China Telecom to sell Apple’s iPhone 4S from March 9 (China)
China Telecom will commence the sale of Apple’s iPhone 4S from March 9th onwards. The launch of iPhone 4S by China Telecom was confirmed by Apple in a formal announcement. Apple confirmed the availability of all three sizes of iPhone, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB with China Telecom.
The sale of iPhone 4S will be initiated with online reservations from March 2, informed China Telecom. The launch of iPhone 4S has positioned China Telecom as the second official supplier of iPhone in the country. Earlier, China Telecom’s competitor, China Unicom was the sole supplier of iPhone 4S in China.
China Telecom is banking on the launch of iPhone 4S with 3G net additions to keep pace with its competitors in the telecom market. CDMA technology used by China Telecom’s 3G networks will enable the iPhone to support UMTS/HSDPA and CDMA EVDO, positioning it as the first device to function on these platforms.
The device is launched with three separate monthly fee plans for US$ 45.8722, $ 61.7446, and $ 77.6167. For availing the monthly plans, China Telecom has rolled out two and three year service contracts respectively. Currently, the availability of iPhones is limited to Apple’s online store, resellers and China Unicom in the Chinese telecom market.
By the end of 2011, when China Unicom had 26 million subscribers and China Mobile had 30.5 million subscribers, China Telecom boosted its clientele with 24 million 3G subscribers.
ZTE may invest US$ 314 million in support of China Unicom’s e-book service (China)
China based mobile phone maker, ZTE Corp., is reportedly planning to invest around US$ 314 million in an attempt to support China Unicom Ltd.’s e-book service. According to reports, Yu Yifang, Vice President, ZTE has said that the internet center in Changsha will be expanded over the next three years to include over 1,000 workers from the current strength of 300. He added the center will support the WoReading service that was started by China Unicom in April.
As per sources, Yu said that the WoReading service offered by China Unicom currently accounts for about 21.5 million users, and allows users to download books, magazines as well as audio books on their mobile phones. Yu further added that China Unicom was among ZTE’s first computing services customers, asking the company in November 2010 to set up an online store for mobile applications called the WoStore, which has registered about 60 million downloads in its first year.
Telefonica signs network sharing agreement with China Unicom (Spain, China)
Spanish telecom operator Telefonica has reportedly entered into a strategic partnership with China Unicom, wherein both operators will use each other’s networks to expand their coverage. According to reports, the deal will provide Telefonica access to China Unicom’s network in the regions of Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Australia, France and Sweden.
In return, China Unicom can reportedly increase its presence through Telefonica’s network in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, USA, Puerto Rico, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria Denmark, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland.
Reports suggest that Telefonica believes this agreement will help both operators expand their capabilities to provide telecom services to various customers in different geographic areas.
Telefonica may sell assets to reduce debt (Europe)
Europe’s largest telecom operator, Telefonica, may reportedly sell off its underperforming assets in an attempt to reduce its debt and regain investors confidence after the revenue loss in Spain. According to reports, the operator has no intention of selling its operations in Germany, Mexico and the Czech Republic, or its 9.7 percent stake in China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd.
However, sources claim that the operator has been assessing its business to identify the underperforming assets which can be sold off to reduce their debt amount. As per reports, Cesar Alierta, CEO, Telefonica has been actively cutting down on the size of the workforce along with putting a stop to any merger or amalgamation activity to make up for the losses faced in the year. Further, it has been reported that the operator has been relying heavily on the Latin American economy which accounts for 47 percent of its sales.
Mobile network operators dialing in on data revenue
A research has revealed that mobile network operators, which once provided a simple phone and messaging service, are now evolving, catering to the consumers needs to offer a multi-platform technology experience via the mobile phone. This change, when the mobile network operators become providers of a rich mobile experience, requires investments and new strategic approaches to make business sustainable and competitive in front of new strong market entries and fresh patterns of consumption.
According to researchers, this increasingly constant demand for data has led large Western Europe mobile groups Deutsche Telekom – T-Mobile, France Telecom – Orange, Telefonica, and Vodafone Group to show signs of improvement with expected fourth quarter earnings in 2010.
The increasing trend in data demand is illustrated by the growing data revenue stream among these major mobile network operators. This data crave resulting from the penetration of the smart phone and other high-end devices, is leading these key Western Europe mobile groups to begin discussion of geographic expansion.
Researchers explain that with growing mobile penetration, mobile groups are facing an intensely price competitive and regulated environment. In order to generate a diversified income stream, expanding geographic operations from Europe, particularly to attractive emerging markets, becomes one of the market trends.
Both France Telecom – Orange and Vodafone Group have a large presence in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Deutsche Telekom Group covers a majority of European countries, while Telefonica has vast coverage in the Americas.
Researchers added that most mobile groups aim to develop and introduce new services to consumers and business customers.
Vodafone Group’s strategic focus in 2011 will be on Europe, Africa and India (where the demand for telecommunications services is growing rapidly), while developing new services and corporate segments. France Telecom – Orange will implement cloud computing services to reach a goal of generating 500 million Euros by 2015. They also hope to become the number one videoconferencing provider in France. In Germany, Deutsche Telekom Group will continue a nationwide installation of their 4G network. They also plan on introducing new B2B cloud services outside of Germany. Telefonica plans to capitalize on both the Strategic Alliance Agreement signed with China Unicom as well as their new partnership with Jasper Wireless.
China Mobile confirms Apple will develop an LTE based iPhone
China Mobile’s Chairman has confirmed that Apple is looking at developing an LTE based iPhone, which is in itself, not a huge surprise, but that it would work on the Chinese TD-LTE standard, which might be more interesting.
According to Chairman Wang Jianzhou, Jobs has expressed his interest in an LTE iPhone and he is willing to start the development at an early date.
China Mobile is currently deploying a more specialized version of the LTE platform, TD-LTE, so that Apple would have to develop a handset specific to that mobile network – with the expectation that other networks may adopt the technology in the future.
Even if China Mobile remains the sole proponent of TD-LTE, its customer base is larger than many countries, so the investment in developing a Chinese iPhone would still make sense.
China Mobile is expected to launch LTE this year. Already, China Mobile has joined forces with Verizon and Vodafone in a cooperative LTE trial. Rivals, China Telecom and China Unicom are expected to start deploying LTE networks between 2012 and 2013.
China’s 3G subscriber base passes 50 mn mark
China’s 3G subscribers have surpassed the 50 million mark – three years after networks first launched their commercial services. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) stated that it expects the numbers to increase to 150 million by the end of this year.
According to statistics from China Mobile, it had a total of 22.6 million 3G users in January, while China Unicom had 15.47 million and China Telecom attracted 13.64 million.
According to reports, now telecom carriers have a large number of subsidized 3G phones available to attract users, which will intensify the competition between China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom.
For historic comparison, at the end of May 2010, the country had 20 million 3G subscribers and 38.64 million by the end of October 2010.
China Mobile subscriber rises to 589.3 mn in January
China’s largest mobile carrier, China Mobile has announced that its total mobile subscribers rose to about 589.3 million in January, including 22.6 million 3G subscribers.
China Unicom, the country’s No. 2 mobile carrier’s total mobile subscribers increased to 169.7 million for the month, including 15.5 million 3G subscribers.
China Telecom stated that its total mobile subscribers rose to about 94.1 million in January, including 13.6 million for 3G subscribers.
World’s leading mobile operators announce commitment to NFC technology
Many of the world’s leading operators, including America Movil, Axiata Group Berhad, Bharti, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, KT Corporation, MTS, Orange, Qtel Group, SK Telecom, SOFTBANK MOBILE, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Telekom Austria Group, Telenor and Vodafone, have voiced their commitment to implementing Near Field Communications (NFC) technology, and intend to launch commercial NFC services in select markets by 2012.
“NFC is perhaps best known for its role in enabling mobile payments, but its applications go far beyond that,” said Franco Bernabe, Chairman, GSMA and CEO, Telecom Italia. ”NFC represents an important innovation opportunity, and will facilitate a wide range of interesting services and applications for consumers, such as mobile ticketing, mobile couponing, the exchange of information and content, control access to cars, homes, hotels, offices car parks and much more.”
The market potential for NFC is significant the total payment value for NFC globally will reach more than euro 110 billion in 2015 and momentum behind the technology is growing rapidly. To address this opportunity and to provide valuable new services to mobile users worldwide, the operator community is focused on driving the standardised deployment of mobile NFC, using the SIM as the secure element to provide authentication, security and portability.
To achieve this, the GSMA will develop the necessary certification and testing standards to ensure global interoperability of NFC services. This interoperability is critical to the widespread adoption of NFC, enabling users to benefit from NFC services around the world, regardless of operator network or device type.
“As we have seen, the adoption of different approaches to NFC will only serve to fragment the market,” continued Bernabe. ”By uniting around a single standardised approach to mobile NFC and by collaborating across the entire ecosystem, our industry will continue to develop the compelling services that customers demand.”
About the GSMA
The GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry. Spanning 219 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world’s mobile operators, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies, and media and entertainment organisations. The GSMA is focused on innovating, incubating and creating new opportunities for its membership, all with the end goal of driving the growth of the mobile communications industry.
For more information, please visit Mobile World Live, the new online portal for the mobile communications industry, at www.mobileworldlive.com or the GSMA corporate website at www.gsmworld.com.
