French mobile web users increased to 15.5 mn in 2010
A new research report has revealed that France had 15.5 million mobile internet users, defined as people who connected at least once a month, in 2010, 3.3 million more than a year earlier.
Half of the users are using “advanced services” (MMS, radio, video/TV, e-mail, instant messaging, video telephony) and nearly half have downloaded an app. The number of fixed internet users rose by 10% in one year to 38.3 million in December 2010, with some 24 million connecting daily, or 3.2 million more than in December 2009.
According to the report, every hour between 9:00 and 21:00, an average of 5.4 million people are online in France in 2010, versus 4.6 million in 2009. Social media have created a permanent connection to the internet, with over three quarters of internet users having consulted a blog or social network in December (32.1 million people) and 11.7 million people did so daily.
Internet users are increasing the amount of time they spend on such sites, rising to 5 hours 30 minutes, on average, in 2010 from 4 hours 10 minutes in 2009. Consumers are using the internet to seek others’ advice before buying products, with two-thirds of internet users sharing their opinions on products and services they buy by commenting on e-commerce sites, blogs, forums or social networks. There were 27.7 million online purchasers in 2010, 3.3 million more than a year earlier.
Online video is gaining more and more viewers, with video portals hosting professional and amateur productions attracting 24.5 percent unique visitors last year, nearly 60 percent of all internet users. In the mobile sphere, one in ten mobile phone owners watched video or TV content in the preceding month. Fixed internet podcast downloads were up by 26.5 percent year-on-year to over 14 million in December.
Airtel launches 3G service in Delhi (India)
Bharti Airtel has launched 3G service in Delhi today enabling subscribers to access high speed internet and video telephony.
The company launched its 3G Mobile services on the back of a strong network powered by over 1,800 3G sites in the National Capital Region spanning Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Noida.
Bharti Airtel is the third private operator after Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications to launch 3G services in the country. State-run BSNL and MTNL are also offering these high speed services.
According to Bharti Airtel President (Mobile Services) Atul Bindal, with just over a month since the launch, their 3G network covers around half a million customers and has 4,500 sites which is available across seven cities. The company is definitely witnessing the tipping point of non-voice and data explosion in this country and will be bringing the Airtel 3G advantage pan-India soon as promised.
Airtel 3G will allow customers to enjoy a variety of exciting service offerings including Mobile TV, Video Calls, high-speed internet and video capabilities on social networks. Further, a wide range of live and on-demand TV channels as well as shows would be available on Airtel 3G Mobile TV at an affordable price of US$0.88 for 20 minutes per week.
Ericsson win contract for 3G launch in six circles (India)
Ericsson, a telecom equipment maker has won a contract for launching 3G network infrastructure across six circles.
According to Ericsson, Aircel has selected Ericsson for the launch of 3G/HSPA network across six out of its 13 circles, which currently provide over 100 million subscribers. Ericsson will be Aircel’s largest partner for 3G implementation.
According to Aircel COO Gurdeep Singh, the company is confident that with this partnership, Aircel will be benefited from Ericsson’s global expertise of 3G deployments, and will be able to offer customers a world-class 3G experience.
With the roll out of 3G services, Aircel customers would have the access to the services like video telephony, mobile broadband, mobile TV and faster downloads on their handsets.
As per the agreement, Ericsson will provide core, radio and transmission network equipment along with network rollout, network technology and consulting and other support services.
The six Aircel circles cover — Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Orissa, Jammu and Kashmir, North East and Assam. The framework contract will be implemented from 2010 to 2012.
The company did not disclose financial details of the contract.
Samsung to Demonstrate 4G Mobile Technology
Samsung announced its plan to demonstrate 4th Generation (4G) mobile technology at the annual Samsung 4G Forum in Jeju Island, Korea for the first time in the world.
Demonstration will take place at the specially designed bus in mobile circumstances reaching 100 Mbps data transmission as well as at the display area inside forum venue to show speeds of 1 Gbps of data transmission.
The bus demonstration will give participants a first-hand experience of this latest technology. A demonstration bus will be moving at speeds of 60 km/h to show multi-cell handover with data speed of 100Mbps. A live broadcast of the Forum, VOD, and internet access will be shown simultaneously in a demonstration bus allowing delegates to experience the stability and speed of 4G connectivity of 100 Mbps data speed.
1 Gbps data speed under nomadic circumstances is 50 times faster than current Mobile WiMax technology. It takes about 2.4 seconds to transfer 100 MP3 files (300 MB), 5.6 seconds to transfer 1 Movie (800 MB) at speeds of 1 Gbps. Samsung will demonstrate 1 Gbps data speed at nomadic circumstances by showing 32HD channel broadcast (20 Mbps) download, Internet access and video telephony all at the same time. Furthermore, a 3.5 Gbps data transfer demonstration will be shown using 8×8 MIMO(Multi-Input Multi-Output) technology.
Samsung’s 4G technology demonstration is a next generation wireless communication service, a step up from last year’s Mobile WiMax demonstration. Samsung has recently announced its plans to provide Mobile WiMax systems and handsets to Sprint Nextel and lead the industry in next generation telecommunications technology. Additionally, Samsung has plans to commercialize Mobile WiMax with nine major operators in seven different countries such as US, Italy, Brazil.
Samsung hosts an annual 4G Forum to discuss about technology development and standardization of future telecommunication technology. Around 175 high-profile industry representatives from 20 countries meet to discuss the key technologies for 4th generation mobile communications at the 4th Annual Samsung 4G Forum from August 30th to September 1st covering the “Service Requirements & Spectrum for 4G.”
ITU defines 4G technology as a future wireless telecommunications technology allowing data transfer rates of 1Gbps at nomadic circumstances and 100 Mbps at mobile circumstances. The spectrums for 4G technology will be decided at WRC (World Radiocommunication Conference) in October of 2007. The 4G mobile communications format is expected to become commercially available around 2010.
Source- http://www.mobiledia.com
Technorati : 4G, Mobile, Samsung
Ice Rocket : 4G, Mobile, Samsung
