Toshiba to deliver NFC-enabled SIM Cards to KDDI (Japan)
Toshiba has stated that it will start the delivery of commercial User Identity Module (UIM) cards supporting Near Field Communication (NFC) to Japan’s KDDI Corp.
The newly developed UIM card consists of CDMA2000 and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and supports NFC, which is expected to go into the commercial service soon.
According to the company, the card was developed based on the latest specifications of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute-Smart Card Platform (ETSI SCP), GSMA and GlobalPlatform (GP). In addition to this, the card is compatible with GSMA’s Pay-Buy-Mobile programme and meets the security level required for international payment applications.
The card will allow the users to access services in such areas as electronic payment, transportation, personal identification, coupon redemption and more.
KDDI initiated verification testing on contactless IC technology subject to the ISO/IEC14443 Type A/B international standards in May 2010.
KDDI used handsets supporting NFC in order to verify the technical reliability and user-friendliness of the application systems including electronic payment. Toshiba, which started to develop a UIM card in 2009, participated in the testing in order to verify the reliability of the UIM card and to establish the technology.
Toshiba stated that it is ready to mass produce UIM cards for the global market and will promote UIM cards to MNO worldwide, including operators in Europe, the US and Asia.
Moldtelecom launches 3G network (Moldova)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Commercial launch of W-CDMA/HSDPA services has been announced by Moldovan state-owned incumbent telecoms operator Moldtelecom under the brand name ‘Unite 3G’. A total of MDL250 million (USD19.2 million) has been invested by the telco.
Mobile CDMA2000 1x and 1xEV-DO services is already provided by the operator and it was first introduced in the capital, Chisinau in March 2007 under the ‘Unite’ banner. Mobile broadband at download speeds of up to 14.4Mbps, video calling and high quality voice services will be provided by Moldtelecom’s new 3G.
68% of the population is covered by the 3G network at its launch along with the country’s major cities and regional centers, as well as many rural regions. Increasing maximum downlink speeds to 21Mbps and adding television to its portfolio of services on offer is also on the company’s card.
Sky Link contracts Alca- Lu for CDMA network upgrade (Russia)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Russian CDMA network, Sky Link and Alcatel-Lucent has signed an agreement as per which the latter will upgrade the operator’s network to 3G/CDMA2000 1x-EVDO Revision B radio access network functionality.
Sky Link would be able to increase network capabilities without radio channel widening with the help of the EV-DO Rev. B (Evolution-Data Optimized Revision B) standard, entirely based on IP. The data speed rates could also be increased from subscriber to base station – up to 3.9 Mbit/s and from base station to subscriber – up to 6.2 Mbit/s. Up gradation of EV-DO network is also on Sky Link’s cards, currently operating in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Krasnodar.
Alcatel-Lucent’s mobile network equipment is successfully used by the telco in territories for years – covering amongst others our 3 largest and most important regions mentioned above.
According to Gulnara Khasyanova, ZAO Sky Link’s general director, Alca Lu will help the telco to realize an increase in network capacity of at least 15% and provide its customers with mobile broadband access services that surpass the competitors offering in data speed and end-user experience
New Zealand duopoly hit by a new entry
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Formerly known as NZ Communications, 2degrees, New Zealand’s newly-launched third mobile network has made a remarkable start in its bid to break the country’s mobile duopoly. The new network has not only taken over 50 percent of net additions which is something about 70,000 connections in the last quarter of the year but has also predicted that it will surpass a quarter of a million connections by the end of the current quarter (Q1 2010).
The GSM services of 2degrees were launched in August 2009. It’s low-cost prepaid strategy quickly made an impact as it significantly undercut its larger rivals, market-leader Vodafone and second-placed Telecom New Zealand (Telecom). The company cut the voice calls from NZD0.89 (US$0.63) to NZD0.44 (US$0.31) per minute and standard text messaging from NZD0.20 to NZD0.09. The operator has also claimed that it has halved the country’s standard prepaid rates.
NZD250 million (US$176 million) has been initially invested by the operator to build out its new network using Huawei kit. The launch of the new network has also served to step up pressure on regulators to force Vodafone and Telecom to make significant cuts in their mobile termination rates (MTRs). Even before the regulatory intervention, the two larger operators have already begun moves to cut standard termination rates (NZD0.15 per minute for calls and NZD0.10 for texts).
New Zealand’s market leader is in the form of Vodafone with just under 2.5 million connections by year-end. However, overall connections growth is slowing, rising by just 1.2 percent in the year to Q4 2009. Meanwhile, a subsidiary of the country’s fixed-line incumbent operator and second-placed Telecom is in the process of replacing its CDMA2000 network with a new high-spec WCDMA/HSPA network running at 850MHz called XT.
2degrees deployed a well-established tactic for a new player entering a market. Embedded incumbents controlled the operator by building a connections base around a low-cost, no-frills prepaid proposition. Currently, New Zealand has seven MVNOs, the majority of which have been launched in the last year. There is also indication that the operator is looking beyond 2G services but it is likely to find itself trapped in a competition with its larger rivals in high-speed services.
Vodafone has emerged as the clear market leader in this space and has had success in bundling up its 3G services with its fixed-line offerings via cross-channel content arrangements with the likes of Sky TV.
Telecom’s rival XT network seems to be copying Telstra’s pioneering NextG network in neighboring Australia, but it has had a first year it would rather forget. However, Telecom has engulfed itself in heavy investment in the network and it should emerge as a strong platform for mobile data services once the technical problems are resolved.
SaskTel to launch W-CDMA/HSPA-based 3G/3.5G network
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Commercial services over a W-CDMA/HSPA-based 3G/3.5G mobile network will be launched by Saskatchewan-based operator, SaskTel, on July 1, 2010. The aim of the network will be to cover 98% of the province’s population by the end of the year.
The network building work worth USD170 million is already under way. Company’s network sharing agreement with Bell and Telus is also in place to allow nationwide HSPA roaming for SaskTel’s customers. Currently, 3G/3.5G mobile services via CDMA2000 1xEV-DO/Rev A technology is provided province-wide by SaskTel.
According to Robert Watson, CEO of SaskTel, legacy analogue cellular network has to be shut down within the next twelve months or even earlier as it is a no longer supportable and 3,200 customer using the analogue network will have to be notified.
China Mobile criticizes CDMA network service quality
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The service quality of the CDMA2000 mobile network run by PCCW in Hong Kong has been criticized by China Telecom. The operator has claimed that the standard of CDMA roaming in the Special Administrative Region (SAR) is well short of GSM/W-CDMA networks.
ong Kong is the most important roaming destination for the subscribers of China Mobile which is the Chinese mainland’s sole CDMA network operator. However, the CDMA roaming situation at present cannot satisfy the needs of roaming users. It has also been claimed that the level of CDMA development in Hong Kong has declined in the recent years. Besides, coverage has also shrunk, network quality has declined, and the perceptions of roaming users have been greatly affected.
The operator hopes that auction would attract new entrants into Hong Kong to build and operate an 850MHz CDMA network. Spectrum in the 850MHz, 900MHZ and 2100MHz bands is planned to be sold by the regulator providing enough frequency to support a new public network across the territory.
Hong Kong to auction 30MHz of 3G spectrum
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Nearly 30MHz of 3G spectrum in an auction is seeked to be sold by the Hong Kong regulator, Ofta, allowing another operator into the saturated local mobile market. The regulator has planned to auction four blocks of spectrum in the 850MHz, 900MHz and 2100MHz bands as early as the fourth quarter of 2010.
2 x 5MHz in the 850MHz and 900MHz bands and 9.7MHz in the 2GHz band will also be sold by the telco. According to Ofta, the 850MHz band could be used either for a second cdma2000 network or for a W-CDMA deployment. Ofta will sell the spectrum via an auction and a one-off spectrum utilization fee.
There are five GSM or W-CDMA mobile networks and a cdma2000 network in Hong Kong and they serve a population of 7 million people while the mobile penetration rate is 167% which is one of the highest in the world.
MTS Ukraine looses mobile subscribers, adds mobile broadband users
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A net loss of 550,000 mobile subscribers in 2009 has been announced by telecom operator MTS Ukraine going down 3.1% year-on-year to close at 17.56 million active customer accounts at the end of December.
At the same time, 140,000 subscribers have been the number of subscribers of the operator’s 450MHz CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev A-based mobile broadband service ‘MTS Connect 3G’. The revenue of the company decreased by 4.9% year-on-year in local currency to UAH8.17 billion (USD1.02 billion).
2.3 % fall in the net profit to UAH681 million and 5.4% drop in the OIBDA to UAH3.68 billion has also been reported by the company.
Less than 1% decline in blended average monthly income per user (ARPU) in 2009 has been noted by the Russian-owned company. A slight increase in the ARPU over the same period of 2008 to UAH38.3 in the fourth quarter of the year has been noted. Mobile broadband ARPU in the twelve-month period was just above UAH100.
Telecom Namibia re- launches ‘Switch’ CDMA mobile voice service
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: CDMA mobile voice service ‘Switch’ has been officially re- launched by Telecom Namibia on March 24, 2010 with extensive coverage of rural areas. The service has come after ten months when the government lifted mobility restrictions on the service.
The government removed restrictions in May 2009 limiting each switch voice service user to a zone in and around their home town. In the following month, the service was re- launched as a mobile service. However, initially the network did not extend much beyond urban zones, partly because covering main roads between towns would have been pointless during Switch’s period as a restricted mobility service.
After the complaint from GSM mobile operators that Telecom Namibia was offering mobile services under a fixed line license when it originally launched in November 2006, ban was imposed on full voice mobility.
According Telecom’s marketing and sales manager, Amanda Hauuanga, re-launch is providing Telecom Namibia with the opportunity to touch base with end users, bring back their confidence, gather feedback to further improve its Switch products and create further brand and product awareness in the market.
Users to make and receive calls, send and receive SMS messages and connect to the internet with a data package provided over CDMA2000 1x, and in certain areas, 1xEV-DO technology through switch.
China Unicom suffers 73% drop in 2009 profit
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: As a result of increased spending on 3G network and a lack of a one-time gain, 73% drop in full-year profit has been reported by China Unicom. More expenditure was made by the company to win subscribers to its CDMA2000 1xEV-DO network amid rising competition from China Mobile and China Telecom.
According to Unicom chairman Chang Xiaobing, company would raise handset subsidies in 2010 to enable Unicom to attract higher-end customers who could lift revenue from non-voice services such as music and video downloads. Addition of 10 million 3G users is targeted by China Unicom by the end of this year.
2.4% fall in the average revenue per user (ARPU) from RMB77 to RMB 41.2 a month in 2009 has been suffered by the firm. Unicom started giving 3G services nationwide in October, added 14.2 million customers in 2009, including 2.7 million 3G users. The lower income from fixed line operations could not be countered by higher wireless revenue and as a result, Unicom’s sales in the year ended December 31, 2009 fell 3.7% to RMB153.95 billion.
7.2% jump in the sales and marketing costs to RMB21 billion and 16% rise in network expenses to RMB21.8 billion has also been reported by the company.
