GMO Targets China Mobile Content Leadership

Malaysian company GMO (listed on London’s AIM) has acquired a 20% stake in China’s Wisdom Choice Investments for RM60.42 million in a move that will enable it to gain entry to China’s mobile content market. “GMO also has the option to acquire the remaining stake in Wisdom Choice for RM349.23 million by Feb 15, 2007, by cash or GMO shares issue but conditional upon the latter achieving a pre-tax profit of RM35 million for its year ending Dec 31, 2006.”
“GMO chief executive officer Eugene Goh said its plan was to make Wisdom Choice a subsidiary and, together with another GMO unit Beijing Hongxun Communication Technology Co Ltd, they would provide mobile content to 31 provinces in China…”We believe we can achieve a market share of 10% to 15%. Right now the number one company is Sina.com, which has a 15% to 20% market share, but we are aiming to be the number one player by end-2007 and, with this acquisition, we are close to being on par with them.”
Source- http://www.moconews.net

Vodafone rolls out own, China-made 3G phones

LONDON/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Vodafone Group Plc launched its first own-branded 3G handsets on Thursday, as the mobile phone giant tries to expand in the market for higher-paying third-generation services by luring more pre-pay users.

Huawei Technologies, China’s largest network gear maker, would supply the Vodafone 710 clamshell phone, the first in a series of similar own-branded handsets that it plans to source from Asian vendors, Vodafone said, confirming what a source close to the company told Reuters on Wednesday.

Vodafone’s tie-up with Huawei underscores a rising trend among European networks: tapping lower-cost Asian suppliers for “white-label” phones on which they stamp their own names.

Such handsets typically cost a third less than those sourced from more established handset brands, while giving operators the flexibility to customize phones to their own services.

“The idea is to bring affordability into the mainstream 3G space, where we really can extend the addressable market for 3G devices,” Jens Schulte-Bockum, Vodafone’s Global Director of Terminals, told reporters in Hong Kong.

“We are very confident we can deliver against that in the next couple of months, especially for the Christmas season in Europe which is the peak season of our sales.”

Source- http://today.reuters.co.uk

3G Opportunities for Test Firms in China

Considering the imminent Olympics 2008 in Beijing, issuing of 3G licenses to ensure high-speed mobile networks is probable this year. This is likely to drive demand in the wireless test and measurement equipment. New analysis from Frost and Sullivan reveals that the market earned revenues of US$197.7 million in 2005 and is likely to reach US$606.2 million in 2012.

The Chinese government is set to further the growth of 3G technology in China by fostering a robust domestic telecommunications industry. This can lead to tremendous investment in the telecom market and benefit both 3G terminal equipment makers and IT vendors.

3G technology standards including time division-synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) is likely to be the market leader, especially since current wireless communication networks are beginning to support these recent technologies. This is encouraging equipment manufacturers, service providers and consumers to invest in the promising wireless test and measurement equipment market.

“Growing network demands call for greater capacity, increased bandwidth and higher throughput in network systems,” notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst David Ren. “Test equipment manufacturers or service providers need to constantly evolve their products and services to meet these demands and keep pace with the developments in the wireless communication industry.”

However, the rapidly evolving technologies and standards create a unique challenge for manufacturers. As data, voice and video services converge in the networks, their testing and measurement is becoming more complex.

“Vendors need to enhance test equipment’s capability to integrate physical and protocol layer level testing for multiple standards, interfaces and protocols in a single instrument,” says Ren.

End users are expecting their test equipment to have a long shelf life and a platform to which they can add other hardware and software modules when new technologies are developed. Manufacturers can retain customers by designing test equipment that is scaleable and easily upgradeable for retaining customers.

Source- http://www.cellular-news.com

UPDATE:Vodafone Launches Own 3G Handsets; In Talks On 2G

HONG KONG -(Dow Jones)- Vodafone Group launched its first own-brand consumer cellphone based on third-generation technology Thursday, and said it is exploring possibilities to make second-generation mobile handsets under its brand.

The company is talking with several parties including Chinese handset manufacturers, Vodafone group director of terminals, Jens Schulte-Bockum, told reporters following the launch of the new handset in Hong Kong.

“We are in discussions with many different players,” said the executive. “There is no front runner…we continue to monitor the space.”

He didn’t provide more specific details.

The new clamshell 3G handset, called Vodafone 710, will be launched across Europe from early October, the company said in a statement.

The handset will be supplied by China’s Huawei Technologies under an alliance signed by the two companies in February.

Schulte-Bockum said Vodafone is aiming to sell a minimum of 200,000 3G units in the next six months. Vodafone is also aiming to launch an upgraded version of the handset in early summer next year.

The executive said the handsets will cost 30% less than the handsets manufactured by first-tier manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola and Samsung Electronics among others.

Huawei isn’t Vodafone’s first partner for original design manufacturer handsets. The company has a partnership with Taiwan’s High Tech Computer to supply handsets for business users.

The executive said the company is aiming to have around 3% to 5% of the handsets it offerscarry its own brand sometime in 2007.

Vodafone’s handset volume is around 45 million, of which a third is 3G handsets, according to Schulte-Bockum.

As part of the company’s aim to further boost the number of Vodafone-branded handsets and devices, the company also said Thursday it has relocated part of its terminals division from Japan to Hong Kong to better source new devices and negotiate contracts with Asian manufacturers.

On whether Vodafone has any near-term plans to increase its stake in China Mobile, the executive said: “We believe the current stake we have in China Mobile gives us a very good presence in China. I’m not aware of any plans to change the current position.” Vodafone has a 3.27% stake in China Mobile.

Vodafone has been paring its holdings in slow-growth markets, with the mobile operator agreeing in August to sell a 25% stake in Belgian mobile phone operator Proximus for $2.6 billion.

Source- http://www.cellular-news.com

GPS Positioned for Mass Cellular Uptake

There will be a significant increase in the number of GPS-enabled handsets shipped in 2008 coupled with an increase in A-GPS network roll-outs worldwide, according to a new report from IMS Research. IMS Research has forecast differing degrees of growth for each of the major cellular technologies, each one having its own market drivers and inhibitors.

The overall growth is reflected in the sector’s GPS unit revenues, which is forecast to have a CAGR of just under 40% over the next four years.

Patrick Connolly, GPS Analyst at IMS Research said that a number of factors are coming together to finally drive the growth in the cellular market that has been forecast for years. With the Japanese mandate coming into effect in 2007 and a number of American, European and Asian W-CDMA operators poised to rollout A-GPS networks over the next two to three years, the future looks promising for GPS in the cellular market.

From a design point of view, the current trend for sensitivity/performance specmanship is likely to continue in 2007. In the report, IMS Research forecasts that the move towards single-chip design will accelerate next year, to reduce cost and size. Long term, there will be an increased effort to get power consumption and size down to meet the constraints of increasingly over-burdened handsets. While there has been a lot of hype around software-based solutions, and the potential cost savings that ensues, these solutions will initially target laptops, cameras and portable GPS rather than cellular handsets. External GPS devices, targeting the cellular market are also forecast to grow over the next two years as emerging markets in Eastern Europe and China look for cheaper alternatives to portable sat-nav devices and manufacturers continue to form partnerships with network operators.

The overall effect is that GPS solutions are becoming more appealing to handset manufacturers and network operators. Already a number of handset operators are planning to release GPS-enabled handsets targeting the mass market, rather than previous niche-market solutions. This is partly driven by imminent A-GPS announcements from network operators but also the potential to offer autonomous GPS and server-based location services via application service providers. As GPS proliferates in the cellular market, there is huge potential for increased revenues for network operators and ASPs offering a broad range of GPS-based location services. Something KTF in South Korea has recently demonstrated, recording strong ROI for location services in a market where GPS-enabled handsets are commonplace.

Mr Connolly did issue a word of warning however. “Location services have been around for years, via network based triangulation, but have been poorly exposed and marketed to end-users. If GPS-enabled handsets and location services are to take-off beyond mandated regions, there needs to be a dedicated push to make end-users aware of the exact services that are available to them, coupled with competitive pricing models.

Furthermore, the end-user survey carried out as part of this report clearly indicated that end-users made a direct correlation between cellular GPS and sat-nav and were unaware of the full potential of cellular location services. To distinguish these services from other GPS solutions and drive ARPUs, service providers need to offer more than just sat-nav solutions and highlight all the other benefits of having GPS in your phone”.

Source- http://www.cellular-news.com

India Telecom Regulator Recommends 3G Service Guidelines -2-

Misra said he expects mobile phone operators to introduce 3G services in the country by June.
He said the highest bidder for each telecommunications zone will get to choose the best spectrum band, but the other four will have to offer a price no less than 25% lower than the highest bid.
Currently, companies such as Bharti Airtel Ltd. (532454.BY), Reliance Communications Ltd. (532712.BY), Tata Teleservices Ltd. (532371.BY). and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL.YY). have a nationwide presence in the country.
India is divided into 23 telecommunications zones, or circles. The mobile operators in the country offer their services using either global system for mobile communications – GSM – or code division multiple access -CDMA -technology.
TRAI recommended that the spectrum for immediate allocation for 3G services should be in the 450 megahertz, 800 MHz and 2.1 gigahertz bands.
“As per present estimates, 32.5 MHz of spectrum will be available in a time scenario of six to nine months for 3G services.”
Chairman Misra said TRAI has suggested the setting up of a National Frequency Management Board to ensure availability of additional spectrum, its efficient utilization and plan for future requirement of spectrum.
TRAI has recommended that 3G should be a stand-alone service as it shouldn’t be considered an extension of the existing second-generation, or 2G, services.
Companies offering 3G services would also have to fulfill obligations regarding coverage in the urban and rural areas, said TRAI.
Earlier Wednesday, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Dayanidhi Maran said 3G services will play a vital role in development works such as delivering education electronically and tele-medicine, besides offering better voice and multimedia Internet content.
South Korea and Japan have already introduced 3G services, while China is also expected to soon introduce such services, he said.
Globally, there are around 60 3G networks in 25 countries.

Source- http://www.easybourse.com

Sony Ericsson launches four handsets for China, Americas

Sony Ericsson has introduced four new phones. Three models, the Z558, and W830 & W958c Walkman phones are optimised for China and South East Asia markets. The Z550a is optimised for the Americas. The Z558 is a tri-band GPRS 900/1800/1900 clamshell featuring a colour touch screen for Chinese character input, as well as Thai and English text recognition, a 1.3 megapixel camera, and comes with 18 MB internal memory expandable to 1 GB. The phone will be available as both the Z558c for mainland China and the Z558i for other selected markets. The W830 Walkman phone is a EDGE version of the recently introduced W850 Walkman phone. It will be available in two versions: the W830c with a Chinese keypad and the W830i for other South-East Asian markets. The W958c Walkman phone is a GSM/GPRS variant of the W950, and has been developed specifically for Chinese market. It is equipped with a 2.6 inch touch screen, 4 GB memory, and supports the PlayNow 3.0 full-track music download service. The Z550a is a quadband GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 clamshell phone, developed specifically for the Americas market. It features a 1.3 megapixel camera, 25 MB of onboard memory which is expandable to 1GB, and Bluetooth support.

Source- http://www.telecompaper.com

China Unicom increases revenue by 8.2 percent in H1

China Unicom had an operating revenue up 8.2 percent to CNY 46.77 billion in the first half, including service revenue up 6.9 percent to CNY 44.74 billion, as the company added 7.29 million mobile subscribers in the period. Unicom had 135.09 million cellular customers at the end of June, having added 5.48 million GSM users and 1.81 million CDMA users in the first half. The company’s GSM operations made a CNY 3.75 billion pre-tax profit on a CNY 29.36 billion revenue. CDMA operations made a CNY 3.75 billion pre-tax profit on CNY 13.74 billion revenue. Unicom’s overall EBITDA rose to CNY 15.49 billion and its ‘overall profit’ was up 20.2 percent to CNY 2.8 billion. Its long-distance, data and internet businesses made a CNY 140 million pre-tax profit on a CNY 1.64 billion revenue. Company chairman and CEO Chang Xiaobing said Unicom would put equal focus on retaining existing GSM customers and adding new ones while making a greater effort to accelerate CDMA expansion. The company will also continue to restructure its long-distance, data and internet businesses’ product mix to enhance efficiency and increase revenues.

Source- http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?id=138934&nr=&type=&yr=

China Mobile subscribers reach 274 million

HONG KONG, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) — China Mobile Communications Corporation (China Mobile) announced on Thursday that the number of the company’s subscribers increased by 25.77 million in the first half of 2006, bringing the total number to 274 million by June 30.

Wang Jianzhou, president of China Mobile, said at a press conference on Thursday that the company’s net profit in the first half of 2006 reached 30.17 billion yuan (3.78 billion U.S. dollars) , up 25.5 percent over last year’s same period. He said the interim dividend declared per share is 0.62 HK dollar, together with a special dividend of 0.09 HK dollar. Looking ahead, Wang said, the company will promote development of mobile telephone in rural areas and value added service, and make preparations for the 3G market planning and operation. He said the company will strengthen marketing and try to bring more long-term profit to its investors.

China Mobile is the No.2 stock of the Hang Seng Index of the Hong Kong stock market in terms of market capitalization.

Source- http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-08/17/content_4974790.htm