sustainable†handsets currently available: the Nokia N8 and the Nokia C7, adapted exclusively for Movistar by the Finnish manufacturer. This is the first offer on the commercial market from the Green Customer Experience†initiative, created to offer customers a green†experience, from the moment they think about purchasing their mobile, throughout its use and all the way until the end of its useful life.
Spain is the first country to run this project, which will gradually be introduced into the other markets in which Telef³nica is present, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Argentina, Peru and Chile.
This is the first fully integrated sustainable†offer involving an operator and phone manufacturer which links use of the mobile service to energy saving and enables customers who are concerned with the environment access to handsets which have been manufactured using innovative materials and which are at the cutting edge of new technology and eco-design, minimizing environmental impact, featuring smaller, 100% recyclable packaging and ad-hoc ecological applications and content.
The phones feature ecological applications, less packaging, a high-efficiency phone charger and a final recycling offer. All this is accompanied by an attractive commercial offer which rewards the customer’s decision to acquire this fully-integrated mobile phone service.
In particular, the Nokia N8s and C7s that have been adapted for this offer feature an energy-saving mode, a power-efficient AMOLED screen and an ambient light sensor. As is the case with other Nokia mobile phones, these models have a reminder to unplug the phone charger once the phone is fully charged and green content such as the educational game Climate Mission, the application E-numbers as well as other third party applications which customers can download through Telef³nica’s Canal Eco, part of the Ovi Tienda phone shop. There is also a direct link to the declaration of ecological impact for both models, known as the Eco Profile.
New Movistar users may acquire the Nokia C7 from €0 and the Nokia N8 for €69 from all usual points of sale by contracting a call plan (€29.90 per month) and the Internet M³vil Plus tariff (€15 per month).
Movistar customers who opt for electronic billing may, from today, acquire either of these two models with their respective mobile Internet services. As a reward, Telef³nica will give the customer an extra 50,000 promotional points.
The project also has plans for green corners†in specific Telef³nica shops in order to inform users of the available models and offer details. Solutions of this kind are closely identified with Green Technology.
According to Alberto Andreu, Telefonica’s Corporate Reputation and Responsibility Manager, sustainability and energy efficiency are going to constitute an increasingly integral part of our daily lives and habits. The experience of purchasing a mobile phone, using it, browsing the internet on it, playing games on it or exchanging it for another model cannot and must not be missed. We at Telef³nica have therefore come up with this initiative which we aim to gradually extend to other markets in which we operate. Working alongside Nokia in Spain has been an extremely gratifying experience because we speak the same languageâ€. Both companies have been recognized by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index as leaders in the field of sustainability: Nokia heads the technology sector whilst Telef³nica leads the telecommunications sector.
Evidence of this commitment is the fact that Nokia has reduced the average environmental impact of its models by 65% over the past 10 years, in spite of the spectacular technological development that has taken place.
Marieta del Rivero, Vice Chairwoman of Nokia for Telef³nica Worldwide Business, stated that together with Telef³nica we have made a special effort to ensure that our handsets use a micro-USB charger guaranteeing maximum energy efficiency; a quick user’s start-up guide condensed to only one page, representing a saving of over 95% in paper, which may also be consulted digitally from the handset, as well as direct access to applications and green content from the main menu via the Eco iconâ€.
Alcatel-Lucent wins America Movil’s Mobile Backhaul deal
America Movil has chosen Alcatel-Lucent’s IP/MPLS-based mobile backhaul solution for its mobile networks in 11 countries: Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.
According to Javier Rey, Alcatel-Lucent’s Vice-President for the America Movil , by consolidating services over a single, packet-based network, America Movil will dramatically simplify operations and reduce operating expenditures as well as be able to offer its customers the highest quality and most advanced mobile IP services. The company’s industry-leading mobile backhaul solution, which has helped service providers worldwide transform their networks to all-IP, will enable America Movil to economically and efficiently upgrade its infrastructure.
Alcatel-Lucent will deploy its 7750 Service Router (SR) and 7705 Service Aggregation Router (SAR) along with the Alcatel-Lucent 5620 Service Aware Manager (SAM) for the three-year transformation project.
Telecom Argentina Q3 net profit rises 47%
Telecom Argentina SA, one of the country’s largest phone companies has unveiled its Q3 results. The company’s net profit increased 47% on the year.
According to the Chief Executive Franco Bertone, net profit was US$112 million, up from US$76.62 million during the third quarter of 2009. Sales for the quarter rose 21% to US$960.92 million. The company’s earnings for the first nine months of the year increased 30% to US$328.73 million, and sales for the same period increased 18% to US$2.65 billion.
Telecom Argentina is the major local telephone company for the northern part of Argentina, including the whole of the city of Buenos Aires. Telecom Argentina’s local telephone market, together with Telefonica de Argentina in the southern part of the country, was part of a duopoly until October 8, 1999. Telecom also operates mobile phone service Personal and Internet service provider Arnet.
America Movil Profits mount by 8.8% in Q3
Am©rica M³vil has announced that its third-quarter revenues increased by 5.3% to US$12.4 billion, while net profits rose by 8.8% to US$1.9 billion. Wireless service revenues of US$6.72 billion, which represent approximately 60% of service revenues, rose 9.1% while fixed-line revenues remained flat.
The company recorded a subscriber base of 266.8 million, a rise of 11.5% compared to last year. This includes 216.8 million wireless subscribers, up 11.6% year-on-year, and 50 million fixed line accesses that increased 10.9% in the period. Of that, 28.1 million correspond to fixed voice, 12.5 million to broadband and 9.4 million to PayTV. The company added 5.5 million wireless subscribers in the third quarter, 37.6% more than in the same quarter of 2009 with postpaid net additions 22.4% greater than those of a year before.
According to the company, the subscriber growth was remarkable in Mexico, where net Central America they tripled whereas in Chile and Colombia they were up 189% and 121% respectively. In total gains Brazil came in first with 1.9 million net additions, followed by Mexico with 1.1 million, Colombia with 352 thousand, Chile with 336 thousand and Argentina with 295 thousand. The company’s operations in Ecuador and Peru added 268 and 218 thousand subscribers respectively. The fastest growth in relative terms was observed in Chile with 32.8%, and the U.S. with 26.2%, followed by Peru with 18.1% and Brazil with 15.3%.
Wireless data was the major reason for the company’s growth, revealing a growth rate of 27.1%, with its share of wireless service revenues rising to 22.0%. In the fixed-line business broadband and video services maintain a strong momentum.
Apple and Google increases Growth in the Mobile Advertising Market
The mobile phones have made the advertising market see new heights. According to the latest research from Informa Telecoms & Media, global revenues from mobile advertising will be worth US$3.5 billion by the end of this year. The mobile advertising market has seen strong growth over the past 12 months driven by the initiatives and investments of big players including Apple and Google and is expected to show strong growth over the next five years and generate revenues of around US$24 billion in 2015. Informa Telecoms & Media believes that during this period, the share of mobile advertising revenues for the operators will fall from around 26% in 2010 to estimated 20% in 2015.
There is currently an increasing number of successful mobile advertising campaigns and a lot of market activity including in-house innovation, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions. Media and FMCG brands are also experiencing growing consumer engagement on mobile. These developments are starting to provide the much-needed momentum that the mobile advertising industry needs, which will lead to accelerated growth in mobile advertising in 2011 and beyond.
Acording to Shailendra Pandey, senior analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media and author of the recent Mobile Advertising research, the launch of Apple’s iPad advertising platform is forcing rivals to speed up their own mobile advertising strategies. Google has responded by acquiring AdMob and has announced it is on track to generate US$1 billion in revenues from mobile in 2010, a significant portion of which will be mobile advertising revenues. Google has also reported a 500% growth in mobile search queries between 2008 and 2010. The mobile advertising industry has moved ahead from the trial and experimental phase and many brands are now spending significant sums on mobile campaigns on a regular basis. The investments from big players such as Google and Apple validate the market opportunity, resulting in brands and agencies more actively considering mobile for their campaigns.
This year itself, many mobile operators, including Orange, O2 UK, Movistar Spain, VimpelCom Russia, Maxis Malaysia and Claro Argentina, have launched services and trials to encourage their subscribers to opt in to mobile advertising and receive reward points in exchange for viewing ads on their mobile phones. It is becoming quite clear to the operators that close partnerships with other value chain players is essential and is a better strategy than attempting to build an in-house mobile advertising solution and their own creative and sales teams.
Informa Telecoms & Media believes the mobile advertising market will go through a sustained period of consolidation over the next 12-18 months. The big value chain players have been on the acquisition trail for companies that will integrate seamlessly with their own platforms to ensure they have that end-to-end mobile ad-serving capability.
Telefonica Argentina sells premium customer support as a service
Telefonica de Argentina is aiming to turn customer care into a revenue-generating value-added service by offering its customers in-depth advice at a premium. The operator already provides a premium customer support service to its broadband customers called Dr Speedy; however, Telefonica de Argentina wants to go further.
According to Jose Luis Caresani, head of management and provision of broadband services at Telefonica de Argentina, the company wants to change the relationship they have with their customers. As well as troubleshooting problems, a customer service representative could for instance offer advice on connecting new devices such as a printer to a home network. The company wants to become a bigger part of customers’ digital lives.
Caresani noted that a closer relationship with its end users could also help the operator identify opportunities to develop and launch new services more quickly.
Moreover, Alcatel-Lucent believes consumers are willing to pay for such services.
According to Ben Geller, senior director of product marketing at Alcatel-Lucent, Consumers are beginning to understand that a line exists between customer support they’d expect to receive for free, and customer support they expect for a fee. Everyone eventually gets to the point where they don’t want to be a home CTO, and they’re prepared to pay someone else to be one for them.
America Movil to combine fixed, mobile operations under Claro brand (Argentina)
Mexican telecoms operator America Movil will join its fixed and mobile operations in Argentina under the Claro moniker from 20 October 2010.
According to reports, the move will make Claro the first operator in the country to offer telephone and internet services under a single brand, on the same bill and using its own infrastructure.
America Movil began the incorporation of its fixed line subsidiary Telmex Argentina with its local mobile unit Claro in August, after America Movil took control of Telmex’s parent Telmex International the previous month.
In the coming months, the sale of products and services will be combined in retail outlets and customer service centres, with a diverse focus on the mobile market.
According to the company, it also plans to obtain a license to provide pay TV services, which the operator will require investment in Telmex’s fibre network to reach customers’ homes directly.
Tel Italia to Buy Argentine Sofora Stake
Telecom Italia is planning to take over Telecom Argentina, Argentina’s second largest fixed-line phone company.
With the acquisition, the Rome-based company will also take control of Telecom Argentina, in which Sofora has a controlling stake. Telecom Italia will not pay cash for the acquisition, instead it will give up call option it had over Sofora’s stake.
Telecom Italia presently owns 50% of Sofora, with the rest held by the Argentine Werthein group.
According to a source, the Werthein group has agreed to give up 8% of its Sofora stake to Telecom Italia, and with this the Italian group will own 58% of the holding company.
With 58% of Sofora, Telecom Italia should be able to merge Telecom Argentina’s results in the Italian group’s accounts.
Telefonica’s Suspends Various International Roaming Service
Spain’s telecom group Telefonica has suspended its various roaming services. Many companies in Venezuela are complaining of a lack of access to dollars owed to the strict currency controls by President Hugo Chavez’s government.
According to Telefonica subsidiary Movistar, due to the lack of availability of the necessary foreign currency, the company is indebted to temporarily suspend the International Roaming service with some operators in various countries.
Telefonica, the Europe’s biggest telecom operator by market capitalization announced earlier in August it urgently needed to send back $1.8 billion profits from Venezuela.
Venezuela is Telefonica’s third-most important market by revenue after Brazil and Argentina.
Over the last three years Telefonica has repatriated some $550 million in Movistar earnings
Argentina to finally launch number portability system
Argentina users will soon to have number portability services as the Argentinean government has passed the order for the introduction of the portability system in the country.
According to reports, a decade after the publication in the Official Gazette of the document that originated the present announcement, President Cristina Fernandez has now ordered the regulation of the number portability system for mobile phone users.
Argentina’s telecommunications secretariat Secom’s decree 98 specified that the portability system will be made available the next year. The portability system execution is likely to entail overall investments of around US$ 40 million. With 35 million subscribers and 4 operators (Movistar, Claro, Personal and Nextel) in the local market, MNP will play a crucial factor in determining future market dynamics.
