China Telecom considers cooperation with Taiwan’s telecom firms

Sources have revealed that China Telecom Corp. is considering cooperating with Taiwanese telecom operators to launch applications for mobile phones and may purchase Code Division Multiple Access-based smartphones from Taiwanese handset vendors.

According to sources, China Telecom Chairman Wang Xiaochu is due to arrive in Taipei on Tuesday and is planning to visit Taiwanese mobile phone carriers and handset makers including HTC Corp. and Compal Communications Inc.

Sources added that Wang will discuss possible content service cooperation with all five Taiwanese telecom operators: Chunghwa Telecom Co., Far EasTone Telecommunications Co., Taiwan Mobile Co., Vibo Telecom Inc. and Asia Pacific Telecom Co.

Wang’s visit comes amidst improving relations between China and Taiwan, and as competition in China’s mobile market intensifies following the completion of the country’s 3G mobile network in late 2009.

To increase its mobile business, China Telecom, China’s largest fixed-line operator by subscribers, has been striving to improve its value-added services and handset offerings.

Sistema Shyam (MTS) to invest USD 55 Mn

Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL), a joint venture company between Russia’s Sistema and Shyam Group of India, will be investing USD 55 Mn to expand its code division multiple access (CDMA) network in one of the southern states in India (Andhra Pradesh) by the end of this year.

MTS India has successfully launched in 12 circles now and MTS India CEO, Vsevolod Rozanov,  said the plan for this year was to complete all the 22 circles with an investment of over USD 1.1 Bn.

Currently, MTS India has 4.5 million subscribers, including 72,000 for high-speed data services. Data is the future of our company and is clearly a differential business model than other aggregators. We expect data services to account for one-third of our revenues and achieve break-even by 2013,” Rozanov told Business Standard in India.

Replying to a query, Rozanov said the company would switch to another vendor if China-based Huawei Technologies’ products were not allowed into India.

It may be recalled that the Indian government has blocked Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corporation from selling telecom network equipment to domestic phone carriers due to security reasons.

China’s 3G handset market to gear up by subsidies

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The domestic shipments of 3G handsets in China is expected to boost up in 2010 because of aggressive subsidies from wireless carriers that reduce consumer pricing for cell phones. The shipments may go up to 42.97 million units in 2010, up from 7.2 million in 2009.

According to a research analyst, because of the subsidies, phones using the Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) air standard that is backed by the Chinese government will generate the bulk of growth in 2010. Domestic shipments of TD-SCDMA phones will rise to 20.4 million units in 2010, up from 1.3 million in 2009.

The price of the 3G cell phones becomes more attractive due to these subsidies and is expected to drive up sales despite the lack of value-added data services for the TD-SCDMA air standard.

China Mobile, expected to offer the phones to the public might increase its total subsidies to consumers to RMB30 billion in 2010, up from RMB12 billion in 2009.

China Unicom’s net profit drops by 50%

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 50% decrease in the net profit has been expected by Chinese telecommunications operator China Unicom because a one-off disposal gain boosted its 2008 results significantly.

An after-tax gain of 27.57 billion Yuan ($4 billion) for 2008 had been generated by China Unicom after selling its code division multiple access mobile operations to China Telecom Corp. in October 2008

High costs and expenses for its new third-generation mobile business have been cited as some of the reasons behind the poor performance of the company in 2009.

China Mobile, Larger Than Vodafone, May Say Net Rose (Update2)

Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) — China Mobile Ltd., the world’s largest cellular operator by market value, may report a 23 percent gain in second-quarter profit after adding a record number of subscribers.

The Beijing-based company, which overtook Vodafone Group Plc as the world’s largest mobile company by market capitalization last month, will report net income rose to 15.7 billion yuan ($2 billion) from 12.8 billion yuan a year earlier, according to the median estimate of six analysts in a Bloomberg survey. China Mobile is scheduled to report earnings tomorrow after the 4 p.m.market close in
Hong Kong.

Chief Executive Wang Jianzhou raised revenue by offering a wider range of wireless phone services such as movie and video downloads and targeting the more than 900 million people living in
China’s rural areas. The mobile operator added 13.1 million users in the second quarter, gaining a record number for three straight months to June.

“With the continued growth of subscribers and strong growth of data revenue,” earnings will keep rising, said Mandy Chan, who helps manage $1 billion at ABN Amro Asset Management Ltd. in Hong Kong, including China Mobile shares.

China Mobile attracted users after it received approval from the telecommunication regulator to cut rates and offer cheaper monthly packages for cell-phone users in
Beijingstarting May. The operator also reduced international roaming charges in the provinces of
Sichuanand
Zhejiang.

The phone operator is expected to report half-year profit rose to 30.2 billion yuan from 24 billion yuan a year earlier, analysts said.

Share Price China Mobile’s market capitalization on July 11 was $132 billion, compared with Newbury, England-based Vodafone’s $110 billion. The Chinese company’s shares have risen 38 percent this year, compared with a 23 percent decline in Vodafone stock.

“The share price reflects the market’s view of the prospects of the companies in the future,” Francis Cheung, an analyst at CLSA Ltd., said. “There’s more growth potential in
Chinathan in
Europe, where the market is more mature.” China Mobile, which lags behind Vodafone and
Japan’s NTT Docomo Inc. in sales, may say second-quarter revenue rose to 69.4 billion from 59.6 billion yuan a year earlier.

The company, which offers global system for mobile communications, or GSM, services, gained 25.8 million subscribers in the first six months of the year for a total of 273.8 million, about two-thirds of the nation’s mobile-phone users. That’s more than Vodafone’s 186.8 million users and Docomo’s 51.9 million combined by the end of July.

User Revenue China Unicom Ltd., the country’s second-largest mobile operator, offers services using both the GSM and code division multiple access standards. Unicom had a total of 135.1 million users at the end of June. China Mobile’s average revenue per customer, or ARPU, an industry measure of the size of a phone bill, probably remained unchanged in the second quarter from a year earlier, and up from the previous quarter, analysts said.

We expect China Mobile’s ARPU to be driven by higher usage and wireless data contribution,” Kelvin Ho, an analyst at Nomura International (
Hong Kong) Ltd. said. Ho estimates China Mobile’s ARPU will be about 90 yuan in the second quarter, unchanged from a year earlier, and up from 86 yuan in the previous quarter. Usage per subscriber probably rose 10.8 percent from a year earlier to 363 minutes per month. Chief Executive Wang, 57, is boosting revenue from new businesses such as short message services, ringtone downloads and wireless services such as emails and games.

Data Services New businesses from such wireless data services may account for 23 percent of revenue in the first six months, compared with 19.7 percent a year earlier, Ho said. Competition also eased as fixed-line phone network operators China Telecom Corp. and China Network Communications Group Corp., slowed promotions of a city-wide cordless service called Little Smart, which has cheaper rates than for cellular calls, as they prepare for the government’s issuing of high-speed wireless licenses.
Chinahasn’t set a timetable for granting licenses for 3G services, which allow subscribers to video conference and download movies faster on their handsets. The Ministry of Information Industry on Jan. 20 said it has adopted the locally developed time division synchronous code division multiple access standard as one of the so-called third- generation services. “A 3G license could be further delayed into second half 2007, which implies the 2007 could be another safe year for China Mobile, and the company could still deliver stellar results until the beginning of 2008,” Wang Jinjin, an analyst at UBS Securities Co. said in a report. China Mobile shares rose 1.5 percent to HK$52.10 as of middayin
Hong Kong, after gaining as much as 1.7 percent earlier.

Source- http://www.bloomberg.com

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