Vietnam Ministry to limit the number of simcards per person (Vietnam)
The Ministry of Information and Communications will permit each person to register a maximum of 18 simcards from mobile network operators, according to a report by VNS.
As per the report, the draft of a circular on managing pre-paid mobile phone subscribers reveals that if one person wants to have more than three simcards, he/she must register with another mobile phone network operator. So, one person would register a maximum of 18 simcards from six mobile network operators.
The six operators are Viettel, VinaPhone, MobiFone, S-Fone, Vietnamobile and Beeline. The development is considered a tough measure to closely manage pre-paid mobile phone subscribers.
Nguyen Dinh Chien, deputy general director, MobiFone, the third largest mobile network operator, said that mobile simcards were used in many devices such as USBs of 3G generation, notebook computers and mobile phones. Therefore, the State should increase the maximum numbers of simcards owned by each person to five units.
Nguyen Viet Dung, deputy general director of Viettel Telecom, agreed and said the demand was surely more than three simcards for each person.
The report reveals that the draft of the circular will permit one enterprise to register a maximum of 100 simcards. The regulation is expected to restrict enterprises from registering too many simcards to sell on the market. At present, there is a service provided by individuals that a normal subscriber can change to be a student subscriber even if they are not students to get cheaper mobile phone service charges.
Mobile network operators dialing in on data revenue
A research has revealed that mobile network operators, which once provided a simple phone and messaging service, are now evolving, catering to the consumers needs to offer a multi-platform technology experience via the mobile phone. This change, when the mobile network operators become providers of a rich mobile experience, requires investments and new strategic approaches to make business sustainable and competitive in front of new strong market entries and fresh patterns of consumption.
According to researchers, this increasingly constant demand for data has led large Western Europe mobile groups Deutsche Telekom – T-Mobile, France Telecom – Orange, Telefonica, and Vodafone Group to show signs of improvement with expected fourth quarter earnings in 2010.
The increasing trend in data demand is illustrated by the growing data revenue stream among these major mobile network operators. This data crave resulting from the penetration of the smart phone and other high-end devices, is leading these key Western Europe mobile groups to begin discussion of geographic expansion.
Researchers explain that with growing mobile penetration, mobile groups are facing an intensely price competitive and regulated environment. In order to generate a diversified income stream, expanding geographic operations from Europe, particularly to attractive emerging markets, becomes one of the market trends.
Both France Telecom – Orange and Vodafone Group have a large presence in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Deutsche Telekom Group covers a majority of European countries, while Telefonica has vast coverage in the Americas.
Researchers added that most mobile groups aim to develop and introduce new services to consumers and business customers.
Vodafone Group’s strategic focus in 2011 will be on Europe, Africa and India (where the demand for telecommunications services is growing rapidly), while developing new services and corporate segments. France Telecom – Orange will implement cloud computing services to reach a goal of generating 500 million Euros by 2015. They also hope to become the number one videoconferencing provider in France. In Germany, Deutsche Telekom Group will continue a nationwide installation of their 4G network. They also plan on introducing new B2B cloud services outside of Germany. Telefonica plans to capitalize on both the Strategic Alliance Agreement signed with China Unicom as well as their new partnership with Jasper Wireless.
ComReg tackles calling cost to 1850, 1890 numbers (Ireland)
Ireland’s Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) has published its response to the consultation on the latest version of the National Numbering Conventions.
It has moved to tackle the high cost of calling 1850, 1890 and 0818 numbers from mobile phones.
The regulator has set a new limit restricting the maximum cost for calls to an ordinary landline number. It has also implemented similar ceilings for calling 1850, 076 and 0700 numbers.
Under a shared-cost concept, mobile network operators (MNOs) currently receive payments for 1850 and 1890 calls from both the calling and the called party. ComReg now wants them to adjust their call charges to levels below the new maximum limits to recognize the significant contributions from the called party. It is calling on called parties to negotiate better deals with the operators hosting their numbers.
Mobile network operators need new approaches to make data profitable
A research report has unearthed that mobile network operators need to develop a smarter approach to manage their network and charging for data usage to allow them to drive profits, manage costs and secure customer loyalty.
According to report, MNOs need to use customer data held in the business support system with network policy management and control, if they are to manage soaring traffic loads, drive profits, personalize the customer experience and increase their agility and response times.
According to researchers, the phenomenal growth in 3G-enabled devices and smartphones has seen mobile broadband data volumes soar, and penetration is only set to increase. This is putting intense pressure on limited network capacity and spectrum, and profits are not keeping pace with traffic volumes.
By expanding policy management and controls, operators can develop smarter charging plans that will provide them with a sustainable revenue stream, improved customer service and the ability to shape traffic on their mobile broadband networks.
According to researchers forecast, mobile broadband users are set to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 28% over five years to 2015. 3G dongles and smartphones will drive demand for broadband data applications, while smartphone and tablet users will increasingly use their devices for video services.
Researchers added that some MNOs have already adopted plans with options such as discounted evening and weekend use or monthly data caps. However, this approach doesn’t go far enough and only addresses one part of the equation. It doesn’t maximize revenue potential with high-value customers.
Segmented data plans are one way of increasing revenues, and they can also help deliver a better customer experience. For example, an enterprise is more likely than a family to pay for guaranteed bandwidth, priority service availability and predefined access controls.
MNOs can also encourage spend in the consumer sector by promoting ‘bite size’ access to specific applications, which can work well in emerging markets. If an MNO offers access to social networking services during a defined period at a lower cost, it can make its service more affordable and attractive to users, move traffic to off-peak periods and increase quality of service and customer experience across its operation.
Millions suffered due to Finnish mobile network fault (Finland)
Finland’s mobile network operators suffered a system failure on Saturday morning that left about a million subscribers without any service. The problem, which affected users in the northern two-thirds of the country, was resolved only by the middle of the afternoon.
The mobile network, Elisa stated that the failure started at 7:00 in the morning in Tampere, with an electric fault at one of the company’s control rooms. The fault only affected mobile services, leaving the landline and internet services unaffected.
Although emergency calls from mobiles should automatically lock onto the strongest signal, regardless of the provider, there were anecdotal reports of some people having difficulty making such calls because of drop-off of calls at emergency centers.
An even more extensive failure in the Elisa network occurred in 2007, when an estimated two million mobile phones were affected.
Samsung mobile denies charging for Android OS Upgrades
Samsung Mobile has denied reports that it is charging mobile network operators for OS upgrades to its Android based smartphones, a move which was speculated as being the reason why Samsung smartphones seem to be slower at deploying OS upgrades than other handset vendors.
A website recently claimed that agreements struck between the networks and the handset manufacturers usually offered free OS upgrades, but that Samsung was trying to charge for them.
It was noted that critical updates are usually free, maintenance updates have some maintenance fee associated with them, and feature updates are usually costly.
While most manufacturers consider an OS upgrade, such as from Android 2.1 to the 2.2 (Froyo) release as a maintenance release, it was claimed that Samsung treated them as feature updates, and charged accordingly. Samsung later sent a statement denying this.
The delay in deploying the OS upgrade has been causing increased complaints on handset discussion forums, and the lack of explanation has sparked conspiracy theories about the company’s handset policies. It is actually possible to upgrade Samsung phones to the latest version of the Android OS, but only by rooting the phone.
Indian Networks prepare to launch Mobile Number Portability (India)
India’s mobile network operators are setting up to launch Mobile Number Portability by the end of next week, with at least four of the larger networks confirming that they are now ready to support MNP.
Mobile Number Portability was due to be made available last year, but was delayed several times following difficulties expressed by the networks in meeting the regularly delayed deadlines. MNP was launched on a trial basis in Haryana, with a national launch due on the 20th January.
Vodafone Essar, Tata Teleservices, Idea Cellular have all confirmed their readiness and are starting marketing campaigns. Reliance Communications is also ready for MNP, although the company was not able to confirm to local media if both its CDMA and GSM networks would be ready.
