SingTel promotes CFO Chua to CEO from April
Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) has named Chua Sock Koong Group CEO from 1 April 2007. Chua has worked for 17 years at the company and currently serves as Group CFO and CEO of the international operations. The current CEO Lee Hsien Yang will stay on into the fourth quarter to ensure the transition.
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
Ericsson to supply mobile health solution to Changi General and Gleneagles hospitals in Singapore
Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC), Parkway Hospital and SingHealth have signed a collaboration agreement to deploy Ericsson Mobile Health solution for the remote patient monitoring in the Changi General and Gleneagles Hospitals in Singapore.
Under the project Ericsson will supply and manage its mobile health solution that will be trialed at some of the hospitals’ Acute Care Wards, specialized in patients that require round-the-clock monitoring due to chronic illnesses such as stroke, asthma and diabetes.
The solution will enable automated collection and real-time monitoring of the patients’ vital signs, such as heart and breathing rates, oxygen saturation and blood pressure. The precision and timeliness of this information will enable hospital staff to provide appropriate medical assistance to the patients.
The patients only need to be fitted with lightweight and wearable health sensors that will collate and securely transmit the required data via Bluetooth to a communication module, which is connected to the hospitals’ servers using WLAN technology. The information stored in the servers can be conveniently accessed by designated hospital staff from their workstations.
This will significantly increase the productivity and efficiency levels of both hospitals’ staff as they are now able to keep track of patients’ well-being and evaluate the support required in real time, remotely and quickly.
Kenneth Thean, General Manager of Information Systems, Parkway Hospitals Singapore, says, “This project will help us be more effective in deploying the nursing staff and at the same time improving the quality of patient care.”
Ang Boon Hock, Changi General Hospital’s Assistant Director of Nursing, says: “The mobile health monitoring project can improve the timeliness in recording vital signs and can alert doctors and nurses quickly of any changes in a patient’s condition.”
Ann Emilson, President, Ericsson Singapore, says, “Derived from one of the healthcare initiatives driven by IDA (Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore), this venture is the first step towards making hassle free medical services possible to Singaporeans. Ericsson is proud and happy to be given the chance to support the local government’s initiative in ensuring the well-being of its citizens.”
The Ericsson Mobile Health solution can also be deployed on wireless networks, allowing patients to receive medical care and assistance anytime, anywhere.
Ericsson is shaping the future of Mobile and Broadband Internet communications through its continuous technology leadership. Providing innovative solutions in more than 140 countries, Ericsson is helping to create the most powerful communication companies in the world.
About Ericsson Enterprise Mobility Solutions (EMS)
For the past 30 years, Ericsson has been supplying businesses with world-class communication solutions. In order to address the market in the most appropriate manner, Ericsson’s global enterprise activities and expertise have now been integrated into Ericsson’s core business. Ericsson has as identified mobility as the key enabler for new, more flexible ways of working. Enterprise mobility solutions have been developed to improve enterprise productivity and enhance customer service. Enterprise-focused end-user applications for both voice and data such as mobile centrex, mobile push mail and mobile access to corporate applications provide unlimited mobility and accessibility to all mobile professionals. In addition, industry segment solutions that enable mobilizing business processes have also been developed for selected segments such as healthcare, utilities, public safety and transportation. The remote patient monitoring system is one of the applications of the Ericsson Mobile Health solutions.
About Changi General Hospital
Changi General Hospital (CGH) is a 776-bed restructured hospital located in the east of Singapore. A merger of Toa Payoh Hospital and Changi Hospital, CGH is designated to serve as a healthcare hub for the community in the east. It offers a comprehensive range of medical and paramedical services which include general medicine, general surgery, orthopaedic surgery, emergency medicine, radiology, anaesthesia, urology, geriatric medicine, rehabilitation medicine, ENT, eye, gastroenterology, psychological medicine, neurology, dermatology, oral & maxillofacial surgery, neurosurgery, obstetrics & gynaecology, breast surgery, laboratory medicine, psychological medicine, multiphasic health screening and sports medicine. CGH is a member of the SingHealth cluster.
About Parkway Hospitals Singapore
Parkway Hospitals Singapore owns East Shore, Gleneagles and Mount Elizabeth Hospitals. Its parent company, Parkway Holdings is one of Asia’s most prominent healthcare organisations with an extensive network of hospitals and integrated healthcare facilities in the region. Gleneagles Hospital is a 380-bed private tertiary acute care hospital. It provides a wide range of medical and surgical services for the total management of patients.
Source- http://www5.sys-con.com
Technorati : Ericsson, Mobile, Singapore
Ice Rocket : Ericsson, Mobile, Singapore
SingTel names new chief
OPTUS owner Singapore Telecommunication has named Chua Sock Koong as its new group chief executive officer.
Ms Chua, who is currently group chief financial officer, was chosen to replace Lee Hsien Yang after a global search and will take up her new appointment on April 1, 2007.
Ms Chua, who is also chief executive officer of the company’s international business, joined SingTel in 1989 and has spent 17 years with the company.
Her international portfolio comprises the key drivers of SingTel’s international business with responsibility for its strategic investments and the IT arm NCS.
She is also responsible for overseeing group information systems, group finance and corporate affairs, which spans group strategy, treasury, tax, legal, investor relations and corporate communications.
“Sock Koong has been an outstanding CFO, and the numerous awards and accolades she has received for her role as CFO in SingTel bears testimony to this,” SingTel chairman Chumpol NaLamlieng said.
“She has been closely involved in the transformation and growth of SingTel and has played a key role in making SingTel the operationally and financially very strong company that it is today.
“We are deeply appreciative of Hsien Yang’s outstanding leadership and his many achievements as group CEO and are pleased that he intends to stay until the end of the fourth quarter to ensure a smooth and orderly transition.”
Mr Lee said the company would be in excellent hands.
“As a key member of the senior management team, Sock Koong has been intimately involved in all the key operational decisions, and has had broad exposure across all areas of the business,” he said.
“She has also been instrumental to developing SingTel’s strategy over the past ten years and has played a significant role in SingTel’s major acquisitions, divestments and partnerships.
Ms Chua said she was honoured to be given the challenge to continue to build on the company’s success.
Ms Chua holds a Bachelor of Accountancy with first class honours from the University of Singapore and is a certified public accountant and chartered financial analyst.
Outgoing Singapore Telecommunications Ltd boss Lee Hsien Yang said he has not decided on his future plans after leaving the telco.
“At this point in time … I haven’t made up my mind,” Mr Lee told journalists.
The owner of local telco Optus today named Chua Sock Koong as its new group chief executive officer to replace Mr Lee.
Ms Chua, who is currently group chief financial officer, was chosen after a global search and will take up her new appointment on April 1, 2007.
Source- http://australianit.news.com.au
Technorati : Mobile, Optus, Sing Tel
Ice Rocket : Mobile, Optus, Sing Tel
DTAC takeover ‘fully legal’, Telenor says
Telenor of Norway remained confident that its takeover last year of United Communication Industry (Ucom) and mobile-phone affiliate DTAC would be found to be fully in line with local laws, a Bangkok Post report said
“We are confident that the company’s shareholding structure will be found in compliance with Thai law,” Arve Johansen, head of Telenor’s Asia operations, told the Bangkok Post.
Thailand’s Commerce Ministry last week announced it was widening a probe into nominee shareholding structures used by a number of companies, including firms related to Ucom and DTAC, the report said.
The inquiry followed an ongoing investigation on Kularb Kaew and other companies set up by Singapore’s Temasek Holdings after its acquisition of telecom giant Shin earlier this year, the report added.
The Business Development Department reportedly concluded earlier that Kularb Kaew was acting as a nominee for Temasek to bypass the 49% foreign shareholding limit, according to the newspaper.
Johansen said Telenor was closely monitoring the situation in terms of possible regulation changes, the Bangkok Post further reported
Source- http://www.telecomseurope.net
Technorati : Mobile, Norway, Telenor
Ice Rocket : Mobile, Norway, Telenor
Asian Stocks Rise in U.S., Led by China Mobile; Toyota Advances
Asian stocks gained in U.S. trading, led by China Mobile (H.K.) Ltd., as the country’s cellular-phone subscription rate accelerated last month.
Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s No. 2 automaker, advanced after the company raised its profit forecast.
The Bank of New York Co.’s Asia ADR Index, which tracks the region’s American depositary receipts, added 0.6 percent to 139.97. The index pared some of its advance after the Federal Reserve left U.S. interest rates unchanged and said “some inflation risks remain.”
China Mobile, the world’s largest cell-phone operator by users, climbed $1.77 to $35.03. The country gained 5.7 million mobile users in August after adding 5.5 million in July, according to figures derived from subtracting the first seven months from the eight-month total provided by the Ministry of Information Industry. In total, China had 437.5 million subscribers at the end of last month.
Smaller rival China Unicom Ltd. rose 29 cents to $9.70.
Toyota increased 93 cents to $107.29. Japan’s biggest automaker boosted its forecast for unconsolidated net income in the six months ending Sept. 30 by 32 percent to 500 billion yen ($4.26 billion), citing a weaker yen and higher overseas sales.
Nikkei 225 Stock Average futures expiring in December were at 15,850 in Chicago, compared with 15,690 in Singapore and 15,680 in Osaka.
To contact the reporter on this story: Lu Wang in New York at
Source- http://www.bloomberg.com
Technorati : China Mobile, Mobile, USA
Ice Rocket : China Mobile, Mobile, USA
SingTel to hold news briefing later Thursday
Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) has called for a news conference at 12.45pm Thursday, according to a report.
A SingTel spokesman did not say what the company will announce at the briefing, reported AP-Dow Jones news wires.
SingTel is looking for a new CEO to replace Chief Executive Lee Hsien Yang who said in July that he would leave the company once a successor had been found. -CNA/ir
Source- http://www.channelnewsasia.com
Ringtone reality check: India cellphone story long way to go
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 18: India hopes to be a telecom major by 2020 but trends indicate it is still on the dark side of the wireless divide: rural teledensity is still at 2 per cent, roughly where it was at the time of Independence, as against 40 per cent teledensity in the urban areas.
Fresh data for 2005-06 filed by telecom regulators the world over shows that mobile phones are a much bigger story elsewhere in the world, even in the neighbourhood.
Mobile phones have now reached 8 per cent of India’s 1 billion-strong population but in March 2006 Pakistan achieved a mobile teledensity of 14 per cent, clocking an impressive 170 per cent growth rate the previous year. India’s mobile teledensity is growing at 60-65 per cent a year.
Strife-torn Sri Lanka has al so done well: it crossed the 17 per cent mobile teledensity mark in early 2006 and its mobile phones are growing at 50 per cent every year. Bangladesh too has gone places: It registered a 138 per cent mobile phone growth rate in 2005 which no one expects to falter.
Nripendra Mishra, chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, says “I think changes in rural India’s teledensity will show up in the next six or eight months – the moment we announce that the Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund will be given out for cellular telephony. In addition, new technologies like WiFi and WiMax will go into rural areas sooner than the land lines or mobile phone networks, and will make a serious impact for the better.”
India’s neighbours, including or excluding China, are not just distributing phones faster. They are also competing harder for investments that global telecom firms are now ready to make. In addition, mobile teledensity improves GDP, which could make India’s telecom rivals far more successful in other ways too. Analysts are beginning to caution that the only reason why India’s teledensity looks so good is because of its sheer size.
“We are not doing as well as our neighbours in expanding connectivity, be it Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or Pakistan. Though we are adding many phones in urban areas, rural teledensity is still at 2 per cent, roughly where it was when we became independent. We just keep on giving new mobile phones to those in big cities who already have land lines,” says telecom analyst Mahesh Uppal. Despite the wide contrasts in per capita income and GDP, sometimes its hard to tell who’s catching up on whom between India and its neighbours.
Even Afghanistan, where the mobile networks were built afresh in 2002 after years of wars, mobile teledensity has touched 4 per cent. This is just below the global low-income average, but Afghanistan is starting from a near-zero mobility base.
India may be a minnow before telecom heavyweights China, Taiwan, US but some of its biggest rivals are right next door. India and other Asian countries like Mongolia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand launched their mobile networks in roughly the same decades but India lags behind the rest. Mongolia achieved 20 per cent mobile teledensity in 2006, though it started in 2000 with only two per cent – that’s a 100 per cent growth rate. Malaysia had 80 per cent mobile penetration in early 2006 and its people sent nine million SMS’ in 2005 which makes them the second best performers on this front, only after Singapore.
There is a reason why India has become a big telecom success story but not the biggest. For one, the rural teledensity target in India has been pending since 1995 (at 10 per cent) although urban mobile teledensity has skyrocketed to 40 per cent. Besides, Indian companies are waiting in the wings for their big chance: A government subsidy for going rural.
Changes in rural India’s teledensity is key because as we speak, Hong Kong is achieving 125 per cent mobile teledensity, South Korea 90 per cent, Australia 95 per cent and Japan 76 per cent. Weren’t these countries our real competition when we started out in 1991, not Bhutan or Nepal (both with 2 per cent)?
Source- http://www.indianexpress.com
The Phenomenon Called Indian Mobile Market Growth
The Indian mobile market is on a high growth trajectory. I was in two different Indian cities last week – part of my five day-five city tour across Asia. While in India, I was told by my colleagues that the mobile telephone network connectivity has become so bad that connections are dropping often.
I was in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur for a day and during a discussion with friends, a Malaysian expert told me that the prospects of two major Malaysian telecom operators look good owing to their investments in India.
I was in a lunch meeting with a senior executive of a major Southeast airline the week before in Singapore – the most talked about topic over lunch was the advent of Indian aviation players creating ripples in the market. I was floored by the experience flying Jet Airways during the Chennai to Kuala Lumpur flight. My colleagues ask me to hold judgement till I get to fly Kingfisher. I am not someone to be impressed so easily – my frequent flyer statement shows several hundred thousand miles with none other than Singapore Airlines. It is very likely aviation shall do an impressive repeat of the success of the mobile industry.
Let’s look at the telecom scene: Southeast Asian telecom operators have made significant investments in Indian mobile service players. These players took a financial stake in established growing businesses. Maxis, Malaysia’s largest telecom player has invested in Aircel, and Singtel has invested in Bharti, the largest mobile player in India. As these players slug it out, Maxis reports that Aircel added 588,000 new subscribers during the second quarter alone, which is more than double Maxis’ achievement in Malaysia. The other Malaysian player, Telekom Malaysia, is investing in the third Indian Indian player – Spice communications. All the three are aggressively expanding their Indian opoerations.
Monthy subscriptions inching towards six million additions per month – 5.9 million of them – are new mobile subscriptions, making India’s net addition the highest in the world, overtaking that of China – though the penetration levels may be lower. This New York Times article shows that china added 5.1 million subscribers, so the Indian run rate is 15% ahead of that of china.
Look at the growth – around 125 million subscribers have signed for mobile services in less than 15 years since the services were launched in the country. India believes that six or seven million monthy new subscriber additions are possible. Clearly liberalization and foreign investments all are helping the country in a big way – after all, the Indian mobile subscription rates are amongst the lowest in the world and handset makers like Nokia are helping the cause by coming in with low cost models and in the process helping India create high tech manufacturing clusters in places like Sriperumpudur, India’s likely answer to Shenzhen.
Three types of operators are alreasy investing here: the OEMs like Nokia, Motorola, the EMSs like Flextronics and Foxconn, and the component manufacturers who work with the OEM and EMS players. Dell is the recent addition planning to set up a manufacturing shop there. It’s the most talked about thing in the tech sector today – some of the largest telecom-related opportunties for system integrators/service players are available in India.
Clearly opening up of the economy and the progress of the technology world is helping India advance faster and better – the only eyesore is the Indian infrastructure. I do not want to write about my experience in the Bangalore airport clearing baggage or the time that it took for me to clear immigration on my return via Chennai.
Source- http://blogcritics.org
Industry Leaders To Gather at 3GSM World Congress Asia 2006
ASIA : The 3GSM World Congress Asia – the fastest growing mobile communications event in the region – will bring together a host of industry leaders and personalities from across Asia’s booming mobile industry.
The mobile operator CEOs speaking at the 2006 event, which will be held in Singapore between October 16th and October 20th, include Sunil Mittal from Bharti Televentures, Dr Young-Chu Cho from KTF, Naguib Sawiris from Orascom, Lee Hsien Yang from SingTel Group, Dato Abdul Wahid Omar from Telekom Malaysia, Arve Johansen from Telenor, Sol Trujillo from Telstra and Alexander Izosimov from VimpelCom. Produced by the GSM Association (GSMA), the global trade association for the mobile industry, the 3GSM World Congress Asia will also feature top executives from other mobile-related industries, such as Alejandro Zubillaga, Executive Vice President Digital Strategy and Business Development at Warner Music Group, and Dr Sachio Semmoto, Founder and CEO of eAccess.
“For this year’s 3GSM Congress in Asia, we have assembled a top-class, yet diverse, line-up of speakers that will pinpoint the key trends in the region’s dynamic and complex market for mobile communications,” said Bill Gajda, the chief marketing officer of the GSM Association. “The Congress is the only event in Asia to attract the top ranking executives from the region’s operator community.”
The Congress presentations, revolving around the central theme of ‘Risk and Reward’, will cover topics ranging from new business models for mobile operators, to the role of China, universal access in emerging markets, the mobile boom in India, mobile virtual network operators and infotainment and content. The 2006 event will also host the GSMA Members Forum – the only annual meeting open to the entire GSMA membership.
This year’s Congress also sees the introduction of the GSMA’s “Asia Mobile Innovation Awards.” These awards are designed to support innovation in the Asian mobile industry by bringing together start-up companies, industry investors, mobile operators and vendors
Source- http://www.3g.co.uk
Technorati : 3 GSM, Asia, Bharti Televentures, China, KTF, Orascom, Singtel, Telekom Malaysia, Telenor, Telestra, Warner Music Group, eAccess, operator
Ice Rocket : 3 GSM, Asia, Bharti Televentures, China, KTF, Orascom, Singtel, Telekom Malaysia, Telenor, Telestra, eAccess, operator
After China, Ericsson Moves Into Indonesia and Bangladesh
An Ericsson statement said the company has signed a deal with
Indonesia’s largest cellular phone operator Telkomsel to provide a 3G/WCDMA network. Another statement said it has been given a managed services contract by Warid Telecom for a GSM/GPRS network in
Bangladesh. Under a three-year agreement signed with Telkomsel, Ericsson will deliver a 3G/WCDMA radio and core network, including HSPA, with deployment beginning immediately. The contract also includes three years of managed services, with Ericsson providing a comprehensive services offering including establishing, operating and managing the operations of Telkomsel’s 3G network. Bengt Thornberg, Country Manager of Ericsson
Indonesia, said: “We have had a longstanding cooperation with Telkomsel for more than 10 years and we are honored to be selected to deliver its 3G network in
Indonesia. Our solutions will allow Telkomsel to introduce new and advanced services in the country.”
Telkomsel is 65 percent owned by PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk and 35 percent by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.
The
Bangladesh contract covers the operation, management and maintenance of Warid Telecom’s core GSM/network, backbone transmission and real-time charging/Value Added Services (VAS). This agreement is an extension to the contract signed earlier this year where Ericsson was chosen by Warid Telecom to supply and implement the complete core and backbone transmission equipment for its nationwide GSM/GPRS network. Ericsson will now also manage Warid Telecom’s radio network in the western part of the country, covering the areas of Rajshahi,
Khulna, and
Barisal.
Muneer Farooqui, Warid Telecom CEO said: “By having Ericsson to manage and operate our network, we are able to focus our resources on building our branding, sales and marketing activities, strengthening our customer services and developing more services that meet our subscribers’ needs and expectations.”
Jan Signell, President, Ericsson South East Asia, added: “We are proud of being selected by Warid Telecom in this contract. We have enjoyed a fruitful managed services partnership with them in
Pakistan, where Warid has exceeded its own expectation. We are committed to ensure that Warid Telecom repeats similar success in
Bangladesh.” The GSM expansion contracts with China Mobile together worth $550 million were signed during the first half of 2006. They include projects in 17 regions of
China. Ericsson has already started deliveries of network equipment which it claims will be able to support nearly 200 million subscribers across the 17 regions. Under the contracts, Ericsson will provide China Mobile with core and radio networks, together with related technical support and services. It will also deploy its Mobile Softswitch Solution in the contracted regions.
Source- http://news.tmcnet.com
Technorati : Bangladesh, Ericsson, Indonesia, Mobile
Ice Rocket : Bangladesh, Ericsson, Indonesia, Mobile
