Taiwanese WiMAX operators seek to lower infrastructure costs
Taiwanese WiMAX operator Tatung InfoComm states that it is in discussions with fellow operators Fitel, Global Mobile, Vee TIME and Vmax over joint procurement of base station equipment.
The companies hope to minimize unit procurement costs and boost interoperability. According to reports, if the talks are successful joint procurement could begin as early as the first half of next year.
Sprint inks WiMAX roaming deal with Jamaica and Taiwan (USA)
Sprint has signed WiMAX roaming deals with Digicel in Jamaica and Global Mobile in Taiwan. Selected Sprint devices that operate with the Sprint SmartView Connection Manager will automatically detect the Digicel and Global Mobile networks, giving customers the option to connect and roam with an unlimited 24 hour Daypass.
According to Matt Carter, President-Sprint 4G, with these agreements, Sprint is kicking down the door to 4G international roaming and taking a first step towards allowing people to enjoy 4G service wherever they are around the globe. The company has taken the 4G leadership position in the U.S. and is now proud to partner with visionaries Digicel and Global Mobile to solidify their international leadership role.
Sprint’s WiMAX can be found in 68 markets across the United States, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City and Washington, D.C. Sprint plans to light up several new major markets, including San Francisco and Denver, by the end of this month. Pricing and launch details of the agreements are still to be determined.
Taiwan WiMAX Network looks to share network purchase
Taiwan’s five WiMAX network operators are reportedly planning joint procurement of WiMAX infrastructure to try to drive down cost though bulk purchase discounts.
According to reports, citing Chairman of Vee Telecom Multimedia, the five networks would aim to jointly spend US$83 million during 2011.
The other four networks are Tatung InfoCom, First International Telecom, Global Mobile and Vmax Telecom.
However, in light of the reality that these carriers’ working towers are from different equipment suppliers, including Motorola, Samsung, NEC and Alcatel-Lucent, Lai suggested that each of these carriers internally integrate its backend equipment with software before they integrate the systems for joint procurements. Vmax is planning to buy 700-800 of the towers in the joint procurement in 2011. Since the five carriers are members of the Consortium of Mobile Broadband (CMB), in which Lai is the chairman, the organization will become the platform of their joint-purchase operation.
3 WiMAX operators offer trial roaming services: Taiwan
Global Mobile, Tatung InfoComm and Vee TIME have declared the terms of free WiMAX roaming services on a trial basis in Taiwan until the end of 2010. Meanwhile, two other operators, Far EasTone Telecommunications and Vmax Telecom, are likely to join the venture later.
Global Mobile provides Wimax services in northern Taiwan, while Tatung and Vee Time operate in southern and central Taiwan respectively.
According to the companies, their roaming services would cover a population of 8-10 million. Taiwan has a population of about 23 million.
Indonesia leads BuzzCity Ad Index
The result of the BuzzCity’s Global Mobile Advertising index has been released for Q1 2010. It reveals that there has been a 38% increase in the number of ads served in the BuzzCity network over the previous quarter. The data has been gathered over the three month period from January to March.
Canada has joined the top five league for the first time while Indonesia, India, the US and S Africa continue to dominate the chart. UK is not very far as well, with over 230 million ads served over the three month period- an increase of 114% on the previous quarter.
According to BuzzCity CEO, KF Lai, during Q1, a total of 32 markets each delivered monthly traffic in excess of 10 million impressions per month. This demonstrates the continued advertiser interest in mobile Internet advertising, and with many of the campaigns now being run through experienced agencies, they are starting to see a more constant and structured investment in the medium.
59 operators commit to deploy LTE- GSA
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: LTE network has been committed to be deployed in 28 countries by 59 operators. All network commitments and each deployment status have been listed in the latest update of Evolution to LTE report by Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA).
It has also been forecasted that by 2012, 37 LTE networks will be commercially launched and 22 LTE networks will have entered commercial service by end-2010. Sweden and Norway were the first to commercially launch LTE networks in December 2009.
Additional operators currently engaged in technology tests or trials of LTE are also included in the report from which additional commitments to deploy are expected to follow.
Orange gears up mobile HD Voice roll out in Europe
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The roll out of HD voice services in Europe along with France, Spain and Luxembourg has been ramp up by ¬France Telecom’s Orange to its 2010 roadmap. The trial will start from spring and run for three months. Orange became the world’s first operator to commercially launch a mobile HD voice service in Moldova in September, 2009.
Orange was also the first operator to launch HD over VOIP, first in France and shortly to be rolled out to Poland and Spain. According to Olaf Swantee, senior executive vice president for Orange’s global mobile business, with mobile HD voice, the firm is delivering true customer innovation, one that will genuinely enrich and transform the customers’ lives.
HD voice-compatible mobile handsets will also be extended by Orange across Europe. AMR-WB (Adaptive Multi-Rate Wideband) speech codec is used by HD Voice providing excellent audio quality due to a wider speech bandwidth of 50-7000 Hz compared to the current narrowband speech codec of 300-3400 Hz.
Global mobile phone mkt growth slowed in Q2-survey
AMSTERDAM, Aug 24 (Reuters) – Growth of the global mobile phone market slowed in the second quarter of 2006, a survey found on Thursday. Sales of mobile phones to consumers totaled 229 million units, an increase of 18.3 percent from the same period last year, which is a slowdown from the 23.8 percent growth in the first quarter, market research group Gartner said in a report. Gartner said the market was still on track to reach 960 million phones in 2006 and 238 million in the third quarter of 2006. Gartner is the only research group to measure sales to end users. Other research groups, which track shipments from vendors to retailers and not to end-users, reported shipments of around 235 million units in the quarter. The slowdown was mainly in the mature markets. “While mobile operators in the mature markets of Western Europe and North America struggled to keep up the customer acquisition growth seen in previous quarters, mobile operators in emerging markets continued to sign up new customers driving handset sales,” said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi. Gartner’s sales data confirmed the trend identified by rival research groups last month that Motorola Inc. (MOT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) was the biggest market share gainer in the quarter, followed by Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research) and Sony Ericsson (6758.T: Quote, NEWS, Research)(ERICb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research) and that Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research), LG Electronics Inc.(066570.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) and BenQ Mobile had lost market share.
Technorati : Handset, Mobile, Motorola, Nokia
Ice Rocket : Handset, Mobile, Motorola, Nokia
