Americans Lag Behind Europeans in Smartphone Adoption
European consumers have been faster to adopt ‘smart’ mobile phones than their American counterparts, according to Telephia. In Q3 2006, smartphone penetration in Western Europe was 8.8 percent among recent device buyers; more than double that of the USA which was 3.8 percent. A smartphone is a class of handsets with a mobile operating system such as Symbian, Microsoft OS, RIM or Palm.
Telephia’s European Subscriber and Device Report highlights significant differences between European countries. Italy has been at the forefront of driving mobile development and penetration in Europe and is also leading the adoption of smartphones by far. More than 95 percent of all Italians own a mobile phone and almost one in five buyers of new phones in the last six months (19.2%) bought smartphones (see Table 1). Recent phone buyers in Spain and the UK are also choosing smartphones with penetration rates of 9.5 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively. France trails with 3.5 percent of recent phone buyers upgrading to smartphones. This is only slightly less than the U.S. where the proportion of these devices among recent buyers was 3.8 percent in Q3.
“High speed networks like 3G were available earlier in Europe than in the USA. To get the best out of these faster networks, mobile consumers were motivated to purchase more advanced devices like smartphones which provided a better experience with data applications,” said Reza Chady, Telephia’s Managing Director for Europe. “On a country-by-country level, it’s not a surprise to see Italy lead in smartphone adoption, as Italians consistently spend the most on devices and data usage as compared to the other European countries. Moreover, Italian Internet penetration is less than the UK or Germany for example and smartphone devices with advanced capabilities provide an excellent opportunity for content owners to entice Italians accessing the Web using their phone.”
A new wave of stylish and sleek smartphones launched recently in Europe and the USA is positioning the market to move beyond the traditional business-user niche. Telephia data shows that shift is already happening in Europe. Young professionals in Europe aged 25-34 were the largest group of smartphone owners in Q3 2006, followed by 35-44 year olds (see Table 2). Young professionals accounted for 27 percent of all mobile users, but posted a higher penetration rate of 34 percent among smartphone users. However, the gap has closed between smartphone and the general mobile user profile among all other age groups in the latest quarter. In addition, the proportion of women smartphone owners is increasing although they currently still seem to be predominantly owned by men in most countries.
“Devices like the Blackberry Pearl, Sony Ericsson’s P990i or Nokia’s E61 in Europe, and Moto Q and Palm Treo 680 in the USA represent a breed of smartphones that are designed to cater to the mainstream mobile user — touting consumer-friendly features like music players and cameras, while maintaining the software applications and other functionality championed by business users,” added Chady.
Chadbourne Represents VimpelCom in €341.9 Million Deal to Acquire Armenian Telecom Company
Chadbourne & Parke LLP represented Vimpel-Communications (VimpelCom, NYSE: VIP) in an agreement with Hellenic Telecommunications Organization to acquire 90% of CJSC Armenia Telephone Company (Armentel).
The purchase price was €341.9 million (US$434.3 million) plus the assumption of approximately €40 million (US$50.8 million) in net debt and obligations. The deal closed on November 16.
Armentel is a fixed-line and mobile operator in Armenia with licenses in the GSM-900 and CDMA standards. Armentel’s subscriber base includes approximately 600,000 fixed-line subscribers and 400,000 GSM subscribers.
Working on the deal for Chadbourne were Laura Brank, head of the Russia & CIS Practice, and Moscow partners Konstantin Konstantinov and Christopher Owen, as well as London partner Charez Golvala and Moscow counsel Evgenia Korotkova.
The VimpelCom Group includes cellular companies operating in Russia and Kazakhstan and recently acquired cellular operators in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Georgia. The VimpelCom Group’s cellular license portfolio covers a territory with a population of about 237 million.
VimpelCom is a leading international provider of mobile telecommunications services in Russia and Kazakhstan, with recently acquired operators in Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Georgia. The VimpelCom Group’s license portfolio covers approximately 237 million people. Geographically it covers 78 regions in Russia (with 136.5 million people, representing 94% of Russia’s population) as well as the entire territories of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Georgia.
Source- russianewswire Wireless Mobile Telecom
Kenya Tailing in Celtel Bloc Growth
Celtel Kenya is tailing Uganda and Tanzania in percentage subscriber growth, a company report has shown.
The report that Business Week has seen, reveals that while Kenya still continues to perform exceptionally well, its subscriber base grew by a mere 19% compared to Uganda’s 64% and Tanzania’s 83%.
While subscriber numbers in Tanzania and Uganda grew from 738, 000 to 1.349 million and from 233,000 to 381,000 respectively, Kenya’s grew from 1.461 million to 1.743 million.
Announcing the 2006 third quarter earnings for the nine months ending September 30, Celtel’s parent company, MTC of Kuwait said the company recorded positive subscriber growth in all 15 African countries in which it operates.
In the report, MTC recorded consolidated revenues of US$ 2.92 billion, an increase of 115% over the same period in 2005 and posted a net income of $767.46 million, an increase of 64% compared to the same period last year.
The report released last month in Kuwait shows that while the group boasts of a growing customer base of 24.9 million customers in both Africa and the Middle East, total Celtel subscriber growth alone stood at 15.270 million up from 5.375 million (184%).
Celtel Zambia topped all the other countries after recording a 116% growth in subscriber numbers while Sierra Leone tailed at 48% growth.
Burkina Faso recorded an 86% growth, Chad (70%), Congo Brazzaville (87%), DR Congo (80%), Gabon (66%), Malawi (107%) and Niger (107%).
Statistics for Nigeria and Madagascar subscriber growth were unavailable because the two operations were only acquired in May 2006 and December 2005 respectively.
However, their customer base stands at over 5.993 million and 302,000 respectively.
There are over 2.462 million subscribers in Sudan where the pan African mobile firm operates as Mobitel.
With 12,000 employees in both Africa and the Middle East, MTC has mobile voice and data services operations in Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain and Lebanon.
Industry experts tie the good group performance figures to organic growth, new license awards and acquisitions over the past three and a half years since the company embarked on its profitable expansion strategy.
“The company’s remarkable customer growth is primarily driven by its African operations; and its enviable financial performance is driven by its more mature Middle Eastern operations,” a company statement said.
Mr. Asaad Ahmed Al-Banwan, chairman of MTC said, “We are continuously on the look out for new profitable opportunities.
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has launched a process that will lead to a 3rd license award and we will participate. We are also evaluating a couple of smaller opportunities in Africa.”
Celtel is still basking in its world record borderless network for East Africa launched in September 2006 that allows customers to travel across the three borders without roaming call surcharges and paying to receive incoming calls.
Source- allafrica Wireless Mobile Telecom
Gmail, YouTube Going Mobile (Non US/Canada Users also)
Google introduced a mobile version of its Gmail email system Thursday, a day after the founder of its soon-to-be subsidiary YouTube predicted the user-generated video service would be available on mobile devices within a year.
Google’s Gmail mobile client is a free downloadable Java application with an interface designed for mobile devices like cell phones.
While Gmail has been available for a long time via the mobile browser on many cell phones and smart phones, it’s somewhat cumbersome to use that way.
The Java-based client acts more like the interface on the Gmail web site. It includes search features, a conversation view, and automatic synchronization with the desktop version of Gmail.
The Mountain View, California, search king said the mobile client is also five times faster than accessing the email service through a mobile browser. The Java client reduces the number of clicks and keystrokes, and the amount of scrolling, needed to read, compose, and search email messages.
We made the client application very fast,??? said Tony Hsieh, a product manager with the mobile team at Google. When you start up the application, rather than just downloading the first 20 headers, you also download the first 20 bodies, depending on the phone’s memory. For most people, those are the common things people read, so it will be instantaneous.???
In addition, the client automatically resizes attachments such as files and photos so they can be viewed on a phone screen.
Google also wanted to make the functions people perform with their mobile phones much easier to do. For example, when a user archives and deletes emails through the old mobile browser version of Gmail, it would take 11 clicks. But with the client version, the process takes just two clicks, said Mr. Hsieh.
The application is available for download if users point their mobile browsers to gmail.com/app. It will work with any phone that supports J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition). Sprint Nextel customers can also download the application from the Sprint PCS Vision or Sprint Power Vision home page.
Mr. Hsieh said Google was interested in working with other partners besides Sprint, including competing wireless carriers as well as phone makers, on offering the client software download.
The application will work with nearly 200 different Java phone models, but Mr. Hsieh declined to predict other types of mobile devices for which Google might later adapt its client software.
YouTube Eyes Mobile Market
Google’s recent $1.65-billion acquisition, YouTube, also gave indications that it intends to get into the mobile business.
Within the next year, we hope to have something on a mobile device,??? YouTube CEO Chad Hurley said at the OgilvyOne Digital Summit in New York on Wednesday. It’s going to be a huge market, especially for the video mind-set we’re dealing with. It’s a natural transition.???
As with Google and Gmail, users of some types of wireless mobile devices are already able to view clips from YouTube. But a specialized version of YouTube could make the service more easily accessible to these users and allow videographers on the go to post clips from a camera phone.
(Non US users can go to www.google.com/app and get it wherever in the world you are.)
Source- redherring Wireless Mobile Telecom Gmail
Celtel to introduce one network in Ghana
Celtel International, a telecommunications group based in the Netherlands, has declared its intention to invest in Ghana, as well the as likelihood of introducing its mobile phone system that networks countries and eliminates roaming charges.
It is currently undertaking investment studies in the country, which will become the sixth West African country it will be operating in and the sixteenth in Africa.
Once operational in the country, the company will study the network system in other West African countries and decide on when to introduce its unique “One Network” service.
The service, which is currently in use in East Africa (Tanzanian, Uganda and Kenya) makes it possible for a user of a Celtel mobile phone to use the same number in another networked country without paying for roaming surcharges.
The “One Network” is automatically activated once a customer crosses over into the geographic border of any other networked countries without prior registration or new cellular phone chip. The customer can also place calls to any of the networked countries without any restriction.
Dave Hagedorn, Business Development Manager of Celtel, and Khaled Al-Anjiri, Mergers and Acquisitions Specialist from Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC), the parent company of Celtel, headquartered in Kuwait, are in the country this week to hold talks with investment partners.
Without mentioning the amount to be invested, Mr. Hagedorn told the Times “we are looking at the opportunities and we will be investing substantially.
“We are hopeful that we will start operations in the coming month that Ghana will be the next country for the group,” Mr. Hagedorn added.
He indicated the expansion of their operations to Ghana was in line with their vision to cover the entire continent. Celtel is also operating in Burkina Faso, Chad, DR Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Congo, Sierra Leone, Zambia and Sudan.
The company intends covering the entire Africa with the “One Network” service by implementing it on a regional basis, he said.
Mr. Al-Anjiri, for his part, said the MTC was committed to investing in infrastructure to offer improved services for customers and also taking advantage of opportunities that could be used to remove barriers between populations and make life better.
Source- http://www.andnetwork.com
Arab mobile provider, Nokia launches Sudan operations
Oct 5, 2006 (DUBAI) — i2, the largest and most diverse mobile provider in Africa and the Middle East announced today in a press briefing the launch of its operations in Sudan.
i2 introduces its retail concept and after sales services for the first time in the country.
i2 is the first authorized Nokia distributor and service center in the country as well as being the first to offer mobile subscribers original Nokia devices with matching accessories and a one-year warranty. In Sudan, i2 will be available through its showroom, distribution network and service center.
i2′s operation in Sudan will be managed by Mohamed Osman El Tayyeb, Chairman, and Hussein Raouf Atwi, General Manager.
i2 plans to expand its operation throughout Sudan within the year to include Bahri, Omdurman and Kalaka. i2 has opened a branch in the state of Adbara and plans to expand to Madani and Port Sudan.
Nokia has long recognized Africa as an important market for the company’s business. Since early 1990, Nokia has provided mobile phones, enhancement, telecoms networks and related infrastructure and services to operators and customers throughout Africa.
‘Nokia’s approach is to develop and support all local distributors and service partners in all countries. Nokia has been working closely with our regional distributor, i2 across most countries in the Middle East and Africa for many years now.
i2 will be able to offer Nokia’s customers authentic Nokia handsets and official Nokia Customer Care Services to ensure that customers in Sudan receive the best possible Nokia experience.” Said Jarmo Santala, General Manager for Nokia Customer and Market Operations North West Africa.
The cost effectiveness of GSM-based services in comparison to fixed-lines has encouraged the fast growth of mobile services in Africa. Nevertheless, mobile penetration levels in Africa remain low.
‘i2 has a big role to play in the development of the mobile market in Africa. We want to make sure that it’s growing market follows international standards of product quality and service’ stated Abdul Hameed Al Sunaid, President and CEO, i2.
Founded in 1993 in Saudi Arabia as Itsalat International, i2 is the region’s largest and most diverse mobile phone provider in the region. i2 operates in: Bahrain, Chad, Egypt, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, KSA, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritius, Morocco, Reunion, Senegal, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE and UK.
Source- http://www.sudantribune.com
Uganda: Celtel Takes Over Nigeria’s Vmobile
CELTEL International has fully taken over control of Nigeria’s Vmobile and re-branded it into its famous red and yellow logo along with its brand promise of ‘Making Life Better.’
In a press statement issued recently, the Celtel International Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Marten Pieters, said Nigeria is a very important market for any serious telecommunications operator in the world.
“Celtel has taken Nigeria seriously right from the days of the license auction. We also tried to acquire Nitel, when it was up for sale, but the more attractive option of buying into Vmobile proved too tantalising to be ignored,” he said.
Celtel’s success in Nigeria underscores the increasing competition among telecom players on the continent for more visibility and business as Africa continues to take leaps into the cyber world.
Re-branding Vmobile, the first mobile network to launch commercial services in Nigeria, follows the acquisition of a controlling stake in the company by Celtel.
The deal, worth $1.005 billion (Shs1.8 trillion), was concluded in May 2006. Officials said the Group plans to do an extensive rollout of the Celtel brand in Nigeria, with investments already hitting more than $700 million (Shs1.2 trillion) being spent to improve network coverage through the erection of 1,000 new base stations and bringing the latest mobile network products to our customers
Celtel offers telecommunications services with mobile licenses covering more than 400 million people, close to half of Africa’s population.
Celtel International is owned by MTC, a leading provider of mobile telecommunications in the Middle East and Africa.
It has more than 15 million customers and operates mobile cellular operations in 14 countries. These include Burkina Faso, Chad, DR Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia among others.
Source- http://allafrica.com
Technorati : Africa, Celtel, MTC, Middle East, Mobile, Nigeria, Uganda, Vmobile
Ice Rocket : Africa, Celtel, MTC, Middle East, Mobile, Nigeria, Uganda, Vmobile
Cingular sponsors bands battle
SAN FRANCISCO (AFX) – Cingular Wireless LLC has agreed to sponsor an online battle of the bands on YouTube Inc., providing the Internet’s most watched video site with a cash infusion as the rapidly growing startup tries to prove it will be able to parlay its popularity into profits.
Financial terms of the deal announced Wednesday weren’t disclosed.
The backing of the nation’s largest cell phone provider has symbolic as well as financial value for San Mateo, Calif.-based YouTube, which serves up more than 100 million videos per day.
Because many of those videos feature risque and bawdy material, some analysts have questioned whether major companies will want their brands stamped on YouTube’s site.
But Cingular, a joint venture of BellSouth Corp. and AT&T Inc., shrugged off those concerns and agreed to pay for a competition that will invite bands without recording contracts to submit videos from Oct. 2 through Oct. 18.
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Atlanta-based Cingular views the sponsorship as a way to promote its efforts to connect with music lovers as it tries to sell more mobile entertainment options.
‘We look forward to building our relationship with YouTube and demonstrating our unique approach to mobilizing the music experience for our customers,’ said John Burbank, Cingular’s vice president of marketing.
If it can’t win the support of big advertisers like Cingular, YouTube figures to have a tougher time to pay its rising bills — a circumstance that might force the privately held company to raise more money from outside investors or seek a buyer. That’s something YouTube co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen have said they don’t want to do.
News of the Cingular sponsorship comes just a few days after another major milestone in YouTube’s evolution.
Warner Music Group Corp., the nation’s third-largest recording label, has agreed to transfer thousands of its commercial videos to YouTube and license its library songs to amateur video makers in a deal that may help ease the piracy concerns looming over the site.
YouTube has been subsisting on credit card debt and $11.5 million in venture capital since Hurley and Chen, a pair of 20-something buddies, launched the company in a Silicon Valley garage 19 months ago.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Source- http://www.hemscott.com
Technorati : Cingular, Mobile, Wireless, You Tube
Ice Rocket : Cingular, Mobile, Wireless, You Tube
