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| MAIN NEWS Friday 3 July 2009 |
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Website for China Mobile's app store 'appears'
A website that appears to represent China Mobile's high-profile upcoming application store - Mobile Market - became accessible today, reported IDG News Service, giving a potential preview of the type of free and paid-for downloads the world's largest operator could offer its 490 million customers. Although the site appears to be in a testing phase (the store is not due to open until around September), it splits categories into games, software, music, reading, video and theme download sections. The authenticity of the site has not been confirmed, but it is interesting to note that it appears to also support Nokia's rival application store, Ovi.
What is known about Mobile Market is that the store is part of China Mobile's plans to adopt a more open business model. In February Mobile Business Briefing (MBB) exclusively reported that the operator also plans to launch an Android-based software platform called Open Mobile System alongside the store. As for Mobile Market, China Mobile's Chairman Wang told MBB at the time that "our major purpose is to gather the application developers via this developer community, better leverage resources of terminal vendors, and provide the users with abundant and high-quality applications that are easy to download, use and pay for." Reports in May suggested that the operator is seeking a minimum 50 percent cut of all sales from the store, more than the 30 percent cut taken by rival store owners such as Apple, Google, Nokia and Microsoft. The launch of Mobile Market may see it become one of the world's first carrier-operated application stores. Vodafone has announced plans to open its own store, though it has not specified the share of revenue that it will pass on to developers.
Report: NSN scales down WiMAX investment
Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) - currently planning a US$650 million acquisition of rival Nortel's CDMA and LTE access mobile assets - has become the latest major network infrastructure vendor to scale down its focus on WiMAX technology, according to Unstrung. The publication cites Mark Rouanne, head of radio access at NSN, as stating that the vendor has "already shifted a part of our resources away from WiMAX to HSPA+ and LTE" due to an acceleration in customer demand for the mobile technologies. Rouanne tells Unstrung that the vendor is "looking for our suppliers and partners to deliver what we would have done ourselves in-house." A later article from Unstrung claims that Alvarion is one of those partners. Rouanne was, however, keen to point out that NSN is not exiting the WiMAX market altogether. "We're not stopping, cancelling, or getting out of the market... We still have a strong offering in WiMax."
The retreat from WiMAX by the world's second-largest mobile network vendor follows a much earlier move by market-leader Ericsson, back in 2006. Late last year Alcatel-Lucent chose to cease future investment in mobile WiMAX (although continuing to develop fixed WiMAX as a 'wireless DSL' technology) and instead devote such resources to LTE technology. Even NSN's acquisition target - Nortel itself - exited the mobile WiMAX business in January this year. Other vendors such as Huawei, Motorola, Samsung and ZTE continue to invest in-house R&D resources to mobile WiMAX.
Report: DT eyes asset swap deal for T-Mobile UK
Deutsche Telekom is reportedly keen to make an 'asset swap' deal as part of its rumoured divestiture of its UK unit, T-Mobile UK, reports the Financial Times. According to sources close to the German telecoms giant, swapping T-Mobile UK for an asset in another country is the firm's "preferred option" to either selling the business or merging it with a UK rival operator. Rival assets that are being looked at are thought to include Vodafone Turkey, the second-biggest mobile operator in the country, which is considered an ideal target as it would complement Greece's OTE, which Deutsche Telekom acquired last year. "But there are also other assets in central and eastern European countries that could help [Deutsche Telekom] shore up its position in markets in which it is already active," said a source. However, the sources warned that the unwillingness of a would-be bidder to part with another asset and the complexity of dealing with regulators in two countries could make this type of deal difficult to make.
The report reiterated Deutsche Telekom's apparent determination to get a fair price for T-Mobile UK. "EUR3 billion would be the absolute minimum value for an outright sale," one of the people with knowledge of Deutsche Telekom said, noting that this was equivalent to six times T-Mobile UK's EBITDA. Speculation over a possible sale of the UK unit has generated a media frenzy this week. The Financial Times on Monday said that Vodafone was preparing a bid, while subsequent reports have suggested both Telefonica (owner of O2 UK) and France Telecom (owner of Orange UK) are planning rival bids to either buy or merge their UK businesses with T-Mobile UK. Any deal done with one of the UK's three largest mobile operators would create a market-leader with around a 40 percent (or greater) market share, though it is thought that regulators may look favourably on a deal that could ease pricing and margin pressures in the fiercely competitive UK market.
Iran hints at new auction for third mobile license
The saga over the award of Iran's third mobile license appeared to take another twist this week with news that the government may begin a new tender process, reports Cellular News. Kuwaiti-based Zain - the runner-up in the original auction - was thought to have secured the license after the original winning bidder, Etisalat, was stripped of the license in May. However, Iranian newspaper Poul quoted Iranian Telecoms Minister Mohammad Soleymani this week as saying that another tender would be held. Despite earlier reports that Zain had won the license the company has never made an official announcement. "It's an interesting opportunity and something we will evaluate but we will evaluate it in the context of the changes as the bids were submitted well over a year ago, and the world has changed," Ibrahim Adel, a spokesman for Zain, told the Financial Times at the time.
A consortium comprising Etisalat and local operator Taameen Telecom initially won the license in January but according to Iran's Communications Regulatory Authority the winning bid was scrapped because the consortium failed to meet its obligations. "The Taameen Etisalat consortium has gone out of the tendering process because it has neither given the necessary guarantees nor paid the license fee in time," said Soleymani at the time. The market is currently dominated by the state-controlled Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI), parent company of Mobile Communications Company of Iran (MCCI), which commands a 63 percent share of the country's mobile market. TCI's only current nationwide competitor is MTN Irancell, a joint venture between South Africa's MTN (49 percent) and the Iran Electronic Development Company (IEDC). The much sought after third license covers GSM services, and includes a two-year monopoly on 3G services.
Study: AWS to accelerate 3G growth in Americas
A new GSMA-backed study has made the case for new Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum as a key driver of mobile broadband growth in the Americas. The study by US-based research firm Global View Partners said the spectrum - as a core 3G band in the Americas - will accelerate the launch of new services in the region and put it on a par with Asia and Europe in terms of 3G reach. "Regulators should move quickly and not delay in making this valuable and viable spectrum available to meet the rapidly growing broadband needs of consumers and businesses across the Americas," said Ricardo Tavares, senior vice-president at the GSMA. The spectrum - 90MHz in the 1.7-2.1GHz range - has already been auctioned-off to operators in the US (in 2006) and Canada (in 2008), and the study notes that the prices paid for AWS spectrum in these countries "revealed high market demand," as well as adding significant mobile broadband capacity and coverage. Many Latin America markets are planning to license the spectrum this year.
According to the study, additional licensing of the AWS spectrum across the region should bring total subscribers with AWS-enabled devices from an estimated 12.4 million at the end of 2009 to an estimated 177.8 million at the end of 2013, a growth rate of 94 percent each year. As the subscriber base increases, the research suggests that device sales will also grow from an estimated 10.9 million in 2009 to an estimated 114.5 million in 2013, representing a growth rate of 80 percent each year. The research also highlighted operator plans. For example, T-Mobile USA plans to continue to drive AWS device and subscriber penetration over the next several years. Global View Partners' market forecast predicts approximately one half of the operator's subscriber base are expected to be using HSPA-enabled devices capable of operating in the AWS band within two years, with more than 90 percent within five years. The full report is available here.
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| MORE NEWS |
Devices
Microsoft phone rumours resurface
Cellular News notes that rumours, often denied, that Microsoft could launch its own range of mobile phones have jumped back into life with news that a media agency has been appointed to deal with 'Project Pink.' This is widely thought to be the code name for a smartphone running on Windows Mobile with its own unique user interface.
Technology
Intel-Nokia tie will take years to succeed
Intel's former chief executive and chairman, Craig Barrett, said yesterday it would take "a few years" to see whether Intel's technology partnership with Nokia succeeds, according to a Reuters report. Although the companies have said they will work together on a new class of mobile computing devices, they have not said when they will come to market or given details on the kind of mobile products they hope to develop.
Financial
MegaFon eyes VimpelCom
Telegeography notes that Russia's third-largest mobile operator, MegaFon, is looking at the possibility of buying up to 5 percent of shares in rival VimpelCom.
Sony Ericsson rearranges European management
Cellular News notes that Sony Ericsson has shuffled its European operations around and will now group the Austrian, Dutch, German and Swiss markets as one cluster, under the overall responsibility of Luc van Huystee who will be based at Sony Ericsson's offices in Dusseldorf. The markets of Belgium, Luxembourg and France will form a new grouping under the overall responsibility of Pierre Perron, who is based at the company's offices in Paris.
Etisalat to invest US$2B
Nigerian mobile operator Etisalat Nigeria will invest US$2 billion over the next three years in the deployment of network infrastructure, notes Telegeography. It hopes to achieve 45 percent population coverage by the end of this year and 80 percent coverage by the end of 2010. Etisalat Nigeria is the latest entrant in the Nigerian mobile market, having launched commercial GSM services in seven cities in November 2008.
Regulatory
EU scraps plans for smartphone import duty
The European Union has cancelled plans for a controversial import tax that could have pushed up the price of smartphones by 14 percent, notes Cellular News. In a statement, Swedish Trade Minister Ewa Bjorling said that the majority of member countries of the EU had voted against the plan.
GrameenPhone gets green light for IPO
Bangladeshi operator Grameenphone, 62 percent owned by Norway's Telenor, has now received regulatory approval for its initial public share offer. It said the valuation of the company and the offer price remained unchanged from the original application but it would increase the size of the total offer. Grameenphone has already raised US$60 million through a pre-IPO private placing offer to local institutional investors last December. Grameenphone shareholders have decided to revise the total offer size, including IPO and Pre-IPO, from 8.95 percent to 10 percent of its total share capital.
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