Benpres reduces equity holding in Digitel Telecommunications
Philippines conglomerate Benpres Holdings Corp announced yesterday it had sold off 55.75 million shares in domestic fixed line and mobile telephony operator Digital Telecommunications Philippines, equivalent to 0.88% of its interest in the company, on the Philippine Stock Exchange for a total of PHP78.5 million (USD1.58 million). Benpres said the proceeds would be used ‘for working capital requirements of Benpres’.
SingTel reports 20% rise in Q2 profits
State-controlled Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) reported underlying net profit before goodwill and one-off items of SGD899 million (USD577 million) in its fiscal second quarter to 30 September 2006, up 20% on the SGD752 million it recorded in the corresponding period of 2005, and beating analysts’ consensus forecasts. Quarterly net profit reached SGD956 million, up from SGD806 million previously and higher than the average forecast of SGD804 million polled from a Reuters survey. In the wake of the result however, SingTel reiterated its full year guidance of flat operating revenues and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA). Following the announcement, SingTel shares climbed by more than 3% in early trading, to reach their highest level in more than five years.
SingTel said its Q2 results were bolstered by its subsidiaries and regional affiliates. The operator has interests in telecom firms in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, India and Bangladesh, and has also expressed an interest in entering the Vietnamese market. It derives around 75% of its sales and two-thirds of pre-tax earnings from operations outside Singapore. Quarterly net profits from its affiliates rose by 48% to SGD395 million, driven by Indonesian mobile operator Telkomsel and India’s Bharti Group, supported by Globe Telecom in the Philippines. Meanwhile, the group’s Australian unit Optus, reported a 12% drop in quarterly net profit in the face of intense competition, slow subscriber growth and regulatory changes that have impacted on its bottom line.
Source- telegeography Wireless Mobile Telecom
Mobiles, protests and pundits
“Until recently, killers in Burundi found it easy to cover their traces; they just tossed the bodies into a river where crocodiles would eat them up. But in August residents of Muyinga province acted fast when they saw fresh corpses drifting downstream; they used their mobile phones to contact NGOs, who in turn tipped off the United Nations, whose soldiers got to the scene fast enough to recover some forensic evidence.
The use of mobiles as a tool of “empowerment”, even in the poorest and worst-governed parts of the world, is not always so grisly. The cruder kinds of electoral fraud, relying on poor communications between the capital and the boondocks, are now much harder.
Even with minimal resources, monitors can count the voters and conduct exit polls—and then phone their findings to a radio station before the authorities stuff the ballot boxes. Such methods have helped make elections a bit cleaner in places like Ghana and Kenya. ”
Meanwhile, in Europe’s darkest corner, Belarus, text messages call youngsters to surreal acts of resistance, such as (to take a recent example) gathering to eat ice cream.
Chroniclers of cellular people power identify two big landmarks:
“The rallies that toppled President Joseph Estrada of the Philippines in 2001, and South Korea’s presidential election a year later, when text messages among the young brought a surge of support for President Roh Moo-hyun. In both those countries protests are still convened by text message not just at critical times, when national leadership is at stake, but to highlight almost any sort of grievance.
For Europeans mobile democracy??? came of age with the Spanish election of March 2004, immediately after a terrorist attack in Madrid: the Socialists rode to power on a wave of text-driven anger with the ruling conservatives. In America some claim the same happened at the Republican convention in 2004, when text messages helped protesters play cat-and-mouse with the New York police.”
Source- http://www.textually.org
Mobile Mania, Part 2
While mobile ticketing (m-ticketing) for movies has just been birthed in the U.S., thanks to Mobile Box Office’s venture with Michigan-based theatre circuit Emagine Entertainment, territories overseas have had a head start. If Europe, Asia and Oceania are ahead, it has much to do with their early embrace of mobile devices, communication via texting, and a penchant for technological innovation.
Yet m-ticketing–which has proved itself a viable service for live music and sports events–is still very much a fledgling ticketing alternative for movie theatres. Still, players overseas are betting that the increased appeal and convenience of mobile devices and wireless communication and the fast-evolving technology will make m-ticketing for movies a reality in all major markets.
The bottom line is getting more bottoms into seats, so exhibitors from Australia to Japan to Turkey are giving m-ticketing a shot, and enablers, technology companies and manufacturers are hoping to make it a business. And, of course, the phone carriers–like exhibitors–love increased traffic and are doing what they can to boost m-ticketing for movies.
In Japan in 2004, NTT DoCoMo, that country’s largest cell-phone carrier, followed pioneering and cell-crazed Korea with a paper-based ticketing service that allows filmgoers to purchase tickets on their cell-phones and use the confirmation barcodes returned to their phones for scanning at theatre kiosks that print out the tickets. According to Karen Lurker, corporate communications manager for NTT DoCoMo USA, Inc., DoCoMo subscribers use the carrier’s i-mode(tm) mobile e-mail/Internet service on their handsets that allow–thanks to an IC chip–a contact-less interface with automatic ticket machines at all 32 Toho Cinemas theatres. The chip uses FeliCa technology developed by Sony Corporation.
Subscribers do m-ticketing by downloading and installing DoCoMo’s “mobile vit” application (Toho Cinemas’ term for this service) to phones via DoCoMo’s i-mode wireless Internet. I-mode enables the purchases and the handset’s IC chips allow for the storage of information.
At the Toho theatres, filmgoers wave their “Osaifu Keita” handsets (cell-phones, to those of us stateside) in front of automatic ticket machines that print tickets. Tickets can be purchased two days before and up to 20 minutes before show time. “Osaifu” means wallet and “Keitai” means mobile handset, so it’s a phone with wallet functions. As is a custom in Japan, DoCoMo is striving to enthrone its phones beyond mere product and embed its notion of “Keitai” as part of people’s lifestyles.
According to Lurker, as of June 30, 2006, 13.8 million of the over 51 million DoCoMo subscribers own a FeliCa-enabled handset, suggesting the potential number of subscribers who can use their handsets to purchase movie tickets.
DoCoMo has no demographic profile of its “m-ticket” user, nor could it provide an estimate regarding how many people get their theatre tickets via mobile phones. But the communications giant does project that there will be 18 million FeliCa-enabled handsets in the hands of subscribers by next March, so that the capability of using handsets to purchase movie tickets will be available to many more DoCoMo subscribers.
According to Toho Cinemas, the chain had 2.8 million movie audience members in August 2006, of which one percent used their “mobile vit” service to purchase tickets. These filmgoers represented users from all of the wireless carriers in Japan, including DoCoMo, au and Vodafone.
DoCoMo’s service also helps distributors and cinemas with their marketing efforts. Says Lurker, “Half of DoCoMo’s 51 million subscriber base has migrated to our high-speed 3G [third-generation] network, so that they can see movie trailers or short movie clips via our ‘i-motion’ video distribution.”
Other corners of the globe can brag about their paperless m-ticketing, which is largely, but not always, barcode-based. One of the leaders in the field is four-year-old Edinburgh, Scotland-based Mobiqa, which began its m-ticketing service–with its trademarked Mobi-tickets–for music and sports fans. Mobiqa, partnering with Auckland, New Zealand-based cinema software leader Vista Entertainment Solutions, has just begun to reach out to filmgoers and cinemas. Vista is integrating Mobiqa’s mobile-ticketing technology into its Cinema Management System of software for theatres.
Thriving as a live-event ticket provider, Mobiqa made what one media outlet called “rock concert history” last June with their “new-fangled mobile-ticketing system” used for a Guns N Roses concert in London’s Hammersmith Apollo. All that m-ticketing concert-goers had to do at the door was open the appropriate text message on their cell-phones, which had a barcode that was scanned for entry.
Currently, its m-ticketing business is primarily in Europe and the U.K., but Mobiqa also has a large presence in Australia and is expanding its technology to about 30 countries, including Brazil, Norway and parts of Africa.
Mobiqa group sales and marketing director Don Cameron explains that “right now, the technology mainly serves ticketing for live music and sports events, but Mobiqa, like other companies, is moving into cinemas.”
And Mobiqa’s deal with Vista obviously signals it means “film” business. Cameron says the pact, which will allow mobile barcode tickets to be sent directly from Vista, will begin this fall and may first bring movie Mobi-tickets to the Philippines and Australia.
The Mobi-ticket advantage, say Cameron and Murray Holdaway, chief executive and director of Vista Entertainment Solutions, is convenience to filmgoers, allowing them more time to visit concession stands and view trailers and pre-shows. Vista’s cinema software is already installed in over 20 countries worldwide, including the USA, Australia, U.K., Hong Kong, India, Mexico, Germany and Kenya.
Mobiqa’s services, which include both mobile ticketing and mobile coupons, arrive at mobile phones via text messages (whether SMS or the more complex MMS/WAP) that are standard barcodes. In the case of movie theatres, filmgoers who buy Mobi-tickets will bring their mobile devices to the proper entry points where their handsets–serving as tickets–are swiped and read by scanners.
Cameron believes that while the U.S. is behind in m-ticketing, we may have an edge. He explains: “The U.S. can skip the simple SMS texting, go to MMS/WAP and have the capacity to build in images and eventually videos.” Mobiqa recently appointed Jim Barczak as its U.S. rep.
In Portugal, the Lusomundo circuit, which serves nine million patrons annually, has also made its move into paperless, “no-line” m-ticketing. The country’s largest chain recently offered filmgoers the option of m-ticketing made possible by NeoMedia’s Gavitec AG, the German-based scanner manufacturer. TopSolutions, a Portuguese solution provider, also participated in Lusomundo’s m-ticketing launch.
Lisbon moviegoers get tickets through a cash-free, web-based transaction or from special call centers. Mobile tickets arrive on their cell devices via simple text SMS as a two-dimensional, data-matrix barcode that provides exact information needed (e.g., theatre location, film title, starting time, reserved seat number). Phones are swiped at theatre entry points and read by the Gavitec scanners, which verify the electronic tickets in seconds with Lusomundo’s database.
According to Christian Steinbold, Gavitec COO and head of sales and marketing, the Lusomundo initiative is working out “very well, although we won’t have reliable empiric results until later this year.” In doing business directly with cinema chains, Steinbold explains that Gavitec implements both software and hardware solutions and charges for their different models via leases or straightforward sales.
Gavitec is also working on cinema initiatives in the Netherlands and, reaching much further east, may be serving Turkish cinemas with installations of stationary kiosk terminals that will interface with filmgoers’ cell-phones.
Beyond Gavitec, NeoMedia Technologies, Inc. COO and NeoMedia Mobile president Martin Corbus is also promising a new cell-phone application called qode(r) that could “affect the movie industry by changing the dynamics of how it relates to its customers.” He elaborates: “Basically, qode will fast-track moviegoers to all the multi-media capability of the Internet–wherever and whenever they want to. They’ll now be able to click on codes printed on movie posters and ads to see a trailer right then and there on their cell-phone. They’ll also be able to check out reviews, buy movie tickets, even buy movie-related merchandise online–right in their hand.”
Meanwhile in Ireland, Fonaticket(tm), developed by Icora Mobile Technologies, which develops products for mobile phones for both ticketing and marketing solutions, recently did a movie m-ticketing trial that’s also barcode-based. Dublin-based Icora co-founder Donal Foley reiterates the goal of “removing the queuing hassle or that of paper-based online ticket acquisition or bringing credit cards to a machine in the theatre. Or swiping their mobiles at a machine and getting paper tickets.”
Fonatickets is yet another process to eliminate paper. Not unimportantly, Foley notes that “Fonatickets will also be the only way theatres can get demographic information on their consumers.”
For now, Fonatickets is only in the Dublin area, but Foley says they are planning to expand further in Ireland and into the U.K. “In the long term, we’re looking at the States. But we’re a very small company at the moment.”
Fonatickets did its first test and promotion in August at the UCI Tallacht theatre in Tallacht, a suburb in south Dublin. No money was involved as this screening was a promotion, but the event filled all seats, was problem-free and worked very well, says Foley.
The process began with cinemagoers logging onto the fonaticket.com website, entering their mobile phone numbers and then receiving special text messages containing unique barcodes, which, in a final step, were scanned by ushers upon arrival at the cinema.
Says Foley: “All tickets were scanned perfectly with a scanner provided by a supplier. The aim was to provide convenience to cinemagoers, but also to show that m-ticketing could allow cinemas to cut down on staff and work at the box office.” And paper.
The Fonatickets trial was a sell-out screening of Miami Vice, which, not coincidentally, starred Ireland’s own Colin Farrell. The company did its deal with United Cinemas International (UCI) and United International Pictures, the film’s distributor in Ireland and the U.K. The screening, which took place three days before the movie’s commercial release, provided UCI with consumer feedback and demographic information. A second Fonatickets/UCI promotion, with another of their Dublin theatres, is imminent. Fonatickets is hoping to move on to a real ticketing implementation deal with UCI, beginning in Ireland, then London and Manchester and beyond to about 100 other cinemas in the U.K.
In another corner of the globe, Sydney-based bCODE, a mobile-ticketing solutions provider, announced last June its mobile movie tickets launch at Sydney’s Manly Cinemas, a privately owned multi-screen complex. bCODE’s m-ticketing solution is based on standard SMS text messaging and, like Fonaticket and others, is paperless. But the bCODE mobile ticket is not barcode-based. It involves a series of characters that are a mix of letter, numbers and familiar signs (like the “equal” sign) which are read off mobile-device displays and checked for authenticity.
Beyond simple text, bCODE’s scanner (a touch-screen-enabled reader) is connected via broadband-wireless and can display multimedia (special promotions, movie trailers, etc.). Customers using bCODE mobile tickets take their cell-phones directly to the bCODE reader, located where traditional paper tickets are collected. The reader uses a camera and optical character recognition to read and decode the text-based SMS bCODE. Phones are scanned on the reader, which can display any form of information that the venue requires, including the bearer’s and movie’s name and a particular showtime and screen and seat number. Additionally, the bCODE readers can display logos, advertising and film clips.
Says marketing director Paul Christy, “Given that we know what the customer is going to see, and at what time and location, the redemption could also trigger other actions on the reader. For example, if I was going to see Batman Begins, the reader at the time of redemption could give me the option of buying the ring tone, screensaver, mobile game or even physical merchandise related to the movie. We call this ‘Trigger Point Marketing.’ Its benefits are that such offers are contextually relevant, timely and not intrusive.”
Unlike m-ticketing trials, the bCODE and Manly launch, which involved such films as Cars, The Break-up, The Da Vinci Code and Water, was real-world and the m-tickets were paid for. Christy calls it “bCODE’s first real implementation, although small. Manly was useful for us to see in a ‘real-world’ environment how users interact with our bCODE reader when redeeming their bCODE cinema tickets.
“Overall, bCODE received an excellent reception from all those who used it,” he continues, adding that the launch “grabbed headlines” and gained the company a “world first for mobile cinema ticketing.” Additionally, “we learned a few things on the implementation side of things in terms of logistics, education of the user and placement of the reader on site.” bCODE, per Christy, is already in advanced phases of discussions and technology trials with all of Australia’s cinema chains, including Village Roadshow.
In South Korea, reserving movie tickets via mobile phone is “well-established,” according to Lee Kyung Min, assistant manager at leading mobile-software company Directmedia. A paperless ticket service was also recently introduced, he says. Min cites SK Communications, KTF and CJ-CGV among the leading companies in the mobile movie-ticket revolution there.
Many m-ticket players concede that there remain many obstacles. There’s the challenge of convincing early movers that m-ticketing is worth embracing while business models are still emerging. There are also cultural differences that come into play. Says Rome-based filmmaker and avid film fan Michel Zampino, who grew up in both France and Italy: “Cell use is less popular here in Italy where we have a very social people, who like to interact with one another rather than commune with machines. The French are a little less social and more prone to be mobile users, so m-ticketing has a bigger chance there.”
All these obstacles aside, Barcelona-based writer, consultant and acknowledged mobile expert Rudy De Waele, a Belgian who tracks mobile lifestyle trends and runs a popular blog on the subject (m-trends.org), sees “ease of use as the big breakthrough.” This will happen, he predicts, with the adoption of QR codes, which are two-dimensional matrix barcodes already used in other industries. QR refers to the “quick response” that allows mobile content to be decoded at high speeds.
DeWaele also points to other cell-phone technologies that may impact moviegoers, such as Image Recognition Software, which “will create a whole new layer of interactivity related to movie discovery, like mobile trailers distributed by operators or MVNO networks, and the ability to reserve your theatre tickets instantly where and when you want.” Newer data-centric MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) implementations let non-wireless entities like Helio reach into wireless space cheaply.
DeWaele also believes it will be easy to interact directly with any other media. In his crystal ball, he sees “a movie ad somewhere in a magazine, a bus stop or outdoor advertising ad and I’ll have the possibility to take a camera-phone picture of the poster or ad or logo, send that to a SMS/MMS number and receive a link to the interactive website where I can view the trailer, see in which theatres the movie is featured and order my tickets straight from my mobile phone.”
M-ticketing, like its core of cell-phone users, is young, promising, adventurous and has a lot to learn. But m-ticketing capabilities may well deliver a big “wow” factor, suggesting the impact of another “infant” of a few years back-the Internet.
Source- http://filmjournal.com
The Philippines and SMS
“The Philippines has become the first country in the world where mobile users spend more on data services than on voice, according to a leading research company,” reports The Guardian via Smart Mobs.
“The average data revenue per subscription in the Philippines now stands at $3.90 (£2.08) a month, compared with $3.50 a month for voice – meaning that data accounts for 53% of the total.
The main reason for the Philippines figures is that texting is very cheap compared to voice calls, so subscribers use texts as their main means of communication and their spending on voice calls is very low. A text costs only about 1 peso (1.1p) compared to about 20 pesos per minute for prepaid voice calls.”
The Philippines, the first country in the world to use text messaging to topple a former president, is often referred to as “the texting capital of the world” because texting was free in the between 1994 and 2000 because operators’ billing systems were unable to charge prepaid users for this service.”
Source- http://www.textually.org
Indonesia’s Mobile-8 targets four mln users by 2007
JAKARTA, Oct 18 (Reuters) – Indonesian mobile phone operator, PT Mobile-8 Telecom, aims to more than double the number of its subscribers next year, an executive said on Wednesday, in line with rapid growth in mobile phone users in the country.
Hidajat Tjandradjaja, president and chief executive, also said that the company planned to spend $140 million on capital expenditure in 2007, up from just $10 million this year.
“By the end of next year, we are hoping the number of subscribers could reach four million,” Tjandradjaja told reporters.
Mobile-8 also unveiled details of its planned initial public offering (IPO) in which the company plans to sell 19.91 percent of its enlarged share-base, using 57 percent of the proceeds to help finance its expansion plan.
He also said the company had signed a $70 million financing agreement with Lehman Brothers, which would be used to fund capital spending for 2007.
He said the company was targeting around 1.8 million users by the end of 2006 and currently had 1.6 million users, already double the end-2005 number of customers
The company, 60.76 percent controlled by diversified firm PT Bimatara Citra Tbk , had not decided the price of the IPO or the amount it planned to raise from the exercise.
Mobile-8 said in a statement that 57 percent of the proceeds would be used to finance expansion plans, while the remainder would be used as working capital.
The number of mobile phone users in the world’s fourth most populous nation expanded rapidly last year. Despite the 50 percent growth in 2005, the penetration rate in the country is still low compared to its rivals in the region.
With around 58 million users, mobile penetration in Indonesia is only about 25 percent, much lower compared with around 80 percent in Malaysia and 40 percent in Philippines.
Source- http://asia.news.yahoo.com
Philippine Shares Rise to 5-Month High
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine shares advanced to a five-month high Monday on strong gains in Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., rival Globe Telecom and Ayala Corp. on expectations of strong third-quarter earnings results.
The benchmark 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange Index rose 1.05 percent at 2,584.20, its best finish since May 8.
PLDT led the advance, up 2.27 percent to 2,250 pesos, while rival Globe Telecom rose 1.36 percent to 1,120 pesos.
Ayala Corp., the country’s largest conglomerate, gained 1.03 percent to 492.50 pesos.
“Most (investors) are taking their positions ahead of the earnings results,” said Citiseconline.com analyst Mark Canizares. “The U.S. market is also providing some boost.”
Investors also anticipated the government’s budget deficit data for the first nine months will stay below the target ceiling, traders said. The figures are due to be released Tuesday.
Source- http://www.chron.com
Nokia and Plan Give a Voice to Africa’s Youth
ESPOO, Finland, October 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Nokia (Nachrichten/Aktienkurs) and international children’s organisation, Plan, have joined forces to use modern communications technologies in Africa to raise children’s awareness of their rights and opportunities. Nokia has provided an initial donation of 1 million Euros for 2006. The first stage of this new joint effort will see Nokia focus on supporting Plan’s existing media and communications technology projects for Africa’s children and youth.
“We believe that we can have a positive impact through mobile technology as it is used to enable young people to realise their full potential. The aim of our cooperation with Plan is to fight poverty by empowering African youth and giving them a voice through the use of technology. Plan has a good existing network, positive track record and extensive experience in using technology for youth development in Africa and was therefore, a very good value fit for Nokia,” said Veli Sundback, Executive Vice President, Corporate Relations and Responsibility, Nokia.
“Plan is committed to working in partnerships, not only with local groups or governments in the countries where we work, but also with like-minded corporate organisations like Nokia. I believe that this cooperation will deliver long-term sustainable benefits for hundreds of communities in the developing world,” said Tom Miller, Plan CEO.
Access to and use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) such as radio, the internet, mobile devices and television is a vital element in helping to tackle poverty and improve the respect, fulfilment and protection of children’s rights. In this cooperation, ICT becomes an important tool for children and youth to make their voice heard and to learn about issues that are relevant for them.
Involving children in digital media production either on the radio, in video productions or in music helps introduce the potential of ICT to communities affected by poverty in a non-threatening way and links remote communities to a much wider national audience. Producing their own digital media is often revolutionary for many children, providing them with the chance to gain self-confidence and further influence their own future.
About Plan
Plan is a humanitarian child-centred organization working in 46 developing countries, with families and their communities. Founded almost 70 years ago, Plan has no religious, political or governmental affiliation. Plan has 64 child media projects running in 31 countries at present. These projects include radio programs on child rights in West Africa; video projects in India, Kenya and Tanzania; radio and newspaper projects in Central America; TV production in Vietnam; internet projects for teenagers in Burkina Faso; and radio programs in Thailand, the Philippines and Malawi.
About Nokia
Nokia has a positive impact on society that extends beyond the advanced technology, products and services the company creates. Through its cooperation with non-profit and governmental organizations, the company prepares young people to embrace opportunities created by the global economy and new technological advancements. The company has been an active regional contributor to youth and education causes for many years, with Nokia employees making their own contributions as volunteers in a range of programs throughout the world.
Source- http://www.finanznachrichten.de
Premium content drives Asia’s mobile
As the growth number of cellular subscribers starts to flatten across the Asia-Pacific region, the mobile communications industry will in future be driven largely by data services, an analyst says.
Frost & Sullivan said in a statement Tuesday that while messaging continues to contribute the bulk of revenues in emerging mobile data markets, much of the growth potential lies in premium content.
In the Asia-Pacific region, messaging accounted for about 39.6 percent of total data revenues last year, excluding revenues shared with third-party content providers. Overall, the mobile data market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 17.9 percent between 2005 and 2011, the analyst said.
Janice Chong, industry manager at Frost & Sullivan, noted: “Subscribers in most Asia-Pacific countries have strong preference for local content, which creates the impetus for the fast-growing mobile content market.”
The demand for premium content will also be boosted by an expanding regional subscriber base and better 3G (Third Generation) network coverage, according to Frost & Sullivan. Cheaper advanced multimedia handsets, and the race by mobile providers to secure a continuous stream of content through partnerships will also drive growth of mobile data revenues, the analyst added.
According to Frost & Sullivan, the Asia-Pacific premium content market–spanning 13 countries in the region–raked in revenues worth US$9.4 billion last year. This market is expected to reach US$32.9 billion by the end of 2011.
The research company also noted that in some Asia-Pacific markets, the revenue share ratio skewed in favor of mobile operators, rather than content providers which are also required to pay hefty royalties for applications to music label companies and associations. This has held back the growth of the premium content industry in some countries.
Chong explained: “In markets such as Indonesia and the Philippines, mobile operators typically retain 60 to 70 percent of the revenue from sale of content, while content providers receive the remaining smaller portion.”
She added that content providers in these countries believe they deserve a larger revenue share because they bear the entire cost of content development.
This trend is particularly inherent in markets outside Japan and South Korea, Chong said, mostly due to the popularity of SMS (short messaging service) based applications that contribute to low data traffic usage. As such, operators will tend to seek a higher revenue share from content downloads to compensate for the low data traffic revenue, the analyst said.
Source- http://www.zdnetasia.com
Research and Markets: China Mobile Limited – Has the World’s Largest Mobile Subscriber Base With Over 260 Million Users
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c42991) has announced the addition of 2006 Asia Telco Company Profiles to their offering.
This report presents 12 profiles of selected major telecommunications companies in Asia. Each profile provides a descriptive overview of the business of the particular company as well as the latest available financial and operational statistics.
Topics Covered
1. BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LTD 2. CHINA MOBILE LIMITED 3. CHINA NETCOM GROUP 4. CHINA TELECOM CORPORATION 5. HUTCHISON WHAMPOA LTD 6. NTT DOCOMO 7. PACIFIC INTERNET LTD 8. PCCW LTD 9. SINGTEL 10. STARHUB PTE LTD 11. TELEKOM MALAYSIA 12. VIETNAM POSTS & TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION 13. GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS List of Tables & Exhibits
Summary
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) – India’s state-owned BSNL owns around 85% of the country’s copper wire local loop networks. The company is the largest telecom operator and the largest public sector enterprise in India, providing basic fixed-line services nationwide, except for the cities of Mumbai and Delhi. BSNL lost its exclusive rights to local access and national telephony in 2001. To compensate for reduced revenues, it built a national GSM network and entered the mobile sector, becoming one of the country’s biggest GSM operators. The company also entered the international telephony market in February 2003.
China Mobile Limited – China Mobile has the world’s largest mobile subscriber base (over 260 million) and the largest geographically contiguous mobile network. The company also has a strategic alliance with Vodafone. Listed on the New York and Hong Kong stock exchanges since 1997, China Mobile has been facing competition from cheaper city-based PHS mobile services offered by the country’s two big fixed-line operators. In preparation for 3G services in China, the company submitted its application for a WCDMA licence in July 2005.
China Netcom Group – China Netcom Group is the second largest fixed-line operator in China. The group owns 30% of the country’s fixed-line infrastructure and serves 35% of its fixed-line customers. As part of its infrastructure it has a 360Gb/s IP backbone network and the Asia Netcom submarine cable network. Its services include PSTN and VoIP telephony, the ‘Little Smart’ PHS service, broadband Internet access, leased lines and VPNs. With an IPO in November 2004, it was the last of the major telcos in China to go public.
China Telecom Corporation Ltd – China Telecom Corporation Ltd is the principal provider of local, domestic and international voice and data services, dial-up and broadband Internet access in 20 of the 31 regions in China. The company commenced operations in September 2002, then went public on the HKSE and NYSE in November of that year, after the government split the original state-owned China Telecom into the China Netcom and the current China Telecom. Revenue growth engines have included the company’s PHS mobile service and its broadband Internet service. In mid-2005, China Telecom signed a landmark cooperative agreement with ZTE to provide the world’s largest fixed-line Next-Generation Network (NGN) in China covering 30 provinces.
Hutchison Whampoa Ltd – Hutchison Whampoa, a huge Hong Kong based conglomerate, has become heavily involved in telecommunications and is now a serious global player. As well as its Hong Kong business, it has a presence in a growing number of countries throughout Asia, Europe, Australasia, the Middle East, Africa and South America. Specialising in mobile communications, the company has invested billions in Third Generation (3G) licences and infrastructure and has been at the forefront of the global 3G roll-out.
NTT DoCoMo – Listed on the Tokyo, London and New York Stock Exchanges, NTT DoCoMo is controlled by NTT Corporation and is the mobile arm of the NTT group. DoCoMo is one of the largest mobile carriers in the world. In 2001, it became the first operator in the world to launch a 3G service. The company provides 2G and PHS mobile telephony, FOMA 3G mobile communications based on the WCDMA standard, i-mode mobile Internet access and email messaging platform and satellite mobile communications. DoCoMo’s 3G service surged in sales in 2004/05 after three years of weak sales. DoCoMo was determined to launch its 4G services during 2006, several years ahead of its competitors.
Pacific Internet Ltd – NASDAQ-listed Pacific Internet Ltd is one of the largest Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the Asia Pacific, providing Internet access and services in Singapore, Australia, Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, India and Malaysia. Pacific Internet provides end-to-end Internet services for corporate and residential customers, including dial-up access, DSL and wireless broadband access, leased line services, web hosting and e-commerce services. Listed on the NASDAQ, Pacific Internet Ltd no longer has the government-owned SembCorp Ventures as a major shareholder. SembCorp sold its remaining shares to an investment company, Kingsville Capital, in 2005. Some months later, Kingsville sold its shareholding to venture capitalist Vantage Corporation.
PCCW Ltd – PCCW has been Hong Kong’s dominant fixed-line telecommunications provider since it acquired the incumbent, Cable and Wireless HKT, in 2000. Since the takeover, the company has been struggling with debt and organisational restructuring in its effort to remain viable. In January 2005, China Netcom reached an agreement with PCCW on the purchase of a 20% stake in PCCW for US$1 billion.
Singapore Telecom (SingTel) – Listed on the Singapore and Australian Stock Exchanges, SingTel is majority owned by the Singapore government. SingTel is the leading provider of fixed-line, mobile and Internet services in Singapore. With a small, saturated and competitive home market, SingTel has significant offshore interests, which now contribute a majority of its revenue. Its main subsidiary is Optus in Australia. Others include Telkomsel in Indonesia, Globe Telecom in the Philippines, Bharti Telecom in India and AIS in Thailand. The company has significant investments in international submarine cable networks, satellite systems and data centres.
StarHub Pte Ltd – StarHub provides voice and data services over fixed, mobile and Internet platforms. After a period of strong growth, the company has passed MobileOne to take second position behind SingTel in the mobile market and is now closing in on the incumbent. StarHub has deployed an IP-based network to serve corporate customers and has been building a nationwide network to serve the residential market. In April 2001, the operator was awarded a 3G mobile licence and launched a 3G service in 2005. Singapore Cable Vision merged with StarHub in July 2002, renaming itself StarHub Cable Vision, providing cable TV and broadband services. The operator’s broadband base represented over 50% of the residential broadband market in Singapore by end-2005.
Source- http://www.redorbit.com
