Garmin-Asus Smartphone Venture comes to an end
Taiwan’s Asustek Computer has confirmed that it is ending its smartphone cooperation with in-car navigation vendor, Garmin. It is also estimated that Garmin will close its own smartphone venture, as the company has previously hinted it might.
Both the companies announced their joint venture in February 2009.
As per the reports citing Canalys analyst Tim Shepherd, the smartphone market is seeing huge growth, but the Garmin-Asus alliance has, to date, delivered disappointing volumes. Garmin CFO, Kevin Rauckman recently revealed that the co-branded smartphones had managed just US$27 million in revenue during the second quarter.
Few days back, rival navigation services provider, TomTom announced a deal to incorporate its software into HTC supplied smartphones.
Motorola considers demerger plan (USA)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: New ways have been paved by Motorola for the sale of its mobile network infrastructure business but they have also shown interest in forming a joint venture with a rival. A group demerger is also in the plans of the US mobile phone maker resulting in separate stock market listings for its handset and infrastructure businesses early next year.
The company will be lead by Greg Brown, Motorola co-chief executive consisting of the group’s units that make network infrastructure and mobile radio equipment for the emergency services. Two units will be run separately so that he has the ability to sell the network business, or put it into a joint venture with a rival.
China’s Huawei Technologies is reflected as the best suitor for the deal but any transaction risks might encounter opposition from Washington lawmakers.
According to Mr Brown, the network business will be viable for a very long time and if there is an alternative configuration or partnership which provides more economic value to them, the company will consider it.
Bharti takes a $2 bn call
MUMBAI: Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd, the country’s largest cellular service provider, plans to invest up to $2 billion in its mobile and non-mobile businesses in the country during the current financial year.
In a bid to expand coverage in the rural areas and provide seamless and congestion-free service in the urban areas, it will add 20,000 cell sites during the year, thereby doubling the number of its cell sites.
Sanjay Kapoor, joint president-mobility, Bharti Airtel, told DNA Money, “For the year 2007, the capex for Bharti Airtel will be in the range of $1.8-2 billion across
India, out of which 70% will be on the Airtel mobile business and the remaining on the Airtel non-mobile business.”
Analysts feel that at 10% mobile teledensity, the telecom industry is bound to witness strong subscriber addition for the next few years.
Given its wide geographical coverage and aggressive marketing, Bharti Airtel could be well-placed to tap this growth.
For the first quarter, the Rs 11,290-crore company reported a 13% quarter-on-quarter growth to Rs 3,856 crore, largely driven by the mobility segment that witnessed a growth of 17.7% on account of strong subscriber addition, lower than anticipated fall in average revenue per user and a significant 2% increase in minutes of usage.
Airtel recently launched the InnoWest scheme for its subscribers in Mumbai,
Gujarat, Rajasthan, MP, Chattisgarh and
Maharashtra and
Goa under which a subscriber visiting these circles would be charged tariffs as applicable in his home circle and no separate roaming rates would be charged.
Source- http://www.dnaindia.com
Technorati : Bharti Airtel, India, Mobile
Ice Rocket : Bharti Airtel, India, Mobile
