PANTECH TO UNVEIL NEW HANDSETS IN MEXICO EXCLUSIVELY TO TELCEL
Seoul, Korea – October 12, 2006: Pantech Group, one of the world’s fastest growing handset manufacturers, announced today the launch of five new handsets as part of plans to further build its share of the rapidly expanding mobile phone market in Latin America.
The five handsets will be made available through Telcel, the largest mobile service operator in Latin America. Pantech, which established a dedicated subsidiary in Mexico last year, plans to increase its share of the local market by expanding the range of Pantech models on offer to Mexican consumers.
Ji-Kwan Kim, President, Pantech Mobile Mexico, said: Since last year, we have significantly built up our operations in Mexico, in line with the rising demand for handsets with advanced multimedia features. Today’s announcement is just the latest stage in our strategy to develop the Pantech brand in Mexico and to increase our presence in the region as a whole.???
Among the handsets to be introduced to the Mexican market is the award-winning PG-6200, Pantech’s newest fingerprint recognition mobile phone. Key features include a 2 megapixel camera supporting video clip recording and viewing, MP3 player functionality, and 20MB of user memory to store images and music files.
Earlier this year, the PG-6200 handset was honored at the prestigious iF (International Forum) Design Awards for excellence and innovation in the design of cellular phones.
The other new handsets include the PG-1310V, PG-1610, PG-3810 and PG-1810 phones. The PG-1310V is a clamshell style mobile phone with an exceptional range of applications for users, including a 1.5??? 65K CSTN LCD, VGA CMOS camera, 40 polyphonic ringtones and voice scheduler. The PG-1610 slider phone is equipped with a 1.5??? 65K CSTN LCD, VGA CMOS camera and speakerphone.
The clamshell style PG-3810 includes a 1.5??? 260K main TFT LCD, 1.0??? 260K sub TFT, VGA CMOS, and 64 polyphonic ringtones, while the PG-1810 clamshell phone has a 1.8??? 260K main TFT LCD, 1.0??? 65K CSTN, VGA CMOS and MP3 player.
Pantech entered the mobile phone market in Mexico in 2004, in an exclusive partnership with Telcel. Since the end of 2005, the company has become the fourth ranking manufacturer in Mexico in sales. Pantech Mobile Mexico, S.A.DE C.V. is a wholly owned subsidiary established last year to handle all Pantech’s operations in the Mexican market.
Pantech plans to further expand its presence in the local handset market this year with estimated projected sales in Mexico of 1.3 million units in 2006.
Source- http://www.telephonyworld.com
Vivo proposes setting up joint 3G network
The president of Vivo, Roberto Lima, has proposed that Brazilian mobile operators should team up and jointly build a single 3G network, according to local press reports. He said that Brazil’s mobile operators have one of the lowest EBITDAs in the world and that they must be more profitable. Citing data from broker Merrill Lynch, Lima showed that the average EBITDA margin among mobile operators in Brazil is 15 percent, while in the US the average is 33 percent, in Mexico 41 percent and in Russia 50 percent. He warned that the current model will become untenable in the future, adding that “we must create alternatives in order to grow”.
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
Palm Treo 650 with Intellisync from Nokia Launches Exclusively on Telcel’s Network
The Palm Treo 650 smartphone with Intellisync Wireless Email from Nokia is now available for corporate users in Mexico. The Intellisync behind-the-firewall solution, available from Telcel, offers corporate customers the ability to access and manage their corporate email from their Treo 650 smartphones, greatly enhancing their productivity and access to work-related documents and directories.Palm, a leader in mobile computing, and Nokia, a wireless industry leader and provider of the Intellisync range of software solutions, are working together to coordinate an outreach and educational program for all businesses and individual consumers using a Palm Treo 650 smartphone in Mexico. To support this campaign, both companies will sponsor educational workshops for business enterprises throughout the country. Treo 650 customers using Telcel’s Mobile Office will have the option of integrating their corporate email accounts and their personal POP3- or IMAP-based email accounts.
As one of the leading platform-independent wireless email messaging solutions, Intellisync Wireless Email from Nokia provides a powerful, secure and reliable wireless email for Palm Treo smartphones,??? said Jos© Ignacio Gallego, country manager of Palm Mexico. This announcement will help our user base in Mexico take full advantage of the Treo 650′s tremendous capabilities as a virtual extension of their office. Intellisync standards-based wireless email from Nokia works seamlessly with our intuitive Treo interface, maximizing the value of Palm’s award-winning smartphones.???
This type of collaboration with Nokia is a great proof point that we are committed to the platform independent approach when delivering mobile software,??? said Clyde Foster, vice president, global software sales for Enterprise Solutions at Nokia. In addition, this is a huge step forward in expanding the services that are available on the Treo 650 smartphone in Mexico, delivering valuable business-class services to a large number of people who use this powerful smartphone.???
The Intellisync behind-the-firewall solution joins to the range of Telcel’s Mobile Office productivity tools. In order to contract the service, it is necessary to consult a Telcel’s sales executive. Companies that are interested in the service will have to take into account the technical adjustments in their servers as well as the payment of licenses.
Source- http://www.mobilewirelessnews.com
Mexico’s America Movil registers in Chile for debt
SANTIAGO, Chile, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Mexican cellular phone giant America Movil officially registered for a $1 billion shelf to issue debt on the Chilean market, although there were no immediate plans to issue the bonds.
The company announced its plan to issue debt on the Chilean market in June.
“This is an official registration of the program…,” a spokesman said in Mexico City. “But let it be clear that we are not issuing debt (now). We don’t see the conditions (for that) yet.”
America Movil (AMXL.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) (AMX.N: Quote, Profile, Research), controlled by Carlos Slim, the world’s third-richest man, ended the first half of the year with almost 108 million wireless subscribers from the United States to Argentina.
It plans to add between 13 and 14 million more customers through December, with a fourth of them stemming from its anchor Mexican operation.
Over the past 10 months, America Movil has been issuing debt in South America as it cuts exposure to dollar swings.
Source- http://today.reuters.com
Technorati : America Movil, Chile, Mexico, Mobile
Ice Rocket : America Movil, Chile, Mexico, Mobile
Pantech unveils phones for Argentina market
SEOUL, South Korea-Aiming to carve out a 10 percent share of the Latin American mobile phone market, South Korean handset maker Pantech Group has begun selling three mobile phones for carrier CTI Movil in Argentina.
CTI Movil is the Argentine affiliate of America Movil, the largest mobile communications service carrier in Latin America.
Pantech has became one of top selling brands in Argentina during the first half of this year, less than six months after its initial market launch.
The telecom carrier started its Latin American expansion in 2004 in Mexico. Besides Mexico and Argentina, Pantech also expanded into Chile in August, inking a deal with Claro, the nation’s third largest mobile communications service provider, to supply several cell phone models. –>
Source- http://www.eetimes.com
Technorati : Mobile, Pantech, South Korea
Ice Rocket : Mobile, Pantech, South Korea
BenQ in talks to outsource handset production – report
BenQ is in talks to outsource its mobile phone production, Germany’s Manager Magazin reports. Insiders tell the magazine that talks have been under way with Foxconn and Jabil Circuit on handing over the production operations in Europe and Asia. BenQ recently pushed back the profitability date for its phone business to mid-2007, as it struggles to turn a profit after acquiring the Siemens handset business. A spokesman for the company confirmed that it is closing plants in Mexico and Taiwan and assessing all its production sites, but declined to comment on the outsourcing report or shutting its last site in Germany.
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
Technorati : BenQ, Germany, Mobile
Ice Rocket : BenQ, Germany, Mobile
Worldwide DSL subscriptions hit 164 million
Global DSL subscriptions went up to 164 million by 30 June, according to data produced for the international DSL Forum by industry analyst Point Topic. Worldwide, the number of DSL users increased by almost 46 million, a growth of 38 percent in the twelve months. In the European Union a further 18 million broadband subscribers chose DSL in the year to 30 June, a growth of 45 percent. In total, there are more than 56 million DSL subscribers in the EU, accounting for more than one-third of the global total. South and South East Asia increased its global market share of total DSL subscribers to 22 percent, adding more than 13 million new subscribers in the twelve-month period . China contributed the bulk of this growth (up 11.6 million), and India added more than 1.3 million subscribers to DSL, the fastest growing market worldwide. Latin America
added more than 3 million DSL subscribers, with Brazil (up 1.19 million) and Mexico (up 939,000) leading the way. In the Middle East and Africa, growth was dominated by Turkey (up 1.3 million). In North America, DSL is steadily increasing its share of the total broadband market and now accounts for more than 46 percent of the region’s broadband subscribers. In the period, broadband DSL (up 6.36 million) added more subscribers than cable modem (up 5.45 million), with growth in Canada (DSL up 22.2%) and the USA (DSL up 32.7%) both far outstripping cable modem growth.
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
BenQ Mobile to outsource handset production
FRANKFURT, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Loss-making BenQ Mobile plans to outsource production of its handsets as it struggles to make a profit from the business it took over from Germany’s Siemens (SIEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) last year, a German magazine reported on Wednesday.
In an advance copy of an article to be published on Friday, Manager Magazin said representatives of Taiwan-based parent company BenQ (2352.TW: Quote, Profile, Research) had already been negotiating for two months with Foxconn (2038.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) and Jabil Circuit (JBL.N: Quote, Profile, Research).
A spokesman for BenQ Mobile, which has its headquarters in the German city of Munich, declined to comment on any possible plans to outsource production. BenQ headquarters in Taipei also declined comment on the report.
The BenQ Mobile spokesman reiterated that BenQ Mobile aimed to become profitable in mid-2007 — a goal it recently pushed back from the end of this year — and said the company’s market share had stabilised at just above 3 percent last quarter.
BenQ Mobile inherited production sites, most of them in high-wage Germany, from Siemens. It recently extended a deal for longer working hours at two German production plants employing 1,900 staff until the end of the year.
BenQ, which also makes flat-panel TVs and display monitors for PC makers, posted a third straight quarterly loss last month and forecast flat third-quarter sales and shipments for the current quarter on stiff competition in the handset market.
Hong Kong-based Foxconn, which generates the bulk of its sales making phones for names such as Motorola (MOT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) or Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research), was not immediately available for comment on the magazine report.
Florida-based Jabil, which makes electronic components for cellphones and computers, was not immediately reachable.
The Manager Magazin report also said some production would move to Mexico, in the first instance, and added that a large factory in China was also available.
Source- http://today.reuters.com
Technorati : BenQ, Germany, Mobile, Siemens
Ice Rocket : BenQ, Germany, Mobile, Siemens
Mexican mobile operators Iusacell, Unefon to merge
MEXICO CITY, Sept 6 (Reuters) – Mexican cellular phone operators Iusacell and Unefon said on Wednesday they had agreed to merge and aimed to create the country’s second-largest mobile service provider.
The merger of the two companies, both controlled by Mexican industrialist Ricardo Salinas, follows Iusacell’s (CEL.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) restructuring of $350 million of debt, completed on Aug. 28.
Unefon Holdings SA (UNEFONA.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) also said on Wednesday it would acquire a 45.6 percent stake in Unefon to bring its ownership to 100 percent. It said it would buy the stock from the family of key shareholder Moises Saba for $300 million.
Merging Iusacell and Unefon will create a company with around 3.3 million subscribers, putting it in third place in terms of subscriber numbers behind market leader America Movil (AMXL.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) with 39.2 million and Telefonica Moviles (TEF.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) with some 6.9 million.
Iusacell said it was aiming for the merger to lift it to the number two spot in terms of total mobile voice and data services.
Spokesmen for the companies were not available to give further details.
The move had been anticipated by investors. Iusacell’s shares have more than doubled in value in the last six months on rumours of the merger, as well as on the company’s debt restructuring.
Citigroup said in a report last month that if the merger went ahead, “the additional benefit on Iusacell’s stock from current levels could be substantial”.
Iusacell shares ended Wednesday down 4.7 percent at 67.69 pesos. The merger announcement came after the market closed.
Unefon shares do not trade regularly.
Salinas
, among
Mexico
‘s richest men, bought Iusacell in 2003. He promised at the time to come up with a business plan to expand its presence in the Mexican market.
Source- http://today.reuters.com
Technorati : Iusacell, Mexico, Mobile, Unefon
Ice Rocket : Iusacell, Mexico, Mobile, Unefon
