71.1 mln mobile phone users predicted in France by 2014
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: According to a latest prediction by a Canadian research company, France may have 71.1 million mobile phone subscribers in 2014 and Orange will surpass its competitors, SFR and Bouygues Telecom over the next five years in the EBITDA margins.
29 million mobile subscribers could be added by Orange in 2014 with a fall of almost 2% in the market share. A fall from 34.1 percent to 32.9 percent in market share is expected for SFR while Bouygues’ will stay within the 16-17 percent range.
7% rise can be seen in the MVNOs with an increase in the MVNO market share of SFR to 3.3%. Monthly ARPU is projected to slip to EUR 32.60 from EUR 33.30 for Orange, EUR 32.84 from EUR 34.99 for SFR and approximately EUR 41.50 for Bouygues between 2010-2014.
Indian telco’s profit to be hit by lower call rates
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The tariff war engulfing India’s telecommunication industry and extreme competition in the telecom market is likely to hit the profits of the telecom operators in the October-December quarter. A decline of 6% to 13% is expected in Average revenue per user, or ARPU.
Only Bharti Airtel Ltd is expected to post an ARPU of more than INR200 in the fiscal third quarter. The price war was started by Tata DoCoMo by introducing per-second billing plans in June. Reliance Communications Ltd. joined the league with a plan in October by offering INR0.5 per minute, and subsequently all operators launched per-second schemes.
Aggressive billing plans launched by new players entering the market also forced established companies to slash call charges to acquire and retain customers.
Global Mobile Revenues to surpass US$1 Trillion in 2014
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: More than US$1 trillion will be recorded in total mobile service revenues in 2013. Rise in the data revenues will leverage the growth in service revenues as the former will rise to over US$330 billion that year, up from an estimated US$208 billion in 2008.
The voice revenues and ARPU will be surpassed by data revenues and data ARPU in Japan in 2014. The LTE in Japan including other markets might help to support this boom in data revenues.
A loss of 70% will be recorded by the end of 2012, in the second-generation mobile technologies, accounting for 90% of the world’s subscriptions. 3G and 3.5G+ technologies will cover 6.7 billion mobile subscriptions while by 2014, 3.5G+ technologies will represent over a third of the total number of subscriptions.
Airtel- Warid deal receive regulatory nod
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: By receiving the regulatory approval to pay $300 million for a 70% stake in Bangladesh’s fourth-largest cellco Warid Telecom via a new share issue, Bharti Airtel has strengthened its Asian asset portfolio.
If the move is successful, Indian mobile behemoth can compete with global magnates Telenor, Axiata and Orascom Telecom in Bangladesh. The moves have become imperative for Bharti in order to help prop up its profits from the low ARPU, highly competitive Indian market. Kuwait’s Zain Telecom and Sweden’s Millicom International Cellular are also on its target.
Late last year, South African government’s disapproval led to the failure of the Airtel’s deal to merge with South African giant MTN. However, for Bangladeshi investment, Airtel have big plans hoping the investment to surpass a total of $1 billion in the next few years.
Norwegian firm Telenor enters India with 29p per minute plan
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Moving one step ahead of the pay per second system, Norway-based firm Telenor, entered Indian market with 29 paise per minute plan under the brand name Uninor. The company has tied up with India’s Unitech Group and will be launched in seven circles — UP (East), Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, UP (West) and Bihar.
According to the CEO and President of Telenor group, Jon Fredrik Baksaas, the new plan offers more value for money to the users as the consumers want something more than the usual features. The pay per second billing was first launched by TATA DoCoMo, followed by other operators.
According to Unitech Wireless Managing Director Stein-Erik Vellan, the company’s target is to occupy 8% of the market share by 2018 and operate cash-flow break-even in five years.
Besides, the company also expects that the average revenue per user (ARPU) becomes lower than the industry level in the near term. However, Unitech is susceptible about bidding in the 3G auction but at the same time it has made it clear that it will surely not bid for an all India license.
What is Mobile Centrex?
Mobile Centrex solutions allow subscribers to treat mobile handsets as office extensions. There are no upgrades required to the handsets involved any existing device can be used.
Mobile Centrex solutions provide seamless mobility, ensuring that users have access to the same feature set available in the office, and removes the distinction between a fixed and mobile device.
With users accessible on the same number and able to select preferences based on presence and availability, the goal of Fixed-Mobile Convergece can be achieved without significant investments via the use of a Mobile Centrex solution.
The surprising thing is that much of the attention regarding Hosted or Centrex solutions has been looked at within the fixed domain. However, it is the mobile version which offers immense possibilities.
Mobile Operators can offer PBX-like services to enterprise users as an alternative to premises-based solutions.
Research conducted by the Wireless Federation shows that there is a considerable opportunity for mobile operators to target SMEs with Hosted PBX services. Large enterprises already have significant investments done in legacy systems, but it is the SMEs that can greatly benefit from such a service. This would also ensure an increase in ARPU as well as a significant reduction in CHURN from the engaged SMEs.
To know more about Mobile Centrex solutions and How it can help a mobile operator significantly enhance ARPU from the business segment, write to christina @ wirelessfederation.com and ask for the “Global Mobile Innovations report for the Business Segment” report.
Vodafone Czech Republic ARPU at USD 30
Vodafone Czech Republic achieved 49,000 net customers additions between July – September 2009, the largest quarterly growth in 2009. Net customer growth for January-September was 92,000 users.
The operator has over 2.984 million mobile subscribers as on 30 September, up 5.5 percent year-on-year.
Postpay subscribers stood at 1.54 million approx.
Mobile ARPU reported is CZK 522 or USD 30 approx.
Aside from key Stats: Vodafone CZ is promoting a free MMS offer where it will offer 77 free MMS messages per month for the next four months for its subscribers. Customers need to apply for the bundle, which will continue after the free period with a monthly fee.
MTN & IMI announce partnership
Millions of mobile and online content users across Africa and the Middle East will reap the benefits of a landmark tie-up between MTN and IMImobile – an India-based software and managed services provider linked to 350 content providers worldwide.
The two companies have teamed up in a bold move to address the growing demand for content in emerging markets. This strategic partnership will entail providing MTN’s 21 markets access to a repository of current and globally popular content through enhanced delivery platforms. Content categories will include music (with local and international flavour), sports, games, entertainment, news and much more.
It will also enable MTN to launch new income-generating voice and data services across its global footprint, with revenues from mobile content and services estimated at around US$150.2 billion in 2011, up from US$89,3 billion in 2006, worldwide. (more…)
