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Vodafone Drops on Report It Supports Bid for Sprint (Update3)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=ayL43juqmwfg&refer=top_world_news
Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Shares in Vodafone Group Plc, the world's largest mobile-phone operator, dropped after The Wall Street Journal said the company is considering bidding with U.S. partner Verizon Communications Inc. for Sprint Corp.
Vodafone would probably take a 45 percent stake in the new venture, the same as its ownership in Verizon Wireless, the Journal reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. The rest of the more than $40 billion total price would be paid by Verizon, the newspaper said today.
Sprint, the third-largest U.S. mobile-phone company, and Nextel, ranked No. 5, are considering a combination to create a larger competitor to Cingular Wireless LLC and Verizon Wireless, people familiar with the matter said last week. Under Vodafone's shareholder agreement with Verizon Communications, a bid for Sprint would require the approval of both partners.
``The market is showing that it might become too expensive,'' said Peter Braendle, who helps manage about $1 billion at Swissca Portfolio Management in Zurich, and owns Vodafone shares. ``I would hope that Vodafone had learned their lesson.''
Vodafone investors are harboring concerns after the company lost the $41 billion auction for AT&T Wireless Services Inc. in February. Vodafone shareholders, anticipating that earnings would be eroded, wiped 11 percent off the company's market value as the operator weighed the merits of a bid.
``This is a matter for Verizon, not for us, and we have no comment to make,'' Vodafone spokesman Bobby Leach said today.
Shares Drop
Vodafone Chief Executive Arun Sarin, 50, said last month he isn't interested in bidding for any U.S. wireless asset and plans to remain a Verizon Wireless shareholder. At the company's annual meeting in July, Vodafone said its bid for AT&T Wireless had damaged shareholder confidence.
Shares of Newbury, England-based Vodafone fell as much as 6.5 pence, or 4.6 percent, to 136.5 pence, the steepest decline since May. The stock traded at 138 pence at 11:53 a.m. in London. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. today cut its rating on the stock to ``in-line'' from ``outperform.''
Sprint shares rose to $25.93 in Germany as of 11:54 a.m. Frankfurt time from a close of $24.44 on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday.
According to the Journal, Vodafone wants to support a Sprint takeover by Verizon because it plans to maintain a presence in the U.S., although it doesn't intend to acquire Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint itself.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Angus Whitley in London at awhitley1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Lars Klemming at lklemming@bloomberg.net or
Zimri Smith at zsmith@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: December 14, 2004 06:59 EST
On the Horizon: The Global Wireless Web
31 minutes ago Business - NewsFactor
Mark Long, wireless.newsfactor.com
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nf/20041213/bs_nf/29010
Verizon recently announced plans to roll out its new wireless BroadbandAccess service in 14 American cities, with more to follow.
Verizon's high-speed offering is a wide-area wireless data service based on Qualcomm's (Nasdaq: QCOM - news) CDMA (news - web sites) and Evolution Data Optimized (EV-DO) technologies. Does this mean that we are on the verge of realizing a global broadband boom that will render today's hodgepodge of wire-line and wireless services obsolete?
"Right now EV-DO is more of a complementary service than anything else, but over the long term it may become a replacer technology for classic remote-access services," said IDC research manager for wireless business network services Keith Waryas.
"It essentially adds a new weapon to the cellular arsenal that will allow wireless operators to complete with the wireline guys, who already hold a very strong position inside the enterprise," Waryas told NewsFactor. "But I don't think it will do away with the multiple technologies that are already out there."
Not Really Broadband
Verizon's BroadbandAccess service may qualify as high-speed but is not really broadband because the uplink side still only runs at 60 Kbit/sec.
"To be considered broadband, wireline speeds must be a minimum of 256 Kbit/sec on the uplink," observed Gartner research vice president Phillip Redman. "This should also be the minimum requirement on the wireless side, which is why we call EV-DO high-speed but not broadband."
There is no truly broadband wireless service available today, Redman told NewsFactor. "To the average consumer surfing the Internet that's not such a big deal, but to the business user uploading a PowerPoint presentation, it is a consideration."
Verizon's EV-DO offering is directed toward mobile users and it is priced relatively low on a cost-per-bit rate basis, notes Redman. "It is cost-effective when compared to Wi-Fi, which only equals three to four days of hot spot service for the same price. But EV-DO still needs to come down to average in the US$50-per-month range."
Complementing Wireline
Because wireless spectrum is scarce, at least for now, the technology always will be a step behind wireline, believes Lucent (NYSE: LU - news) Mobility Solutions Group director Ed Chao.
But EV-DO can replace some of the technology in some cases, especially in certain rural applications where it does not make economic sense for cable systems to upgrade, Chao told NewsFactor. "In Third World countries where the copper embedded base isn't there, then wireless could become a viable alternative to getting broadband access.",/b>
Verizon will be employing EV-DO to hit the spots where there is a strong need initially, notes Chao. "Certainly the litmus test will be relative to how today's deployments go."
Remote Access Package
With Verizon's Broadband Access, enterprises will get a complete remote access package under corporate-wide plans that help to reduce cost and complexity, notes Redman. However, the Gartner analyst remains skeptical about the use of 1x EV-DO technology, because next-generation 1x EV-DV (evolution data and voice) seems a better offering for a fully loaded network.
"With EV-DO, you can either run voice or data, but not both at the same time," Redman said. "If you get a phone call, the download will get interrupted by the voice call automatically."
On the other hand, "with EV-DO there's also a soft handoff to 1x RTT when you leave EV-DO coverage so you don't lose your connection," Redman added.
The Nirvana Point
Where previously, remote access was based on the island model -- when you get to specific location, you log in -- EV-DO makes the footprint accessible from anywhere, Waryas said. "The value is that you can still access it when sitting at the customer's office taking an order, or out in the field collecting data."
Cellular operators may hope to take the hot-spot model and extrapolate from it, but they always will have a bandwidth constraint on their networks, observes Waryas. "Only when you start weaving in all these access technologies together do you get to the nirvana point."
Enterprises looking for the real deal may have to wait a while longer.
"Although it's a long way off, there is a wideband CDMA technology called high-speed uplink packet access (HSUPA) that will create megabit uplink speeds by the 2009 to 2010 time frame," said Redman. "As for Mobile WiMax, it will be four to five years before it is available anywhere."
Sprint bid to acquire Nextel on tap
Stakes of 51 percent and 49 stake seen; a Verizon offer?
By CBS MarketWatch
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B3EAAB40F%2D9BB2%2D4049%2D83BB%2DBE498FE9810A%7D&am...
WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- Sprint and Nextel Communications could unveil their $36 billion merger within a few days, but speculation has intensified about the emergence of a rival bid.
The combination would create a company with 39 million customers and around $30 billion in annual wireless revenue. This would put the pair behind Cingular, with 47 million subscribers, and Verizon Wireless, which has more than 40 million.
Yet some analysts question whether Sprint and Nextel could bridge a wide chasm between the technologies they use and the inbred cultures of each company.
Nextel, a free-wheeling industry maverick, uses a unique wireless technology incompatible with the CDMA standard used by Sprint, a more-traditional business organization.
"Nextel has a very different approach," said business consultant Larraine Segil of Vantage Partners.
Yet the two companies have been forced to consider a marriage to keep up with larger rivals Verizon (VZ: news, chart, profile) and Cingular, the latter recently having acquired AT&T Wireless in a blockbuster $41 billion deal.
Cingular is owned by BellSouth (BLS: news, chart, profile) and SBC Communications (SBC: news, chart, profile). Verizon is jointly operated by Verizon and U.K.-based Vodafone (VOD: news, chart, profile).
Urge to merge
Though it controls a lucrative niche among business customers, Nextel faces limited growth prospects in the future as that market becomes increasingly saturated and more competitive. The company is also considered a minor player in the consumer market.
Adding to Nextel's urgency is its planned transfer to another part of the wireless spectrum to avoid interference issues with public safety providers. That could cost $4 billion or higher.
In addition, Nextel might have to spend several billions more to upgrade the speed and capacity of its network, a decision that could prompt the company to junk its inferior Iden wireless technology in favor of the CDMA standard now used by Sprint. Nextel is the only wireless carrier that uses Iden.
By joining with Sprint, Nextel could save billions in expenses and obtain enough wireless spectrum to offer a variety of advanced wireless services. See earlier story.
For its part, Sprint would be incorporating the premier supplier of wireless service to mobile workers. Indeed, Nextel's success has given the carrier the highest monthly revenue per user in the industry.
The inclusion of Nextel would also give Sprint the broadest base of customers in the industry -- a carrier serving millions of consumers, as well as small, medium and large businesses.
If the deal is consummated, other players in the wireless industry are likely to feel the repercussions.
Motorola, for example, is the exclusive supplier of Nextel phones and could lose some sales. On Friday, Motorola stock (MOT: news, chart, profile) fell $1.38, or 7.8 percent. It was trading slightly higher after the opening bell Monday, up almost 3 percent at $16.74.
Qualcomm, which licenses the CDMA system used by Sprint, could be affected. Qualcomm stock (QCOM: news, chart, profile) fell 13 cents Friday to $43.30. It was also higher early Monday, up more than 1 percent at $43.85.
Motorola May Have 10% To 12% Near-Term Upside
12.13.04, 11:17 AM ET
http://www.forbes.com/markets/2004/12/13/1213automarketscan07.html?partner=yahoo&referrer=
Goldman Sachs maintained an "in-line" rating on Motorola (nyse: MOT - news - people ), saying the risks associated with a potential Sprint (nyse: FON - news - people ) and Nextel Communications (nasdaq: NXTL - news - people ) merger "are overblown." According to the research firm, investors are worried that a Sprint-Nextel merger poses a risk to the 9% of sales and 13% of operating income Motorola currently receives from Nextel. Goldman said Motorola would see little if any impact (approximately 2 cents per share) from such a deal in 2005, while 2006 risk would likely be offset by the performance of other lines of business. The research firm raised its 2005 earnings-per-share estimate on Motorola to 92 cents from 89 cents, citing improving margins in the handset and non-handset businesses. Motorola shares have a 10% to 12% upside in the near-term, Goldman Sachs said, adding that Motorola will need to mitigate near-term headwinds of $250 million to $400 million of operating income (or earnings per share of 6 cents to 10 cents) coming from a loss of royalty sharing from Qualcomm (nasdaq: QCOM - news - people ) and a potential lower sales run rate with Nextel.
Jim, Qualcomm is now spreading indirectly it's CDMA technology in Europe and Latin America by the intermediary of China's Huawei. This will be very good for Qualcomm, the royalty from Huawei will be 7.5% if my recollection is correct.
http://www.telecomasia.net/telecomasia/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=138103
http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=64446
Fabless Semiconductor Association Announces Winners for 2004 Awards; Awards Presented at Association's Tenth Anniversary Celebration
http://www.zdnetindia.com/news/pressreleases/stories/113911.html
The Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA), the voice of the global fabless business model, announces the winners for its 2004 awards, presented at the tenth annual FSA Awards Dinner Celebration on Thursday, December 9, 2004 in Santa Clara, Calif.
This program celebrates leadership in the semiconductor industry and recognizes public and private fabless companies demonstrating excellence through their success, vision, strategy and future opportunity in the fabless industry. The award descriptions and winners include:
Most Respected Public and Private Fabless Companies -- The fabless community, semiconductor financial and industry analysts and suppliers selected one public and one private company they most respect in terms of product, vision, strategy and future opportunities. This year's public company winner is Broadcom Corporation and private company winner is Cavium Networks.
Best Financially Managed Company -- The FSA research staff, in conjunction with financial analysts, evaluated the health of public fabless semiconductor companies traded on the U.S. exchanges by comparing financial indices such as: return on investment, return on equity, inventory turns, revenue, net income, days sales outstanding, cash per share, cash burn rate, gross profit margin, operating margin and current ratio. The company that excelled most often within each category was determined the winner. The 2004 winner is QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies.
Fabless Start-Up to Watch -- The FSA Venture Capital Advisory Board selected the winner by identifying the company that has demonstrated the greatest likelihood of achieving the next phase of growth. The 2004 winner is Frontier Silicon.
Favorite Fabless Picks -- Semiconductor financial analysts from top-tier firms selected their favorite fabless company for this award. The analysts based their decision on historical, as well as projected data, such as stock price, earnings per share, revenue forecasts and product performance. The 2004 winners are NVIDIA Corporation, awarded by Mark Edelstone of Morgan Stanley, and SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc., awarded by Kalpesh Kapadia of C.E. Unterberg, Towbin.
Outstanding Financial Performance by Public and Private Fabless Companies -- Companies that doubled either revenue or net income over eight consecutive quarters ending September 2004 were eligible to receive the award for outstanding financial performance. This year's public company winners include Atheros Communications, Inc.; Catalyst Semiconductor, Inc.; DSP Group, Inc.; Elite Semiconductor Memory Technology Inc.; Faraday Technology Corporation; Hifn; Holtek Semiconductor Inc.; Leadis Technology, Inc.; M-Systems; NetLogic Microsystems, Inc.; Novatek Microelectronics Corp.; SanDisk Corporation; Semtech Corporation; Solomon Systech (International) Limited; SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc.; and Sunplus Technology Co., Ltd. The private company winners are eSilicon Corporation, EZchip Technologies and Quake Technologies.
Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award -- This award recognizes individuals, such as its namesake, Dr. Morris Chang, for their outstanding achievements and unique contributions to the fabless sector, exemplifying how their vision and global leadership has transformed and elevated the entire semiconductor industry. The 2004 award was presented to Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO, president and co-founder of NVIDIA Corporation.
The 2004 FSA Awards Dinner Celebration was made possible through the support of this year's title sponsor, UMC, and sponsors AMI Semiconductor; Amkor Technology Inc.; ASE Group; ATI Technologies; Broadcom Corporation; C.E. Unterberg, Towbin; Cadence Design Systems; Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing; CMP Media; Conexant; Ernst & Young; Jazz Semiconductor; Marvell; Morgan Stanley; NVIDIA; Oracle; QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies; Reed Electronics Group; Synopsys; TSMC; Virage Logic and Xilinx.
About the Fabless Semiconductor Association:
The FSA is the voice of the global fabless business model. Incorporated in 1994, the Association positively impacts the growth and return on invested capital of this business model to enhance the environment for innovation. The FSA provides a platform for meaningful global collaboration between fabless companies and their partners; provides members with timely research and resources; and identifies, debates, and discusses business and technical issues. FSA members include fabless companies and their supply chain and service partners and represent more than 21 countries spanning North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. www.fsa.org
Source : Business Wire India
JP Morgan Positive on QCOM
http://finance.messages.yahoo.com/bbs?.mm=FN&action=m&board=4686818&tid=qcom&sid=468...
Huawei Stages EV-DO Demo in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
12.13.04
http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=64446
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Huawei, CDMA Development Group (CDG) and International 450 Association (IA450) today announced the successful demonstration of the 450MHz CDMA2000 1x & EV DO end-to-end solution. This solution was demonstrated at the 4th Meeting of the Permanent Consultative Committee II of the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL) held from December 6-9, 2004, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Huawei’s 450MHz CDMA2000 1x & EV DO system enabled the delivery of the first call and data service in Argentina.
With support from Telecom, the largest telecommunications operator in Argentina, the 450MHz CDMA2000 1x & EV DO system was connected to the existing PSTN switch to demonstrate the voice and high-speed data services, such as video on demand (VOD).
Huawei successfully demonstrated and tested the 450MHz CDMA2000 1x & EV DO solution to officers from Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Peru, United States of America and delegates from operators such as Telecom and Cotecal.
“With wider coverage performance and high-speed data service capability, Huawei’s 450MHz CDMA2000 is a cost-effective and rapidly deployable solution that provides universal services to eliminate the digital gap in telecommunications markets,” said Mr. Yu Dong, vice president of Huawei Latin America.
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.
China Telecom to resume CDMA450 service ahead of 3G
December 13, 2004
http://www.telecomasia.net/telecomasia/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=138097
China Unicom Awards Motorola Multiple Contracts for CDMA2000 1X Network Expansion in Deal Worth US$344 Million
Sunday December 12, 8:00 pm ET
Agreements cover Phase 3.2 expansion in 11 provinces; boosting network subscriber capacity by 5.4 million
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041212/clsu001_1.html
BEIJING, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT - News) has been selected for a major Phase 3.2 CDMA2000 1X wireless network expansion for China United Telecommunications Corp. (China Unicom), one of the largest network operators in the world. Equipment for the new CDMA2000 1X network has been deployed and is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2004.
China Unicom awarded Motorola multiple contracts, which resulted in approximately US$344 million of orders, during the past six months. The majority of the revenue from these contracts, approximately US$271 million, already has been reported in 2004 quarterly earnings. The remainder will be reported in Q4.
These contracts cover expansion of the operator's CDMA2000 1X networks in 11 provinces including Beijing, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hebei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Shanxi and Xinjiang. Motorola is providing equipment and global network services that will significantly enlarge network coverage. China Unicom estimates this expansion will enable it to grow the subscriber capacity of its 800 MHz CDMA2000 1X network by more than 5.4 million.
"Motorola has built a reputation as a leader in commercial CDMA deployment and is one of the key CDMA network infrastructure vendors in China," said Lu Jian Guo, vice-president of China Unicom. "Over the past 10 years, we have worked very closely with Motorola and they have laid a solid foundation for our GSM and CDMA infrastructure that allows for network optimization and easy upgrade. We have benefited from Motorola's vast experience in ensuring a cost-effective network deployment."
"Motorola's latest deal with China Unicom will allow the company to effectively scale up its network to successfully manage the explosive growth in the Chinese wireless market," said Simon Leung, senior vice president, Motorola, Inc. and general manager for its infrastructure business in the Asia Pacific region. "China Unicom is now well placed to deliver better voice calls, high-speed multimedia services and wireless applications to its customers, thus assuring its position at the forefront of the market."
Motorola has been the largest mobile wireless system supplier to China Unicom since 1994 when it began supplying GSM solutions, and has played an integral role in China Unicom's migration to advanced CDMA technology. China Unicom today has over 110 million subscribers on its CDMA and GSM networks nationwide.
Motorola is an established leader in CDMA technology having delivered one of the world's first commercial CDMA networks in Hong Kong in 1995. Its fully integrated CDMA2000 1X solution comprises industry-leading access and core technologies, robust system platforms, innovative applications, reliable services and end user devices. Motorola's CDMA 1xEV-DO solution has been commercially deployed in Asia and is being trialed and readied for commercial launch with other operators throughout the world.
Motorola's Global Network Services portfolio provides comprehensive consulting services and leading-edge technical expertise for every stage of the network's growth. The portfolio allows China Unicom to deliver superior end-user experiences, reduce total network costs, leverage existing technology investments and improve time to market with new services.
Business Risks:
Statements about subscriber growth in China, our future product offerings, and the impact of these contracts are forward-looking and involve risk and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include unforeseen events related to the performance of the contract, changes in the growth of the markets in China and other factors found in Motorola's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission
About China Unicom
China Unicom is a provider of integrated telecommunications services in China, offering a range of services including cellular, paging, long distance, data and Internet services to more than 110 million cellular subscribers, including 25 million CDMA users and 88 million GSM users.
About Motorola
Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT - News) is a global leader in wireless, broadband and automotive communications technologies that help make life smarter, safer, simpler, synchronized and fun. Sales in 2003 were US$27.1 billion. Motorola creates innovative technological solutions that benefit people at home, at work and on the move. The company also is a progressive corporate citizen dedicated to operating ethically, protecting the environment and supporting the communities in which it does business. For more information: www.motorola.com
MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners.
Source: Motorola, Inc.
China's Huawei wins first 3G contract in Europe
December 13, 2004
http://www.telecomasia.net/telecomasia/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=138103
Qualcomm bridging the 2G divide
Zatni Arbi, Contributor, zatni@cbn.net.id
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailfeatures.asp?fileid=20041213.P01
Oops, there was "technical glitch" again last week. I wrote that the price of the new O2 Xda IIs was around 1,500 Singapore dollars (S$). I forgot to convert this figure into US dollars (US$). My editor must have thought I meant US$ instead of S$, so it appeared to be much more expensive than it actually is. I've been told that the price is around Rp 8.5 million on the local market.
Now that the error has been corrected, let me tell you why I'm very excited about the prospect of the people in this country having more access to the Internet.
Actually, I'm like a child impatiently waiting for his birthday to come. There are so many new and promising technologies around, and operators are conducting test runs of various wireless voice and data infrastructure -- GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, CDMA2000 1x EV-DO, among others. More importantly, the differences between the originally competing technologies are becoming blurred.
For example, the competition between the European GSM and American CDMA has often been overblown. It has, in fact, become irrelevant. It has been agreed that GSM will continue to dominate the market, while CDMA is the better choice for greenfield operators. However, what about operators who provide their subscribers with a choice of, say, GSM or CDMA? China Unicom is a good example.
I had the opportunity to be in Beijing last month to attend the biggest telecom exhibition in that burgeoning city. The trip also gave me the chance to catch up with what Qualcomm had been doing there. As you may recall, the San Diego-based Qualcomm is the company that has developed CDMA technology.
Some China Facts
First, let us have some statistics. There are more than 320 million cellphone users in China today, and according to Frank Meng, President of Qualcomm China, there are currently 26 million CDMA subscribers. This figure was achieved in less than three years, as CDMA made inroads into China in 2001.
The 320 million cellphone subscribers are served by two carriers -- China Unicom and China Mobile. While China Mobile focuses only on using GSM and GPRS networks, China Unicom uses both the GSM and the CDMA network. In fact, its CDMA network is projected to become the largest in the world.
Clearly, Qualcomm has seen a lot of opportunities in China. Not surprisingly, it has been working closely with Chinese carriers as well as device manufacturers. As Frank said, locally made handsets and devices enjoy tremendous popularity among the Chinese consumers. In addition, CDMA2000 products that are made in China are also exported to more than 30 other countries.
China has not issued a license for 3G, as it is still hoping that the locally developed TD-SCDMA technology will finally have a competitive advantage. The government seems to count on it to reduce dependence on outside technology and to support local industry.
The proposed 3G for CDMA is, of course, CDMA2000 1x EV-DO. According to Luis Pineda, Vice President, Marketing and Product Management, Qualcomm CDMA Technologies, there are more than eight million users worldwide for the CDMA2000 1xEV-DO.
Devices and Chipsets
Oftentimes, the launch of a new technology fails to create the expected results as there are not enough products on the market to demonstrate its benefits. For Qualcomm's CDMA, that should not be the case. The company has been developing chipsets for handsets and other terminal devices for a long time.
For the 3G CDMA2000 1x EV-DO alone, more than 60 devices have been commercially introduced. They range from US$100 handsets to US$600 PDAs and PC Cards. The PC Cards can be used to enable PCs and PDAs to get connected to the Internet using the EV-DO network.
One of the key aspects of Qualcomm's business is the chipsets. It designs and manufactures highly integrated chipsets that serve as the brain for the CDMA devices, much like the Pentium processors inside a PC. Applications such as Position Location, Push to Talk (PTT), Video Monitoring, Multiplayer Gaming, Photo Sharing and e-mail guide the development of the chipsets.
Interestingly, although it is the main technology company behind CDMA, Qualcomm also works closely with UMTS (WCDMA) device makers. More than 25 device makers, including Samsung, Sanyo, LG, Huawei, ZTE and BenQ, use its chipsets.
Today, Qualcomm has chipsets with digital signal processing, integrated memory, video, audio and imaging capabilities that support both CDMA, GSM and GPRS. The result is a very highly integrated chipset. In contrast, using a non-integrated chipset will require the handset maker to use a separate chip for the camera, another chip for the audio player and another for 3D games. Thus, by using integrated chipsets, device makers can design smaller and less power hungry devices, reduce the cost of their products, and shorten their time-to-market.
GSM1x
In September, Qualcomm and China Unicom reported the successful first phase trial of GSM1x, a technology solution developed by Qualcomm.
In a nutshell, the solution allows GSM carriers to offer CDMA2000 1x voice, data and enhanced services using commercial CDMA radio frequency equipment without having the subscribers replacing their Subscriber Identification Modules (SIM) with User Identification Modules (UIM). As we know, CDMA users need a UIM while GSM users need a SIM for authentication and roaming purposes.
In other words, with GSM1x, GSM operators can offer CDMA voice, data and enhanced services without having to replace their own back office for billing, etc. As part of the trial, a dual-mode handset that can switch from GSM to CDMA2000 1x was also used. The QTP6300 handset, a prototype made by Qualcomm, uses the MSM6300 chipset made by the same company and supports roaming between GSM and CDM2000 1x with a single UIM.
For some time, we have had handsets that can switch from GSM to CDMA, but they need both a SIM and a RUIM. With the new multi-mode technology, no more switching will be necessary. The same also happens on the provisioning side, where GSM operators can also provide CDMA services with the same back end infrastructure. So, you see, the gap between second generation GSM and CDMA2000 1x is finally disappearing.
Sprint emerges as the buyer
51-49 stakes seen in $36 billion plan; rival bid could surface
By CBS MarketWatch
Last Update: 2:44 PM ET Dec. 11, 2004
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?siteid=mktw&guid=%7B266748F6%2DF701%2D480F%2DA780%2DD2...
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Although a Sprint-Nextel combination is being characterized as a $36 billion merger of equals, published reports describe the emerging transaction as a purchase by Sprint.
An announcement could come as soon as Wednesday, according to the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Both papers cited people familiar with the deal and said boards of the two wireless telecom companies are scheduled to meet Tuesday.
Adding to the drama of a big transaction, the Times said Saturday that Verizon and partner Vodafone could make an offer to top Sprint's price for Nextel. Citing industry strategists and executives from Verizon and Vodafone, the Times said any offer could come after Sprint-Nextel terms are publiclydisclosed.
Sprint (FON: news, chart, profile) will exchange the equivalent of 1.3 shares for each Nextel (NXTL: news, chart, profile) share, the Wall Street Journal has reported. Payment would include some cash, according to the report. The Journal said terms are designed to give Sprint 51 percent of the ownership.
With a planned spinoff of Sprint's landline local service, the Journal said Sprint majority ownership would provide an important tax advantage.
The New York Times said tax considerations could still sink any transaction.
Analysts will be looking to see how any merged company's board is configured, with a dominant partner usually holding more director seats. The Journal said a 50-50 director split is expected.
Sprint Chief Executive Gary Foresee would reportedly lead the company. Nextel boss Timothy Donahue would become executive chairman.
The terms would value the merger at about $36 billion and create a company with around $30 billion in annual wireless revenue.
On Friday, shares of Sprint (FON: news, chart, profile) fell 14 cents to $24.14. Nextel (NXTL: news, chart, profile) dropped 5 cents at $29.76. Both stocks rose sharply the day before, when reports of renewed talks first surfaced in the Journal. At Friday's closing price, a 1.3-to-1 stock swap provides a 5.4 percent premium to Nextel holders.
Sprint has a large consumer base and Nextel is the premier supplier of wireless service to mobile workers, with the highest monthly revenue per user in the industry. Yet Nextel has to spend several billion dollars to upgrade its technology and move to a new spot on the wireless spectrum. By joining forces, the two companies would save billions in expenses and obtain enough wireless spectrum to offer a variety of advanced wireless services. See earlier story.
Together, a Sprint-Nextel combination would serve 39 million wireless customers. That would put the pair behind Cingular, with 47 million subscribers, and Verizon Wireless, which has more than 40 million.
Cingular is owned by BellSouth (BLS: news, chart, profile) and SBC Communications (SBC: news, chart, profile). Verizon is jointly operated by Verizon (VZ: news, chart, profile) and U.K.-based Vodafone (VOD: news, chart, profile).
Beyond the phone competitors, Motorola could be hurt since it is the exclusive supplier of Nextel phones. Motorola shares (MOT: news, chart, profile) fell $1.38, or 7.8 percent, on Friday.
Qualcomm, which licenses the code division multiple access system that Sprint uses, could see its operations affected. Qualcomm shares (QCOM: news, chart, profile) fell 13 cents Friday to $43.30.
Sprint-Nextel Merger Would Get Regulatory Approval (Update2)
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conews&tkr=FON:US
December 10, 2004 17:24 EST -- A merger of Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc. is likely to be approved by U.S. regulators since the company wouldn't pose a threat to consumer choice or dominate the wireless market, telecommunications analysts said.
Nextel, Sprint Talk Merger
Neither Company Will Confirm Negotiations
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53244-2004Dec9.html?nav=rss_topnews
By Ellen McCarthy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 10, 2004; Page E01
Nextel Communications Inc. and Sprint Corp. are negotiating a possible merger, according to a source familiar with the discussions.
It was not clear how far the talks had progressed, and some analysts questioned whether a deal combining Nextel, the nation's fifth-largest mobile phone carrier, and Sprint, the third-largest, would be made.
Nextel Communication's walkie-talkie service has made the company popular with business customers. (Daniel Acker -- Bloomberg News)
A merger would give Reston-based Nextel access to Sprint's high-speed data network, saving Nextel more than $2 billion it has been planning to spend to build its own. It would give Sprint of Overland Park, Kan., access to Nextel's well-regarded management team and its business-oriented customer base, which produces the cell phone industry's highest revenue per customer.
Both companies declined to comment on the merger talks, which were reported yesterday by the Wall Street Journal and CNBC. Nextel's stock closed up 7 percent at $29.81. Shares of Sprint rose 8 percent to $24.28.
A Nextel-Sprint merger could give a combined company the heft to compete with the industry leaders in a time of consolidation. Together, the two companies would have about 39 million subscribers, said Rick R. Black, an analyst with Blaylock & Partners LP, behind Cingular Wireless LLC's 47 million customers and Verizon Wireless's 42 million. Cingular became the biggest wireless-service provider through its recent $41 billion acquisition of AT&T Wireless Services Inc.
Nextel has long been a leader of the Washington area's telecommunications industry. The company was founded in 1987 and grew by acquiring walkie-talkie licenses from taxicab dispatch operators. The cobbled-together system proved to have a big advantage: Nextel's push-to-talk feature, with its instant call connections, was especially attractive to business customers.
In 1995, Craig O. McCaw, a leader in the wireless industry, and his family invested $1.1 billion in Nextel and spearheaded the debt-burdened company's return from the brink of bankruptcy. The firm expanded its product and service offerings. Today it has about 18,000 employees nationwide, including about 2,500 in the Washington area.
Timothy M. Donahue took over as president and chief executive in July 1999 and has worked to raise the company's profile. The company stepped up its Washington lobbying efforts and signed a deal, reportedly worth $700 million to $750 million, to put its name on NASCAR's leading racing series. Nextel also won initial approval from the Federal Communications Commission for a multibillion-dollar swap of broadcast frequencies that would give it a better part of the communications spectrum while eliminating conflicts with public-safety communications.
Some industry analysts said a Nextel-Sprint combination would make sense.
"Both companies have interesting things to bring to the table, and creating a wireless company that could compete with the big boys is an interesting proposition," said Gregory J. Teets, a telecom analyst with A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. "Nextel is known for having a very good management team, very good customer service," he said. "Sprint brings a relatively advanced network."
Others said the merger would be difficult to pull off.
Because the companies are roughly the same size, the deal is likely to be framed as a merger of equals. Such a deal could be problematic, analysts from Goldman Sachs & Co. wrote in a research report.
"We think that Nextel has more to gain than Sprint and therefore would have to have that value reflected in the transaction," the Goldman report said.
Sprint has a market capitalization of $33.1 billion, compared with Nextel's $31 billion. But Nextel has been much more profitable, earning $1.53 billion on $10.82 billion in revenue in 2003. Sprint earned $1.2 billion on revenue of $26.2 billion in that year.
While the deal would narrow the number of major wireless competitors to four, a source close to federal regulators suggested that it would be likely to withstand regulatory scrutiny. The source declined to be identified because talks are continuing.
Some analysts said they expect more deals in the telecom industry.
"We believe that consolidation within the wireless space is inevitable and it would ultimately lead to greater control of pricing for the wireless providers," Black said.
Cell phone calls in flight?
http://www.ksbitv.com/home/1290631.html
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Federal regulators are set to begin discussions later this month on allowing the use of cell phones on commercial airline flights.
The Federal Communications Commission said that at its Dec. 15 meeting it will discuss possible revisions to rules prohibiting cell phone use on commercial flights. That's the first step of the process needed to lift the ban.
Cell phone use has been banned due to concerns about how it could affect an aircraft's navigation. And cell phones sometimes have trouble working when the plane is at cruising altitude because phone towers aren't built to project their signals that high.
The FCC rules have less to do with the effects on a plane's navigation than concerns that the use of cell phones on planes could wreak havoc with cell phone systems on the ground.
But airlines eager to attract business flyers have been looking for ways to keep customers connected to the ground while in flight, including Internet and cell phones.
In July, American Airlines (Research) and cell phone maker Qualcomm (Research) held a demonstration in which in-cabin calls were made using commercially available cell phones through a small cellular base on board that connected to worldwide terrestrial phone networks.
The passengers on the plane could both receive and make calls while on the flight.
Among those making calls on that two-hour flight were government officials, executives of the two companies and reporters.
American Airlines said at that time that regular commercial
application of the tested technology was at least two years away.
For more information, visit http://www.cnn.com.
Investors Respond To Sprint-Nextel Merger Rumors
December 09, 2004 (4:39 PM EST)
http://www.techweb.com/wire/networking/55300815
By W. David Gardner, TechWeb News
Wall Street took a strong liking to reports that Nextel Communications and Sprint Corp. are talking merger: the stocks of both companies jumped more than 7 percent Thursday.
CNBC said the two companies are in "active and ongoing" discussions, referencing an earlier report in the Wall Street Journal that the two cell phone service providers have been discussing the possibility of merging.
A merger between the third largest cell phone provider (Sprint) and the fifth largest (Nextel) could represent an important step in the long-awaited consolidation in the cell phone industry that so far has been elusive. The current disappearance of AT&T Wireless into the maw of Cingular Wireless may be trumped by the reincarnation of a wireless operation by AT&T, which will use Sprint as reseller.
"Consolidation will be good for the end user and lead to better quality of service for subscribers," said Michael Voellinger, wireless vice president at Telwares. "There are two primary issues here, though " the migration path and the distinctly different cultures of Nextel and Sprint."
The migration path is paramount to Nextel, because it is being forced to upgrade from its existing hodge-podge of public safety channels to different radio bands. As it looks to the future it has been examining Qualcomm Inc.'s CDMA technology " already in place at Sprint " and testing Flarion Technologies' Flash-OFDM network. In noting that Nextel has been testing the Flarion service in North Carolina, Voellinger said those tests have been successful. CDMA has already been successfully rolled out in numerous networks throughout the world.
Fitting somewhere, too, in the Sprint-Nextel equation is AT&T, which is planning to get back into the wireless arena now that its former cell phone operation " AT&T Wireless " has been swallowed up by Cingular. AT&T has said it is planning an ambitious wireless service rollout by the end of the year. AT&T has a non-exclusive five-year agreement with Sprint as its delivery vehicle. AT&T plans to offer its own content and applications including handsets, operator assistance, 411 information service, and customer care. The firm has suggested it could offer VoIP calling over Wi-Fi networks, too.
Voellinger said the trend in cell phone service will be towards providing content and services but he doesn't expect to see prices drop much more. "Voice and e-mail are still the killer applications," he said.
Another advantage of a merger for Nextel is that it would soften the sharp attacks from Verizon Wireless and Cingular " the latter is a combo of BellSouth Corp., and SBC Communications " which have complained that the federal government is preparing to grant valuable spectrum to Nextel at below-market prices. In recent weeks Verizon Wireless has softened its attacks on Nextel, but Cingular has grabbed the baton and lashed out at Nextel.
Sprint and Nextel declined to comment on the merger reports.
bloomberg.com: Sprint and Nextel Shares Rise After Report of Merger (Update4)
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000006&sid=aY9PGmDMYQHI
Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc. rose after reports that the U.S. mobile-phone companies are in merger talks.
The combined company would be worth about $70 billion, financial news network CNBC said, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. The Wall Street Journal said the companies are discussing a ``merger of equals.''
Pressure on mobile-phone companies to increase in size has grown since Cingular bought AT&T Wireless Services Inc. for $41.3 billion in October, becoming the biggest provider ahead of Verizon Wireless. Sprint Chief Executive Gary Forsee and Nextel Chief Executive Tim Donahue would combine their companies into the third-largest provider, with 33 million subscribers.
``There are some reasons why it would make sense,'' said Mark Hesse-Withbroe, who helps manage $125 billion of investments at U.S. Bancorp Asset Management in Minneapolis, including Sprint shares. ``Among the Nextel, Sprint, Verizon camp, it's probably where a merger would most likely take place.''
Nextel spokeswoman Audrey Schaefer declined to comment. Sprint spokesman Scott Stoffel also declined to comment.
Shares of Sprint, which ranks third in the U.S. market, rose $1.78, or 7.9 percent, to $24.28 at 2.42 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Nextel, the largest-provider of push- to-talk mobile telephones, rose $1.84, or 6.6 percent, to $29.81. Verizon Wireless and Cingular shares don't trade.
Building Networks
A merger of Sprint and Nextel would reduce the number of large U.S. mobile-phone providers to four from five.
A combined Nextel, with 15.3 million subscribers, and Sprint, with 17.3 million, would also come closer to Cingular and Verizon in size. Cingular has more than 47 million subscribers and Verizon has more than 42 million.
Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint would gain access to Nextel's business customers, who pay higher monthly bills and are more loyal than customers of any other national wireless carrier. Nextel's average monthly bills were $69 and its monthly rate of customer turnover was 1.5 percent in the third quarter, compared with Sprint's $63 in average monthly bills and churn of 2.7 percent.
Nextel loses a smaller percentage of subscribers than any other mobile-phone company in part because it sells a combined walkie-talkie wireless service that outperforms competitors' copycat versions, analysts and investors have said.
High-Speed
Sprint's network would give Reston, Virginia-based Nextel a head start in upgrading its existing airwaves to high-speed technology, Hesse-Withbroe said.
Nextel Chief Financial Officer Paul Saleh said today the company will announce by February its choice of suppliers to expand its wireless data network. Nextel is testing two systems for making its wireless network capable of carrying non-voice services, Saleh told analysts at a Credit Suisse First Boston conference in New York.
Sprint, Verizon and Cingular also are developing so-called third-generation or 3G mobile networks to help turn mobile phones and laptops equipped with wireless cards into devices with quick Internet access. Users will be able to transmit documents, music files, photos and video clips almost as quickly as they can now with cable modems and high-speed phone lines.
Donahue and Forsee
Donahue, 55, led Nextel since 1996, after cellular pioneer Craig McCaw invested in the company. In the past two years the shares have more than doubled as Nextel returned to profit and increased revenue per user.
Forsee, 54, returned to Sprint from BellSouth Corp. in March 2003, taking over a company that was losing market share in local, long-distance and mobile-phone rankings. The shares have risen 48 percent this year, buoyed by improving profits. Forsee has reduced headcount by 11,000 since becoming chief executive.
Sprint's PCS mobile-phone business now generates more than half its revenue, compared with about 17 percent five years ago, will probably grow to almost two-thirds of Sprint's revenue in 2008, Morgan Stanley analyst Simon Flannery estimates. Long- distance sales accounted for a quarter of Sprint's $6.87 billion in revenue in the second quarter, down from about half five years ago.
In a September interview, Forsee described acquisitions as ``risky'' and said he was focusing on developing partnerships.
There are ``lots of opportunities for us to not just rely on M&A, which can be a very distracting scenario, and to rely on partnering to take advantage of our assets,'' Forsee said.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Chris Johnson in Princeton at Cjohnson24@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Emma Moody at emoody@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: December 9, 2004 17:02 EST
Samsung may be white knight to SK
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2004/12/10/200412100025.asp
Samsung Electronics Co., the nation's largest company by profit, may buy shares of SK Corp. to help the top oil refiner to fend off a hostile takeover attempt, analysts said yesterday.
In return for buying shares, Samsung may want to cement its leadership in the local handset market and restore its strained business relations with SK Telecom Co., the analysts said.
SK Telecom, the nation's No.1 mobile phone operator is the biggest domestic buyer of Samsung's handsets. SK Corp., the de facto holding company of SK Group, Korea's fourth-largest conglomerate, is the biggest shareholder of SK Telecom.
"Under the circumstances, the possibility is high," said Harrison Hwang, an analyst at Goodmorning Shinhan Securities.
On Wednesday, Samsung Electronics said in a regulatory filing that it plans to invest in a 250 billion won ($236 million) private equity fund to help manage its surplus cash by buying "premium" stocks. But it did not provide details on the investment.
Private equity funds are used to buy stocks of companies or acquire the management rights of the companies. They are accessible to super wealthy individuals, financial institutions or companies with substantial cash, like Samsung Electronics.
Until this week, Korean companies were not permitted to invest in the investment funds but with mounting concern over the ownership of Korean companies by foreign investors, the government opened the door to domestic interests.
Samsung Electronics denied speculation that it may buy shares of SK Corp. to defend its top management by Sovereign Asset Management Ltd., which wants to oust SK Corp. Chairman Chey Tae-won.
"There is no such plan (to buy SK Corp. shares). In fact, I think if we were really to help out SK Corp., we would have invested much more than 250 billion won," said No Seung-man, a Samsung Electronics spokesman with the Corporate Communications Team.
SK Corp. also denied the speculation that Samsung may provide support to help SK or the company itself asked Samsung for any assistance.
"We haven't asked Samsung or any other companies to help us," said a SK Group official.
Last week, a Seoul court finished hearing a petition by Sovereign to force SK to hold an extraordinary shareholders meeting. The court's decision is due soon. If the court rules in favor of Sovereign, the earliest meeting could be held in January.
Sovereign has said that it only is interested in ousting Chey, who was convicted and jailed last year on accounting fraud charges. He is on bail and back at work.
SK Corp., the nation's largest oil refiner, is scheduled to hold its annual shareholder meeting in March.
Over the next three months, SK Corp. and Sovereign would obviously like to see allies enlarge their stakes in the oil refiner or make initial purchases, analysts said.
Earlier this month, Pantech & Curitel, the country's third-largest mobile handset maker purchased 1.44 million shares of SK Corp., which would account for 1.12 percent of the outstanding shares. SK Telecom is one of the biggest customers of the handset maker.
Local analysts said any assistance that Samsung Electronics provides to SK Corp. could produce benefits to Samsung's battle against LG Electronics Inc. in the highly competitive mobile phone market.
There are two sectors at stake -the third-generation handsets, which are expected to make up roughly half of all mobile phones by 2010, and satellite digital multimedia broadcasting phones.
Despite Samsung Electronic's overall dominance in the global mobile phone market, LG Electronics has far outpaced Samsung in the growing market for European technology known as the W-CDMA (wideband code division multiple access) by starting early.
SK Telecom is set to enter the W-CDMA market next year and analysts believe Samsung would want to be on good terms with SK Telecom.
Lee Young-ju, an analyst at Dongbu Securities Co., also said a stock purchase could be a gesture by Samsung to patch up relations with SK Telecom, which went sour earlier this year over the latter's attempt to take over small-sized phone manufactures through an affiliate.
Samsung and other phone manufacturers opposed SK Telecom's move, which was subsequently shelved.
Some analysts said a Samsung attempt to help another family-owned conglomerate could tarnish its corporate image.
"The move is risky," said an analyst who declined to be named. For Samsung, the scale of the fund is insignificant but such a move could spark criticism from shareholder activists unless the management proved the decision was made in line with the interests of shareholders, he said.
Analysts also said a stock purchase would lack any commercial sense. "Samsung has maintained its dominant market share because of its manufacturing capability, product quality and brand power," said Ki Ho-jin, an analyst at Dongwon Securities Co. Samsung sells 95 percent of its handsets overseas markets.
Unlike the case of Pantech, the improved business relationship with SK will not help Samsung increase its market share significantly in the local market, he said. (jungmin@heraldm.com) (mhkim@heraldm.com)
By Kim Jung-min and Kim Min-hee
2004.12.10
Sprint-Nextel tie-up looks more likely-WSJ
Thu Dec 9, 2004 05:55 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7038726
NEW YORK, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Wall Street is speculating that a merger between Nextel Communications Inc. (NXTL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Sprint Corp. (FON.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is becoming more and more likely, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday in its Heard on the Street column.
A merger would enable Nextel, the No. 5 U.S. mobile provider, to have access to more radio-wave spectrum which is necessary to transmit wireless phone calls, the newspaper said. It added that a planned network upgrade by Nextel could lead to the adoption of the CDMA technology that Sprint, the No. 3 provider, already uses.
The combination would also form a wireless carrier that would be big enough -- with about 38.5 million subscribers -- to rival industry heavyweights Cingular Wireless (SBC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) (BLS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Verizon Wireless (VZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research) (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research) , according to the Journal.
It also said that Nextel seriously discussed the idea of buying AT&T Wireless Services Inc., before it was bought by Cingular earlier this year, and that its executives talked about bidding for Sprint though that has yet to happen, a person familiar with the matter told the paper.
A potential deal could involve Sprint spinning off its land line business so that a combination between Nextel and Sprint would be a pure wireless company, the Journal cited one Wall Street banker as saying.
Nextel and Sprint were not immediately available for comment.
© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.
Beijing Board Meeting Confirms Sony Ericsson's Commitment to China
Posted Wednesday, December 8, 2004
http://www.phonecontent.com/bm/news/se/648.shtml
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB reaffirmed its commitment to the Chinese market when it held a meeting of its Board of Directors in Beijing today. All board members attended, including Carl-Henric Svanberg, President and CEO of Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Sony Corporation President Kunitake Ando and Sony Ericsson President Miles Flint.
Since Sony Ericsson launched its Chinese operations in October 2002 it has consistently demonstrated its commitment to this strategically important market. This is the second Board meeting to be held in Beijing and occurs in a year that has seen a number of milestone developments for Sony Ericsson in China. For example, on June 30, Sony Ericsson announced the establishment of Beijing Ericsson Putian Mobile Communications Co. Ltd (BMC) with a majority share holding of 51%, and at the same time it elevated its Beijing R&D group to Development Unit China status, to become one of four key global R&D centres. In September, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications (China) Co., Ltd moved its China headquarters to a new office in Wang Jing High-tech Hub, the future telecommunications hub planned by the Beijing Municipal Government.
Carl-Henric Svanberg comments: "Our continued success is constant proof that Sony and Ericsson is a perfect match that combines Sony's outstanding know-how in consumer electronics and imaging with Ericsson's state of the art mobile communications technology. We are very pleased that this formula is showing success in China, where we are enjoying a strengthened market position."
Kunitake Ando comments: "Sony is committed to the long-term success of Sony Ericsson, and I am especially proud of our results here in China. We view China as a market that will be the source of growth for the company for many years to come."
Miles Flint adds: "In the third quarter of our current fiscal year China became our largest single market in terms of volume. We are happy to see that the hard work Sony Ericsson China has done to create a winning team of local talent that produce products that 'wow' our customers as well as satisfy them is bearing fruit. Holding our second board meeting in this strategically important market is a great opportunity for the Board to recognise this hard work and to provide support in developing our future growth strategy for this region."
Sony Ericsson is one of the fastest growing mobile communications brands worldwide. Units shipped in the Q3 2004 reached 10.7 million, a 51% increase compared to the same period last year. Sales for the quarter were Euro 1,678 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 29%. Income before taxes was Euro 136 million and net income was Euro 90 million, which represent year-on-year improvements of Euro 97 million (249%) and Euro 28 million (45%) respectively.
Sony Ericsson has entered the second phase of development, aiming for sustainable and profitable growth, and strives to be the most attractive and innovative global brand in the mobile handset industry.
Huawei and Cleartalk Launch CDMA2000 1X Wireless Network
First U.S. Airbridge(TM) CDMA2000 Activation for Huawei
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/12-08-2004/0002590090&...
PLANO, Texas, Dec. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Huawei Technologies and FutureWei,
the North American subsidiary of Huawei, today announced that NTCH Inc., which
operates under its Clear Talk, brand name, has commercially launched Huawei's
next-generation CDMA 1X system for its approximately 358,000 POPs in El
Centro, California and Yuma, Arizona. This launch represents Huawei's first
commercial deployment in the United States, following successful CDMA
deployments in more than 37 countries around the world.
The system consists of a complete Airbridge(TM) CDMA2000 wireless network,
including a Mobile Switching Center, Base Station Controller, Base Transceiver
Station, Home Location Register, Packet Data Serving Node and fixed terminals.
Short Messaging Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) and 1X data
services will also be supported.
"We were very impressed with the quality and cost-effectiveness of the
Huawei system, as well as with the speed with which they are able to deploy
it," said Glenn Ishihara, president of NTCH. "Huawei is very strong in CDMA,
and we are delighted to be the first carrier to work with its subsidiary in
the U.S. market."
"North America is a very important market for Huawei and we appreciate
NTCH's confidence in Huawei's technology and service capabilities. I am
delighted to have a strategic relationship with NTCH," said Mr. Max Wangcheng,
president of Huawei's North American region.
"We congratulate Huawei on this successful deployment of advanced CDMA
technology for NTCH in the North American telecommunications market," said
Irwin M. Jacobs, chairman and CEO of QUALCOMM. "QUALCOMM is committed to
working with Huawei and other top global telecommunications equipment
suppliers to rapidly expand third-generation CDMA mobile networks worldwide
and to introduce exciting new applications for their customers."
About NTCH Inc,. dba Cleartalk
NTCH is a privately held mobile wireless carrier established in 1999. NTCH
is a vertically integrated company with 120 employees managing business
activities which include everything from spectrum investments, the
development-construction and marketing of over 160 owned multi-tenant towers,
cell site installation and collocation construction services for tenants, to
operating networks, retail stores, and providing customer care to its
customers on a local basis under the ClearTalk, Wireless Made Simple brand.
For more information, please visit NTCH's Website at
http://www.cleartalk.net .
About Huawei Technologies
Incorporated in 1988 and headquartered in Shenzhen, China, Huawei
Technologies specializes in the research and development, production and
marketing of telecommunications equipment, providing customized network
solutions in fixed, mobile, optical and data communications networks. Huawei
is a key player in the China telecommunications market and is quickly becoming
an active participant globally.
Huawei focuses on such areas as data communication, NGN, xDSL, WCDMA and
CDMA2000. The company's products have been deployed in over 50 countries
including the United States, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Russia, Brazil,
Egypt, Thailand and Singapore. Huawei has 25,000 employees worldwide and
achieved sales of US$3.83 billion in 2003. For more information, please visit
Huawei's website at http://www.huawei.com .
About FutureWei Technologies
Huawei operates in North America through its FutureWei (http://www.futurewei.com)
subsidiary, which is based in Plano Texas. With a strong focus on network
infrastructure, FutureWei Technologies, Inc., designs, markets and supports a
wide range of advanced telecommunication products to provide customers with
both carrier and enterprise network solutions.
SOURCE Huawei Technologies
Web Site: http://www.huawei.com
Korea Test Bed for Advanced Networks
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200412/kt2004120816340710230.htm
By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter
South Korea was a late entrant in fixed-line telecom but the nation continues its global leadership in wireless communications from cell phones to next-generation networks.
Korea is responsible for adopting the code division multiple access (CDMA), the offspring of U.S.-based Qualcomm, in a full-fledged manner and in globalizing the underdog handset technology.
Now the country once again storms onto the forefront in deploying untested wireless networks including WiBro, Zigbee and ground location-based service (LBS).
Among them, Korea is betting much on WiBro, the homegrown platform which enables people on the go to remain connected to the Internet at the speed of current wireline broadband.
Its commercial launch is expected in the first half of 2006 and the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) plans to issue three licenses next February.
The forthcoming service promises a downlink transmission speed of around 1 Mbps (megabits per second), several times faster than current norm, and mobile reception at up to 60 kilometers per hour.
After checking its commercial viability here, the MIC seeks to bring the locally developed technology into the global market and take advantage of the snowballing wireless trend.
Earlier this week, local handset maker Pantech and Curitel said the company developed a ``Zigbee'' phone, which enables users to activate electric switches and control electronics devices from a distance.
The high-end phone will be released in time with the MIC's plan of embarking on Zigbee sensor-based home networking services from late next year, faster than competing countries.
``With the advent of Zigbee sensors, about the size of a coin, and Zigbee phones, people will be able to remotely monitor and control lights or other everyday home appliances via a handset,'' MIC project manager Kim Tae-geun said.
Zigbee sensors, which will be embedded in a wide range of products, are designed to use very small amounts of power so that individual devices might run for years with a single alkaline battery.
The tracking system based on ground LBS will also get underway here in 2006, to challenge the currently dominant satellite-used global positioning system (GPS).
The nation already allocated 377-380 MHz for the business and a couple of companies look to commercialize it on the assumption that the service will attract 11.4 million subscribers by 2011.
``Unlike satellite GPS, which fails to track targets in shadow areas like inside a building, ground LBS can spot anybody with a terminal within a radius of 20-50 meters regardless of his location,'' another MIC project manager Lee Yoon-deock said.
After approaching the target within the radius, the tracker can pinpoint its situation with the help of a homing device, which can find the target's exact coordinates.
As a first plausible service, Lee predicted the terminal will be worn by Alzheimer's patients or young children to help caretakers detect their presence when they pass a certain pre-set area. The same device on a pet's collar could alert an owner when it goes astray.
The terminal is expected to cost 100,000 won per unit and an annual subscription fee would be set at about 50,000 won according to Kwack Chi-young, president of Vision Plant, which is preparing for the promising business.
voc200@koreatimes.co.kr
12-08-2004 16:35
Cingular's High-Risk Bet on High-Speed Data
By Matthew Maier, December 07, 2004
http://www.business2.com/b2/web/articles/0,17863,927522,00.html
Trying to surf the Web with most cell phones available to Americans is reminiscent of the early days of dial-up Internet service, a decade and a half ago. Until cell-phone users get speeds at least as fast as the cable or DSL connections used in homes, the phone companies can't roll out moneymaking but bandwidth-hungry data services such as digital television broadcast to handsets, online multiplayer games, and wireless broadband service for corporate road warriors. Whoever gets it right will have a tremendous market advantage.
Last week the new and improved Cingular said it will be one of those companies. It detailed plans to bring its 46 million customers screaming into the 21st century with high-speed data services. In so doing, Cingular, now the nation's largest wireless operator, set up a showdown with the recently unseated champion, Verizon Wireless. Each of these companies has bet on a different wireless technology.
Cingular is staking its future on a technology called high-speed downlink packet access. Essentially an upgrade to an existing cellular data technology known as UMTS, HSDPA will give Cingular's third-generation (3G) phone customers data speeds of several hundred kilobits per second -- which makes it about as fast as cable or DSL. Verizon Wireless -- arguably the best-run carrier in North America -- has already rolled out its 3G service, BroadbandAccess, in 16 cities, including San Diego and Washington. Based on a rival technology developed by Qualcomm (QCOM) called CDMA 1x EV-DO, Verizon's service is proving popular with customers -- especially corporate customers, who use it to get broadband data access on their laptops while traveling. Cingular needs to get its data network in place or risk losing out on this valuable segment of mobile users. "Verizon is the one that is already really out in front," says John Yunker of Byte Level Research. "It's left Cingular and the other carriers scrambling."
Underscoring that point, Sprint is scrambling to get its own 3G network in place. Earlier this week the nation's third-largest carrier announced a $3 billion agreement with Lucent Technologies (LU), Motorola (MOT), and Nortel Networks (NT) to purchase the base stations and radio hardware needed to get its EV-DO network up and running as soon as possible. The upgraded network, which will be roughly 10 times faster than Sprint's popular CDMA 1xRTT network, has been fast-tracked by Sprint executives who fear being left behind by their two larger competitors.
From a technology perspective, HSDPA would let Cingular leapfrog EV-DO-based networks. Cingular's new network would conceivably allow customers to have simultaneous voice and data sessions. For instance, a Cingular subscriber could use a handset to make a call while checking e-mail or browsing the Internet at high speeds. HSDPA's maximum speed of 14 megabits per second, which is really only likely in a lab environment, also gives Cingular the ability to offer higher data speeds than those available on existing EV-DO networks. Companies like Alcatel (ALA), Lucent, and Siemens are already busy developing HSDPA equipment, so Cingular will have the luxury of working with several vendors to get the best prices and latest technology.
Still, Cingular will have to play catch-up while it is busy swallowing its purchase of AT&T Wireless. It will be at least another 18 months before Cingular can get this HSDPA network up and running. Consumer equipment will take time as well -- the technology will likely appear first in PC cards, and only later in cell phones, since it's easier to design a new technology for devices that don't use batteries. In the meantime Verizon will be rolling out EV-DO in more cities and is expected to drop the price of its BroadbandAccess service from its current $80 a month, which will speed up its adoption.
Make no mistake about it: This is a big bet. If Cingular doesn't get its data network in place quickly, it risks losing the all-important lead it just spent $47 billion to obtain.
TI quarterly update, earnings in focus after the bell
By Christopher Noble
Last Updated: 12/7/2004 3:03:40 PM
http://www.investors.com/breakingnews.asp?journalid=24306171&brk=1
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) - A midquarter update from chipmaker Texas Instruments is expected to grab the spotlight in evening trading Tuesday, in an after hours session also marked by a clutch of quarterly results reports.
In afternoon trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 66.87 points lower at 10,480.19, while the technology heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was down 20.76 points at 2,130.49. See full story.
Texas Instruments (TXN), which will release its update at about 5 p.m. Eastern time, is currently expected to earn 26 cents per share on sales of $3.1 billion, according to analysts polled by Thomson First Call. See full story.
Jim, Thanks for your help! I found that on 8/16/01 Qualcomm
Makes Commitment For $300 Million Strategic Investment in NextWave Telecom:
http://www.qualcomm.com/press/releases/2001/press58_print.html
Texas Instruments Q4 update on tap
By Chris Kraeuter, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 9:53 AM ET Dec. 7, 2004
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo/story.asp?source=blq/yhoo&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo&gui...
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Texas Instruments hosts a midquarter update after Tuesday's closing bell with its stock price hovering near a six-month high.
TI (TXN: news, chart, profile) shares have accelerated from mid-August when the stock traded at a one-year low of $18.40. Since then, shares have run up 37 percent to $25.29 on industry-wide hopes about strong demand in the fourth quarter and beyond.
The communications and analog chipmaker is expected to earn 26 cents a share on sales of $3.1 billion, on average, for its fourth quarter, according to Thomson First Call.
At the quarter's start, in mid-October, Texas Instruments predicted earnings between 24 and 28 cents a share and sales between $2.96 billion and $3.2 billion.
The company's sales targets represented a range of down 6 percent to up 2 percent from the third quarter, off from a historical average of flat to up 2 percent. During the third quarter, TI earned 32 cents a share on sales of $3.25 billion.
During the fourth quarter last year, TI earned 29 cents a share on sales of $2.77 billion.
Analyst Rick Faust with A.G. Edwards expects TI to earn 25 cents a share on sales of $3.07 billion for the current quarter. In a research note Monday he acknowledged a weak analog chip market, but he expects TI to hit his targets based on the strength of some wireless segments and digital light processors. See previous story about TI's DLP technology.
Sprint Continues to Invest in High-Speed Wireless Future
Tuesday December 7, 9:00 am ET
Lucent, Motorola and Nortel share multiyear contract commitments
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041207/nytu081_1.html
OVERLAND PARK, Kan., Dec. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sprint (NYSE: FON - News) has finalized multiyear wireless services infrastructure build-out agreements totaling approximately $3 billion with Lucent, Motorola and Nortel. The contracts involve new switching and radio hardware and software for cell sites, capacity augmentation, and Sprint's EV-DO (Evolution, Data Optimized) wireless high-speed data network deployment. The contracts also include future 1xEV technology upgrade options. This investment helps insure Sprint continues its wireless industry leadership by expanding and strengthening its network coverage, deploying new services and supporting continued customer growth.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001013/SPRINTLOGO )
Sprint, the leader in wireless data services, announced last June its plan to provide next-generation EV-DO wireless service at peak data rates of up to 2.4 Mbps to major U.S. metro areas during 2005. Sprint expects to spend about $1 billion of the $3 billion investment total to upgrade its network to EV-DO technology which will accelerate mobile device data speeds up to 10 times faster than on today's network.
Markets involved in the service launch will be announced in the near future. Users will experience superior application and service performance on EV-DO-capable handsets and laptops equipped with EV-DO-enabled PCS connection cards. Sprint's migration to EV-DO will be relatively easy because of its nationwide wireless network design featuring a single, leading technology. Site upgrades merely involve incorporating a new channel card and additional RF carrier, without the need to replace the existing infrastructure. Sprint's wireless infrastructure build-outs in the United States are divided among three vendors:
-- Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU - News) received a three-year contract to
enhance Sprint's nationwide 3G network, including CDMA2000 1xEV-DO
technology. It will upgrade Sprint's existing Lucent-supplied base
stations with an additional RF carrier where needed and provide key
elements of its IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) solution.
-- Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT - News) received an extension to the end of 2006 of
its existing CDMA infrastructure supply agreement, involving CDMA2000
1x base station equipment and related services as well as Motorola's
mobile broadband CDMA2000 1xEV-DO solution in markets served by CDMA 1X
infrastructure.
-- Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT - News; TSX: NT - News) received a three-year contract to
deploy enhanced CDMA wireless infrastructure equipment including radio
base stations, controllers and switching platforms, the new Packet Data
Service Node 16000, and CDMA2000 1xEV-DO equipment where required.
"These agreements enhance Sprint's ongoing focus of creating differentiated products and services while deploying state-of-the-art infrastructure that gives all wireless customers the power to enjoy new mobility benefits and enhance their overall experience," explained Kathy Walker, executive vice president -- Network Services, Sprint. "By continuing to invest in our existing network and deliver wireless services with superior efficiency, we can make a dramatic difference in shaping the customer experience of tomorrow. Consumers will enjoy improved wireless capabilities such as high-speed video and audio streaming for entertainment content while business consumers will benefit from mobility data applications that improve productivity and collaboration in such areas as healthcare, insurance, security and professional services."
About Sprint
Sprint is a global integrated communications provider serving more than 26 million customers in over 100 countries. With more than $26 billion in annual revenues in 2003, Sprint is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying state-of-the-art network technologies, including the United States' first nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network and an award-winning Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint provides local communications services in 39 states and the District of Columbia and operates the largest 100-percent digital, nationwide PCS wireless network in the United States. For more information, visit http://www.sprint.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Sprint
How much did Qualcomm invest in NextWave? Will Qualcomm be able to recouperate it's investment after NextWave's Reorganization?
NextWave Files Reorganization Plan
Reorganized Entity Will Emerge as Broadband Wireless Provider
http://www.mysan.de/international/article12189.html
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- NextWave Telecom Inc. ("NextWave" or the "Company") took a significant step forward today by filing a plan of reorganization ("Plan") with the bankruptcy court administering the Company's Chapter 11 proceedings.
The Plan provides for the payment of 100% of allowed creditor claims, plus interest, and a distribution of cash to equity holders, along with an option for those holders to elect to receive either an additional cash distribution or, subject to certain limitations, an equity interest in a new operating company that will be spun-out to shareholders to pursue broadband wireless market opportunities.
"After successfully defending the interests of our creditors and shareholders for over six years, NextWave is now poised to emerge from Chapter 11," said Allen Salmasi, NextWave's Chairman and CEO.
"The plan is a testament to the Company's resolve and determination to pay its debts in full, to create significant value for shareholders, and to continue in its efforts to become a leading developer and provider of innovative broadband wireless services."
Key elements of the Plan include:
* Verizon Wireless will acquire the shares of NextWave Telecom Inc. and its existing PCS licensing subsidiaries, which will have no liabilities and no assets other than the Company's PCS licenses, free and clear of all encumbrances. Aggregate consideration of $3 billion
will be paid at closing, net of
(i) $71,875,000 which will be paid to the FCC,
(ii) $165 million which will be deferred and placed into an
escrow, to be distributed in whole or in part to either VZW or to Reorganized NWI, subject to the FCC's right to receive a Sharing Payment and
(iii) certain other amounts which may be required to be
placed into the Escrow under the Acquisition Agreement.
* An internal corporate restructuring will consolidate nearly all of the
Company's liabilities and remaining assets -- including MMDS spectrum
holdings, ITFS spectrum leases -- into a newly formed operating
company named NextWave Broadband Inc. ("NBI"), through which NextWave
intends to develop, build and operate broadband wireless networks
designed to provide both high-speed fixed/mobile Internet access and VoIP services.
* Pursuant to the restructuring, the Company's existing operating
company, NextWave Wireless Inc. ("NWI"), will be converted into a Limited Liability Company, and it will hold cash and all the stock of NBI. Tele*Code, an existing non-debtor subsidiary, will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of NBI.
The Company plans to pursue a dual-use network strategy by making its network available to government users for public safety services at the same time it offers commercial broadband wireless services. The Company is working towards the launch of commercial operations in Las Vegas, Nevada during 2005, and is in the process of acquiring additional spectrum in other markets. The Company believes that new and emerging IP-based 4th generation wireless technologies will provide it with cost advantages and the ability to offer a unique range of services that cannot be offered over existing wireless networks, and plans to further invest in the development of some of these emerging technologies in order to customize their features and benefits and to accelerate the Company's time-to-market entry.
A hearing on the Disclosure Statement accompanying NextWave's Plan is scheduled to be held before the Honorable Adlai S. Hardin, Jr., United States Bankruptcy Judge, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, in White Plains, New York, on January 5, 2005, at 10:30 AM, Eastern Time. A hearing on confirmation of the Plan is scheduled to be held before Judge Hardin on February 15, 2005, at 10:30 AM, Eastern Time.
The effectiveness of the Plan is subject to various contingencies, including confirmation of the Plan, FCC regulatory approval of NextWave's proposed transaction with Verizon Wireless, and antitrust review.
Copies of the Plan and the Disclosure Statement may be downloaded from the Company's web site at http://www.nextwavetel.com/.
About NextWave:
NextWave Telecom Inc. was formed in 1995 to provide broadband wireless and other mobile communications services to consumer and business markets. For information about this release, contact Michael Wack of NextWave at 202-661-2083, mwack@nextwavetel.com, or Emilie Moghadam of Hill and Knowlton at 202-944-3378, emoghadam@hillandknowlton.com.
Quelle: NextWave Telecom Inc.
KDDI beats NTT DoCoMo in net cellphone subscription growth in Nov.
Tuesday December 7, 6:40 PM
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/041207/kyodo/d86qoh7g0.html
(Kyodo) _ KDDI Corp. beat NTT DoCoMo Inc. in net subscription growth in the Japanese mobile phone market in November for the first time in two months, according to data released Tuesday by an industry association.
The number of subscriptions to KDDI's "au" cellphone service increased by 167,100 on a net basis -- new subscriptions minus cancellations -- in November to 18,517,400 at the end of the month.
NTT DoCoMo scored a net increase of 135,000 to 47,666,800.
KDDI performed strongly partly because it introduced new handsets for the year-end shopping season ahead of the competition.
Vodafone K.K. brought the number of subscriptions to its service to 15,210,100 on a net rise of 9,900.
The total number of subscriptions to mobile phone services in Japan came to 84,978,400 at the end of November, up 0.4 percent over a month earlier.
Qualcomm Dials in SOAs(service-oriented architecture)
By Scot Petersen
November 22, 2004
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1728179,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594
In many fast-growing companies, with multiple technology platforms and myriad workers and customers needing access to data and applications, IT problems can mount quickly. Solving them takes innovation, perseverance and a plan for the future. In a word—integration.
That's what Steve Polaski, senior enterprise IT architect for Qualcomm Corp., faced three years ago when he started at the San Diego-based wireless communications company.
"It was a typical EAI [enterprise application integration] problem," said Polaski. "We had all different technologies, different business groups, units in Qualcomm, wanting to use different products to solve their particular problem."
Happily for Polaski and Qualcomm, the effort has paid dividends not only in terms of integration but also in creating the beginnings of an SOA (service-oriented architecture) framework.
"We got together a cross-functional organization team and made some decisions that we would use one technology that IT would support, one for messaging and integration ... in the long run keeping in mind this integration platform would allow us to create services to be consumed internally," Polaski said.
After looking at technology from IBM, BEA Systems Inc., SeeBeyond Technology Corp. and Sonic Software Corp., Qualcomm turned to TIBCO Software Inc.'s BusinessWorks stack to solve the integration problem, he said.
More than finding just an integration solution, however, Polaski was able to leverage the TIBCO software to build reusable code modules—the beginnings of the SOA.
For example, Qualcomm's mobile sales force downloads contact information from internal CRM (customer relationship management) systems. The problem is that different sales units have separate CRM systems, Polaski said. "We've built a service to get contact info for salespeople. That generic service is smart enough to know what CRM system to pull the information from and reply back to the mobile devices," he said.
While Qualcomm hasn't begun to quantify a return on investment for the TIBCO integration solution, Polaski said the benefits have been immediately tangible, such as saving time with faster deployments and reuse of the interfaces and service components.
"We now have parts of our business that operate much faster," Polaski said.
Multiple radios boggle cell phone design
By Rick Merritt
EE Times
Dec 06, 2004
http://www.commsdesign.com/news/tech_beat/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=54800445
Cell phone makers are about to find out how many radios they can squeeze into a handset. But, unlike exuberant college students trying to cram themselves into a telephone booth, this challenge in telephony offers none of the fun of a frat party.
Among the radios in tomorrow's handset will be one supporting several flavors of wide-area wireless for voice, global positioning satellite for location-based services, newcomer FM radio for fun and at least one variety of 802.11 for tapping into Internet hotspots. In the personal-area network (PAN), there's Bluetooth, infrared, near-field communications, ultrawideband-which itself comes in two flavors-Zigbee and, just for good measure, possibly RFID. Getting claustrophobic yet?
Indeed, the bad thing about wireless standards is that there are so many of them, particularly for PANs. Indications are strong that one or two could consolidate or drop out during the next couple of years. But around the same time, three or more wide-area wireless standards hit the market, in what is starting to seem like a zero-sum game.
Engineers are in intense discussions over whether Bluetooth should adopt the ultrawideband physical layer for its next-generation spec as one step toward consolidation. Separately, Bluetooth, nearfield communications and infrared are slugging it out in the market to become the transport of choice for electronic payments on tomorrow's handsets.
In the wide area, meanwhile, at least three approaches to delivering digital TV to handsets are marching toward a 2006 market debut. That's about the time WiMax is expected to start giving the latest cellular-data standards a run for their money for long-range, high-speed service.
"There are simply too many wireless standards around. Just to get a technical understanding of how they are different and how you might market them to a user is difficult," said Jaap Haartsen, a chief scientist in the mobile-platforms group at Ericsson in Sweden.
"There are a lot of technologies coming simultaneously, and we are trying to incorporate as many of them as we can," said Pratik Mehta, a senior communications technologist at Dell Inc. Power, interference and antenna-placement problems are cropping up even in the relatively large "telephone booth" of a notebook computer, he added.
"We are letting our engineers generate too many standards when there is still so much work left to be done with the existing ones," concurred Paul Marino, general manager of the wireless group at Philips Semiconductors. "We are going to wind up with an air interface for every single problem."
Indeed, big companies like Dell and Philips have people sitting on a dozen different groups to develop or promote often-overlapping wireless standards. The folks who run those groups are being pressed to stop extending their technology into every new nook and cranny, and instead, to find synergies with their erstwhile competitors.
"By the middle of next year, we will start talking about building the bridges, but we all have to get our primary missions under control first. Focus is a good thing," said Bob Heile, who chairs the Zigbee Alliance as well as the IEEE committee trying to standardize ultrawideband (UWB). For a start, Heile said he is actively looking for ways to collaborate with proponents of RFID. But perhaps the biggest near-term opportunity is consolidation with Bluetooth.
"To date there has been less collaboration [among wireless-standards efforts] than there could be, but there will be more moving forward," said Michael Foley, the recently hired technical director of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). "We can do better, and this is something I take personally as an initiative."
Specifically, the SIG is debating whether to adopt the 480-Mbit/second UWB physical-layer spec for its so-called high-data-rate generation, which was initially aiming at only 10 Mbits/s.
Cambridge Silicon Radio (Cambridge, England), which claims it sells 47 percent of all Bluetooth chips, wants to see the Bluetooth-UWB merger, as does Dell. Ericsson, which developed Bluetooth but no longer sells merchant Bluetooth components, is against the move. Nokia and Broadcom are taking a neutral stance in public.
"Ericsson was an advocate of the 10-Mbit/s concept," said Glenn Collinson, co-founder of Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR). "The fact that they have pulled back [from the component market] has reopened the debate. Now the official line is that 10 Mbits/s is the next step, but the reality of the situation is the debate has been re-engaged."
CSR wants the Bluetooth SIG to continue to specify its own technology, rather than open it up to a broader IEEE process. But it also wants the SIG to adopt UWB. For the chip maker, such a move could extend its available market from cell phones and peripherals into consumer electronics. The SIG expects to make a decision by June.
"We are hoping the next generation of wireless PANs is something that is scalable," spanning today's 1-Mbit/s Bluetooth to a 1-Gbit/s UWB spec expected in a couple of years, said Mehta of Dell. Mehta said that under nondisclosure agreements, he has seen companies working on just such technologies.
Haartsen of Ericsson pointed out that Bluetooth can achieve its current megabit data rates across a range of several meters, but UWB gets its fastest data rates only if the range is kept to about 1 meter. "How do you explain that to a user?" he asked.
While remaining publicly noncommittal, one Nokia executive expressed concern that the emerging ad hoc networking capabilities of 802.11 could scoop up some of Bluetooth's key applications. Others say UWB has too many problems for anyone to bet their futures on it.
Broadcom Corp., which claims it now has 150 design wins for its Bluetooth chips, is firmly on the fence. "We're watching UWB. It's possible it could become the next generation of Bluetooth, but it's yet not clear whether it makes sense," said Henry Samueli, the company's chief technology officer.
Wireless cashier
At the applications level, Bluetooth, infrared and near-field communications (NFC) are vying to see which will be the preferred means for making wireless payments with a cell phone or PDA. In South Korea, as many as 40,000 retailers and 3 million phones are part of a test of infrared for electronic payments, said Ron Brown, executive director of the Infrared Data Association (IrDA). "That's one heck of a field trial," he said.
Some might be amazed infrared is in the running at all. Even Brown admits that only 5 percent of the estimated 150 million phones equipped with infrared actually use the technology, which has long appeared on most notebook computers, too. "IrDA was considered the most successful technology failure ever. The implementations have been horrible, and it was difficult to use until the Windows 2000 implementation," said Brown.
Today, Japan's IrFM standard, supported by Agilent Technologies and others, lets users securely send credit or debit card information from their mobile devices to payment kiosks over infrared. And earlier this year, the Japanese carrier Docomo announced that its Foma phones can control home electronics via infrared.
"Our customers are still requiring an IrDA port on all chip sets, and that doesn't seem to be going away," said Rick Wietfeldt, deputy chief technologist in the wireless-terminals group at Texas Instruments Inc.
Security is the big issue for wireless payments, and here infrared, which requires line-of-sight connections, has a natural edge over broadcast-radio schemes like Bluetooth. "Banks like infrared because it is short-range and point-to-point. You are not transmitting sensitive financial data to the person behind you," Brown said.
TI's Wietfeldt believes the perception of infrared as more secure than competing technologies will diminish over time. "I think as people become more comfortable with the security of RF wireless, IrDA will move aside," he said.
Cambridge Silicon Radio is already demonstrating a security feature in its next-generation BlueCore 5. Once a Bluetooth connection is established, the chip will be able to essentially lock onto a single receiver based on its distance and lock out communications with any other device. "That addresses the concern that we not be broadcasting to everyone," said CSR's Collinson.
However, Bluetooth has another problem impeding its use in electronic payments: Users cannot transmit payment data by quickly waving a handset past a reader the way they swipe an ATM card through a slot. That's because Bluetooth requires a relatively complex setup process for connections handled by software profiles.
"I think that makes Bluetooth too complicated for payments. The Bluetooth profiles themselves are too complex," said Avner Goren, director of marketing for TI's cell phone chips. Goren said that near-field communications is becoming the wireless transport for payments on many phones in Japan.
In March, Nokia, Philips and Sony set up the NFC Forum to develop and promote the technology, which operates over a 13.56-MHz frequency across ranges typically less than 10 centimeters. The forum claims NFC will hit data rates up to 1 Mbit/s, although 106 to 212 kbits/s are more common today. Motorola, Nokia and Samsung have said they will support NFC in their phones. To date, only Philips is providing NFC chips (see www.eet.com/ showArticle.jhtml?articleID=52601165).
The next big thing for the handset is digital TV. TI's Goren said TV reception will encourage consumers to use their phones more often and may stimulate some new network traffic for applications like voting on a reality-TV show.
Several RF approaches exist for bringing DTV to the handset. Europe has the DVB-H standard and Japan its ISDB standard. In the United States, an enhanced vestigial-sideband approach is part of the digital TV spec, while Korea is experimenting with satellite TV.
This fall, TI announced its Hollywood integrated chip supporting DVB-H and ISDB. It will sample next year and reach production in 2006. "The U.S. needs to make a decision about which way it goes [for mobile TV], but I don't think there will be any regulation here," Goren said.
TI's late-October announcement was timed to steal thunder from Qualcomm Inc., which announced on Nov. 1 a plan to spend up to $800 million to roll out a proprietary mobile-TV broadcast service in the United States using spectrum it acquired in the 700-MHz (channel 55) area. MediaFLO USA Inc., a new Qualcomm subsidiary, will aggregate content from cable, terrestrial and satellite TV service providers, with plans to offer by 2006 some "50 to 100 national and local channels, including up to 15 live streaming channels and numerous clip-cast and audio channels," according to a company statement. Qualcomm's integrated chip set for handsets, the MBD1000, supports the service.
But observers have slammed the Qualcomm plan as expensive, since it requires a new infrastructure and is limited to the United States.
"There is every reason to believe Qualcomm will have as much success internationally with this [broadcast venture] as they have had with CDMA," said Richard Doherty, principal of consulting firm Envisioneering (Seaford, N.Y.). However, by the time of the Consumer Electronics Show in January, "I think you will see as many as eight handheld digital TV receivers, and none of them will require a new cellular infrastructure," Doherty added.
Adding to the fun, Dell's Mehta said he foresees WiMax starting to offer 70-Mbit/s wide-area connections by 2006 with the IEEE 802.16d spec and 100 Mbits/s a year later with .16e, potentially competing with cellular wireless-data standards that offer much lower data rates.
Samueli of Broadcom, however, gave WiMax a thumbs-down. The company has worked on two kinds of broadband wireless chips that both flopped, he said. The latest was a collaborative project with Cisco Systems Inc. to deliver 70 Mbits/s for carriers MCI and Sprint.
"There were production plans, but MCI and Sprint couldn't work out the business plan and canceled the program. We have the technology running in our labs, but no one has put forward a viable business case for it," he said.
"There are dozens of wireless technologies out there," Samueli concluded, "but we can't invest in all of them."
CDMA2000 Technologies Set The Pace For 3G
http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/041206/290/f7zhn.html
COSTA MESA, Calif., Dec. 6, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- During the ninth annual 3G World Congress & Exhibition, held in November in Hong Kong, the CDMA Development Group (CDG) (www.cdg.org) and wireless industry leaders demonstrated that 3G is here, with more than 160 operators and 140 million users across Asia, Europe, North America and Latin America. This year's Congress featured 3G CDMA technologies, including CDMA2000(r), TD-SCDMA and WCDMA, and focused on market opportunities and future technology evolution. More than 7,000 delegates from around the world participated in workshops, attended panels and presentations and visited exhibits from the world's leading wireless carriers, infrastructure vendors, device manufacturers, solution providers and content developers.
"The commercial success of CDMA2000 is proof of the tremendous potential for 3G," said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. "3G CDMA technologies are transforming the telecommunication market allowing carriers to provide affordable voice services in underserved areas, drive the convergence of fixed telephony with wireless, and enable the introduction of new advanced data services. CDMA2000 is leading, and will continue to lead, in this evolution."
CDMA2000 dominates the 3G market today with rapid deployments, an expanding subscriber base and the introduction of high-speed data technologies. There are over 100 CDMA2000 operators providing advanced 3G services to more than 127 million users in 50 countries around the world, including developing markets such as India, China and Latin America. The base is growing at 5 million new users per month, exceeding many analysts' forecasts. CDMA2000 operators lead in the introduction of high-speed data technologies. 17 operators have deployed CDMA2000 1xEV-DO, which constantly delivers 300-600 Kbps and sometimes up to 2.4 Mbps data rates in commercial networks. With future enhancements, 1xEV-DO will offer Voice over IP (VoIP) as well as increased uplink data speeds which will support new 3G services such as video telephony. More information about CDMA2000 is available on the CDG website at www.cdg.org.
CDMA2000 operators presenting at the Congress included Dr. Chungming An, CEO, Asia Pacific Broadband Wireless (Taiwan); Adel Bazerghi, vice president, wireless technology development, Bell Mobility (Canada); Zhang Fan, CTO (Milan: CTO.MI - news) , China Unicom; Gennady Golant, deputy managing director and technical director, Delta Telecom (Russia); Dr. Hideo Okinaka, vice president and general manager, strategic planning division, KDDI (Japan); Gil Sharon, deputy CEO and CMO, Pelephone (Israel); Steve Falk, vice president, global development, Sprint (USA); and Gerry Flynn, director, advanced technology strategy and standards, Verizon Wireless (USA). They highlighted their successes with CDMA2000, future plans for migration to high-speed data and evolution to new advanced services.
A number CDG member companies made announcements at the Congress. Telstra in Australia announced the rollout of its CDMA2000 1xEV-DO network. Verizon Wireless formed a partnership with SK Telecom to offer ringback tones in North America, and Sprint launched Research In Motion's BlackBerry(r) handset. QUALCOMM (NASDAQ: QCOM - news) announced that major infrastructure vendors, including Airvana, Ericsson (Stockholm: ERICb.ST - news) , Hitachi, Ltd., Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU - news) , Motorola (NYSE: MOT - news) , Nortel Networks and Samsung joined forces to develop CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A network solutions. The 3G World Congress & Exhibition 2005 is scheduled for November 14-18, 2005, at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong. For more information, please visit the event Web site at www.3gcongress.com.
About CDG
The CDMA Development Group is a trade association formed to foster the worldwide development, implementation and use of CDMA technologies. The more than 100 member companies of the CDG include many of the world's largest wireless carriers and equipment manufacturers. The primary activities of the CDG include development of CDMA features and services, public relations, education and seminars, regulatory affairs and international support. Currently, there are more than 500 individuals working within various CDG subcommittees on CDMA-related matters. For more information about the CDG, contact the CDG News Bureau at +1-714-540-1030, ext. 17 and 25, or vchristopherson@bockpr.com and jvotava@bockpr.com, or visit the CDG Web site at www.cdg.org.
Note (Stockholm: NOTE.ST - news) to editors: cdmaOne is a trademark of the CDG. CDMA2000 is a registered trademark of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA-USA).
China Books Mobile Phone Unit Output Of 166 mln In 1st 3 qtrs
http://au.news.yahoo.com/041203/3/s0pg.html
BEIJING, Dec 3 Asia in Focus - China produced 166 million mobile phone units in the first three quarters of this year, exporting 98.09 million. In a snapshot of the local industry, the Ministry of Information Industry said the number of mobile users reached 320,071 million in China during the period.
* The output of GSM mobile phones was 151 billion, up 34.8 per cent on-year.
* Output of CDMA mobile phones reached 14.21 million, up 14.8 per cent on-year.
China's output of mobile phone units reaches 166 mln in first 3 qtrs of this yr, with 98 mln exported
ASIA IN FOCUS
Leakage of High Technology Threatens Korea’s Competitiveness
DECEMBER 05, 2004 23:13
by Jin-Young Hwang (buddy@donga.com)
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2004120645968
Former employees of Korean companies who attempted to sell core technologies worth millions and billions of won to rival countries such as China and Taiwan were indicted by prosecutors. The prosecutors decided to summon an executive of a Taiwanese company who tried to scout them.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (chief prosecutor: Lee Deuk-hong) arrested two former workers of Korea’s leading liquid crystal displays (LCD) manufacturing company, identified as Yoo, 36, and Kim, 32, on charges of violating the Trademark and Unfair Competition Law on Dec. 5. They tried to steal sixth generation thin film transistor-liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCD) manufacturing technology in return for jobs at a Taiwanese company.
Their colleague, identified as another Kim, 34, was indicted without detention.
A person who made this proposal to them, identified as Cha, 44, was arrested, and the prosecutors notified an executive, identified as Zhou, at the Taiwanese company, who came to Korea to negotiate with them, to report to the prosecutors’ office as a suspect.
Also, the prosecutors arrested a former worker of a Korean pharmaceutical company, Kim, 46, for selling the technology to produce intermediates for antibiotics to China via
e-mail, and indicted another, identified as Lee, 47, without detention.
▽ Offer of Several Hundred Million in Annual Salary, Car and House
“We decided to build a six generation LCD manufacturing company in Tainan, Taiwan. We are looking for five or six LCD experts from engineers to the plant manager level. The annual salary will be about 200 million won per person.”
This is what the Taiwanese LCD manufacturing company asked Cha, the CEO of a Korean venture company in which the Taiwanese firm had invested 30 billion won in June.
Cha, unable to refuse a request from his stockholder, said this to Yoo, with whom Cha had worked before establishing his own firm.
Yoo responded, “I don’t know anyone capable for the plant manager position, but I can do the CEO.” In August, Yoo visited the headquarters of the Taiwanese company and negotiated the contract terms. Guaranteed 200 million in annual salary, a house and a car, Yoo recruited two researchers at his workplace, who decided to join him.
Kim logged onto a server shared within the company that would leave no records of stealing technology in August, and copied confidential fourth, fifth and sixth generation LCD manufacturing techniques to an exterior hard disk.
They planned to leave Korea in early November, so they quit their jobs in September, and took English conversation courses together at a private English institute through October in preparation for a new life in Taiwan. However, they were caught just before their departure. The prosecutors confiscated all the records that they had secretly stolen, and it is reported that the technology leakage had not taken place.
▽ Continued Leakage of Technology
It is revealed that technology for producing intermediates for antibiotics that belonged to Korean pharmaceutical firm, an affiliate of the TFT-LCD company, has already been leaked to a Chinese company.
According to the prosecutors, the arrestee identified as Kim, a former worker at a Korean pharmaceutical firm, sold the technology for producing intermediates for antibiotics from January to July 2004 through 20 e-mails to a Chinese company. Kim received $40,000 in return.
Kim even established a company under his wife’s name in May, and imported the intermediates worth 300 million won from that very Chinese company and sold them back to Korea through August.
As a result of the technology leakage, cheaper intermediates for antibiotics are entering Korea from China, and the loss for the Korean company is estimated at $2.5 million for sales abroad, and several billion won for domestic sales, said the prosecutors.
As many as 3,000 patent technologies, such as core technology of code division multiple access (CDMA), are being leaked through the mergers of foreign and domestic companies in recent years, but due to a lax legal system in the related fields, it is hard to prevent technology leakage.
Samsung Prepping Camera-less GSM/CDMA Phone
http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=1018
Samsung SCH-A790 / SCH-A795
http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=406
The first phone in the world that works on North American CDMA networks and also GSM networks overseas. This stylish clamshell phone also sports a VGA camera with flash (A790 only), dual color displays, MMS, BREW, voice dialing, and airplane mode.
Offered By:
• Verizon Wireless
Specifications Compare vs...
Modes CDMA 800 / CDMA 1900 / GSM 900 / GSM 1800
Weight 4.20 oz (119g)
Dimensions 3.40" x 2.00" x 1.00" (86mm x 51mm x 25mm)
Form Factor Clamshell
Stub / Extendable Antenna
Battery Life Talk: 2.90 hours
Standby: 120 hours (5 days)
Battery Type LiIon
Display Type: LCD (Color)
Size: 176 x 220 pixels
TFT / 260,000 colors
Platform / OS (N/A)
Memory ?
Phone Book Capacity 500
plus SIM card memory
FCC ID A3LSCHA790 (Approved Oct 22, 2003)
Features Show Missing Features
2nd Display Location: Front
65,000 color LCD / 128 x 96 pixels
Alarm mutliple alarms / works when phone is off (in autopower mode)
BREW CDMA mode only
Calculator Yes
Calendar Yes
Camera Resolution: VGA (640 x 480)
A790 only / LED flash / self-timer
Custom Graphics wallpaper (main and sub displays)
Custom Ringtones Yes
Data-Capable Yes
Digital TTY/TDD Yes
Games downladable via BREW
GPS / Location Yes
Headset Jack (2.5 mm) located on top
High-Speed Data Technology: cdma2000 1xRTT
MMS CDMA mode only
Multiple Languages Languages Supported: English, Spanish
Picture ID Yes
Polyphonic Ringtones Yes
Predictive Text Entry Technology: T9
Ringer Profiles Yes
Side Keys Yes
Text Messaging 2-Way: Yes
Text Messaging Templates Yes
To-Do List Yes
Vibrate Yes
Voice Dialing CDMA mode only
Voice Memo CDMA mode only
Wireless Internet CDMA mode only
Links
Samsung USA SCH-A790 product page
BREAKOUT WATCH
for possible breakout above 44.08, no resistance in area just above.
Type: True breakout from double resistance.
Target: 46.9, 7.8% Stop: 42.42, Loss: 2.5%, Profit/Loss ratio: 3.1 : 1 - Excellent
As per Nasdaq Stockconsultant:
http://quotes.nasdaq.com/quote.dll?mode=stock&page=multi&symbol=qcom&symbol=&symbol=...
Japan's Phones Are The Coolest -- And Have The Skimpiest Profits
With their home market saturated, Japan's handset makers finally look abroad. Meanwhile, margins have plunged
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_50/b3912070.htm
When NTT Docomo (DCM ) unveiled its latest third-generation mobile phones on Nov. 17, gadget lovers were not disappointed. The new handsets, manufactured by five leading Japanese electronics makers, can download videos, play games, pay for groceries at convenience stores, and work as remote controls for TVs and other devices. Oh -- and they also make and receive phone calls. "This is the epitome of a 3G phone," says Takeshi Natsuno, DoCoMo's managing director for multimedia services. Not to be upstaged, Japan's other carriers are putting the finishing touches on their own new phones, featuring everything from music downloads to international video-calling on super-sharp color displays.
It makes sense. Take the world's most-advanced cellular market -- Japan -- and ask the world's top electronics houses -- many of them Japanese -- to provide the handsets, and you're sure to come up with the niftiest bunch of mobiles the planet has ever seen. But for all the technological wizardry that's about to hit stores, the companies building the phones are hardly prospering. A decade ago, the average profit margin for Japanese handset makers approached 10% as consumers snapped up millions of second-generation phones. Today, average margins have slipped to just 4%, according to Deutsche Bank (DB ). That's peanuts compared with international rivals Nokia Corp. (NOK ) and Samsung Electronics Co., which both posted margins of over 20% for phones last year.
The handset makers' low margins can be traced to two problems: a stingy domestic market and lack of foreign penetration. Domestical- ly, some 70% of Japanese now own a mobile phone, so it's tough to find new customers. And no matter how snazzy the features, subscribers are reluctant to upgrade their handsets unless carriers hand them over for next to nothing. The latest 3G models cost more than $500 to make, and that figure could reach $700 as features such as digital television are added, according to brokerage Goldman Sachs (Japan) Ltd. (GS ) But customers rarely pay more than $100 for a phone. "The days of double-digit profit margins are over. This is a rapidly maturing market," says Goldman analyst Ikuo Matsuhashi. He estimates that the production cost of 2G phones was about 20% less than that of 3G handsets. The selling price, though, was about the same.
Meanwhile, the country's mobile-phone makers have been singularly unsuccessful at marketing their products overseas. All of Japan's handset makers combined have a smaller share of the global market than Nokia alone: 16% for the Japanese, compared with 33% for Nokia, according to Deutsche Bank. Factor out their home market, and the Japanese share drops to just 6% -- or less than Motorola Inc.'s (MOT ) 14% and Samsung's 11%. (These figures don't include Sony-Ericsson, a London-based joint venture between the Japanese electronics giant and the Swedish telecom-gear maker. It has 5% of the global handset business.)
That may change as more countries adopt 3G. Japan's second-generation technical standard was unique to the archipelago, so Japanese handset makers focused on their home market, largely ignoring the GSM and CDMA standards that dominated elsewhere. In 3G, though, Japanese carriers have adopted technologies called W-CDMA and CDMA 1X, which are being rolled out in much of the world. And since Japan is the world's most advanced 3G market -- the service is in its fourth year -- the country's handset makers should have a leg up on global rivals. "The competition is getting stronger, but as of today, NEC (NIPNY ), Panasonic (MC ), and Sharp (SHCAY ) are ahead in the mobile-Internet business," says Yoshiharu Tamura, head of the mobile terminals operations unit at NEC Corp. "If we can stay half a step ahead, we have a good chance of success."
BETTING ON CHINA
It also helps that Japan's phone makers are well-versed in the audio and visual technologies that are likely to drive 3G. NEC, Sharp, and Sanyo already have prototypes that can display digital television streams, while Toshiba Corp. (TOSBF ) is developing a 0.75-inch hard disk for use in mobile phones that might double as MP3 players. "The handset industry is trying to find the next killer application," says Nahoko Mitsuyama, an analyst at Gartner Research (IT ) in Tokyo. "Japanese vendors believe audiovisual could be the one."
NEC is leading the pack. The company is Japan's biggest phone maker, with 2% of the global market and 22% at home. It's selling 3G phones to carriers in Europe and this year expects overseas sales to grow to 40% of its total, from 10% in 2002. Now it's turning its attention to China, which is expected to begin granting 3G licenses next year. The company says it will ship 2 million phones to China this year and 3 million next year. Among them is the $1,100 N900, which NEC launched in February exclusively for China. Roughly the size of a business card, the N900 is the world's smallest mobile phone.
Other players are equally ambitious. Sanyo Electric Co. (SANYY ) this year expects to sell 64% of its handsets overseas -- mostly to the U.S. In November the company said it will soon start shipping 3G handsets to France's Orange and that it hopes to sell 1 million 3G phones in Europe next year. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (MC ) is keen to grow its handset business in overseas markets, including China, Russia, and the Americas. Similarly, Sharp plans to hike its global handset shipments by 15%, to 10 million for the year ending in March, 2005, and in December plans to offer Europe's first 2-megapixel camera phone through Vodafone Group PLC (VOD ). Such ties with carriers in Europe may help the Japanese, who historically have had trouble making headway abroad because at home they left marketing of their phones to operators.
Still, there may be a shakeout among Japan's mobile-phone makers. One big problem is that there are too many of them -- 11 in all. That means cutthroat rivalry, of course, but it also leads to a shortage of qualified engineers and lots of duplicated research and development costs. Deutsche Bank analyst Fumiaki Sato says Fujitsu (FTJSY ), Toshiba (TOSBF ), Mitsubishi Electric (MIELY ), Hitachi (HIT ), and Casio would all be better served by ditching handsets and diverting resources to more profitable businesses. While Hitachi and Casio Computer Co. in April announced a new joint venture, none of the companies appears set to exit the business. Toshiba and Mitsubishi say they have no plans to get out, while Fujitsu Ltd. didn't return e-mails seeking comment.
Some observers say that even today, the Japanese remain too preoccupied with their domestic market. "Nobody has more experience with 3G and W-CDMA than the Japanese, bar the Korean producers. But so far I don't sense a coordinated, strategic plan for going after international markets," says Shiv Putcha, an analyst at market researcher Yankee Group (RJRSY ) in Boston. Unless Japan's phone makers can kick-start their overseas sales, all those nifty handsets will likely stay in Japan, just as they have for so many years.
Mobile TV defined
http://rcrnews.com/page.cms?pageId=223
ATSC—Advanced Television Systems Committee. The technology is used in the United States to broadcast High-Definition TV (HDTV). Those in the industry agree the technology is not suited for battery-powered portable devices like mobile phones.
DMB—Digital Multimedia Broadcasting. DMB was developed in South Korea and is primarily driven by satellite broadcasts. However, the technology can also support a terrestrial component. LG Electronics Co. Ltd. supports the technology and is working to globally promote it.
DVB-H—Digital Video Broadcasting for Handhelds. The technology is based on the DVB standard, developed by the DVB Project, which can be modified to support satellite, cable and terrestrial digital TV networks. DVB technology is primarily used for digital TV services in Europe. The handheld version of the standard supports 24-30 frames per second. MmO2, Vodafone, Broadcast Australia subsidiary The Bridge Networks and Crown Castle in the United States are trialing DVB-H. Nokia Corp. has promised to sell DVB-H mobile phones by 2006.
Broadcast—Broadcasting is a uni-directional, point-to-multipoint service like standard TV or radio. Users only need a receiver to get the signal and do not need to subscribe to a service or pay a fee.
IPDC—Internet Protocol Datacasting. IP datacasting is a service where digital-content formats, software applications, programming interfaces and multimedia services are combined through IP with digital broadcasting. It is used as a foundation for transmission technologies like DVB.
ISDB-T—Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting using Terrestrial networks. ISDB-T is an open standard used in Japan to transmit digital TV signals. The same system can be used to transmit TV to mobile phones.
MBMS—Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service. This is a multicasting service standardized by the Third Generation Partnership Project. It can essentially broadcast light streams of audio and video through GSM and W-CDMA networks to multiple users. However, it does not support wide areas or large groups of users like other solutions such as DVB-H. The first MBMS-capable phones are expected to be available in 2008.
MediaFLO—Forward Link Only. A technology developed by Qualcomm Inc. to multicast TV to mobile phones using a dedicated network. The service supports transmissions speeds up to 30 frames per second and requires a specialized receiver built into the phone. Qualcomm plans to build an $800 million nationwide MediaFLO network in the United States using 700 MHz spectrum, with commercial services available in 2006.
Mobile Broadcast Services—Nokia, Siemens, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and NEC announced they will develop standards for mobile TV services through the Open Mobile Alliance standards group. The standards will coincide with transmission technologies like DVB-H.
MobiTV—An application developed by privately held Idetic Inc. The software application runs on the Java or BREW platform inside a mobile phone, and streams TV through a carrier’s wireless data network. The application is currently available to download from Sprint PCS and Cingular Wireless and supports up to 10 frames per second.
Multicast—Multicasting is a unidirectional, point-to-multipoint service like broadcasting except that it can verify if a receiver is a paying customer. Thus, users must have a receiver as well as a service account.
Sources: Company and organization documents, interviews.