Mobile Regions
Innovation and investment are key to encouraging greater adoption of telecommunications services in Africa
It was a case of Groundhog Day. Here we were gathered for another conference to hear about the “success story” that is the African telecommunications industry. The message is consistent: The growth in consumer use of mobile telephony has been rapid, there is potential for more, and increased competition has provided the backdrop for this growth. And yet, we still listened to the frequently repeated discussions about whether regulators should encourage tower sharing, the state of play of universal-service funds and complaints centered on heavy tax burdens on carriers. Read more »
It’s time for greater reporting transparency in the mobile industry
I was reading an article this morning that talked about the need for greater consistency in global financial-reporting standards, and it had a particular slant on the need for transparency regarding companies’ sustainability performance. It wasn’t focused directly on the sector I cover, but it did get me thinking about how stale reporting standards in telecoms have become. Read more »
BlackBerry ban in the UAE would hit the estimated 750,000 users of the devices in the country
Schedule for implementation leaves time for RIM and the UAE authorities to reach agreement and avert a ban
The proposed ban on BlackBerry services in the UAE could prove to be disruptive and costly for the many users of the devices in the country, as well as for local telecom operators and BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM). BlackBerry devices and services are strikingly popular among both business and consumer users in the UAE, and Informa Telecoms & Media estimates that there are about 750,000 BlackBerrys in use in the country at present. Read more »
Analysis of European telco priorities reveals surprising results
We recently conducted an exercise looking very closely at the major strategic initiatives that have been implemented by the European telco community. It was a fascinating exercise that revealed a perhaps surprising level of consensus amongst all major European telcos. Whilst the tactics in reaching the goals may vary, our analysis showed the long-term strategic priorities are shared and fall into four very clear and focused aims. Read more »
China Mobile rallies operator support for TDD-LTE
China Mobile, the world’s largest operator by subscriptions, has reached an agreement with 11 operators worldwide to co-operate on TDD-LTE. The move underlines China Mobile’s intent to create a sizeable global market for TDD-LTE, a technology the operator is heavily invested in. Read more »
A CDMA iPhone would be great for Verizon, but does it make sense for Apple?
If Apple decided to make a CDMA iPhone, the whoops of jubilation would be heard all the way from Verizon Wireless’headquarters in Basking Ridge, NJ, to AT&T’s HQ in Dallas, TX, where the news would no doubt be greeted with stunned silence. Latest reports cite unnamed sources as confirming that Verizon Wireless will offer the iPhone in January, when they say AT&T’s exclusive deal with Apple ends.
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SIM-based services are driving mobile VAS market growth in Latin America
A number of Latin American operators are reporting good results from deployments of SIM-based mobile VAS. For example, Telecom Personal is seeing a high level of adoption of its SIM-based mobile VAS in Argentina. Telecom Personal and Oi in Brazil are offering the Windows Live IM service on mobile SIM cards.
Gemalto buys into M2M future
French mobile vendor Gemalto has acquired German M2M vendor Cinterion for €163 million (US$198.8 million) in cash in a bid to position itself to capitalise on the fast-growing M2M market. Read more »
UK iPhone 4 retail appetite puts pressure on supply
The iPhone 4 launched today in the UK and was greeted by queues of people eager to buy the device before it sells out. Vodafone’s flagship London store only had 50 handsets and the 32GB version was sold out in most stores. The next batch of devices isn’t expected for a month in that store, according to store representatives speaking with Informa analysts. Read more »
Saudicom raises questions about desire for change in KSA
Two days of presentations and panel discussions at SaudiCom clearly demonstrated that there are lots of great ideas about how the world (or the telecoms market in KSA) could be a better place. Black Swan theories, co-opetition, partnership, new business models and all that highly worthy jazz abounded. But I think anybody could be forgiven for taking it all with a large pinch of salt.
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