Wireless Federation

Tele2 looks for acquisition opportunities in Central Asia to compete with TeliaSonera (Europe)

On 11.18.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Sweden based telecom firm, Tele2 is reportedly looking for acquisition opportunities in Central Asia, in an attempt to better compete with rival operator TeliaSonera. According to reports, Tele2 had acquired a majority stake in Kazakhstan’s wireless operator NEO, in March 2010.

As per sources, Lars Nilsson, CFO, Tele2 has said that countries in the vicinity of Kazakhstan can always be of interest as long as the market is not too small. He added that the target markets need at least 1 million potential customers for Tele2 to make an investment worthwhile. Further, reports suggest that Tele2 has more than 1 million Kazakh customers and expects to reach as many as 2.5 million by the end of 2012.

TeliaSonera currently operates in the regions of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. As per reports, it is looking to increase its stake in partially owned companies and is currently investing more in Kcell.

Sources claim that Telenor has been focusing on India and regions in Southeast Asia for opportunities in the emerging markets. According to reports, Richard Olav Aa, CFO, Telenor said that he expects Indian authorities to create more transparent rules for mergers and acquisitions within the next three years, and the company would be able to engage in mergers if it meets its 2013 breakeven goal.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: ASIA • Azerbaijan • Georgia • India • Kazakhstan • Moldova • Sweden • Tajikistan • Tele2 • Telenor • TeliaSonera • Uzbekistan

Bhart Airtel hopes to launch 4G services in India along with the rest of the world

On 08.31.11, In Mobile Operators, By Editor

Bharti Airtel Ltd., a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa, may launch 4G technology for mobiles in India sooner than expected. Sources claim that Sanjay Kapoor, CEO, India and South Asia, Bharti Airtel, believes that the launch of 4G services in India will happen in close vicinity with the launch in other countries. 4G is expected to take the mobile industry by storm, with every network operator eyeing it as a means of acquiring more customers and increasing their market share.

Airtel is a dominant player in the Indian telecom market with around 170 million subscribers. Reportedly Mr. Kapoor has mentioned the low penetration of 3G devices as an obstacle for mobile operators providing 3G services. He further adds that the language of the content used in the country is not very conducive.

Filed under:Mobile Operators Tagged with: 3G • 4G • Airtel • ASIA • Bharti • India • Sanjay Kapoor

Huawei B593 TD-LTE router to be launched in October (Asia)

On 08.30.11, In Mobile Operators, Mobile Phones, Mobile Solutions, Mobile Technology, By Editor

Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider aims to launch the Huawei B593 TD-LTE wireless broadband router through Saudi Arabian operator Mobily in October this year. With the increasing consumer base accessing the internet through their mobile handsets and streaming music and videos constantly, even the 3G networks are facing difficulties in managing the large volume of data flow.

The router is expected to support LTE TDD and FDD and provide access to up to 32 WiFi devices. According to reports, Hu Guangping, head of Mobile Broadband LTE division, Huawei Device said that this product will provide operators the ability to provide the consumers superfast internet access without the need for fixed network infrastructure enabling them to expand their subscriber base in a more flexible and cost-effective way.

Mobily, a subsidiary of Etisalat seeks to use the product in scarcely-populated areas in West Asia where infrastructure costs are very high with a slow return-on-investment.

Filed under:Mobile Operators,Mobile Phones,Mobile Solutions,Mobile Technology Tagged with: 3G • ASIA • Etisalat • Hu Guangping • Huawei • Mobily • Saudi Arabia • TD-LTE

Spice i2i completes Affinity Group acquisition (Asia)’s

On 05.25.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Spice i2i, an Asian mobile internet and Value Added Service company has completed the acquisition of the Affinity Group.

The Affinity Group owns Indonesian handset distributor Selular Global Net and the Nexian brand. According to Spice, it would look for similar opportunities in other Asian countries as well.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: ASIA • Indonesia • Mobile

Jimdo Announces 4 Million Websites Now Mobile (Europe, Asia, South America)

On 05.24.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Jimdo.com, the global free website creation tool, has announced it has optimized all its sites for mobile.

“We think it is important to be out in front of the mobile revolution,” says Christian Springub, co-founder of Jimdo. “Starting today, all JimdoPages have a mobile-friendly view for optimal display on iPhones, Androids, and other smartphones.”

All 4 million Jimdo websites now include a mobile friendly view for iPhones and Android phones – generated automatically. Additionally, all 40,000 online stores offer a mobile store with mobile checkout. To see an example, visit http://www.suigenerisclothing.net/2011-shop/gypsopila from a mobile device.

The native applications of the phones have been integrated wherever it makes sense: when a visitor clicks on a Google Map in a mobile JimdoPage, the native phone’s Google Maps app opens.

Springub says Jimdo created the mobile- and mobile commerce-friendly feature because many users in Asia and the US already have smartphones, and he expects mobile commerce to grow quickly as a key differentiator.

Jimdo has 4 million users in Europe, Asia, and South America, ranks #774 overall on Alexa worldwide, and is in the top 500 sites in fifteen countries. Quantcast measures that Jimdo’s site reached about 10 million people monthly worldwide with over 100 million impressions.

About Jimdo

Jimdo — Pages to the People (www.jimdo.com) was founded in February 2007 by three young entrepreneurs Christian Springub, Fridtjof Detzner, and Matthias Henze. In an old farmhouse in 2004, the three started a web agency for small businesses. The technology powering Jimdo was first developed so business clients could easily edit and update their sites, but frequent requests from friends gave the founders the idea to offer free JimdoPages. In just a few minutes, anyone – no technical knowledge required – can get a website online, complete with blog, photo galleries, video, online store, and more. Industry leaders like the Samwer brothers (CityDeal/Groupon, Facebook, LinkedIn) have invested in the innovative company. Jimdo is now available in 11 languages, and in May 2011, the 4,000,000th Jimdo site went online.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: ASIA • Europe • Mobile • South America

Out There Media, MMA release paper on mobile ad in Asia

On 05.13.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Out There Media and a member of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), has released a white paper outlining the regional success of permission-based mobile advertising in Asia.

Out There Media’s opt-in database in the region stood at 5 million at the end of March this year.

The average conversion rate for opt-in marketing and advertising stands at 25.15 percent, which is considerably higher than the rate for mobile display ads (in the low single digits), more than twenty times the response rate for direct marketing with 1.38 percent and very much higher than web advertising where a response rate of 0.08 percent is considered a successful campaign response rate.

In some cases, the rate of response to opt-in mobile advertising was as high as 50 percent. Consumers are more willing to share information on their location at 97 percent and interests at 96 percent in order to receive targeted advertising. Opt-in mobile advertising goes beyond youth with 72 percent of consumers between the age of 20 and 39.

Opt-in advertising caters to all verticals, most actively engaged are FMCG, beauty & fashion, finance and automotive. Gender is not a determining factor for receptiveness towards opt-in mobile advertising, with slightly more men at 51 percent than women.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: ASIA • Mobile

Comtech bags $1 mn orders from Asian mobile operator

On 05.13.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Comtech EF Data has secured US$1 million in satellite communications equipment orders from an Asian mobile operator.

The Asian mobile operator will facilitate a service expansion by adding the equipment to an existing mobile backhaul network already powered by Comtech.

A variety of Comtech EF Data infrastructure equipment was ordered, including the CDM-625 Advanced Satellite Modem, companion redundancy switches and the CSAT-5060 C-Band Transceivers.

The CDM-625 Advanced Satellite Modem combines advanced technologies for bandwidth efficiency under all conditions, including DoubleTalk Carrier-in-Carrier bandwidth compression, VersaFEC low latency LDPC forward error correction with Adaptive Coding and Modulation, low overhead streamline encapsulation, header compression and payload compression.

The CSAT-5060 C-Band Transceivers provide installation and RF performance. The operator has also ordered the CX-U Series from Comtech EF Data’s subsidiary, Memotec. The CX-U Series brings together a mobile site gateway device and mobile backhaul traffic optimisation, offering a variety of interfaces and transmission options.

The CX-U Series reduces the bandwidth required to backhaul mobile traffic and eliminates the need for major network upgrades.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: ASIA • Mobile

Conexus partners with HTC to offer HTC phones (Asia)

On 05.05.11, In Mobile, By Editor

HTC confirmed it’s in talks on a cooperation with the Asian mobile operator alliance Conexus.

Taiwan stated that the two partners will announce an alliance for Conexus members to offer HTC phones.

Taiwan operator Far Eastone, a Conexus member, stated that it facilitated the negotiations. Conexus members serve a total 310 million customers in the region.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: ASIA • operator • Taiwan

Mobile advertisements rising in Asia

On 05.04.11, In Mobile, By Editor

InMobi, an international mobile ad network, more advertisers are reaching out to buyers through their mobile phones, with growth in the Asia-Pacific region outpacing the global rate.

According to its report, advertisements on mobile phones reached 17.6 billion “impressions” in March this year, up 26 per cent from just four months earlier. The increase was 21 per cent globally during the same period.

InMobi, which acts as a middleman between advertisers and mobile phone users, stated that the market was being driven by the phenomenal growth in smartphones, which now account for 22 per cent of all mobile ads in the region.

Smartphone users usually get interactive advertisements while surfing the web or playing games on their high-tech devices.

This allows users, for example, to view different car models being advertised or even “meet” characters of the Pirates of the Caribbean 4 movie in a click.

According to Atul Satija, InMobi’s regional Vice-President and Managing Director, the continued growth of mobile media consumption in Asia highlights the advertising opportunity for local, regional and global brands. The mobile phone screen is the primary screen for Internet use in Asia, a fact which will drive Asia to innovate in the mobile space potentially ahead of the world’s most advanced media markets.

James Lamberti, vice president for global research and marketing at InMobi added that the introduction of the Android operating system to compete with Apple’s iPhones “has significantly accelerated smartphone growth. With the increased focus on mobile from global publishers, advertisers and developers, the mobile experience has reached the next phase of its evolution.

A joint study by InMobi and the Mobile Marketing Association reported that 80 per cent of Asian mobile web users shop while on the move, buying products including music, movies, games and clothes.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: ASIA • Caribbean • Mobile

HTC offers high-end Smartphone, VOD service (Europe, Asia)

On 04.13.11, In Mobile, By Editor

HTC has introduced a new high-end smartphone, the HTC Sensation, which will launch with Vodafone in Europe and in Asian markets in Q2.

The Sensation features an aluminum body and 4.3-inch SLCD touch display with 540 x 960 resolution and Gorilla glass. The Android phone runs on a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and comes with 8 megapixel camera and 1080p HD video.

It’s the first phone to offer access to HTC’s new video-on-demand service HTC Watch. The video service uses progressive download technology that makes it possible to watch videos without waiting for the file to finish downloading.

HTC Watch offers the choice of renting or buying videos, and if purchased, they can be watched on up to five HTC devices. The phone also comes with a new version of the HTC Sense user interface. This transforms the lockscreen into a real-time window to important information, such as social updates, weather or stock updates that are viewed by simply turning on the display.

The active lockscreen also can be customized to jump to the most used features, like making a phone call, sending an e-mail or taking a picture, with the same quick gesture used to unlock the phone.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: ASIA • Europe • Mobile