Bahraini incumbent Batelco today launched an ADSL broadband package with download speeds up to a maximum 16Mbps. The telco previously increased its downlink speed cap from 2Mbps to 10Mbps in June 2009.

Source: Telegeography

Bouygues Telecom, French Mobile Opertaor will roll-out its first quad-play subscription service, dubbed as Ideo’, on 25 May. The service entails, up to 20 Mbps internet access, a basic package of over 90 TV channels, unlimited calls to fixed numbers in France and over 100 international destinations, and a mobile plan with between 2 and 6 hours of calls per month. If the subscriber oays extra EUR 10 per month, they can make 3 hours of calls from their landline to mobile phones on any network.  Ideo’s charges will start at EUR 44.90 per month on a two-year contract, that includes unlimited SMS/MMS, internet access, e-mail and 3G+ TV. For EUR 55.90 per month, subscribers will be able to make unlimited calls after 20:00, EUR 65.90 will give them unlimited calls after 19:00 weekdays and all day on weekends, and EUR 75.90 will offer unlimited calls after 18:00 weekdays and all day on weekends. Subscribers to 3 hour, 4 hour and 6 hour call plans add EUR 6 per month for each additional hour. The subscribers who sign one-year contracts pay an additional EUR 7 monthly.

Source: Wireless Federation.

The global BWA/WiMAX subscriber base increased by 260,246 in the first quarter of 2008, reaching a total of 1,988,246 subscribers according to figures from Maravedis.

“Even with an increase of more than 19% in WiMAX subscribers in the first quarter of 2008, operators are still waiting for the tipping point that will lead to acceleration of WiMAX adoption and deployments,” said Adlane Fellah, CEO and founder of Maravedis. “The key factors mainly centre on certification of mobile WiMAX equipment, a reduction in CPE pricing and the emergence of a device ecosystem.”

“Many operators have held back their network expansion pending the mobile WiMAX 802.16e equipment certification, which was announced in June 2008. Mobile WiMAX is a key enabler of a wider range of value-added services and product flexibility.” added Cintia Garza, co-author of the WiMAXCounts Quarterly Report.

“Of the 264 operators tracked in WiMAXCounts, approximately 50% of them are providing HIS (High Speed Internet) services only. The remaining percentage corresponds to operators that are offering different applications, such as VoIP, Video, VPN , in addition to HIS. We expect however double/triple play to become the norm in the next two years” said Robert Syputa, Maravedis Partner and Senior Analyst.

This Quarter's Key Findings:

• 65% of Operators are already commercial, 14% are trialing, 9% are planning their launch, 10% have idle spectrum and 2% have returned/lost spectrum.
• Clearwire USA remains the top operator in number of subscribers, with an estimated 443,000 subscribers in the United States at the end of Q1 2008, an increase of 12.5% compared to the 394,000 subscribers reported in Q4 2007.
• The split by subscriber type among WiMAXCounts operators was 65% residential and 35% business.
• The 3.3–3.8 GHz band is the most widely deployed, with 63% of WiMAXCounts operators deploying their WiMAX networks in this band in Q1 2008, compared to 70% of the Operators deploying in this band during Q4 2007.
• Q1 2008 BWA/WiMAX service revenue among WiMAXCounts operators totaled US$ 366 million, as compared to $US 303.65 million during the previous quarter, an increase of 20%.
• Q1 2008 recorded ARPU was US$ 48 and US$ 146 for residential and business subscribers.
• Motorola remains the leader in equipment deployed for both BWA/WiMAX CPEs

Source: Cellular Nesws.

China Telecom has revealed that it has in excess of 940,000 subscribers for its IPTV service, and expects to pass a million subscribers very soon. The service, provided in cooperation with Shanghai Media Group (SMG), has been available in Shanghai, Jiangxu, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Shaanxi since 2005 and offers broadcast and on-demand content, as well as information services. The telco recently issued a tender for the supply of 574,000 set-top boxes, including 536,000 high-definition units.

Fixed line rival China Netcom, meanwhile, offers IPTV services in six cities including Beijing, Harbin and Shenyang, with a reported 100,000 subscribers as of May 2008. It intends to expand coverage to a further ten cities by the end of this year.

Source: TeleGeography.

According to the latest ROA Group report, the number of mobile WiMAX users in South Korea will increase to more than 2.5 million by 2011. The market revenues are also expected to increase to KRW65 billion (US$627 million) by 2011. Mobile WiMAX, called WiBro in Korea, was commercially launched in the country two years ago, on June 30, 2006, but due to insufficient CAPEX investment, resulting in poor service coverage and device line-up, the subscriber growth was slow, until KT started strong marketing strategies to attract subscribers in early 2007. The subscribers increased 5,600 in April 2007 to 106,000 in December 2007. In 2008, the subscribers are increasing by about 10,000 per month. In addition, KT and SKT, the two mobile WiMAX operators in Korea, have decided to expand their investment from 2008, and the mobile WiMAX market is expected to grow faster.

Moreover, the availability of VoIP will have a significant influence on subscriber addition. Currently, the biggest disadvantage with WiBro service is that it fails to provide a killer application. To become a 4G mobile technology, voice support is a must for WiBro and a necessary element for competing with HSDPA and its next generation version, LTE in 3G/4G mobile market, says Ku Kang, analyst at ROA Group.

To improve the service expansion, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) in Korea is developing NeMA (New Mobile Access), an upgraded version of WiBro. NeMA is a technology for the users who move at a high speed; at 100Mbps while moving at the maximum of 120km/h. In 2007 ETRI developed NoLA, which is LAN-based technology for the users who move at low speeds. ETRI plans to combine these two technologies and if it succeeds, the Korean market could witness next year a service that allows the users to use Internet in a moving vehicle on the highway.

Source: Cellular News.

A new report from Juniper Research says that the number of subscribers using mobile Internet services will rise from 577 million currently, to top 1.7 billion by 2013, spurred by demand for collaborative applications known collectively as 'web 2.0,' and greater 2.5/3G penetration. Putting that figure into some context, a report from Gartner earlier this week had said that the worldwide PC base would reach 2 billion by 2014 - so internet access by mobile phones will represent at around 50% of the total internet usage.

According to a new report from Juniper Research, the emergence of applications such as: Social networking; User Generated Content (UGC); Instant Messaging (IM); Location Based Services (LBS); Search calls for delivery of the mobile Internet as it was originally conceived -- i.e. an open environment in which users are able to share, collaborate and exploit content/information without any one party controlling the value chain.

This marks a fundamental shift for the industry towards the D2C (direct-to consumer) model and places growing pressure on mobile network operators (MNOs) and handset manufacturers in particular, to relinquish some of their control over the value chain, by opening up their networks/devices to third-parties.

"Major web players have already crossed the Rubicon and established themselves in the mobile domain, placing the onus on MNOs and other members of the value chain to form innovative relationships and grab a share of the new revenue streams being created," comments Ian Chard, Juniper Research Analyst and author of the report 'Mobile Web 2.0: Leveraging Location, IM, Social Web & Search 2008-2013.'

"The mobile web 2.0 market is still nascent and business models remain in a state of flux, so there is still time for players to establish fruitful partnerships that build on their strengths and are reciprocally beneficial. The window of opportunity, however, is closing."

Source: Cellular News.

The CDMA Development Group (CDG) has announced that, as of Q1 2008, Indonesia had more than 16.3 million CDMA2000 subscribers -- making it the leader in Southeast Asia for 3G CDMA subscriber growth. The CDG attributes the increase in large part to the availability of ultra low-cost handsets and affordable tariffs, which are critical to technology and service expansion in emerging markets. "Indonesia has emerged as a prime showcase of CDMA2000's core value proposition," said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. "With a dynamic combination of ultra low-cost handsets and value-added broadband services, Indonesia's six CDMA operators have boosted their revenue streams and propelled the region into the spotlight for mobile telephony and Internet growth."

Indonesia's CDMA2000 operators are Telkom Flexi (PT Telkom), StarOne (Indosat), Smart Telecom, Fren (Mobile-8 Telecom), Esia (Bakrie Telecom) and Ceria (Sampoerna Telekomunikasi Indonesia or STI). By March 2008, the total number of CDMA2000 subscribers among all six carriers exceeded 16.3 million, up from 14.4 million at the end of 2007 and 7.8 million at the end of 2006, representing annual growth rates of 53 percent and 85 percent, respectively.

Indonesia has the highest number of CDMA subscribers in Southeast Asia. "With CDMA2000, we are confident in providing a telecommunication service that is within reach by all people from all levels of society," said A.R. Martirez, Chief Executive Officer of PT Smart Telecom. "We are taking rapid steps to expand our penetration and market development through various products and services. This proves that CDMA2000 can readily fulfill all telecommunication wants and needs of customers in this country. And we demonstrate this with our value-for-money offer to the market, in terms of an economical tariff and affordable handsets, on a network that provides a pervasive yet efficient coverage. Best of all, it delivers a superior quality of service in both Voice and Data that customers expect."

Source: Cellular News .

Pioneer Consulting has published a new report which shows that a significant portion of multimedia content on mobile phones is either user generated or is simply being stored on the handset. This content, termed User Originated Content (UOC) is being increasingly shared with friends, family and contacts on social networks. With handsets starting to have Bluetooth, WiFi and WiMAX capabilities, end users can use alternative networks to share content, effectively bypassing the operator’s mobile network and the content value chain. Pioneer Consulting estimates that as a result of users sharing content and bypassing the existing value chain, $16.4 billion worth of revenue opportunity will be at risk by 2012. This is estimated to be more than a quarter of the total revenue opportunity for that year.

However, the study says that all is not lost yet and operators can play a key role in preventing this disruption from happening. To begin, mobile operators need to re-evaluate the applicability of the traditional client-server content delivery architecture in an environment where a large portion of the content originates from the handset. In addition, operators need to realize that there will be a bandwidth bottleneck between the base station and the handset due to an oversubscribed air interface, especially in the case of bandwidth heavy multimedia content.

Robert Hsieh, author of the report says that, “Mobile operators need to embrace peer to peer (P2P) methodologies within their own networks and focus on the advantages of using both assisted P2P and augmented P2P to mitigate the disruption”. Aditya Kaul, Senior Analyst, Emerging Wireless at Pioneer adds that, “P2P is generally treated with contempt by operators and has now become the 'P' word that should never be uttered. It is more of an attitude problem rather than an engineering one, and unless operators wake up to the reality of the situation, we cannot even begin to solve the problem”.

Source: Cellular News.

Swedes are increasingly placing calls, surfing and sending text messages, which led to sharply increased traffic and increased revenues for mobile network operators in 2007. For the first time, total revenues from services in mobile networks exceed revenues from fixed telephony according to a report from the telecoms regulator, the National Post and Telecom Agency (PTS).

In December 2007, nearly half a million customers used mobile Internet services, a sharp increase from just over 90,000 subscriptions one year earlier. Data traffic in mobile networks has increased tenfold since 2006. Mobile users placed more, and longer, calls in 2007 and sent an average of 40 text messages per month. Revenues from mobile services totalled SEK 19.7 billion in 2007, which is an increase of some 12 per cent since 2006. Mobile Internet services, by means of USB sticks or USB modems, account for more than SEK 1 billion of such revenues.

“We take mobile telephony for granted. We are used to placing calls whenever and almost wherever we want. 2007 was the year when even broadband users could seriously consider mobile Internet services when choosing a provider,” says Marianne Treschow, Director-General of PTS.

There were nearly 2.8 million subscriptions for fixed or mobile broadband at the end of 2007, which corresponds to 62 subscriptions per 100 households. Broadband services grew by more than 30 per cent in 2007.

The content service growing the fastest in fixed broadband networks is IPTV, for which there were 355 000 subscriptions at the end of 2007, compared with 50 000 subscriptions the year before. Subscriptions for IP-based telephony in broadband networks rose by more than 50 per cent to 623 000 subscriptions.

Source: Cellular News .

500,000 fixed wireless telephony lines are to be deployed within the next six months in underserved areas of Lima, reports BNamericas citing an announcement by President Alan Garcia on the presidential website. The news follows the award of a contract to Movistar in January for the provision of fixed wireless services in the 450MHz band. Under the terms of the 20-year concession, Movistar is expected to provide fixed wireless and mobile services in Lima and neighbouring Callao in the 452.5MHz-457.5MHz and 462.5MHz-467.5 MHz frequency bands.

Source: TeleGeography.

According to an updated forecast from SNL Kagan, the USA's cable industry is positioned to continue market share growth in the residential phone business, but the gains could prove tenuous in this increasingly dynamic segment.

The SNL Kagan analysis illustrates the telcos' loosening grip on the market and the opportunity created for alternative services. In the past two years, the telcos' share has dwindled from 90% to 74% of total connections, with the five-year outlook estimating another 23% drop. The main competition in the space has come from the increased availability of IP voice services from cable operators coinciding with the phase-out of older switched-circuit technology. SNL Kagan projects a steady increase in IP voice subscribers, reaching 31.4 million in 2012, putting cable's market share at 26%. The 10-year forecast shows cable penetration of homes passed stabilizing at 27%.

Source: Cellular News.

The growth areas for this market in coming years will be found where Wi-Fi chips are embedded in more and more device types. Wi-Fi IC vendors should tailor their strategies accordingly. Consumer electronics (home theater equipment, gaming devices, portable media players), mobile handsets and computer peripherals will all see increased rates of Wi-Fi penetration. "While CE products will initially see more Wi-Fi inclusion," Solis continues, "we expect that by 2011 they will be overtaken by mobile handsets. Mobile Internet devices (MIDs) will become increasingly significant as well."

Source: Cellular News.

Ka-ching, ka-ching. European wireless carriers are being told to expect 50 percent of the population to use their mobile handsets to access the broadband Internet by 2012. But most carriers won't be able to handle it alone.

To accomplish this, mobile operators will be partnering with fixed-infrastructure providers, with Arthur D. Little and Exane BNP Paribas forecasting that 20 percent of mobile broadband traffic could be carried through fixed networks.

Source: TelecomWeb.

In 2004, there were only 520 square miles of networked municipal Wi-Fi. However, ABI Research forecasts a nearly sixty-fold increase over the next several years, to more than 30,000 square miles. Varying levels of maturity and acceptance exist within this market, spread across global regions and individual countries. The following is a snapshot of some major variations, according to recent analysis from ABI Research:

• North America
: Leads in deployments; but in many cases, the region employs the wrong business plan of free consumer access and free infrastructure; consolidating incumbent service providers view municipal Wi-Fi as a competitive threat.
• Europe
: Mobile-oriented rather than PC-oriented; incumbents initially resisted municipal Wi-Fi but now recognize in-building limitations and are incorporating it within service bundles for nomadic broadband Internet access, or as a way to compete out-of-region.
• Asia-Pacific
: Status varies widely, but rapid uptake in advanced countries such as South Korea is resulting in innovative applications and the development of new end-user devices to leverage municipal Wi-Fi.
• Emerging Regions
: Equipment costs remains prohibitive; there is interest in the technology, but compared with more basic services such as electricity, funding is a challenge; these regions are likely to be late adopters.

Source: Newsletter Analyst Insider from ABI Research.

Safaricom has completed a test run for an HSDPA service that it says will enable subscribers access the Internet faster. HSDPA will be used to deliver the service that will include mobile video conferencing and video phone.
To get connected to the service a subscriber will require a special 3G enabled SIM card plugged into a computer modem. Safaricom chief executive officer, Michael Joseph, said the service would increase access to high speed Internet in the country.

Initially, subscribers will be able to access their data at a speed of 3.6 megabytes per second but this, he said, will be upgraded to 7.2 megabytes per second. Dubbed 'Bambanet,' the service will be available on both prepaid and post paid basis.Through the post-paid system, a subscriber will have to pay Sh5,999 for the modem and a special 3G SIM card, and sign a contract of two years. There will also be a monthly access fee of Sh1, 999 for 700 megabytes and a subscriber will pay a charge of Sh12.60 per megabyte.

On the prepaid mode, a subscriber will have to pay Sh12,500 for the 700 megabytes, receive free 700 megabytes for not more than a month, and pay Sh12.60. The costs could reduce when the company starts using fibre optic. Safaricom has spent US$20 million to roll out the service. So far it has built 75 third generation sites within Nairobi. The company intends to roll out the service first in Nairobi, followed by Mombasa by April then Kisumu.
(Source: Business Daily)

Source: Balancing Act.

The CDMA Development Group (CDG) has announced that CDMA subscribers grew to more than 431 million, and CDMA2000 grew to more than 417 million during last year. The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region added the most net subscribers, and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) grew the fastest by percentage.

CDMA2000 subscribership among the 250 networks worldwide grew 16% in 2007, including strong sales figures for broadband EV-DO devices and services. The EV-DO subscriber base grew from 55 million to 90.5 million in 2007, achieving a compound annual growth rate of more than 64%.

APAC and North America claimed the majority of customers, with 49% and 32% of the global market, respectively. APAC added 6.2 million in Q4 2007 to reach 211 million subscribers, making it the largest net growth region in the world. North America alone has more than 137 million CDMA subscribers. APAC and EMEA saw the greatest year-over-year growth, with 24% and 60%, respectively. Other highly-concentrated regions for CDMA are India with more than 61 million subscribers, China with 42 million, and Indonesia with 14 million. In addition, more and more operators in emerging countries are reaching the one-million CDMA subscriber mark. For example, Angola's Movicel, Morocco's WANA, Starcomms of Nigeria, PTCL in Pakistan, Sudatel and Yemen Mobile all saw subscribership race past this milestone in 2007.

The CDG also noted that 2007 also saw an explosion in the availability of both low- and high-end devices. More than 350 devices were introduced on a commercial basis. Today, more than 82 very low-end (VLE) CDMA2000 handsets (under US$50 wholesale) are available globally from 19 suppliers.

Perhaps most important to the designation of 2007 as a critical year for CDMA is the number of CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A (Rev. A) deployments that took place. At the beginning of the year, only three operators had deployed Rev. A technology. Now, 26 operators worldwide have upgraded to Rev. A and another 31 operators are in the process of upgrading. Operators with working Rev. A networks have witnessed a substantial increase in their data revenue.

In addition, CDMA has found a home in new spectrum allocations. China Unicom made a successful bid to operate 3G in Macau and rolled-out its first CDMA2000 1xEV-DO network there in October. PCCW-HKT Telephone won a 15-year license to deploy and operate CDMA2000 in the 800 MHz band in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, several operators in the United States are considering CDMA2000 to offer Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) in the 1.7/2.1 GHz frequency band.

On the 450 and 700 MHz fronts, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) reached a decision to use the two bands for 3G and next-generation mobile services.

Source: Cellular News.

World’s biggest telecommunication company Vodafone has unveiled a new service in Spain, which enables its mobile consumers to turn their handsets into a fixed telephone at home.

Vodafone is about to start selling the service hoping to reach 9.6 million homes which have no broadband Internet access.

Vodafone launched similar services in other European countries such as Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Greece, where it now has 4 million fixed-line customers.

A total of 52 percent of Irish consumers with a fixed line in their home subscribe to some form of bundled service, according to a Trends Series Survey into telecoms service usage from regulator ComReg. The most common bundle is fixed line calls, line rental and internet access - selected by 51 percent of respondents. The survey was conducted by Millward Brown IMS in October and November 2007. Mobile phone ownership for residential consumers reached 90 percent in Q4 2007, with 76 percent of consumer mobile phone owners using pre-paid models. Pre-paid mobile phone usage is higher for 15-24 year olds (89%) and those with no fixed-line at home (82%). A total of 54 percent of respondents use the internet from any location, with 48 percent of respondents having home internet connections. Of those with home internet connections, 68 percent are using broadband. DSL is the top broadband access technology for home internet users, with 52 percent using DSL. E-mail, research and travel/holiday bookings were given as the top reasons for using the internet. Online banking and online shopping were most popular for 25-49 year olds, with music downloading, social network sites and online games playing most popular for 15-24 year olds.

Source: Wireless News.