Wireless-Watch Community

The advertising arms race in social networks

2008-05-10T18:12:36Z

The Stampede For Social Network Dollars Intensifies writes Diane Mermigas The race to monetize and leverage the power of social networks is turning into a stampede, as evidenced by Microsoft’s recently renewed efforts to acquire Facebook in the wake of...

The iPhone Goes Schmapping

2008-05-11T03:03:25Z

On Monday, digital travel guide publisher Schmap will launch the public beta of its solution for the iPhone.

The iPhone offering will incorporate the company's City Guides along with a Local Search service and a new iPhone-specific Rotate 'n Map feature (see image) that automatically updates your map when the iPhone is turned sideways.

Check it out at http://www.schmap.com/iphone ... and if you want to try it out before the official beta launch on Monday the 12th, just go to www.schmap.com on your iPhone and enter access code 724627.

Instinct vs. iPhone, Part II

2008-05-11T03:04:18Z

Just in case you had any doubts that the Samsung Instinct was targeting the iPhone directly, marketing company M80 recently released a video comparing the Instinct's GPS functionality with that of the iPhone. And that's just one of a series the company has launched on Sprint's Web site, where they've posted the helpful tag line "Watch the Instinct defeat the iPhone" - just in case you didn't already get the idea...

There's one problem with the whole campaign, though, as Gizmodo's Mark Wilson notes. "The problem isn't that the Instinct is necessarily a bad phone, or that Sprint is a worse service than AT&T," he writes. "It's that Sprint's series of commercials will cost the company $100 million to promote a message that will most probably be a moot point in one month if/when Apple announces their 3G iPhone..."

Should your blog be on the OpenGardens blogroll ..

2008-05-09T19:44:38Z

I am revamping the opengardens blogroll. Happy to add any good blogs or recommendations. The OpenGardens blog is ranked at 7 out of 10 at google page rank - so will do good for your google ratings. I am also looking to link to blogs from all over the world based on criteria below especially from India, Chinese language/Japanese/Korean/German language/Spanish language and europe even if they are not in English Criteria The blog must be mobile /wireless/web 2.0/Enterprise 2.0 related It must have good content It must be consistent ie not an ocassional post in a month I especailly welcome global blogs (even if they are not in English) kind rgds Ajit

Wireless camps prep fresh 4G battle

2008-05-09T18:42:08Z

Wireless camps prep fresh 4G battle: The International Telecommunication Union, Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) ‘s recent call for candidates for the next-generation IMT-Advanced mobile broadband technologies has spurred competing standards groups into action. Even though the technical requirements are not yet finalized for IMT-Advanced — that’s ITU-speak for 4G — the WiMax folks at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE) and the LTE folks at the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) are already hard at work on their proposals.

» Can the Clearwire coalition save 4G WiMax?

2008-05-09T18:41:20Z

» Can the Clearwire coalition save 4G WiMax?: It has faced criticism as an unreliable and untested technology, and not only from promoters of the rival HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access) and LTE (Long-Term Evolution) technologies. Earlier this year, Garth Freeman, the CEO of Australian WiMax operator Buzz Broadband, described his experience with the technology as a “disaster” and cited problems such as latency, jitter, and poor indoor service. While WiMax equipment vendor Airspan claimed that Buzz Broadband’s poor WiMax experience was due more to the company cutting corners in its deployment than to the technology itself, Freeman’s anti-WiMax tirade generated unwelcome negative publicity at a time when the technology experienced delays

Why Intel’s betting its chips on 4G

2008-05-09T18:39:05Z

Why Intel's betting its chips on 4G: At first blush, it sounds as if Intel’s throwing good money after bad. After all, why pay $1 billion to join a consortium which has “squabble-fest” written all over it? 4G has been a slow train coming and the latest attempt by Sprint and Clearwire to speed the transition could easily fall hostage to all the big egos with seats on the board. Lest we forget, Sprint and Clearwire went their separate ways last November, only months after announcing plans for a Wi-Fi partnership.

On the road to Pasadena

2008-05-09T17:16:36Z

Have been traveling all this week. From Memphis to Seattle to leaving for Pasadena in a little bit. Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum is organizing the event on advertising tomorrow. Online Advertising - Getting Up Close and Personal: How will new avenues for advertising influence the buying decisions of consumer? Tim Cadogan, CEO OpenX, former SVP of Global [...]

European 2.5 GHz Auctions

2008-05-09T16:55:15Z

Sweden has concluded their auction of 2.6 GHz spectrum by the National Post and Telecom Agency (PTS). Auctioning 190 MHz in the in the 2.6 GHz band raised a total of SEK 2.1 billion (USD 346 million). Five companies won licenses. Intel Capital acquired one block of 50 MHz TDD spectrum for USD 26.2 million. [...]

Nokia re-emphasises its Internet credentials ..

2008-05-09T16:54:40Z

From arstechnica "Our goal is to act less like a traditional manufacturer, and more like an internet company," Kallasvuo told his shareholders. "Companies such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft are not our traditional competitors, but they are major forces that must be reckoned with. Make no mistake: We are taking on these challenges seriously and aggressively." "When we look at it with the eyes we have now, when regarding pedestrian navigation, map services, digital maps, we are even more excited about the opportunities than when making the decision" to buy Navteq, said Kallasvuo. Absolutely agree! Very few companies in the existing Telco space are going to dominate the world where the Mobile Internet is the dominant player and Nokia is one of them in my view.. For that matter .. very few existing Telecoms companies are going to survive in my view and there is a lot to be learned form Nokia

i2 technologia featured on Forum Nokia with Anina’s Flash Lite DressUp game

2008-05-09T13:46:09Z

I'm very happy to spread the word for this news. Guys behind i2 technologia (Felipe and Luciano) were featured on Forum Nokia as a FN Success Story:

Vonage stems the tide and gets onboard with Covad

2008-05-09T13:00:00Z

US VoIP provider Vonage reported a first quarter net loss of USD9 million, compared to a loss of USD72 million a year ago. Revenue grew to USD225 million in the three months ended 31 March 2008, up 15% from USD196 million in the first quarter of 2007. Excluding charges, operating income was USD8 million. The company claims its improved performance is due to an increase in subscriber lines and higher average revenue per user (ARPU). Vonage added 30,000 net subscriber lines in the first quarter and had over 2.6 million total lines in service by the begining of April. First quarter monthly ARPU reached USD28.85, up from USD28.19 in the fourth quarter of 2007. Vonage also announced a new partnership with broadband provider Covad to offer a DSL service to residential and small business customers offering maximum download speeds of 3Mbps to 6Mbps under a new package called Vonage Broadband. Vonage is hoping that the service, which will run on Covad's DSL network, and enable it to offer a ‘double-play’ package of VoIP phone service and broadband internet access in a single plan, will help boost its number of lines in service. The addition of 30,000 new subscribers in the first quarter of 2008 is down from 56,000 in the previous quarter and well below the 160,000 signed up in the same quarter a year ago. Overall, the company is still losing customers, with a churn rate of 3.3% per month.

MNP for Turkey

2008-05-09T13:00:00Z

The Turkish Telecommunications Board (TK) confirmed yesterday that it is bringing forward the introduction of mobile number portability (MNP) from the planned date of the end of November. TK’s Deputy Chairman Galip Zerey said customers will now be able to take their existing mobile phone numbers with them when they switch service supplier from 13 November. Rivals to Turkey's leading mobile operator Turkcell have been demanding MNP for some time, and the government’s plans to re-offer 3G licences will have provided an added incentive to accelerate the process. Three UMTS concessions were put up for sale last year but they attracted just one bid from Turkcell, leading the government to cancel the sale saying there was insufficient competition for the process to be legal. Telegeography’s GlobalComms database reports Turkcell is the market leader, with 35.4 million customers and a 57.55% share of the sector by end-2007. The second-placed operator, Vodafone (formerly Telsim) claimed 16.2 million customers, while the newest entrant, Avea, had around ten million users.

T-Mobile USA results

2008-05-09T13:00:00Z

T-Mobile USA reported Q1 2008 net income of USD462 million, up from USD315 million a year ago. Operating revenues increased 14% to USD4.57 billion from USD3.99 billion in the first quarter of 2007. The operator passed the 30 million subscriber mark during the quarter adding a total of 981,000 new customers (including newly acquired SunCom subscribers). Average monthly churn fell to 1.7% down from 1.9 % for the same quarter twelve months ago. Average revenue per user (ARPU) dipped slightly to USD51 per month, down USD1 from 2007. Data services revenues were USD760 million in the quarter, accounting for 16.6% of ARPU. Unlike many other operators, T-Mobile attributed the growth of data revenues to SMS and MMS which reached 33 billion in the first quarter of 2008, compared to 24 billion in the previous quarter and 16 billion a year earlier. The operator claimed its myFaves unlimited rate plan was the main driver behind its messaging growth.

Mobilkom places world’s fastest I-HSPA call at 10.1Mbps

2008-05-09T13:00:00Z

On Wednesday Nokia Seimens Networks (NSN) and mobilkom Austria demonstrated the world's fastest data call on a mobile device using the vendor's Internet High Speed Packet Access (I-HSPA) technology. The downlink speed reached a maximum of 10.1Mbps during the trial. I-HSPA is designed for heavy data transmission and multimedia usage. The ‘flat architecture’ is a new architecture of 3G networks based on W-CDMA technology that allows the base station to be connected directly to the internet and eliminating Service GPRS Support Nodes (SGSNs) and Radio Network Controllers (RNCs).

Cablevision Systems losses increase

2008-05-09T13:00:00Z

US entertainment and telecoms company Cablevision Systems has reported that its net loss increased to US31.6 million in the three months to 31 March 2008 from USD26.3 million in the first quarter of 2007. Revenues for the quarter grew 10.1% year-on-year to USD1.72 billion from USD1.56 billion last year. Telecoms services net revenue rose 10.6% to USD1.262 billion and operating income increased 38.7% to USD257.3 million. The company also announced it is planning to invest USD350 million to build its own wireless broadband network to serve its customers in New York with the network expected to be up and running in the next two years.

Tiscali adds new cities to IPTV service

2008-05-09T13:00:00Z

Italian telco Tiscali said yesterday that it has now extended its IPTV service to a further six Italian cities, including Turin, bringing the total number of cities reached to nine. The operator initially launched the service in Milan, Rome and Cagliari in December 2007. The company is reportedly targeting a customer penetration in Italy of 11% by 2009.

Taiwanese regulators give approval for sale of TBC

2008-05-09T13:00:00Z

Macquarie Media Group says it has obtained all the necessary Taiwanese regulatory approvals for the sale of its 60% interest in Taiwan Broadband Communications (TBC) to Macquarie Korea Opportunities Fund. The divestment of MMG's interest in TBC is expected to be settled by the end of June.

ANRCTI announces winners of tender for new Telecentres

2008-05-09T13:00:00Z

The Romanian telecoms regulator ANRCTI has announced that AccessNet International, Rartel, National Radiocommunications Company and Vodafone Romania have won the tender for the installation of telecentres in 172 rural localities of Romania that currently have limited or no access to telephone and internet services. AccessNet will install 150 telecentres in 31 counties, Rartel 19 telecentres in 14 counties, the National Radiocommunications Company one telecentre, and Vodafone Romania will install two. To date, ANRCTI has organised tenders for the installation of telecentres in 633 localities with 350 telecentres already functional. Each telecentre is equipped with at least two telephones, two computers linked to the internet and a fax, and are available for use by the whole community at ‘affordable’ tariffs.

Romanian mobile penetration up

2008-05-09T13:00:00Z

Romanian telecoms regulator ANRCTI, said on Thursday that the country’s mobile phone penetration rate had risen to 106.2% at the end of 2007. This represents a steady increase from a figure of around 80% at the end of 2006. Telegeography’s GlobalComms database reports that the Romanian wireless market has taken on the appearance of a two-horse race, with Vodafone and Orange carving up the vast majority of subscribers between them. However, new 3G licences were granted in 2007 and may lead to greater competition in the market.

T-HT’s profit down 3.8%

2008-05-09T13:00:00Z

T-Hrvatski Telekom (T-HT), the Croatian incumbent telco controlled by Deutsche Telekom, has reported a 3.8% year-on-year drop in net income to HRK548 million (USD116 million) in the first three months of 2008, whilst EBITDA of HRK927 million was 5.5% lower on an annual basis due to investments in its fixed broadband network to meet growing demand for triple-play services, as well as higher costs of attracting and retaining mobile and fixed network subscribers. Consolidated revenues of HRK2 billion in the quarter ended 31 March were up 2.5%, giving an EBITDA margin of 45.5%. The telco’s mobile unit T-Mobile Hrvatski posted revenues that climbed 5.3% year-on-year to HRK935 million. Mobile subscribers increased 11.9% year-on-year to 2.453 million at the end of the first quarter, with a 22.2% rise in the number of post-paid users to 720,000 resulting in 8.3% higher post-paid revenues, offsetting turnover loss from lower call charges. Fixed line division T-Com’s revenues remained stable at HRK1.28 billion in Q1 2008, compared to HRK1.29 billion in the year-ago period, bolstered by internet services revenues that jumped 33.9% to HRK211 million, and wholesale turnover up 8.7% at HRK257 million.

Telus boosts revenues by 6.6%

2008-05-09T13:00:00Z

Telus Corporation has reported its financial results for the quarter ended 31 March 2008, including net income of CAD291 million (USD290 million), up 49% year-on-year, and a 6.6% rise in revenues to CAD2.35 billion compared to a year ago. Net income decreased 4% if excluding a CAD173.5 million net-cash settlement expense recorded in the first quarter of 2007, whilst net profit in the most recent quarter also included favourable tax adjustments of CAD17 million, compared to CAD4 million in Q1 2007. Turnover growth was driven by a 10% increase in wireless revenues and a 19% rise in wireline data revenues, which was aided by two strategic acquisitions in January – Emergis, a business process outsourcer, and Fastvibe, a provider of web streaming solutions for businesses. Emergis has been rebranded to ‘Emergis, a Telus company’ whilst Fastvibe now operates under the Telus brand. In late March, Telus also launched a new low-cost mobile brand, Koodo Mobile, targeting young adults. Telus’s EBITDA increased 24% year-on-year in Q1 2008 to CAD950 million, largely due to the previous year’s net-cash settlement. Excluding this expense, underlying EBITDA increased slightly by CAD12 million as ongoing growth in wireless was largely offset by a reduced EBITDA in the wireline segment. Free cash flow was up 21% to CAD580 million this quarter, driven primarily by higher EBITDA and a 16.3% year-on-year reduction in CAPEX from CAD382 million to CAD320 million. Canada’s second largest full-service telco reported that its total fixed lines in service declined by 39,000 in the quarter, and 3.6% year-on-year, whilst it added 20,300 net new high speed internet subscribers (a growth rate 37% lower than a year ago, reflecting strong competition and market maturity). Net wireless subscriber additions were 88,400 in Q1, representing a 2.3% decrease from the total sign-ups in the same period of 2007. Post-paid net adds reached 72,400 (19% more than last year), and net pre-paid additions were 46% lower at 16,000.

Com Hem has 173,000 triple-play users

2008-05-09T13:00:00Z

Swedish cableco Com Hem has reported that its EBITDA reached SEK410 million (USD68 million) in the first quarter of 2008, up from SEK356 million in Q1 2007, on revenues that grew by 12% year-on-year to SEK944 million. The operator’s total subscribers reached 1.76 million at the end of March, up by a net 4,000 in the quarter, in a highly competitive market, according to a statement. By the end of the quarter, Com Hem had 173,000 customers subscribing to all three of its pay-TV, high speed internet and cable telephony services, helped by the addition of 16,000 telephony customers in January-March, bringing its total to 277,000.

Maroc Telecom revenues up 13.9%, Meditel revenues rise 3.8%

2008-05-09T13:00:00Z

Moroccan former monopoly telco Maroc Telecom has posted a 9.1% year-on-year rise in first-quarter operating profit to MAD3.1 billion (USD417 million), on revenues which reached MAD6.97 billion, up 13.9%. The operating margin in the three months ended 31 March was 44.7%, a 1% rise against last year on a comparable basis, the company said in a statement. The full-service operator, majority owned by French group Vivendi, said the results confirmed its annual forecasts and were driven by growth in mobile services. Maroc Telecom’s domestic GSM mobile subscriber base grew to 13.7 million at the end of March 2008, up from 11.4 million a year before. Maroc Telecom’s GSM rival Medi Telecom (Meditel), part-owned by Portugal Telecom and Telefonica, posted more modest year-on-year revenue growth of 3.8% in the first three months of 2008 to MAD1.22 billion, as its EBITDA climbed to MAD508 million, up from MAD473 million in Q1 2007. Meditel, which also provides fixed-wireless and internet services, achieved a first quarter EBITDA margin of 41.6%, compared to 40.2% a year ago. Portugal Telecom reported that Meditel’s mobile customers base reached 6.814 million at the end of March, up from 5.633 million twelve months earlier.

Privatisation committee approves OTE-DT deal

2008-05-09T13:00:00Z

The privatisation committee overseeing the planned sale of a government-owned stake in Greek incumbent OTE has approved a draft agreement between the state and Deutsche Telekom (DT), and the deal is expected to receive final approval by the Cabinet next week, followed by a submission to parliament, writes reporter.gr. DT has agreed to take a management role in OTE in return for buying approximately 5% of equity in the former monopoly; the German group has separately agreed to acquire a 19.99% stake in OTE from Greek investment group MIG.

BrT to test hybrid Wi-Fi phone

2008-05-09T13:00:00Z

Brazilian telecoms operator Brasil Telecom (BrT) plans to begin pre-commercial field trials of a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based Wi-Fi version of its fixed-mobile hybrid phone service Unico, writes BNamericas citing BrT fixed line product marketing manager Rivo Manhaes. The company announced plans to introduce a Wi-Fi version of the phone in February 2007 and had hoped to launch it by the end of last year. Although Manhaes would not provide reasons why the service launch keeps getting pushed back, he did say that the company was ‘still engaged in adapting product features’.

Indosat seeking USD200m syndicated loan

2008-05-09T13:00:00Z

Indonesian telecoms group PT Indosat is reportedly seeking a syndicated loan of USD200 million, reports Antara News citing the company’s deputy president Kaizad B. Beerjee. The paper writes that Indosat has commissioned the services of ING Bank (ING) and DBS Bank as arranger and emission underwriter respectively, to help it to raise money to finance capital expenditure projects totalling USD1.2 billion. The loan will come from four banks, Beerjee said, adding that the facility was supported by a so-called ‘green-shoe’ option (an underwriting agreement that gives the underwriter the right to sell investors more shares than originally planned by the issuer) which would enable Indosat’s loan facility to be increased by up to USD100 million.

UOL reports 11% rise in 1Q net income

2008-05-09T13:00:00Z

One of Brazil’s leading online media portal and internet companies, Universo Online (UOL), reported net income of BRL35.0 million (USD20.7 million) in the three months ended 31 March 2008, up 11% on the same period of 2007, with advertising and other revenues climbing 56% year-on-year to BRL53 million. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) totalled BRL35 million in Q1 2008, up 1% on Q1 2007; the EBITDA margin was unchanged at 25%. UOL said that excluding non-recurring items in 1Q08 and 1Q07, EBITDA increased by 29% over the same period. The number of paying broadband subscribers reached one million in March, 2008, an increase of 20% over March 2007.

Softbank signs up more users than rivals for twelfth month running

2008-05-09T13:00:00Z

Japan’s third largest cellular operator by subscribers Softbank Mobile reported more net new additions than either of its larger rivals NTT DoCoMo and KDDI in April – its twelfth consecutive monthly win – while second-placed cellco KDDI reported its first ever net loss after closing its TU-KA service on 31 March. Softbank Mobile added a net 192,900 customers last month, compared with 96,000 for DoCoMo, 92,400 for newcomer eMobile and a net loss of 118,700 for KDDI. Softbank Corp has been enticing users away from rivals with an attractive low price plan strategy for its mobile arm since acquiring Vodafone Group's Japanese mobile unit Vodafone KK in 2006. By the end of April this year it had 18.779 million subscribers, up nearly 20% in a year, out of a total of 102.987 million Japanese users. NTT DoCoMo had 53.483 million users at the same date and KDDI had 30.220 million, with its au Corp brand adding 115,400 users on a net basis. eMobile had 503,900 subscribers by 30 April.

Transcorp to sell 27% of Nitel

2008-05-09T13:00:00Z

Transcorp, the majority shareholder in Nitel, has denied reports that it will sell 41% out of its 51% stake in the wireline operator, but did admit that it was seeking a new investor for a smaller share. 'Transcorp would cede 27% of its current holding,' Transcorp Vice President of Public Relations Adedayo Ojo told the IDG News Service. The government, which owns the remaining 49% of Nitel, said in December 2007 that another core investor should be found to help turn around Nitel's ailing performance.