PT’s 4G network coverage extends to 80% population (Portugal)
Portugal Telecom has strengthened the coverage of its 4G network, which allows about 80 percent of the Portuguese benefit from a new mobile Internet experience.
This became possible following the termination of television analogue terrestrial system, which took place on April 26, freeing the frequency band of 800 MHz, in which PT acquired rights to use frequencies in the following the auction multitrack. The increased coverage will be significant (up to now stood at 20%) highlighting the quality of buildings and places in PT among the first operators at European level to provide 4G services in the frequency of 800MHz.
With the extension of coverage of the 4G network, the TMN and Meo 4G. 4G will benefit from greater speed, lower latency and better quality of experience. Together with the fiber optic network of PT, which reaches 1.6 million homes, these features enhance the supply of new multimedia services, mobility, until now only possible through fiber optics, especially television, gaming services online and mobile broadband access with speeds up to 100 Mbps.
PT offers two offers – TMN 4G and 4G MEO – diverse aspects that favor the use of the Mobile Broadband service, leveraging the potential of other existing offerings, such as the Meo and Musicbox This Go way, customers can access TMN and Meo transversely to an offer converged voice, video and Internet on multiple devices, with a quality experience and superior service and the most advanced in the world.
The 4G network in PT was recently recognized by manufacturers as a reference for operators in Europe to present the first European network qualified by the GCF (Global Certification Forum), the mechanism CSFB (Circuit Switch Back Fall), which allows voice communication 4G networks. This support, required to provide voice service for 4G smartphones, reinforces the status of the operator in terms of quality, reliability and robustness of its network of cutting edge technology.
Airtel selects Huawei for 4G network contract in Karnataka (India)
Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel has awarded Huawei a contract to plan, design, supply and deploy LTE network to offer fourth-generation (4G) mobile broadband services in Karnataka. According to reports, Huawei will deliver LTE network infrastructure and devices which offers high-speed internet access on the go.
Sanjay Kapoor, chief executive officer for India & South Asia, Bharti Airtel, said that with the pioneering launch of 4G LTE, Airtel has paved the way for data revolution in the country by being at the forefront of India’s telecom revolution once again. Further, mobile data traffic in the country will increase nearly 100-fold by 2015 and consumers will stream nearly 600 hours of video content.
This is the third region where Airtel has launched 4G services in India, following Kolkata and Maharashtra. Airtel is also the first operator to offer 4G services in India.
Airtel Rwanda to launch service operations (Africa)
India’s leading mobile operator Bharti Airtel’s unit in Rwanda will launch its operations today. According to reports, the launch takes place at Airtel’s office in Remera. The operator won the licence in September last year, and will be the third operator to offer wireless services in the region, after MTN Rwanda and Tigo.
As per reports, Bharti Airtel will invest around $100 million over the next three years. According to a company statement, Chief Executive Office Anglophone Africa, Bharti Airtel, Jayant Khosla said Rwanda is a market with great growth potential. He said that as with all their operations, the leadership team in Airtel Rwanda will be made up of passionate and experienced Rwandans who are committed to the goal of providing best-in-class mobile broadband services.
Best Buy, Clearwire launch 4G mobile broadband service (US)
Best Buy Connect has launched 4G mobile broadband connectivity service on an expanded selection of computing devices sold at Best Buy stores nationally.
The 4G service provides consumers with high-speed internet access on-the-go, with service activation, billing, hardware and connection support from Best Buy. The 4G service offering is available through a wholesale partnership with Clearwire.
Users can purchase Best Buy Connect 4G as mobile broadband option on 23 computing models from Asus, Dell, HP, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba at most Best Buy stores across the US. Initially, Best Buy Connect will offer unlimited 4G service for US$45 per month with a month-to-month or two-year contract.
With the purchase of a two-year contract, customers can waive the US$35 activation fee and receive up to an additional US$150 off select hardware devices.
Verizon releases global mobile hotspot
Verizon has launched the first mobile hotspot to offer data service in more than 200 countries, and will also provide 3G speed to 120 of these countries.
The Fivespot comes with a built-in SIM card, and can handle up to five Wi-Fi devices at a time. It links to GSM networks as well as Verizon’s own Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) network. It also Supports standards include CDMA, WCDMA, HSDPA, HSUPA, GSM, GPRS and EDGE networks.
There are various different international price plans which are not very pocket friendly. The lowest-cost gives a 5GB allowance in the US and Canada plus 100MB in ‘select countries’, and costs US$129.99. There’s also a Global-Access Pay Per Use option for those who sign up for the company’s US$59.99 Mobile Broadband service plan in the US; data costs US$0.002 per KB in Canada, US$0.005 per KB in Mexico and US$0.02 per KB in more than 200 other destinations.
The Fivespot itself will be on sale for US$99.99 after a US$100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. Manufactured by ZTE, it measures about four inches by two by half an inch thick, and weighs less than three pounds.
Mobile ARPU Declining Across Europe and USA: TRS
Mobile broadband service has become one of the most demanded and increasingly competitive services in the recent days. At the same time, mobile data traffic is also growing drastically and has reached over 25% of total ARPU for many operators. Some operators are actually considering data share of total ARPU at over 30%.
The Strategy Analytics Tariff and Revenue Strategies (TRS) Insight, examined the impact of these trends in six countries, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK and USA, identifying key factors that drive the decline in ARPU.
Between 2006 and 2010, for selected mobile operators, overall ARPU is going down because although data traffic is growing, voice ARPU is declining by 23% to 60%. Although total voice minutes have generally not declined, revenue per minute has dropped significantly due in part to lower mobile termination rates.
According to Sue Rudd, Director TRS, in the US, data ARPU has increased approximately 65%. By contrast data ARPU in Europe has increased only 10% to 43%. And new entrants in some markets – O2 Germany and Vodafone Spain – have actually stimulated lower data ARPU to gain market share. Despite the general increase, actual data prices per month are between one quarter and two thirds the value of voice service. As a result the rapid growth in data traffic has contributed significantly to the decline in total ARPU. The change from voice and messaging to data and Internet access has significantly diluted the monthly price per user. Marginal subscriber penetration and trading down during the recession have further accelerated the decline in overall ARPU.
Vodafone profits double to £8.7Bn
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Vodafone has reported a big rise in profts owing primarily to its performance in the emerging markets. Revenues generated from Africa and Asia has been extremely good and pre-tax profits for the year to March totaled £8.7bn. India too showed strong revenue growth.
Even though it was hit by one-off charges, the company more than doubled the £4.2bn profit reported last year to £8.7bn .
8.5 million Net additions have been made by the telco in the past three months taking their total subscriber base to 341 million.
According to Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao, the company was in shape to endure the economic problems and benefit from economic recovery and Vodafone today is positioned to return to revenue growth during the 2011 financial year, as economic recovery should benefit its key markets.
With fixed-line and mobile broadband services continuing to grow strongly, a third of its income was now coming from products other than mobile voice.
In case of India, the introduction of six new national licenses one year after Vodafone’s entry into the market, had led to increased competition, resulting in an impairment charge this year of £2.3bn. European markets, on the other hand, reported falls in revenues, with the UK witnessing a 4.7% decline.
SFR & Alca-Lu sign 2G/3G expansion deal
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Alcatel-Lucent has been selected by French mobile operator SFR to carry out a major expansion and upgrade of its 2G/3G networks besides working together for the trial of Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile broadband technology.
Smooth upgrade path to HSPA+ will be possible for SFR because of the deal to meet growing demand for mobile broadband services. Converged RAN (radio access network) solution will be provided by Alca- Lu enabling the cellco to reach a greater number of subscribers and further improve its services.
Meanwhile, the trial of 4G technology under the deal will include the delivery of an end-to-end LTE solution including base stations (eNodeBs), Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and associated management systems.
