Digicel to launch Blackberry Bold 9780 smartphone
Digicel will be launching the BlackBerry Bold 9780 in all of its 26 markets across the Caribbean and Central America by March 2011.
The BlackBerry Bold 9780 is the first BlackBerry Bold smartphone to come with the new BlackBerry 6 operating system, which retains the familiar and trusted features that distinguish the BlackBerry brand while delivering a fresh, approachable and engaging experience that’s powerful and easy to use.
According to Rick Costanzo, Managing Director, Latin America, Research In Motion, building on the success of the BlackBerry Bold series of smartphones, they are now pleased to work with Digicel to bring the BlackBerry Bold 9780 smartphone featuring the new BlackBerry 6 operating system to their customers in Jamaica.
Featuring a premium and iconic design with an incredibly easy-to-use keyboard and optical trackpad for smooth navigation, the compact and elegantly styled BlackBerry Bold 9780 is packed with advanced communications and multimedia features. The BlackBerry Bold 9780 offers a compelling blend of features, performance and design and comes with a 5MP camera with a full complement of high-end features including continuous auto focus, scene modes, image stabilization, flash and video recording. The BlackBerry Bold 9780 also includes 512 MB Flash memory and an expandable memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB of additional storage.
According to Digicel Group Commercial Director, Brian Finn, Digicel is once again leading the mobile industry with the launch of the BlackBerry Bold 9780, another fantastic addition to RIM’s suite of BlackBerry smartphones.
Digicel has been the leading mobile service provider of BlackBerry handsets within the Caribbean and Central American markets since the launch of smartphone over five years ago. Additionally, Digicel’s competitive prepaid and postpaid price plans offer fantastic value and are tailored to suit diverse customer needs.
Telefonica and Claro spice up Costa Rican telecom market
A new research report has revealed that state-owned ICE faces important challenges and opportunities as a result of the recent liberalization and entry of new competitors into Costa Rica’s mobile market.
By the end of 2010, the majority of markets in Latin America saw population penetration exceeding 100%. Against that backdrop, Costa Rica offers America Movil (Claro) and Telefonica the opportunity to close a 30 point penetration gap, with advantageous economies of scale coming from several operations in the region.
In addition, Costa Rica has a very small prepaid base (less than 30 percent of the total) and is in the early stages of the democratization of mobile data services, such as mobile Internet and mobile broadband.
The price paid by Telefonica and Claro for mobile licenses is consistent with what we have seen in other auctions in Central America, and suggests that both operators will seek a significant share of the market over the coming years to challenge current incumbent ICE.
The outcome of the auction will result in mobile penetration exceeding 130% by 2015, mostly driven by prepaid subscriptions and mobile broadband. By the same token, researcher anticipates a rapid migration in the mid- to high-end base toward mobile Internet subscriptions, thus increasing the share of mobile data services over total telecom revenue.
Millicom selects Huawei for international long- distance network deployment
Millicom has selected Huawei to deploy an international long-distance network in Central America. Using Huawei’s One Network solution, the new network will cover three countries: Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
Huawei’s One Network features precise calling control, flexible service dispatch, and simplified operation and maintenance, which will enable Millicom to introduce new types of long-distance services that open revenue streams and reinforce customer loyalty.
According to Zhang Shunmao, President of North Latin America, Huawei, with their unique strength and strong experience in deploying convergent networks, they are delighted to build a multi-country network that will increase operational efficiency and business profitability for Millicom.
As a substitute for the legacy long-distance switches in the existing networks, Millicom will deploy an All-IP-based multi-country gateway that will significantly simplify network architecture and bring an enhanced user experience to Millicom’s customers by improving voice quality and the reliability of cross-nation calls. The deployment of Huawei’s One Network solution will facilitate a smooth All-IP network transformation for Millicom by fully utilizing the existing network resources.
Guatemala Telecom market expected to reach $2.8 billion by 2015
The recent report by Pyramid Research reveals that the Guatemalan telecom market is expected to reach $2.8 billion by 2015 growing at a CAGR of 4.8%. The drivers behind this rapid expansion will be a 16-point advance in mobile penetration, as well as increases in data services and growth in pay-TV household penetration.
Guatemala is the largest market in Central America, and competition in the mobile segment has caused voice tariffs to drop to regional lows.
According to Jose Magana, analyst at Pyramid, despite this competitive scenario, Pyramid sees interesting opportunities in mobile data services where messaging, mobile Internet, and mobile broadband could close the gap in communications that fixed services could not. Mobile data revenue will expand at a CAGR of 11.8% over the next five years. Though messaging will remain the main source of revenue, connectivity will go from 6% to 28% in total revenues between 2010 and 2015. Also, mobile services, such as mobile banking and mobile advertising, could find fertile ground in Guatemala.
Magana noted that in the fixed line sector, the market will remain largely under-penetrated, and fixed broadband for the mass market has a chance to succeed. Also, initiatives, such as prepaid TV, prepaid broadband, and equipment bundling, are the right types of offerings for a market with this GDP per capita.
To keep up with the changing landscape, regional operator Claro has launched quadruple-play services to take advantage of the low penetration levels in broadband and pay-TV.
According to Mercado, Guatemala has witnessed important convergence moves, like bundled services offered by operators, as Claro and its Turbonett service attempt to become the first quadruple-play operator in the country. Pyramid expects both fixed-mobile convergence and triple-play bundles to have a significant impact in the foreseeable future.
Digicel launches mobile money in Haiti
Digicel Haiti has launched a mobile money service in partnership with Scotiabank under the name ‘Tcho Tcho Mobile’, allowing Haitians to carry out cash withdrawals, deposits and transfers securely through their mobile phones without the need for a traditional bank account.
During its first three months, the programme will offer up to 20,000 users the ability to access Tcho Tcho’s services which include domestic money transfer to another mobile user and phone top-up purchasing. The service will eventually expand both its user capacity and its range of services.
Digicel is a mobile phone network provider covering parts of Oceania, Central America, and the Caribbean regions. The company is owned by Irishman Denis O’Brien, is incorporated in Bermuda, and based in Jamaica. It provides mobile services in 26 countries and territories throughout the Caribbean and Central America with more than six million wireless users.
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.
C&W unit plans sales and acquisitions (Latin America)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Cable & Wireless Communications is planning asset sales and acquisitions in order to maximize cash generation and shareholder returns.
According to Tony Rice, chief executive of C&W Communications, the company would look at selling its minority stakes in overseas telecoms companies if there was no obvious path to control.
The company, which has also adopted a new brand identity to mark its independence, is all set to look at the developing regional hubs of operations in the Caribbean and Central America as well. Since it already has operations in Panama, it is planning to take part in an auction of a mobile license in Costa Rica.
Cable and Wireless Communications has telecom assets in over 38 countries. However the highest revenue generator markets are Panama, Macau, Jamaica, the Maldives and Monaco.
Nokia and Plan Give a Voice to Africa’s Youth
ESPOO, Finland, October 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Nokia (Nachrichten/Aktienkurs) and international children’s organisation, Plan, have joined forces to use modern communications technologies in Africa to raise children’s awareness of their rights and opportunities. Nokia has provided an initial donation of 1 million Euros for 2006. The first stage of this new joint effort will see Nokia focus on supporting Plan’s existing media and communications technology projects for Africa’s children and youth.
“We believe that we can have a positive impact through mobile technology as it is used to enable young people to realise their full potential. The aim of our cooperation with Plan is to fight poverty by empowering African youth and giving them a voice through the use of technology. Plan has a good existing network, positive track record and extensive experience in using technology for youth development in Africa and was therefore, a very good value fit for Nokia,” said Veli Sundback, Executive Vice President, Corporate Relations and Responsibility, Nokia.
“Plan is committed to working in partnerships, not only with local groups or governments in the countries where we work, but also with like-minded corporate organisations like Nokia. I believe that this cooperation will deliver long-term sustainable benefits for hundreds of communities in the developing world,” said Tom Miller, Plan CEO.
Access to and use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) such as radio, the internet, mobile devices and television is a vital element in helping to tackle poverty and improve the respect, fulfilment and protection of children’s rights. In this cooperation, ICT becomes an important tool for children and youth to make their voice heard and to learn about issues that are relevant for them.
Involving children in digital media production either on the radio, in video productions or in music helps introduce the potential of ICT to communities affected by poverty in a non-threatening way and links remote communities to a much wider national audience. Producing their own digital media is often revolutionary for many children, providing them with the chance to gain self-confidence and further influence their own future.
About Plan
Plan is a humanitarian child-centred organization working in 46 developing countries, with families and their communities. Founded almost 70 years ago, Plan has no religious, political or governmental affiliation. Plan has 64 child media projects running in 31 countries at present. These projects include radio programs on child rights in West Africa; video projects in India, Kenya and Tanzania; radio and newspaper projects in Central America; TV production in Vietnam; internet projects for teenagers in Burkina Faso; and radio programs in Thailand, the Philippines and Malawi.
About Nokia
Nokia has a positive impact on society that extends beyond the advanced technology, products and services the company creates. Through its cooperation with non-profit and governmental organizations, the company prepares young people to embrace opportunities created by the global economy and new technological advancements. The company has been an active regional contributor to youth and education causes for many years, with Nokia employees making their own contributions as volunteers in a range of programs throughout the world.
Source- http://www.finanznachrichten.de
