Bangladesh sells mobile spectrum for $204 mln
Bangladesh has sold mobile phone spectrum to three of the country's mobile phone operators for a total of 14 billion taka ($204 million) to help expand their network, the telecoms regulatory authority said.
The three companies -- Grameenphone, Egyptian Orascom Telecom's ORTE.CA Banglalink and Aktel, controlled by Telekom Malaysia -- bought 7.5, 5 and 5 megahertz frequency respectively, at the rate of 800 million taka per MHz, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission said.
"These three operators, having more than 86 percent of the total market share, can ensure the highest level of efficiency and capacity to absorb the growing usage of their customer base," said a commission official.
Bangladesh has one of the world's fastest-growing cellular markets, with the number of users expected to grow to 70 million by 2011 from the current 45.4 million.
Grameenphone, majority owned by Norway's Telenor, leads the market with 20.84 million subscribers, followed by Banglalink with 10.17 million and Aktel with 8.14 million.
Other operators include Gulf-based Warid Telecom, CityCell, a joint venture between Pacific Bangladesh Telecom and Singapore Telecommunications, and state-owned Teletalk.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Thailand - 3G
Thai Operator to Delay 3G Rollout
Thai operator, DTAC has announced that it will delay the launch of its 3G network until it sees more demand for mobile data services. The decision was taken by the company's new CEO, Tore Johnsen, who took charge of DTAC earlier this month.
The original plan was to roll out 3G services in the capital, Bangkok followed by Chon Buri and Phuket in the first quarter of next year. Nationwide coverage was due to be achieved by the middle of next year. DTAC had earmarked THB5 billion ($147 million) for investment in 3G infrastructure during 2009.
"There is no need to rush into offering 3G services as long as demand for mobile data is still not there," Mr Johnsen told the Bangkok Post newspaper, adding that "we want to make sure that the Thai market is more than ready for 3G, particularly in the mobile data service area,"
However, rival state controlled operator, TOT says that it will proceed with its 3G network rollout and expects to have some 350,000 subscribers by the end of next year, and four million by 2013.
Under the plans, TOT will upgrade some 500 base stations in the capital, Bangkok and other main cities to support 3G services. The upgraded network will then be sub-let to its joint venture, ACT Mobile - which trades as Thai Mobile. A second phase of the network upgrade will result in the installation of 5,200 new 3G base stations to provide national coverage.
Earlier this month, TOT signed an initial deal with another state agency, CAT Telecom, to pay THB2.4 billion ($71 million) for the right to operate the 1900 megahertz frequency, which can support 3G services. Under the memorandum of understanding, CAT has agreed to transfer its interests in joint ventures that own the frequency to TOT, both agencies said in separate statements.
Thailand's Advanced Info Service (AIS) recently launched a 3G network in Chiang Mai - but using its existing 900Mhz spectrum.
Thai operator, DTAC has announced that it will delay the launch of its 3G network until it sees more demand for mobile data services. The decision was taken by the company's new CEO, Tore Johnsen, who took charge of DTAC earlier this month.
The original plan was to roll out 3G services in the capital, Bangkok followed by Chon Buri and Phuket in the first quarter of next year. Nationwide coverage was due to be achieved by the middle of next year. DTAC had earmarked THB5 billion ($147 million) for investment in 3G infrastructure during 2009.
"There is no need to rush into offering 3G services as long as demand for mobile data is still not there," Mr Johnsen told the Bangkok Post newspaper, adding that "we want to make sure that the Thai market is more than ready for 3G, particularly in the mobile data service area,"
However, rival state controlled operator, TOT says that it will proceed with its 3G network rollout and expects to have some 350,000 subscribers by the end of next year, and four million by 2013.
Under the plans, TOT will upgrade some 500 base stations in the capital, Bangkok and other main cities to support 3G services. The upgraded network will then be sub-let to its joint venture, ACT Mobile - which trades as Thai Mobile. A second phase of the network upgrade will result in the installation of 5,200 new 3G base stations to provide national coverage.
Earlier this month, TOT signed an initial deal with another state agency, CAT Telecom, to pay THB2.4 billion ($71 million) for the right to operate the 1900 megahertz frequency, which can support 3G services. Under the memorandum of understanding, CAT has agreed to transfer its interests in joint ventures that own the frequency to TOT, both agencies said in separate statements.
Thailand's Advanced Info Service (AIS) recently launched a 3G network in Chiang Mai - but using its existing 900Mhz spectrum.
Telstra - on telecoms and climate change
Garnaut disappoints on telecommunications, climate change
In her keynote address to today's CommsDay Green Telecom congress, Chloe Munro, Telstra's Executive Director, Innovation Projects for the Digital Future spoke out about the disappointing omission of telecommunications from the final report of Garnaut Climate Change Review, released yesterday.
"Real solutions to climate change - ones that enable the shift to a low-carbon economy - require substantial investment in technology and in infrastructure. Certainly this includes ubiquitous high speed broadband - in Australia, the National Broadband Network. It’s disappointing that the Garnaut Report overlooks the
National Broadband Network entirely," Ms Munro said.
"Garnaut makes scant reference to telecommunications and does not appear to appreciate the extent to which our industry is part of the solution."
Ms Munro set out the potential for telecommunications to reduce Australia's carbon emissions by almost 5 per cent per annum, by 2015, and pointed out that the National Broadband Network was key to delivering these savings.
"Right now in Australia in particular we’re at a policy cusp. We can be mesmerised by cost or we can focus on the conditions for investment: investment that is required to enable the shift to a low-carbon economy," Ms Munro said
Following her address to the conference this morning, Ms Munro was interviewed by Sky Business News. The interview will be available to watch shortly.
In her keynote address to today's CommsDay Green Telecom congress, Chloe Munro, Telstra's Executive Director, Innovation Projects for the Digital Future spoke out about the disappointing omission of telecommunications from the final report of Garnaut Climate Change Review, released yesterday.
"Real solutions to climate change - ones that enable the shift to a low-carbon economy - require substantial investment in technology and in infrastructure. Certainly this includes ubiquitous high speed broadband - in Australia, the National Broadband Network. It’s disappointing that the Garnaut Report overlooks the
National Broadband Network entirely," Ms Munro said.
"Garnaut makes scant reference to telecommunications and does not appear to appreciate the extent to which our industry is part of the solution."
Ms Munro set out the potential for telecommunications to reduce Australia's carbon emissions by almost 5 per cent per annum, by 2015, and pointed out that the National Broadband Network was key to delivering these savings.
"Right now in Australia in particular we’re at a policy cusp. We can be mesmerised by cost or we can focus on the conditions for investment: investment that is required to enable the shift to a low-carbon economy," Ms Munro said
Following her address to the conference this morning, Ms Munro was interviewed by Sky Business News. The interview will be available to watch shortly.
ICANN - takeover threat
ICANN hears concerns about accountability, control
ICANN needs to take steps to ensure it cannot be taken over by governments and other outside entities, and it needs to create more ways to be held accountable to Internet users, constituents of the nonprofit organization said Wednesday.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the organization overseeing the Web's top-level domain naming system, heard several concerns during a meeting focused on improving confidence in ICANN. But concerns about outside takeover of the organization and critiques of ICANN's transparency came up several times during the Washington, D.C., meeting.
An oversight agreement between the U.S. government and ICANN expires in a year, and ICANN officials say they do not plan to sign a new agreement. But in recent years, representatives of several other countries have called for an international organization to oversee the 10-year-old ICANN.
Many e-commerce companies don't want a new model of international control of ICANN, said Steve DelBianco, executive director of NetChoice, a trade group representing several U.S. companies, including eBay, Yahoo, and Oracle. Continued U.S. government oversight may keep other nations from exerting control, he said.
To ensure against an outside entity taking control, ICANN has proposed that it remain located in the United States, with its relatively strong antitrust and competition laws, and the organization is trying to increase participation in its activities. ICANN officials have also proposed that a consensus or supermajority of participants agree on changes in policy, and they have suggested the organization should limit companies or individuals participation in multiple ICANN committees.
Those suggestions aren't enough, DelBianco said. "It's as if ICANN wants to sort of check that box with a series of bureaucratic measures that are primarily designed to prevent capture from internal parts of the ICANN community," he said. "The real threat of capture, I believe, is from external threats."
ICANN has a $60 million budget and manages the backbone of the Internet, making it a desirable target for takeover, DelBianco added. "ICANN becomes a magnet for the United Nations and other governments who would covet that role," he added. "I think this demonstrates the adage that money and power don't buy you friends, but they get you a better class of enemies."
Yrjö Länsipuro, a member of the ICANN President's Strategy Committee, discounted DelBianco's fears. While Russia continues to urge international control of ICANN, other countries haven't recently pressed the issue, said Länsipuro, who works for Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
"Governments are watching each other," he said. "It's inconceivable that one government would be able to [take over ICANN] when all the others are watching."
ICANN needs to take steps to ensure it cannot be taken over by governments and other outside entities, and it needs to create more ways to be held accountable to Internet users, constituents of the nonprofit organization said Wednesday.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the organization overseeing the Web's top-level domain naming system, heard several concerns during a meeting focused on improving confidence in ICANN. But concerns about outside takeover of the organization and critiques of ICANN's transparency came up several times during the Washington, D.C., meeting.
An oversight agreement between the U.S. government and ICANN expires in a year, and ICANN officials say they do not plan to sign a new agreement. But in recent years, representatives of several other countries have called for an international organization to oversee the 10-year-old ICANN.
Many e-commerce companies don't want a new model of international control of ICANN, said Steve DelBianco, executive director of NetChoice, a trade group representing several U.S. companies, including eBay, Yahoo, and Oracle. Continued U.S. government oversight may keep other nations from exerting control, he said.
To ensure against an outside entity taking control, ICANN has proposed that it remain located in the United States, with its relatively strong antitrust and competition laws, and the organization is trying to increase participation in its activities. ICANN officials have also proposed that a consensus or supermajority of participants agree on changes in policy, and they have suggested the organization should limit companies or individuals participation in multiple ICANN committees.
Those suggestions aren't enough, DelBianco said. "It's as if ICANN wants to sort of check that box with a series of bureaucratic measures that are primarily designed to prevent capture from internal parts of the ICANN community," he said. "The real threat of capture, I believe, is from external threats."
ICANN has a $60 million budget and manages the backbone of the Internet, making it a desirable target for takeover, DelBianco added. "ICANN becomes a magnet for the United Nations and other governments who would covet that role," he added. "I think this demonstrates the adage that money and power don't buy you friends, but they get you a better class of enemies."
Yrjö Länsipuro, a member of the ICANN President's Strategy Committee, discounted DelBianco's fears. While Russia continues to urge international control of ICANN, other countries haven't recently pressed the issue, said Länsipuro, who works for Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
"Governments are watching each other," he said. "It's inconceivable that one government would be able to [take over ICANN] when all the others are watching."
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Risks of Data Loss
Cisco study highlights data loss risks worldwide
In Germany it's apparently OK to have non-employees roam the offices, while in Brazil corporate secrets are commonly shared with family members, and even with total strangers. These are some of the results of a survey (PDF) commissioned by Cisco Systems and released Tuesday.
"It's interesting to see the cultural differences in terms of what's allowed and what's not allowed in different countries," said Marie Hattar, vice president of network and security solutions at Cisco. "If you look towards doing a data leakage prevention strategy, you've got to consider physical security as much as you do network security."
Hattar told CNET News that the survey came about because of dramatic changes in the workplace within the last few years. Two of the changes--a younger workforce and the rise of smart mobile phones--are "completely blurring between what's personal and what's your work life." She also cited the recent rise of the knowledge worker in countries such as India, China, and Brazil. "So it becomes key that as you implement your network security strategy, your physical security strategy, that you are also putting into place some of these educational policies to drive your employees to good behavior," she said.
In Brazil, the study found, 39 percent of employees surveyed talk about sensitive company information with their friends and family and 8 percent of the time they talk to strangers. By comparison, the numbers for the U.S. were 16 percent friends and family and only 2 percent strangers. "If you look at China," Hattar said, "it's one of the more lower countries in terms of who they talk about company business outside the company." Cisco's data showed that while 17 percent of Chinese workers talk about work to friends and family members, none said they talked to strangers.
Another data point was how permissive employees are of non-employees in the office. "In Germany, one out of five actually admit to letting partners or vendors or what have you roam their office buildings unsupervised." Hattar admitted this alone would not lead to data leakage, but warned that employees should "put their computers on standby, (prevent) their passwords from being posted on the computer or written down somewhere, and have a physical security mechanism that will alert you so that you know whether someone is looking or doing something that they shouldn't be doing."
The Cisco report further recommends that companies know where the data is stored and how it is accessed and used. Companies should educate employees on how data protection equates to money earned and money lost, the bottom line. Finally, international companies should determine global policy objectives and create localized education programs tailored to a country's culture and threat landscape.
Hattar observers that "as you evolve your business into different cultures, even if you have locked down your physical security and your network security you can't escape from having to put into place an education program to raise the awareness that you have to educate your employees about the possibility of verbal disclosure."
The Cisco study was conducted by InsightExpress, a U.S.-based market research firm, and involved more than 2,000 employees and information technology professionals. Specifically, the study surveyed 1,000 employees and 1,000 IT professionals from various industries and company sizes in 10 countries.
In Germany it's apparently OK to have non-employees roam the offices, while in Brazil corporate secrets are commonly shared with family members, and even with total strangers. These are some of the results of a survey (PDF) commissioned by Cisco Systems and released Tuesday.
"It's interesting to see the cultural differences in terms of what's allowed and what's not allowed in different countries," said Marie Hattar, vice president of network and security solutions at Cisco. "If you look towards doing a data leakage prevention strategy, you've got to consider physical security as much as you do network security."
Hattar told CNET News that the survey came about because of dramatic changes in the workplace within the last few years. Two of the changes--a younger workforce and the rise of smart mobile phones--are "completely blurring between what's personal and what's your work life." She also cited the recent rise of the knowledge worker in countries such as India, China, and Brazil. "So it becomes key that as you implement your network security strategy, your physical security strategy, that you are also putting into place some of these educational policies to drive your employees to good behavior," she said.
In Brazil, the study found, 39 percent of employees surveyed talk about sensitive company information with their friends and family and 8 percent of the time they talk to strangers. By comparison, the numbers for the U.S. were 16 percent friends and family and only 2 percent strangers. "If you look at China," Hattar said, "it's one of the more lower countries in terms of who they talk about company business outside the company." Cisco's data showed that while 17 percent of Chinese workers talk about work to friends and family members, none said they talked to strangers.
Another data point was how permissive employees are of non-employees in the office. "In Germany, one out of five actually admit to letting partners or vendors or what have you roam their office buildings unsupervised." Hattar admitted this alone would not lead to data leakage, but warned that employees should "put their computers on standby, (prevent) their passwords from being posted on the computer or written down somewhere, and have a physical security mechanism that will alert you so that you know whether someone is looking or doing something that they shouldn't be doing."
The Cisco report further recommends that companies know where the data is stored and how it is accessed and used. Companies should educate employees on how data protection equates to money earned and money lost, the bottom line. Finally, international companies should determine global policy objectives and create localized education programs tailored to a country's culture and threat landscape.
Hattar observers that "as you evolve your business into different cultures, even if you have locked down your physical security and your network security you can't escape from having to put into place an education program to raise the awareness that you have to educate your employees about the possibility of verbal disclosure."
The Cisco study was conducted by InsightExpress, a U.S.-based market research firm, and involved more than 2,000 employees and information technology professionals. Specifically, the study surveyed 1,000 employees and 1,000 IT professionals from various industries and company sizes in 10 countries.
Carbon Diem - mobile tracking GHG emissions
New Mobile Phone App to Track Carbon Footprint
A new software application will make keeping track of your carbon footprint as easy as having a mobile phone in your pocket. A London-based start-up has developed software for mobile phones that uses global positioning systems (GPS) to automatically figure out whether you are walking, driving or flying and then calculate your impact on the environment.
Carbon Diem’s inventors claim that, by using GPS to measure the speed and pattern of movement, their algorithm can identify the mode of transport being used. The software then calculates the amount of carbon dioxide the journey has emitted into the atmosphere – without any need for input from the user.
The system’s inventor, Andreas Zachariah, a graduate student of the Royal College of Art in London said, “We’re facilitating people to make little changes and allow those changes to be noted and registered and possibly shared.”
Zachariah has tested the software in Nokia and Blackberry phones and claims that the software was almost 100% accurate in working out when people were on airplanes or trains in tests over the past year. It was between 65-75% accurate at guessing when people traveled on buses.
Zachariah said he had the idea for Carbon Diem when he tried to work out his own carbon footprint using the many online calculators available. These usually involve manually entering the details of type of transport and the length of a journey.
“The whole process is so painful,” Zachariah said. “That’s when I realised it had to be effortless.”
A new software application will make keeping track of your carbon footprint as easy as having a mobile phone in your pocket. A London-based start-up has developed software for mobile phones that uses global positioning systems (GPS) to automatically figure out whether you are walking, driving or flying and then calculate your impact on the environment.
Carbon Diem’s inventors claim that, by using GPS to measure the speed and pattern of movement, their algorithm can identify the mode of transport being used. The software then calculates the amount of carbon dioxide the journey has emitted into the atmosphere – without any need for input from the user.
The system’s inventor, Andreas Zachariah, a graduate student of the Royal College of Art in London said, “We’re facilitating people to make little changes and allow those changes to be noted and registered and possibly shared.”
Zachariah has tested the software in Nokia and Blackberry phones and claims that the software was almost 100% accurate in working out when people were on airplanes or trains in tests over the past year. It was between 65-75% accurate at guessing when people traveled on buses.
Zachariah said he had the idea for Carbon Diem when he tried to work out his own carbon footprint using the many online calculators available. These usually involve manually entering the details of type of transport and the length of a journey.
“The whole process is so painful,” Zachariah said. “That’s when I realised it had to be effortless.”
Europe - Web 3.0
Commission consults on how to put Europe into the lead of the transition to Web 3.0
Europe could take the lead in the next generation of the Internet. The European Commission today outlined the main steps that Europe has to take to respond to the next wave of the Information Revolution that will intensify in the coming years due to trends such as social networking, the decisive shift to on-line business services, nomadic services based on GPS and mobile TV and the growth of smart tags. The report shows that Europe is well placed to exploit these trends because of its policies to support open and pro-competitive telecom networks as well as privacy and security. A public consultation has been launched today by the Commission on the policy and private sector responses to these opportunities. The Commission report also unveils a new Broadband Performance Index (BPI) that compares national performance on key measures such as broadband speed, price, competition and coverage. Sweden and the Netherlands top this European broadband league, which complements the more traditional broadband penetration index used so far by telecoms regulators.
Europe could take the lead in the next generation of the Internet. The European Commission today outlined the main steps that Europe has to take to respond to the next wave of the Information Revolution that will intensify in the coming years due to trends such as social networking, the decisive shift to on-line business services, nomadic services based on GPS and mobile TV and the growth of smart tags. The report shows that Europe is well placed to exploit these trends because of its policies to support open and pro-competitive telecom networks as well as privacy and security. A public consultation has been launched today by the Commission on the policy and private sector responses to these opportunities. The Commission report also unveils a new Broadband Performance Index (BPI) that compares national performance on key measures such as broadband speed, price, competition and coverage. Sweden and the Netherlands top this European broadband league, which complements the more traditional broadband penetration index used so far by telecoms regulators.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
USA - the bailout and increased regulation
The government is coming: what the bailout means for tech
Technology and telecoms companies should prepare themselves for the pendulum to swing towards greater regulationJonathan Weber
The US bailout of Wall Street marks the end of the deregulation era – and it isn't just the money business that's about to see a lot more oversight and other forms of government engagement. In energy, transportation, health care food and, yes, technology and telecommunications, the role of government – always much greater than acknowledged – is about to change in big ways.
The speed of the shift away from the free-market approach that has dominated since Ronald Reagan was president will depend to some extent on who is the next president. Barack Obama, liberated by the Wall Street meltdown, now talks openly of the need for a strong federal government hand in the economy. (That's a theme that Democrats, whatever they might have felt in their hearts, have had to handle delicately for years lest they be accused of socialism.) John McCain, to the extent that he thinks much about the economy, is a comparatively unreconstructed free-marketeer – but not one unwilling to shift with the times.
...
On the regulatory front, look for more aggressive anti-trust enforcement, and a more activist stance on privacy issues. The Bush Administration has actually been less complaisant than one might expect on anti-trust, but the angry mood towards big business is likely to translate into further scrutiny of big businesses getting bigger. And if the federal government is once again explicitly charged with defending the little guy, consumer-protection issues like privacy are likely to get more attention.
Telecommunications, which remains among the most highly regulated of all industries, promises to be a huge battleground. Some Reagan-era policies, like loosening restrictions on ownership of television and radio stations, are likely to fall by the wayside or even be rolled back. But what a new Congress and Administration might do about the rules governing competition in both fixed-line and mobile telephone services, in cable television, and on the internet remains to be seen.
The phone companies, notably Verizon and AT&T, remain incredibly potent as bi-partisan lobbying forces, but they'll likely have to fight renewed efforts to control both their rates and their business practices. In particular, the struggle over so-called net neutrality will continue, with the phone companies arguing for their right to do what they want with their networks and internet businesses, and others insisting that the network be operated in a non-discriminatory fashion.
As an internet entrepreneur, this last issue is the most critical for me. In theory, Google and the other big internet companies are standing up to the phone companies on my behalf in the net neutrality debate. But when push comes to shove, I think the big boys will be happy to cut their own deals with the providers of internet connectivity if they think it's in their interests.
Technology and telecoms companies should prepare themselves for the pendulum to swing towards greater regulationJonathan Weber
The US bailout of Wall Street marks the end of the deregulation era – and it isn't just the money business that's about to see a lot more oversight and other forms of government engagement. In energy, transportation, health care food and, yes, technology and telecommunications, the role of government – always much greater than acknowledged – is about to change in big ways.
The speed of the shift away from the free-market approach that has dominated since Ronald Reagan was president will depend to some extent on who is the next president. Barack Obama, liberated by the Wall Street meltdown, now talks openly of the need for a strong federal government hand in the economy. (That's a theme that Democrats, whatever they might have felt in their hearts, have had to handle delicately for years lest they be accused of socialism.) John McCain, to the extent that he thinks much about the economy, is a comparatively unreconstructed free-marketeer – but not one unwilling to shift with the times.
...
On the regulatory front, look for more aggressive anti-trust enforcement, and a more activist stance on privacy issues. The Bush Administration has actually been less complaisant than one might expect on anti-trust, but the angry mood towards big business is likely to translate into further scrutiny of big businesses getting bigger. And if the federal government is once again explicitly charged with defending the little guy, consumer-protection issues like privacy are likely to get more attention.
Telecommunications, which remains among the most highly regulated of all industries, promises to be a huge battleground. Some Reagan-era policies, like loosening restrictions on ownership of television and radio stations, are likely to fall by the wayside or even be rolled back. But what a new Congress and Administration might do about the rules governing competition in both fixed-line and mobile telephone services, in cable television, and on the internet remains to be seen.
The phone companies, notably Verizon and AT&T, remain incredibly potent as bi-partisan lobbying forces, but they'll likely have to fight renewed efforts to control both their rates and their business practices. In particular, the struggle over so-called net neutrality will continue, with the phone companies arguing for their right to do what they want with their networks and internet businesses, and others insisting that the network be operated in a non-discriminatory fashion.
As an internet entrepreneur, this last issue is the most critical for me. In theory, Google and the other big internet companies are standing up to the phone companies on my behalf in the net neutrality debate. But when push comes to shove, I think the big boys will be happy to cut their own deals with the providers of internet connectivity if they think it's in their interests.
3G - promoting mobile broadband
Telcos, IT companies unite to promote mobile broadband
A group of 16 leading telecoms and IT companies is uniting to promote mobile broadband in a marketing initiative worth more than $1 billion over the next year under the auspices of the GSM Association.
The companies -- which include Vodafone, Microsoft and Asustek -- aim to make it simpler for consumers to identify laptops that have built-in access to the Internet via high-speed, next-generation HSPA and LTE networks.
According to research commissioned by the GSMA and Microsoft and carried out by Pyramid Research, there is demand for $50 billion worth of such notebooks this year.
"We definitely expect to see several hundred thousand in the shops by Christmas time," Mike O'Hara, the GSMA's chief marketing officer, told Reuters by telephone.
The group said the move also could pave the way to connect devices from MP3 music players to refrigerators and cars to the Internet in future.
The partners will label laptop computers that meet their standards for mobile broadband access with a new service mark that identifies laptops ready for mobile broadband connection "out of the box."
Many in the telecoms and computer industries believe that most people in the world will have their first and perhaps only experience of the Internet via a mobile device.
"While there will always be a place for WiFi connectivity, the great benefit of mobile broadband might be that it liberates the user from the spatial tyranny of the so-called 'hotspot,'" Shiv K. Bakhshi, director of mobility research at IT research firm IDC, said in a GSMA statement released on Tuesday.
The other partners in the initiative are 3, a unit Hutchison Whampoa Ltd Dell, ECS, Ericsson, Gemalto, Lenovo, Orange, a unit of France Telecom SA, Qualcomm, Telefonica Europe, T-Mobile and Toshiba.
A group of 16 leading telecoms and IT companies is uniting to promote mobile broadband in a marketing initiative worth more than $1 billion over the next year under the auspices of the GSM Association.
The companies -- which include Vodafone, Microsoft and Asustek -- aim to make it simpler for consumers to identify laptops that have built-in access to the Internet via high-speed, next-generation HSPA and LTE networks.
According to research commissioned by the GSMA and Microsoft and carried out by Pyramid Research, there is demand for $50 billion worth of such notebooks this year.
"We definitely expect to see several hundred thousand in the shops by Christmas time," Mike O'Hara, the GSMA's chief marketing officer, told Reuters by telephone.
The group said the move also could pave the way to connect devices from MP3 music players to refrigerators and cars to the Internet in future.
The partners will label laptop computers that meet their standards for mobile broadband access with a new service mark that identifies laptops ready for mobile broadband connection "out of the box."
Many in the telecoms and computer industries believe that most people in the world will have their first and perhaps only experience of the Internet via a mobile device.
"While there will always be a place for WiFi connectivity, the great benefit of mobile broadband might be that it liberates the user from the spatial tyranny of the so-called 'hotspot,'" Shiv K. Bakhshi, director of mobility research at IT research firm IDC, said in a GSMA statement released on Tuesday.
The other partners in the initiative are 3, a unit Hutchison Whampoa Ltd Dell, ECS, Ericsson, Gemalto, Lenovo, Orange, a unit of France Telecom SA, Qualcomm, Telefonica Europe, T-Mobile and Toshiba.
Vodacom - South Africa
Knott-Craig bids farewell to a solid, flourishing Vodacom
VODACOM CEO Alan Knott-Craig will leave his office for the last time this evening, as he retires after 15 years as the head of SA’s largest cellular network.
In an industry where CEOs come and go, Knott-Craig’s remarkable staying power has been achieved through a combination of vision, determination and innovation that has created a company serving 34-million customers in five countries, generating an annual revenue of R48,2bn and an operating profit of R12,5bn.
He could have done more but was thwarted by the stalemate in Vodacom’s shareholding, which remains unhappily divided between Telkom and the UK’s Vodacom. Achievements would also have been greater if SA had more liberal telecoms policies — a fact that has often seen Knott-Craig vociferously slate what he sees as incompetence.
A major problem was the protection of Telkom, which forced other operators to lease their backbone infrastructure from Telkom instead of building their own. That and clashes over handset subsidies and spectrum allocation provoked him to say that the industry would fare better if the regulators stayed at home rather than went to work each day.
Yesterday Knott-Craig said he would still work for Vodacom as a consultant until March.
“Hopefully, they won’t need any consulting because they know what they are doing. If they don’t know what they are doing by now, they’ve got problems,” he quipped.
He may accept a board position or two, but his main ambition is to write more books and indulge in photography. His new book of bird photographs made its debut this week.
The most memorable part of his career was making cellphones a tool for consumers rather than just for businesses, he said.
That included selling handsets through retail outlets and advertising that targeted ordinary people, not business users.
He also established Vodaworld in 1998, the first cellular shopping mall in the southern hemisphere.
“We did a lot of things that were different from other cellphone companies. It could have gone belly-up but it was the right time and the right place,” he says. “We took a different approach and it worked and now it works for the whole world, and the world is better for it.”
The cellular industry now serves 3,7-billion users because people stopped trying to make cellphone a business tool and made it a personal tool.
The worst part has been fighting the regulations that stifle the industry in SA, he says.
“It’s been frustrating. That was negative stress, which is why I want to go. Positive stress is getting to grips with the competition, but negative stress is dealing with stupidity. We are not going forward at the rate we could have been.”
For the future, Knott-Craig sees Vodacom’s foray into television, radio and advertising on the cellphone as areas of highly profitable growth.
But he is not purely business-oriented. One of the most gratifying experiences of the past 15 years has been Vodacom’s work as a powerful force for good in the communities where it operates, he says.
Last year Vodacom sponsored Smile Week, and Knott-Craig watched an operation that allowed a seven-year-old boy born with a cleft palate to smile for the first time.
“It was one of the most moving moments of my life,” he says.
Irnest Kaplan, MD of Kaplan Equity Analysts, said Knott-Craig is seen as the father of cellular in SA, building Vodacom from a small startup into a giant. He has made a huge contribution to the technology sector and SA at large, Kaplan says.
“I’ve always liked Alan’s frank nature and his animated comments about the company and the industry. I have always found him to display a very deep knowledge about the industry and a strong passion for it.”
It was fairly rare in hi-tech circles for someone to lead an organisation through its entire development from infancy to maturity, and to keep many of the core senior team intact.
“Alan has led the organisation very well while having shareholders that often did not agree on major issues. This must have been extremely tough,” Kaplan says.
Former employee Nicholas Maweni, now the head of corporate affairs for rival operator Virgin Mobile, describes Knott-Craig as a visionary leader deserving national recognition for his exceptional contributions in fields including nation-building, business and the economy, science, medicine, technological motivation and community service.
Tomorrow the new CEO will be Pieter Uys, another 15-year Vodacom veteran who is now chief operating officer.
Uys is a solid, stable character with an infectious enthusiasm for technology and a clear vision of what needs doing next to drive further commercial growth.
Vodacom’s focus now is to play in every area of communications — a significant shift away from being a mobile-centric operator to providing communications infrastructure and services. That initiative was firmed up by the launch of Vodacom Business in February, driven by Uys to provide a wide range of services including data storage and protection as well as business software online.
Uys will also steer Vodacom through its ongoing R7,5bn black empowerment transformation and through a potential change of parent companies.
Telkom is debating whether to divest its 50% stake by selling 12,5% to Vodafone and distributing the remaining stake to its own shareholders.
There is no clarity yet on whether that will happen, but whatever the outcome, Knott-Craig is happy to let younger hands take the strain.
VODACOM CEO Alan Knott-Craig will leave his office for the last time this evening, as he retires after 15 years as the head of SA’s largest cellular network.
In an industry where CEOs come and go, Knott-Craig’s remarkable staying power has been achieved through a combination of vision, determination and innovation that has created a company serving 34-million customers in five countries, generating an annual revenue of R48,2bn and an operating profit of R12,5bn.
He could have done more but was thwarted by the stalemate in Vodacom’s shareholding, which remains unhappily divided between Telkom and the UK’s Vodacom. Achievements would also have been greater if SA had more liberal telecoms policies — a fact that has often seen Knott-Craig vociferously slate what he sees as incompetence.
A major problem was the protection of Telkom, which forced other operators to lease their backbone infrastructure from Telkom instead of building their own. That and clashes over handset subsidies and spectrum allocation provoked him to say that the industry would fare better if the regulators stayed at home rather than went to work each day.
Yesterday Knott-Craig said he would still work for Vodacom as a consultant until March.
“Hopefully, they won’t need any consulting because they know what they are doing. If they don’t know what they are doing by now, they’ve got problems,” he quipped.
He may accept a board position or two, but his main ambition is to write more books and indulge in photography. His new book of bird photographs made its debut this week.
The most memorable part of his career was making cellphones a tool for consumers rather than just for businesses, he said.
That included selling handsets through retail outlets and advertising that targeted ordinary people, not business users.
He also established Vodaworld in 1998, the first cellular shopping mall in the southern hemisphere.
“We did a lot of things that were different from other cellphone companies. It could have gone belly-up but it was the right time and the right place,” he says. “We took a different approach and it worked and now it works for the whole world, and the world is better for it.”
The cellular industry now serves 3,7-billion users because people stopped trying to make cellphone a business tool and made it a personal tool.
The worst part has been fighting the regulations that stifle the industry in SA, he says.
“It’s been frustrating. That was negative stress, which is why I want to go. Positive stress is getting to grips with the competition, but negative stress is dealing with stupidity. We are not going forward at the rate we could have been.”
For the future, Knott-Craig sees Vodacom’s foray into television, radio and advertising on the cellphone as areas of highly profitable growth.
But he is not purely business-oriented. One of the most gratifying experiences of the past 15 years has been Vodacom’s work as a powerful force for good in the communities where it operates, he says.
Last year Vodacom sponsored Smile Week, and Knott-Craig watched an operation that allowed a seven-year-old boy born with a cleft palate to smile for the first time.
“It was one of the most moving moments of my life,” he says.
Irnest Kaplan, MD of Kaplan Equity Analysts, said Knott-Craig is seen as the father of cellular in SA, building Vodacom from a small startup into a giant. He has made a huge contribution to the technology sector and SA at large, Kaplan says.
“I’ve always liked Alan’s frank nature and his animated comments about the company and the industry. I have always found him to display a very deep knowledge about the industry and a strong passion for it.”
It was fairly rare in hi-tech circles for someone to lead an organisation through its entire development from infancy to maturity, and to keep many of the core senior team intact.
“Alan has led the organisation very well while having shareholders that often did not agree on major issues. This must have been extremely tough,” Kaplan says.
Former employee Nicholas Maweni, now the head of corporate affairs for rival operator Virgin Mobile, describes Knott-Craig as a visionary leader deserving national recognition for his exceptional contributions in fields including nation-building, business and the economy, science, medicine, technological motivation and community service.
Tomorrow the new CEO will be Pieter Uys, another 15-year Vodacom veteran who is now chief operating officer.
Uys is a solid, stable character with an infectious enthusiasm for technology and a clear vision of what needs doing next to drive further commercial growth.
Vodacom’s focus now is to play in every area of communications — a significant shift away from being a mobile-centric operator to providing communications infrastructure and services. That initiative was firmed up by the launch of Vodacom Business in February, driven by Uys to provide a wide range of services including data storage and protection as well as business software online.
Uys will also steer Vodacom through its ongoing R7,5bn black empowerment transformation and through a potential change of parent companies.
Telkom is debating whether to divest its 50% stake by selling 12,5% to Vodafone and distributing the remaining stake to its own shareholders.
There is no clarity yet on whether that will happen, but whatever the outcome, Knott-Craig is happy to let younger hands take the strain.
'Femtocells' could see mobile networks challenge Wi-Fi
As Long Term Evolution (LTE), the speedy 4G wireless technology touted by telcos including Telstra, approaches widespread deployment in 2010-2011, femtocell adoption could gather steam if the groundwork is laid right.
Currently, many carriers are trying out femtocells, small 3G base-stations that are being suggested as on-premises equipment that deliver mobile coverage within a home or office, but use DSL or other broadband connections for backhaul. By creating small hot spot-like pockets of cellular access on a provider's own spectrum and then routing data over the Internet, femtocells are said to improve indoor coverage and reduce costs.
But as carriers debate whether customers should bear some or all of the burden of buying and maintaining femtocell hardware, they have been slow to adopt femtocells broadly. Each femtocell can cost several hundred dollars, and consumers aren't necessarily sold on the idea of buying one more gadget to manage.
LTE, however, might provide several openings in the femtocell market and give carriers a golden opportunity to familiarize consumers with these devices.
For one, femtocells enable end users to take their LTE network wherever they want, even if a carrier's own buildout remains small at first.
"Some vendors are looking to deploy LTE in hot spot-like deployments, where the demand is highest first," said Nadine Manjaro, a senior analyst at ABI Research. "So it makes sense that they would cover a building with a picocell and femtocells for the smaller buildings or personal usage."
Similar to a femtocell, a picocell is a device that's higher powered and is intended for larger, in-building deployments.
In a new ABI research report, Manjaro predicted that emerging femtocell standards will likely be an integrated part of the LTE standard, with several manufacturers even supporting new interfaces. That support suggests that some early LTE deployments will be entirely femtocell based.
She said many of these principles apply to WiMax. But the shorter deployment timeline for WiMax means it won't receive the benefits of the more fully finished femtocell standards.
Part of the interest in femtocells stems from timing: For the most part, femtocell standardization has been a slow process, though in the past few months major progress has been made. Manjaro said many of those standards will be ratified shortly before LTE comes online, giving the technology a fresh shot at wider adoption.
The deployment picture will also vary greatly from country to country, depending on which wireless spectrum has been allocated to LTE. In the U.S., the relatively robust, low-band 700 MHz spectrum --which penetrates walls and buildings well -- will probably be the first to support an LTE network. In China and much of Europe, however, far higher bands are likely, and higher spectrums have a tougher time penetrating walls and providing in-building coverage, which strengthens the femtocell argument.
Possible risk to the femto future?
While LTE could signal a golden age or at least a greater opportunity for femtocells, there is also concern that the technology's gaining favor could be short-lived if it's not handled properly.
"If femtocells are not proliferated in large-scale deployments over the next two to three years, the whole business case might be in jeopardy," said Sudhir Tangri, the marketing director for telecommunications outsourcing and consulting firm Aricent. Otherwise, Tangri said, users will not be familiar with femtocell use cases and, when the time comes, will likely pass for simpler alternatives.
Tangri also said it's critical for service providers to sort out the logistical questions about how deployments will work, even as the tricky technology problems get solved.
"There are certain issues that need to be sorted out -- whether it's 3G or 4G -- like distribution, like ownership," he said. "Who owns the box? The service provider? The consumer? These are fundamental questions before even getting into the technology, and we believe they need to be sorted out."
Tangri said that if these issues were not resolved by the 2011, femtocells would likely miss their opportunity to become accepted and integrated into cellular infrastructure and uptake would be minimal.
That being said, Tangri was upbeat about the technology's prospects, citing the ongoing testing by major carriers globally and their eagerness to move forward.
"I would say that currently we as an organization are involved with operators on advanced stages of user trials," he said. "We'll get into deployments the second half of next year. … But there are still questions that need to be answered."
As Long Term Evolution (LTE), the speedy 4G wireless technology touted by telcos including Telstra, approaches widespread deployment in 2010-2011, femtocell adoption could gather steam if the groundwork is laid right.
Currently, many carriers are trying out femtocells, small 3G base-stations that are being suggested as on-premises equipment that deliver mobile coverage within a home or office, but use DSL or other broadband connections for backhaul. By creating small hot spot-like pockets of cellular access on a provider's own spectrum and then routing data over the Internet, femtocells are said to improve indoor coverage and reduce costs.
But as carriers debate whether customers should bear some or all of the burden of buying and maintaining femtocell hardware, they have been slow to adopt femtocells broadly. Each femtocell can cost several hundred dollars, and consumers aren't necessarily sold on the idea of buying one more gadget to manage.
LTE, however, might provide several openings in the femtocell market and give carriers a golden opportunity to familiarize consumers with these devices.
For one, femtocells enable end users to take their LTE network wherever they want, even if a carrier's own buildout remains small at first.
"Some vendors are looking to deploy LTE in hot spot-like deployments, where the demand is highest first," said Nadine Manjaro, a senior analyst at ABI Research. "So it makes sense that they would cover a building with a picocell and femtocells for the smaller buildings or personal usage."
Similar to a femtocell, a picocell is a device that's higher powered and is intended for larger, in-building deployments.
In a new ABI research report, Manjaro predicted that emerging femtocell standards will likely be an integrated part of the LTE standard, with several manufacturers even supporting new interfaces. That support suggests that some early LTE deployments will be entirely femtocell based.
She said many of these principles apply to WiMax. But the shorter deployment timeline for WiMax means it won't receive the benefits of the more fully finished femtocell standards.
Part of the interest in femtocells stems from timing: For the most part, femtocell standardization has been a slow process, though in the past few months major progress has been made. Manjaro said many of those standards will be ratified shortly before LTE comes online, giving the technology a fresh shot at wider adoption.
The deployment picture will also vary greatly from country to country, depending on which wireless spectrum has been allocated to LTE. In the U.S., the relatively robust, low-band 700 MHz spectrum --which penetrates walls and buildings well -- will probably be the first to support an LTE network. In China and much of Europe, however, far higher bands are likely, and higher spectrums have a tougher time penetrating walls and providing in-building coverage, which strengthens the femtocell argument.
Possible risk to the femto future?
While LTE could signal a golden age or at least a greater opportunity for femtocells, there is also concern that the technology's gaining favor could be short-lived if it's not handled properly.
"If femtocells are not proliferated in large-scale deployments over the next two to three years, the whole business case might be in jeopardy," said Sudhir Tangri, the marketing director for telecommunications outsourcing and consulting firm Aricent. Otherwise, Tangri said, users will not be familiar with femtocell use cases and, when the time comes, will likely pass for simpler alternatives.
Tangri also said it's critical for service providers to sort out the logistical questions about how deployments will work, even as the tricky technology problems get solved.
"There are certain issues that need to be sorted out -- whether it's 3G or 4G -- like distribution, like ownership," he said. "Who owns the box? The service provider? The consumer? These are fundamental questions before even getting into the technology, and we believe they need to be sorted out."
Tangri said that if these issues were not resolved by the 2011, femtocells would likely miss their opportunity to become accepted and integrated into cellular infrastructure and uptake would be minimal.
That being said, Tangri was upbeat about the technology's prospects, citing the ongoing testing by major carriers globally and their eagerness to move forward.
"I would say that currently we as an organization are involved with operators on advanced stages of user trials," he said. "We'll get into deployments the second half of next year. … But there are still questions that need to be answered."
Mobile - Data is 20% of operator revenues
Mobile data now 20% of worldwide operator revenues
Data revenues now account for almost 20 percent of worldwide operator service revenues according to a new report by advisory firm Chetan Sharma Consulting. The report notes that data now contributes close to 40 percent of revenues for some leading operators, although the growth of data ARPU is still not completely offsetting losses in voice ARPU. During the first half of 2008, the U.S. moved past Japan as the world's most lucrative mobile data market, with operators racking up $17.5 billion in data revenues versus $13.6 billion for Japanese operators. China followed at $7.8 billion--together, the three markets account for close to 50 percent of combined worldwide data service revenues.
Japan's NTT DoCoMo led among individual operators with $6.8 billion in data revenues during the first six months of 2008, crossing 84 percent in 3G penetration. The remainder of the top 10, in descending order: China Mobile, KDDI, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, China Unicom, Softbank, O2 UK and T-Mobile USA. According to Chetan Sharma, data revenues for the top 10 operators increased 10.3 percent from 2007 marks, and while their collective subscriber share is around 30 percent, their mobile data revenues represent close to half of global totals. During the first half of 2008, many carriers experienced an increase in non-SMS data revenues--on average, Japan and Korea rake in between 70 and 75 percent of their data revenues from non-SMS applications, with the U.S. between 50 and 60 percent and Western Europe around 20 to 40 percent.
Data revenues now account for almost 20 percent of worldwide operator service revenues according to a new report by advisory firm Chetan Sharma Consulting. The report notes that data now contributes close to 40 percent of revenues for some leading operators, although the growth of data ARPU is still not completely offsetting losses in voice ARPU. During the first half of 2008, the U.S. moved past Japan as the world's most lucrative mobile data market, with operators racking up $17.5 billion in data revenues versus $13.6 billion for Japanese operators. China followed at $7.8 billion--together, the three markets account for close to 50 percent of combined worldwide data service revenues.
Japan's NTT DoCoMo led among individual operators with $6.8 billion in data revenues during the first six months of 2008, crossing 84 percent in 3G penetration. The remainder of the top 10, in descending order: China Mobile, KDDI, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, China Unicom, Softbank, O2 UK and T-Mobile USA. According to Chetan Sharma, data revenues for the top 10 operators increased 10.3 percent from 2007 marks, and while their collective subscriber share is around 30 percent, their mobile data revenues represent close to half of global totals. During the first half of 2008, many carriers experienced an increase in non-SMS data revenues--on average, Japan and Korea rake in between 70 and 75 percent of their data revenues from non-SMS applications, with the U.S. between 50 and 60 percent and Western Europe around 20 to 40 percent.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
USA - the rise of SMS charges
Senator examining rising text messaging rates
A key member of the Senate Judiciary Committee is asking the nation's top four wireless carriers to justify the "sharply rising rates" they charge people to send and receive text messages.
In letters to top executives at Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile, Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl said Tuesday that he is concerned that rising text messaging rates reflect decreasing competition in the wireless business.
Kohl chairs the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights. His inquiry comes as European Commission regulators are threatening to impose a cap on roaming fees for text messages sent by Europeans traveling outside of their home nations, in an effort to force prices down by as much as 70 percent.
Kohl said he was concerned that consumers are paying more than 20 cents per message, up from 10 cents in 2005. This increase, he said, "does not appear to be justified by rising costs in delivering text messages," which are small data files that are inexpensive for carriers to transmit.
Kohl said he is particularly concerned that all four of the companies appear to have adopted identical price increases at nearly the same time. "This conduct is hardly consistent with the vigorous price competition we hope to see in a competitive marketplace," he wrote.
Kohl also noted that these rate hikes have occurred during the industry's recent consolidation, which has reduced the number of national wireless carriers in the U.S. to four from six. That consolidation continues, he said, as the large national wireless carriers buy out smaller, regional competitors — as evidenced most recently by Verizon Wireless' planned acquisition of Alltel Corp. for $5.9 billion plus the assumption of $22.2 billion in debt.
Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, said it will respond to Kohl's letter once it has had a chance to review it. AT&T said it has received the letter and will respond accordingly, and Sprint said "we look forward to responding to the Senator's inquiry about the text messaging options we offer our customers and we will fully cooperate with his request."
T-Mobile, which is owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, said it will fully cooperate with Senator Kohl's requests.
A key member of the Senate Judiciary Committee is asking the nation's top four wireless carriers to justify the "sharply rising rates" they charge people to send and receive text messages.
In letters to top executives at Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile, Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl said Tuesday that he is concerned that rising text messaging rates reflect decreasing competition in the wireless business.
Kohl chairs the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights. His inquiry comes as European Commission regulators are threatening to impose a cap on roaming fees for text messages sent by Europeans traveling outside of their home nations, in an effort to force prices down by as much as 70 percent.
Kohl said he was concerned that consumers are paying more than 20 cents per message, up from 10 cents in 2005. This increase, he said, "does not appear to be justified by rising costs in delivering text messages," which are small data files that are inexpensive for carriers to transmit.
Kohl said he is particularly concerned that all four of the companies appear to have adopted identical price increases at nearly the same time. "This conduct is hardly consistent with the vigorous price competition we hope to see in a competitive marketplace," he wrote.
Kohl also noted that these rate hikes have occurred during the industry's recent consolidation, which has reduced the number of national wireless carriers in the U.S. to four from six. That consolidation continues, he said, as the large national wireless carriers buy out smaller, regional competitors — as evidenced most recently by Verizon Wireless' planned acquisition of Alltel Corp. for $5.9 billion plus the assumption of $22.2 billion in debt.
Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, said it will respond to Kohl's letter once it has had a chance to review it. AT&T said it has received the letter and will respond accordingly, and Sprint said "we look forward to responding to the Senator's inquiry about the text messaging options we offer our customers and we will fully cooperate with his request."
T-Mobile, which is owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, said it will fully cooperate with Senator Kohl's requests.
Vodafone wants 670 mln euros in damages from Telefonica
British mobile phone giant Vodafone is seeking 670 million euros (950 million dollars) in damages from Telefonica for alleged abuse of its dominant position in the 1990s, a company spokesman said Monday.
Vodafone accuses the former state monopoly of seeking to prevent Airtel, which the British firm bought in 2000, to expand its business in Spain through unfair competition practices between 1995 and 1999.
Spain's supreme court upheld Vodafone's complaint in May 2006 but it did not rule on the amount of financial compensation which Telefonica should pay.
Vodafone then filed a new claim at a Madrid court with a claim of 670 million euros in damages, the company spokesman said.
In July, the court asked Telefonica to present its arguments and it expects to issue a ruling by the end of the year.
Due to the possibility of appeals to higher courts, a final decision may only come in two to three years, the Vodafone spokesman said.
British mobile phone giant Vodafone is seeking 670 million euros (950 million dollars) in damages from Telefonica for alleged abuse of its dominant position in the 1990s, a company spokesman said Monday.
Vodafone accuses the former state monopoly of seeking to prevent Airtel, which the British firm bought in 2000, to expand its business in Spain through unfair competition practices between 1995 and 1999.
Spain's supreme court upheld Vodafone's complaint in May 2006 but it did not rule on the amount of financial compensation which Telefonica should pay.
Vodafone then filed a new claim at a Madrid court with a claim of 670 million euros in damages, the company spokesman said.
In July, the court asked Telefonica to present its arguments and it expects to issue a ruling by the end of the year.
Due to the possibility of appeals to higher courts, a final decision may only come in two to three years, the Vodafone spokesman said.
Europe - MVNO
Sales Of SIM Cards Might Shuffle Deck In Wireless Services
SIM-only marketing has roiled Europe's wireless phone market, as consumers shy away from signing long-term service contracts often required in cell phone purchases.
Instead of buying new phones, many wireless users in Europe have been choosing a new type of rate plan. They're buying subscriber identity module, or SIM, cards, which they insert inside their existing phones. SIM cards work with all phones that run on the wireless standard called GSM, which dominates in Europe and is popular in many other regions.
Consumers pay in advance for SIM card call minutes and text messages, usually at discounted rates. This type of service helps users save money, but it lowers average revenue per user for carriers and can delay cell phone upgrades.
Nonphone companies such as German supermarket retailer Aldi are among the most aggressive marketers of SIM-only deals. In August, Swedish home furnishing giant Ikea jumped into the SIM-only market in the U.K.
Aldi, Ikea and other retailers don't own wireless networks, but they lease airtime from mobile phone companies at wholesale rates. SIM-only marketing sprouted first in Scandinavia a few years ago. The deals are common in the U.K. and Germany, and have spread to southern Europe and even to the U.S., though SIM use isn't popular here for a number of reasons.
It is, however, becoming more popular in Europe. As a result, wireless firms are fighting back with their own SIM offers. Spain's Telefonica, U.K.-based Vodafone (NYSE:VOD - News), France Telecom and Germany's Deutsche Telekom have rolled out SIM-only products.
Wireless firms realize SIM-only deals are going to be a big part of the market, says Mark Newman, an analyst at research firm Informa.
With Europe's economies slowing, cost-conscious consumers are turning to SIM-only deals to avoid buying new phones and to pay less for service.
"European operators aren't fighting the marketplace," Newman said. "They accept that the prepaid segment is growing and, with the credit crunch, SIM-only services give consumers an alternative."
But the shift to SIM-only deals has more downside than upside for wireless firms, analysts say. The trend could affect some financial metrics that wireless firms are judged by, such as average monthly revenue per subscriber or the mix of higher-valued contract vs. prepaid subscribers.
Prefer Contract Subscribers
Prepaid users are less valued because they switch service providers more often and spend less than customers who are billed monthly under contracts.
SIM-only customers generally get 30-day plans that roll over if users buy more minutes. Wireless firms count 30-day, SIM-only users as prepaid subscribers. But they aim to convert SIM-only users to contract plans with promotions.
There is a plus for carriers. With SIM-only offers, wireless firms don't need to subsidize the cost of mobile phones sold to consumers. Wireless firms sell high-end phones below their cost but recoup the money as customers are billed each month. No phone subsidies means that wireless firms stand to spend less to acquire new customers.
More retailers are jumping into the wireless market through SIM-only deals. They include Spanish department store chain El Corte Ingles, France's Carrefour and U.K.-based Tesco. Germany's Aldi reportedly has a few million SIM-only customers.
"Germany is at the epicenter of SIM-only activity, but it's also making waves in the U.K.," Newman said. "It's pretty much a Western Europe phenomenon."
In May, Telefonica said it had 500,000 SIM-only customers. Most of those were in the U.K., where's Telefonica's O2 unit has been pushing SIM-only offers.
Vodafone, the world's biggest wireless firm by revenue, has said it expects to step up SIM-only marketing. "We are now assuming that we'll do a little bit more SIM-only than we were thinking a while ago," Andy Halford, its chief financial officer, said in July.
In the U.K., SIM-only plans start at about 15 British pounds, or $26, a month.
O2's Simplicity service offers 200 calling minutes for 15 pounds, 600 minutes for 20 pounds ($36) or 1,200 minutes for 30 pounds ($54).
Unlike customers under contract, prepaid subscribers don't pay taxes or surcharges.
While most SIM-only offers have targeted consumers, France Telecom last month unveiled a plan targeted at business users.
Hurdles To SIM-Only In U.S.
SIM-only plans could spread to the U.S., but there are a few hurdles, analysts say.
For one, fewer nonphone companies that lease airtime on networks, called mobile virtual network operators, exist in the U.S. The networks are where retailers lease airtime.
The biggest hurdle, though, is that mobile phones sold in the U.S. are usually "locked." Wireless firms sell mobile phones that only work on their cellular networks. That makes it less convenient for customers to switch to rivals.
In Europe, wireless firms use unlocked GSM-type phones, which contain SIM cards.
AT&T operates a GSM-type network in the U.S. In January, it introduced a SIM-only, bring-your-own-phone service. But AT&T hasn't promoted the service much, analysts say.
Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA unit also operates a GSM-type network in the U.S. A representative declined to comment on any SIM-only plans.
In Europe, service contracts come up for renewal every 12 to 18 months on average, compared with every two years in the U.S., says Susan Welsh de Grimaldo, an analyst at Strategy Analytics.
U.S. consumers are usually ready to purchase new phones when their contract ends, she says, because during the two-year contract span more advanced mobile phones typically have come to market.
In Europe, which has shorter contract lengths, she says, many users are not interested in replacing phones that are only a year old.
SIM-only marketing has roiled Europe's wireless phone market, as consumers shy away from signing long-term service contracts often required in cell phone purchases.
Instead of buying new phones, many wireless users in Europe have been choosing a new type of rate plan. They're buying subscriber identity module, or SIM, cards, which they insert inside their existing phones. SIM cards work with all phones that run on the wireless standard called GSM, which dominates in Europe and is popular in many other regions.
Consumers pay in advance for SIM card call minutes and text messages, usually at discounted rates. This type of service helps users save money, but it lowers average revenue per user for carriers and can delay cell phone upgrades.
Nonphone companies such as German supermarket retailer Aldi are among the most aggressive marketers of SIM-only deals. In August, Swedish home furnishing giant Ikea jumped into the SIM-only market in the U.K.
Aldi, Ikea and other retailers don't own wireless networks, but they lease airtime from mobile phone companies at wholesale rates. SIM-only marketing sprouted first in Scandinavia a few years ago. The deals are common in the U.K. and Germany, and have spread to southern Europe and even to the U.S., though SIM use isn't popular here for a number of reasons.
It is, however, becoming more popular in Europe. As a result, wireless firms are fighting back with their own SIM offers. Spain's Telefonica, U.K.-based Vodafone (NYSE:VOD - News), France Telecom and Germany's Deutsche Telekom have rolled out SIM-only products.
Wireless firms realize SIM-only deals are going to be a big part of the market, says Mark Newman, an analyst at research firm Informa.
With Europe's economies slowing, cost-conscious consumers are turning to SIM-only deals to avoid buying new phones and to pay less for service.
"European operators aren't fighting the marketplace," Newman said. "They accept that the prepaid segment is growing and, with the credit crunch, SIM-only services give consumers an alternative."
But the shift to SIM-only deals has more downside than upside for wireless firms, analysts say. The trend could affect some financial metrics that wireless firms are judged by, such as average monthly revenue per subscriber or the mix of higher-valued contract vs. prepaid subscribers.
Prefer Contract Subscribers
Prepaid users are less valued because they switch service providers more often and spend less than customers who are billed monthly under contracts.
SIM-only customers generally get 30-day plans that roll over if users buy more minutes. Wireless firms count 30-day, SIM-only users as prepaid subscribers. But they aim to convert SIM-only users to contract plans with promotions.
There is a plus for carriers. With SIM-only offers, wireless firms don't need to subsidize the cost of mobile phones sold to consumers. Wireless firms sell high-end phones below their cost but recoup the money as customers are billed each month. No phone subsidies means that wireless firms stand to spend less to acquire new customers.
More retailers are jumping into the wireless market through SIM-only deals. They include Spanish department store chain El Corte Ingles, France's Carrefour and U.K.-based Tesco. Germany's Aldi reportedly has a few million SIM-only customers.
"Germany is at the epicenter of SIM-only activity, but it's also making waves in the U.K.," Newman said. "It's pretty much a Western Europe phenomenon."
In May, Telefonica said it had 500,000 SIM-only customers. Most of those were in the U.K., where's Telefonica's O2 unit has been pushing SIM-only offers.
Vodafone, the world's biggest wireless firm by revenue, has said it expects to step up SIM-only marketing. "We are now assuming that we'll do a little bit more SIM-only than we were thinking a while ago," Andy Halford, its chief financial officer, said in July.
In the U.K., SIM-only plans start at about 15 British pounds, or $26, a month.
O2's Simplicity service offers 200 calling minutes for 15 pounds, 600 minutes for 20 pounds ($36) or 1,200 minutes for 30 pounds ($54).
Unlike customers under contract, prepaid subscribers don't pay taxes or surcharges.
While most SIM-only offers have targeted consumers, France Telecom last month unveiled a plan targeted at business users.
Hurdles To SIM-Only In U.S.
SIM-only plans could spread to the U.S., but there are a few hurdles, analysts say.
For one, fewer nonphone companies that lease airtime on networks, called mobile virtual network operators, exist in the U.S. The networks are where retailers lease airtime.
The biggest hurdle, though, is that mobile phones sold in the U.S. are usually "locked." Wireless firms sell mobile phones that only work on their cellular networks. That makes it less convenient for customers to switch to rivals.
In Europe, wireless firms use unlocked GSM-type phones, which contain SIM cards.
AT&T operates a GSM-type network in the U.S. In January, it introduced a SIM-only, bring-your-own-phone service. But AT&T hasn't promoted the service much, analysts say.
Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA unit also operates a GSM-type network in the U.S. A representative declined to comment on any SIM-only plans.
In Europe, service contracts come up for renewal every 12 to 18 months on average, compared with every two years in the U.S., says Susan Welsh de Grimaldo, an analyst at Strategy Analytics.
U.S. consumers are usually ready to purchase new phones when their contract ends, she says, because during the two-year contract span more advanced mobile phones typically have come to market.
In Europe, which has shorter contract lengths, she says, many users are not interested in replacing phones that are only a year old.
France - fourth mobile operator?
France says to launch a new 3G licence tender
French telecoms regulator Arcep said on Monday that it planned to launch a new tender for the country's last remaining 3G high-speed mobile license, after an earlier one failed.
Last year, Arcep rejected as too low an offer from broadband provider Iliad, the only operator to bid for the license.
The tender, backed by the French government, is meant to increase competition in the French mobile market by allowing a new 3G operator to compete head on with incumbents Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom.
In March this year, the telecoms regulator said it would consult on the tender with market players and publish its conclusions by September 30.
Arcep on Monday rejected the possibility of splitting up the license into different frequency packages without giving priority to a new entrant.
"Therefore, we are looking at procedures that give a priority to all or part of the frequencies to a newcomer, following similar conditions that governed the previous tenders," Arcep said in a statement.
It did not say when the tender would actually be launched.
French telecoms regulator Arcep said on Monday that it planned to launch a new tender for the country's last remaining 3G high-speed mobile license, after an earlier one failed.
Last year, Arcep rejected as too low an offer from broadband provider Iliad, the only operator to bid for the license.
The tender, backed by the French government, is meant to increase competition in the French mobile market by allowing a new 3G operator to compete head on with incumbents Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom.
In March this year, the telecoms regulator said it would consult on the tender with market players and publish its conclusions by September 30.
Arcep on Monday rejected the possibility of splitting up the license into different frequency packages without giving priority to a new entrant.
"Therefore, we are looking at procedures that give a priority to all or part of the frequencies to a newcomer, following similar conditions that governed the previous tenders," Arcep said in a statement.
It did not say when the tender would actually be launched.
T-Mobile android phone - no data cap
T-Mobile uncaps data plan ahead of Google phone
In advance of the new Google phone, T-Mobile USA has changed the wording of the user agreement for its wireless data network and no longer claims the right to slow surfing to a crawl once a subscriber goes over a monthly usage limit.
The amendment was made late Wednesday, a day after T-Mobile revealed the G1, the first smart phone that will use the new network. The G1 is also the first phone to use Google Inc.'s mobile software platform.
Bloggers had spotted a 1-gigabyte monthly download limit in T-Mobile's user agreement and were concerned that it would apply to the G1. The phone comes with a Web browser, access to Google e-mail and songs from Amazon.com Inc., which could make a user quickly exceed a gigabyte of traffic.
In a statement, T-Mobile said that since the G1 doesn't go on sale until Oct. 22, the details of the plan were not final, but it had removed the limit anyway. It still reserves the right to slow down traffic for a "a small fraction of our customers who have excessive or disproportionate usage that interferes with our network performance."
In advance of the new Google phone, T-Mobile USA has changed the wording of the user agreement for its wireless data network and no longer claims the right to slow surfing to a crawl once a subscriber goes over a monthly usage limit.
The amendment was made late Wednesday, a day after T-Mobile revealed the G1, the first smart phone that will use the new network. The G1 is also the first phone to use Google Inc.'s mobile software platform.
Bloggers had spotted a 1-gigabyte monthly download limit in T-Mobile's user agreement and were concerned that it would apply to the G1. The phone comes with a Web browser, access to Google e-mail and songs from Amazon.com Inc., which could make a user quickly exceed a gigabyte of traffic.
In a statement, T-Mobile said that since the G1 doesn't go on sale until Oct. 22, the details of the plan were not final, but it had removed the limit anyway. It still reserves the right to slow down traffic for a "a small fraction of our customers who have excessive or disproportionate usage that interferes with our network performance."
China - telecommunications revenues
NDRC: Telecom Industry Revenue Up 9% To RMB 468B
China's telecom industry saw revenue climb 9.1% year-on-year to reach RMB 467.81 billion in the first seven months of 2008, according to National Development and Reform Commission data released on Tuesday. China added 61.073 million mobile phone users in the first seven months to reach 608 million handset users by the end of the July. Broadband subscribers grew by 11.413 million to 77.827 million users, while fixed-line users fell by 10.581 million to 355 million subscribers in the period.
China's telecom industry saw revenue climb 9.1% year-on-year to reach RMB 467.81 billion in the first seven months of 2008, according to National Development and Reform Commission data released on Tuesday. China added 61.073 million mobile phone users in the first seven months to reach 608 million handset users by the end of the July. Broadband subscribers grew by 11.413 million to 77.827 million users, while fixed-line users fell by 10.581 million to 355 million subscribers in the period.
China Mobile - TD-SCDMA
China Mobile Calls For 260,000 TD-SCDMA Users In September
China Mobile told subsidiaries in the ten cities where it is conducting TD-SCDMA trial operations that collectively they should reach 260,000 TD-SCDMA users by September 20 and 400,000 TD-SCDMA users before the end of 2008, reports The Beijing News quoting a China Mobile insider.
China Mobile began second round bidding on Tuesday for domestic-made 3G TD-SCDMA network construction equipment for 28 cities. The company plans to spend roughly RMB 21 billion in the second round of bidding. China Mobile asked subsidiaries in 28 cities including Dalian, Harbin, Nanjing, Wuhan, Hannan, Chongqing, Lhasa, Urumqi and Xining to complete TD-SCDMA network construction before the end of 2009.
China Mobile told subsidiaries in the ten cities where it is conducting TD-SCDMA trial operations that collectively they should reach 260,000 TD-SCDMA users by September 20 and 400,000 TD-SCDMA users before the end of 2008, reports The Beijing News quoting a China Mobile insider.
China Mobile began second round bidding on Tuesday for domestic-made 3G TD-SCDMA network construction equipment for 28 cities. The company plans to spend roughly RMB 21 billion in the second round of bidding. China Mobile asked subsidiaries in 28 cities including Dalian, Harbin, Nanjing, Wuhan, Hannan, Chongqing, Lhasa, Urumqi and Xining to complete TD-SCDMA network construction before the end of 2009.
South korea - IT Competitiveness
Korea's IT Competitiveness Declines
Korea's IT competitiveness declined five notches from 2007. According to the Korea International Trade Association on Sunday, Korea ranked eighth among 66 countries, with 64.1 points out of 100, in the 2008 IT industry competitiveness index by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a provider of economic data and analysis. Korea ranked third after the U.S. and Japan in 2007.
This year, the U.S. topped the list for the second year running with 74.6 points, followed by Taiwan (69.2 points), the U.K. (67.2 points), Sweden (66 points), Denmark (65.2 points), Canada (64.4 points), and Australia (64.1 points).
Taiwan rose to second place from sixth last year. Sweden and Canada rose by three notches each.
By contrast, Japan fell from second to 12th place (62.2 points). Germany and France ranked 19th and 20th, respectively. China finished 50th with 27.6 points.
The EIU uses weighted categories such as overall business environment (10 percent), IT infrastructure (20 percent), human capital (20 percent), legal environment (10 percent), R&D environment (25 percent) and support for IT industry development (15 percent).
KITA said, "Korea has been well-known as an IT powerhouse, but it's noteworthy that its IT competitiveness had declined significantly." It urged the government to give a variety of support to the industry, and the industry to make its own efforts to enhance its competitiveness.
Korea's IT competitiveness declined five notches from 2007. According to the Korea International Trade Association on Sunday, Korea ranked eighth among 66 countries, with 64.1 points out of 100, in the 2008 IT industry competitiveness index by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a provider of economic data and analysis. Korea ranked third after the U.S. and Japan in 2007.
This year, the U.S. topped the list for the second year running with 74.6 points, followed by Taiwan (69.2 points), the U.K. (67.2 points), Sweden (66 points), Denmark (65.2 points), Canada (64.4 points), and Australia (64.1 points).
Taiwan rose to second place from sixth last year. Sweden and Canada rose by three notches each.
By contrast, Japan fell from second to 12th place (62.2 points). Germany and France ranked 19th and 20th, respectively. China finished 50th with 27.6 points.
The EIU uses weighted categories such as overall business environment (10 percent), IT infrastructure (20 percent), human capital (20 percent), legal environment (10 percent), R&D environment (25 percent) and support for IT industry development (15 percent).
KITA said, "Korea has been well-known as an IT powerhouse, but it's noteworthy that its IT competitiveness had declined significantly." It urged the government to give a variety of support to the industry, and the industry to make its own efforts to enhance its competitiveness.
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