Telmex predicts difficult 2010 (Mexico)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Recovery in calling revenues this year seems to be out of sight for Telefonos de Mexico SAB due to domestic consumption amid recovering economy. Revenue from local and long distance services accounted for 53% of the company’s total sales in the first quarter. It dipped 13.1% on the year to 15 billion pesos ($1.2 billion) in the quarter.
According to Adolfo Cerezo, the company’s chief financial officer, the company prefers to be conservative and agrees that no good sign can be foreseen in falling voice revenues and same is applied for EBITDA margin.
Mexican economy is fueled largely by growing U.S. demand for Mexico’s exports and Telmex has yet to benefit from a rebound in the economy. Revenue from local and long distance services accounted for 53% of Telmex total sales in the first quarter and that too dipped 13.1% on the year to 15 billion pesos ($1.2 billion) in the quarter.
Verizon launches Samsung Reality (USA)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Verizon Wireless has finally launched its handset, Samsung Reality loaded with Samsung’s TouchWiz interface for personalization and widgets, available at the rate of $79.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.
The three-inch touchscreen, full horizontal slide-out QWERTY keyboard gadget has several other features like real 3.2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, corporate email sync, VZ Navigator and widgets. Photos can also be edited and animated. It can be setup with one-touch widgets for favorite websites on the phone’s full HTML web browser.
Customers can avail the facility of rebate by using debit cards wherein they can use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted.
Mobilicity contracts Ericsson for network management (Canada)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Swedish technology provider Ericsson has been chosen by Canadian start-up cellco Mobilicity (formerly DAVE Wireless) to manage its new 3G network under a five-year contract. This network outsourcing deal is Ericsson’s first deal in Canada and allows it to focus on marketing, leaving day-to-day operations to Ericsson.
Ericsson was previously selected by Mobilicity to design and build its 3G network, and the latter now plans to launch commercial mobile services in Toronto this spring, followed by expansion to Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa.
Field maintenance in Mobilicity’s urban network and front-and-back-office operations of the company will be looked after by Ericsson. Mobilicity holds licences covering ten of Canada’s largest urban markets and more than half of the country’s population.
Obelysk, a diversified Canadian holding company, and Quadrangle Capital Partners, a global investor in the telecoms and media sectors are its financial supporters.
Verizon’s Alltel assets purchased by ATN (USA)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Former Alltel wireless assets have been purchased by Atlantic Tele-Network (ATN) from Verizon Wireless. The cost of the deal was USD223 million and it also included USD23 million of acquired net working capital.
A combination of cash on hand and borrowings has been used to fund the purchase while it has been completed through the company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Allied Wireless Communications Corporation (AWCC).
Wireless properties and licenses that serve approximately 895,000 subscribers in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Illinois, Ohio, and Idaho are included in the purchase. According to ATN, it is expected that these assets will generate approximately USD500 million in annual service revenues during the first twelve months of its operation.
Mobile location services hit with the USA consumers
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mobile location services are used by nearly one in four U.S. adult consumers and Apple iPhone users have emerged as highest users. According to a latest survey conducted in mid-March, cell phone is possessed by 91% of the users but 26 percent of that group has used a map, navigation or some other mobile phone service that automatically determines your current location.
Action has been taken by nearly half of those who noticed any ads while using location-based services, higher than those who noticed advertisements while sending/receiving text messages (37 percent) and almost twice the rate of those who saw an ad while browsing Web sites (28 percent). This also indicates that consumers respond well to ads through location-based services.
Consumers believe location-based services offer them significant benefits in functionality and relevance. According to Jacqueline Rosales, EVP, Business Development & Client Service, Luth Research, location-based services are a compelling audience engagement feature unique to the mobile platform and by providing more location-aware services and products, brands can now create a much more intimate presence in consumers’ lives.
Vodafone to offer iPad price plans in May
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Dedicated iPad price plans will be announced by Vodafone for all models from the end of May in Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. Apple iPad has emerged as the most popular product in the USA selling more than 500,000 units in the first week of its launch.
An iPad user by using iPad’s revolutionary Multi-Touch user interface can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read e-books and can do much more.
The price tag for Apple iPad has not been announced by Vodafone yet.
Motorola appoints Mark Shockley to head sales in the USA
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mark Shockley has been promoted as the senior vice president, Global Go-to-Market for Motorola’s mobile handsets business and he will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of Motorola’s Mobile Devices sales operations globally.
He will report to Sanjay Jha, co-CEO of the company and head of the mobile devices division. Till recently, he was working in a similar ‘go-to-market’ position for the Americas region looking after the financial performance and customer relationships in the handset business, including carrier, retail, and online and alternative distribution channels. He has also worked as corporate vice president and general manager, East Asia Mobile Devices.
Frank Meng on the other hand has been appointed as the corporate vice president and president, of Greater China for the Mobile Devices business and will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of Motorola’s handset business and sales operations for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
SaskTel to launch W-CDMA/HSPA-based 3G/3.5G network
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Commercial services over a W-CDMA/HSPA-based 3G/3.5G mobile network will be launched by Saskatchewan-based operator, SaskTel, on July 1, 2010. The aim of the network will be to cover 98% of the province’s population by the end of the year.
The network building work worth USD170 million is already under way. Company’s network sharing agreement with Bell and Telus is also in place to allow nationwide HSPA roaming for SaskTel’s customers. Currently, 3G/3.5G mobile services via CDMA2000 1xEV-DO/Rev A technology is provided province-wide by SaskTel.
According to Robert Watson, CEO of SaskTel, legacy analogue cellular network has to be shut down within the next twelve months or even earlier as it is a no longer supportable and 3,200 customer using the analogue network will have to be notified.
Verizon launches NFL application (USA)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A free news and information application, NFL Mobile, has been launched by Verizon Wireless, ahead of 75th National Football League Draft scheduled to kick off on April 22. The application is optimized for selected smartphones and multimedia devices including the Motorola Droid, BlackBerry Storm and Storm2, HTC Droid Eris and Samsung Rogue.
In-depth profiles of current NFL players and draft prospects, team updates, mock drafts, expert analysis and related content are some of the unique features of the applications apart from NFL Network content, highlighted by live coverage of the 2010 NFL Draft.
New features will be added by Verizon Wireless in the days ahead training camp updates and preseason tilts with the beginning of the regular season. NFL RedZone, a NFL Network spinoff channel airing airs live or near-live look-ins featuring every key play and touchdown from the Sunday afternoon slate will also be featured in the new application.
Apple delays the launch of iPad in international market
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Apple has announced the delay of its iPad in the international market for the second time. It has also announced that the selling of iPad in the international market will begin on May 10. The decision was taken after iPad was quickly bought by the US buyers.
The number of the units is expected to be lowered if the production is delayed. The launch of the device in the USA was also delayed till April 3 and late on till late in April. Until now, 500,000 iPads have been delivered and a large order has also been taken by the company and depending upon the storage capacity, it costs $629, $729 or $829. The Wi-Fi-only iPads available now are $499, $599 or $699.
According to Apple, the company knows that many international customers waiting to buy an iPad will be disappointed by this news, but it hopes that they will be pleased to learn the reason, the iPad is a runaway success in the U.S. thus far
