Telecom Asia articles from November 2007

Telecom Asia archives from November 2007

Making sense of mobile sensors.(TANNER)
November 1, 2007... I recently had the chance to try out the iPhone via a friend whose spouse brought one back from the States. As handsets go, I find the iPhone a bit lacking in a few areas, most of which you've probably already heard--no 3G, no stereo Bluetooth,...

IM presence: mobile and mappable.(FIRST MILE)
November 1, 2007... Just as the rise of instant messaging gave us buddy lists and the concept of presence (i.e. knowing when your IM buddies are online or offline), the rise of mobile-based IM and technologies like GPS are adding location to the mix. Sprint...

Worldwide IPTV subs soar past 8 million.(STAT SNAP)(internet protocol television)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... More than 8.2 million people worldwide are using IPTV services as of the first half, a 179% jump from the close to three million subscribers registered in the same period last year. According to Point Topic, Europe continues to lead the...

Europe continues to dominate.(STAT SNAP)
November 1, 2007... Worldwide IPTV subs Region H1 2005 H2 2006 H1 2007 Europe 521,000 1,505,000 4,984,000 Asia Pacific 612,000 987,000 2,176,000 Americas 267,000 409,000 1,069,000...

Rise of the private-branded handset.(NEWS ANALYSIS)(China Mobile Ltd.)(China Unicom Ltd.)
November 1, 2007... While handset customization isn't new to China, it's playing an expanding role in operators' efforts to increase subscribers and expand revenue from data services for different customer segments. China Mobile and China Unicom have been...

Big revenue potential in home automation.(IN SIGHT: ONE MONTH'S TELECOM RESEARCH)
November 1, 2007... The growth in the use of high-speed broadband connections, home networking and 3G in Asia Pacific is expected to expand the region's home automation services market to more than $500 million by 2011. In-Stat says home automation applications...

Emerging markets play catch-up.(IN SIGHT: ONE MONTH'S TELECOM RESEARCH)
November 1, 2007... Although Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam continue to play catch-up with the rest of the world in terms of telecom services, these markets will experience strong growth in the coming years. According to IDC, these emerging countries...

Market not ready for quad-play bundles.(IN SIGHT: ONE MONTH'S TELECOM RESEARCH)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... While triple-play bundles have woven their magic for service providers in the US and parts of Europe, the market seems to be unripe for quadruple-play packages at this time. According to Analysys, triple-play bundles of TV, voice and broadband...

Enterprises to fuel hosted VoIP services growth.(IN SIGHT: ONE MONTH'S TELECOM RESEARCH)
November 1, 2007... Larger companies that usually deploy their own VoIP solutions will turn more to the hosted services market for VoIP applications, as they temper investments in new premises equipment and upgrade their satellite offices. An ABI Research report...

HD comes to mobile TV--almost.(NEWS ANALYSIS)
November 1, 2007... With the invention of mobile TV, it was probably inevitable that someone would try to make it high-def. It hasn't happened yet, apart from some clever marketing efforts from cellcos like PCCW mobile and rival Smar-Tone-Vodafone. PCCW...

Nokia bets billion on LBS.(NEWS ANALYSIS)
November 1, 2007... The mobile industry has known for years that one of mobile's key strengths was its ability to deliver location-based services that bring a geographical context to whatever you happen to be doing on the handset at the time. Nokia believes in...

The government is closely watching investigations into alleged bribery in a Philippine government broadband contract won by a Chinese company.(BEIJING)
November 1, 2007... The government is closely watching investigations into alleged bribery in a Philippine government broadband contract won by a Chinese company. A Philippine elections official has been accused of offering bribes to push the deal.

OFTA awards a cdma2000 license to PCCW, the sole bidder of the city's latest 3G auction, for $76m ($9.8m).(HONG KONG)
November 1, 2007... OFTA awards a cdma2000 license to PCCW, the sole bidder of the city's latest 3G auction, for $76m ($9.8m). Under the terms of the 15-year license, PCCW will be able to offer cdma2000 services after November 28, 2008.

E-commerce firm Alibaba Group, 40% owned by US-based Yahoo, wins the nod from the Hong Kong bourse.(HONG KONG)
November 1, 2007... E-commerce firm Alibaba Group, 40% owned by US-based Yahoo, wins the nod from the Hong Kong bourse to list its core business unit in what could become the largest Chinese Internet IPO so far.

Shin is considering several alternatives to selling its holding in its 53% owned subsidiary ITV, which lost its broadcasting license.(BANGKOK)
November 1, 2007... Shin is considering several alternatives to selling its holding in its 53% owned subsidiary ITV, which lost its broadcasting license. Shin, controlled by Singapore's Temasek Holdings, had not made a final decision on a buyer or price.

True Online freezes all fresh investment in high-speed internet networks until regulators clarify policies on frequencies and technology.(BANGKOK)
November 1, 2007... True Online freezes all fresh investment in high-speed internet networks until regulators clarify policies on frequencies and technology. The company initially planned to invest in Wimax. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Telekom Malaysia and Cable & Wireless extend their global telecoms services agreement, under which TM will continue its role as an infrastructure partner with access to Cable & Wireless' international MPLS backbone.(KUALA LUMPUR)
November 1, 2007... Telekom Malaysia and Cable & Wireless extend their global telecoms services agreement, under which TM will continue its role as an infrastructure partner with access to Cable & Wireless' international MPLS backbone. In return, TM will provide...

Opcom Cables wins a contract worth RM44.6m ($13.2m).(KUALA LUMPUR)
November 1, 2007... Opcom Cables wins a contract worth RM44.6m ($13.2m) to supply fibre-optic cables to Telekom Malaysia. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The Indian government receives about 300 applications from about 30 companies vying to tap growth potential in the world's hottest wireless market.(NEW DELHI)
November 1, 2007... The Indian government receives about 300 applications from about 30 companies vying to tap growth potential in the world's hottest wireless market. The telecoms ministry has set up a committee to scrutinize applications, and analysts expect it...

The government is planning to open the terrestrial TV broadcasting space so that operators are able to offer mobile TV services.(NEW DELHI)
November 1, 2007... The government is planning to open the terrestrial TV broadcasting space so that operators are able to offer mobile TV services. At present, private operators are not allowed access.

Pacific Internet CFO Ho Tuck Chuen steps down.(SINGAPORE)
November 1, 2007... Pacific Internet CFO Ho Tuck Chuen steps down. The internet service provider has named board member Brett Lay as the new CFO.

Samsung reports that it has sold a record 42.6m handsets in the third quarter, with a slight increase in the average selling price.(SEOUL)
November 1, 2007... Samsung reports that it has sold a record 42.6m handsets in the third quarter, with a slight increase in the average selling price. Margins is the telecommunications division rose to 12% from 8% in the April-June quarter.

SK Telecom awards a contract to Alcatel-Lucent to upgrade its optical-fiber network to support increased traffic from mobile data services.(SEOUL)
November 1, 2007... SK Telecom awards a contract to Alcatel-Lucent to upgrade its optical-fiber network to support increased traffic from mobile data services for an undisclosed amount.

KT Freetel and NTT DoCoMo agree to a create a venture fund worth 30b won ($32.7m).(SEOUL)
November 1, 2007... KT Freetel and NTT DoCoMo agree to a create a venture fund worth 30b won ($32.7m). Each will take a 45% stake while Korean investment firm KTBnetwork will take the remaining 10%. The fund, named as KTF-NTT DoCoMo Mobile Investment Limited...

Chunghwa Telecom reports a net profit of NT$37.8b ($1.16b) for the January-September period, translating into a net earnings per share of NT$3.56.(TAIPEI)(Financial report)
November 1, 2007... Chunghwa Telecom reports a net profit of NT$37.8b ($1.16b) for the January-September period, translating into a net earnings per share of NT$3.56. As of September, the incumbent carrier had a total of about 4.22m ADSL and FTTx subscribers.

China Network Systems plans to invest NT$10b ($307m).(TAIPEI)
November 1, 2007... China Network Systems plans to invest NT$10b ($307m) to procure digital TV set-top boxes and upgrade its cable TV network for two-way transmission in a bid to promote triple-play services.

NTT Communications partners with India's VSNL to use the Tata Indicom Wi-Fi network for international roaming.(TOKYO)
November 1, 2007... NTT Communications partners with India's VSNL to use the Tata Indicom Wi-Fi network for international roaming. Subscribers to NTT Com's Hotspot wireless service in Japan can use their regular username and password to access about 70% of the...

NTT DoCoMo, Softbank and KDDI and their partners file for licenses.(TOKYO)
November 1, 2007... NTT DoCoMo, Softbank and KDDI and their partners file for licenses to provide Wimax services in Japan worth billions of yen.

The Australian government will not break-up telecoms giant Telstra.(SYDNEY)
November 1, 2007... The Australian government will not break-up telecoms giant Telstra in retribution for what it has termed an unprecedented political campaign ahead of a national election.

Telstra boss Sol Trujillo says he's not fazed by possible competition from Deutsche Telekom, Europe's biggest telecommunication company.(SYDNEY)
November 1, 2007... Telstra boss Sol Trujillo says he's not fazed by possible competition from Deutsche Telekom, Europe's biggest telecommunication company, in the bidding to build a high-speed broadband network in Australia.

Hutchison Whampoa's listed Australian telecoms unit will sell shares worth A$330.64m ($298m).(SYDNEY)
November 1, 2007... Hutchison Whampoa's listed Australian telecoms unit will sell shares worth A$330.64m ($298m) to Telecom 3G, a subsidiary of New Zealand Telecom.

New Zealand Telecom reveals that it can work out a decentralization of operations with the government by the end of 2007.(WELLINGTON)
November 1, 2007... New Zealand Telecom reveals that it can work out a decentralization of operations with the government by the end of 2007. The government has required the carrier to split its business into separate wholesale, retail and networks operating units...

Deutsche Telekom concludes a deal to buy Dutch mobile phone and broadband internet operator Orange Netherlands.(movements)
November 1, 2007... Deutsche Telekom concludes a deal to buy Dutch mobile phone and broadband internet operator Orange Netherlands from France Telecom for 1.3b euros ($1.8b).

Vodafone Group beats rivals to acquire the Italian and Spanish assets of Tele2 for 537m pounds ($1.lb).(movements)
November 1, 2007... Vodafone Group beats rivals to acquire the Italian and Spanish assets of Tele2 for 537m pounds ($1.lb). Vodafone will pay cash for the assets in a debt-tree deal.

AOL eliminates another 2,000 jobs worldwide as it tries to cut costs and make room to grow in online advertising.(movements)
November 1, 2007... AOL eliminates another 2,000 jobs worldwide as it tries to cut costs and make room to grow in online advertising. The 20% slice from AOL's workforce comes after several rounds of layoffs in recent years, including a cut of 5,000 jobs last fall....

Sprint Nextel's board, disappointed by weak financial results, pushes out chairman and CEO Gary Forsee.(movements)
November 1, 2007... Sprint Nextel's board, disappointed by weak financial results, pushes out chairman and CEO Gary Forsee, just as the company forecast weaker financial results and a larger subscriber loss for the current quarter than it had seen earlier.

Nortel and its principal subsidiary, Nortel Networks Limited, will pay $35m to settle civil fraud charges.(movements)
November 1, 2007... Nortel and its principal subsidiary, Nortel Networks Limited, will pay $35m to settle civil fraud charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission and will take steps to prevent fraud in the future.

AT&T wins the first contract in a radical overhaul of the US government's telecommunications infrastructure.(movements)
November 1, 2007... AT&T wins the first contract in a radical overhaul of the US government's telecommunications infrastructure in a deal that could ultimately be worth $1b to the phone giant.

Alcatel-Lucent seeks to reassure investors that its supply agreement with AT&T remains solid.(movements)
November 1, 2007... Alcatel-Lucent seeks to reassure investors that its supply agreement with AT&T remains solid. Alcatel-Lucent said its market share has remained relatively stable, and it will continue to work to meet its supply commitments.

NBC Universal is buying Oxygen Media.(movements)
November 1, 2007... NBC Universal is buying Oxygen Media, a cable television network designed to appeal to women, for about $925m.

The beaten-down shares of Vonage Holdings more than double in value after the internet phone company said it had settled a patent suit filed by Sprint Nextel.(movements)
November 1, 2007... The beaten-down shares of Vonage Holdings more than double in value after the internet phone company said it had settled a patent suit filed by Sprint Nextel. The shares gained $1.42 to close at $2.57.

Siemens reports that a German court fined the company 201m euros ($284m).(movements)
November 1, 2007... Siemens reports that a German court fined the company 201m euros ($284m), bringing to an end one of several investigations into allegations that employees made illegal payments in a bid to secure more contracts.

3Com gives up its independence in a $2.2b buyout by Bain Capital Partners.(movements)
November 1, 2007... 3Com gives up its independence in a $2.2b buyout by Bain Capital Partners, but it's gaining freedom from the whims of the market and a chance to expand in China.

US regulators pull the plug on NetBank, an online bank with $2.5b in assets because of an excessive level of mortgage defaults.(movements)
November 1, 2007... US regulators pull the plug on NetBank, an online bank with $2.5b in assets, because of an excessive level of mortgage defaults. It was the largest savings and loan failure since the tail-end of the industry's crisis more than 14 years ago.

Yahoo is buying email service Zimbra for $350m in an all-cash deal.(movements)
November 1, 2007... Yahoo is buying email service Zimbra for $350m in an all-cash deal that may open a new revenue channel for the slumping internet icon.

Wimax struggles for its place in a post-3G world--again: just when you thought mobile Wimax had secured its role in the mobile broadband ecosystem as a complementary technology to 3G, the cellular camps have moved the goalposts with solid plans for post-3G technologies LTE and UMB. Telecom Asia re-evaluates mobile Wimax's business case.(Cover story)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The post-3G wars are well under way. The telecoms industry has set its sights on mobile broadband, which will be a $400 billion global market by 2012, according to Informa Telecoms & Media. And proprietary or...

SOA gains traction in telecom: service-oriented architecture is gaining popularity among telecom carriers with its potential to reduce integration complexity for operational and business support systems.(BILLING)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Driven by the need to transform their operations from product-centric to customer centric and to move toward next-generation networks, a growing number of telcos have been structuring their next-generation OSS/BSS...

Revenue leakage problems growing: convergence, increased complexity and the changing nature of services are making it difficult for telcos to tackle revenue leakages.(SURVEY)
November 1, 2007... Despite the increased awareness of the importance of revenue assurance, telecom carriers worldwide are facing growing revenue losses, as convergence, increased complexity and the changing nature of services are making it difficult for telcos to...

IT pushes into business development role: Hong Kong operators target efficiency gains across all network operations and platforms--flexible IT organizations are key to speedy service launches.(SERVICE)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Hong Kong's dense population comprises 6.9 million residents with 9.3 million mobile subscriptions--a mobile penetration rate of 135%. Add to that 3.8 million fixed telephone lines and you have a teledensity of 54%...

Standards-based approach to monetizing mashups: service delivery platforms enable operators to accelerate the deployment of mashups while protecting their network assets.(INDUSTRY VIEW)
November 1, 2007... Together with the emergence of Web 2.0 is the rise of a little-known phenomenon called mashups, which many enterprises have been quietly using to save time and money. In the network world, mashups have been supported by web-service...

Billing platform key to driving new revenue.(FORUM)
November 1, 2007... In a service driven market operators must be able to quickly and cost-effectively manage, deploy and withdraw services to meet time-to-market requirements. For subscribers multiple and complex pricing structures can be confusing and slow...

Low-cost 5-GHz wireless CPE.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
November 1, 2007... SmartBridges has launched the airClient TOTAL 551 series of cost-effective customer premise equipment (CPE) that allows telecoms operators to establish end-to-end high performance wireless connectivity in the license free UNII 5.xGHz bands. ...

License-exempt Wimax solutions.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
November 1, 2007... A perto Networks has released PacketMAX solutions that operate in the 5.8-GHz license-exempt band. The new product range includes the PacketMAX 5000 and PacketMAX 3000 base stations, as well as the PacketMAX 300 and PacketMAX 100 subscriber...

Wimax radio propagation simulator.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
November 1, 2007... NEC Corp. has developed a new Wimax radio propagation simulator, dubbed RADIOSCAPE-Wimax, which is expected to realize the analysis and display of the service area and transmission performance of Wimax systems after their adoption in Japan next...

Bulk VoIP testing platform.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
November 1, 2007... Ixia has made available the IxLoad SIP solution, which the company claims is the first VoIP test platform to provide both functional and bulk VoIP testing. The new solution provides an environment of real-world triple-play traffic that...

Pluggable GPON transceivers.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
November 1, 2007... NeoPhotonics has unveiled a new line of pluggable GPON transceivers, compliant with the ITU-T G.984.2 Class B+ standard, to augment its portfolio of biplexer and triplexer modules used in fiber to the premises (FTTP) networks worldwide. ...

Upgraded Blue Coat appliances.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
November 1, 2007... Blue Coat Systems has upgraded the operating system software and hard-ware for its Blue Coat ProxySG appliances, resulting in wide area network optimization throughput increases of up to 220%. Blue Coat has also simplified the deployment of...

ADSL2+ gateway for homes, small offices.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
November 1, 2007... ZyXEL Communications has introduced the P-660HWP 802.11g HomePlug AV ADSL2+ Gateway for small offices and home users. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Designed for high performance, the new gateway is compliant with the 802.11g wireless standard...

MPLS-based Metro Ethernet solution.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
November 1, 2007... BCI Telecom has enhanced its carrier-class metro Ethernet I solution with MPLS functionality. This family of MPLS line cards, developed for ECI's XDMR MultiService Provisioning Platform (MSPP), allows support for real-time services such as...

Asia telecom transactions index.(TELECOM CORPORATE)
November 1, 2007... Asia telecom transactions index Value Seller Buyer Deal (US$) Navteg Nokia Acquisition of ...

Index hits record high: TA30 telecom stock index September 17-October 15, 2007.(TELECOM CORPORATE)
November 1, 2007... The Index gained nearly 11%, or 178 points, finishing at a record-high of 1,842 points, on the back of strong trading most Asian stock markets. Gainers outnumbered decliners 26 to 4. The biggest mover wits APT Satellite, which surged by a...

Telecom NZ CEO joins company board.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2007... Telecom New Zealand has appointed its new CEO Patti Reynolds to the company's board of directors.

StarHub names president.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2007... StarHub has promoted Mike Reynolds to the position of president, effective January 1, 2008. He will report to Terry Clontz and will be directly responsible for the execution of StarHub's operational plans. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Permanent appointment for Nokia Siemens CFO.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2007... Nokia Siemens Networks' interim CFO Eric Simonsen has been given a permanent appointment to the post. He has been interim CFO since June. He came from AlixPartners, a firm involved in helping businesses manage integration and financial...

Clemens joins DT board.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2007... Deutsche Telekom has named Reinhard Clemens to its board of management. He will also be in charge of business customers for the group's T-Systems subsidiary. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The appointments will take effect December 1.

Verizon business appoints senior officers.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2007... Verizon Business has appointed four senior executives to its Asia Pacific team. Tejinder Sekhonm is now MD for South Asia, Ron Gauci MD for Australia and New Zealand, Rod Hirst regional sales director, and Mark Saloyedoff regional director...

AT&T hires new execs.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2007... AT&T has appointed Fred Girouard as MD for Australia and New Zealand, and Raymond Ng as country manager for Vietnam. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Girouard, who transferred from New Jersey to Sydney, assumed his new role in September. Ng...

Buckley takes helm at Acision.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2007... Acision has appointed Rory Buckley as its new CEO. He joins Acision from Ericsson where he has been working for more than 30 years and was most recently president and head for North East Asia.

Amdocs appoints China CEO.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2007... Amdocs has appointed John Wang as CEO of its China operations, replacing Zhangjun Xu, who will assume a new global role within the company. Prior to joining Amdocs, Wang led IBM's global business consulting group in the communications...

Intelsat taps business development head.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2007... Intelsat has hired Edward Berger to lead the company's business development unit. Meanwhile, Veronica Pastor has moved from Intelsat's legal department to become director of business development for Europe and the Middle East.

New R&D head at streaming21.(TELECOM CAREER)(Horng-Juing Lee appointed as vice president)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... Streaming21 has named Horng-Juing Lee, its co-founder and VP of engineering, as head of the company's new R&D center in Singapore. The new center will focus on the design and development of its core products for IPTV, mobile TV and digital home...

New CEO for CSR.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2007... Joep van Beurden, former chief executive of NexWave, has joined Bluetooth technology company CSR as CEO. Beurden succeeds John Scarisbrick, who will serve as an advisor to CSR until December 31.

Exec appointments at Valista.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2007... Vafista has appointed Craig McDonald as COO and John Meldrum as VP of international sales. Troy Walker has been named director of services for North America and James Turner has been appointed senior director of sales for North America.

SkyPort Global adds sales execs.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2007... SkyPort Global Communications has appointed Michael Polmar as VP of sales, and Peter Semenach as director of product management. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Ditech Networks hires CEO.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2007... Todd Simpson has joined Ditech Networks as president and CEO. He comes to the company through Ditech's acquisition of Jasomi Networks, a provider of VoIP session border controllers.

Ericsson appoints CFO.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2007... Ericsson has appointed Hans Vestberg as its new CFO, replacing Karl-Henrik Sundstrom. Vestberg is currently head of the company's global services business unit, and he will remain in the position until a successor has been appointed. He will...

Networking opportunities across Asia.(EVENTS CALENDAR)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Networking opportunities across Asia Date Event Location Nov 12-15, 2007 Mobile Asia Congress Macau SAR, China Nov 13, 2007 Asia Mobile Awards ...

The Africa syndrome.(INSIDE LINE)
November 1, 2007... I'm sure a lot you are wondering: whatever happened to WSIS? You know, the world summit on the Information Society, known to insiders as "wizis". These days it might be better known as "whatsiz?" For those who have forgotten, WSIS was...

Chinks in the monopoly.(BACKPAGE BRIEFING)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... Telenor International, a Norwegian telco that operates in Bangladesh under the GrameenPhone brand, has been fined $24.5 million for "using illegal means of generating voice traffic over IP." The firm acknowledged it has allowed customers to...

Wishful ringing.(BACKPAGE BRIEFING)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... We've come to love our BlackBerry and cellphone vibrations so much--apparently that giddy thought that the next call or email will announce the inheritance of Great Uncle Joseph's large estate--that phantom vibrations are a new common...

No wires please.(BACKPAGE BRIEFING)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... Renewable power offers a great future for remote, developing cellular markets with cell towers powered by solar and wind power. The New York Times reported that Vodafone Fiji is providing cellular coverage to remote outer islands previously...

Hateful greetings.(BACKPAGE BRIEFING)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... Looking to weed out those extraneous friends on your Facebook or MySpace accounts? Have some of these friends become less than friendly? Consider EnemyBook and Snubster. These websites encourage people to mock online communities, especially...