www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In order to integrate its fixed line and mobile operations in Germany, the domestic brand of German telecoms operator Deutsche Telekom (DT) will be renamed to ‘T’. T-Home brand is currently used by DT for its domestic fixed line operations and markets its German mobile services under the T-Mobile moniker.

2.5 million to three million subscribers has also been targeted by DT to its IPTV service, dubbed ‘Entertain’, by 2012, besides an additional 600,000 customers by the end of this year.

Until, December 31 2009, DT had just over 850,000 Entertain subscribers.

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www.WirelessFederation.com/news: O2 has emerged as the quickest provider of mobile phone web page access in London compared to four other operators. 1.7 seconds on average was taken by the testers to access a page on the web when using O2′s mobile internet.

For over 60 days, the speeds of five networks were compared at 150 locations and concluded that the British company was speediest in London in January 2010.

It was also declared to be the fastest for downloading music track in 12 out of 20 British cities.

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www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The merger of all the fixed-line division and Austrian mobile arm, Mobilkom Austria by Telekom Austria has been given a green signal from its supervisory board. Making benefits from efficiency savings and simplifying the selling and handling of bundled offers  is expected to be gained from the merger.

It is also expected that the company’s cash flow will be reduced by EUR80 million. The merger will take place in 2010.

According to Telekom Austria Chief Financial Officer Hans Tschuden, the market developments over the past few years have demonstrated that this step is imperative and the company is convinced that through this merger Telekom Austria will be best equipped to address future challenges, while at the same time it considerably strengthens the group’s earning power.

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www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A number of discussions have been held by T-Mobile’s parent, Germany’s Deutsche Telekom with a number of banks about underwriting an IPO for the unit. Partial spinoff of the business which would carve it into a separate entity with its own balance sheet has been considered another option.

Since a past few years, there were continuous rumors regarding Deutsche Telekom’s intention to dispose of its US arm in some form or other. Merger talks with Clearwire and Sprint died off after Clearwire was able to raise the necessary funding for its own network independently.

T-Mobile would be able to raise the funds to boost its network quality, after the floatation of the stock market without Deutsche Telekom ceding management control.

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www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Among the entire hullabaloo during the launch of Apple’s iPad, the most important fact which did not come to the fore was the new tablet computer will be powered by an in-house chip called the A4.

Though the chip will not be marketed by Apple publicly, it is highlighted that the rival chip designs may eventually win out over Intel’s designs in the emergent hot category of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. It is also said to give the iPad a long battery life and is considered comparable to rival processors in both speed and performance.

According to Intel, the first smartphones using its chips go on sale by 2010′s second half, as it tries to stake out a corner in the wireless market and replicate what it did for the formerly red-hot netbook category it now almost completely dominates.

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www.WirelessFederation.com/news: India’s Spice Mobile limited and its telecom services arm, Spice Televentures Pvt. Ltd have finally decided to merge with each other. Spice Mobile has been valued at INR109 per share and Spice Televentures at INR862 a share by the audit firm BSR & Co.

A swap ratio of 791 Spice Mobile shares for every 100 Televentures shares has also been accepted by the board of directors of the two companies. 163.4 million shares will also be issued by the company stockholders of Spice Televentures, resulting in an equity capital of INR190.9 million at INR3 each while the existing Spice Mobile shares held by Televentures stockholders will be extinguished

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www.WirelessFederation.com/news: PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), Indonesia’s dominant telecommunication group plans to acquire a stake in rival telco Bakrie Telecom.

In order to settle debts of more than USD1.2 billion, Indonesian family-run business group Bakrie & Brothers announced in October 2008 that it was looking to sell stakes in several of its major subsidiaries. Telkom’s announcement confirmed the speculations regarding the ownership of the company and its financial trouble for more than a year.

However, according to a report by CommsUpdate, the group’s Esia brand of wireless communication products and services is planning to merge with or buy other rival telecom companies in 2010. The company has taken this move to deal with competition in the market which the company describes as an intense one.

Meridian Mobile, which is part of the UK based Meridian Group and pioneered the FMCG distribution in many parts of Europe, now launches its flagship brand for GSM phones “Fly” in India. Fly was launched about two years ago in East and Central Europe and has since emerged as a strong player in that market. It has in a short span also carved a credible market in these countries and is now ready for a launch in UK, Spain, Germany and South Asia. Meridian Telecom is now poised to become one of the fastest growing companies in mobile telephony today.

Product development is a key strength of Meridian. Sourcing professionals from the German office of Meridian Telecom have selected models for the Indian market that are both at the cutting-edge of features, design and incorporate the best of international styling. Also, Meridian Telecom has over a period of one year carried-out extensive and rigorous testing and customization of Fly products for the Indian market.

Fly is being launched with a variety of exclusive and differentiated mobile phones. Stated Rajiv Khanna, CEO, India Operations, “It is important to have fully loaded phones as the replacement market gets stronger. This is likely to result in huge demand for feature rich and stylish phones. Meridian will offer the critical buyer with smart value choices.”

Further stated Mr. Khanna, “Our marketing strategy is to focus on store branding and forging alliances with retailers. In the 1st phase our focus is on placement. We hope to reach 5000 premium counters by the end of 1st quarter, which will together account for 70% of the over-all retail sales.”

Given the contemporary styling of Fly phones, the diva Malaika Arora has been signed-on as the brand ambassador. Malaika Arora has been selected from among other contenders to be the brand ambassador, and is very excited to be associated with Fly. She would personally kick-off the launch of Fly both in print and electronic media. Fly phones, which reflect the best of trendy & glamorous styling, would be aptly showcased by the style icon Malaika Arora.

Fly SL 500M is a chic and very thin slider phone, has 1.3 Mega-Pixel camera with expandable memory, video ring tones with MPEG 4 and IRDA, Bluetooth and every other conceivable feature such as video recorder and player, MP3 player and 64 tone polyphonic and MP3 tones. This model would be available at Rs 10,990/- ( MRP ).

Fly SL 300M is a very smart slider camera phone and comes in a very attractive black color. Fly SL 300M will lead ‘Fly’ positioning in the media blitz to follow. It has features like MP3 player, video player and recorder, 64 tone polyphonic and MP3 ring tones and expandable memory.This model would be available at Rs 8,990/- ( MRP ).

Fly MP 330 – The Stereo Phone, is the only phone in the market that can enhance equivalent volume of 40 Watts. It has features like 1.3 Mega-Pixel camera with woofer and speaker console, which is yet to be launched even in the West. It also has video recorder and player, 64 tone polyphonic and MP3 tones. This model would be available at Rs 10,490/- ( MRP ).

At only 9.2 mm width, Fly 2040 is one of the slimmest phone in the market that can easily fit into a wallet. It comes laden with features like 1.3 Mega-Pixel camera with Flash, Bluetooth enabled ( voice, data and music ), MP 3 player, continuous video recording and playback, 262K TFT display, Video Ringtones, 60 MB Internal Memory ( Nand Flash ), Micro SD Card Slot and IrDA connectivity. This model would be available at Rs 8,490/- ( MRP ).

Fly MX 300 is a slim clamshell phone, with 262K TFT main LCD display and 65K CSTN sub-LCD display. It is one of the slimmest in its category at only 14.9 mm. It has features like video ringtones, 1.3 Mega-Pixel camera with Flash, Bluetooth enabled (voice, data and music), MP 3 player, continuous video recording and playback, 60 MB Internal Memory ( Nand Flash ), Micro SD Card Slot and IrDA connectivity. This model would be available at Rs 9,990/- ( MRP ).

MARKETING PLANS
Our key success is getting more value with targeted marketing. Regular promotions reinforce our brand values. Stated Mr. Khanna, “Our product roadmap is very vibrant and will differentiate us easily.”

The marketing spend in the first year is likely to be USD $2 Million.

The trade has shown an unprecedented enthusiasm for Fly phones, which can be seen from the fact that it is the first time that any new brand of mobile phones has been presold, and it reflects the attractive product value proposition of Fly.

Fly is known internationally for its distinctive, chic styling and features that appeal to all segments of the youth. Indeed in Europe, Fly has received a fantastic fan-following from the youngsters and commands a leading position in this segment. Fly has a range of models that are smart value and packed with features and have unique styling, which gives them a differentiated edge over other key players.

Meridian enjoys a 3-5% market share in the market we operate from. We aim to get the same market in India.

SERVICE SUPPORT
States Mr. Khanna, “At Meridian, we believe that superior sales service in an intrinsic part of our business model. For our mobile phones we have a tie-up with two blue chip service partners, AFL which is an affiliate of DHL worldwide for Logistics and Accel for after sales service, which has over 50 locations in India.”

Source- http://www.agencyfaqs.com

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