Tariffs for mobile broadband on laptops, netbooks and tablets have fallen slightly in the past half year in most Western European countries, according to the latest research from Telecompaper. The average monthly cost was down in ten out of the 16 countries surveyed, although prices vary significantly still across countries. The Netherlands has moved from the most expensive in Q1 2009 to seventh place in Q4 2011. Mobile broadband prices for laptops and tablets were still the lowest in Finland, the UK and Ireland, based on the average monthly rate, while Switzerland, France and Spain remain the most expensive. In the past, unlimited, affordable subscriptions were the norm in order to stimulate use of mobile data. Today the majority of operators have switched to tiered pricing, with data allowances and speed reductions after using a certain volume of data. The huge growth in mobile broadband use, both on phones and other devices, is driving­ operators to develop new pricing models, in order to support further development of their networks. This means that consumers can expect to continue to pay more for data used.

Source: Telecom Paper.

­China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has announced that there were 128 million 3G subscribers in the country at the end of 2011.

Of the total, 51.2 million used China Mobile TD-SCDMA network, while 40 million were on China Unicom's WCDMA network and the remaining 37.2 million used China Telecom's CDMA network.

The Ministry also confirmed that there are 814,000 3G base stations in the country, with 220,000 being TD-SCDMA, 270,000 WCDMA and 324,500 CDMA2000 EV-DO base stations.

Source: Cellular News.

Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, welcomed figures just released which show a solid increase in the availability of both mobile internet and basic quality fixed broadband lines. At the same time the Commissioner warned that Europe risked missing out on badly needed economic growth if it does not step up a gear and increase the capacity of its broadband networks. Studies show that a 10 percentage point increase in broadband take-up boosts annual GDP growth by 1 to 1.5%.

Broadband is getting faster in Europe, but very high speed connections are not yet widely available. Although 42.2 % of fixed broadband lines were at least 10 megabits per second (Mbps) in July 2011 (up from 29.2% a year ago), only 6.5 % were at least as fast as 30 Mbps and less than 1% at least 100 Mbps. The EU is not yet delivering on the 2020 high-speed targets of the Digital Agenda for Europe (see IP/10/581, MEMO/10/199 and MEMO/10/200).

Fixed broadband growing, but slowing: there were 27.2 fixed broadband lines per 100 citizens in July 2011, but take-up slowed, and grew by only 5.8 % in the last twelve months. Highest take-up was in the Netherlands (39.3 %), Denmark (38.5 %), France (33.9 %) and Germany (32.7 %), with Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia and Latvia still below 20%. At the end of 2011 one third of households in the EU did not have a broadband subscription (according to Eurostat's latest figures). .

Mobile broadband, fastest growing: up by 25.4 %, mobile broadband subscriptions (dedicated devices, USB keys and modems), are the fastest growing element of the broadband market. Including smart phone users, mobile broadband take-up reached 34.6 % in July 2011, up from 22.3 % twelve months earlier.

EU lagging behind competitors on ultra-fast internet: in the EU only 6.5 % of fixed broadband connections offer at least 30 Mbps, and 0.9 % at least 100 Mbps. These shares are doubled in the US, and in Korea and Japan all connections are already faster than 30 Mbps.

Best prices? Consumers in France and Sweden are among those who could benefit from the best deals for very high speed broadband, in terms of advertised maximum speeds in bundled packages. Broadband prices were on average cheapest in Latvia, Lithuania and Romania for most broadband connection speeds.

Source: European Commision.

Enterprises use the internet for a variety of purposes: to present information on a website, to offer online shopping facilities to customers and to interact with public authorities. In the 27 EU Member States, 95% of enterprises had access to the internet in January 2011. The share of enterprises having a fixed broadband connection to access the internet grew slightly from 84% in 2010 to 87% in 2011. On the other hand, the use of mobile broadband connections increased significantly in the same period, from 27% to 47%.

Source: European Commission

Source: Wireless Federation

According to industry research reports, the mobile data usage in India has gone up by almost 35 percent between June 2011 and September 2011. Sources suggest that analysts have credited the rise in data usage to increased availability and affordable pricing, not just for people living in urban areas, but for people from different income segments.

As per reports, there were a total of 26 million mobile internet users in March 2011 which went up to 35 million in September 2011. Industry analysts predict tremendous growth in mobile data usage and expect this number to increase to 41 million users by the year end.

India saw the introduction of the 3G services towards the end of last year, which has increased the use of the internet on mobile handsets, due to increased speeds and better features. Further, easy accessibility and competitive pricing are significant in contributing towards the increased adoption of the mobile phone in the country.

Source: Wireless Federation

According to industry research reports, the mobile data usage in India has gone up by almost 35 percent between June 2011 and September 2011. Sources suggest that analysts have credited the rise in data usage to increased availability and affordable pricing, not just for people living in urban areas, but for people from different income segments.

As per reports, there were a total of 26 million mobile internet users in March 2011 which went up to 35 million in September 2011. Industry analysts predict tremendous growth in mobile data usage and expect this number to increase to 41 million users by the year end.

India saw the introduction of the 3G services towards the end of last year, which has increased the use of the internet on mobile handsets, due to increased speeds and better features. Further, easy accessibility and competitive pricing are significant in contributing towards the increased adoption of the mobile phone in the country.

Source: Wireless Federation

Source: TelecomPaper

Source: TeleGeography

Telefo­nica Czech Republic says that its 3G network now covers 61% of the Czech population, in 1,016 towns and cities. Telefonica plans to cover 66 % of the Czech population by the end of the year.

"We want to make high-speed data available to as many people as possible. Only during summer our engineers commissioned 127 3G transmitters," says Dvorjancanský, marketing director of Telefonica Czech Republic. "Following our network sharing agreement with T-Mobile, we have already covered 228 sites with the 3G signal from the beginning of our cooperation," adds Jirí Dvorjancanský.

The 3G network sharing with T-Mobile was launched at the beginning of the second quarter, as planned. The coverage roll out is in line with the plans of the two operators and precisely follows their agreement.

High speed data in the O2 network is currently used by 1.3 million customers. 900,000 of them use Internet in their mobiles and 400,000 use Internet in their laptops. These numbers represent customers who actively use data services, i.e. they download at least 50 kb in a month.

Source: Cellular News

 

The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) today released its Quarterly Report on the Irish telecommunications market for the period 1st April to 30th June 2011 (Q2).  

 

Total quarterly electronic communications revenues (€961 million) increased marginally on the previous quarter (+1.3%). Ireland is ranked 1st out of 20 countries for business calls, 54.8% cheaper than the average of the 20 countries benchmarked. Total voice traffic (fixed and mobile) declined by 0.7% to just over 4.45 billion voice minutes this quarter.

 

Broadband subscriptions increased only slightly this quarter (by 3,859). As narrowband subscriptions fell by a larger amount (by 6,495), total Internet subscriptions (1,662,471) declined very slightly this quarter. The fixed broadband per capita penetration rate reached 22.8%. The total broadband per capita penetration rate (including mobile broadband) was 35.5%. Consumer adoption of higher (advertised) broadband speeds continues, with 12.5% of all broadband subscriptions now in the >10Mbps category compared to 7.3% this time last year.

 

Mobile subscriptions (including mobile broadband) stood at 5,377,188, down from 5,412,551 in the previous quarter. This quarter experienced the highest number of mobile numbers ported (123,646) since the introduction in mobile number portability in 2003. It is estimated that approximately 75% of TV homes in Ireland received a digital TV service by September 2011.

The full report (ComReg document 11/66) is available on the ComReg website.

Source: ComReg

Wireless broadband subscriptions in OECD countries exceeded half a billion by the end of 2010, an increase of more than 10 percent on June 2010, according to data from the OECD. Fixed broadband subscriptions reached 300 million, but growth slowed to 6 percent year-on-year. This reflects higher broadband penetration and market saturation in some countries. The Netherlands and Switzerland lead with 38.1 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, followed by Denmark with 37.7 and Norway with 34.6.

Fibre subscriptions continue to grow and account for 12.3 percent of all fixed broadband connections, while DSL is still the most widely used technology with 57.6 percent, followed by cable with 29.4 percent. Leading countries in fibre are Japan with 58 percent, Korea with 55 percent, Slovak Republic with 29 percent and Sweden with 26 percent. Korea is the leading country for wireless broadband subscriptions, with 89.8 per 100 inhabitants, followed by Finland with 84.8, Sweden with 82.9 and Norway with 79.9. This compares to an OECD average of 41.6 and a total of under 512 million.

The factors in the sector's continuing health include long contract durations of mobile operators, the popularity of bundled offers of television, mobile and fixed telephony, and the fact that communication services are perceived as non-discretionary spending items. Households looking to cut spending seem to be economising in other areas. The prevalence of bundled services has also played a role in this shift by reinforcing customer loyalty and reducing churn. Bundled services may benefit consumers by offering lower prices and gains such as unified billing, integrated services or customer assistance. The complexity of some bundled offers makes them hard to interpret and poses additional issues for consumers trying to compare prices and make informed decisions. In addition, bundling may make it harder for users to switch providers or drop a service.

Source: TelecomPaper
 

­USA based Verizon Wireless is reported to be planning to scrap its unlimited mobile data tariffs next month for new subscribers and will move towards a range of tariffs with different allocations per customer. Although details are still being finalised, the majority of rumours agree that Verizon will charge US$30 a month for 2GB of mobile data - which puts it $5 per month higher than AT&T's equivalent tariffs.

"As we have stated previously, Verizon Wireless is making some minor changes to data plans including those for new smartphone customers," Ken Muche, a Verizon spokesman told media. "We will move to a more usage-based model in July. More details to come."

Rival networks, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA offer unlimited mobile data plans for US$80 per month. Some analysts expect that the move to tiered pricing for mobile data traffic will drive the heavier users towards Wi-Fi hotspots, and release more capacity on the mobile networks for occasional and low-intensity useage.

Source: Cellular News

Indian mobile network operator Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTL), which offers services under the MTS India banner, has announced that it has extended coverage of its CDMA 1xEV-DO-based mobile broadband service ‘MBlaze’ to the Uttar Pradesh (East) and Uttar Pradesh (West) circles.

The operator said it had set aside around INR250 million (USD5.5 million) for the rollout of the service across the two regions, where it said customers would be able to sign up for the new offers at one of its 5,000 retail outlets or 50 flagship stores. Arvind Kumar, SSTL’s chief operating officer for the UP East and UP West circles, said of the development: ‘We are excited to launch our high speed mobile broadband service in UP East and UP West. Customers in these circles would now be able to enjoy the unmatched MBlaze experience coupled with attractive tariffs and innovative offerings.

Going forward, we also plan to launch our voice and data post-paid services by June 2011 across the two circles.’ The company also noted that with this latest expansion of its mobile broadband footprint it now offered MBlaze in more than 150 towns across India, with more than 600,000 customers having signed up for the service since it was first introduced in October 2009 in Delhi.

Source: TeleGeography

­Mobile subscriber numbers in Zimbabwe trebled from early 2009 to mid-2010, whereas fixed line subscriptions remained stagnant. With demand for voice services increasingly met, future growth is predicted to occur around mobile Internet and broadband provision. Both mobile operators and Internet access providers will benefit from this second wave of growth. However, increasing political instability in the run-up to elections expected to be held in 18 to 24 months and a business environment not always conducive to proper process are expected to have a negative impact on market prospects.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan finds that the Zimbabwean mobile communications market earned revenues of $372.2 million in 2009 and estimates these to reach $1,343.7 million in 2016. This represents a compound annual growth rate of 20.1 per cent, considerably lower than the phenomenal 40.6 per cent revenue growth experienced from 2008 to 2009. However, declining growth rates are expected when markets become increasingly saturated.

"Mobile operators are the largest contributors to telecommunications revenues in Zimbabwe," notes Frost & Sullivan ICT Industry Analyst Protea Hirschel. "As 3G networks expand, mobile operators compete more directly with Internet access providers. These, in turn, have entered the voice market, adding to competition."

Unfulfilled demand, initially for voice and increasingly for data services, is one of the main drivers of growth for mobile communications. Fixed lines are unlikely to meet this demand in Zimbabwe.

Mobile subscriber numbers trebled from less than two million at the end of 2008 to 6.9 million in mid-2010. The uptake of 3G by subscribers has also been very high and, at the end of 2010, exceeded the number of fixed line subscriptions. Fixed lines have remained stagnant at 390,000, as the incumbent has struggled for resources to maintain its network. Nonetheless, very high unemployment rates, estimated to be in excess of 80 per cent, mean that consumer spending on communications competes with spending on basic necessities. Affordability, therefore, ultimately constrains average revenue per user (ARPU). "The success of several promotions over the last 18 months has, however, shown the importance of affordable pricing in Zimbabwe," remarks Hirschel. "Offering subscribers a compelling value proposition will continue to be of importance in this market." Network quality of mobile networks in Zimbabwe is generally considered to be poor by subscribers. Perceived low network quality has also resulted in a high incidence of multiple SIMs as subscribers hedge their bets between networks. After the dollarisation of the economy in 2009, network capacity of all mobile operators was unable to keep up with demand from consumers, contributing to poor network quality. Capacity constraints have, to an extent, been overcome at present. However, erratic power supply remains a significant challenge for all telecommunications operators. Not only does it result in a degraded service experience for subscribers, but it also adds to operating costs as multiple power sources have to be factored into the cost base. "Networks offering a higher quality service with fewer dropped connections have an advantage over competitors," states Hirschel. "As erratic power supply is a major contributor to poor network quality, decreasing reliance on grid electricity and backup diesel generators by using alternative energy, such as solar wind or hybrid powered base station designs, will result in long-term OPEX reductions. This will also help to preserve profit margins in the long-term as ARPU is expected to decline."

Source: Cellular News

­Orange Jordan says that its 3G subscriber base has reached 300,000 customers and it expects to triple the number by the end of this year, despite the breaking of its 3G monopoly last month by Zain. Jordan Telecom Group (JTG) Chief Executive Officer Nayla Khawam told local media that the mobile network operator will shortly start expanding coverage of the 3G services to cover all populated areas in the Kingdom.

Orange launched its 3G services in March last year, while Zain launched its services this month after building out its network over the past year.

"By the end of 2011, we expect the number of 3G services users on our network to hit one million, especially after we provided high speed broadband internet in the market," Khawam said. "As times passes people will become more aware of the 3G service, which is an important turning point in making visual phone calls, sending and receiving multimedia messages, providing fast and efficient wireless Internet connection, in addition to providing better audio coverage," she said.

According to the Mobile World analysts, the mobile network ended last year with 2.15 million customers, so the 3G base is roughly 14% of the total.

Source: Cellular News

Bharti Airtel has revealed that it has garnered 500,000 users on its 3G network in less than three months. The company launched 3G services on 14 December 2010 and has since expanded the offering to seven cities. It owns concessions allowing it to deploy 3G networks in 13 of India’s 22 telecoms service areas.

According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, Bharti finished 2010 as the largest wireless operator in India, claiming a 20.7% share of the subscriber market.

Source: TeleGeography

Vodafone’s Irish mobile unit says that increasing popularity for smartphones and mobile broadband packages were behind its strong subscriber growth in the last three months of 2010. The company ended the year with around 2.217 million mobile users, thanks to 34,000 net additions in Q4, up from 2.145 million a year earlier. The company reported that almost one in two devices sold by Vodafone Ireland in December was a smartphone – predominantly Apple's iPhone and Google-based Android handsets. Including the operator’s fixed line and DSL businesses, the total subscriber figure rose to 2.4 million at the year end.

Vodafone said mobile quarterly minutes of use (MOU) per customer grew 5% year-on-year, to 273 minutes in 4Q10. In addition, the cellco said data traffic increased by around 5% in the fourth quarter, aided by the poor weather experienced in the country, which forced a large number of people to work from home during December. However, blended average revenue per user (ARPU) fell by 6.9% to EUR34.90 (USD41.8) a month.

The cellco also announced the launch of a new device designed to boost 3G signal coverage indoors. Vodafone’s ‘Sure Signal ‘device is a femtocell that uses a fixed line broadband connection to create a 3G signal for its network if there is none available, or boost weak signal. The device, which will go on sale in about two weeks, will cost less than EUR100.

Source: TeleGeography

Worldwide mobile broadband-enabled subscriptions are mounting up, and will hit the one billion mark in 2011. According to the latest market data released by ABI Research, at the end of 2010 there were more than five billion mobile subscriptions globally, with one in five of those having access to mobile broadband. Another 28% growth or 6.6 billion wireless subscriptions is expected by 2016, with 40%, or twice the current percentage of users, being mobile broadband-enabled.

Despite many markets reaching saturation with penetration levels in excess of 100%, mobile network operators still have a lot more to look forward to. "With the proliferation of mobile broadband, it has become increasingly common to have multiple mobile connections per user," comments research associate Fei Feng Seet. "The main motivation is the desire to stay connected everywhere, with more high speed 4G wireless networks lighting up, and a huge increase in the popularity of social connectivity."

Chinese and Indian operators are now the top five mobile network operators measured by subscriptions, putting Verizon Wireless in the US into sixth place. As of the third quarter of 2010, China Mobile alone accounted for 11% of all global mobile subscriptions.

"China's and India's penetration levels are nowhere near the 100% mark, leaving much more room for growth than any other countries," notes ABI Research practice director Neil Strother. "However, the strictly regulated telecom markets in these two countries impose high barriers for foreign players, which may slow the rollout of new technology."

In terms of subscriptions, worldwide mobile penetration now stands above 75%, of which the Asia-Pacific region accounts for close to half.

Source: Cellular News

According to data published by Associacao Brasileira de Telecomunicacoes (Telebrasil), the total number of fixed and mobile broadband accesses in the country reached 34.2 million lines at the end of last year, up 71% year-on-year. Put another way, around 14.2 million new connections were activated last year, Telebrasil reports, with customers signing up to one or more of the available access platforms on offer – i.e. fixed broadband (DSL, cable etc), or 3G mobile. Indeed, in the latter segment the association reported a massive 257% y-o-y rise in connections from four million to 14.6 million, while fixed connections increased from 11.4 million to 13.6 million.

Source: TeleGeography

To wrap up what has been an eventful year for next-generation mobile broadband technology Long Term Evolution (LTE), Light Reading Mobile has compiled a list of the world's commercial LTE services.

It's quite short.

Verizon Wireless and TeliaSonera AB (Nasdaq: TLSN) aren't the only names on the list, however, although you would be forgiven for thinking that, considering how much attention these operators' get for their 4G (or rather, FauxG?) moves. (See Happy Birthday, LTE! .)

We count nine commercial LTE services worldwide, based on our criteria. To be included on the list, it had to be clear that a potential customer could go to an operator's shop or Website and buy a dongle (or handset in case of MetroPCS Inc. (NYSE: PCS)) and sign up to start using the services. We did not include pilot networks or user trials, where consumers or business customers may be able to use an LTE service, but do not pay for it. (See LTE Beckons in Uzbekistan .)

So here's where LTE is commercially available now at the end of 2010:

Table 1: Commercial LTE Services

Operator	Where	Monthly Price	Equipment suppliers
NTT Docomo*	Japan	¥1,000 (US$12) for 3 GB or ¥7,980 ($95) for 5 GB	Fujitsu, Ericsson, NEC, NSN
MetroPCS	9 U.S. cities	$55	Ericsson, Samsung
Telekom Austria	Vienna, Austria	€90 ($120) for 30GB, plus €340 ($453) for USB stick	Not available
TeliaSonera	Denmark	399 Danish kroner ($71)	Ericsson, NSN
TeliaSonera	Finland	€46 ($61)	Ericsson, NSN (for initial rollout)
TeliaSonera	Norway	699 Norwegian kronor ($118)	Ericsson, NSN
TeliaSonera	Sweden	599 Swedish kronor ($88) for 10Mbit/s-80Mbit/s LTE, 3G, WiFi, and 30GB of data	Ericsson, Huawei, NSN
Verizon	38 US cities	$50 for 5GB or $80 for 10GB	Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, NSN (for IMS)
Vodafone Germany	rural Germany	€69.99 ($94) per month for up to 50Mbit/s downlink, 10Mbit/s uplink, and 30GB of data	Ericsson, Huawei
* Service starts on December 24, 2010

Source: Light Reading

Pakistan’s secretary of the Cabinet Division, Abdur Rauf Chaudhry, has said that the government is hopeful that 3G services will be available to the country’s mobile users by the end of 2011, with legislation governing the auction of 3G concessions expected to be soon presented to the government and Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) for discussion and approval. According to TradingMarkets.com, speaking at a seminar organised by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Rauf said that the local manufacturing of 3G handsets remained an important factor, adding that the government would consider recommendations made by the industry. PTA chairman Dr. Mohammed Yaseen meanwhile said that by the end of March 2011 the regulator aims to have set its own plans in motion for moving forward with the 3G sale process, once the overarching policy is approved by the government.

Source: TeleGeography

According to data published by Associacao Brasileira de Telecomunicacoes (Telebrasil), the total number of fixed and mobile broadband accesses in the country reached 34.2 million lines at the end of last year, up 71% year-on-year. Put another way, around 14.2 million new connections were activated last year, Telebrasil reports, with customers signing up to one or more of the available access platforms on offer – i.e. fixed broadband (DSL, cable etc), or 3G mobile. Indeed, in the latter segment the association reported a massive 257% y-o-y rise in connections from four million to 14.6 million, while fixed connections increased from 11.4 million to 13.6 million.

Source: TeleGeography

Source: TelecomPaper

­Due to low penetration rates, an expanding economy, deploying 3G networks, and declining smartphone prices, mobile data revenue is expected to triple over the next five years in Peru, according to a new report from Pyramid Research.

The mobile market will be the main source of revenue growth and Peru's principal revenue generator throughout the forecast period. Pyramid expects mobile revenue to expand at a CAGR of 6.6 percent over the next five years, going from generating $2.2 billion in 2010 to $3.1 billion by 2015, indicates Juliana Gomez, Analyst at Pyramid Research. "Mobile data, driven by 3G deployments and higher adoption of enhanced data services, will experience a revenue increase from $355 million in 2010 to $1.07 billion in 2015," she adds.

Over the forecast period Telefonica will remain the market leader; however, the merger of America Movil-Claro and Telmex Peru this year will intensify competition. "Telmex will complement its multiplay packages with mobile services, and both companies will invest to grow their data business, particularly mobile Internet," says Gomez. In addition, America Movil's Claro continues to expand its 3G network and has gained market share by leveraging data services.

The Peruvian market has shifted to GSM as a result of Telefonica's decision to migrate from CDMA to GSM and Claro's adoption of this standard in 2006. "After launching a 3G network (UMTS/HSPA) in 2008 Claro continues the expansion of its 3G network throughout the country to further support mobile Internet services. Movistar and Nextel have followed suit launching 3G networks," she says. Pyramid expects 3G technologies and 4G technologies to represent 54 percent and 7 percent, respectively, of total mobile subscribers in 2015.

Source: Cellular News

Verizon Wireless has announced that it will launch its Long Term Evolution (LTE) network on Sunday in 39 markets and 60 airports, covering more than 110 million people. The new network will offer download speeds of up to 12Mbps – more than ten times faster than current data speeds. Tony Melone, senior vice president and chief technical officer at Verizon Wireless promised that the new network would deliver superior performance.

The first devices to use the new network will be USB wireless data modems for laptops and are expected to appeal primarily to business customers and technology early adopters. However, Verizon Wireless will announce up to five new smartphones capable of running on the network at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. These handsets are expected to use the existing 3G network for voice calls and the 4G network for mobile internet access and running applications. There has also been speculation that Apple could announce an LTE version of the iPhone 4G early next year, though both Verizon and Apple have declined to comment. Initially Verizon will offer two monthly data plans – USD50 for 5GB of data and USD80 for 10GB. It will charge customers USD10 for each additional 1GB used.

Source: TeleGeography

While mobile and broadband prices continue to fall, the increase in revenues compensated for the price drop, providing 2.5 per cent growth in one year. The large increase in mobile data traffic provided most of the growth, according to the Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority's (NPT) ecom statistics for the first half of 2010."This shows change and continued growth in a mature ecom market. Customers' usage patterns are clearly changing from only voice and messages to increased data use, particularly via mobile services," says NPT Director General Willy Jensen.

Decline in SMS messages

For the first time the statistics show a decrease in the number of text messages (SMS) sent. In all, mobile customers sent more than 4.2 billion messages in the first half of 2010, which represents a decrease from 112 to 105 messages per person per month."Even though more than four billion messages is a lot, this means 82 million fewer SMS messages than in the first half of 2009. The decrease represents about NOK 50 million," says Jensen.It is difficult to find any specific reasons for the decline in the number of SMS messages."It is most likely connected with new forms of communication and social media such as Twitter and Facebook," says Jensen.

Fixed telephony drops

The number of fixed-line subscriptions fell by nearly eight per cent the last year. The decline applies to both traditional fixed-line subscriptions (PSTN and ISDN) and VoIP subscriptions. Both calls and revenues are falling."The numbers clearly show that fixed telephony calls are falling more than the number of subscriptions. This means that the fixed-line telephone is used less than before," says Jensen.On average, a residential fixed telephony customer talked 1,500 minutes the first half of 2010, against 1,600 minutes the first half of 2009.

Fibre is increasing

Data traffic over fibre and cable TV continues to increase, and there are now over 230,000 subscribers who have an Internet connection via fibre."The increase in fibre connections largely compensates for the decline in "DSL". Here, the number is now under 1 million. In all, the number of broadband subscribers grew by 5.1 per cent from the first half of 2009," Jensen says.

Source: Cellular News

Now for the first time Swedes are calling more from their mobiles than from fixed telephones according to a report by the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency (PTS). According to PTS's calculations, the crossing point between mobile and fixed telephony usage occurred in early May 2010.

In total, Swedes made calls for 11 billion minutes from mobile networks and 10.3 billion minutes from fixed networks during the first half-year of 2010. This means that 52 per cent of the outgoing traffic came from mobile networks."Ten years ago the mobile networks represented less than 10 per cent of all outgoing call traffic. This growth has been rapid, and we have not yet seen the end," says Mattias Viklund, Head of Accessibility and Market Analysis at PTS.

Continuing decrease in subscriptions for fixed telephony

Ten years ago there were about as many subscriptions for fixed and mobile telephony - approximately 6 million of each. Since then the number of subscriptions for fixed telephony has reduced to 5 million, while the number of mobile subscriptions has increased to 10.5 million.

One-third of broadband is mobile

There were 4.5 million broadband subscriptions on 30 June 2010. Of these, 3 million were subscriptions for fixed broadband and 1.5 million were subscriptions for mobile broadband. On 30 June 2010, 45 per cent of this broadband had a capacity of at least 10 Mbit per second downstream.

Methodology

The report is based on market statistics from telecom and Internet companies operating in Sweden. PTS sent the questionnaire for the report for the first half-year 2010 to in total 52 stakeholders.

Source: Cellular News

Three years after launching the first 3G W-CDMA/HSPA mobile network in the Ukraine, Ukrtelecom has announced that it has signed up ‘almost 600,000’ active 3G mobile users, approximately 500,000 of which are using mobile broadband internet services. Still the country’s sole UMTS network operator, due to an impasse in national licensing plans, the soon-to-be-privatised group had reported 485,000 mobile subscribers at end-June 2010.

Source: TeleGeography

Local press reports that TIM Brasil will launch 3.5G HSPA+ technology before the end of the year. Initially, speeds of up to 21Mbps will be available only in the state capital of Sao Paulo. There are plans to expand coverage to other cities throughout 2011. TIM says its 3G network will cover 311 cities by the end of 2010, leaving it in third place in terms of 3G coverage behind Claro and Vivo. The cellco hopes its 2011 expansion programme will bring it closer and possibly pass Claro's level of coverage.

Source: TeleGeography

­Mobile data bandwidth usage increased significantly by 68% during the first half (H1) of 2010, according to a report compiled by Allot Communications. The report reveals that video streaming applications continue to dominate the global mobile bandwidth scene and remain the largest consumer of bandwidth with a 35% share. In addition, video streaming is the single largest growing application type with a 92% increase, due in part to the ever-rising popularity of YouTube. The report also highlights how the demand for social networking applications increased exponentially over H1, 2010 as Twitter grew its bandwidth by 310% and Facebook increased its dominance with a 200% rise. VoIP and IM applications grew significantly during this period becoming the second fastest growing traffic-type, demonstrating that they have become popular, cost-effective alternatives to traditional voice and messaging services.

"The results of our latest MobileTrends Report reinforces that mobile broadband operators continue to face growing challenges as subscribers demand real-time content through an array of smartphones and Internet devices," said Rami Hadar, President and CEO of Allot Communications. "The findings also clearly demonstrate the close ties between mobile broadband and social networking. Whether it's YouTube, Twitter or Facebook, social networking via mobile devices is becoming a 'must have' for subscribers and we expect that this is just the beginning."

Methodology

The Allot MobileTrends Report data was collected from January 1 to June 30, 2010 from leading mobile operators worldwide with a combined user base of 190 million subscribers. Allot gathered the data using the long term reporting capabilities of Allot NetXplorer, Allot's centralized management and reporting system.

Source: Cellular News

­Albania's four mobile networks have jointly issued a statement calling on the government to review its plans to issue just one 3G license. The operators feel that the move would create a 3G monopoly and worry that the price for the single license is excessive. "The limitation of issuing a single licence through a public tender could endanger the process and create a monopoly in the Albanian market," the mobile operators said in their statement.

The government is seeking to sell the single license for EUR 12.5 million, while the operators each want a license for a lower figure.The operators noted that a competitive 3G market would speed up coverage deployment and bring benefits to customers.

Source: Cellular News

Latin America's mobile broadband services market achieved a high growth rate during 2009, reaching a total of 15 million connections. This total represented nearly 3% of population penetration in the region last year. Due to its fast adoption and to the limited DSL and Cable Modem coverage in several countries, it is likely that mobile broadband penetration will overcome the fixed broadband penetration in the following years, in some markets such as Brazil and Colombia.

­Frost & Sullivan expects that by 2015, mobile broadband penetration will reach up to nearly 40% of the total population.Although mobile broadband network coverage has expanded in the last 2 years, the region still faces difficulties related to spectrum availability and allocation. Regarding 3G services, almost all mobile operators already offer them in the top 6 economies in the region. Although some operators have speed plans up to 1 Mbps, the average speed is still slow in Latin America, ranging between 128 Kbps and 256 Kbps.

Brazil reached the highest penetration of mobile broadband users in Latin America; however, the service price in the country is considered the highest amongst other countries analyzed, mostly due to its high tax burden. On the other hand, Chile has appeared as the most developed market with the broadest offer of plans and lowest prices for prepaid users."Investments in mobile broadband network coverage expansion, the increasing need for mobile connectivity, growth penetration of 3G enabled mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablets, ereaders, etc, and the lack of fixed broadband network coverage are the main drivers for the market in the next few years," explains Frost & Sullivan Industry Manager Jose Roberto Mavignier.

However, the strong base of prepaid users in Latin America, the elevated tax burden and the delay of regulators for important issues that interfere in the market development are among the main challenges for the continued growth of the market.

Source: Cellular News

The UK is set to benefit from a new generation of mobile services and improved mobile broadband coverage under new government plans to revolutionise the country's digital infrastructure. Minister for Communications, Ed Vaizey, has launched a programme of measures for radio spectrum modernisation, which will allow mobile operators to deliver the latest technologies to consumers and extend the reach of mobile broadband across the country. The spectrum modernisation programme will be implemented under a Direction to regulator Ofcom, which has been laid in Parliament. This includes requiring Ofcom to co-ordinate a combined auction of 2.6 GHz and 800 MHz spectrum as soon as possible in order that operators can deliver widespread high speed mobile broadband, and requiring Ofcom to carry out a competitive assessment of future 3G and 4G markets, including the potential for new entrants. Their assessment will inform the design of the auction, aimed at enabling delivery of new competitive mobile broadband services for UK consumer and business benefit; liberalising 2G spectrum at 900 MHz and 1800 MHz, implementing the EU's revised GSM directive to allow operators to use these frequencies for 3G technologies; making 3G licences indefinite to encourage greater investment in 3G services to reach more consumers across the UK. They will also be made tradable, and requiring Ofcom to apply annual licence fees to reflect the market value of these licences which will be applied after the initial licence term (ends 31 December 2021). The Minister also announced funding for a generous compensation package to support the Programme Making and Special Events users (PMSE) who are moving out of the 800MHz spectrum.

Source: TelecomPaper

Bermudan mobile operator Digicel today launched a new 3G+ wireless modem which will enable its cell phone and laptop users to access the World Wide Web via a mobile broadband connection from almost anywhere on the Island using HSPA+ technology. The new device is available in a range of different flavours to suit the user’s demands. Entry level prices start at BMD79 (USD79) per month for a plan with a 2GB download cap, rising to BMD89 per month (3.5GB) and BMD99 a month for 6GB of traffic. Moreover, 3G+ for smartphones costs BMD9 per month for the 2MB plan it said, BMD20 for 10MB, BMD35 for 20MB and BMD45 for the premium data plan (350MB) which is controlled through a ‘fair usage’ policy to prevent network congestion. The operator’s single user modem costs BMD99 and the multi-user modem BMD199.

Source: TeleGeography

Broadband service provider rankings from TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database show only small changes in rankings of the ten largest broadband service providers over the past twelve months. However, they also reveal a growing chasm between the two largest broadband operators and the remaining providers.

Collectively, the ten largest broadband service providers gained 23.3 million subscribers in the twelve months from Q1 2009 to Q1 2010, ending March 2010 with 191 million total subscribers—39% of the world’s 492 million broadband customers. KT of South Korea, the world’s tenth largest broadband ISP, is the only new member of the top ten ranking, having displaced Telecom Italia, which is now the 11th largest broadband ISP globally.

Just two mammoth broadband service providers, China Telecom and China Unicom, accounted for 20% of global broadband subscribers. Both companies gained approximately nine million subscribers over the past year, equivalent to the entire broadband subscriber base of Verizon. "The gap between the top two operators and the world’s remaining broadband service providers will continue to grow rapidly," commented TeleGeography Research Director Tania Harvey. "Aside from the two Chinese companies, all of the top ten broadband ISPs operate in mature markets, with high levels of broadband penetration and rapidly slowing subscriber growth."

Source: TeleGeography

Danish mobile operator TDC will triple the mobile internet data transfer rates available via its 3G network to 21 Mbps in every region of the country this autumn. The move is intended to help the operator cope with an increasing number of mobile broadband users. TDC saw its sales of mobile broadband double from May to June thanks to clients who wanted to have internet during their summer holiday. In early 2011, TDC will begin the roll out of the LTE network in the country's largest cities.

Source: TelecomPaper

New consumer research published by YouGov and Acision again reinforces the Quality of Service (QoS) challenges operators are facing with their mobile broadband services today. ­The research, which questioned UK consumers about their mobile broadband experience found that, despite the rising popularity of mobile broadband, 84% had experienced Quality of Service issues. Slow speeds are amongst the most encountered problem (67%), poor network coverage (49%), inability to get connected (45%) and connection loss (40%).

Steven van Zanen, senior vice president marketing, mobile broadband, at Acision, said: "When reviewing the research, we identified three key areas where operators can deploy capabilities to raise QoS levels. The first one is defining fairness. When asked about the contentious issue of fair usage policies, 56% of research respondents were not aware if their operator had a fair usage policy in place and 71% were unaware that in many networks, 5% of users generate over 80 per cent of broadband traffic, causing slow download speeds and connection problems for all users. However, once aware of the issues surrounding the fair distribution of bandwidth, consumers responded positively to the option of allowing sophisticated fairness policies if this helped to improve the overall service."

The research demonstrated that almost three quarters of respondents (74%) showed their support of an active approach to fairness aimed at distributing bandwidth between as many people as possible to ease congestion to benefit all users. Some respondents even agreed they would be happy to pay a small fee for this if it meant a better broadband service (49%). "Content optimisation is a second area where operators can improve user experience," said van Zanen. "While video is becoming increasingly popular, with over a third of consumers questioned (36%) accessing the data-hungry video sites via their mobile connection, the research highlighted that the quality of video services across mobile broadband performed particularly badly on a frequent basis." For example, the research highlighted that of those consumers accessing video services, over half (63%) of consumers experienced frequent pauses and, as many as 55% of video users experienced these problems on a regular basis. With video playback causing consumers problems, 48% agreed that they would be happy for their mobile operator to apply content adaptation policies such as reducing the size of videos being watched, if that ensured the video would playback without stalling/buffering and they were not able to see a difference in the video being played. "This demonstrates that a majority of users would accept an optimisation policy which decreases video size in order to warrant uninterrupted playback. These video issues are all the more relevant as regular video users have a 9% higher ARPU then average users as they are consistently among the most active users of email, browsing, upload, video, music and online gaming services," continued van Zanen. This research also showed untapped potential for operators to differentiate their mobile broadband services, with a number of consumers stating they would be willing to pay a small fee to receive services such as data roaming packages when out of the country (58%); notifications when they have reached a certain spend limit on their mobile broadband service (56%); the option to update their bandwidth capacity when needed (49%); and the ability to set spending limits on their mobile broadband account (44%). "Mobile broadband is a frequent topic of debate with UK consumers," said Marek Vaygelt, head of consumer, technology and telecoms consulting, YouGov. "Mobile broadband growth has been faster than its fixed-line counterpart, with usage increasing rapidly over the last few years. However, user habits have also changed with more focus on video and downloading data than simple web browsing. The research conducted for Acision clearly highlights that many consumers are suffering regular and significant problems with their mobile broadband and can be frustrated with the service they receive. It is also apparent that if approached in the right way, consumers may be open to content adaptation, service differentiation as well as the option of having bandwidth distributed fairly amongst all users to provide a better service." "With recent announcements from mobile operators on data capping and new transparent pricing models, it is clear we have reached a juncture in the future of mobile broadband services. The cost of offering high-quality mobile broadband at flat fees is becoming increasingly difficult for operators and making it hard for them to recoup investments and operating costs," continued van Zanen. "However, analysis of user spend on mobile broadband demonstrates a very wide range of spend levels. This provides ample space for differentiated packages and pricing points, which can be set by operators and enables fairness for all." "Our research indicates that while more needs to be done to raise customer satisfaction levels in mobile broadband services and provide better education on available packages, we can see there is broad consumer support to deploy capabilities to define fairness for all users, content adaptation and service differentiation. By acting now and asserting control over mobile data, operators have a solid base to raise satisfaction and loyalty levels while at the same time decreasing customer churn and providing a brighter mobile broadband future," concluded van Zanen.

Source:Cellular News

Hungary’s mobile internet subscription base climbed 16,000 in May to reach the one million mark, according to data published by the National Telecommunications Agency (NHH). Of the total, 786,000 were classed as ‘active’ mobile broadband subscribers, up 13,000 on the previous month. The NHH said T-Mobile’s share of active mobile internet users was 48.90% in May, compared to 48.38% in April. Telenor (formerly Pannon) controlled 27.20%, down from 27.38% in April and Vodafone had 23.90%, down from 24.24% previously.

Source: TeleGeography

Moldovan state-owned incumbent telecoms operator Moldtelecom has announced the commercial launch of W-CDMA/HSDPA services under the brand ‘Unite 3G’, following total network investment of MDL250 million (USD19.2 million). The operator already provides mobile CDMA2000 1x and 1xEV-DO services, first introduced in the capital Chisinau in March 2007 under the 'Unite' banner. Moldtelecom’s new 3G offering provides services such as mobile broadband at download speeds of up to 14.4Mbps, videocalling and high quality voice services. At launch, the third-generation network covers 68% of the population, including all the country’s major cities and regional centres, as well as many rural regions. In the near future the company plans to increase maximum downlink speeds to 21Mbps and add television to its portfolio of services on offer. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, Moldtelecom was awarded a licence for the provision of 3G mobile services in December 2008 by the country’s telecoms regulator ANRCETI, after paying USD8 million. Chinese equipment vendor Huawei won a tender held in May 2009 to supply the 3G infrastructure, beating off competition from Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent Romania and SIS Solutions & Services.

Source: TeleGeography

Dutch mobile broadband use is growing quickly but still remains a niche service for a small group of users, according to Telecompaper's latest report 'Dutch Mobile Broadband 2010'. The report revealed that 6 percent of respondents in Telecompaper's Consumer Panel had a mobile broadband subscription for laptop or netbook use in the first quarter. Young people and men were more likely to use the service, while consumers who already have smartphones are also keen on mobile broadband. Telecompaper data showed smartphone penetration up from 10 to 25 percent over the last two years, with growth expected to continue at at least similar rates. Most consumers still see mobile broadband as a supplementary service to their fixed broadband connection, rather than as a substitute.

They see little reason to get a mobile broadband subscription, citing high prices, bad network coverage and low speeds as the main problems. Among Dutch market parties, market leader KPN and unit Telfort had the highest percentages of mobile broadband customers and Tele2 the lowest, although this may change once the operator rolls out its own mobile network with its recently acquired radio frequencies licence.

Source: TelecomPaper

­France Telecom's Orange has launched a mobile network in the North African country of Tunisia, in cooperation with Investec, a Tunisian subsidiary of the Mabrouk group. Orange holds 49% of the joint venture.

Commenting on the launch, Didier Lombard, Chairman of France Telecom said: "Today, Orange is proud to associate itself with Marwan Mabrouk to build Tunisia's first genuine convergent telecoms operator. I have full confidence in this kind of partnership, which brings together a strong local actor with a global operator. Together we are committed to a project that will transform the Tunisian telecommunications market, and which in turn will help the country on its way to joining the world's most competitive economies. Our commitment to this partnership also enjoys a particular intensity thanks to the historic, cultural and economic ties that traditionally exist between France and Tunisia." The company was awarded its operating license in June 2009.

Orange Tunisia will invest one billion dinars (around EUR500 million) to launch operations and install the country's first 3G network. This network, which will be operational from day one, already covers the majority of Tunisia's major cities. Overall coverage will be doubled by the end of the year. From its launch, Orange Tunisia will benefit from a network of nine shops and 400 distribution outlets. In addition, the operator will employ 1,500 people by the end of the year.

Source: Cellular News

Qatar Telecom (Qtel) has announced that it expects to reach the milestone of 50,000 mobile broadband subscribers on its 3.5G network within the next week. TeleGeography's GlobalComms Database says that although Qtel launched 3G W-CDMA services in July 2006 and a 3.5G HSDPA upgrade in December 2007, it did not launch mobile broadband internet packages for laptop/PC users until early 2008, with a HSUPA upload boost following in the first quarter of 2009. Qtel says the popularity of the service took off significantly when it launched a pre-paid mobile broadband option in December 2009. The company claims users can expect to receive actual internet speeds ranging from 1Mbps to 3Mbps, depending on their proximity to a Qtel 3G tower.

Source: TeleGeography

The total number of mobile internet subscriptions in Hungary increased by 13,000 connections to 972,000 in March this year, of which the total number of ‘active’ mobile internet lines climbed 22,000 month-on-month to 760,000, according to data published by the National Telecommunications Authority (NHH), as reported by news agency MTI on Monday. T-Mobile’s local unit controlled 47.66% of total mobile internet subscriptions as at 31 March 2010, and 49.08% of active connections. Pannon claimed a total market share of 27.81%, and controlled 25.47% of the active mobile internet user base in the country. Meanwhile Vodafone Hungary had a total share of 24.53%, and 25.45% of active users.

Source: TeleGeography

Ireland’s telecoms regulator the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) has published its latest market report for the three months ended 31 December 2009. The report shows that broadband internet penetration in the Republic, including mobile broadband subscriptions, stood at 32.4% by the year end, up from 30.5% at 3Q09. Excluding the impact of mobile broadband however, which is proving to be a popular option, the penetration rate falls to 21.9% - based on data from the Central Statistics Office which gives the population as 4,459,300. The regulator is also mindful that its 32.4% rate could be skewed by double counting of people owning both a fixed and mobile broadband subscription. Nonetheless, household broadband penetration continues to grow, reaching 61% by the start of this year, from 59.4% in the third quarter.

The popularity of Wi-Fi hotspots is waning though. ComReg’s report says the number of Wi-Fi hotspots dipped to 1,357 at the end of 2009, down 5% year-on-year, even though the total for Wi-Fi access points climbed 8% over the same period to 3,561. Usage of Wi-Fi hotspots is also falling. In the final trimester of last year average usage per hotspot was down 3.4% y-o-y, reflecting the impact of decreased network traffic in the economic downturn.

The recession is also evident in terms of overall telecommunications revenues in the Republic in Q409, which dipped 2.3% year-on-year to EUR974 million. Despite this fall, the total amount of voice call minutes in Q409 increased 1.4% to more than 4.8 billion minutes, driven by an 84 million increase in mobile voice call minutes, ComReg said.

Source: TeleGeography

Over 71 million Europeans use their mobile phones to access the internet in a typical week. Europeans spend almost an hour a day and 6.4 hours per week going online via their mobile, according to a study by the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA). Almost a quarter (24%) of 16-24 year olds and 21 percent of 25-34 year olds access mobile internet services, spending 7.2 and 6.6 hours on it respectively each week. The internet continues to prove a popular source of entertainment with one quarter of Europeans (25%) gaming or listening to the radio online (25%), and one third watching films, TV or video clips online (32%) at least once a month. Of the overall users of internet-enabled handsets, nearly 49 percent claim to receive video clips, websites or images on their mobile and 80 percent say that they pass on the content they receive. Additionally, over 71 percent of European internet users admit that they stay in touch with friends and relatives more as a result of the internet. Around 16 percent of them communicate using social media via their mobile, while 16 percent also use mobile IM services. The study also found that 36 percent of European use the internet while watching TV. Some 46 percent of European households own at least one laptop and 121 million or 52 percent of Europeans use wireless broadband connections.

According to the Mediascope Europe study from the EIAA, Poland tops the chart of markets that spend the most time on mobile internet with 10.3 hours spent online each week, followed by Italy (7.9 hours), Belgium and Portugal (7.7 hours), and Russia (7.1 hours). There are more mobile internet users in Turkey compared to those that access internet via their PC (21% versus 20%), which indicates that consumers will engage with new platforms if it makes the internet more accessible for their everyday lives.

Source: TelecomPaper

According to recent findings by Dataxis Intelligence, Mobile broadband subscribers in Africa - users of data cards and USB dongles through cellular 3G networks- reached 3.3 million in September 2009 and are expected to break the 4 million milestone in the first quarter of 2010.

In the same time fixed br­oadband subscribers that stood at 3.4 million in September 2009 are forecasted to be around 3.8 million by March 2010, thereby being outpaced by 3G internet usage.

In fact, according to Dataxis, mobile broadband adoption grows 2 times faster than fixed broadband with an average net adds of over 400,000 new subscribers on a quarterly basis. This euphoria is mainly due to the flexibility of the service  with both prepaid and postpaid offerings marketed by operators as well as its user-friendly aspects -mobility, top-up to name a few.

 

Broadband subscribers (million)

 

Source: Cellular News

­A survey of UK mobile phone users has found that 76% of them don't use their mobile to access the web. Even more surprising is that 60% of UK mobile users claim to not even own a mobile with internet access and just 30% of these are interested in getting one. The picture gets worse for mobile operators with the revelation that even for upwardly mobile web users and owners of smartphones, one third (31%) have never used their phone to connect to the web, a quarter (24%) use it less than once a week and 8% tried it but don't intend to do so again.

Alex Charlton, Partner at Essential Research which conducted the study over six months in 2009 comments: "This type of research doesn't often see the light of day, and what we've found is pretty surprising news: there is an enormous gulf between the perceptions we hold about mobiles being a big part of our Internet lives and the reality. In fact only a small percentage of us are truly web mobile users and the industry has a big job to do to move mobile internet into our everyday lives."

Despite lower than expected adoption and usage of mobile internet however, consumer appetite for mobile media services, such as live TV and radio, is strong. 86% of current mobile internet users and 56% of non-mobile internet users report they would be willing to use services via their mobile phone. Holding back the mobile revolution are barriers intrinsic to the ability to use mobile web services, so called "hygiene factors"; speed of connection, the cost of mobile internet and handset battery life. Tellingly, even when cost isn't part of the equation, half of us (57%) who have tried to get online with a mobile and failed reported that they found the technology too difficult to use, access to websites was impossible and the mobile internet experience didn't meet their expectations. The biggest driver of mobile internet adoption to date is social. Almost as many daily mobile internet users (70%) use social media services including social networks, instant messenger, blogs and forums on their phones as they do on their computer (79%). In some cases mobile applications for services like Facebook and Twitter are replacing computer access. The ability to perform everyday activities such as checking real time travel updates (33%) and tracking in-store offers, coupons and vouchers (31%) were the most interesting to those that don't currently use mobile internet. Furthermore, they deemed well known brands the most appropriate to provide services for mobile internet spheres with 30% saying that they would like their favourite supermarket to offer grocery related services and 29% claiming that they are interested in their banks or building societies providing financial related services. Charlton continues: "With high profile marketing campaigns all around us, consumers are aware that they can use their mobile to check their email and use Facebook. What we've shown here is that there is a genuine interest from consumers to engage with brands that they already connect with and use their mobiles as an extension to their everyday lives. "There is a role for all of us to play in making the mobile internet a more attractive proposition to the mass market and the opportunity is massive. Our research highlights the task at hand to commercialise and monetise the mass mobile market and we have unique insight into what needs to happen to enable this. Brands hold the key." Methodology: The 'Brandheld' study was developed in consultation with 3, BBC, BSkyB, BT, Carphone Warehouse, Channel 4, Garmin, Global Radio, Google, IAB, IPC Media, ITV, MBlox, Microsoft Advertising, MTV, NBC Universal, Ofcom, Orange, Saffron Digital, Sony Ericsson, UKTV, Vodafone, Yahoo!

Source: Cellular News

Azeri mobile operator Azerfon has announced the launch of third-generation services across the country, local news source Azerbaijan Business Centre reports. The cellco’s subscribers will be able to enjoy services such as videocalling and high speed internet at download speeds of up to 3.6Mbps. Azerfon’s 3G network was launched in the cities of Baku, Sumgait, Ganja, Shirvan, Nakhchivan, Mingachevir, Tovuz and Shamkir, as well as in the Absheron Peninsula. The company plans to expand services to other regions in the near future. Azerfon has also launched a new brand for its 3G products and service in cooperation with its strategic partner Vodafone, following an agreement signed with the UK-based company in July 2009. According to Azerfon’s general director, Gido Helbich, the new Azerfon-Vodafone brand signifies a fresh stage in the development of the country’s cellular communications. ‘We are glad that five months after signing of a strategic partnership document with Azerfon, we will be able to launch a joint brand and offer our global services for Azerbaijani users,’ commented Richard Daly, Vodafone’s executive director for partner markets.

As reported by CommsUpdate, Azerfon became the country’s first 3G licensee earlier this month after the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies (MCIT) awarded the cellco a concession for AZN11,000 (USD13,600). The company has so far invested USD20 million in its 3G network.

Source: TeleGeography

Malawian telecoms operator Telekom Networks Malawi (TNM) has launched its W-CDMA/HSDPA network enabling subscribers to access services such as videocalling, mobile TV and high speed internet offering download speeds of up to 3.6Mbps, local daily Nyasa Times reports. Charles Kamoto, head of TNM’s Commercial Services division, said the service is initially only available to post-paid subscribers but pre-paid customers will soon have access to the service. Kamoto added: ‘Most less developed nations do not have this service on board for their customers but in Malawi we are very aggressive, we believe that our customers need quality, they need top-notch services and that is why we had to bring [them] this 3.5G technology.’ According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, TNM is Malawi’s second largest cellco by subscribers with a market share of 32% at 30 September 2009. The company’s sole rival in the market, Zain Malawi, took the remaining 68% share of customers at the same date, and was awarded a 3G concession last month.

Source: TeleGeography

Spain added 143,603 mobile lines in October, bringing the total number to 52.43 million, up by 3.8 percent over the same month of 2008, according to the monthly report by Spanish regulator CMT.

Over the last three months, MVNOs won 53.78 percent of the total new additions, Movistar 44.17 percent, Yoigo 25.02 percent and Orange won 0.30 percent, while Vodafone lost 23.27 percent in the period. Mobile penetration reached 113.6 lines per 100 inhabitants, versus 109.5 in October 2008. The M2M sector went up by 24.0 percent over the same period last year, to over 1.78 million lines. The growth of the M2M sector brings the total number of mobile lines to over 54.21 million. Some 397,118 mobile phone numbers were ported in October, up by 17.4 percent versus the same period last year. Yoigo, the MVNOs, Orange and Movistar saw a positive balance in portability, while Vodafone registered a negative balance. Yoigo won 22,044 users, the MVNOs added 8,411 users, Orange won 12,348 ported customers, while Movistar added 6,019 users. Vodafone lost 50,214 customers in the month. Spanish operators added a record 79,917 broadband users in October, reaching a total base of 9.60 million lines, up by 8.0 percent year-on-year and a penetration of over 20.8 lines per 100 inhabitants. The number of DSL lines rose by 64,885 connections or by 8.8 percent over the same period of 2008, reaching a total of 7.75 million lines at the end of October. Some 15,032 cable modem lines were added in the month, reaching a total of 1.84 million lines. The overall number of fixed lines dropped by 9,070, to 19.83 million lines at the end of October.

Fixed penetration reached 43 lines per 100 inhabitants, versus 44.1 in the year-earlier month. Over 133,307 fixed numbers were ported in October, up by 25.1 percent versus 106,548 fixed numbers ported in October 2008.

Source: TelecomPaper

­A survey of Turkish operator, Turkcell's VINN modem subscribers found that 34% of Turkcell's customers who now use VINN 3G modems have become Internet subscribers for the first time.

Turkcell CEO Sureyya Ciliv said: "Turkcell 3G, with its speed and mobility, has introduced Turkish customers to the Internet and helped them get easier, and thus more frequent, access to the Internet. Turkcell has always been passionate about 3G and its potential to help increase Internet usage in Turkey. We continue to be the leader in 3G in Turkey with the widest coverage, the fastest mobile Internet, the best quality and most affordable service."

Turkcell 3G in numbers:

• Turkcell has sold about 200,000 VINN modems and netbooks since it introduced 3G on July 30th 2009
• The number of people in Turkey who have transitioned to 3G since July 30th is more than 4 million
• There are about 2 million active 3G users in Turkey
• The number of Turkcell subscribers who have used Turkcell's video service has reached 1 million
• About 72% of Turkcell's total data traffic takes place within the 3G network
• 93% of VINN modem users prefer 4GB packages and 78% of VINN subscribers use Turkcell 3G for their broadband Internet needs

This research was conducted in November 2009 among Turkcell's VINN modem subscribers.

Source: Cellular News

State-owned telco TOT yesterday announced the launch of commercial 3G services over its 2.1GHz W-CDMA/HSPA ‘TOT 3G’ network in Bangkok, although with only one of the five planned private mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) making packages available on the first day. Samart I-Mobile launched yesterday under the I-Mobile 3G X brand, targeting 20,000 users within a month and 200,000 within a year – although TOT has allocated it only 100,000 phone numbers initially – and is focusing on broadband download content, video calls and other high bandwidth services. TOT itself signed up 5,000 3G customers in advance – after offering the service to employees and some 10,000 existing customers of its GSM subsidiary Thai Mobile, the network of which provided the basis for the initial 3G rollout in the capital over 548 base stations. The Bangkok Post writes that TOT’s 3G post-paid packages require a user to acquire a new SIM card – given free along with a new handset to Thai Mobile users – and sign up for a twelve-month subscription, with the cheapest combined voice/data option costing THB199 (USD6) per month for 199 inclusive minutes of both voice and video calls, plus 199MB of data usage. A THB699 monthly plan includes 699 minutes of voice and video calls each, plus 1GB of data. To provide 2G services nationwide, TOT has signed a network roaming agreement with Advanced Info Service (AIS) for twelve months. An AIS spokesperson commenting on the launch expressed the hope that a strong consumer response to TOT’s launch could spur the government to accelerate the long-awaited auction for additional 2.1GHz licences, which has been pushed back to around February next year at the earliest.

At the inauguration ceremony for TOT 3G, Thailand’s Information and Communications Technology Minister Ranongruk Suwanchawee reaffirmed that TOT would move ahead with a plan to roll out a nationwide 2.1GHz network, which has been caught up in government red tape including repeated requests for the company to revise its business plan. According to Thai newspaper The Nation, the minister said TOT was expected to call for international bids for procurement of the nationwide network in April. TOT's existing 3G network in Bangkok has a capacity for 500,000 subscribers, a level which Ranongruk said she believed would be reached by February.

Source: TeleGeography

Guido Helbich, the general director of Azeri mobile operator Azerfon, has told a press conference that the company will launch third-generation services by the end of 2009, 1news.az reports. The cellco plans to complete tests of the W-CDMA/HSPA network within the next two weeks, following which commercial services will be made available in Baku, Absheron and the autonomous republic of Nakhchivan, with plans to expand to other regions in the near future. Helbich also revealed that the company has so far invested USD20 million in its 3G network. As reported by CommsUpdate, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies (MCIT) awarded a 3G licence to Azerfon earlier this month for AZN11,000 (USD13,600).

Source: TeleGeography

Peruvian mobile telephony operator Nextel will launch mobile broadband services over an HSDPA network during December, reports BNamericas citing local newspaper Gestion. Nextel won spectrum in the 1900MHz band in 2007 and has spent much of this year trialling services, before launching two months ago. Nextel Peru president Miguel Rivera said that the operator will offer 3G services across its entire area of operations, with three new districts added during the first quarter of 2010. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, Nextel Peru had over 795,600 subscribers at the end of September, equivalent to a 4% share of the market.

Source: TeleGeography

Ukrainian telecommunications regulator NKRZ announced that the tender for 3G frequencies has been cancelled. The NKRZ will repay the tender guarantees posted by the three Ukrainian mobile operators who qualified for the tender, scheduled for 30 November. The regulator took the decision after Ukraine's president issued an order blocking the release of radio frequencies held by the military for the 3G auction.

Source: TelecomPaper

The Malaysian telecoms regulator, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), has reportedly set aside MYR500 million (USD147.8 million) for the development of broadband penetration in the Sarawak region, according to Bernama.

The funds have been allocated from the national universal service provision (USP) fund, and are expected to assist in the expansion of broadband services in the region for the three years 2008-2010. Of the money earmarked, approximately MYR100 million has already been spent, with more likely to follow soon as a number of new contracts have recently been awarded. Deputy Information Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Joseph Salang has said that there are 482 MCMC-sponsored telecommunication towers in the Sarawak state, while a further 203 are in the process of being constructed, noting: ‘My ministry, through the MCMC, pledges to continue to work together with the state government towards achieving 50% household national broadband penetration rate by the end of 2010. The penetration in Sarawak now is at 16.7%. Although the state still has a long way to go, it is certainly not at the bottom of the table nationwide.’

Source: Telegeography

The number of mobile broadband users has doubled to 419,000 on 30 June of this year, according to a report from the Danish regulator IT and Telecom agency.

The report also shows that mobile data usage has grown from 1.3 billion MB in H1 2008 to 3.5 billion MB in H1 2009. This represents a growth of just over 160 percent in one year. In addition, 876,000 Danes used their phones for internet services. At the same time, the number of internet subscriptions via fixed broadband access rose 24,000 or a little more than 1 percent in the first half including 16,000 FTTH connections, 2,000 cable connections and 3,000 FTTO connections. On 30 June 2009, the number of fixed broadband connections amounted to 2.05 million. At the end of June 27 percent of all internet subscriptions via broadband access had declared downstream speeds of at least 10 Mbps growing from 10 percent in H1 2008 and the number of broadband subscriptions with less than 4 Mbps decreased from 45 percent to 23 percent during the same period. Other findings include that the number of of Danes subscribing to bundled services, with two or more services – telephony, TV and/or internet – bundled together, grew to 303,000 at the end of June, up 86 percent.

At the same time, the number of triple play subscribers grew almost 80 percent to 110,000.

Source: TelecomPaper

Mobile broadband connections will exceed fixed-line broadband connections in 2011, according to a report to be released by mobileSQUARED later this week. ­By 2011 the number of active 3G devices in the UK will be 36.3 million, as well as 6.4 million dongles/embedded devices, taking the total number of mobile broadband connections to 42.7 million versus expected broadband internet users of 42.5 million.

While the analyst house predicts internet usage over the mobile phone will remain below traditional fixed-line usage during the forecast period of 2009-2014, the company's research has revealed that between 1-10% of a company's internet traffic is already being generated from a mobile device.

"Mobile will become the primary access point for brands and businesses communicating with its consumers within two years," said Nick Lane, chief analyst at mobileSQUARED, and author of the report. "Mobile is always-on, and the average user carries their device for an average of 16 hours a day. So if a company or brand is not already considering how to use mobile, then they need to because their customers are."

However, not all of the 3G broadband connections in 2011 will be used for surfing by UK consumers. The report forecasts the number of mobile internet users in the UK will top 32 million by 2014 (equating to 90% of 3G broadband subscribers), but believes the 32 million figure could be reached faster with clearer data pricing from UK operators as well as the introduction of variable data pricing.

"Data pricing in the UK is still confusing," adds Lane. "Mobile operators and high-street retailers produce monthly magazines dedicated to handsets and tariffs, how can that not be confusing to the consumer? The number of mobile internet users would expand even faster if mobile data pricing reflected existing models, such as variable pricing to appeal to the different demographics. The cash-poor, time-rich youth democratic cannot afford the flat-rata plans, so why not offer a data pricing concession to encourage adoption?"

During the forecast period 2009-2014, mobileSQUARED predicts mobile content and services revenues (including apps) in the UK will almost treble from revenues of £242.1 million in 2009. Similarly, the analyst house forecasts that revenue from the core internet-based mobile advertising models of banners and links, search and tenancy, will be worth £83.7 million in 2014.

To find out how to attend the Roadshow and receive a complimentary copy of the Taking Internet Mobile: UK report visit www.mobilesquaredroadshow.com

Source: Cellular News

Etisalat introduced new mobile broadband packages offering more than double the bandwidth at significantly reduced costs.

The subscribers can now avail 10 MB instead of 2MB, 100 MB instead of 50, and 1GB mobile internet packages instead of 120 MB, all at the same price. It is available for both laptop and surfing from mobile phone. The new mobile broadband packages of 1GB and 5GB have also been introduced. Apart from this, the subscribers can also opt for a “pay as you use” package which is automatically activated without any need to subscribe when customers use mobile internet.

Source: Wireless Federation

Hungary’s incumbent mobile operators Pannon, T-Mobile and Vodafone collectively reported 635,950 mobile internet subscribers at the end of June, up from 607,479 in May, according to data published by the telecoms regulator NHH. According to the watchdog, Hungarian mobile subscribers sent a total of 763,760GB of data in June, up from 763,178 GB the previous month, while average traffic per subscriber dipped marginally to 1.51GB from 1.52GB the previous month. As at 30 June 2009, T-Mobile's share of mobile data subscribers was 49.01%, while Vodafone followed in second place with 27.85% and Pannon was third with 23.15%. Based on actual traffic volume though, T-Mobile's market share was lower at 41.28%, while Vodafone and Pannon had 35.27% and 23.45%, respectively.

Source: Telegeography

Venezuelan mobile operator Digitel, which launched 3G services based on 900MHz W-CDMA/HSPA technology in March this year, has launched a package bundling a mobile broadband subscription with a wireless modem and laptop computer provided by Chinese PC manufacturer Lenovo, reports BNamericas, quoting local newspaper El Universal. Digitel commercial vice-president Luis Perez said that the company will initially make 1,000 combined packages available initially; the launch echoes moves in the fixed broadband sector, where Venezuela’s national PSTN provider CANTV has seen considerable success with its combined PC ownership and ADSL access scheme, which spreads the cost of a computer via monthly payments. Within its first month of 3G operations, Digitel covered 30 districts/towns with its new network, but in May it reportedly deferred expansion plans for the next generation infrastructure until 2010 in the light of the global economic downturn.

Source: Telegeography

Vodafone Fiji has launched a new service allowing its roughly 600,000 subscriber base to access the internet via a pre-paid mobile service. Until now, the option has only been available to users on a monthly contract. ‘The launch of our pre-paid mobile internet is exciting news for most of our customers, 90% of whom are on pre-paid plans’, said Pradeep Lal, the company's acting managing director, is quoted as saying.

Source: Telegeography

The total number of people signed up for mobile internet services with one of Hungary’s three mobile operators T-Mobile, Pannon and Vodafone – reached 607,479 at the end of May 2009, up from 565,510 the previous month. According to national regulator the NHH, Hungarian mobile users sent a total of 763,178GB of data last month, compared with 743,254GB in April, while average traffic per subscriber was 1.52GB down from 1.56GB in the previous month. T-Mobile's share of mobile data subscribers was 48.51% at the end of the month, while Pannon and Vodafone recorded market shares of 23.27% and 28.22%, respectively.

Source: TeleGeography.

Telecom Handel reports that the German Bundesrat (Federal Council) has approved a proposal to use digital dividend for mobile broadband services. Germany’s telecoms regulator, the Federal Network Agency (FNA), can now begin to prepare an auction of digital dividend licences, which is expected to take place by Q1 2010. The approval will help the federal government work towards its broadband strategy, which calls for broadband with download speeds of at least 1Mbps to be available nationwide by 2010, and coverage of 50Mbps internet to reach 75% of German households by 2014.

Source: TeleGeography.

Filipino telco Globe Telecom has expanded its wireless broadband coverage to meet rising demand in the country. According to a report from AsiaPulse, Menchi T. Orlina, Globe's head for consumer marketing group, said the operator is spending heavily and aggressively to improve both broadband penetration and its position in the market. Orlina forecasts the country’s potential market for wireless internet broadband could top 20 million subscribers by 2012. In order to capitalise on this she says Globe is offering Globe Broadband Tatoo – a W-CDMA/HSDPA service offering download speeds of up to 2Mbps – and Globe Broadband Powered by WiMAX. The company currently has 287,000 broadband subscribers for both fixed and wireless platforms, compared with Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) with 1.84 million. Globe’s WiMAX network is based on the 802.16e standard and operates in the 2.5GHz band. It is currently available in selected areas in South Luzon, National Capital Region, Visayas and Mindanao. Around 4,000 users are signed up to the service, Orlina said.

Source: TeleGeography.

According to The Edge Daily, Malaysian cellco DiGi Telecommunications will set aside up to MYR150 million (USD42.4 million) of its total capital expenditure over the next three years for investment in its HSPA network and services in the Sabah and Penang regions. The plans were unveiled following the official launch of the operator’s 3G broadband services in the two regions. DiGi noted that at launch it had coverage of 44% and 31% of the population in the Kota Kinabalu region and the island of Penang respectively. However, the cellco currently only offers HSPA-based internet services via a datacard option, with Johan Dennelind, CEO of DiGi, noting: ‘While our broadband service is only available on PC and laptops for now, we look forward to start offering 3G voice and data services on mobile phones as soon as we have expanded our 3G coverage in our bid to capture our fair share of the broadband market in Malaysia’.

According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, DiGi has forecast CAPEX for 2009 to exceed MYR1.1 billion and had earmarked around 30% of that for 3G infrastructure development. Mr Dennelind indicated that the expansion to Sabah and Penang comes following the high level of demand in the Klang Valley, where the operator launched UMTS services two months ago. DiGi aims to offer its mobile broadband services in more than 1,000 zones by the end of 2009, and the cellco will initially focus on deployment in urban areas.

Source: TeleGeography.

The total number of mobile internet access subscriptions in Hungary climbed to 566,000 by 30 April 2009, up from 542,000 a month earlier, according to figures published by the regulator, the National Communications Authority (NHH). Of these, the total number classed as actively sending or receiving data rose from 458,000 to 476,000 in the same period, although the total volume of data sent dipped to 743,000GB from 840,000GB in March.

The watchdog calculates that based on levels of data transmitted, T-Mobile Hungary is the market leader in the mobile internet sector with 49.43%, ahead of Vodafone with 27.11% and Pannon with 23.46%.

Source: TeleGeography.

Hungary posted a total mobile internet subscriber base of 566,000 at April’09-end, up from 542,000 a month earlier, reports the National Communications Authority (NHH). The total number of actively sending or receiving data rose from 458,000 to 476,000 in the same period, although the total volume of data sent dropped to 743,000GB from 840,000GB in March.

According to the watchdog, T-Mobile Hungary claimed to be the market leader for mobile internet with a total market share of 49.43%, ahead of Vodafone with 27.11% and Pannon with 23.46%.

Source: Wireless Federation.

China ended March with 670 million mobile phone subscribers, as the 3G networks experience a boost, a MIIT official reportedly said.
Before the launch of 3G, China had a subscriber base of 600 million mobile users at July’08-end and subscribers grew at a pace of 7.42 million every month. After 3G started on January 7, 10 million people were added to the mobile subscriber base in February and March, said Xi Guohua, minister of MIIT.

Source: Wireless Federation.

Telenor, within 18 months of its mobile broadband service launch has grabbed 200,000 mobile broadband subscribers. At the end of March, Telenor had a mobile broadband subscriber base of 186,000 in Norway. Telenor has installed HSPDA services in more than 1000 cities, as well as a number of summer- and ski resorts in Norway, with coverage of 86.6%.

The mobile broadband service currently offers download speeds up to 3.6 Mbps and the operator has begun to upgrade to HSDPA 7.2 starting in 33 ski resorts.

Source: Wireless Federation.

More than half (52%) of mobile phone users are now using the mobile Internet with email and social networking the most popular activities, according to new findings released today. The mobile Internet usage poll, carried out by user experience consultancy, Webcredible, revealed that of the respondents who used the mobile Internet, over half (55%) mostly used it for emailing and social networking, demonstrating the evolution of mobile Internet usage since the poll was last conducted in 2007.

The research polled more than 1,100 online users between February and April 2009 on what they used their mobile phone for most, with the exception of calls and text messages. Checking email and social networking came in as the most popular pastimes with 39 per cent of mobile Internet users mostly using email and over 16 per cent favouring social networking. Just under 16 percent of mobile Internet users said they mostly downloaded ringtones.

This shows a clear development from a similar survey carried out by Webcredible between August and October 2007, when downloading ringtones was the most popular pastime among mobile Internet users with 43 percent favouring this. Only 21 percent of these users mainly checked email, and social networking didn’t even register. This change in results clearly demonstrates the evolution in the capabilities of the mobile Internet and the related change in user behaviour.

In addition, the 2009 research also revealed that 13 percent of mobile Internet users mainly used it for reading news or sport content, 12 percent used it for maps and directions and 4 percent mainly used it for local or travel news. Nearly half (48%) of total respondents said that they performed none of these tasks on their mobile phones.

Abid Warsi, Senior Consultant at Webcredible comments, “Although there are still a substantial number of people who use their mobile phones for nothing other than calls and texts, these results clearly demonstrate the evolution of mobile Internet usage in-line with the increase in the ease with which mobile phone users can access the Internet, the increase in speed and technological capabilities, as well as the decrease in cost.”

“Social networking sites are helping the mobile Internet reach its tipping point. We are now seeing an increasing number of people taking a real multi-channel approach to their communications with the growth in the use of email, Facebook and Twitter on the mobile, no doubt assisted by newer, technically advanced handsets like the iPhone.”

Research Methodology

The mobile Internet usage research polled 1,132 visitors to the Webcredible website between February and April 2009.

Source: Cellular News.

Zantel, the Tanzanian mobile operator, has launched prepaid internet service based on 3G technology in a package dubbed as ZConnect. Depending on the modem one uses, the service will offer internet at up to 3.1 Mbps. The plan is priced at TZS 6,000 for a daily subscription, TZS 30,000 for a weekly package and TZS 90,000 for monthly usage. The ZConnect service will be available in Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, Pemba, Tanga, Dodoma, Morogoro, Arusha, Moshi, Mwanza, Tabora, Musoma, Shinyanga, Mbeya, Iringa and Ruvuma.

Source: Wireless Federation.

Vodafone UK has introduced a new business mobile broadband package offering the subscribers “all they can use”. The Flat Rate mobile broadband package won’t ever cost the subscribers more than GBP 18/month and is available as a rolling 30 day contract. Subscribers will have to pay GBP 58.70 for their mobile USB modem stick with a twelve month contract and a mobile dongle at GBP 24.68. With eighteen and twenty-four month contracts, the dongles are free. The new package offers “all you can use” on downloads but still comes with a fair usage policy. The package offers roaming tariffs at GBP 8.50 per 24-hours in selected countries or GBP 4.25 per MB in other countries.

Source: Wireless Federation.

Ronan de Renesse, Senior Analyst at Screen Digest has just completed an analysis of the 3G mobile broadband market. Although the number of people using mobile networks to connect to the Internet through a device known as a ‘dongle’ will continue to rise, he predicts that the rate of growth is set for a big fall over the next two years.

There has been a significant uptake in the usage of mobile broadband in the past two years, especially in Europe where usage grew ten fold from one million people in 2006 to nine million in 2008. Put another way, the mobile broadband market is currently worth more than mobile TV, mobile games and mobile music combined. This way of accessing the Internet is particularly attractive as an alternative to a fixed connection for students living in private accommodation, people who live in more than one place and also people who live in areas where fixed broadband is simply not available.

The growth in take up of mobile broadband has inevitably fuelled a pricing war between the operators. Not only has the number of operators offering mobile broadband increased nine fold during 2006 and 2007, but they’ve become more competitive: 66 per cent offer prepay packages, 59 per cent have introduced laptop bundles to entice customers to subscribe to their network and they’ve reduced the average subscription price by a third in the past six months. The result of these competitive strategies has meant that the overall European market has grown to a value of €1.8bn in 2008 and accounts for 15% of all mobile data revenues. Because of the nature of mobile broadband, its penetration is highest outside of the big five markets in Europe where fixed broadband is dominant, so Ireland, Austria, Portugal and Greece had the highest adoption rates in 2008. However despite its growth, contribution to data revenues and number of subscribers, de Renesse expects to see high customer churn rates this year and in 2010. “The mobile operators have trapped customers into long-term contracts, whilst failing to deliver the unrealistic networks speed that encouraged them to sign up in the first place. The service can be patchy and users become frustrated – many will switch back to fixed broadband if operators don’t act quickly.” While European growth is set to reach its lowest in 2010 at only 4.7%, the number of connections will rise again in 2011 and 2012 to reach 22.6m and a total market value of €4.6bn in 2013. De Renesse says: “While this is potentially good news for stand-alone ISPs, upcoming 4G upgrades in 2010 and further price reduction would put the final nail in the coffin for them.”

Source: Cellular News.

Mobilcom-debitel, the German mobile service provider, has introduced three mobile internet tariff options for its subscribers. The subscribers can choose between Take-away Basic, which is priced at EUR 0.99 a month, charging each MB at EUR1; Take-away Small, which costs EUR 4.95 a month including 5 MB, charging each additional MB at EUR 3.95 (T-Mobile, Vodafone) or EUR 0.50 (E-Plus, O2) and Take-away Flat, which cost EUR 9.95 a month, offers 250 MB via the E-Plus network, each additional MB is charged at EUR 0.50.

Source: Wireless Federation.

According to a recent survey, Italy has recorded a mobile internet penetration of 13%, subscribers who connect to internet using their mobile phones at least once a month. The survey reveals that 6 million mobile subscribers connect their mobile handsets around 10 times a month and for an average duration of 11 minutes. 90% of the total web users mostly visited their operator’s portal, whereas more than 50% used for emails and 1/3rd of the total visited the news sites.

A strong growth in mobile connections to social network sites was also registered, at 14% of users, up 10% from 2008, 80% of which visited Facebook.

Source: Wireless Federation.

Orange Poland has launched a new mobile internet service for its residential and business subscribers. The Orange Free 39 and a Half service which allows subscribers to access the internet through their mobile phones or laptops.  The subscribers can enjoy 0.5 GB for internet traffic at speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps, at a price of PLN 39.50 per month.

Subscribers can also activate the offering as an add-on to a voice tariff subscription, or as part of a package offering a ZTE MF 636 USB modem at discounted prices and 2 GB memory card.

Source: Wireless Federation.

Wireless phone companies still reap the lion's share of their revenue from calls, but they're pinning their hopes on fast-growing data services.

Prices for voice calling plans continue to tumble, driving down average revenue per subscriber, a key financial metric. But the surging use of iPhones and other Internet-connected mobile devices is driving double-digit growth in data revenue.

Despite the recession, purchases of smart phones are still going strong. The high-end devices, which pack computer-like features into a handheld-sized device, accounted for 23% of U.S. mobile phone purchases by consumers in the fourth quarter of 2008, up from 4% two years earlier, says research firm NPD Group.

Smart-phone users rack up bigger bills than wireless subscribers with voice-only calling plans. Smart phone users gobble up gigabytes of data visiting social networking Web sites, downloading music, watching video, sending photos and checking e-mail. Laptop computer users on the go are another area of potential growth as more users connect to high-speed, third-generation networks. Analysts say lower-priced mini-laptops, called netbooks, will boost data revenue further. In 2009, the number of mobile devices accessing the Web will jump 43% to 706 million worldwide, forecasts market research firm IDC. And according to U.K.-based Informa Telecoms & Media, global data revenue will jump to $347 billion by 2013, up from about $188 billion last year. Bandwidth-hungry devices are pushing wireless networks to their limits. That's why many wireless firms plan to upgrade to faster, higher capacity networks that use fourth-generation "LTE" technology, short for long-term evolution. The LTE upgrade is expected to start in 2010, sparking a new round of industry investment. 1. Business The wireless phone business is capital-intensive. In the U.S., the biggest wireless firms spend about 15% of their revenue every year to expand, upgrade and maintain their networks. Smaller players MetroPCS PCS and Leap Wireless LEAP, which are building out networks in new markets, spent above 40% in 2008. Capital spending also runs high in emerging markets. China Mobile CHL spent about 33% of revenues, $19.9 billion, on its network last year as it expands into rural areas. Analysts expect wireless firms globally to cut capital spending around 10% to preserve cash during the slowdown. But because customers can easily switch service providers, wireless firms are leery of making cutbacks that will lower the quality of service or lead to more dropped calls. Wireless firms must add network capacity as their subscriber bases grow and as those customers call more, taking advantage of calling plans that offer bigger buckets of minutes at lower prices. Data traffic is even more expensive for wireless firms to deliver. While data-plan subscription fees have been falling, wireless firms are trying to discourage their heaviest users from clogging up their networks by capping usage at several gigabytes per month and charging hefty overage fees. Name Of The Game: With subscriber growth slowing, wireless firms must invest in their new growth driver -- data services. Informa estimates that wireless firms will reap 34% of overall revenue from data services in 2013, up from about 21.6% last year. "Wireless companies are trying to cope with the data traffic tidal wave coming across their networks," said Thomas Wehmeier, analyst at Informa. 2. Market In developed countries, wireless is steadily replacing fixed-line phone service. In the U.S., one out of six consumers use wireless as their only phone service. That trend may accelerate as more wireless firms roll out $50-or-less monthly rate plans, analysts say. Wireless subscriber growth has boomed in emerging markets, where fixed-line phone service can be hard to get. More than 4 billion people around the world use mobile phones, more than three times the 1.2 billion who use personal computers, says IDC. In-Stat predicts that wireless subscribers will hit 5.6 billion in 2013, up from 4.27 billion in 2009, with most growth coming from India, China, Indonesia and Africa. Data revenue growth is highest in markets where wireless firms have upgraded to high-speed 3G networks. Only about 10% of cell-phone users worldwide use 3G phones now, leaving plenty of room for growth, says Informa. In Japan, 95% of all wireless phone subscribers use 3G services. But the penetration rate is smaller everywhere else, even in developed economies -- 29% in the U.S. and 21% in Western Europe. Japan's NTT DoCoMo DCM and U.K.-based Vodafone VOD lead the industry in data revenue growth per subscriber. The boom in mobile traffic growth is spreading from developed countries to emerging markets as prices for 3G phones fall, says Tony Holcombe, chief executive of Syniverse, which offers technology services to wireless firms. "When people get a smart device, data usage increases dramatically," he said. "It doesn't matter what geography." 3. Climate Wireless carriers have fared better than many industries during the recession, but the downturn is taking an undeniable toll. Though Verizon Wireless and AT&T's T wireless unit reported year-to-year sales gains in the first quarter, the numbers were flat from the previous quarter. Emerging markets aren't bullet-proof, either. India's biggest wireless firm, Bharti Airtel, said first-quarter revenue rose 26% from a year earlier but only 2% from the previous quarter. China Mobile's first quarter sales rose 12% from a year earlier but fell 9% from the previous quarter. And Mexico-based America Movil's AMX first quarter sales rose 15.4% from the previous year but were flat sequentially. America Movil warned it will add fewer subscribers than forecast in 2009 because of weakening economies in Latin America. Germany's Deutsche Telekom DT, which operates T-Mobile, also has slashed its 2009 outlook. Wireless firms that serve mainly prepaid subscribers, who buy airtime as they need it rather than as a monthly subscription, may be vulnerable to changes in consumers' disposable income, analysts say. Monthly subscribers, meanwhile, are switching to prepaid calling plans to save money. And businesses are pulling back on company-paid wireless devices. Even before the recession, prices for calling rate plans were falling. Among U.S. wireless firms, average monthly voice revenue per subscriber fell 20% from $48.20 in 2003 to $38 in 2008, says UBS. Average data revenue rose to $10.25 from $1.76 over the same period. But fierce competition could undermine growth in data services. Hutchison Whampoa has been Europe's most aggressive marketer of 3G services, charging as little as $14 monthly for data. Hutchison has forced other carriers to cut rates, even though it has yet to generate positive cash flow from its 3G services, according to a Morgan Stanley report. 4. Technology Wireless carriers are betting on several technologies to keep sales growing. Twenty wireless firms are testing LTE technology, and network upgrades are slated to start as early as 2010 for some. LTE promises to hike peak data rates more than 10-fold to above 100 megabits per second, boost network capacity and improve indoor coverage. It may also help carriers manage the costs of data services, says Mark Lowenstein, president of consulting firm m-ecosystem.com. "The under-recognized aspect of wireless firms plunging into 4G is the need to deliver data at a much lower cost per bit," he said. Wireless firms are just starting to target services that link industrial devices, autos and consumer electronics to the Internet -- services that could benefit from LTE's faster speeds. To cut costs, Vodafone and other wireless firms are forging deals to share network infrastructure, such as cell-phone tower sites. Offloading network traffic to broadband networks in homes is another cost-saving strategy. Many wireless firms are testing femtocell technology, which hands off wireless calls to broadband modems in homes, improving indoor call quality without expensive new towers. 5. Outlook Some consumers are getting cheaper service but still view wireless as a necessity. Wireless phone companies are scrambling to innovate and expand their offerings so they don't become mere suppliers of bandwidth while other companies such as Google GOOG rake in the big money. Wireless phone companies aim to tap mobile advertising as a new revenue stream. Kelsey Group estimates mobile ad revenue will grow 20-fold to $3.1 billion by 2013, though wireless firms will vie with others for a share of the pie. And they say they will cut capital spending further if the recession lingers. Upside: Venture capital is flowing to hundreds of start-ups developing products for mobile TV, advertising, mobile payments, and location-based services. Any of those could boost demand for high-speed data. Risks: New technologies and regulation. Skype, the Internet calling service, has released software for several phones that let users bypass their carrier to make cheap phone calls over the Internet. Though wireless firms will try to restrict how Skype's software can be used -- limiting its use to Wi-Fi networks, for example -- European regulators may force carriers to carry Skype calls. Europe has already cracked down on text-messaging roaming fees.

Source: Cellular News.

At the end of 2008, only 11% of worldwide wireless subscriptions were 3G. By the end of 2013, the percentage of 3G and 4G subscriptions will reach 30%, reports In-Stat. This trend is reflected in fourth quarter 2008 wireless infrastructure contract awards.

Looking forward, WiMAX will have to prove itself over the next couple of years with the rise of HSPA and LTE. In-Stat expects mobile WiMAX to be attractive in developing countries and remote locations in which fixed broadband networks are not yet deployed. It is still unknown whether or not mobile WiMAX will be competitive in locations with existing 3G cellular and fixed broadband networks. “Based on contract awards, WiMAX deployments are remaining resilient in the face of the economic slowdown, although some operators are slowing the deployment rate,” says Daryl Schoolar, In-Stat analyst. “The WiMAX equipment heavyweights of Alcatel-Lucent, Alvarion, Motorola and Samsung are benefitting from the trend. Other vendors to watch include Cisco, Huawei and ZTE.” Recent research by In-Stat includes: 802.16e, the mobile standard for WiMAX, has been mainly deployed for fixed and nomadic services. Clearwire, Korea Telecom, and UQ of Japan are among a few notable exceptions that are embracing 802.16e for mobile data applications. There were 132 announced deployments in the fourth quarter of 2008, consisting of 95 HSPA, 18 WCDMA, 12 mobile WiMAX, six CDMA EV-DO, and one TD SCDMA. Based on the contract award activity over the past few quarters, In-Stat expects most of the deployments through new live networks to be WiMAX and HSPA. In-Stat has seen a significant slowdown in contracts for WCDMA and CDMA EV-DO equipment.

Source: Cellular News.

Market research firm Infonetics Research released the fourth quarter (4Q08) edition of its Mobile Broadband Cards, Routers, Services, and Subscribers report last week. ­The report found that worldwide, the number of mobile broadband subscribers (including W- CDMA/HSPA and CDMA2000/EV-DO) jumped 125% in 2008 over 2007, hitting 210.5 million, and are expected to top 1 billion by 2013.

"With HSPA going live around many parts of the world, mobile broadband adoption accelerated in 2008, as mobile networks finally started to deliver on the promise of high speed mobile access. This, combined with better devices, gave the market tremendous impetus over the past year. Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers hit triple-digit percents in all the major world regions in 2008, indicating a booming market," said Richard Webb, Directing Analyst - WiMAX, Microwave, and Mobile Devices - Infonetics Research. The study also found that sales of mobile broadband PC cards and embedded mobile broadband cards topped $4.1 billion worldwide in 2008, and are expected to continue gathering momentum in 2009. Worldwide mobile broadband router manufacturer revenue grew 114% in 2008 over 2007, although sales slowed in the second half of the year Huawei and Sony Ericsson tie for lead market share in mobile broadband cards by revenue in 2008, with Sony Ericsson's strength based on W- CDMA/HSPA cards and dongles, and Huawei's based on both HSPA and EV-DO and a broader mix of PC card and embedded card formats Several other major players, including Sierra, Novatel, and Option, also achieved market share in the mobile broadband cards segment Service provider revenue from mobile broadband services grew 45% in 2008 to hit $49.8 billion worldwide, and, though the global recession is hampering growth, mobile broadband service revenue is expected to grow in healthy double-digit percents over the next 5 years.

Source: Cellular News.

According to a recently published report by Dell’Oro Group, the worldwide total mobile infrastructure market revenue grew 5 percent in 2008, driven by the nearly doubling and quadrupling of revenue of the WCDMA and WiMAX markets, respectively.

“The rapid expansion of HSPA networks worldwide beginning in the first quarter of the year was instrumental in driving the growth of the WCDMA market in 2008,” stated Scott Siegler, Senior Analyst of Mobile Infrastructure research at Dell’Oro Group. “The true broadband data rates of these upgraded networks, along with the doubling of the HSPA device ecosystem, including smartphones, laptops and mobile internet devices were the primary drivers of the WCDMA market’s ramp. The prevalence of flat rate data plans was even greater incentive for 2G subscribers to migrate to 3G subscribers and take advantage of these true mobile broadband networks. The WCDMA subscriber base increased by over 100 million during the year. More HSPA subscribers, with each subscriber accessing substantially more data, drove operators to significantly invest in expanding and upgrading the capacity of their HSPA Networks,” Siegler added. The report also shows that despite 30 percent growth and a record number of base station deployments for the combined GSM and CDMA markets, higher than normal price erosion of over 25 percent, resulted in a 10 percent contraction in revenue for these markets.

Source: Cellular News.

­Hutchison 3G Ireland ('3') has won a contract from the Irish government to develop a national broadband network covering rural areas of the country. Ireland currently has over 1.2 million subscribers to broadband. The National Broadband Scheme will provide the remaining 10% of the population, or approximately 33% of the area of the country, with broadband services. Ireland will have 100% coverage by September 2010; half of the area under the scheme will be covered by the end of this year.

Investment of €223 million from a combination of Exchequer funds, EU co-financing and '3' will create 170 direct jobs. Hundreds more will be protected and created as the availability of broadband increases the investment and enterprise in the targeted areas. '3' will extend its mobile network to provide mobile wireless broadband services into the NBS area. Initially, the service will have a minimum download speed of 1.2 mbps. At least, two upgrades of speeds are planned during the lifetime of the contract. These product upgrades will be carried out at no cost to the customer. Announcing the scheme, Communications Minister Eamon Ryan said, “For too long, rural Ireland has been without this essential service. Today’s announcement is a boost for the rural economy. Now businesses throughout the country can have ready access to the national and international markets. Employment will be created and sustained. Quality of life will improve for rural residents and communities will be strengthened."

Source: Cellular News.

­Asia-Pacific was home to some 121 million 3G subscribers in 2007 and an estimated 158.4 million in 2008. By 2013, the region's 3G subscriber base is expected to top 564 million, accounting for about 18.2 percent of all mobile users. With 3G subscriber net additions in record numbers year-on-year, mobile operators are eager to monetize 3G external broadband devices, namely dongles and datacards, to complement their mobile broadband offerings.

3G dongle services have thus far seen promising uptake. Frost & Sullivan senior industry analyst Marc Einstein notes, "Dongles and datacards are increasingly a preferred connectivity device of choice for Asia-Pac's broadband subscribers given the slim form-factor of the devices, faster 3G speeds and competitive service plans available."

He reckons that by 2013, more than one in every three new broadband subscriber will use dongles or datacards for their [mobile] broadband needs, giving fixed broadband players a run for their money.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan finds that there were an estimated 5.2 million mobile broadband dongle and datacard users in Asia-Pac (18 countries) in 2008, with corresponding billings of over US$1.3 billion.

With the continuous roll-out of new 3G networks and 3.5G/4G upgrades across the region, Frost & Sullivan believes that there will be nearly 37 million 3G subscribers using external wireless devices for their mobile broadband needs by year end-2013, with estimated billable revenues of US$7.8 billion.

The uptake for these 3G devices is expected to accelerate after 2010 once 3G services become commercially available in most large Asian markets. Not surprisingly, China is expected to be the single largest market for the device with 20 percent (7.4 million) of the region's dongle/datacard users by 2013; India, a close enough second with 5.55 million (15 percent) dongle/datacard subscribers.

"3G technologies have come a long way since the world's first 3G network premiered in 2001 offering peak speeds of 384Kbps -- child's play when you consider what mobile broadband is capable of delivering today," says Einstein. "3G networks today boast of peak speeds of 21Mbps and can potentially peak at 50 to 100Mbps in the next two years."

He adds, "Mobile operators are aggressively exploring this business segment to make good their already costly investments in 3G infrastructure and provide [at least] comparable [to fixed] broadband connectivity in developed markets like South Korea and Japan where consumers are willing to pay a premium for mobile laptop access."

Einstein warns, however, that service quality will need to match or exceed the user experience that subscribers in Asia-Pac are already accustomed to with fixed broadband. "While mobile users are adopting the service in overwhelming numbers, they will return their devices just as quickly if actual speeds do not match up," he cautions.

The dramatic decline in the cost of these 3G devices also makes the service more affordable for end users. Einstein says that the days of a US five hundred-dollar price tag on datacards are over, "At less than US$150 a piece… many operators even offering it free with service bundles, anybody can be a road warrior today.
"More importantly, it means that mobile broadband is now poised to truly penetrate the residential segment," he adds.

For mobile operators in emerging markets like India and China, it means that the millions of households that are still unconnected can now realistically receive broadband access. Despite being low-ARPU (average revenue per user) markets with low PC-installed base, Einstein believes that several key developments in 3G in the past year will work favourably towards driving adoption of the technology and device.

He explains, "The future of 3G became much clearer in 2008 as HSPA became the breakout technology in the region. The GSM family [of networks] already has over 85 percent of the region's mobile subscribers and recent operator commitments to LTE (Long Term Evolution) means that in time to come, most of the region's subscribers will be using one technology standard.

"We believe that the economies of scale for 3G technology will be realised much faster," Einstein concludes, adding that these 3G devices will be a stepping stone to 4G-embedded devices which will eventually take mobile broadband to new heights.

Source: Cellular News.

Viva, Kuwait’s third mobile network operator, has announced the launch of mobile broadband services for its customers. Viva is an overseas license of Saudi Telecom Co (STC) and began operations in September last year. Huawei has supplied the network which allows Viva to offer high speed wireless broadband at speeds up to14Mbps, although no USB devices currently support more than 7.2Mbps. Customers signing up to the new service in January can make use of a special deal offering unlimited internet access, a free USB modem and data SIM card for KWD20 (USD70.53) per month.

Source: TeleGeography.

Kuwait-based telecoms group Zain yesterday launched a 3.5G network in Ghana, having invested more than USD420 million in the country to realise the speedy deployment of the technology - a first for sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa. Reuters reports that Zain sees potential on the continent where it already has 40 million customers.

‘Although penetration is very, very low, we see it as having very huge potential. A lot of people say Africa penetration is almost saturated, but we don't because we see that we can optimise our business on the continent,’ Chris Gabriel, Chief Executive Officer of Zain Africa said. Zain, which already operates in 22 countries across the Middle East and Africa, is looking to become one of the world’s top ten operators by 2011 and has already set its sights on four of five acquisitions in the region which Gabriel says will be closed ‘in the next twelve months’.

Source: TeleGeography.

­Mobile internet has undeniably turned a corner in 2008, showing unprecedented growth levels. By 2012 a nine-fold increase in mobile broadband revenues is expected. However, driven by peer to peer and video services, traffic levels are expected to grow much faster to well over 20 times today’s volumes. These numbers are a wake-up call to mobile broadband providers. Clearly demand is there, but is there also a sustaina­ble business case?

Acision expects that if operators carry on pushing mobile broadband in the same way that they do today, mobile broadband will crash and burn and so will the revenue opportunities. In order to secure a profitable future, mobile broadband providers will need to focus on a number of critical issues or risk having to take other measures to curb usage. One such example is Vodafone in the Netherlands, although not widely publicised the operator recently reduced its mobile internet offering from 3.6 MBps to 256 Kbps in the Netherlands for new customers. Notably they revised this after negative customer feedback. To succeed in broadband, operators need to consider: 1. ARPU levels to address profitability providers need to embrace an Average Revenue per MegaByte paradigm where focus lies on raising the profitability per delivered MB instead of the traditional ARPU model. 2. Optimising traffic flows for all devices, from mass market phones to wireless enabled laptops, to bring down the billions of additional backhaul investments mobile broadband providers are forced to make. 3. Minimising peak hour traffic is the essential enabler for reducing additional capacity investments. Operators need to evolve beyond today’s crude monthly quota management capabilities and introduce sophisticated policy management to control application access for individual customers, especially during highly contested periods or locations. 4. Build compelling and differentiated customer offers to provide up and cross selling opportunities, helping mobile operators to develop their offerings beyond a bland access model, truly expand their customer base and raise ARPU levels, e.g. home packages with a ‘home’ QoS including a shared family bundle, roaming packages with special roaming bundles, gaming, P2P, entertainment and business oriented packages. Operators will not automatically achieve a high quality and profitable mobile broadband service and need to actively address these challenges in good time to secure a profitable future. In order to reap their own cash cow, operators must invest in optimisation capabilities, manage individual service usage, create differentiated packages, maintain quality of service and invest in new platforms that control all services across voice, messaging and broadband. Telia, the Swedish fixed-line and mobile operator, is one provider that is planning to increase its mobile subscriptions to ensure a positive return on its investments in the future. By offering unlimited usage at an increased fixed monthly fee, the Swedish operator is positioning mobile broadband as a fixed alternative, while protecting its investments.

Source: Cellular News.

One possible scenario for the telecoms industry during the current economic slowdown is that fixed-to-mobile substitution (FMS) will be accelerated as consumers reduce their communications bill by cutting their fixed line in favour of mobile services. With mobile broadband deals now more readily available and affordable, there is a potential ‘double whammy’ to this in that fixed line operators could not only lose further fixed voice revenues but valuable broadband revenues as well. Ovum therefore commissioned a survey of over 8,000 consumers to find out their plans.

The majority of consumers will scale down rather than cancel their broadband service

At the top level broadband seems to remain a ‘sticky’ service. Ovum’s survey data shows that only 7% of respondents would ditch their fixed line for both voice and broadband in favour of mobile services, and only 1% said they would be prepared to keep their fixed voice but cut their broadband access. Cutting the mobile subscription stood at 6%, making fixed broadband access actually even ‘stickier’ than mobile to those that are planning on keeping the fixed telephony line.

The majority of respondents, 65%, said they would simply look to reduce spend in certain areas, rather than cancelling one of their services altogether. At the top level, how they reduce that spend was fairly evenly split across reducing fixed voice calls, mobile voice calls and pay-TV subscriptions.

Unfortunately for pay-TV operators, more consumers look to be planning to cut back on extras such as pay-per-view movies, rather than increase spend in this area with the idea of saving on other social activities. Ovum suspects that this will be more related to movie rental subscriptions, rather than true pay-per-view, which we still suspect will see an increase as consumers go out less.

Age and culture play a big part in broadband decisions

Unsurprisingly, the decisions around whether to reduce spend on fixed and mobile communications differ with age group. People aged between 16 and 25 are more likely to either drop their fixed line altogether (10% of 16- to 25-year-olds) or keep a fixed connection but rely more on their mobile phone for calls (28% of 16- to 25-year-olds) than any other age group. As the users get older they are less likely to rely on their mobile and more likely revert back to their fixed line, with only 5% of over 55s saying they would cut their fixed line. Keeping both mobile and fixed voice services but cutting broadband access is not a popular option across all age groups. Countries with a younger population will therefore see different trends to those with an older population.

As well as age, culture also plays its part. Ovum’s data clearly shows that there are significant differences in countries where mobile services and applications are already firmly engrained into the culture, such as Korea. In Korea 15% of respondents would cut their fixed line altogether, compared to roughly 5% in most Western European countries – other than Italy, where 11% said they would. Conversely, in Germany and France 11% of respondents said they would rather keep their fixed line and cut their mobile service. In part this will be related to age demographics, but cultural differences also play a large part.

Broadband is now a part of everyday life

There will always be differences between the various social segments and cultures. However, what is common across the world is that broadband Internet access is becoming an essential part of everyday life. It has become part of how people communicate, book their holidays, search for work, find out news, purchase goods and educate their children. When money becomes tight consumers obviously look for ways to save money, but for the vast majority of people cutting out their access to the Internet and associated services and applications is just not an option.

The more mobile segments of the community will favour pure mobile solutions, and as the technology improves this segment will gradually grow. However, the economic slowdown will not see a mass defection away from fixed broadband. Having said this, operators can expect to see an overall reduction in ARPU as consumers look to trim their overall communication bills where possible, and this goes for mobile as well as fixed operators.

Source: Cellular News.

Millions of UK mobile users don’t understand international roaming charges – and go so far as to avoid making calls as a result. ­A new study, by market research firm, TNS indicates that it is confusion over service charges, in addition to the price of calls, which is preventing international roaming from really taking off.

A fifth of mobile users cite confusion over roaming pricing as their primary reason for using their phone less when abroad. Surprisingly this is especially true of younger consumers, where nearly a quarter (24%) of those aged 16-34 are still baffled by the costs of using their mobiles abroad.

The study also found that 17% of consumers would increase the amount of data services (like the mobile internet) they used if network providers offered them a fixed bundle package. Again this is truer of the 16 to 34 year olds, who are used to having bundled deals at home in the UK; 23% would use their phone more abroad if this type of deal were available. Similar findings were also seen in France where 14% of consumers said they would use their mobile more if they were offered a fixed bundle.

TNS’ research highlights a key opportunity to encourage more consumers to use their mobiles overseas without the need to dramatically reduce prices. Simplifying current pricing structures and ensuring clear communication of these would go a long way towards reassuring consumers that they can more easily manage their mobile phone spend abroad. “It is important for all consumers, but particularly those on pre-paid contracts, to know exactly how much it will cost them to use their mobile internationally,” says Amy Cashman, Managing Director of TNS Technology UK. “However, there is a huge opportunity among both the pre-paid and contract markets for network providers to develop ‘overseas packages’ that can be sold when consumers go abroad.” Positive moves have been made towards clarifying charges to the consumer through the introduction of text messages which tell the user how much certain services, such as making and receiving calls, will cost. However the study indicates that 37% of UK consumers still do not use MMS messages when abroad and 41% do not use any data services even though they use these services in the UK. This indicates that the biggest hurdle for providers is persuading consumers to use their phone for more than purely communication needs when abroad. Cashman continues: “If network operators can successfully generate more targeted bundles for overseas travel, we believe this doesn’t mean that consumers will choose the cheapest deal, but that they will find it easier to identify the best deal for them. These facts will serve as a useful basis for the ongoing debate over roaming charges in the EU.”

Source: Cellular News.

The CDMA Development Group (CDG) announced that subscribers to the CDMA family of technologies are at 475 million worldwide, continuing a growth trend toward half a billion subscribers fueled by rapid growth in both developed and emerging markets. The CDMA2000(r) subscriber base added 13 million users during the third quarter of 2008 to exceed 463 million, while CDMA2000 1xEV-DO grew by 5 million net subscribers to more than 105 million users.

CDMA2000 subscriptions grew at pace of 15.7 percent between September 2007 and September 2008. Asia Pacific accounts for almost 53 percent of the global CDMA market, adding more than 47.2 million new CDMA2000 subscribers during the same period. North America (including the U.S. and Canada) saw an addition of 16 million new CDMA2000 users over the year and, with over 145 million subscribers, CDMA now accounts for more than 52 percent of the wireless market in the region. Europe, the Middle East and Africa continues to be the most rapidly-growing region for CDMA, adding more than 14 million CDMA2000 subscribers in the past year representing a 125 percent growth rate. This is a strong testimonial to the value of CDMA2000 and its growth in emerging markets underserved by wireline voice and data services. “CDMA continues to grow at a consistent and healthy pace around the world, particularly in emerging markets that are seeing the value proposition that CDMA2000 services provide,” said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. “Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia are seeing impressive demand for EV-DO, as economies of scale enable the delivery of more affordable mobile broadband services. We expect to see similar uptake in China and India as operators begin offering EV-DO Rev. A services in early 2009.”

CDMA operators worldwide added over 22 million EV-DO users from September 2007 to September 2008, representing a 27 percent annual increase. With more than 105 million subscribers, CDMA2000 1xEV-DO is the leading mobile broadband technology worldwide, with 124 operators in 62 countries offering high-speed CDMA services. 48 of these operators have deployed CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev. A networks to offer advanced mobile broadband services, and another 35 operators are in the process of deploying the industry-leading solution to receive the substantial revenue being generated by most current Rev. A operators. Europe, the Middle East and Africa saw an increase of almost 3 million EV-DO subscribers, a dramatic rise from less than 1 million subscribers a year ago. North American operators continued impressive gains with more than 15 million subscribers at a 36 percent growth rate, while Asia Pacific users increased by 12 percent.

CDMA2000 is the most widely deployed 3G technology, with 277 operators in 102 countries and territories serving more than 463 million subscribers. Counting 2G cdmaOne(tm) subscribers, there are 475 million CDMA users worldwide. CDMA2000 has become the technology of choice for developed and emerging market operators, and is deployable in the 450, 700, 800, 1700, 1900, AWS and 2100 MHz bands. More than 2,050 CDMA2000 devices from over 110 suppliers have been introduced to the market, including more than 526 Rel. 0 and 95 Rev. A devices on 105 CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rel. 0 and 48 Rev. A systems. About CDG The CDMA Development Group is a trade association formed to foster the worldwide development, implementation and use of CDMA2000 technologies. The more than 140 member companies of the CDG include many of the world’s largest wireless carriers and equipment manufacturers. The primary activities of the CDG include development of CDMA2000 features and services, public relations, education and seminars, regulatory affairs and international support. Currently, there are more than 500 individuals working within various CDG subcommittees on CDMA2000-related matters. For more information please visit www.cdg.org

Source: Wireless Federation.

According to a study, Mobile internet usage between Q2 and Q3 ‘08 has risen by 25% in comparison to the three per cent growth rate of PC-based usage over the same time period. The study reveals that 7.3 million people are now using mobile internet rather than wired broadband. The reason behind this surge is developed countries like UK have reached broadband saturation point and it is becoming difficult to add new subscribers.

Another study reveals that by 2013 there will be a broadband connectivity increase of only 11 % year on year, rather than 28 % per year seen over the 2004 to 2008 period.

Mobile Internet caters a quarter of consumer’s aged 15-24 age in comparison to 16% of PC-based consumers. Only 12% of the over 55 demographic use mobile Internet. Further the study says that BBC News is the most visited site on mobile Internet whereas on PC-based Internet surfing, Google search is most popular.

According to a Research Analyst, the fact that the most weather, sports, news and email sites make up the majority of leading mobile sites show that mobile Internet is mainly about functionality and need at the moment as opposed to the more entertainment and ecommerce-focused makeup of the leading PC-based sites.

Source: Wireless Federation.

­The International Telecomunications Union (ITU) has published a report detailing a set of regulatory strategies designed to lower the costs of telecoms network rollout. The report notes that 2008 has been marked by unparalleled numbers of voice and Internet consumers in both the developing and developed world, the result of network growth and expansion.

This year has also seen an unparalleled global financial crisis which may make it more difficult for investors to obtain financing for continuing network development. Sharing strategies, examined in the new ITU report, are seen as conducive for infrastructure development in the telecommunications/ICT sector, particularly in light of the deepening global financial crisis.

Fixed and mobile broadband evolution

"Sharing strategies are increasingly necessary to ensure that operators can deploy their networks at low cost while guaranteeing that consumers have access to affordable services," said Sami Al Basheer, Director of ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau. "Now, more than ever, sharing strategies make sense as operators are forced to reduce the costs of network deployment as they compete for scarce investment funds. This is a forward-looking perspective in light of the current financial and economic uncertainty." Sharing strategies include the sharing of civil engineering costs in deploying networks, promoting open access to network support infrastructure (poles, ducts, conduits), essential facilities (submarine cable landing stations and international gateways) as well as access to radio-frequency spectrum and end-user devices. Sharing infrastructure could counter impact of financial downturn The "Six Degrees of Sharing" theme was first discussed in Thailand during ITU's 2008 Global Symposium for Regulators last March. Few observers could then have anticipated the rough ride that would be in store for financial markets a few months down the road. Yet, the guidelines announced in March seem almost prophetic in today's circumstances. Taking a broad and innovative view of sharing, the world's regulators sought to capture the productivity of global networks and use it to expand the scope of opportunities for service and content providers and, ultimately, consumers. Developing countries embraced sharing to make more affordable the expansion of ICT networks to rural and under-served areas. Many developed countries are looking at sharing to reduce the cost of rolling out ultra high-speed broadband networks that reach customers' homes and apartment buildings. Passive mobile sharing: Options available in site sharing "Sound business and regulatory practices will contribute to extracting the greatest possible value from existing levels of investment in the telecommunication and ICT sectors," said Al Basheer. "ITU is committed to working with Member States and to assist regulators in marshalling the regulatory expertise they need to navigate these rough seas." The booming volume of digital bits generated by the move to convergence and packet-switching has produced a need for increased network capacity. Regulators have a responsibility to create and maintain an environment in which operators and service providers can maximize network capacity and efficiency by fostering capital investment and market expansion as the sector continues to evolve.

Mobile penetration showed high growth rates through 2008. By year end, mobile networks and subscribers will rise to an all time high, reaching an estimated 4 billion mobile subscribers worldwide. The world also counts over 1.5 billion Internet users, a growing number of which use fixed and mobile broadband services. Dial-up is being replaced by broadband across developed and developing countries alike. In developing countries such as Chile, Senegal and Turkey, broadband subscribers represent over 90 per cent of all Internet subscribers.

A growing array of broadband wireless systems are now available, opening the way for users in developing countries to access the Internet on mobile phones and other handheld devices. At the same time, more developing countries are deploying national fibre backbones and backhaul networks to transport their growing data-rich traffic. In addition, several new international submarine cable networks are set to connect developing countries to the global network of Internet backbones - just as a group of high-tech entrepreneurs are working to revive plans for a constellation of broadband satellites to connect the developing world. The Trends report catalogues efforts by governments, and in particular ICT regulators, operators and service providers to expand the reach of affordable broadband services and meeting universal access goals. Timely steps for ICT sector What had been foreseen as ideal strategies to extend broadband network access in developing markets may now be viewed as a prescription for the entire world. If the sources of capital for network investment suffer a temporary drought, policy-makers could take steps to make their markets more amenable to the shrinking pool of investment: Lower investment barriers that inhibit capital flows from one country to another Reduce regulatory barriers (high licence fees or market-entry bans) that represent hostile environments for capital investment and market growth Share essential facilities, such as cable landing stations, local switching centres or fibre backbone networks Adopt rules to provide for infrastructure sharing, particularly "passive" sharing of towers, ducts, rights-of-way and other support facilities Overhaul and streamline cross-agency processes to create a 'one-stop shop' for various network-related authorizations, such as land management, port access, environmental and safety permits Add innovative spectrum management mechanisms that promote increased sharing and efficient use of spectrum Amend regulatory frameworks to eliminate discriminatory rules that favour one company or industry over another in a converged services market Ensure that government policies and rules maximize the ability of incumbents and market entrants to choose between different opportunities for business plans and long-term strategies, including resale, wholesale, and niche markets The full report (pdf file, 40 pages) can be downloaded from the ITU website.

Source: Cellular News.

­India's GSM networks added a record breaking 7.7 million net customers in October - reports the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI). The total GSM base now stands at 241.4 million as at the end of last month.

The figures however do not include the GSM subscriber base from Reliance Communications - which although a predominantly CDMA operator has a growing GSM base as well. Estimates from the Mobile World subscriber tracker report that the company ended September with around 9.2 million GSM subscribers. That would bring India's total base to over 250 million GSM customers. The Mobile World also estimates that the country has around 77 million CDMA users - bringing the whole country mobile user base to 318 million. The country's largest operator, Bharti Airtel added 2.72 million new customers, while Vodafone Essar added a record 2.1 million new customers.

Source: Cellular News.

­According to the findings of a new report commissioned by policy control vendor, Camiant - mobile broadband affords tremendous growth opportunities for operators; however, given the popularity of data cards and smart phones and the substantial capital expenses involved in building additional network capacity, operators can expect to hit network limitations fairly quickly. With operators seeing anywhere from 100% to 800% bandwidth growth, there is a clear need to design new business models for the mobile broadband market.

Information for the October 2008 research, conducted by Parks Associates on behalf of Camiant, was gathered from in-depth interviews with executives at 16 major mobile broadband providers in Canada, Eastern and Western Europe, Turkey, Scandinavia, and the United States. Existing business models, especially the "unlimited" models popular in Western Europe and the U.S., have dangerous drawbacks that will become apparent in the next three to five years. As mobile broadband adoption continues to grow and traffic volume skyrockets, the revenue that these models deliver will fail to offset the costs of delivering the traffic. "Mobile carriers around the world, especially those offering 'unlimited' data plans, must rethink their approach to wireless broadband network management," said Anton Denissov, research analyst with Parks Associates. "Failure to implement refined network controls and business policies would condition abusive consumer use patterns and accelerate service commoditization." "The time is right for mobile operators to embrace new business models and to train users to behave in a long-term economic fashion, and not expect 'all you can eat' models," said Randy Fuller, vice president of business development for Camiant. "Operators who implement more refined policies and models that monetize traffic early on, before consumer expectations and behaviors are conditioned, won't be the ones leaving money on the table." Key findings from the custom study: Mobile broadband offers carriers opportunity to improve their market position by: Raising customer average revenue per user (ARPU) Avoiding commoditization by becoming providers of enhanced services, not just connectivity Carriers will need to develop new business models to more effectively monetize rapidly growing mobile data traffic: Western Europe - 400% - 800% per year traffic growth Eastern Europe - 300% - 800% per year traffic growth U.S. - 200% - 300% per year traffic growth Canada - 100% per year traffic growth Current business models are rudimentary and do not maximize a carrier's revenue. Their fundamental elements include: Channeling consumers to use lower-capability devices (i.e., mobile phone vs. air card) Controlling traffic based on raw traffic volume (i.e., pre-defined usage caps) Disconnecting consumers or charging a-la-carte (on per MB or per GB basis) if they exceed the traffic cap Banning heavy (most active) users from the network The research proposes key elements for new business models to succeed. These include the need for operators to be service-centric instead of connectivity-centric, monetize traffic as well as users, and avoid blanket punitive pricing. New business models need to resolve usage inequities by charging a user for usage that actually taxes the network rather than for using a device that may tax the network. These changes will encourage adoption of connected devices other than mobile phones or PC cards; that adoption, in turn, will offer additional revenue opportunities for carriers.

Source: Cellular News.

­The difference between mobile broadband and fixed broadband speeds is growing according to new research by broadband comparison site, Broadband-Expert. Fixed broadband services are now, on average, twice as fast as mobile broadband.

The research comes shortly after the UK's advertising standards agency (ASA) imposed a ban on an advert claiming mobile broadband offered “all the benefits of home broadband on the move”. However the provider claimed the advert was referring to the capabilities of mobile broadband as opposed to a technical comparison.

Broadband Expert clocked the average fixed line broadband speed at 3.61Mbs based on over 308,584 fixed line broadband speed tests compared to 1.57Mbs for mobile broadband (based on 5,345 tests). The gap has grown considerably due to a notable increase in the speed of fixed broadband services which are now 0.66Mbs faster than they were in February 2008 (when the average speed was recorded at 2.95Mbs). By comparison mobile broadband services surveyed by the same company in April 2008 have increased in speed by just 0.1Mbs.

William Harvey puts the increase in speeds of fixed line broadband services down to the roll out of faster broadband services by providers backed by improvements in technology and growing consumer demand for these services. Broadband providers are “phasing out slower services with many providers entry level packages starting at up to 8Mb and a number of providers upgrading customers on slower services free of charge”. Harvey continues that “whilst we are looking to make more and more of our broadband connections with the growth of online video, music downloads and online gaming the demand for faster broadband connections will continue to grow”. Harvey explains that “mobile broadband is capable of achieving speeds of up to 7.2Mbs in areas of 3G coverage. However where no 3G coverage is available mobile broadband services rely on the much slower 2G network hence the area in which you use your mobile broadband connection can have a huge impact on the speeds achievable”. As mobile providers roll out increased coverage to the 3G networks the average mobile broadband speed will increase. A case in point is the Mobile Broadband Network Limited (MBNL), a joint venture between T-mobile and 3 UK which plans to offer near complete 3G coverage to the UK by 2010. However Harvey expects the gap in speeds between fixed and mobile broadband to continue to grow as home broadband providers invest huge sums in updating their networks. In July BT announced that it will invest £1.5 billion to roll out fibre based broadband services capable of speeds of up to 100Mbs whilst Virgin Media is aiming to make their 50Mbs service available to 9 million UK homes by the end of 2008.

Source: Cellular News.

France on Tuesday presented plans to set aside about a fifth of the country's prime television broadcasting spectrum for mobile Internet and television services by the end of 2009, in what supporters described as a major step toward creating a harmonized mobile broadband network in Europe.

France is the first major European country to reserve part of its most valuable broadcasting spectrum, the so-called UHF band, for mobile broadband and video services. Finland and Sweden have also said they plan to reserve the band for mobile services.

If a Europewide broadband network were to come to fruition, its greater scale would probably push down the cost of Internet services to consumers, especially in rural areas not reached by fast, fixed-line networks. It could also enable large mobile operators to sell services, like mobile TV or mobile broadband, across national borders, further increasing competition and lowering consumer prices.

The move was hailed by mobile operators and by the European Union's telecommunications commissioner, Viviane Reding, who is proposing that her office be given a greater role in influencing how EU countries redistribute the frequency.

Reding's proposal, which would set new rules requiring EU countries to make efficient use of spectrum, passed the European Parliament in a first vote in September. The plan will be taken up by the EU's 27 national telecommunications ministers on Nov. 27. "I welcome the strong signal from France to use a substantial part of the digital dividend to ensure broadband for all citizens," Reding said in a statement. "This will strengthen Europe's efforts to arrive at such a solution for all EU member states in the very near future." European countries are individually deciding how to divvy up the so-called digital dividend of spectrum freed as domestic televisioin broadcasters convert to the more compressed digital format through 2015. While representatives of the mobile industry hailed the move, broadcasting groups were wary. Walid Sami, a senior engineer at the European Broadcasting Union, which represents 75 publicly owned television and radio broadcasters, called the French move troubling, saying it could disadvantage French broadcasters that needed extra spectrum for high-definition broadcasts, which require more bandwidth. "We have two concerns, the reduction of the space available to broadcasters to develop their services, such as HD," Sami said. "Also, there is the real possibility there will be interference between the two types of signals." Mobile operators dispute the contention, saying the two services will not interfere with each other. Television broadcasters and mobile phone operators, many of which have started selling mobile broadband and mobile video services, have been fighting over the issue of dividing the spectrum in national and international standards setting forums. The International Telecommunications Union's World Radiocommunications Conference, which sets frequency allocation standards, recommended in November that 18 percent of the UHF band, from 790 megahertz to 862 megahertz, be shared by television broadcasters and mobile operators. The French plan, disclosed by Eric Besson, a French state secretary responsible for evaluation of public policies, commits France to reserving 72 megahertz of prime spectrum that is currently being used exclusively by television broadcasters - the 790 MHz to 862 MHz band - for mobile broadband services by the end of next year. Besson said the country's broadcasters would be able to use the remaining portion of the UHF spectrum - 470 MHz to 790 MHz. He said that would still be enough to support 11 terrestrial broadcasters plus two new mobile TV broadcasters, owned either by mobile operators or TV broadcasters. Sami said the French plan would most likely influence other European nations to make a similar redistribution. Britain, he said, is also leaning toward devoting a portion of that spectrum, from 806 MHz to 862 MHz, for mobile services. "I think this will definitely have an influence on the others," Sami said. The low frequency UHF bandwidth is considered prime commercial real estate because broadcasters can transmit signals over great distances without the need for frequent base stations and repeaters, which add to costs. "The French government has acted decisively by allocating 72 megahertz of spectrum freed up by the switchover to digital television to mobile broadband services, which will reach rural communities that can't be served economically by fixed-line broadband networks," said Tom Phillips, chief government and regulatory affairs officer of the GSM Association, which represents the Continent's mobile operators. "The rest of Europe should follow France's example as soon as possible."

Source: International Herald Tribune.

­Fixed operators need to come up with strategies for dealing with a rapid and invasive expansion of mobile broadband into their core growth area, consumer broadband, according to a report published by Analysys Mason.

The report forecasts that by 2013, 47% of European broadband subscriptions will use mobile networks and nearly a quarter of broadband-equipped sites will use mobile-only. The speed of take-up of broadband via mobile USB modems has surprised many in the fixed broadband business – and, indeed, the mobile business – and the early indications are that consumers in Europe are using mobile broadband as a substitute for fixed. DSL subscriber net additions are drying up, and headline prices for mobile broadband are frequently lower than those for DSL.

Nearly half of fixed broadband users currently have a usage profile that is no higher than the average usage on mobile broadband, making the size of the addressable market for mobile broadband as a substitutive consumer proposition enormous. Mobile broadband is an opportunity that MNOs cannot afford to miss, but they face some difficulties in keeping the momentum going. While increasing the capacity of networks is essential to avoid reductions in service quality, MNOs need to dissociate rises in network costs from the exponential increases in bandwidth demands that have already been seen. This will involve access network upgrades, but also, crucially, the transformation of legacy backhaul to an aggregated IP infrastructure. “In the shorter term, MNOs need to manage customer traffic volumes at a retail level, selling to the kind of customers who will not put excessive pressure on the networks,” says Matt Hatton, Principal Analyst specialising in mobile broadband at Analysys Mason. “In this respect, MNOs can pull many levers, including volume-based caps, pay-as-you-go charging and fixed–mobile bundles.” “Fixed operators are currently underestimating the scale of the threat of mobile broadband”, says the report’s main author Rupert Wood, who argues that a repeat of fixed–mobile voice substitution will play out. “Fixed operators, forced to invest heavily to differentiate their version of broadband from mobile, will pack more speed and features into their DSL services, but could end up with a product that, although it is better value for money, ultimately loses out to mobile because it is less flexible and involves substantially higher monthly costs for the end user.” However, there are significant new opportunities for fixed operators. “Instead of concentrating on expensive retail differentiation,” Wood says, “fixed operators should focus more on the rapidly expanding wholesale opportunities to provide the new backhaul and platform infrastructure that mobile broadband providers urgently need. Fixed and mobile operators will need to learn to co-habit as well as to compete.”

Source: Cellular News.