China Unicom, SK Telecom eye massive mobile phone

China Unicom and SK Telecom agreed to jointly buy millions of mobile phones betting the two companies’ increased purchasing power will reduce costs.

 

The two mobile phone operators are negotiating to buy mobile phones from Motorola, Samsung, and LG Electronics, Seoul-based SK Telecom said in a statement.

 

The mobile phones will be offered to both companies’ customers during the first half of next year, the statement said.

 

SK Telecom, the world’s first provider of third-generation mobile services, joins Spain’s Telefonica and the UK’s Vodafone Group in trying to access a market that has more mobile phone users than the combined populations of the US and Japan.

 

Beijing-based China Unicom will use the partnership to boost buying power and tap SK Telecom’s experience providing 3G service.

 

“This is pretty positive for China Unicom in the long-term; it means more purchasing power,” said Judy Zhang, an analyst at Sun Hung Kai Research in Hong Kong.

China Unicom and SK Telecom plan to initially buy six types of mobile phones, with orders for each model ranging from 300,000 to 500,000 mobile phones, according to the statement.

 

In July, SK Telecom, Korea’s largest cell phone operator, bought $1 billion of bonds convertible into a 6.7% stake of the Chinese company.

 

China’s number of mobile users is expected to rise to 568.1 million in 2010, according to US researcher IDC.

China had 437.5 million cell phone subscribers at the end of August, according to government data, compared with South Korea’s 38 million.

About 30% of China’s 1.3 billion people own mobile phones, compared with
South Korea’s 80%.

 

 

Source- http://www.telecomasia.net

Top Ten Mobile Phone Sales in Telia Stores

Sony Ericsson’s K800i 3G mobile topped the list of best-selling mobile handsets in Telia’s retail stores for the second month in a row. A new phone entered the list for the month, the Motorola V360, which placed ninth. Sony Ericsson also dominated the list in September with five mobile phones. Built-in cameras are starting to be a common feature on mobile handsets today. Eight out of ten phones on the list have a camera.

1. (1) Sony Ericsson K800i
2. (3) Nokia 1110
3. (4) Sony Ericsson Z530i
4. (2) Sony Ericsson W810i
5. (5) Sony Ericsson K750i
6. (6) Nokia 5140i 
7. (7) Nokia 6020
8. (10) Sony Ericsson W300i
9. (-) Motorola V360
10. (8) Motorola C380

The statistics are based on sales in 76 Telia retail stores in Sweden. Telia has the largest retail chain in Sweden for telecom products and is one of the biggest resellers of mobile phones in the country.

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

Sony Z610 Cell Phone Approved for USA

The Sony Ericsson Z610, featuring a 2 megapixel cam and Picture Blog application, has cleared its deals with the FCC and should hit the stores soon along with the W850 Walkman phone.

A 3G phone, the Z610 is available in a sleek design. The phone sports dual displays, but at first looks, you will not notice the external one; it’s an OLED display that shows itself only when you receive a call or text message.

A music player supporting MP3/AAC/eAAC+ is available as well. The Z610 also features USB charging, which is quite useful. No info yet on pricing.

Source- http://www.mobilewhack.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

Bharti, Ericsson in Expansion Deal

Bharti Airtel has signed a $1 billion (approximately Rs 4,500 crores) network expansion contract with Ericsson, a Swedish telecom equipment maker.Under this contract, Bharti Airtel will expand and upgrade its GSM and GPRS network, as well as managed services. The deal will enable Bharti Airtel to rapidly extend its GSM footprint in the country, and increase its network capacity.

The three-year services agreement will see Ericsson manage design, development, and deployment of Airtel’s network, including capacity and coverage, enabling the operator to expand in rural India, and reach out to all towns and cities in around 15 regions.Speaking at the occasion, Manoj Kohli, president, Bharti Airtel, said that their partnership with Ericsson allows them to focus on delivering better customer experience, even as they leverage the world-class expertise of their partners to roll out their networks across all census towns by March 2007.

Kohli said that they are also sourcing next generation products that will allow them to deliver innovative products and services to customers.

The contract also involves Ericsson upgrading the Airtel network with mobile softswitch (Media Gateway and MSC server), the solution that paves the way to an all-IP network. Bharti Airtel will be able to cut operational costs, and introduce new services in a cost-efficient way.

The scope of the agreement extends to 15 Airtel circles of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, UP (East and West), Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, and the North East.

In a statement, Mats Granryd, managing director, Ericsson India, said that rollout speed plays an extremely important role in large expansions of this nature, and that Ericsson has demonstrated expertise in this area. They are honored and pleased that Bharti Airtel has chosen them as a partner to expand its coverage across the country, particularly in untapped rural areas.

Source- http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/article.jsp?article_id=75406&cat_id=613