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Details emerge on Datang 3G Linux phone design
Nov. 09, 2004
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS8901223473.html
China's government-owned TEM (telecommunications equipment manufacturer) has revealed details of its forthcoming 3G Linux mobile phone reference design, expected to appear in products in mid-2005. Datang's Linux phone design works with network equipment based on TD-SCDMA, a 3G technology largely invented by Datang, and which may see use outside China.
Datang first announced it had adopted Linux for its 3G mobile phone design in July of this year.
The phone
The Datang mobile phone solution is a TD-SCDMA LCR (least-cost routing) handset based on a Texas Instruments OMAP1510 processor running a Qtopia-Linux platform. It will support telephony, video telephony, an Internet browser, MMS, WAP, a media player, and other typical 3G functionality, according to Qtopia supplier Trolltech.
The TI OMAP1510 is a venerable dual-core RISC/DSP SoC (system-on-chip) supported by Linux as early as March of 2001. It includes an ARM925 core alongside a TMS320CSSx DSP core. Integrated peripherals include USB (client and host), camera interface, memory stick/MMC-SD interface, and UARTs for data and modem control, as well as GPS and IrDA. The chip specifically targets 2.5 and 3G wireless handsets and PDAs.
TI OMAP1510 block diagram
(Click to enlarge)
Software side
According to Trolltech, the Datang design will be based on the Qtopia Phone Edition (QPE) application stack. Trolltech announced a port of QPE to TI's OMAP platform in September.
The Datang Linux phone reference design may also include a Linux kernel sourced from MontaVista, which listed Datang Mobile among its customers in a February announcement, and which has supplied Linux to other phone vendors, including Motorola.
Datang has also confirmed that the design will include the Opera web browser.
TD-SCDMA
Datang's Linux mobile phone reference design, like its networking equipment, is based on TD-SCDMA, one of three 3G technologies based on CDMA, which Datang pioneered and which may also see deployment in Europe and elsewhere. The TD-SCDMA Standard is overseen by the TD-SCDMA Forum, an industry group founded in late 2002 by China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, Datang, Huawei, Motorola, Nortel, and Siemens.
Availability
According to Trolltech, Datang's 3G Linux phone reference design has demonstrated excellent performance in multi-phase testing conducted by the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry's (MII's) MTNet lab, and commercial phones based on the design are expected in China in the first half of 2005. Datang expects to promote the design broadly to the wireless industry.
Reshuffle a prelude to mergers
http://english.people.com.cn/200411/10/eng20041110_163368.html
If China's telecommunications market is to establish two to three conglomerates, last week's executive reshuffling among the top four operators could be interpreted as a prelude.
Wang Jianzhou, former chairman and president of China Unicom Corp, was named as general manager of China Mobile Corp early this month.
While Wang Xiaochu, former deputy general manager of China Mobile Group and executive director, board chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of China Mobile (HK) Ltd was transferred to be the general manager of China Telecom Corp.
Chang Xiaobing, former vice-president of China Telecom Corp and CEO of China Telecom (HK) Ltd was designated as board chairman of China Unicom Corp.
Leng Rongquan, former vice-president of China Netcom Corp was also named deputy general manager of China Telecom Corp.
These moves sparked rumours that after years of fierce competition, the Chinese Government is now working to roll out plans to further standardize the telecoms market as well as form internationally competitive telecoms giants.
Government figures showed that by the end of September this year, revenue from the telecoms industry reached 386.2 billion yuan (US$46.53 billion), up 12.8 per cent year-on-year.
Meanwhile, the sector has recruited 306.9 million fixed-line subscribers and 320 million mobile users. Broadband users topped 20.6 million.
Pros and cons
As a matter of fact, the telecoms industry is currently exposed to fierce competition dominated by rampant price wars.
To consolidate their market shares, each telecoms operator has resorted to all types of market manoeuvres such as slashing their monthly rental fees, lowering telecoms fees, and offering monthly service packages and handset subsidies.
"The underlying purpose of the government's executive reshuffling is to curb irrational industry competition, thus protecting industry profitability and improving investment returns," Goldman Sachs said in a report.
It is definitely a positive move for the industry in the long run, it said.
"However, we also expect execution risks and uncertainties will increase in the short term, which might arouse negative investment sentiment on Chinese telecoms."
But Credit Suisse First Boston did not believe a change in CEO will have a huge impact on China Unicom given that its business model has structural problems, for example, balancing between GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access).
For China Telecom, a new CEO may decide to further slow down PAS (Personal Access System) expansion as it does not have a clear profitable business prospect and cannot be migrated to 3G business.
Wang Yuquan, president of Frost & Sullivan (China), also believed that to curb the ferocious telecoms competition in the domestic market is the main reason for the personnel adjustment.
He said he would rather believe that such an adjustment will not have much influence on the fierce market competition.
First of all, slashing telecoms fees is an inevitable trend, it is just a case of it happening "sooner or later," he said.
Second, all the price wars, in fact, are usually triggered by local branches or subsidiaries instead of the parent company. The parent firms normally work out the company's overall strategy.
Nevertheless, the executive is likely to lose some influence over the company's management as changing a company's leadership team usually sees the introduction of some new corporate and marketing strategies, according to Dai Chunrong, an analyst from China Securities.
"However, the new head will usually take some time to adjust themselves to the company. Therefore, the company's new strategies are unlikely to be rolled out soon," she said.
"What concerns us most is, for example, how Wang Jianzhou maintains China Mobile's leading position in the Chinese market as he insisted many times that China Unicom should take advantage of CDMA technology to catch up with China Mobile," she said.
"Also, for Chang Xiaobin, the question could be which one will have the market potential regarding mobile phones and PAS?"
"We have to wait and see now," she said. Dai believed the executive reshuffling will help operators monitor market competition from their rival's perspective and therefore devise more rational corporate and marketing policies.
Potential merger?
But some analysts seem to have sensed that the executive adjustment is more like increased collaboration leading to a merger between the major telecom operators.
This echoes rumours that a draft merger plan for telecom carriers has been worked out by State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and will be implemented next year or in 2006, depending on the market situation after the executive adjustment.
Earlier this year, there were a number of reports about the possible consolidation of the four big carriers into two firms.
It is reported that China Telecom will link up with China Unicom while China Netcom will team up with China Mobile.
However, the companies and the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) all remain silent on all these reports.
Goldman Sachs also predicted last week that the executive reshuffling lends more credibility to the theory of a potential industry restructuring, in which mergers among the key four players could be involved and could happen in the first half of 2005 at the earliest.
Industry experts argued that, as the result of the merger plan, the Chinese Government is likely to decide to issue less than four 3G licences when rolling out its 3G mobile telecommunications industry next year.
Some analysts believed the high cost of 3G mobile networks, if each of the four builds its own, is also a major concern given the current uncertainty of China's 3G policies.
They believed that although the executive adjustment did not involve China Railcom and China Satcom, the possibility cannot be ruled out that the two operators may jointly apply for a 3G licence.
In that case, the Chinese Government has to issue just three 3G licenses, each run by one telecom operator.
Sources close to China Railcom said that it is also teaming up with China Satcom and US-based Nextel Communications to apply to the regulatory commission for a licence for digital trunking business in China, an ambitious step to seek a firm foothold in the telecoms market.
The three parties are planning to establish a joint venture to conduct digital trunking business, said the source who declined to be named.
They are planning to adopt TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous) as the technology to construct a nationwide network.
Meanwhile, both China Satcom and China Railcom are conducting experimental tests for TD-SCDMA technologies during the MII's test for the three 3G standards.
Analysts believe the joint venture between China Railcom, China Satcom and Nextel reflected that operators are doing what they can to prepare for the arrival of 3G in China.
Source: China Daily
Qualcomm's bold move
http://p2pnet.net/story/2943
Caroline Gabriel ----
---- Wireless Watch
p2pnet.net News Feature:- Qualcomm has always been a company of extreme audacity. Having taken on the prevailing GSM world to establish its own de facto standard in CDMA, it has created a business around its vast store of intellectual property that, if its new results are anything to go by, has far more life left in it than naysayers would have predicted even a year ago. CDMA networks are proving resilient in face of the long and complex roll-out of UMTS; Qualcomm still has significant patents involved in that standard, and is seeking a UMTS power base of its own; and now it is leaping ahead of all wireless contenders into the nascent market for the triple play.
The chipmaker has to be bold. Its dependence on CDMA means the eventual move to all-IP networks, and the likely rise of OFDM and WiMAX, are major threats, and explain its implacable hostility to 802.11 and 802.16. Therefore it needs a game plan that will enable it to shift to new revenue streams without sacrificing its core expertise and partnerships.
The boldest part of this plan to be revealed so far is Qualcomm’s creation of a national US broadcasting network for use by carriers and other partners, which will boost uptake of CDMA and W-CDMA cellphones and, potentially, other devices that Qualcomm will devise over the coming few years.
Qualcomm plans to invest $800m over four to five years in a new subsidiary that will create a network to help carriers bring television to smartphones. While other chipmakers such as Intel mull whether to invest in spectrum in order to further their wireless strategies, Qualcomm has gone ahead and done it, buying up licenses to broadcast in the former analog television bands in the US. This mirrors its aggressiveness in buying up, through an affiliate, 450MHz spectrum in Europe and other areas to bolster the chances of CDMA in those bands.
Qualcomm will initially target 30 US cities for its MediaFLO USA network, named after its content distribution system of the same name, announced in March. Interestingly, Qualcomm also announced last month a video multicasting system for MediaFLO, simply called FLO (Forward Link Only), which uses OFDM as an alternative to the usual CDMA base. This shows the chipmaker, despite all its powerful reasons to lock its gates against any non-CDMA technology, recognizing that, for some applications, OFDM may be superior, particularly for delivering more channels of content at lower cost. While CDMA is more spectrally efficient, in general, than GSM, it cannot deliver the bandwidth of a WiMAX. If Qualcomm continues to demonstrate willingness to open up to outside technologies, it could stand an improved chance of winning in the multi-network, multi-protocol world of 4G, rather than seeking to defend an embattled CDMA kingdom against impossible odds.
In such a multi-network world, its royalty revenues would fall, but by launching added value services such as MediaFLO at an early stage, it could position itself for a far wider influence.
MediaFlo is based on OFDM outbound high speed technology and provides a one-way, high speed system to deliver audio and video. Multiple channels within Channel 55 will be made available to both CDMA and W-CDMA carriers as well as MVNOs and content resellers. This could leave the CDMA or W-CDMA channels free to deliver higher quantities of two-way data. TV broadcasters could license the network to expand their viewing base to mobile users, particularly those, like sports channel ESPN, that own content as well as distribution. Within its 6MHz spectrum, MediaFlo will be able to deliver 50-100 national or local content channels. The MediaFLO system will be an end-to-end solution, from the content distribution system through program guides and billing to the 700MHz channels.
Like Intel, Qualcomm is not seeking to be a network operator but to use spectrum to boost uptake of, and new applications for, its core revenue earner (hence the plan to spin off the unit once it has achieved its goal). Just as Brew aggregates download content for operators, handling distribution, billing and content provider relationships, so MediaFlo – which may eventually be spun off to investors – will act as an aggregator of television content for carriers, striking deals with TV stations and other parties. The network will start operating in 2006 and the first carrier to support it is Sprint, already a firm believer in mobile TV as a future revenue driver in the US.
Paul Jacobs, head of the unit that houses MediaFLO, said the FLO OFDM-based technology uses high broadcast towers and high wattage to cover a city with an average of 2-3 transmitters, using the former analog TV spectrum in 700MHz, which should be vacated by 2007-8 as the broadcasters shift into digital TV.
Qualcomm has bought the nationwide license for one of the UHF-TV channels becoming available, Channel 55, but other parties, notably the WiMAX community, have their eyes firmly on other channels in 700MHz, which lends itself to mobile broadband wireless services. It will be ironic if, just as the old broadcasters move out of their former spectrum, it is colonized not by conventional data services, as originally envisaged, but by OFDM-based networks aiming to deliver the full triple play, including television. Jacobs, like most of his peers, does not expect consumers to watch full TV programs on their phones, but envisages a new breed of more viewer-friendly wireless devices as well as growing popularity of short videos and clips. But longer term, if Qualcomm is not entirely wedded to CDMA, why the carriers leasing its MediaFLO network not seek – regulators willing – to deliver their video and TV content into consumers’ homes too, via set-top boxes and other devices? That is certainly the plan for WiMAX – the question is whether FLO will support the economics, in terms of subscriber unit design, and will attract the content partners to make it attractive to triple play wireless operators.
All this is part of Qualcomm’s bid to build on its success in CDMA and colonize new wireless markets. Qualcomm wants no less than to be a “wireless Intel” – just as Intel itself turns increasingly to wireless. While Intel, despite its cellphone architecture, sees its real wireless and mobile play as revolving around WiMAX, IP and OFDM, Qualcomm seeks to expand on its domination of the 30% of the cellphone sector that is based on CDMA by moving aggressively into the other 70%, which is moving from GSM to W-CDMA. Qualcomm, despite its very small showing in GSM-based markets to date, claims its goal is a 50% stake in W-CDMA chips, which would mean overtaking the mighty Texas Instruments.
While these ambitions seem overblown, Qualcomm certainly has the intellectual property, outsourced manufacturing partners, channels and sheer temerity to make a strong headway in W-CDMA. It will never have the clear run – and therefore the high price margins – that it enjoyed in its home base, but it needs to expand quickly, now that it faces its first ever viable challenge in CDMA from TI itself.
Merrill Lynch has stated that, if Qualcomm achieves 30% share of W-CDMA by 2007, as that market grows from 14m to 204m chips a year, earnings per share could easily swell from $1.20 in fiscal 2005 to $1.75 in 2007 - 46% growth over two years. Even 30% seems over optimistic, given TI’s strength and other challengers such as Freescale looming. But Qualcomm has the additional boost of its patent revenue – it owns about 35% of the patents underpinning W-CDMA, and the technology already accounts for 25% of Qualcomm’s total royalty revenue, indicating the high level of prices that the chipmaker is able to command for its intellectual property.
Handset maker support will be critical, since none of them are required to turn to Qualcomm as they are in CDMA. In that camp, only Nokia was strong enough to resist, making its own CDMA chips until it enlisted TI to its cause as a second source. In W-CDMA, Qualcomm has so far signed up Siemens, a confidence booster that should draw the attentions of others, notably Samsung, which is already close to Qualcomm in CDMA – and was, indeed, the critical supporter in making that technology a success in its first power base, South Korea. Also important is Qualcomm’s W-CDMA joint handset development program with Japan’s NTT DoCoMo, always an early mover in new mobile services and the largest W-CDMA carrier.
But Qualcomm, like arch-rival TI, knows that pure chipmaking is no longer a business that will deliver the type of growth and margins it craves. Instead, both giants are developing their multimedia capabilities aggressively – TI with its OMAP2 architecture and projects such as its mobile phone television chips.
Similarly, Qualcomm is transforming itself into a mobile multimedia company, though with a stronger software edge than TI. The television venture is the most audacious step, but there are many smaller signs, such as the company’s recent acquisition of Trigenix to boost its user interface software. These capabilities will be built into the Brew content download and management platform, which is taking a central position in Qualcomm’s long term strategy that explains and justifies why the company has clung for so long to the product. A year ago this seemed inexplicable – Brew, though popular with many CDMA carriers, was being dwarfed by Java and was a small part of the overall Qualcomm business. Now, as it shifts into multimedia software for handsets and into providing the core of the carrier content system, the attachment to Brew makes perfect sense.
Qualcomm is working on chips for every aspect of multimedia usage. For instance, it is using ATI’s 3D graphics chips to support mobile gaming at a new level by 2006, and is developing a chip, also slated for 2006, to beam photos directly from a handset to a nearby television. The company even aims to incorporate digital rights management into the chip to allow users to download movies to a handset and watch them by pointing the device at a television.
Such moves show that Qualcomm will not lie down and take a decline in the CDMA market passively, even as TI starts to bite into its strongest sectors. But, despite its current strong financial showing, it faces many short term hurdles before it takes on the largest risk of its television venture and W-CDMA push. Near term issues, which drove the chipmaker to warn, at its recent results announcement, of a likely “slow start to 2005”, include a slowdown in two of its most important CDMA territories, China and India. Qualcomm’s outsourced-only manufacturing model carries supply risks and it currently faces shortages of some key chips. Also, W-CDMA royalty revenues are harder to predict than CDMA ones, and TI is eating into the core CDMA sector at last.
Whether or not Qualcomm’s ambitious venture succeeds, we can’t help thinking that the WiMAX community could learn a great deal from its greatest critic. Instead of complex politicking, Qualcomm has just gone out and done it, and has pointed the way for a model where cellular networks and OFDM can coexist, playing to the greatest strength of each and providing a new business model for operators that does not cannibalize the existing network. Should WiMAX be able to penetrate TV spectrum too, the pressure will be on to come up with equally inclusive and ingenious models with which to attract the wireless triple play operators.
Caroline Gabriel - Wireless Watch, UK
(Tuesday 9th November 2004)
World CDMA subscribers exceed 200 mil.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2004/11/10/200411100015.asp
Global mobile-phone users subscribed to code division multiple access services broke the 200 million mark as of September, riding rapid growth in the Asia-Pacific region, according to an industry lobby yesterday.
The CDMA Development Group reported that 29 million new code division multiple access subscribers were added in the third quarter of 2004, bringing the worldwide customer total to 227 million.
Among the 29 million added in the third quarter, 15 million accounted for 2.5-generation and third-generation CDMA2000 services, which provide data applications atop of voice services.
Asia-Pacific remained the largest and fastest growing region for code division multiple access services with 96 million subscribers, accounting for 42 percent of the subscriber total. Korea led all countries in the region with 36 million subscribers, followed by China with 25 million subscribers and Japan with 18 million subscribers.
North America also experienced good customer growth, with code division multiple access operators adding 17 million subscribers during the third quarter to pull up the overall customer base to 88 million. Subscriber totals in Latin America and the Caribbean combined to total 39 million as of September, up 28 percent year-on-year.
The CDMA Development Group, established in 1993, is an international consortium of services providers and equipment makers who have joined together to lead the adoption and evolution of code division multiple access wireless systems around the world.
Developed by U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc., code division multiple access is the No. 2 industry standard for wireless services, provided by 90 operators in 46 countries.
The alternative global system for mobile communications platform, developed by European operators, accounts for more than 70 percent of the world's digital wireless market.
(thkim@heraldm.com)
By Kim Tong-hyung
2004.11.10
Ericsson Trials CDMA 450
11.09.04
http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=62465
STOCKHOLM -- Ericsson has conducted a 450 MHz trial in Talgar, Kazakhstan utilizing its commercially available 450 MHz solution. Based on Ericsson's true 3G platforms that support all future evolutions of CDMA2000, the solution is part of Ericsson's Expander offering, which is designed to provide cost-effective solutions for high growth markets.
Local operator Dalacom, and its partners, participated in the trial in conjunction with The Agency of Information and Communications of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
"This trial is a further proof of Ericsson's commitment to providing our customers with the most advanced wireless solutions available", - said Guenther Begemann, Vice-President, Ericsson Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
China Unicom could be broken up under new merger plan - report
Tuesday November 9, 10:12 AM
http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/041109/323/f68tf.html
The Numbers Add Up with GSM and WCDMA
November 8, 2004 - source: GSA
http://www.3gnewsroom.com/3g_news/nov_04/news_5150.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.the3gportal.com/cgi-bin/framer/framer.cgi?http://www.3gnewsroom.com/3g_news/nov_04/news_5...
The numbers 1000, 500, 250, 100, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 1 are not on this occasion taken from a countdown, but mark different important milestones in millions of subscribers that were reached with GSM and WCDMA during Q2 2004 and shortly afterwards. Together they confirm how GSM momentum continues to grow as the leading mobile technology globally, regionally and in the key growth countries.
GSM crossed the 1000 million or One Billion subscriber landmark earlier this year. The next 100 million was achieved in only a few months, with an amazing 20 million subscriber monthly growth rate in June alone. The cumulative number of GSM users reached 1110 million (1.11 billion) subscribers globally by end June 2004.
The total number of GSM subscribers exceeded 500 million in Western and Eastern Europe by end June 04, with the region contributing 17.1 million new subscribers to the Q2 total. Russia exceeded the 50 million GSM subscribers landmark and contributed with 6.8m new GSM subscribers during Q2. GSM and WCDMA accounted for 99% of new subscribers in Europe.
Open, globally standardized and adopted service standards with GSM ensure the highest terminal versatility, consumer adoption, and usage levels. There are today over 700 different terminals from over 50 manufacturers, with approximately 100+ models supporting MMS. Interoperability deriving from open standards also ensures a richness and diversity of applications, and automatic international roaming globally – a unique feature of GSM driving voice and data revenues, and an important pre-requisite for the take-up of data/3G services.
Focusing on Asia, GSM passed the 250 million subscribers landmark in China during late Q1 2004 and reached 264m by end of June. In another fast growing market, India, the GSM customer base passed 30 million with GSM accounting for 79% of subscriber growth during the first half of 2004, when compared to year-end 2003. With penetration growing rapidly in the major cities, it is clear that the benefits of 3G will be needed very soon for low cost voice capacity and data services. GSA is urging the regulatory authorities in India to act by allocating internationally agreed 3G/IMT-2000 spectrum now to enable the introduction of 3G/WCDMA services as quickly as possible.
GSM subscribers exceeded 40 million in North America (USA & Canada) during June. The total was 40.3m, of which 37.0 m subscribers were located in the USA. GSM also had the highest share of net subscriber additions in the USA during 2Q 2004, 54% over all technologies. GSM is also growing strongly in Latin and Central America (36.0m by end of June), and according to latest estimates has now passed the 40 million subscribers landmark. Brazil passed through the 10 million GSM subscribers figure in May, moving up to 11.7m by end June. The recent introduction of GPRS/EDGE-enabled services in several Latin American markets is already delivering important revenue growth and competitive differentiation.
The accepted path for GSM operators to 3G with WCDMA is now in full deployment with 50 commercial networks globally serving over 10 million users, with accelerating growth in Europe and Asia. There are already 75 WCDMA devices are in the market, and this figure is expected to grow strongly in the near future. Globally another important milestone for the family of GSM technologies to note is the growth of WCDMA subscribers, which was over 1 million in one month for the first time, in June (1.18 million). There are 125 operators which have a WCDMA license and announced plans to build networks, which ensures that rapid WCDMA technology adoption will occur in the near future
It is widely expected that all WCDMA operators will implement HSDPA, to enable data rates up to 10.7 Mbps, beginning in 2005. The upgrade path from WCDMA to HSDPA is easy, as the base stations only require a software upgrade. The result is that today’s scale economies of GSM will be available in WCDMA/HSDPA.
Mainland 3G phone system fails trials
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-11/09/content_2194374.htm" target="_blank">http://www.the3gportal.com/cgi-bin/framer/framer.cgi?http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-11/09/co...
The Chinese mainland's home-grown third-generation (3G) mobile technology, TD-SCDMA, proves lagging behind the two key foreign technologies in many performance categories and is far from ready for commercial use.
The results from the five-month, state-run trials were revealed for the first time on Monday at the ongoing 3G in China Global Summit 2004 in Beijing.
Key problems include lack of workable handsets, dubious stability and poor reliability of TD-SCDMA's core network.
The other two 3G systems - WCDMA, based on Europe's GSM technology, and CDMA2000, a next generation mobile platform based on the CDMA standard in use in the United States - yield satisfactory results, confirming that both are fit for commercial operation.
The failure may prompt the government to further delay the issue of 3G licences if it decides to wait until the home-grown system is ready.
It may also affect how the Ministry of Information Industry determines standards and how many licences are to be granted.
More Roadbumps for TD-SCDMA
By Carlo Longino, Mon Nov 08 21:15:00 GMT 2004
http://www.thefeature.com/article?articleid=101216
Just as it looks like the interest of foreign manufacturers was giving the Chinese 3G standard some momentum, slow development of TD-SCDMA handsets could slow things down.
Western vendors have begun to take TD-SCDMA seriously, increasing expectations that the standard will play more than just a bit part in the world of 3G, not the least of which in China, where it was expected to be deployed alongside the two other established global 3G standards. But as Chinese officials announced the results of the long-running field trials of all three, the lack of available TD-SCDMA handsets -- and their relatively poor performance -- may mean the government will not force any of the carriers interested in 3G licenses to build a network using the homegrown standard.
It had been anticipated that the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry would mandate at least one company build an all-TD-SCDMA network, but speculation now has the MII allowing three carriers to build their networks with either WCDMA or CDMA2000 for now, while agreeing to add TD-SCDMA when it's more mature.
While this may call into question the immediate importance of TD-SCDMA for equipment manufacturers, it's likely to mean that foreign vendors will still win most of the country's 3G upgrade spending, but also that those foreign companies' participation in the Chinese standard's development could increase. TD-SCDMA could prove an attractive choice for carriers in other developing markets where its royalty-free status can help them on their way to profitability. Vendors won't want to miss out on any potential spending -- in China, or elsewhere.
Reducing China's dependence on foreign intellectual property remains a growing aim of the government in the mobile industry. The MII last week joined a number of domestic technology companies to form the Mobile Multimedia Technology Alliance, a group intended to foster domestic cooperation and growth in technological innovation and IP for mobile applications.
London Investor Day: November 17, 2004
DATE: November 17, 2004
TIME: 11:00 AM UKT / 6:00 AM ET / 3:00 AM PT
PURPOSE: London Investor Day
10:30am UKT: Product Displays & Registration
11:00am-5:00pm UKT: Presentations followed by cocktail reception
http://www.qualcomm.com/ir/webcast/london_investorday04.html
Deutsche Bank Securities Semiconductor & Semi Capital Equipment Conference
November 11, 2004, 12:45pm
Presentation by Dr. Sanjay Jha, EVP and Group President, QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies Group
Webcast Presentation
http://www.qualcomm.com/ir/presentations.html
3G arrives: Telecom first off the mark
Francis Till
3G from Telecom
http://www.nbr.co.nz/home/column_article.asp?id=10659&cid=3&cname=Technology
Telecom has launched its superfast next-generation mobile phone network ahead of schedule -- and ahead of the competition.
Vodafone is expected to launch its own 3G network by the middle of next year. By getting first out of the gate, Telecom will have a commanding lead in the consumer space by then -- and will have been able to make its case to the business community in an uncluttered, competition-free pitch environment.
Telecom, which is basing its network -- dubbed T3G -- on the EV-DO (evolution, data optimised) platform, said day one users will be able to send and receive email, download business information, organise appointments and access the internet via laptops and handheld devices at speeds of up to 15 times what's available on its 027 network.
That first service will be marketed as Mobile Broadband and will see other services added quickly.
"Mobile Broadband allows you to connect remotely to your email and the internet as fast as a fixed line broadband connection," said Telecom GM for mobile, Kevin Kenrick.
T3G is immediately available in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch regions, and Telecom said it will be available in key holiday and business destinations including Taupo, Coromandel, Queenstown and Wanaka, before Christmas.
Beyond these areas customers will seamlessly switch to the company's 027 network.
EV-DO technology does not carry voice, but only data -- all T3G connections will use the underlying CDMA voice network for ordinary calling and the 027 platform also allows users to access the internet and email, but at slower speeds.
The new network continues and extends Telecom's agreement with Lucent Technologies for design, software and management.
Vodafone New Zealand is working with Nokia to deploy a 3G network based on the UMTS (WCDMA) standard. Telecom says its T3G network -- which required a $40 million evolutionary upgrade to its exisiting network -- will provide users with speeds up to six times those that will be on offer from Vodafone.
Vodafone has disputed that claim.
Vodafone business director Russell Stanners dismissed the relevance of Telecom's optimal speed. "You don't run a network at peak," he said.
Vodafone was not focused on speed at the network end, but the end result for the customer.
"The raw speed is one context but you've got to bring that together with handset capability, service capability, the number of customers and what area they're in."
The optimal speed for EV-DO is 2.4 Mbps and 2.0 Mbps for the UMTS/WCDMA platform. EV-DV, the theoretical upgrade path for EV-DO networks, operates optimally at 3 Mbps.
There have been conflicting reports about whether Vodafone will offer EV-DV technology at some point but in May, when the company announced Nokia as a partner, it said it would use WCDMA.
While the technologies all have different strengths, actual speeds realised by users will depend on a wide range of factors. Still, Mr Kenrick said in July that users could expect connections of "500kb per second – easily fast enough to deliver video services."
Telecom said it will price the new service to encourage takeup and all subscribers will also gain access to Telecom's network of wireless hotspots.
The company said it has currently deployed 70 wireless hot spots at hotels, airports and business convention centres across the country and this will expand to 200 by the end of 2004.
A range of additional services will be introduced over the next 100 days, Telecom said in announcing the launch of T3G, beginning with video messaging.
Video Messaging customers will be able "to record, view, store and send short duration video clips to other T3G video capable phones and to email addresses anywhere around the world," Telecom said.
Both Telecom and Vodafone have said that video messaging will be possible only between devices on the same network -- so Telecom users will not be able to exchange video messages with Vodafone customers when the Vodafone network rolls out.
Push 2 Talk customer trials will also begin this side of Christmas, Telecom said.
Video Streaming will be close behind, Telecom said. Video streaming will enable users to download video clips from films, music, sports or information services and are typically seen as a potential revenue spinner.
"T3G next generation mobile services start becoming available today with the launch of Telecom’s Mobile Broadband. This side of Christmas it will be followed by Video Messaging and Push 2 Talk services. The ability to video conference via mobile and deliver live TV to mobile devices is just around the corner," Mr Kenrick said.
CDMA EV-DO networks have been increasingly used around the world as a platform for data-intensive broadband computing, bypassing other forms of wireless and even wired networks.
In July, there were 9 EV-DO commercial networks across Asia, the Americas and Europe and 7 (including Telecom's) scheduled for launch this year, making it an exclusive -- but rapidly growing -- club.
More than 500 EV-DO enabled devices are available on the market with color displays, cameras and GPS capabilities, according to the CDMA Development Group, including so-called "smart phones" and other convergence devices.
The technology is coming into its own, but commercial networks are still stuggling to find profitability from data, especially given the high capex associated with large networks.
At least one major player in the first-off-the-rank category, Seattle (Kirkland)-based MonetMobile, was forced into receivership in March after a heady two year run that saw it open networks in underserved areas that included Midwestern cities Sioux Falls, Bismarck, Fargo, Grand Forks, Eau Claire, Duluth and Moorhead.
MonetWireless was North America's first commercial EV-DO network, commencing commercial operations in 2002.
The company positioned itself in direct competition with traditional internet access providers, running a flat fee subscription regime that depended for its sales points on speed and ubiquity of coverage within service areas.
Other players, like VerizonWireless in the US, are following similar marketing models. Verizon, for example, sells connections to its San Diego and Washington, DC, EV-DO networks under a campaign called "BroadbandAccess" and provides unlimited use (no data caps or charges for data transfer) for $US79 per month. Subscribers to the BroadbandAccess networks also have access to the national Verizon CDMA 1x wireless data network.
Voice calling -- except for that using independently installed special voice over internet protocol software -- is charged separately under these plans. In the unlimited data network access plan, for example, voice charges are 25 US cents per minute for local and 69 US cents per minute for roaming calls.
Telecom's data plans are likewise charged on top of voice calling plans.
Telecom shares gained 6c in late trading, nearly overcoming out an 8c decline on Friday.
8-Nov-2004
3G standards approaching maturity
By Chen Zhiming (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-11-09 00:20
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-11/09/content_389605.htm
Three reports focusing on the experimental tests of the three 3G standards showed that all of them are approaching maturity, industry experts say.
The reports were released Monday at the ongoing "3G in China" Global Summit 2004, organized by the China Academy of Telecommunication Research (CATR) of the Ministry of Information Industry.
All the 3G standards performed well during the test, according to Wang Zhiqin, deputy director of the Telecommunication Standard Institute of the CATR.
The three standards include Chinese TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous), European-backed Wideband CDMA and US-based Qualcomm Corp's CDMA 2000.
"Both WCDMA and CDMA 2000 are reaching maturity in many areas such as core networks and network performance," said the reports.
And TD-SCDMA is progressing "very well," said the reports, adding the technology has been fully tested.
But TD-SCDMA still lags behind WCDMA and CDMA 2000 in many aspects such as the involvement of equipment providers and terminal scarcity.
The tests, running from October last year to September this year, was in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Organized by the 3G TEG (China 3G Technical Trial Expert Group) and RITT (Research Institute of Telecommunications Transmission) under the China Academy of Telecommunications Research with the MII, the test result will serve as a reference for the Chinese Government to issue its 3G licences.
Industry experts believe that the sound test results will enable the Chinese Government to release 3G licenses soon.
Interesting info re Nokia and Qualcomm:
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=20745679
Nokia Plans 40 Handset Launches in 2005
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nf/20041105/bs_nf/28188
Fri Nov 5, 3:12 PM ET Business - NewsFactor
Robin Arnfield, wireless.newsfactor.com
Nokia (news - web sites) (NYSE: NOK - news), the world's largest cell phone manufacturer, plans to launch 40 new handsets in 2005 in a bid to enlarge its already-dominant market share and fend off growing competition from Motorola (NYSE: MOT - news), Samsung and Sony Ericsson (news - web sites).
The Finnish company is hitting back, after holes in its product range allowed its competitors to erode its lead in the mid- to high-end handset market.
Investor Update
In a presentation to investors on Thursday in New York, Nokia said that it intends to increase its competitiveness by widening its product portfolio.
Next year, about two-thirds of Nokia's mobile device launches will contain cameras, while more than 50 percent are expected to be clamshell, slide and other non-bar designs, the company said. In addition, Nokia plans to include MP3 music players in half of the models it ships next year.
Earlier this year, Nokia had admitted that it was losing market share to competitors due to intense competition and said it had been late to react to new trends and introduce products such as clamshell handsets.
Market Growth
Nokia executives also told the New York meeting that the company sees the handset market growing by around 10 percent in 2005 from the 630 million units it expects to be sold in 2004.
While unit sales will continue to show strong growth, prices will fall and the value of the market will increase at a slower pace as a result, Nokia said.
Outpacing the Industry
Nokia forecast that its growth would be faster than the market, and said its goal was to win a 40 percent market share, up from around 30 percent at present.
In the third quarter, Nokia had a market share of 32.5 percent, which was higher than in the first and second quarters, but down from 37.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2003.
Nokia is trying to cut its development expenses to below 10 percent of net sales within two years, while accelerating its product development cycles and cutting its overall operating expenses.
Demand for Customization
"Globally, operators are demanding more and more customization of devices that allow them to not only offer an exclusive handset, but to tailor the software and experience to the data services that are so important to their ability to drive additional revenue," Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin told NewsFactor.
"Nokia has been slower than other providers to respond to this demand. Its ability to do a better job of this will be a key determinant of its ultimate market share standing."
The majority of Nokia's models -- and all of its high-end models -- are GSM, which means that in the US they do not reach the entire market, Golvin noted. While the company does have CDMA (news - web sites) handsets for large carriers like Verizon and Sprint (NYSE: FON - news), the number and range of models is much more limited than on the GSM side. For example, there are no CDMA Symbian phones that could compete with devices like the Treo.
"To expand its share in the US, Nokia will need to produce a broader range of CDMA devices," Golvin said.
Nokia Gets into 'Clamshells' for Next Year
http://www.rednova.com/news/display/?id=100372
Nov. 5--Nokia Corp., which had been slow to embrace the folding "clamshell" cellphone, said Thursday that more than half of its new products in 2005 will use clamshell, slide or other designs rather than its traditional "candy-bar" design.
That's a sharp change for Nokia, whose U.S. headquarters are in Irving. It had stuck to the monoblock look long after competitors made clamshells and other innovative designs the core of their product line.
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia executive vice president and general manager of its mobile phone unit, said the new-design phones are expected to bring in nearly 50 percent of Nokia's 2005 revenues, compared to less than 5 percent in early 2004.
At the beginning of the year, Nokia offered only three designs that departed from the traditional design, Mr. Kallasvuo said, and Nokia dropped some market share to competitors.
"We took some relatively aggressive price steps during the spring. I continue to believe that was the right thing to do," he said at a New York meeting in investment analysts.
"By doing so we were able to reverse that development, stabilize that market share, take market share in the third quarter and give a great foundation to continue to build on that," he said.
In 2005, Nokia plans to introduce 40 new mobile devices, with about two-thirds having cameras, more than half having clamshells and other such designs and 50 percent will have MP3 capabilities, company officials said.
Industry wide, Nokia predicted that cellphone sales will increase about 10 percent next year, about half this year's growth rate, with revenues growing slightly less than 10 percent.
Nokia, the world's largest cellphone maker, has struggled with falling revenues in the last two years, and revenues are expected to finish lower in 2004 as well. Last month, Nokia reported lower third-quarter profits despite an increase in revenues.
Albert Lin, an analyst with American Technology Research in San Francisco, said Nokia has to offer clamshells, the second most popular design behind the traditional style, if it hopes to build its market share to its goal of 40 percent.
Motorola Inc., Samsung Electronics and other cellphone makers have benefited by Nokia's unwillingness to offer the other designs, he said.
"I think life's going to much harder for Motorola, Samsung and LG [Electronics] with Nokia now focused on these designs," Mr. Lin said.
Shares of Nokia rose 2.1 percent in New York Stock Exchange trading, finishing up 33 cents to $16.12.
Do you think Nok will use QCOM chipsets to produce 'Clamshells' for Next Year? I personally believe so. Because Qualcomm is the only company that make cdma2000 1x EV-DO so far(JMHO).
Navy officials award $100M in wireless contracts
By Bob Brewin, Federal Computer Week
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/corporatenews/2004-11-05-wireless-navy-contract_x.htm
Navy officials this week awarded one of the largest cellular phone contracts in the history of the mobile phone industry.
The deal for nationwide service with three domestic carriers has a potential value of $100 million over five years, with the possibility of larger contracts in the future. The Navy contracts with Cingular Wireless, Nextel Comunications and Verizon Wireless, making it the third biggest cell phone buy in history, said Bill Marsh, chief technology officer for Traq-wireless, an Austin-based company which helps enterprises manage their cell phone service and costs.
Each of the three vendors will compete for orders on the contract, which has an annual value of $20 million. Marsh said the price tag is topped only by an annual contact awarded by a "quasi-government" agency, which he declined to identify, running at $35 million a year, and a commercial enterprise with an annual wireless phone bill of about $30 million.
The Navy contract was handled by Fleet Industrial Supply Center (FISC) San Diego for Commander, Naval Installations, and will provide service to about 10,000 users, said Nannette Davis, a FISC San Diego spokeswoman. Davis said the contracts will allow the Navy to use "pooling" arrangements to get the most out of its cell phone dollars.
With cell phone pooling plans, enterprise users can control their costs by adding unused monthly minutes from individual cell phone accounts to a bucket of minutes that can be tapped by accounts that go over their allocated monthly minutes. Pooling plans are the most cost-effective way to manage wireless phone bills for an enterprise such as the Navy with thousands of users, Marsh said.
Though the FISC San Diego cell phone contract stands out as one of the largest phone service deals in history, it still leaves a large pool of Navy cell phone users unserved by an umbrella, cost-effective contract, said Rear Adm. James Godwin, director of the Navy Marine Corps Intranet. Godwin estimated that about 100,000 uniformed and civilian personnel may need cell phone service and NMCI is working with its contractor, EDS, to add cell phone service to NMCI.
While FISC San Diego estimated the number of users on NMCI at 10,000, Chris Hill, vice president of the government solutions group for Cingular Wireless, said the indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity FISC San Diego cell phone contract can accommodate about 20,000 users.
Cingular will also provide the Navy with phones, including tri-band and quad-band handsets capable of operating on the GSM standard used by Cingular in the United States and overseas, Hill said.
Verizon Wireless will offer the Navy an international phone to operate on the CDMA standard used in the company's domestic network and the GSM standard when users travel abroad, said John Johnson, a spokesman for Verizon. Verizon will also provide Navy users with secure Qualcomm Inc. phones certified to the National Security Agency TYP 1 wireless standard.
Nextel Communications did not immediately provide any details on the service or handsets it will provide to the Navy.
Nokia expects to see a surge in WCDMA services in 2005
Max Wang, Monaco; Jessie Shen, DigiTimes.com [Friday 5 November 2004]
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20041105A2002.html
Olli Oittinen, vice president of the radio access systems division for Nokia, indicated that more mobile operators worldwide would begin launching wideband code-division multiple access (WCDMA) third-generation (3G) mobile wireless networks in 2005. Oittinen was speaking at the Nokia Mobility Conference 2004 in Monaco yesterday.
Nokia received new contracts for 3G-network deployments in the third quarter from five countries, including India, Pakistan and Ukraine, said Oittinen. There are currently 50 operators launching commercial WCDMA 3G networks worldwide, and Nokia will be implementing 24 of them, Oittinen noted.
Hutchison 3G UK now has 1.2 million WCDMA subscribers and is projecting two million by the end of this year, Oittinen stated.
Nokia was the first to provide core networks for GSM/EDGE and WCDMA 3G networks, with its 3GPP Release 4-compliant MSC Server System, according to a September 8 press release. The MSC Server System has been implemented by 20 operators, of which the Taiwan-based Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) was Nokia’s first customer using the voice core solutions, Oittinen added.
The vendor has also received four contracts for its IP-based multimedia subsystem (IMS) offerings and 19 for its Push-To-Talk over Cellular (PoC) installations, Oittinen stated.
Background:
Press release via Yahoo – Nokia reports 3Q sales of €6.9 billion, EPS of €0.14 (Oct 14)
GSM vs. CDMA: Sparring On
Techtree News Staff Email Print
2004-11-05 14:01:20
http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/showstory.jsp?storyid=56037
The forum representing the leading GSM/3G suppliers worldwide, GSA, has rejected the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's proposal on allocation of frequencies to existing CDMA operators in India.
GSA rejected the proposal saying the upper frequencies conflict with the internationally agreed IMT-2000 spectrum plan identified by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for 3G/IMT-2000 systems. These systems support both WCDMA (GSM path to 3G) and cdma2000 (CDMA path to 3G) systems developed for deployment on a co-existing basis. Such systems, it says, ensure all operators and users benefit from 3G for enhanced voice and data services, better scale economies and international roaming.
It also says that severe interference between existing CDMA base stations and users of 3G systems will reduce service quality and performance of 3G systems. This would then lead to higher costs and restrict competition.
Alan Hadden, President, GSA, said, "The solution is to move to 3G as quickly as possible. The IMT2000 core band is standardized to accommodate both WCDMA and cdma2000 technologies, and there are no harmful interference mechanisms between the two technologies when deployed in the IMT2000 band. GSM and CDMA operators would be able to address short-term capacity needs for both voice and data, as soon as the band is allocated to them."
"All operators would compete on a truly level playing field, with enough capacity and with access to their logical evolution path, on equal terms. This would stimulate competition to a new level - Indian consumers and enterprises will benefit, and help the economy to further grow," he added.
The body is opposing deployment of a mixed plan for India saying it's not feasible.
Digital TV on a Cell: Boom or Bust?
By Suzanne Deffree -- Electronic News, 11/5/2004
http://www.reed-electronics.com/electronicnews/article/CA477627
Texas Instruments Inc. presented its Hollywood digital TV chip late last month with fanfare reminiscent of a movie premiere. Reporters' expectations were raised by excited calls from TI representatives, looking to book an interview days in advance, and flashy reminders of the announcement sent as gifts. Executives and analysts poured into a well-publicized Webinar, chiming in for their scoop of the action. And members of the media were entertained with one-on-one interviews post Webinar.
A few weeks later, Qualcomm looked to steal the spotlight, announcing its own nationwide “mediacast” network subsidiary aimed at digital TV for cell phones. Dubbed MediaFLO USA Inc., the company plans to offer media content for U.S. CDMA2000 and WCDMA (UMTS) cellular operators, giving TV stations and networks, cable TV and satellite operators and networks, and other content providers a major new distribution channel.
But with an expected DTV cell phone rollout date sometime around 2007, it's hard to say whether the fanfare will be worthwhile and whether MediaFLO and chips like Hollywood will become stars in the mobile device space.
"Obviously, a development like putting digital TV technology into a single chip is very beneficial for the mobile TV idea," David Linsalata, an IDC associate research analyst, specializing in mobile devices and digital TV, said of the TI announcement. "Texas Instruments had a lot of expertise in the mobile device space and a lot of expertise with semiconductors. They are able to produce this package, if they can get pasted all the possible barriers."
DTV has its obstacles in the mobile space, including interference from other functions on the phone like Wi-Fi and GPS; screen size and resolution; battery life; standards still being in flux; and speed requirements, Linsalata said. But the pay off could be big for chipmakers, service providers and operators, alike. TI's Kush Parikh, for one, expects that by 2008, more than 100 million mobile phones will be enabled with DTV.
"The operator is always trying to figure out ways to increase ARPU [average revenue per user]. There are streaming services that exist today that aren't that scalable or economically feasible long term," the worldwide strategic marketing manger for the mobile connectivity solutions division of TI's wireless terminal business unit said. "That's why something like this broadcast television will increase the usage of people using their handsets. The more people are using their handsets, the more likely they are to make a phone call, pause a video clip and send and message. Clearly, the operators see it as a revenue generator technology."
While Parikh admits that the business models are far from being worked out, Qualcomm has the same idea based on partnering and running off of the 700MHz spectrum, for which it holds licenses.
“Qualcomm’s MediaFLO solution brings the cable and digital TV realms into the mobile value chain,” said Jane Zweig, CEO of The Shosteck Group, an international telecommunications consultancy. “New partnerships and new revenue streams will be enabled as the content and mobile worlds become more tightly bound together. These opportunities exist for both vendors and operators alike.”
Indeed, Qualcomm is so committed to the MediaFLO mediacasting network -- which will support 50 to100 national and local content channels, including up to 15 live streaming channels and numerous clip-cast and audio channels at up to 30 frames per second - it has said it plans to see $800 million in investments over the next 4 to 5 years go into the subsidiary.
Meanwhile, TI will put its digital RF processor technology to use for Hollywood, collapsing the traditional three-chip solution, which includes a tuner, OFDM demodulator and channel decoder processor, into the a single chip for digital TV phones. Hollywood will receive live digital TV broadcasts at 24 to 30 frames per second, and will be support Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld (DVB-H), which was developed for Europe and is expected to extend to North America, and the Japanese specification, Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting - Terrestrial (ISDB-T).
Qualcomm expects to begin commercial operation of the new network in 2006, which is also when TI expects to begin sampling Hollywood.
UPDATE 1-Verizon to buy NextWave licenses for $3 bln
Fri Nov 5, 2004 12:43 AM ET
http://yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuoteCompanyNewsArticle.jhtml?duid=mtfh77434_2004-11-05_05-43-21_n05...
Russia Offers Many Opportunities for CDMA Technologies
http://news.google.com/news?svnum=10&as_scoring=d&hl=en&ned=us&as_qdr=&as_drrb=b...
5th November , 2004
US : The CDMA Development Group (CDG) announced that more than 130 operators, equipment vendors, government officials and press attended a workshop titled, “IMT- MC Cellular Communications: Development Perspectives in Russia,” co-organized by the CDG with the Third Generation Telecommunication Networks Operators Association (3G Association) (www.a3g.ru) and the International 450 Association (IA 450) (www.450world.org) to discuss the progress and opportunities for CDMA2000® in Russia.
Representatives from the Russian Ministry of Information Technology and Communications, CDMA2000 and CDMA450 carriers, organizing associations and sponsors Ericsson, Lucent Technologies, Nortel Networks and Qualcomm shared their deployment experiences and provided insights into the outlook for the Russian wireless market.
During the event, the CDG signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the 3G Association that calls for the two organizations to cooperate on the promotion of CDMA2000 (IMT-MC) technology, networks and market development in Russia.
“The demand for wireless services in Russia is growing rapidly, offering great potential for the CDMA community,” said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. “The commercial success of CDMA2000 worldwide provides valuable insight into the opportunities of advanced wireless technologies, and the CDG looks forward to working with the 3G Association to share information and to promote CDMA2000 in Russia.”
The success of CDMA450 was a major theme of the event. In his opening statement, Nikolay Popov, Director of the Department of Public Programs at the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications, stated that CDMA450 technology has allowed Russia to modernize a large base of analog systems and has significant potential and positive implications for the future development of universal access in the country.
Four of the 12 commercial CDMA450 networks today are located in Russia, while two more are about to be deployed and two others are conducting trials in the country. Two leading Russian CDMA450 operators, Delta Telecom and Moskovskaya Sotovaya Svyaz (MCC), shared their experiences at the workshop.
Delta Telecom, branded as SKYLINK in St. Petersburg, reported that its revenues have increased 16 times since the introduction of CDMA450 and ARPU has reached $68, compared to $10-15 for other operators in the market. The carrier plans to launch CDMA2000 1xEV-DO service next year, offers roaming with a number of CDMA450 operators in the region, and is testing GSM inter-standard roaming.
MCC, also branded as SKYLINK in Moscow, launched CDMA450 services last November. It now covers 65 percent of the city’s population and offers voice, SMS and Virtual Private Network services. The carrier is conducting 1xEV-DO trials, with a commercial launch of the higher-speed technology pending. MCC currently has roaming in place with SKYLINK in St. Petersburg, Diallog in Belarus and KCC in Kuzbass. Additional roaming roll-outs are planned for the Tyumen and Bashkortostan regions of Russia, Latvia and Kazakhstan.
In addition to the Russian carriers, two other CDMA2000 operators from the region presented at the workshop. Eurotel from the Czech Republic launched CDMA2000 1xEV-DO, branded Data Express, in August 2004, the first CDMA2000 1xEV-DO network in Europe and the first 1xEV-DO system at 450 MHz. The service, which offers high-speed access to the Internet, has been a tremendous success: in two months, it captured 10 percent of the broadband market in the country. Altel is in the second phase of deploying CDMA2000 1X at 800 MHz in Uzbekistan and is evaluating a trial of CDMA2000 1xEV-DO as well as CDMA450.
“As the attendance at the workshop demonstrates, there is great interest in new wireless technologies and the opportunities they create for the Russian market,” said Alexander Krupnov, president of the 3G Association. “This workshop was our first event focusing on IMT-MC, and we look forward to working with the CDG on future events.”
About CDMA2000: 100 Million & Growing
There are more than 124 million people across all continents using CDMA2000 technologies. 97 operators in 46 countries worldwide offer CDMA2000 services, and 36 more will launch in the coming months. More than 680 CDMA2000 devices have been introduced to the market. CDMA2000 1xEV-DO is leading in the deployment of 3G broadband networks worldwide, with 13 commercial networks, 18 additional systems to be deployed this year. There are 87 models of 1xEV-DO devices commercially available today.
Qualcomm media network to boost mobile services
http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=134820&liArticleTypeID=1&liCa...
The dedicated tower network to be built by Qualcomm's MediaFLO USA subsidiary should give US carriers a smooth road for rolling out mobile multimedia services, though it may be some time before they embrace the idea.
Qualcomm, the chip and technology supplier that pioneered CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) mobile phones and infrastructure, announced that it holds radio spectrum nationwide in the 700MHz range and plans to build a network of transmitters to send video and audio content to mobile phones.
Through MediaFLO, which is intended as a future spin-off company, Qualcomm will offer a service that includes aggregation of content from multiple sources, middleware for delivering that content to subscribers, and transmission over the dedicated network.
The content could include channels for streaming video as well as for downloadable video and audio. Qualcomm expects trials next year and commercial service in 2006.
US operators have lagged their counterparts in some other regions in mobile multimedia, but MediaFLO has the potential to accelerate the new services here, according to IDC analyst Scott Ellison.
It could shift the key issue for multimedia from what carriers need to do - namely, the painful process of "rebanding" their spectrum - to a task for handset makers, he said. They just need to develop phones that can receive transmissions from the newly tapped spectrum.
"I think it's a huge step forward in the US," Ellison said.
Asian manufacturers this year have demonstrated handsets that can receive terrestrial and satellite TV broadcasts.
In September a group of major handset supplier - Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Siemens and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications - formed the Mobile Broadcast Services initiative to collaborate on specifications to deliver broadcast services to wireless handsets.
No carrier customers were announced when Qualcomm's plans were detailed, but the concept has drawn some interest.
Verizon Wireless, which runs a CDMA network, wants to find out more about the technology and will discuss it with Qualcomm, spokesman Jeffrey Nelson said.
Sprint, also a CDMA operator, has been talking with Qualcomm about it but has not made any strategic decisions, according to spokeswoman Mary Nell Westbrook.
Qualcomm prepared for the service by buying licenses to the 700MHz spectrum in a US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auction last year and in another transaction with a licence holder last month.
Because the network will operate at a lower frequency than mobile phone networks, each tower will have a longer range and fewer towers will be needed, said Jeremy James, senior director of marketing at Qualcomm.
Based on Qualcomm's FLO (Forward Link Only) technology, MediaFLO will be a send-only service. Subscribers to mobile operators that use the service will be able to control it via commands sent over the mobile phone network.
The need for MediaFLO-capable handsets could create an attractive market for Qualcomm, which is now developing a standalone FLO chip for phones and later plans to integrate the capability into the main chipsets for phones.
James was unable to comment on whether the company will license the technology to other chip makers, as it has with some other CDMA technologies.
Operators that use MediaFLO also will have to install some new modules in their infrastructure equipment to communicate with the network, he added.
IDC's Ellison, who has seen the technology demonstrated, said going from channel to channel on a MediaFLO-equipped handset was like flipping through TV stations, with no delay waiting for stored video clips to load.
The network can transmit video at 30 frames per second, the typical frame rate of broadcast TV, far beyond current US services such as Sprint PCS Vision Multimedia Services, which runs at 15 frames per second.
With that kind of quality, there is a big potential market for mobile video here, said Ellison, who dismisses the notion that Americans just are not interested in advanced mobile services.
Stephen Lawson writes for IDG News Service
TMF Post: Reconstructing Qualcomm’s Earnings
Courtesy of brational
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=20735939
Qualcomm's Quarter
November 4, 2004
Attributing its strong growth in the fourth quarter to the continued deployment of WCDMA networks globally, Qualcomm’s fourth quarter revenue saw an eye-bulging increase from last year. But warnings that next year might not meet expectations is causing some pull-back on the stock.
Revenues for the micro-chip maker climbed 27% from last year, to $4.9 billion in 2004, the company reported. Earnings were up 108%, to $1.7 billion, from 2003. Focusing on the fourth quarter, Qualcomm say $1.1 billion in revenue, a dip of 17% from the previous quarter but up 28% from last year.
The San Diego, Calif.-based company saw expenses rise 24% from the same period last year, to $146 million, and spent more on research and development during this term. Research and development costs rose 45% compared to the fourth quarter in 2003, to creep over the $200 million mark. The rise in R&D is “related to integrated circuit products and initiatives to support multimedia applications, high-speed wireless Internet access and multimode, multiband, multinetwork products including CDMA2000 1xEV-Do, WCDMA and High Speed Downlink Packet Access," the company stated.
The company sold some 39 million Mobile Station Modem phone chips during the final quarter of this year, 19 million more than it had sold during the same quarter in 2003. Qualcomm reported that this year saw an “insufficient channel inventory" of its MSMs and CDMA phones, due to booming interest, and while it sees that problem as being alleviated, it missed the mark on its 46 million unit estimate. Qualcomm is forecasting to ship 48 million to 52 million CDMA phones in the December quarter.
This inability to serve up all the demand for faster chips that power mobile phones as well as Qualcomm's altering the way it is accounting for royalties is contributing to the stock prices' dip of $1.36 in late morning trading, say financial reports.
“The continuing growth in the worldwide adoption of CDMA technology has significantly increased the cash flow and earnings of Qualcomm," stated Irwin Mark Jacobs, chairman and CEO at Qualcomm. "Clearly, the desire on the part of consumers and enterprises to utilize applications that require more efficient and faster data transmission is driving the deployment of CDMA2000 1xEV-DO and operator requests for earlier availability of High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) for WCDMA."
http://www.wirelessiq.info/content/topstories/362.html
Worldwide Mobile Phone Market Grows 23%, Nokia Re-Enters 30% Share Bracket, According to IDC
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/Nov/1090497.htm
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. --(Business Wire)-- Nov. 4, 2004 -- Nokia showed renewed strength and expanded vendor portfolios continued to gain traction with consumers as the worldwide mobile phone market posted a second consecutive quarter of sequential growth in the third quarter of 2004. According to IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone QView, worldwide mobile phone shipments rose 23% year over year and increased sequentially 7% in 3Q04 to 164.1 million units.
The third quarter marked the first time that Nokia has achieved greater than 30% market share since the company's drop during the first quarter of 2004. Although initially faulted for a lack of mid-range handsets, Nokia has responded by reinforcing its portfolio with a number of new mid-range and high-end handsets, including fashion, camera, and enterprise-focused mobile phones and converged mobile devices. As a result, the company finds itself firmly at the top of the market; conversely, the next four spots are more in flux than ever. Only 0.4% separates number 2 Motorola and number 3 Samsung, while the same amount separates number 4 Siemens and number 5 LG Electronics. Even LG Electronics is not completely safe, with Sony Ericsson less than 1% behind.
"During the third quarter of 2004, the mobile phone market continued to grow thanks to strong replacement trends in established markets and increased shipments into regions with low mobile penetration rates. Key to this growth has been the continued effort by mobile phone vendors to engage in a constant cycle of innovation, improvement, and renewal throughout their product portfolios," said David Linsalata, analyst in IDC's Mobile Devices program. "With many of the top market spots in close contention and the holiday season looming, those vendors who put forth well-positioned and comprehensive portfolios of entry, mid-, and high-end devices and can execute in meeting demand will be most rewarded by consumers with potential market share increases."
Vendor Highlights
-- Nokia - Reflecting Nokia's continuing efforts to offer a broader range of products across all price points, market leader Nokia posted a year-over-year shipment increase of 13.6% and a sequential gain of 13.2%. Nokia's continued recovery boosted the company's market share back into the 30% range, from 29.6% in the second quarter to 31.3% in the third quarter.
-- Motorola - Motorola's refreshed product portfolio helped to push the company to 15.3% year-over-year growth but was unable to prevent a 3.3% slip in sequential shipments. This drop led to a corresponding decline of 1.5% in market share, shrinking the distance between itself and challenger Samsung.
-- Samsung - Despite rising 51.2% year over year, Samsung's shipments remained relatively flat sequentially as the company coped with sluggish demand in the domestic market and increased competition internationally. Samsung's lack of shipment growth in the face of a growing market resulted in a 1% drop in market share, placing the company solidly in the number 3 spot and within 0.5% of the number 2 position.
-- Siemens - After a dramatic sequential drop in shipments during the second quarter, Siemens was able to rebound significantly with a 20.2% sequential gain in the third quarter. While Siemens' recovery allowed the company to retain its position in the top 5, LGE remains only 0.4% behind and poised to threaten the number 4 spot.
-- LG Electronics - LGE posted a 55.1% year-over-year increase in shipments on the strength of increased CDMA and GSM sales in North America and Europe. This rise in shipments was also reflected in an 18.7% sequential shipment gain, allowing LGE to move past Sony Ericsson and claim the number 5 spot.
Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide Mobile Phone Shipments and Market Share, 3Q 2004 (Preliminary) -0- *T Rank Vendor 3Q 2004 3Q 2004 Market Shipments Share --------- ------------------------------- ------------ -------------- 1 Nokia 51,400,000 31.3% --------- ------------------------------- ------------ -------------- 2 Motorola 23,300,000 14.2% --------- ------------------------------- ------------ -------------- 3 Samsung 22,700,000 13.8% --------- ------------------------------- ------------ -------------- 4 Siemens 12,500,000 7.6% --------- ------------------------------- ------------ -------------- 5 LG Electronics 11,800,000 7.2% --------- ------------------------------- ------------ -------------- Other 42,400,000 25.8% --------- ------------------------------- ------------ -------------- Total 164,100,000 100.0% --------- ------------------------------- ------------ -------------- *T
Notes: Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors.
Mobile Phones -- These small, battery-powered, voice-centric devices utilize operator-provided cellular/PCS air interfaces for voice communication. They are designed primarily, in both form factor and feature set, for a compelling mobile telephony experience, but may also include text-messaging capability. Mobile phones may include a headset jack for hands-free operation as well as a variety of features, such as personal information management, multimedia, games, or office applications. Mobile phones exist at all points along the form factor, price point, and feature set continua. Mobile phones that combine voice communications capabilities with pen or keypad handheld data features are tracked within the Converged Devices category.
Source: IDC, November 4, 2004
IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone QView provides device vendors, software developers, service providers, and component suppliers with timely and accurate information on the worldwide handset market. The program provides quarterly measurements of worldwide mobile phone and converged mobile device unit shipments and vendor market shares.
For more information about IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone QView program, please contact Jonathan Guloyan at 508-935-4296 508-935-4369 or jguloyan@idc.com.
To purchase this document, call IDC's sales hotline at 508-988-7988 or email sales@idc.com.
About IDC
IDC is the premier global market intelligence and advisory firm in the information technology and telecommunications industries. We analyze and predict technology trends so that our clients can make strategic, fact-based decisions on IT purchases and business strategy. Over 700 IDC analysts in 50 countries provide local expertise and insights on technology markets. Business executives and IT managers have relied for 40 years on our advice to make decisions that contribute to the success of their organizations.
IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. Additional information can be found at www.idc.com
All product and company names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
Qcom form M/L this morning.
http://finance.messages.yahoo.com/bbs?.mm=FN&action=m&board=4686818&tid=qcom&sid=468...
Some important points to be remembered re Qualcomm
"This has obviously been an outstanding year for Qualcomm," Chairman and Chief Executive Irwin Jacobs said yesterday.
He said he expects Qualcomm's cell phone technology to continue to be adopted throughout the world.
Jacobs said 24 percent of the worldwide market for cell phones is based on Qualcomm's technology, up from 20 percent last year.
"We look forward to another strong year," he said.
For the current fiscal quarter, which ends in December, Qualcomm estimated that it will have revenue of $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion, with earnings of 24 cents to 26 cents per share.
Analysts were expecting earnings of 31 cents per share.
Qualcomm chief financial officer Bill Keitel said the difference between analysts' expectations and Qualcomm's forecast is largely due to the change in recording royalty revenue.
"The analysts haven't had all of the information, sufficient information on how to model the company based on our new methodology," Keitel said.
December is traditionally a big month for the sale of cell phones. Under the old accounting method of estimating royalties, that holiday revenue would appear in Qualcomm's first quarter earnings. Under the new method, Keitel said those sales won't show up until the second quarter.
"Under our new accounting methodology, that Christmas effect is going to be reported in our March results," he said.
The earnings estimates are also affected by the possibility that Qualcomm will pay more taxes next year and by the purchase of three companies, Keitel said.
Analyst Albert Lin of American Technology Research cautioned investors against having a "knee-jerk" reaction to Qualcomm's lower estimates for this quarter.
"The complications of the accounting are going to lead to misinterpretations of the stock," Lin said. "I'd say if the stock weakens, it's a good time to buy."
Excerpt from:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20041104-9999-1b4qcom.html
Qualcomm CEO Sees 'Substantial' Dividend Boosts In Future
http://money.iwon.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt.jsp?cat=USMARKET&src=704&feed=dji§ion=news&...
Wednesday November 3, 7:02 PM EST
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) boosted its dividend twice during fiscal 2004, which ended in September, and the company is "well-positioned for substantial increases" in the future, Chairman and Chief Executive Irwin Jacobs said Wednesday.
Qualcomm now pays out 28 cents a share annually, giving a dividend yield of 0.7% based on the stock's 4 p.m. EST closing price of $39.87.
Qualcomm owns a major wireless-communications technology called CDMA, or code division multiple access, used on the networks of mobile-phone carriers like Sprint Corp. (FON) and Verizon Wireless. CDMA phones make up 24% of the global wireless market, up from 20% in June 2003, Jacobs said.
Phone makers that license CDMA technology for their handsets didn't ship as many devices in the fourth quarter as had been expected - 41 million versus Qualcomm's 46 million estimate.
That was due to a slowdown in the South Korean wireless market and handset makers having excess inventory, said Qualcomm Chief Financial Officer Bill Keitel, who joined Jacobs on a teleconference to discuss the company's fiscal fourth-quarter results.
Qualcomm's operating expenses, which include research and development, increased during the fourth quarter. Keitel, the CFO, predicted a further 10% to 12% rise in the fiscal first quarter from the fourth quarter.
Sprint and Verizon Wireless are both deploying high-speed wireless networks that use a communications technology called EV-DO.
Qualcomm's shipments of chips for EV-DO phones may double in 2005 from the 12 million shipped in 2004, said Sanjay Jha, president of Qualcomm's CDMA Technologies Group.
Jacobs, the CEO, said 10 million people subscribe to EV-DO service globally.
-By Nick Baker, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2020; nick.baker@dowjones.com
Sprint in Talks with Qualcomm on TV to Cellphones
Tue Nov 2, 2004 03:51 PM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=6692332&src=rss/technol...
Qualcomm's Field Of Streams
David M. Ewalt, 11.02.04, 4:50 PM ET
NEW YORK - If you build it, they will come... or so Qualcomm hopes. The wireless chip and technology vendor is betting that if it constructs a nationwide network to stream television over cell phones, cellular carriers will sign on and consumers will clamor for the service. But it remains to be seen whether anyone really wants a TV in his pocket.
On Monday, Qualcomm (nasdaq: QCOM - news - people ) said it would begin building a nationwide wireless network specifically designed to deliver high-quality audio and video programming to mobile phones. The endeavor is expected to cost about $800 million over the next four or five years, and begin commercial service in 2006. Eventually, Qualcomm says it intends to spin off the company.
The network, which will be constructed by subsidiary MediaFLO USA, will ultimately broadcast between 50 and 100 channels, including 15 live streaming stations. MediaFLO will negotiate deals with media companies to deliver their content, and will sell the service directly to cellular operators, who will share the network and resell TV service to their mobile customers.
Cellular providers have spent billions upgrading their networks to provide high-speed data services, but still don't have the technology available to offer high-quality live TV. Those services require high-bandwidth, expensive systems and don't deliver as much revenue per bit of data as voice or Internet service. By building their own multimedia network, Qualcomm hopes that the carriers will skip the expense of building up their own infrastructure, and will instead pay for access to MediaFLO's network.
"What Qualcomm is doing is saying, 'We know there's concern about delivering these kinds of services through the cellular network,'" says Pacific Crest Securities analyst James Faucette. "'So we're going to build our own network, and if carriers want to use it, great.'"
Qualcomm would also benefit from increased sales of the mobile chips and technology needed to support the system. "You're going to create reasons for upgrading handsets," says Faucette.
So far, the wireless carriers have only dipped their toes into mobile television. Verizon Wireless--a joint venture of Verizon Communications (nyse: VZ - news - people ) and Vodafone Group (nyse: VOD - news - people ) is looking at the MediaFLO service, according to a spokesman. Sprint (nyse: FON - news - people ) already offers a video service called MobiTV to its customers, offering about 20 channels of low-quality video.
Overseas, the service has gotten a little more traction. In South Korea, about six million mobile phone users--more than 12% of the country's population--subscribe to services that allow them to watch television over their phones, says Steve Hoffenberg, director of electronic media research for Lyra Research. "It has been very successful," he says. "That gives companies more confidence that there really is a market out there."
But in the U.S., that interest just might not be there. A recent Lyra Research study found that 53% of U.S. cell phone users are "not at all" or "not very" interested in watching TV on a cell phone or other portable device.
Hoffenberg says that resistance is due in part to the fact that most American consumers haven't seen the technology work. Besides, he says, what really matters is the 14% of those surveyed who were "very" or "extremely" interested. "What really matters to the Qualcomms of the world isn't how many people aren't interested, it's can they sell it to the people who are?"
Even if the network is a gamble, it's probably a smart one for Qualcomm to take. If the network fails, it could cost investors about 50 cents per share, but Qualcomm is already paying out more than that every year in dividends, and that sum is expected to increase. The company also has more than $2 billion in cash on hand, making a major network investment less of a burden. "$800 million isn't a small chunk of change, but in the overall scheme of everything they've got going on, it's not that big a deal," Faucette says. "It's probably worth the risk."
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2004/11/02/cx_de_1102qcom.html?partner=rss
Lauer: Sprint COO Tells Of Qualcomm TV Talks
Greg Levine, 11.02.04, 6:06 PM ET
http://www.forbes.com/facesinthenews/2004/11/02/1102autofacescan06.html?partner=yahoo&referrer=
NEW YORK - Doers and doings in business, entertainment and technology:
The small screen. Sprint (nyse: FON - news - people ) Chief Operating Officer and President Len Lauer on Tuesday said the firm is in talks with Qualcomm (nasdaq: QCOM - news - people ) to deliver live television to Sprint mobile phone users. The TV content would reach the telecommunications firm's customers via a new network Qualcomm is building from broadcasting spectrum licenses it owns. The chip maker will cobble its wireless network together in 2006. The COO told reporters Sprint is also interested in bidding for airwaves or spectrum in a government auction expected to occur next year, to ensure it has enough to meet its needs in the future. "If wireless data continues to move the way it has, you get out toward the end of the decade and you start to run out of spectrum," Lauer opined. But he said the telecom, helmed by Chairman and Chief Executive Gary Forsee, doesn't plan to buy the airwaves soon to be sold by Cingular Wireless. A joint venture of BellSouth (nyse: BLS - news - people ) and SBC Communications (nyse: SBC - news - people ), Cingular has purchased AT&T Wireless; the airwave sale is a condition for the U.S. to OK its acquisition.
Nextel closer to spectrum swap
By Paul Taylor in New York
Published: November 2 2004 14:26 / Last updated: November 2 2004 14:26
Nextel Communications, the fifth largest US mobile carrier, on Tuesday moved closer to reorganising its wireless spectrum after Verizon Wireless said it would not oppose a plan that would give Nextel new spectrum valued at $4.86bn.
The move, part of a wide-ranging agreement between the rivals to resolve all their legal disputes, clears the way for the controversial spectrum swap plan thrashed out during more than two years of negotiations.
Under the proposal, Nextel will swap spectrum it owns in the 800Mhz band prone to interference with public safety service radios, including fire and police for new spectrum in the coveted 1.9GHz band used by most mobile operators.
The swap will make it easier and more cost-effective for Nextel to offer advanced data services to its expanding customer base. The announcement on Tuesday that Verizon would not seek to block the plan in court helped lift Nextel's share price by more than 3 per cent in early trading.
Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications of the US and the UK's Vodafone group, and the second biggest US mobile phone network operator, was the most vocal opponent of the plan, approved in July by the Federal Communications Commission.
The company had argued that Nextel was getting the airwaves too cheaply and that the spectrum should be offered at public auction.
In return for Verizon Wireless's promise not to oppose the spectrum swap, Nextel said that it would forego ownership rights to the “push to talk” walkie-talkie style Direct Connect service.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/180db97a-2cdb-11d9-b120-00000e2511c8.html
If Qualcomm Builds Mobile TV, Will Viewers Come?
By Mike Masnick, Tue Nov 02 19:30:00 GMT 2004
Qualcomm has decided that it needs to play an active role in jumpstarting mobile TV by building its own network to broadcast video content to mobile phones. There's just one problem: who's going to jumpstart user interest?
Qualcomm realized quite some time ago that the more people use wireless applications over CDMA networks, the better off the company will be. It owns a huge chunk of patents concerning the technology, and the success of CDMA (in various flavors) means much more for Qualcomm's bottom line. As part of this, the company has actively tried to jumpstart new and innovative applications. For example, BREW was designed as a way to get more innovative mobile data applications into the market quickly.
The latest effort, however, might be going a bit too far. Qualcomm has announced that its MediaFlo subsidiary will be building a multimedia network that will broadcast 100 channels of content in the 700 MHz band to mobile devices using either W-CDMA or CDMA2000 technology. Qualcomm obviously isn't interested in being a content player or a traditional broadcaster -- but hopes that this network will jumpstart mobile TV offerings for carriers, and guarantee greater success for CDMA-based 3G networks just as those networks might start to face some competition from other forms of wireless broadband.
There's still one major problem with all of this: there's almost no evidence that anyone wants mobile TV. In fact, a new study suggests just the opposite. People on the go just aren't that interested in watching live TV. There may be some interest in video from the content creation side, but broadcast video is something that people watch when they have the time. It doesn't "fit in" with what people are doing when they're on the go. There are, clearly, a few niche exceptions, but it's not at all clear a few niches are worth nearly a billion dollars to build such a network while hoping that an audience exists.
The core advantage of mobile data networks is that they are interactive. They're used for communication. Broadcasting can (and obviously will) be an element of that, but that's not what makes those networks interesting and compelling. Limiting a network to just broadcast content doesn't offer anything new. Simply recreating a broadcast platform to send the same content to mobile devices is a waste of time, money and spectrum. Already, too much spectrum is devoted to broadcast-only content. If Qualcomm wants to help jumpstart more data usage on 3G networks, why not help come up with more ways to really embrace what's different about those networks, rather than recreating what already exists?
http://www.thefeature.com/article?articleid=101202
GSM at Risk in GPS IC and Location Based Services Markets, Warns ABI Research
ABI Research - November 2, 2004
http://www.tekrati.com/T2/Analyst_Research/ResearchAnnouncementsDetails.asp?Newsid=3946
Nokia Plans 20 High-Resolution Camera Phones in 2005 (Update2)
Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Nokia Oyj, the world's largest mobile- phone maker, plans to introduce more than 20 handsets featuring cameras with at least 1 megapixel resolution next year in a bid to regain lost market share.
Sales of camera phones will exceed 200 million units this year, Anssi Vanjoki, who runs the Nokia unit that makes camera and game phones, said at an event in Monaco. Nokia previously forecast camera phone sales would reach 200 million units.
Nokia today unveiled the 3220 model, with a 1 megapixel camera for higher resolution pictures, the 6020 camera phone for business users and the 7710, a so-called smartphone, the company said in a statement distributed at the conference.
The Espoo, Finland-based company is introducing phones with new features to recover market share, which fell to a five-year low earlier this year. Nokia last month said its profit may drop for a second straight quarter as prices drop and the company increases marketing spending.
Samsung Electronics Co., Motorola Inc. and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd. took market share by starting to sell foldable camera phones earlier than Nokia. Nokia Chief Executive Jorma Ollila earlier this year vowed to take ``firm actions'' to recover market share, including price cuts and shipping more phones with the foldable, so-called clamshell design.
New Phones
The company will start shipping the 3230 and 6020 models in the first quarter. The 3230 will cost about 350 euros ($445) and the 6020 about 200 euros. The 7710, which will cost 450 euros to 500 euros goes on sale in Asia, including China, this quarter and in Europe and Africa in the first quarter, Vanjoki said.
Operators will be able to adapt the 6020 model to their specific needs, Vanjoki said. The new model, based on Nokia's 60- series phones of which 15 million units have been sold, ``will sell a lot,'' he said.
Nokia is ``well-equipped for Christmas,'' even with the new models going on sale next year, Vanjoki said.
The company still has a long-term target of winning 40 percent of the global market for mobile phones, he said.
Nokia's market share fell to 30.6 percent in the third quarter from 33.8 percent a year earlier, Boston-based researcher Strategy Analytics said last week. Still, its share rose from 28.8 percent in the second quarter. Motorola had 13.9 percent and Samsung had 13.5 percent in the third quarter.
After Nokia's market share started sliding early this year, Ollila blamed ``gaps'' in the company's product portfolio, such as missing clamshell models. In March, Nokia started selling its first clamshell phone, years after some competitors.
Smartphone Demand
Sales of smartphones are expected to make up a quarter of total mobile-phone unit sales in 2008, Antti Vasara, Nokia's vice president of technology and sales, said in a speech at the event in Monaco.
Nokia is betting new features will help the company to increase its average phone prices. Nokia's average selling price fell to 105 euros in the third quarter from 110 euros in the previous three months and 124 euros a year earlier, FIM Securities analyst Jussi Hyoety wrote in an Oct. 14 note.
The company last month said fourth-quarter sales would be 8.4 billion euros to 8.6 billion euros, down from 8.79 billion euros a year ago.
Nokia last month said it expects 2004 global unit sales by all manufacturers will reach 630 million phones. Strategy Analytics last week said unit growth may rise 30 percent to 670 million phones in 2004 as operators add subscribers in countries such as India, and as U.S. and European consumers change to more advanced models. Growth will slow to 8 percent next year, the researcher said.
Shares of Nokia rose as much as 11 cents, or 0.9 percent, to 12.34 euros as of 5:22 p.m. in Helsinki. They had lost 11 percent this year before today.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ville Heiskanen in Helsinki vheiskanen@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: November 2, 2004 10:24 EST
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=a8doPzF92ur4&refer=europe
Ericsson and TATA Teleservices Sign CDMA2000 1X Expansion Contract
Tuesday November 2, 9:42 am ET
STOCKHOLM, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 2, 2004--Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERICY - News), which already provides its CDMA2000 1X infrastructure to TATA Teleservices (TTSL) in six existing circles, will deploy its AXE-based MSCs throughout 12 new circles in TTSL's CDMA2000 1X network.
Ericsson previously supplied its end-to-end CDMA2000 1X network solution in the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka circles, as well as core network equipment in four other TTSL circles. With this expansion contract, Ericsson will be integrated throughout TTSL's nationwide network.
"This contract further strengthens Ericsson's leadership in India, which is one of the highest growth markets in the world for wireless services," said Mats Granryd, president of Ericsson Mobile Systems CDMA. "We are honored to continue our partnership with TTSL by supporting their CDMA2000 1X network growth and are committed to providing the most innovative solutions and services to progress their network offering and support their business objectives."
"Ericsson's leadership in 3G and their ability to provide long-term, local support are critical as we expand our network and bring advanced wireless services to our customers throughout India," said Firdose Vandrevala, chairman of TTSL.
Built on one of three common, core platforms within Ericsson's CDMA2000 and WCDMA product portfolios, the AXE-based MSC is the most widely deployed in the industry. The platform is used to deliver value-added services to mobile subscribers, such as pre-paid and voice mail, and increase operator revenue. The MSCs conform to common signaling and service standards, making it easy to enter new markets quickly while retaining compatibility with existing infrastructure.
One of India's leading wireless communications providers, TTSL is a licensed, private operator that offers mobile and fixed telephony services, including voice and data products. The company's solutions range from converged voice and data networks, to customer relationship management solutions and unified messaging solutions for enterprises. TTSL, which has experienced 234% growth over the past year, has the objective of becoming India's leading convergent business solutions provider for enterprises.
Ericsson is shaping the future of Mobile and Broadband Internet communications through its continuous technology leadership. Providing innovative solutions in more than 140 countries, Ericsson is helping to create the most powerful communication companies in the world.
Read more at http://www.ericsson.com/press
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/041102/25403_1.html
Nokia's Failure to Win U.S. Users Hurts Profit, Stock (Update1)
Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Moulik Shah, a student from Orange County, California, changed his foldable Samsung Electronics Co. mobile phone to a bar-shaped Nokia Oyj handset when he started a four-month exchange at the Helsinki School of Economics in August. He will switch back to Samsung when he returns home.
``Samsung is more fashionable in the U.S.,'' said Shah, 27, in an interview. ``People prefer flip phones, and typically they're smaller. You hardly see any Nokias in California.''
Nokia's failure to woo U.S. consumers like Shah is hurting Chief Executive Jorma Ollila's effort to regain global market share, which fell to a five-year low this year. Espoo, Finland- based Nokia, the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, will have to allow U.S. operators a bigger say in the development of phones and bring out more handsets for the U.S., said Marko Alaraatikka, a fund manager at Evli Investment Management.
``Nokia needs to improve in the U.S. if it wants to get closer to 40 percent market share,'' Helsinki-based Alaraatikka, who oversees $3.6 billion and holds Nokia shares, said. ``It has done clearly worse there -- competition is fierce.'' The U.S. is Nokia's biggest market with 15 percent of sales in 2003.
Nokia last month said profit will fall for a second straight quarter as revenue drops and it spends more on marketing. Fourth- quarter earnings per share may fall to between 16 euro cents (20 U.S. cents) and 18 cents from 25 cents a year earlier, the company said. Nokia forecast sales of 8.4 billion euros to 8.6 billion euros, down from 8.79 billion euros a year earlier.
Shares Slide
The company's shares, unchanged at 12.23 euros as of 12:05 p.m. in Helsinki, had slid 11 percent this year before today. Motorola has risen 23 percent and Samsung has lost 2.5 percent. Of the 52 analysts covering Nokia, 21 rate the stock a ``buy,'' 20 a ``hold,'' and 11 a ``sell,'' according to Bloomberg data.
Ollila, 54, may tell investors at a New York meeting Nov. 4 and 5 how he plans to increase Nokia's business in the world's largest economy, as he seeks to reach the company's stated aim of a 40 percent global market share. Nokia has about 31 percent now. On Nov. 2 to 4, Ollila also hosts a company event for customers and investors in Monaco on the Mediterranean Sea.
Ollila, who declined to comment for this article, on Oct. 14 said Nokia will expand its U.S. phone range and convince U.S. operators to offer more Nokia models to subscribers.
U.S. Market Share
Nokia's U.S. market share fell to 21.4 percent in the second quarter from 28.4 percent in the third quarter of 2003, according to Framingham, Massachusetts-based market researcher IDC. Ollila last month said the company's U.S. market share kept sliding in the third quarter of this year.
In the same period, Samsung, based in Suwon, South Korea, increased its U.S. market share to 21.9 percent from 11.1 percent, IDC said. Motorola Inc. retained its No. 1 spot, while its market share shrank to 24.8 percent from 28.6 percent. LG Electronic Inc.'s share rose to 12.2 percent from 12 percent.
Ollila is trying to reverse the slide after failing to foresee the boom in flip-screen camera phones, which have bigger displays for photos and games. Shah said there were no Nokia flip models offered with the call plan he wanted in California.
Nokia offered its first clamshell phone in March, a decade after Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola, its closest rival.
The lack of Nokia flip phones persuaded Jennifer Stahler, a Chicago massage therapist, to buy a silver-colored Samsung clamshell model instead. She said most of her friends have chosen a phone with a similar design.
``I chose the phone because it folds and it looks cool,'' said Stahler, 32. ``I didn't like the Nokias because they seemed not as comfortable to use.''
Rebound in Europe, Asia
Nokia's market share is recovering elsewhere. Price cuts and new models such as the 6600 and 6230 have increased sales in Europe and Asia, helping Nokia's global share bounce back to 30.6 percent in the third quarter from 28.8 percent in the second quarter, Boston-based researcher Strategy Analytics said last week. Motorola had 13.9 percent and Samsung had 13.5 percent.
Nokia will now focus on products aimed at the U.S. market and improve its relations with operators including Verizon Communications Inc., based in New York, Nokia Chief Financial Officer Rick Simonson said in an interview last month.
In Europe, mobile-phone companies such as Paris-based Orange SA have said Nokia has improved its cooperation with operators, for example allowing them to participate more in the phone design process and placing operator logos on handsets.
The company aims to sell more handsets that use the so- called CDMA standard, or code-division multiple access, in the U.S., Ollila said on a conference call Oct. 14. CDMA handsets account for more than half of the U.S. market, whereas in Europe the rival GSM standard is dominant.
Coke, Hewlett-Packard
Nokia last year appointed for the first time U.S. citizens as executives, naming Simonson CFO and hiring Mary McDowell, previously a Hewlett-Packard Co. manager, to head the unit that makes mobile phones for businesses. Nokia this year also set up an office in Westchester County, New York, where Simonson and McDowell will be based.
The company in August hired Keith Pardy from Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. Pardy, 45, who worked for Coca-Cola for 17 years and was in charge of the Sprite and Fanta brands, joined Nokia as a senior vice president in charge of brand management and consumer relations. Nokia will also lift marketing spending this quarter, Ollila said on the Oct. 14 conference call.
``I'm cautiously positive Nokia can improve,'' said Ville Ahoranta at Etera Mutual Pension Insurance Co. in Helsinki, which manages $6.1 billion, including Nokia stock. ``Their products are gradually getting better.''
Back home in California, Shah would consider picking a Nokia model should he find a CDMA model he likes and if it's available with the subscription he wants.
``The phone brand is not that important in the U.S.,'' said Shah. ``It's the features and price that count.''
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ville Heiskanen in Helsinki vheiskanen@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: November 2, 2004 05:14 EST
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=ayH4f_9FKSBw&refer=us
Korea seeks 3G balance
A report from ground zero in the competition between CDMA 2000 and WCDMA
Kwon Yong Wook, Editor, EDN Asia/Korea -- EDN, 11/1/2004
Along with Japan, South Korea is on the cutting edge among nations when it comes to adoption of 3G cellular technology. However, the convoluted history of 3G in Korea demonstrates how standards selections can result in unintended consequences. Korea early adopted Qualcomm’s CDMA (code-division multiple-access) technology, but that choice is now hindering the country’s desire to also nurture the competing WCDMA (wideband-CDMA) technology, (which, despite the “CDMA” in its name, is actually related to GSM (Global System for Mobile communications)). Involving government agencies and corporate interests in Korea and elsewhere, not to mention consumers, the tale also has ramifications for the country’s role as a global handset manufacturer.
In December 1992, the MIC (Ministry of Information and Communication) selected Qualcomm’s CDMA as Korea’s telecom standard. Many critics insisted that GSM represented a better choice, but the MIC believed CDMA to be superior. The MIC cooperated with several large companies and R&D organizations, including Samsung Electronics and ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute), and, in January 1996, Korea became the first country to launch commercial CDMA services. In 2000, the first CDMA 2000 1xRTT service came online in Korea, and the faster CDMA 2000 1x EV-DO service followed in 2002.
However, because the countries using GSM technology vastly outnumber those using CDMA, many people consider the GSM-based WCDMA technology to be the more global 3G standard. So, Korea’s MIC selected SKT (SK Telecom) and KTF as WCDMA service providers. However, over time, SKT and KTF have put their efforts into the existing CDMA 2000 1x EV-DO services and have shown little interest in constructing WCDMA base stations and networks. Last year, several markets, including Seoul, launched WCDMA service, but the success of the service is still in question. MIC has been pressing SKT and KTF to keep to the original plan for WCDMA deployment.
WCDMA has for many reasons experienced a slow roll-out. First, its functions overlap with the current EV-DO network. For SKT and KTF, which currently provide EV-DO service, investing in WCDMA represents redundant spending and great risk. Meanwhile, the video-telephone and TV services that WCDMA is expected to provide have begun to appear via EV-DO. Finally, mobile handsets targeting the WCDMA market are too expensive because they integrate more multimedia chips, larger displays, and more features.
The current price of a Samsung WCDMA phone, for example, is $800 to $1000, two to three times the price of a 2G handset. The government, therefore, recently announced that it would allow carriers to subsidize as much as 25% of the cost of WCDMA PDA phones and 40% of WCDMA handsets, on a conditional basis. Still, it’s unclear how many consumers would jump to WCDMA even if handset prices were to quickly drop.
The situation also impacts handset manufacturing. LG recently exported 3 million WCDMA dual-band phones to Hutchison, an aggressive supporter of WCDMA. However, the other manufacturers, Samsung and Pantech, are taking a passive stance. The prices of WCDMA phones seem unlikely to drop quickly.
In addition, WCDMA is reportedly experiencing some temporary technology problems: unusually long delays in handoffs between WCDMA and other networks. Experts expect manufacturers to eradicate the problem by year’s end. Another challenge is limited battery life; a WCDMA phone can use video communication for only about one hour.
Despite these delays, groups supporting WCDMA, including the MIC, believe that Korea should for several reasons develop WCDMA. First, the MIC believes investment in WCDMA will impact manufacturing. “Many communication equipment makers are in Korea, and MIC expects the investment in WCDMA will help them to increase their competitive power,” says Lee Won Hee, an analyst with market-research firm Mindbranch. On the other hand, several local manufacturers are demanding that MIC choose CDMA 2000 as the one 3G standard, believing that, because they lack technological experience with WCDMA, market leadership will move to foreign companies.
WCDMA supporters also argue that Korea should not isolate itself from the rest of the world by its choice of cellular technology. MIC wants mobile carriers to keep their promise and deploy WCDMA as scheduled—or give up their rights.
As you might expect, money also plays a role. Qualcomm levies a 5.25% royalty on the net selling price of local products. For exports, the rate is 5.75%. What’s more troubling for manufacturers is that the royalty is increasing rapidly as mobile-handset prices rise due to the incorporation of advanced features, such as cameras and MP3 players.
In addition to Qualcomm, other companies, including Motorola and Lucent, request royalty payments based on their CDMA patents. They even call for Korean handset providers to compensate them for past years’ usage. Moreover, Qualcomm’s chip sets are pricey—$10 to $15 more than GSM chip sets. Meanwhile, Qualcomm makes a distinction between Korea and China with regard to royalties. China’s royalty at 2.65% is half as much as Korea’s. Privately, handset manufacturers also complain about Qualcomm’s order fulfillment.
Taking all these concerns together, some view a move to WCDMA as an escape from Qualcomm’s monopoly-like practices. “We are always concerned about unexpected CDMA-royalty claims,” says an official from one handset maker. To avoid such distressing royalty pressure, the official says his company is mulling over whether to scrap CDMA and focus on GSM.
Many analysts believe that WCDMA services will launch in Korea in 2005. However, the future of this market—both in Korea and worldwide—remains unclear.
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