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Lucent announces CDMA2000 1x deals
May 27, 2004 1:33 PM EST
KARACHI, Pakistan, and RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil—Lucent Technologies Inc. made two CDMA2000 1x-related announcements.
In Brazil, Lucent said VIVO, the country’s largest wireless carrier, will launch a 1x EV-DO network trial in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo using Lucent gear. Lucent will upgrade 120 base stations to support the 1x EV-DO network, which will offer select business customers secure mobile data access at speeds of up to 2.4 megabits per second.
In Pakistan, Lucent will supply TeleCard, a wireless local loop operator, with a CDMA 1x network expansion and upgrade. Lucent will supply up to 1 million 1x lines and enable the introduction of services using 1x EV-DO technology.
The values of the agreements were not disclosed.
http://rcrnews.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=18268
Qualcomm hires in India, eyes growing mobile market
By S. Srinivasan
ASSOCIATED PRESS
8:34 a.m. May 27, 2004
BANGALORE, India – Digital wireless technology company Qualcomm, Inc. is hiring engineers in India to design mobile phone chips and provide technical support to Asian clients, company officials said Thursday.
The San Diego-based company is also eyeing the country's fast-growing mobile market, where nearly 2 million new connections are sold each month.
"India is the hottest growth market for Qualcomm. It is also where a lot of talent is available," Brian Dunphy, Qualcomm's director of business development, told reporters in Bangalore, the center of India's high-tech industry.
The company has set up a research and development center in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad to design mobile phone chipsets, the basic set of integrated circuits that run such devices.
About 100 engineers will be hired by the end of 2004, he said. They will be fresh recruits, he noted, and will not replace engineers in the United States.
Qualcomm will also open a support center in Bombay within six months for customers in the Asia-Pacific region.
With Western markets for new connections becoming saturated, mobile phone companies and software firms such as Qualcomm, which focus on wireless technology, are in search of new, expanding markets.
India and China are among the world's fastest growing markets for mobile phones. The number of cell phones in India is expected to surpass the number of fixed phones by the year end.
"India is hotter than even China for us," Dunphy said.
He said Indian phone company Tata Teleservices has begun offering a mobile phone feature – based on Qualcomm software – that lets its customers use the phone like a walkie-talkie. The "Push to Talk" feature, launched Thursday, is cheaper than normal calls, facilitates quick communication and supports teleconferencing.
This is the first time the feature, common in the United States, is being introduced in India.
Qualcomm invented a major strain of digital cellular technology: CDMA, or Code Division Multiple Access. The company sells CDMA chips to phone makers and charges royalties for phones that use the technology, whether or not they use Qualcomm's chips
In India, Global System for Mobile Communications, or GSM, is the popular standard. However, CDMA phones have gained popularity recently.
Tata Teleservices, a CDMA phone company, has 1.7 million subscribers and hopes to have 10 million customers within one year.
Qualcomm employs 7,400 people and had revenues of US$3.7 billion in fiscal year ended September 2003.
On the Net:
Qualcomm: www.qualcomm.com
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/computing/20040527-0834-india-qualcommhiring.html
CDMA2000 Services Continue to Drive Subscriber Growth and Revenue for Operators Worldwide
CDMA2000 Operators Report Strong Performance in 1Q 2004
COSTA MESA, Calif., May 27, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- The CDMA Development Group (CDG) (www.cdg.org) reported today that CDMA2000(r) operators showed strong financial performance in 1Q 2004 resulting from the success of their advanced 3G service. KDDI (Japan), SK Telecom (Korea), VIVO (Brazil), Verizon Wireless and Sprint (United States) all reported robust subscriber growth and a significant boost in revenues.
"We see a definite trend in the positive returns that CDMA2000 services have brought to carriers over the past year," said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. "As data services such as MMS, games and video are more widely adopted, CDMA2000 carriers will continue to get a healthy return on their investments. The experiences of CDMA2000 carriers show the true potential of 3G services."
KDDI doubled its net profit from last year mainly due to a strong increase in mobile subscribers: the subscriber base expanded by nearly 21 percent to reach 17 million, including 13.5 million CDMA2000 users. Additionally, data ARPU grew by over 27 percent in the past year. Nearly 90 percent of KDDI CDMA2000 subscribers use data.
SK Telecom beat analysts' profit expectations and attributed the result to healthy mobile Internet growth. Revenues from data services increased 48 percent over the past year, while data ARPU doubled, accounting for 18 percent of total ARPU.
VIVO, the largest wireless carrier in Latin America, has seen significant uptake of data since the launch of CDMA2000 in December 2001. Last quarter, the carrier reported that data revenue contributed 4.7 percent of total revenue, a 141 percent increase from 1Q 2003. Subscribers who use data services spend more than 10 percent of their bill on data. The carrier offers 12 data-capable handsets today and expects the number to reach 25 by year-end.
Verizon Wireless added more than 1.4 million subscribers in 1Q 2004, the highest quarterly net add increase for the carrier to date. 63 percent of the subscriber base owns a CDMA2000-enabled handset. Data services contributed 3.6 percent to total revenues and the carrier handled 19 million Get It Now! downloads and 21 million MMS transmissions.
Sprint ended 1Q 2004 with 4.2 million Sprint PCS Vision data subscribers, an increase of nearly 1 million from the previous quarter. Sprint customers purchased more than 20 million ringers and screen savers and more than 5 million games in 2003. In the first four months of 2004, more than 3.5 million games were purchased, and the number is expected to accelerate with the promise of more innovations to come in the form of 3D games. More than 100 million pictures and videos were sent over the network from the launch of Sprint PCS Vision through March 2004. Data produced over $175 million in revenue, or more than $700 million annualized in first quarter 2004, and customers subscribing to a Sprint PCS Vision plan generated data ARPU of $11, up from $7 in first quarter 2003.
CDMA2000 leads in 3G deployments with 81 carriers in 40 countries on six continents. An additional 22 CDMA2000 networks with be launched in 2004. Today, 47 manufacturers provide more than 520 CDMA2000 handsets, including 58 1xEV-DO models.
More information on CDMA2000 is available on the CDG Web site at www.cdg.org
About the CDG
The CDMA Development Group is a trade association formed to foster the worldwide development, implementation and use of CDMA technologies. The more than 100 member companies of the CDG include many of the world's largest wireless carriers and equipment manufacturers. The primary activities of the CDG include development of CDMA features and services, public relations, education and seminars, regulatory affairs and international support. Currently, there are more than 500 individuals working within various CDG subcommittees on CDMA-related matters. For more information about the CDG, contact the CDG News Bureau at +1-714-540-1030, or visit the CDG Web site at www.cdg.org
CONTACT:
Ricca Silverio
CDG News Bureau
(714) 540-1030 ext. 15
(714) 540-1060 fax
rsilverio@bockpr.com
http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/news_releases.mhtml?d=58258
Tata Uses Kyocera Phones
May 27, 2004 / 10:16 AM
SAN DIEGO & BANGALORE, India—Kyocera Wireless Corp., a global manufacturer of CDMA wireless phones, today announced that Tata Teleservices, India's leading telecom service provider, will launch India's first push-to-talk (PTT) service using Kyocera phones and Qualcomm's BREWChat software platform. Tata Teleservices is launching its Tata Indicom Push-To-Talk service exclusively with the Kyocera KX440, the world's first commercially available phone supporting the BREWChat software client.
"Kyocera Wireless was the world's first handset manufacturer to support BREW technology, and with Tata Indicom's debut of BREWChat based PTT solution and the KX440, we're very proud to once again pioneer new CDMA technology," said Tsuyoshi Mano, president of Kyocera Wireless Corp. "We congratulate Tata on its groundbreaking introduction of push-to-talk services in India and look forward to successful launches of the KX440 and other BREW-enabled Kyocera handsets."
The Kyocera KX440 — the first CDMA push-to-talk handset available outside of the Americas — offers easy-to-use walkie-talkie capabilities over the BREWChat technology platform. BREWChat is the first commercially available version of QUALCOMM's push-to-chat solution specifically designed for CDMA2000 1X Release 0 networks. BREWChat enables Tata Teleservices to leverage its CDMA and BREW investments without having to further upgrade its network, offering exceptional call set-up performance for users and bandwidth savings to Tata Teleservices.
"Tata Teleservices is pleased to be the first mobile operator in India to offer push-to-talk services. We are the first in the world to use BREWChat technology on Kyocera's KX440 handset," said Amit Bose, President — Telecom, Tata Teleservices. "Kyocera's history of being first to market with emerging technologies such as BREW and now BREWChat, makes them a great partner for us as we introduce exciting new technologies to Indian consumers."
India is one of the world's fastest growing wireless telecommunication markets. According to industry estimates, the country's wireless subscriber base is expected to triple by 2008 to more than 140 million.
"Kyocera Wireless has taken a market leadership position with the introduction of a new entry-level tier in push-to-talk. This category is well suited to the price-sensitivities of emerging wireless markets like India," said John Jackson, senior analyst at The Yankee Group. "By providing the first push-to-talk and BREW handsets to Tata, Kyocera positions itself well to capitalize in a market with vast potential."
http://www.wirelessiq.info/content/newsfeed/1133.html
Qualcomm Powers Tata's PTT
May 27, 2004 / 9:25 AM
SAN DIEGO — QUALCOMM Incorporated, pioneer and world leader of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology, congratulates Tata Teleservices, one of India's premier private telecom service providers, on its deployment of push-to-chat services based on QUALCOMM's BREWChat solution. Tata Teleservices is the first operator to launch the BREWChat service, which extends an easy one-button connection capability to a mobile phone and provides a long-term technology solution for urgent, time-sensitive communication services. The BREWChat-based service is initially being introduced across Tata Teleservices' existing eight circles of operation, with plans to be extended across 20 circles.
"The distinction of being the first wireless operator to introduce BREWChat-based, push-to-chat services underscores Tata Teleservices' commitment to constantly enriching its customers' wireless experience," said Peggy Johnson president of QUALCOMM Internet Services. "Push-to-chat has been the hot topic in the industry, and by deploying the BREWChat service, Tata is demonstrating that it is an operator with a finger on the pulse of what's driving wireless success."
"Offering a BREWChat-powered push-to-chat service to our subscriber base allows us to greatly augment our wireless service offering while distinguishing us from the competition," said Amit Bose, president of Telecom, Tata Teleservices. "Our work with QUALCOMM has opened the door to new revenue opportunities for us, and has greatly diversified the line of 3G products available to our customers."
Built on QChat technology, the BREWChat solution enables person-to-person and person-to-group communication between subscribers at the push of a button. The BREWChat solution carries the same features of its root QChat technology, but was specifically designed for CDMA2000 1X Release 0 networks, and is upgradeable to CDMA2000 1xEV-DO. The BREWChat solution offers Tata Teleservices rapid call set-up performance, bandwidth savings and is being designed to seamlessly upgrade to and interoperate with the QChat service, which operates on CDMA2000 1X Rev. A networks and provides even faster performance capabilities.
The BREWChat solution enables quick push-to-chat functionality on 3G CDMA wireless devices and networks. The BREWChat client software is written as an application for QUALCOMM's BREW solution and offers dynamic, over-the-air upgrades of BREWChat handset software, management of group membership by subscribers and ad-hoc creation of chat groups.
Tata Teleservices is one of India's premier private telecom service providers. The company offers integrated telecom solutions to its customers under the Tata Indicom brand, and uses 3G CDMA2000 1X technology for its wireless network. Currently operating in eight circles i.e. Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Gujarat, Karnataka, New Delhi, Maharashtra, Mumbai and Tamil Nadu, the company has a customer base of over 1.7 million. With a planned nationwide footprint across the country, Tata Teleservices has acquired licenses to operate in 12 more circles, which include Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West) and West Bengal.
http://www.wirelessiq.info/content/newsfeed/1130.html
Users spending more on mobile bill than electric or gas
May 26 2004
by Ron Coates
Brits just can't live without their phones...
Mobile users boosted their spending this year as the phone became central to their lives.
Average monthly outlay by prepay customers jumped 14 per cent to £24.27 this year with users on contracts pushing their spending up by 16 per cent to £44.18 on average, according to the JD Power 2004 UK Mobile Customer Satisfaction Study.
Gunda Lapski, JD Power director of European telecommunications and utilities, said: "The striking thing about this year's survey, and we also cover utilities, is that people spend as much on their mobiles as they do on electricity and gas.
"This surprised me but I suppose some people would say that mobile phones are now fundamental."
The seventh annual snapshot of the industry produced another couple of surprises. Virgin Mobile jumped into top place for customer satisfaction in its first year in the survey, pushing Vodafone aside.
In turn, Vodafone elbowed Orange out of the top slot for contract customers. O2 and T-Mobile were the also-rans, being below the industry average.
The number of people using their mobile as their main phone has jumped from 20 per cent to 29 per cent of prepays and from 43 per cent to 53 per cent of contract payers.
But, while more people were happier spending more, more of them plan to add to the providers' problems by switching. Planned 'churners' are up to 18 per cent of those on contract, from 15 per cent last year, and 12 per cent of prepays say they'd like to make a move this year, as opposed to only 10 per cent last year.
More of them are ready for a leap into the future. Almost one in five already have a camera phone and another 26 per cent are interested in getting one. Beyond that, 23 per cent are definitely interested in owning a videophone - it doesn't seem to be the consumers holding back the move to 3G then.
About eight per cent of people's money is going on non-voice services: photo messaging and news and sport information. Lapski expects this to rise as providers and retailers educate their customers and as the service become easier to access.
The future looks rosy for mobiles. Lapski said: "I can't think of many industries where revenue has gone up by 14 to 16 per cent this year."
http://networks.silicon.com/mobile/0,39024665,39120940,00.htm
Vodafone launches Spanish, Italian commercial 3G
26/05/2004 by Leigh Phillips
Pan-European mobile operator Vodafone has launched its commercial 3G next-generation telephony services in Italy and Spain.
Vodafone España has announced the UMTS service is currently available in 22 metropoles in Spain, according to a report from the Reuters news agency.
The service, which will deliver video clips and other advanced mobile content to subscribers, will be available immediately via the Samsung Z105 handset, which sells for €599, and at a later point the Sony Ericsson Z1010.
Vodafone launched its 3G services in Portugal and Germany earlier this month, but has said a broader European roll-out will have to wait until the fall.
Source(s): Reuters
http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=1898
DoCoMo smart card enables global GSM roaming
TOKYO -- Global roaming capabilities for mobile phone users may be taking a big step forward. But, the online application is in Japanese only. NTT DoCoMo is introducing its World Walker G-Card, a new smart card that will enable DoCoMo mova 2G subscribers to use both DoCoMo and non-DoCoMo GSM mobile phones for international roaming outside of Japan beginning next month.
The World Walker G-Card is a User Identity Module (UIM) smart card equipped with a chip to store the user's phone number and other data. The user simply inserts the card into any standard GSM mobile phone to make and receive calls using their regular mova phone number while overseas.
Phone rentals
The existing World Walker Plus international roaming service, which works only with DoCoMo-brand GSM phones, is aimed primarily at subscribers who just wish to rent a GSM phone temporarily, the company said. The new World Walker G-Card service, however, is aimed at subscribers who already own a GSM phone or wish to purchase one.
Calls from Japan are received normally and do not require any call transfer setup. When a call is received from Japan, the subscriber pays the international charges and the caller in Japan is only billed for normal domestic charges.
The signup fee for the World Walker G-Card service is 2,100 yen (about US$19). No monthly charge will be required. Users are charged 105 yen (less than a dollar) for each day in which an incoming or outgoing call occurs. Communications charges will be same as those of DoCoMo's current international roaming service.
Users need apply only once, not each time they travel overseas. Application may be made at the official i-mode site (go to i-menu, then click DoCoMo menu and select WORLD WALKER), online (http://worldwalker.nttdocomo.co.jp, Japanese only). For Japanese travellers, NTT advises that the application be completed before leaving Japan to allow time for the card to be delivered. Applications may also be made at DoCoMo World counters at major airports, where the applicant can receive their World Walker G-Card card immediately.
Costs reduced
NTT DoCoMo also announced that it will reduce the rental cost of DoCoMo-brand mobile phones for World Wing (the 3G FOMA international roaming service) and World Walker Plus. DoCoMo-brand GSM phones may be purchased at the DoCoMo Sentsu mova rental center.
TT DoCoMo is a leading mobile communications company, with more than 48 million customers. The company provides a wide variety of leading-edge mobile multimedia services. These include i-mode®, the world's most popular mobile internet service, which provides e-mail and internet access to over 41 million subscribers, and FOMA, launched in 2001 as the world's first 3G mobile service based on W-CDMA.
In addition to wholly owned subsidiaries in Europe and North America, the company is expanding its global reach through strategic alliances with mobile and multimedia service providers in Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America. NTT DoCoMo is listed on the Tokyo, London, and New York stock exchanges.
http://www.smarttravelnews.com/news/2004/05/docomo_smart_ca.html
Majority of New Customers in the Americas Choose GSM
Record 118% Growth in the Western Hemisphere
BELLEVUE, Wash., May 26 /PRNewswire/ -- 3G Americas today reported that in
the first quarter of 2004, GSM remains by far the number one mobile technology
chosen by new customers in North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
There were nearly 10.5 million new GSM customers added in the Americas in the
first quarter 2004: in the United States and Canada, there were nearly 4.8
million new GSM customers; and in Latin America and the Caribbean, GSM was
chosen by nearly 5.7 million new customers. Information is based on the EMC
World Cellular Database.
GSM is the technology used by more than one billion customers
-- representing 73% of the digital wireless market today. Globally, GSM added
215.3 million new customers from March 2003 to March 2004, more than the total
customer base of any other wireless technology in the world today. In the
first quarter of 2004, new GSM customers throughout the world totaled nearly
55 million.
GSM continues its robust growth year-over-year, adding nearly 35 million
customers in the Americas for an annual gain of 118% from March 2003 to March
2004. This growth rate builds on the momentum of GSM in the Americas, which
had recorded a 100% gain from December 2002 to December 2003. According to
data from EMC, GSM annual percentage growth is five times that of any other
wireless technology in the Americas.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, GSM growth continues at a phenomenal
pace of nearly 190% during this one-year period ended March 2004. Erasmo
Rojas, Director of Latin America and Caribbean for 3G Americas noted that the
decisions in favor of GSM in the Latin American key markets are indicative of
the regional trend. Rojas stated, "Countries that are rapidly expanding their
GSM customer base include Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, and
Jamaica. The numbers are remarkable." In Mexico, GSM grew by nearly 710%
annually (through March 2004) adding 5.9 million new customers and in Brazil,
GSM showed more than 300% annual growth in the same time period, adding 6.8
million new customers compared to less than half that amount of new CDMA
customers (3.3 million). Chile remains a strong GSM market adding more than
one million new customers in the year ending March 2004. Colombia only began
offering GSM in the past year and now reports 1.7 million customers in March
2004. Rojas continued, "We are seeing newly licensed operators, as well as a
large number of both TDMA and CDMA operators, choose GSM for their next
generation technology migration strategy."
GSM in the U.S. and Canada showed outstanding results for the GSM
operators with more than an 82% annual growth during the one year ending March
2004.
"GSM continues to be the fastest growing wireless technology in the
Americas," stated Chris Pearson, President of 3G Americas. "The industry is
seeing global commercial deployments of EDGE technology, the fastest
nationwide wireless data service available now to more than 220 million people
in the U.S. and launched by seventeen operators worldwide. Globally, there
are 94 operators in 58 countries committed to deploying EDGE who represent
more than a quarter of a billion customers in their subscriber base."
For charts on GSM growth, visit the 3G Americas website at:
http://www.3gamericas.org/English/statistics/index.cfm.
About 3G Americas: Unifying the Americas through Wireless Technology
The mission of 3G Americas is to promote and facilitate the seamless
deployment of GSM, GPRS, EDGE, and UMTS (WCDMA) throughout the Americas for
the benefit of consumers. The organization fully supports the Third
Generation technology migration strategy GSM/GPRS/EDGE and UMTS adopted by
many operators in the Americas that is expected to account for up to 85% of
next-generation customers worldwide. 3G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue,
WA with an office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Dallas, TX. For more
information, visit our website at http://www.3gamericas.org.
About EMC
EMC is a world-leading provider of specialist market intelligence for the
wireless industry with a reputable track record founded on researching and
publishing accurate data and statistics. EMC's Market Data is stored in the
EMC World Cellular Database: http://www.emc-database.com.
Contact:
Vicki Livingston
+1-262-242-3458
vicki.livingston@3gamericas.org
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=SVBIZINK3.story&STORY=/www/story/05-26-2004/00...
Hong Kong to host Asia's largest mobility event in 2004
May 26, 2004
The ninth annual 3G World Congress & Exhibition, Asia's most-established and largest mobility event, is expecting a full house at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre between 15th and 19th November.
Seven months before the doors open the exhibition has already sold 60% of the 3000sqm floor space and the event organisers are anticipating that it will sell out in the near future ensuring record attendance levels. In addition to its high profile conference, the 3G World Congress & Exhibition is expected to draw more than 5,000 visitors to view an extensive technology exhibition featuring leading companies like Alcatel, Ericsson, Lucent Technologies, Qualcomm, Nokia, Nortel Networks and Siemens Mobile as well as Asian leaders like Huawei, Kyocera and ZTE.
"No other annual event has such a successful track record of bringing the industry together in Asia, the world's largest 3G market - and Hong Kong is the ideal meeting place," commented Daniel Kirwin, IIR's Managing Director, Asia. Kirwin added: "we are extremely pleased with the number of companies who have confirmed to join the mobile industry in Hong Kong and are looking forward to record attendance."
The only annual international 3G event that encompasses all 3G technologies, the 3G World Congress & Exhibition has selected Hong Kong as its venue because of the SAR's pre-eminent role as an Asian telecoms centre where 3G services are already available, and because of its proximity to mainland China where explosive growth potential and issues of 3G licencing and standards make for exciting discussion. Participants will gain in-depth perspective on 3G trends and developments in the mobile industry's most dynamic markets, with particular focus on China, Japan and Korea.
Speakers at this year's event include an broad array of industry representatives, including: industry leaders like Douglas Li, CEO, SmarTone; Anthony Wong, Commissioner of Innovation and Technology, HKSAR Government; and M.H. Au, Director-General of Telecommunications, OFTA, as well as Ms Agnes Nardi, Managing Director of 3 Hong Kong.
The 3G World Congress & Exhibition will offer delegates the opportunity to consider 2G-to-3G migration issues relating to CDMA2000, TD-SCDMA and W-CDMA. This reflects the needs of Asian carriers who are facing fiercely competitive markets, changing regulatory environments, and complex choices and legacy issues.
http://www.3gnewsroom.com/3g_news/may_04/news_4538.shtml
3G represent most efficient upgrade for wireless providers - report
May 25, 2004
After a long gestation and difficult birth, 3G wireless is finally here. More than two dozen vendors now offer network infrastructure for CDMA2000 and GPRS/EDGE/UMTS networks. And service providers are putting the technology to use: Nearly two dozen UMTS and more than 80 CDMA2000 networks are now in commercial service.
Those launches represent only a tiny fraction of the total number of wireless networks in service, so the market for 3G equipment will have significant upside for years to come. Despite persisting questions about the high costs associated with 3G deployment (particularly regarding spectrum licenses), wireless service providers have little choice but to upgrade to 3G for at least four reasons:
1. Although voice continues to drive the lion's share of revenue at virtually all operators, it's a commodity. Current-generation networks support low-speed data, but like voice, it's not much of a market differentiator. The high-speed services enabled by 3G are operators' best long-term shot at differentiating themselves and tapping new revenue streams.
2. Even as data usage grows, voice service will remain a priority; in some cases, upgrades can increase voice capacity. For example, although EDGE is a data technology, it can free up capacity for voice by shoehorning more data into the same amount of spectrum compared to GPRS.
3. Competition is entrenching itself: One immediate threat is 802.11 public "hotspot" services. Their geographic coverage is a drop in the bucket compared to mobile networks, but they're in enough places and offer enough bandwidth to be able to siphon off at least the cream of the crop: business users. That demographic is coveted because historically it's been an early adopter of new telecom services, paying a premium in the process. Any further delay in the rollout of 3G risks ceding at least part of the high-speed data market to 802.11.
4. Some operators use dead-end technologies that can't be upgraded to 3G. For example, most analog and TDMA operators are in the midst of switching to CDMA or GSM as their first step in a migration to 3G.
Next-Generation Wireless Infrastructure: A Heavy Reading Competitive Analysis delivers a comprehensive overview of available equipment, including detailed technical information on dozens of products and vendors. The products covered in this report include:
The products covered in this report include:
-- CDMA2000 base stations
-- GSM/GPRS/EDGE base stations
-- UMTS Node Bs
-- CDMA2000 microcells and picocells
-- GSM/GPRS/EDGE microcells and picocells
-- UMTS microcells and picocells
-- CDMA2000 base station controllers (BSCs)
-- GSM/GPRS/EDGE BSCs
-- UMTS radio network controllers (RNCs)
-- Gateway GPRS serving nodes (GGSNs)
-- Serving GPRS support nodes (SGSNs)
-- Packet data serving nodes (PDSNs)
-- Home agents
-- Accounting, authentication, and authorization (AAA) servers
The report analyzes 145 different products from 34 manufacturers (21 public companies and 13 private companies), comparing vendor offerings using more than a dozen different operating, performance, and physical specifications. Comprehensive product matrices yield more than 2,300 different data fields allowing for direct comparisons of product specs. Dozens of interviews with equipment makers and service providers supply critical context for information in the product matrices, pinpointing the most crucial areas of comparison.
Key Findings
Key findings of the report include the following:
Wireless service providers are spending again on 3G equipment and technologies. In its May quarterly report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Cingular Wireless said that it plans to spend about $3 billion in 2004 to upgrade its network. Verizon Wireless spent $1 billion in the first quarter of 2004 alone. Even operators that were among the first to deploy 3G still have a long way to go. One example is Vodafone: In May 2004, the company said that only 25 percent of the potential customers in its major markets are covered by 3G.
Despite its drawbacks, 3G represents the most efficient upgrade track for wireless service providers. There are alternative ways to deliver high-speed data, including 802.11 and WiMAX. But while WiMAX potentially will deliver much more bandwidth than 3G, it lags 3G by years - a lifetime in technology - in terms of equipment availability and real-world deployments. Operators can't wait for the technology to mature. Although some operators already offer adjunct 802.11 services in limited areas, such as airports, the cost of deploying enough access points to offer coverage comparable to 2G and 3G undercuts the business model. The bottom line is that for all but a few operators, alternative data technologies like 802.11 are complements to 3G service, not substitutes.
Pricing pressure is enormous in the base station sector and is unlikely to decrease. Prices of Node B equipment have fallen by more than 60 percent in the past 12 to 24 months. If anything, vendors will be under more pressure to slash equipment prices. One reason is that mergers such as Cingular Wireless's pending acquisition of AT&T Wireless are creating more "super-operators," whose scale gives them enormous bargaining power.
CDMA450 is a promising emerging market that has attracted some of the biggest players in the industry. CDMA450 is 1X or 1xEV-DO technology deployed in the 450MHz band, which is an attractive frequency because each cell site can cover more geography than at higher frequencies, reducing overhead costs. There are already several commercial deployments, and the selection of base stations for this band is growing. Major vendors such as Ericsson, Huawei, Lucent, Nortel, and ZTE have announced or begun shipping CDMA equipment for this band.
Many wireless infrastructure suppliers are reluctant to disclose meaningful technical information about their products - a strategy that can put them at a competitive disadvantage. The wireless industry is built on standards, and in a standardized market, technical information is the best way to differentiate between products. Yet the amount of publicly available technical information varies significantly from vendor to vendor. Given the quality of technical data being delivered openly by many vendors, companies that continue to hold their cards close to the vest run a real risk of losing new customers, especially as operators streamline their purchasing processes.
Microcells and picocells represent a significant growth area for wireless infrastructure vendors, but few vendors offer these products today. Microcells and picocells are essentially mini base stations in terms of features such as physical size, so they can be deployed faster and in more places than their larger cousins. These products solve real problems, especially for filling coverage gaps and adding capacity in high-traffic areas. Although the selection of microcells and picocells is smaller than that of full-size base stations, we feel that this sector has significant upside. Vendors that don't get into this market may be making a mistake.
Partnerships among next-gen equipment makers abound, and many have borne fruit. For example, Starent Networks' nearly three-year-old partnership with Samsung has helped open doors in key regions such as Asia, where wireless data usage is at levels that justify major investments in packet infrastructure. Other examples include the joint venture Ericsson Juniper Mobile IP, Airvana's deals with Ericsson and Nortel, Eastern Communications' relationship with InterWave and Motorola, and Mobisphere, a joint venture between NEC and Siemens.
UTStarcom is bulking up as it aims to become a dominant player in the CDMA space. In March and April of 2004, the company announced plans to acquire the assets of Hyundai Syscomm and Telos Technology. Individually, these acquisitions don't represent significant leaps over the competition, but together they improve the company's overall position by deepening its know-how and relationships and by eliminating some of the competition.
ZTE is moving aggressively to establish itself beyond its home market in China. In March, ZTE announced plans to build a CDMA base station factory in Brazil. The China-based company also has plants in India, Pakistan, and Russia. These four plants are attempts to establish beachheads in countries with low wireless penetration and significant operator interest in CDMA.
The report is essential reading for a wide range of industry participants, including the following:
-- Next-gen wireless systems vendors: How do your products compare with those of your competitors? Are you able to present your customers with an accurate portrayal of the value of your products compared with those of the competition? What are the key advantages that you hold over each of your rivals? What are the areas you need to address to maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace?
-- Wireless service providers: Are your suppliers delivering the best systems on the market, or do other vendors have equipment that better meets your needs? What products are available now to meet your most critical needs, such as filling nagging gaps in coverage areas? Can comparative product data help you to negotiate more aggressive pricing deals with your current suppliers?
-- Suppliers of wireless components and subsystems: Are you reaching the entire potential market for your products? Which systems vendors are making the most aggressive moves into new product lines? How does your product portfolio match up with likely market demand from systems manufacturers?
http://www.3gnewsroom.com/3g_news/may_04/news_4534.shtml
China Cell-Phone Subscriptions Exceed U.S. Population (Update3)
May 24 (Bloomberg) -- China, the world's largest mobile- phone market by users, said subscriptions rose to 296 million in April, exceeding the U.S. population for the first time, as China Mobile (H.K.) Ltd. and China Unicom Ltd. boosted sales.
The nation added 5.4 million accounts in April, bringing new accounts this year to 27 million, the Ministry of Information Industry said. At this rate, the number of Chinese who own cell phones may rise by half in less than two years, said CLSA Ltd. analyst Francis Cheung.
``There is still a lot of room there,'' Cheung said. ``It's a huge country.''
China, adding users at a rate of two every second, overtook the U.S., with a population of 293 million, as the world's largest cell-phone market by customers in 2001, helped by rising affluence and falling call rates. Still, only one of five Chinese has a cell-phone account, compared with about one in two people in the U.S. and about two out of three in Japan. Elsewhere in Asia, the penetration rate in the Philippines is about 30 percent.
``There is no problem for China hitting at least levels similar to the Philippines,'' Cheung said.
Mobile services in China are provided by China Mobile, the world's biggest cellular operator by users, and China Unicom. China Mobile's revenue of $19 billion last year ranked third, after Britain's Vodafone Group Plc and Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc.
China Mobile's sales may rise to $25 billion in 2006, according to a Thomson Financial survey of 15 analysts. Unicom's sales may rise to $12.2 billion in 2006, from $7.9 billion last year, Thomson Financial said.
Fixed Lines
Mobile accounts in China outnumbered fixed lines for the first time last year. Fixed-line subscriptions in China rose by 4.4 million to 285.4 million last month, the ministry said in a monthly statement on its Web site.
All China Mobile customers use its global system for mobile communications service, based on China's dominant wireless standard. Smaller rival China Unicom provides a service that uses code division multiple access technology, developed by Qualcomm Inc., in addition to services based on GSM.
China Mobile shares rose 2.2 percent to HK$21.05 on May 21 in Hong Kong. The stock has dropped 12 percent this year compared with an 8 percent decline by the benchmark Hang Seng index. Shares of China Unicom rose 1.9 percent to HK$5.50 on May 21.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Kenneth Wong in Hong Kong
at kwong11@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Charles Bickers in Tokyo
at cbickers@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: May 23, 2004 23:00 EDT
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aSdCKDGI9Ovw&refer=top_world_news
3G finally taking off (and GSM still flying high)
UMTS technology will almost double its market growth this year compared with 2003, according to ABI Research’s latest “Wireless Infrastructure Quarterly Service” report.
The update attributed the growth not so much to higher data rates and video services as to increased voice capacity at a lower cost per subscriber than GSM. It also said local and international legislation will contribute to the protocol’s prospects.
The report added that GSM and EDGE technologies are enjoying greater uptake driven by demand not only in the developed world but also in the emerging markets of China and Latin America.
According to Ray Jodoin, ABI Research's Director of Wireless Infrastructure Research, "GSM, especially in Western Europe, is experiencing a tremendous pent-up demand because of the need to provide more capacity quickly. While infrastructure manufacturers continue to deal with the typical growing pains experienced by any new technology, GSM represents a safe haven for the majority of today's subscribers."
The Wireless Infrastructure Quarterly Service provides an overview of the global wireless infrastructure markets and offers timely, constantly updated information on technology innovations and trends, sales and contract awards in this rapidly changing field. Its objectivity and depth make it invaluable to anyone involved in wireless communications.
http://www.the3gportal.com/3gpnews/archives/007223.html
China Telecom deploys trial 3G network with Alcatel gear
May 24, 2004 1:31 PM EST
PARIS—Alcatel said it has helped China Telecom deploy a trial network for third-generation services in Shanghai within three months.
Alcatel said it planned, designed, engineered and installed the network, using its Evolium solutions for core and radio-access products.
China Telecom does not hold a wireless license as yet, but is expected to receive a 3G license when they are handed down from the Chinese government. China Mobile and China Unicom currently dominate the country’s wireless market.
“As a long-term strategic partner, we will work closely with China Telecom to play a leading role in the 3G world,” said Gerard Dega, president of Alcatel Shanghai Bell, Alcatel’s Chinese flagship company.
http://rcrnews.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=18214
China Trying to One-Up Technology World
BEIJING - DVD? China's trying to do it one better - with a technology called EVD.
CDMA? The digital cell phone standard is so 2003, the Chinese say. Give TD-SCDMA a try instead.
Intel Corp.'s Centrino and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows? If you're doing business with Beijing, better bone up on WAPI and Red Flag Linux, too.
These days, China's dominant message is this: We'll embrace the world - but on our terms. And nowhere is this more evident than in the realm of high technology, where behind the acronyms is a battle of standards that could have global repercussions.
Pushed by their government, Chinese firms are shunning technological protocols invented abroad and developing their own.
They want Chinese-made video discs to run on Chinese-invented players. They want Chinese consumers linking up with China-developed mobile gadgets.
This trend goes beyond commercial and security concerns. Cultural pride is at stake: A once-great China humbled by Western powers in the 19th century doesn't want to be undercut again.
"Dependency on foreign technology and ways to escape it, I think, have been very important themes in modern Chinese history," said Richard P. Suttmeier, a University of Oregon professor who studies China's technology policy for the National Bureau of Asian Research.
China, the inventor of everything from printing to gunpowder, sat still for centuries as the West advanced. Now it is racing to catch up and develop the latest cell phones, computer security tools and more so it can be a world leader once again.
As Suttmeier sees it, China's secondary status in technology has given birth to a kind of "techno-nationalism."
This year, the Ministry of Science and Technology plans to spend $1.3 billion primarily "to fuel the country's high technology," according to the official newspaper China Daily.
In some cases, China is tired of paying foreign patent fees for products made and sold domestically - such as with DVD players, for which Chinese firms must pay $4.50 per machine to the six Japanese companies that developed the underlying DVD technology.
With computer operating systems, the secretive communist government is concerned about relying on a foreign-invented product like Windows. It has been promoting as more secure the homegrown Red Flag Linux, based on an open-code operating system.
While some of China's efforts appear iffy thus far, investors and companies around the world are paying close attention: Nobody wants to miss the boat in selling to 1.3 billion Chinese.
China has to plot a careful strategy, though, or it risks creating domestic standards incompatible with the rest of the world.
A classic example of the consequence is Sony Corp.'s failed Betamax video cassette recorders. Though Betamax is the pioneering technology, it lost out to VHS because Sony wouldn't let other firms make Betamax machines.
Chinese policy is already raising concerns.
In December, U.S. businesses reacted with alarm when Beijing said it would require wireless equipment makers to use a Chinese encryption technique known as WAPI, even though it fails to work well with chips based on the popular Wi-Fi used elsewhere. The U.S. government stepped in, and China agreed to delay the requirement.
Enforcement would mean foreign firms would have to deal with Chinese competitors to get the technology, a move that protects domestic firms and hinders U.S. wireless-chip manufacturers like Intel.
Sowing further market confusion, Chinese firms have started selling their own DVD technology called EVD, or enhanced versatile disc.
Another key battleground is third-generation cell-phone technology, known as 3G, which is set to replace the current technology, or 2G.
"The 2G domestic market is almost completely taken up by overseas products," Zhou Huan, president of China's Datang Telecom, said in a statement responding to faxed questions. "In facing the 3G challenge that is to come, our national information industry cannot tolerate a repeat of this kind of phenomenon."
Datang, whose majority owner has close ties with the government, is pushing homegrown 3G technology called TD-SCDMA, following on the heels of CDMA standards used in the United States, Europe and Japan.
Zhou estimates the mainland market for 3G and related business could be worth as much as $2.9 trillion, and he wants that money going to Chinese firms.
Given the size of China's market, even the threat of a domestic 3G standard could be enough to force foreign firms to lower their patent fees. That might be Beijing's plan all along, said Duncan Clark, managing director of the BDA China Ltd. consultancy.
But Clark is pessimistic about the commercial prospects of China's TD-SCDMA and said politics doesn't always make for good business decisions.
"Nationalism is the last refuge of the scoundrel," Clark said. "You wave the flag if you need financial assistance, because maybe you're not able to compete."
For one thing, a homegrown format like EVD would become useless if few movies are released for it.
Demand in China has been limited so far. Even the People's Daily newspaper, mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, has reported on its Web site that Chinese consumers are frustrated that their new EVD players can't play DVDs.
As for shunning CDMA, not only is China already behind on its own version, but it risks isolating itself - and falling behind the rest of the world. For example, the effort might hurt Chinese companies trying to export cell phones.
"It's a risky strategy," Suttmeier said. "It could backfire."
http://www.insidebaltimore.com/news/technology/04-05-24-china-one-ups.shtml
3G UMTS Growth To Double
24th May , 2004
US : UMTS, after several years of relative stagnation, is now surging ahead strongly, according to ABI Research's latest "Wireless Infrastructure Quarterly Service". Evidence suggests that this year the UMTS market's growth rate should approximately double its 2003 performance.
While conventional wisdom points to UMTS's higher-level data and video services as the main inducements for adoption of the technology, ABI Research believes increased voice capacity, at a lower cost per subscriber than GSM, is at least as important. Legislation — national and international — will also play a role in its longer-term prospects.
However UMTS isn't yet anything like the "Universal" in its name, and GSM, together with its EDGE upgrade, is also enjoying a growth in worldwide acceptance. This is driven in part by new subscribers in the emerging Chinese and Latin American markets, and in part by pent-up demand as the rest of the developed world begins to emerge from its telecommunications slump.
According to Ray Jodoin, ABI Research's Director of Wireless Infrastructure Research, "GSM, especially in Western Europe, is experiencing a tremendous pent-up demand because of the need to provide more capacity quickly. While infrastructure manufacturers continue to deal with the typical growing pains experienced by any new technology, GSM represents a safe haven for the majority of today's subscribers."
The Wireless Infrastructure Quarterly Service provides an overview of the global wireless infrastructure markets and offers timely, constantly updated information on technology innovations and trends, sales and contract awards in this rapidly changing field. Its objectivity and depth make it invaluable to anyone involved in wireless communications.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/May2004/7800.htm
Alcatel 3Gs China Telecom
05.24.04
PARIS -- Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) today announced that it recently helped China Telecom deploy a full-fledged 3G trial network in Shanghai within three months. The network is now ready for 3G field testing sponsored by China’s Ministry of Information Industry (MII), the country’s telecom regulatory body. The project was accomplished through Alcatel Shanghai Bell, Alcatel’s Chinese flagship company.
Alcatel has overall responsibility for network planning and design, site survey and equipment engineering and installation. With Alcatel’s field-proven Evolium™ 3G solutions including the core and radio access products, China Telecom is successfully providing Adaptive Multi Rate voice services, video telephony and Packet Switched multimedia services.
To support the development of 3G in China, Alcatel launched China ’s first open and end -to-end 3G Reality Centre (3GRC) in Shanghai, where Alcatel partners with Internet Service Providers and Content Providers to develop and test innovative user-centric 3G applications. Alcatel successfully conducted China’s first public 3G multimedia call on a commercial UMTS product in January 2003.
Today, more than thirty 3G applications such as video telephony, live TV or MP3 music downloading are being demonstrated in the 3GRC. As a leading mobile solutions provider in China, Alcatel will leverage its global experience to ensure a fast 3G rollout.
“According to the MII (Chinese Ministry of Information Industry), 3G investment in China will reach RMB1,000 billion (Euro 102 billion) in 5 years,” Gerard Dega, President of Alcatel Shanghai Bell said, ”As a long-term strategic partner, we will work closely with China Telecom to play a leading role in the 3G world. With our strong local competence and enriched global experience, Alcatel is a key player in the Chinese 3G market.”
Alcatel SA
China Telecommunications Corp.
http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=53268
CEO:Verizon Wireless choosy on wholesale deals
Reuters, 05.24.04, 9:53 AM ET
NEW YORK, May 24 (Reuters) - Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications (nyse: VZ - news - people) and Vodafone <VOD.L>, would only set up wholesale deals in markets it is not in, Chief Executive Denny Strigl said on Monday at a Lehman Brothers conference.
Strigl was addressing a question on whether Verizon would follow the lead of Sprint (nyse: FON - news - people), which has signed deals to let AT&T Corp (nyse: T - news - people), Qwest (nyse: Q - news - people) and Virgin Mobile USA use its mobile network to offer their own branded services.
Verizon, the biggest U.S. mobile company, is not interested in relationships with companies that would simply resell a service it already offers, he said.
"Going forward we have a different strategy to competitors," Strigl said. Any agreement would have to "create something new and something different" he added.
Strigl did not specify which cases the company would be interested in setting up wholesale agreements.
Verizon Wireless currently has a wholesale agreement with America Movil (nyse: AMX - news - people) (nasdaq: AMOV - news - people) subsidiary Tracfone.
Copyright 2004, Reuters News Service
http://www.forbes.com/technology/newswire/2004/05/24/rtr1382103.html
Vodafone to announce record profit
Simon Fluendy, Mail on Sunday
23 May 2004
MOBILE phone giant Vodafone will this week unveil record profits for a British company of more than £10bn.
The figure eclipses the £9.4bn earned last year by oil group BP, the £7bn by banking group HSBC and the £6.7bn by drug giant GlaxoSmithKline.
But the pre-tax profits forecast by City analysts are before big non-cash write-downs arising from the group's £120bn hostile takeover of Germany's Mannesmann in 2000 and other exceptional items.
If these write-offs are included, Vodafone will actually post a £5bn loss on top of an astounding£13bn deficit it announced two years ago.
Arun Sarin, the group's chief executive, will announce the results on Tuesday in his first session after taking over from Sir Christopher Gent, who is shortly expected to become chairman of GlaxoSmithKline.
Gent retired last year after serving the company from its foundation 18 years ago.
Despite the huge figures, analysts do not expect Sarin to be given an easy ride. Investors were left confused about strategy after the company suddenly said it might ditch its stake in US associate Verizon Wireless and entered the bidding war for AT&T Wireless. Equally suddenly, Sarin decided the contest had become too hot and pulled out.
Shareholders have been left fearful over Vodafone's relationship with Verizon, US strategy and the potential for overpriced acquisitions, especially as Sarin has signalled he is determined to acquire Cegetel of France from Vivendi.
Sarin is expected to raise dividends and continue the group's share buyback programme.
He will also face questions on the introduction of new 3G technology across Europe and on how well the group's troubled Japanese business is performing.
'The numbers at Vodafone are monstrously big and it is generating buckets of cash,' said one analyst. 'But there are plenty of risks ahead, including the skill with which Sarin rolls out 3G. Shareholders will want to be impressed.'
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/business/articles/timid78578?source=
CHINESE PURSUING OWN TECH FORMATS
By STEPHANIE HOO
May 23, 2004 -- DVD? China's trying to do it one better - with a technology called EVD.
CDMA? The digital cell phone standard is so 2003, the Chinese say. Give TD-SCDMA a try instead.
These days, China's dominant message is this: We'll embrace the world - but on our terms. And nowhere is this more evident than in the realm of high technology, where behind the acronyms is a battle of standards that could have global repercussions.
Pushed by their government, Chinese firms are shunning technological protocols invented abroad and developing their own.
They want Chinese-made video discs to run on Chinese-invented players. They want Chinese consumers linking up with China-developed mobile gadgets.
"Dependency on foreign technology and ways to escape it, I think, have been very important themes in modern Chinese history," said Richard P. Suttmeier, a University of Oregon professor who studies China's technology policy for the National Bureau of Asian Research.
As Suttmeier sees it, China's secondary status in technology has given birth to a kind of "techno-nationalism."
This year, the Ministry of Science and Technology plans to spend $1.3 billion primarily "to fuel the country's high technology," according to the official newspaper China Daily.
In some cases, China is tired of paying foreign patent fees for products made and sold domestically - such as with DVD players, for which Chinese firms must pay $4.50 per machine to the six Japanese companies that developed the underlying DVD technology.
But demand in China has been limited so far. "It's a risky strategy," Suttmeier said. "It could backfire."
AP
http://www.nypost.com/business/24486.htm
KTF starts overseas investor road show
KTF, the country's second-largest mobile phone service provider, embarks on a three-week international tour today to attract investors in Asia, Europe and the United States.
The investor road show led by chief executive Nam Joong-soo will provide detailed information on KTF's recent market performance and future business plans as Korea's fastest-growing mobile service provider.
KTF officials plan to visit Singapore, Hong Kong, Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the United States.
"The investor briefing will focus on KTF's marketing progress after the implementation of number portability and the company's successfully efforts in securing new customers through its diversified mobile data services," said KTF official Kim Beom-jun.
"The investor road show is focused on foreign shareholders and institutional investors that expressed interest in investing in our company in the past," he added.
KTF is the country's second-largest mobile service provider behind SK Telecom, controlling 11.5 million of the country's 35 million mobile phone users for a 32.3 percent market share. The company, which posted 5 trillion won ($4.5 billion) in revenue for 2003, reported first-quarter revenues of 1.4 trillion won and 48.7 billion won in net income.
KTF has been focusing on expanding its market share under number portability, which enables cell phone users to switch service providers without changing their phone numbers.
Number portability, introduced on Jan.1, currently applies only to SK Telecom subscribers, as regulators intended to strengthen the market positions of KFT and No. 3 operator LG Telecom. Industry insiders estimate that about 530,000 SK Telecom users switched to KTF as of this month.
SK Telecom controls 53 percent of the country's 35 million cell phone users, while LG Telecom has a 14.6 percent share.
KTF hopes that their growing user pool of cdma2000 1x EV-DO services, the company's third-generation solution, will be a critical revenue source in the second half of this year by increasing average revenue per user. KTF controlled about 1.7 million EV-DO users in the first quarter.
KTF has increasingly set its sights on the global market by providing technical solutions and consulting in network architecture, wireless Internet platforms and marketing.
KTF signed a $13 million deal with Indonesia's CDMA service provider Mobile-8 to provide business consulting on wireless network management. The company also sold its self-developed NMS (Network Management System) solution to Mobile-8 for $4.5 million.
KTF has also signed a contract to participate in a wireless network building project by China's second-largest mobile operator China Unicom, while agreeing with Australia's top mobile operator Hutchison Telecommunications to provide network management solutions through 2011.
(thkim@heraldm.com)
2004.05.24
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2004/05/24/200405240020.asp
Telecom industry enters transition period
This is the first in a three-part series on the development of Korea's telecom industry, sponsored by SK Telecom. - Ed.
By Kim Tong-hyung
In 1984, when SK Telecom, then called as the Korea Mobile Telecommunications Services, launched Korea's first wireless telephony business, only 2,600 people signed up for its car phone service in its first year.
Two decades later, Korea is one of the leading markets in wireless penetration, with more than 75 percent of the nation's 48 million residents registered as mobile phone users.
The wireless telecom industry is now a critical part of the nation's economy. At the end of 2002, mobile service and the telecom service industry generated around 40.4 trillion won ($36 billion), or 6 percent of gross domestic production.
The rapid expansion was largely due to the government's drive to stimulate consumption and secure new growth engines in the economic downturn of the late 1990s.
The government granted a license for Shinsegi Telecom in 1994, putting an end to the monopoly of the Korea Mobile Telecommunications Services. Korea Telecom Freetel, LG Telecom and Hansol PCS were granted the license to participate in CDMA-based PCS (Personal Communications System) mobile telephony system in 1996.
The Korea Mobile Telecommunications Services managed to garner just 270,000 customers through 1992, four years after they started the country's first mobile phone services.
With the government opening up competition, the wireless population reached 5.5 million by 1997 and 28 million in 2000. Now, the number of cellular phone users surpasses 35 million, considerably outnumbering the 23 million fixed-line telephone accounts.
The rapid growth raised concerns of an overheated market and led to government measures to ease competition.
The government banned telecom operators from providing handset subsidies in 2000, halting marketing based on distribution of "free phones," which led to corporate financial troubles. And a major reshuffle took place in 1999, with SK Telecom acquiring rival Shinsegi Telecom and Korea Telecom Freetel acquiring Hansol PCS, relieving market congestion with only the three major companies of SK Telecom, KTF and LG Telecom left.
SK Telecom is currently the country's largest mobile phone operator with 18.5 million subscribers. KTF is second with 11.5 million customers, followed by LG Telecom's 5.5 million users.
A notable aspect of Korea's telecom development is that the government and industry bet on CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access) technology as their standard mobile platform, instead of the European standard GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) used nearly in 70 percent of the world's mobile networks.
CDMA has been developed as Korea's lone industry standard since the transition from first-generation analogue phones to second-generation digital phones in the mid-1990s, a process completed in 1999 when the last 23,000 users of SK Telecom's analogue AMPS converted to CDMA services.
The "time-slicing" GSM standard squeezes a maximum number of users to each frequency band by having their handsets take turns transmitting and receiving base-stations.
The CDMA standard is a form of "spread-spectrum" technology, which allows many handsets to transmit simultaneously on the same frequency, with each signal scrambled using a pseudo-random sequence, or "code."
Despite the technical superiority, the government's decision to opt for CDMA technology seemed a risky gamble, since it was used in less than 20 percent of the world's networks. However, the third-generation, of 3G, mobile telephony, have both ended up using CDMA technology: CDMA2000 and the GSM-compatible W-CDMA. That has given Korea a head start in 3G competition, unlike GSM-based Europe and Japan, which are having longer adjustment periods.
Korea was the first to have an effective 3G wireless platform, when the three telecom operators started the cdma2000-1x services in 2000 and followed up with cdma2000-1x EV-DO services in 2002. Currently, there are more than 5 million EV-DO subscribers in Korea.
The successful transition to 3G, which allow Internet access and video reception on handsets, could be critical for the Korean telecom industry, considering that the market for voice communication services has limited growth opportunities with the mobile phone penetration rate nearing market saturation.
The wireless sector has also been focusing on developing convergence concepts, merging wireless telephony with broadcasting and computing.
The most notable efforts come in the form of the satellite DMB system, which embodies one of the most advanced receiver technologies of today. Handheld devices in vehicles moving at speeds up to 150 kilometers an hour will be able to receive vidieo and audio signals from satellites, allowing travelers to watch TV programs and movies
Industry insiders believe that the DMB services can attract 6 million subscribers after five years. The services are expected to be launched in the second half of this year.
Another concept is the portable Internet, a wireless technology that provides high-speed Internet access of 1Mbps to portable receiver devices while moving at the speed of 60 to 70 kilometers. The Korean government aims for the commercial services by 2006 and expects the market size to reach 10 million users by 2008. SK Telecom is competing with KT Corp. and Dacom, the country's two largest fixed-line and broadband operators, to secure the licenses for the business.
(thkim@heraldm.com)
2004.05.24
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2004/05/24/200405240032.asp
Jim, by the end of August 04 we will have their Jun quarter numbers, whether BOA increase or decrease its holding on QCOM.
Top 5 Institution Holders of QCOM Shares at 3/31/04
Owner Name
Select a name below for more information. Date Shares Held Change
(Shares) % Change
(Shares) Value
($1000)
BARCLAYS GLOBAL INVE... 3/31/2004 33,445,452 (2,860,160) (7.88%) $2,147,198
FMR CORP 3/31/2004 31,902,110 8,211,760 34.66% $2,048,115
BANK OF AMERICA CORP... 3/31/2004 27,038,945 6,145,597 29.41% $1,735,900
CAPITAL RESEARCH & M... 3/31/2004 26,361,665 (849,000) (3.12%) $1,692,419
MONTAG & CALDWELL IN... 3/31/2004 21,877,958 (3,583,738) (14.08%) $1,404,565
http://www.nasdaq.com/asp/holdings.asp?mode=&kind=&symbol=QCOM&symbol=&symbol=&s...
Schaeffer's Option Activity Watch Features Burlington Resources, QUALCOMM, VERITAS Software
CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 21, 2004--Today's Schaeffer's Option Activity Watch Features Burlington Resources (NYSE:BR), QUALCOMM (Nasdaq:QCOM), and VERITAS Software (Nasdaq:VRTSE). The Option Activity Watch is a report that takes a closer look at three equities appearing in our most unusual option activity report from the previous day. The Option Activity Watch is published on www.SchaeffersResearch.com - the home of Bernie Schaeffer and Schaeffer's Investment Research. For additional information about this report or to have it delivered to you free via email every day click on the following link. http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/addinfo.
Schaeffer's Option Activity Watch:
1. According to Hoover's, Burlington Resources (NYSE:BR) is among of the largest independent oil and gas companies in the U.S. and a hefty producer of natural gas. Most of the company's production comes from North America, where Burlington operates in the San Juan Basin, the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. mid-continent region, and western Canada. The company also has operations in the East Irish Sea and North Sea and in Asia, Latin America, and North and West Africa. The security was the site of some heavy put trading yesterday, as open interest at its June 70 put popped from 246 to 3,210 contracts. Pessimism continues to soar toward this oil producer. The equity's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) jumped overnight from 1.31 to 1.54. (An increasing SOIR is an indication of rising skepticism, as puts (bearish bets) are added at a faster rate than calls (bullish bets) in the front three months of options.) What's more, this reading is higher than 92 percent of all those taken over the past year. Adding to the pessimism, the number of BR shares sold short increased by more than four percent in May to 3.5 million - the highest level since November. Wall Street is holding out on BR as well. Zacks reports that 12 of the 26 analysts following the company rate it a "hold" or worse. This leaves ample room for potential upgrades.
This pessimism seems greatly misplaced, as the security has outperformed the S&P 500 Index (SPX) since February. The equity is currently consolidating into support at its rising 10-week moving average. In fact, BR has risen on support at its 10-week and 20-week trendlines since November. With investors and Wall Street pessimistic toward the shares, it appears that there is still ample sideline cash available to help propel the security even higher.
Click the following link to see the Weekly Chart of BR since October 2003 with 10-Week and 20-Week Moving Averages: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=10207 .
2. Hoover's describes QUALCOMM (Nasdaq:QCOM) as the company that pioneered the commercialization of the code-division multiple access (CDMA) technology used in wireless communications equipment and satellite ground stations mainly in North America. It licenses CDMA semiconductor technology and system software to more than 100 equipment and cell phone makers. The company also sells the popular Eudora e-mail software. The firm saw open interest at its June 65 call spike overnight by more than 2,100 contracts. Overall, investor sentiment is still leaning toward the bearish camp. The stock's SOIR of 0.80 is currently higher than 62 percent of all those taken over the past 12 months. What's more, short interest soared 14 percent higher for QCOM in April to 23.4 million shares. The major brokerage firms also have their doubts, with 17 of the 28 analysts following the firm rating it a "hold."
This pessimistic sentiment also runs contrary to the security's technical performance. QCOM has outperformed the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite (COMP) for the past year. In addition, the stock has broken above resistance at its declining 20-day moving average - a trendline the security has not closed above since April 23. It appears that the shares are springing higher off support at their 20-week moving average. The equity has not suffered a weekly close below this trendline since mid-June. A continuation of the stock's rally could force the bears to unload their positions, increasing buying pressure on the equity.
Click the following link to see the Weekly Chart of QCOM since June 2003 with 20-Week Moving Average: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=10207 .
3. VERITAS Software (Nasdaq:VRTSE) develops data availability software, including applications for storage management, data protection, clustering, replication, and storage area networks. Its software guards against the loss of data after crashes and errors, speeds information recovery after failures, and tracks the location of data in global computer networks. The security has dropped under resistance at its 10-day and 20-day moving averages since late January. The shares are also battling staunch resistance at their 10-week moving average - a trendline they have managed to close above only once since the end of January. What's more, VRTSE is poised for its first monthly close below its 10-month and 20-month trendlines since February 2003.
Despite its poor technical performance, VRTSE is still seeing signs of optimism. Wall Street remains somewhat enchanted by the firm, with 18 of the 28 analysts following the company rating it a "buy" or better. In addition, the number of VRTSE shares sold short dropped by five percent in April to 11.6 million - a new multi-year low. The stock's short-interest ratio also sits at a paltry 1.38 days to cover, offering little in the way of potential support. Only options players have grown skeptical of the security. VRTSE's SOIR rest at 0.91 in the 89th percentile. The unwinding of these remaining optimistic positions could send the security even lower over the near term.
Click the following link to see the Weekly Chart of VRTSE since January 2004 with 10-Week Moving Average: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=10207 .
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About Schaeffer's Investment Research (www.SchaeffersResearch.com)
Schaeffer's Investment Research, founded by Bernie Schaeffer in 1981, is financial information and trading resources company. It publishes Bernie Schaeffer's Option Advisor, the nation's leading options subscription newsletter. The firm's contrarian approach focuses on stocks with technical and fundamental trends that run counter to investor expectations. The firm's website, http://www.SchaeffersResearch.com , is recognized as one of the leading information sources for stock and options traders and was cited as the top options website by both Forbes and Barron's. Click here for more details about Schaeffer's trading methodology: http://www.SchaeffersResearch.com/method .
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Mobile & Wireless World: Wireless moves into the enterprise
But careful planning is needed before deployment
News Story by Bob Brewin
MAY 21, 2004 (COMPUTERWORLD) - Enterprises no longer see wireless as a novelty technology, but as a maturing IT tool that can be used to serve customers better and boost the productivity of an increasingly mobile workforce, according to top IT managers slated to speak next week at the Computerworld Mobile & Wireless World conference.
Richard Dean, an analyst at IDC in Framingham, Mass., said companies recognize wireless technology as "a significant productivity-enhancement tool" that still has a way to go before reaching its full potential. "We're still in the third inning."
To avoid a strikeout, Gary Bullock, network solutions project manager at The Allstate Corp. in Northbrook, Ill., said companies first need to determine what kinds of wireless and mobile technologies meet their business requirements, a process that took Allstate two years.
Bullock emphasized that mobile and wireless systems need to be integrated with existing IT infrastructures. For example, Allstate has provided handheld computers equipped with cellular General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) to 400 "very mobile" executives. The machines operate at a data rate of 20K to 40Kbit/sec. Rollout of the devices has been coordinated with Allstate's desktop and laptop team, Bullock said, since handhelds synchronize with data stored on workers' computers.
While GPRS provides relatively slow data speeds, Bullock said it is fast enough for the handhelds to send and receive thin data files, including e-mail, and contact and calendar information.
Allstate is also beginning to equip field service workers who use larger applications and need higher data rates -- such as auto insurance claims adjusters -- with cellular modems for their laptops based on the cellular Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 1X standard. The standard can provide throughput of between 50Kbit/sec. and 70Kbit/sec. Bullock declined to identify Allstate's hardware or network providers.
Allstate has to date equipped about 2,000 workers with the CDMA laptop cards, and user satisfaction so far is high. Users would give up their cellular modem cards only "if I pried them from their hands," Bullock said.
The purchase of cellular airtime is integrated with other telecommunications services Allstate buys, allowing the company to "take advantage of economies of scale," he said. continued>>
Page 2 of 2
He also noted that Allstate has started to install Wi-Fi in its offices, including at its headquarters, as an overlay to the wired data networks already in place. Designed to serve conference and meeting rooms as well as office space for visiting workers, the Wi-Fi deployment has been coordinated with the IT group that handles wired data networks, Bullock said.
Jay Brummett, chief technology officer for the city of Ogden, Utah, also opted for CDMA 1x and Wi-Fi to provide wireless links for tablet PCs from Hewlett-Packard Co. and Motient Corp. The city started to deploy the PCs to building inspectors last year.
Brummett sees the wireless deployment as a generally routine move but noted that Ogden has started to develop a leading-edge application to voice-enable the tablets and the applications used for building inspection. The city has teamed up with Voice-Insight in Brussels to co-develop voice-enabled tablet PC applications, and if the project succeeds, inspectors will be able to fill out forms and conduct database searches with simple voice commands using keywords. Ogden now has 15 building inspectors equipped with tablets, and if the Voice-Insight project works, Brummett plans to deploy several hundred voice-enabled tablets to city agencies, including the public safety department.
While the city of Ogden and Allstate have just started down the wireless road, FMR Corp. in Boston, better known as Fidelity Investments, views wireless as a fully mature technology.
Joe Ferra, Fidelity's chief wireless officer, said the company began using wireless to provide information to its retail brokerage customers in 1998 and now has 300,000 subscribers who access the services with a variety of devices, ranging from simple e-mail pagers to advanced smart phones.
Customers can wirelessly obtain stock quotes from the MyFidelity part of the company's Web site, as well as execute stock trades. While Ferra didn't provide details on the number of trades executed, he said that in March, mobile users relied on the service to obtain 4 million stock quotes.
Ferra believes that wireless will eventually become the predominant way Fidelity services its customers, because it provides them with anytime, anywhere access. That mantra has been cited as one of the major reasons behind a wide range of enterprise and mobile wireless projects.
http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/story/0,10801,93325p2,00.html
3G to take off in Europe this year, US 2 years behind - report
By Wolfgang Gruener, Senior Editor
May 21, 2004 - 11:17 EST
Chicago (IL) - Analysts believe that third generation (3G) mobile phones will become an attractive alternative in 2004 - at least in Europe and Asia. US consumers will have to wait another 24 months until broadband applications will make their way to the cell phone.
Key reason for the final arrival of UMTS, Europe's 3G technology following GSM and GPRS, is the build out of base-stations and infrastructure throughout Europe. According to Raymond Jodoin, Director of Wireless Infrastructure Research at ABI Research, the 2003 growth rate of available 3G infrastructure will double in 2004. "Coverage is widely available across Europe especially in urban areas such as Milan, Munich, or Madrid - and it is spreading quickly," Jodoin said. UMTS coverage has reached about 90 percent in Europe, according to ABI.
As also Asia Pacific is getting ready to make its jump to next generation cell phones, users in the US are just getting used to camera and data capable phones. While transferring data become equally important as simple voice transmission through cell phones in many parts of the world, voice is still the dominating cell phone application in the US. According to recently released research data from Jupiter Research, most consumers in the States prefer cheap or free phones over camera-equipped devices even, if there are priced as low as $49. As users get used to SMS, MMS and taking pictures with their phones, carriers are taking first looks to 3G. "We are not trying to step in the quick sand," Jodoin said.
UMTS is the 3G path of T-Mobile, Cingular Wireless and AT&T Wireless; the latter two announced their intention to merge last February. Cingular and AT&T Wireless however still have TDMA and GSM in their current technology portfolio and will have to migrate to EDGE, which is seen as a result of an effort between TDMA operators and vendors to develop a common set of 3G standards that support high-speed data, according to industry group 3G Americas. EDGE stands for Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution with peak rates of 473 kbps and average throughput of 80-130 kbps. So far, no decision for EDGE has been detailed yet and the only GSM-only provider in the US, T-Mobile, might not have the bandwidth to jump to UMTS on its own, Jodoin said. "We are at least two years away from seeing UMTS in the US."
Jodoin believes that 3G such as UMTS will catch on quickly in the US, despite of voice centric user behavior. "It is all a matter of exposure and price," he said. "In Italy, for example we have noticed UMTS plans drop to about $50 a month, which is very attractive. Also, handsets have become available at reasonable prices."
http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20040521_111707.html
No killer app, but mobile data will boom
Friday, May 21 2004
by Anthony Quinn
in association with
delivering pioneering applications
Mobile consumer applications are to drive the take-up of data services and generate traffic and revenues for mobile operators, according to a new study.
Latest ENN headlines
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Mobile phone-delivered services such as gaming, ringtones, video, and music will be worth just under EUR8 billion in Western Europe in 2008, according to research from technology research firm IDC.
After years of deploying expensive higher-speed data networks, based on UMTS (3G) and GPRS (2.5G), mobile operators are banking on data to bring in massive amounts of high-margin revenues. In fact the report from IDC echoes operators' own sentiments, and to some degree it helps to validate the push now underway among telecoms to get customers to use new data services.
The "Western European Consumer Mobile Data Applications" study, which analyses the opportunities for consumer mobile data applications, also notes that mobile operators are seeking new ways of differentiating themselves in some countries as they strive to gain a head start in the data game.
"It is clear from the usage patterns of SMS that people are willing to pay for mobile content such as ringtones and wallpaper provided they see value in those services," Paolo Pescatore, senior analyst at IDC told ElectricNews.Net.
Vodafone is bolstering its content, O2 has introduced video services and the first over-the-air music service, and DoCoMo continues to roll out its i-mode service in Europe, notes the survey. However, this mixed bag of mobile services underlines the lack of a "killer app" that many are "still seeking and talking about," said Pescatore.
"It is very much a cocktail and these applications will drive usage over GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, and HSDPA. All these applications -- ringtones, gaming, video, and music -- will eventually find their place on a mobile," he said. Some applications, including ringtones and gaming, have already found their place, but video and music will take longer," added Pescatore.
Pescatore also noted that the re-distribution of licensed content delivered to mobile phones could erode revenues and result in tension between content providers and mobile operators. "If mobile content is sold, downloaded and then redistributed illegally, then this is definitely a potentially contentious issue," he said.
http://www.enn.ie/frontpage/news-9412832.html
Verizon Wireless CEO Denny Strigl to Present at Lehman Brothers Conference on May 24
< back
BEDMINSTER, N.J., May 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless President and
CEO Denny Strigl will speak at the Lehman Brothers 2004 Global Wireless
Conference in New York on May 24 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern time. A Web cast of the
presentation, presentation materials and access instructions will be available
at Verizon Communications' Investor Relations Web site on the day of the
conference at http://www.verizon.com/investor.
About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless is the nation's leading provider of wireless
communications. The company has the largest nationwide wireless voice and
data network and 39 million customers. Headquartered in Bedminster, NJ,
Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and
Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). Find more information on the Web at
http://www.verizonwireless.com. To receive broadcast-quality video footage of
Verizon Wireless operations, log onto http://www.thenewsmarket.com/verizonwireless.
Lucent's CEO faces more challenges ahead
By Ken Belson
NEW YORK TIMES
Patricia Russo has little time to exhale. As chairman and chief executive of Lucent Technologies, she has managed to return the weakened telecommunications giant to modest profitability by eliminating tens of thousands of jobs, slashing billions of dollars in debts and settling major lawsuits with investors.
This week, the company settled a suit by the Securities and Exchange Commission over its accounting practices, and agreed to pay a $25 million fine.
But Russo, who took the helm at Lucent during the depths of the telecommunications collapse in 2002, is anything but sanguine. Having staved off Lucent's financial freefall, she is now in a race against time to develop new products and services that will allow Lucent to survive as the entire industry changes around it. Shares of Lucent have fallen from a high of $63.22 in 1999 to a low of 58 cents in 2002, and closed Thursday at $3.25.
"We've managed our way through an unprecedented and unpredicted industry downturn, and I'm pleased that this three-year period is behind us," said Russo, 51, as she sketched out her company's strategy on a memo pad. "But the world in which we've been competing has been changing dramatically."
Simply put, that world is networks. For decades, phone calls, data and video traveled over wire lines, and Lucent made the switches and other equipment that sent those signals flying around the world. Once part of the AT&T group, Lucent, based in Murray Hill, N.J., was a key supplier to many of the world's biggest phone companies, which had billions of dollars to invest.
But new Internet-based technology and other innovations now allow all that content to travel over unified digital networks. This shift requires not just new hardware but new approaches to the way that data is dispersed, organized and stored. In this new world, rivals like Nortel and Cisco often have the upper hand and Lucent must form partnerships with its competitors, a comedown for a company that prided itself on its independence.
If that were not enough, Russo must change the mind-set of a company that was once a cornerstone of the American industrial landscape. In years past, Lucent's raison d'etre was building the huge switching stations that carriers use to connect calls. That business has been in decline as more customers opt for routers that are roughly the size of a pizza box and made by Cisco and other rivals.
Lucent's revenues have declined more than 70 percent from a peak of $30.6 billion in 1999 to $8.5 billion last year, in part because of spin-offs of some divisions. To generate much-needed growth and forestall the company's obsolescence, Russo is trying to leapfrog into the next generation of products. The strategy is admirable but will succeed only if demand for the technology Lucent is betting on grows faster than the decline in its traditional businesses.
"The question is, can Lucent run fast enough to outrun the decline in its older businesses?" asked Albert Lin, an analyst at American Technology Research in San Francisco. "It will be hard to do."
Worse still, telecommunications equipment is increasingly becoming a commodity, subject to ever greater pressure to cut prices. So Russo is trying to get her 32,500 employees to think of themselves less as manufacturers and more as service providers. The hope is that Lucent will be able to market to its phone carrier clients the technical expertise that was the hallmark of its Bell Labs.
But there are dozens of competitors in the service arena too, who claim to offer similar consulting advice for less money. And rather than charging hefty fees per consulting project, Lucent is paid on some projects based on the amount of money it saves clients, a less stable source of income.
For most former manufacturing titans, the transition into the services business has rarely gone smoothly, especially when the service providers are engineers who have been cloistered in research labs for years. But Lucent's shift into services is proceeding apace.
"We've done more to pull people out of the ivory tower and into the customer site," said John A. Meyer, who was recruited by Russo to run Lucent's services group after a long stint at EDS. "Whenever I run into roadblocks, I fall back on what IBM did."
The company now expects revenue to grow in the "low single digits" this fiscal year, with Lucent returning to profitability for the first time since 2000. Most analysts say Lucent is underestimating the strength of the current recovery, but they don't blame the company for being conservative about its outlook.
"They are just starting to feel like they are back on terra firma," said Steven Levy, who covers the company for Lehman Brothers. "They are willing to say things are better, but they are not celebrating yet. Lucent is not alone in being gun-shy either."
Lucent's chief financial officer, Frank D'Amelio, declined to be more specific about which parts of the company would grow the fastest, but most analysts say the most promising contributions are coming from the company's wireless group, which makes up 43 percent of sales
Lucent is a leader in making equipment for cellular systems that run CDMA technology, which is used by carriers like Verizon Wireless and Sprint. The company has also made a significant push to develop next-generation high-speed data services for networks. That move paid off in March, when Verizon Wireless awarded Lucent a $525 million contract to develop the carrier's third generation, or 3G, mobile phone network.
This week, Lucent won a $120 million contract to expand the phone network for China Unicom, that country's second-largest mobile carrier, and another multimillion dollar contract from a subsidiary of China Telecom, the industry leader in China.
3G networks are widely viewed as the future of the mobile industry because they would allow cell phones to send and receive data at roughly 40 times current speeds, making it possible for consumers to swap music clips, hold video conferences and run other data-hogging applications. Next generation networks are also supposed to make the divisions between CDMA, GSM and other cell phone standards less important.
The promise of 3G, though, has often outpaced the reality in places where the service has already been deployed. In Japan, for instance, the country's biggest carrier, NTT DoCoMo, unveiled its 3G network in October 2001. Yet system glitches, handset troubles, spotty service and high prices turned the start of the service into a huge embarrassment. Only now, after spending $8.9 billion to upgrade its network, is DoCoMo meeting its subscriber targets.
There is no guarantee consumers in the United States will flock to 3G service at a time when the rate of spending on cell phone services has started to flatten out. A slowdown in that sector could delay future rollouts of next-generation phones, hurting Lucent's chances for other big contracts.
Lucent is also looking elsewhere for growth. In addition to selling abroad, the company is making strides in winning more government contracts, particularly from the Department of Homeland Security.
The company is jumping headlong into the broadband Internet access market, too. Lucent's share of the North American market for equipment that helps phone carriers deploy high-speed digital subscriber lines jumped to 17 percent, from 10 percent, in the first quarter, according to Teresa Mastrangelo, an analyst at RHK, a telecommunications consulting firm. The gain was largely due to a big order from Qwest, a big local phone company. Nonetheless, Alcatel still dominates this market with a 59 percent share.
Lucent's gains, though, are small compared with the larger issue of how Lucent participates in the building of new telecommunications networks, Russo said. She said she pushes her executive team to figure out "where the puck is going," though she admits there are no simple solutions, competition is fierce and the questions won't be answered for several years.
Still, she would prefer to fret over how to improve Lucent's business rather than focus on its mere survival.
"The market has clearly stabilized," she said. "It was a scary time, and it feels a lot better to be focused on growth again."
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/8721407.htm?1c
Is True Mobility at Hand?
By Eric Knorr
05/21/04 6:00 AM PT
Those with an eye on the bottom line have a right to remain skeptical, even though many companies have already deployed wireless e-mail for executives, most often using RIM devices. And of course, vertical industries have been quietly rolling out field apps on wireless PDAs for years.
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Remember a few years ago when the wireless mobile enterprise was the next big thing? High-speed 3G bandwidth would hover in the air everywhere, enabling you to whip out a wireless PDA and turn the backseat of a taxicab into a rolling office with seamless access to enterprise apps.
That particular taxi crashed and burned. Carriers never delivered fast bandwidth, sensible people raised security alarms, and the cost of developing and deploying mobile apps proved absurdly high compared to the potential payback. The mobile revolution became something of a joke -- supplanted by the more modest goal of providing Wi-Fi network access across the corporate campus. "I think what stopped this stuff before was the economics didn't make sense," says Danny Shader, CEO of Good Technology, a mobile enterprise software provider. "People won't spend $20,000 to $30,000 a user to get mobile. They're just not going to do that."
Yet Shader and others believe the stage is now set for a mobile comeback. Although ubiquitous 3G remains an indeterminate number of years off, carriers are in the process of rolling out dial-up-speed -- and faster -- wireless data services. As for security, Research In Motion (RIM) and Good Technology have developed security solutions, primarily for e-mail, that ease enterprise worries. Meanwhile, enterprise server software vendors have gobbled up mobile app servers and development tools, folding them into the stack and reducing development and deployment costs.
The hardware has improved, too. "The convergence of better processors, better displays, and better operating systems is allowing enterprise applications to become more acceptable for use on PDAs," says Todd Kort, a principal analyst at Gartner Dataquest, who believes there's a bright future for a new, more powerful generation of smartphone devices. Kort thinks a dramatic uptake in enterprise mobility may occur later this year, after a new Palm operating system, a more efficient Intel CPU for handhelds, and mobile enterprise software for the Microsoft's Windows Mobile platforms arrive this summer.
Those with an eye on the bottom line have a right to remain skeptical, even though many companies have already deployed wireless e-mail for executives, most often using RIM devices. And of course, vertical industries have been quietly rolling out field apps on wireless PDAs for years. Much can be learned from those experiences when searching for secure, cost-effective ways to respond to business-side requests for wireless mobility. To justify the cost of devices, secure connections, airtime minutes, and enterprise apps adapted to tiny screens, the plan of action must be carefully crafted.
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The no-brainer enterprise app is the same as it has been for a few years: e-mail. "E-mail has become such a time-consuming part of our lives," Gartner's Kort says. "If you can knock out 20 percent of that e-mail when you otherwise would have been idle, that's a considerable time savings." Up until now, the biggest beneficiary of this trend has been RIM, which Kort characterizes as "on a roll." The company sold as many devices in the first quarter of this year as it did in all of 2002, Kort says.
Why has IT embraced RIM? Because for some time the company had "the only secure device," says David MacFarlane, vice president of business development at Idokorro, a small mobile enterprise app-dev house. "The first thing our customers ask is: Is it secure? The BlackBerry has the BlackBerry Enterprise Server for secure e-mail." This security provides end-to-end encryption and compression between the device and RIM's server, which enterprises deploy inside the firewall.
RIM's principal competitor is Good Technology, which offers a similar security scheme in its GoodLink mobile messaging software (so similar, the companies sued each other, settling last March). GoodLink works with Palm, Pocket PC, and RIM devices. Both RIM's and Good's solutions can withstand frequent disconnections, a fact of life for mobile wireless data communication through carrier networks -- and a showstopper if an enterprise tried using a conventional VPN.
Palm lacks a comparable security model, which may be one reason why the company -- which once owned the enterprise space by default -- has experienced declining enterprise sales in the last couple of years, according to Gartner's Kort. PalmSource will address this deficiency with its new Cobalt operating system (already in the hands of OEMs) that enables enterprises to "plug in" security solutions, such as a licensed version of RIM's secure server. Cobalt will also be the first multitasking Palm OS, resulting in a much more attractive application environment.
As Palm has ebbed, Pocket PCs have flowed into the enterprise. Meanwhile, sales of Hewlett-Packard iPaqs are double what they were a year ago, according to Gartner. Because Microsoft lacked a compelling carrier-based solution, the main attraction has been the capability to ran Windows Mobile and Pocket versions of Word, Excel, and Outlook. According to Ed Suwanjindar, lead product manager of the mobile and embedded devices group at Microsoft, the "core, killer app" for Pocket PCs has been Outlook synchronization.
Gartner's Kort expects a mobile wireless wave to start hitting Pocket PCs as soon as this summer. For one thing, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC 2003, which has just begun shipping on devices in the US, will be the first version to support "meaningful [e-mail] push capability for cellular networks," according to Good Technology's Shader. just as significant, Good will begin shipping its GoodLink 3.0 secure wireless messaging solution for that new Windows Mobile version this month.
Adam Zawel, The Yankee Group director of wireless/mobile enterprise and commerce, adds that Exchange 2003 is "built from the ground up with wireless in mind. The thorny problems surrounding mobile computing are handled in the design of the application itself." The combination of Microsoft's application support and Good's security may well open the floodgates to e-mail everywhere for Pocket PCs from HP, Dell, Toshiba, and others.
Picking the Right Mobile Platform
Putting a secure messaging pipe in place was more than a software development challenge for RIM and Good. Both also had to cut deals with carriers, which involved "a lot of legwork and butt-kissing," according to Gartner's Kort. Now that the basics are in place, he says, e-mail is just the beginning. "Then you build upon that and start getting in behind the firewall and getting your applications."
"If you want to have real ROI and success deploying the technology, e-mail is not the mechanism," asserts Dennis Gaughan, a research director at AMR Research. You need enterprise software to make mobile workers more productive, he says, although up until now the action has mainly been in vertical applications.
Palm devices, of course, have long been surrounded by a vibrant development community, with the applications primarily commercial and focused on standalone clients. "Quite frankly, up until we got to the latest version, Cobalt, even though we put good fundamentals in place, gaps were filled by third parties and licensees," says John Cook, product marketing manager at PalmSource, the software company resulting from the Palm breakup. "You had to be more of a systems integrator if you were trying to build more enterprise apps on Palm OS devices."
Cobalt will feature a licensed version of IBM's WebSphere MicroEnvironment, a J2ME run-time environment, although the new operating systems will also run apps written for previous Palm OS versions. Palm has also joined the Eclipse Java development organization and has licensed the WebSphere Studio Device Developer toolset for integration into the Palm OS platform. And unlike previous versions of the Palm OS, Cobalt will support schema-based databases. PalmSource is "trying to do more enablement for the developer community," Cook says.
Whether or not customers embrace Cobalt as an enterprise development platform, RIM appears less likely to extend much beyond e-mail in the foreseeable future, according to Gartner's Kort. The development environment uses a proprietary flavor of J2ME that requires a learning curve few enterprise developers are likely to climb in order to build apps for BlackBerrys alone. "RIM is a nightmare to develop for," Kort says. "Gartner actually recommends that enterprises not develop for that platform."
By contrast, Microsoft's efforts to integrate mobile devices into .Net development have already paid off. Enterprises are developing more apps for the Pocket PC platform than any other. Warren Wilson, a practice director at Summit Strategies, says Microsoft understands that development for mobile devices should "be a seamless part of the app-dev process." In other words, developers can port their general Windows development work into mobile apps.
Microsoft's Suwanjindar touts the company's .Net Compact Framework, which has 12 controls for mobile devices, including screen size, rendering, and menus. "It's really efficient to transfer a Windows desktop application, optimized for a small footprint," he says. Visual Studio 2005, due out next year, will make targeting small devices even easier. "It's our intent," Suwanjindar says, "that mobile development will just be development."
Learning From Experience
Until recently, enterprise mobile application development has tended to be narrowly targeted -- to specific devices and to specific applications in such areas as field service, sales-force automation, medicine, and retail delivery. Faced with slow, erratic, expensive wireless connections, enterprises have frequently opted for wire-line synchronization instead. The introduction of so-called 2.5G services such as GPRS and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) 1X has at least brought transfer rates up to dial-up speeds, but coverage is still spotty and the airtime costs remain high.
The result for mobile enterprise applications has been a kind of client/server architecture, where the mobile client must be fully usable in stand-alone mode, caching data for upload and downloading updates when an air or wire-line connection is available. To avoid costly one-off development projects for mobile devices, developers need to figure out how to adapt applications already deployed in the enterprise, The Yankee Group's Zawel observes. "The real challenge is to decide what needs to be on the device all the time and what's needed in real time -- and to take an existing application and separate those components," he says.
Such trade-offs manifest themselves in interesting ways. Take CooperVision, a manufacturer of contact lenses that has deployed PalmOne's Tungsten W handhelds to 70 sales reps across the country. The PDAs run a custom-built sales-force-automation application, but they're also equipped with GPRS modems for wireless cellular access so the reps can deal with e-mail while sitting in an optometrist's office waiting to make a pitch. To upload orders from the SFA application into the corporate database, however, they must synchronize their Palms through their desktop PCs.
Connected through the air or not, automating manual tasks for the first time generally yields the biggest ROI, just as with any other technology area. "In field service applications, you can automate workflow from the time the call is generated to the time the bill is sent out," says Dave Werezak, vice president of the enterprise business unit at RIM. Deployments that combine e-mail with such line-of-business functions are slowly proliferating.
"You still have to characterize it as an early-stage market," says Summit's Wilson. "But we're starting to see an increasing number of deployments of hundreds and even thousands of workers and devices scattered around different industries."
The most compelling mobile deployments pursue multiple benefits. In a pilot project at Bedford, Freeman & Worth, a textbook division of Macmillan Publishing, high-end iPaqs have landed in the hands of 12 of the company's 70 sales representatives in North America. "Before this, at the end of the day they'd go home and spend two hours responding to e-mails and requesting sample textbooks be sent to professors," notes Paul Lentz, BFWs CRM project manager. "They asked us to decrease their administrative work so they could increase their time in front of customers."
Because they have the time and the tools, Lentz says, the salespeople can submit information into a knowledge management system that all the editors can access. "This helps us in terms of being a real-time enterprise," he says. The sales reps may interact with professors who are in the forefront of their field, revealing new teaching or research methods from which the editors can benefit. "The handhelds allow them to gather information everyone knows is out there but no one internally can get their hands on. An editor might find out something about a professor at a regional sales meeting, but by then it's too late. Some other publishing company has gotten that person to write a book."
A more conventional area attracting lots of mobile development activity is wholesale distribution. Wisconsin Distributors, an Anheuser-Busch wholesaler, has rid itself of considerable paperwork with an extremely productive, nonwireless mobile app. Thirty salesmen use Toshiba handhelds running Global Beverage Group's Pocket Cooler application to track orders and inventory. Via synchronization, the Pocket Cooler application sends pertinent data to accounting and inventory-management systems, enabling warehouse workers to start preparing orders for the following day.
Craig Wardle, IT manager at Wisconsin Distributors, would like to equip the handhelds with cellular modems so that salespeople can send orders earlier and get warehouse employees compiling the bigger orders earlier. "We'd like to get the orders for large grocery stores in the middle of the day so that the warehouse crews can build the orders throughout the day rather than doing it in a mad rush starting at 5 p.m." The problem is that in his market, coverage is only a sure thing in Madison. Beyond that, "it follows the highways. If you get oifthe highway, your chances of a connection are less." As a result, Wisconsin Distributors' salespeople ask bar owners at various stops during the day if they can use the phone to upload information to the company database.
Do You Read Me?
Without question, in the United States, the carrier networks are the weakest link in wireless mobility. "The carriers are still struggling to figure out what the right strategy is to sell to enterprises for enterprise applications," says AMR's Gaughan. "They were focused on pushing the networks forward to 3G but have now backed off on that due to the cost of upgrading the infrastructure."
True, all the major U.S. carriers have impressive 3G pilot programs, with Verizon leading the way. But Japan and Europe remain far ahead, thanks to the United States' vast territory and various incompatible mobile networks. No one should stake their mobile plans on widely available 3G in the United States. And where it is available, the price of airtime will be high.
On the brighter side, mobile devices themselves have gotten much more powerful, often making fat, occasionally connected mobile clients a pleasure to use. Nothing illustrates how far we've come like the first Palm handhelds, which used Motorola's 68000 chip. "It served us well, but the clock speed was stuck at 16MHz," notes Gregg Zehr, PalmOne's vice president of engineering. The fastest chips for PDAs now run at 400MHz. Meanwhile, standard handheld displays have grown from 160-by-160 monochrome screens to 320-by-320 color screens.
Unfortunately, faster processors, better displays, and memory approaching desktop proportions put a drain on battery life. The greatest advance in batteries recently has been the lithium-polymer battery, which can be molded into different shapes more easily than a lithium-ion battery. And this summer Intel plans to ship its new 600MHz PXA270 Xscale chip that throttles down clock frequency during periods of inactivity -- just like laptop CPUs.
As better hardware emerges, Gartner's Kort believes that next year an armada of powerful new smart phones will arrive from the likes of HP and Dell. For mobile workers who need frequent data connections through the air, Kort predicts that clever new combinations of phone and PDA -- running the Smartphone version of Windows -- will provide a strong incentive for more enterprise mobile app dev.
Carrier coverage and pricing remain stumbling blocks. Perhaps one day seamless roaming between wide-area wireless and Wi-Fi will solve the problem. In the meantime, the other pieces of the mobile enterprise puzzle -- security, unified development, beefier handhelds, and wireless-enabled commercial software -- are falling into place.
Who will get this technology first? Workers who really need it, execs who really want it, and employees willing to pay for it. But there's little question that the age of true mobility is dawning, no matter how long it takes to reach the rest of us.
© 2004 InfoWorld. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company i/a/w MarketWatch.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
© 2004 ECT News Network. All rights reserved.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/33911.html
Cell Phone Numbers may go Public in Directory
LAST UPDATE: 5/21/2004 6:45:03 AM
Posted By: Gabe Redondo
Critics fear that the directory under development by the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association will undermine privacy and flood cell phones with unwanted calls and messages.
The directory is expected to include about 75 percent of the nation's 163 million mobile numbers. From those numbers, it would be easy to deduce the addresses of phones that receive e-mail because in most cases the number is the user name part of the e-mail address.
The association is pitching the directory as a boon for real-estate agents and other on-the-go professionals who want people to be able to look up their mobile numbers.
"The world of telecommunications continues to change, and every day wireless becomes a more significant part of our world," said Steve Largent, the association's president. "This system will provide consumers an opportunity to opt in, if they choose."
Privacy advocates, some members of Congress and even a major carrier - Verizon Wireless - counter that the promise of consumer choice is disingenuous because many cell-phone service contracts contain clauses that give permission to publish numbers.
They predict that there will be the kind of spam deluge that already plagues mobile users in Europe and Asia, where full-featured phones are more common than in the United States. Beyond that, it's unclear whether people would be on the hook to pay for unwanted calls and e-mails.
"I don't want the world to know my cell-phone number," said Rep. Joseph R. Pitts, R-Pa., who has introduced a bill to prevent wireless-phone companies from automatically including customers in the directory without getting their permission and from charging customers if they want unlisted numbers. "This is a big privacy issue."
It's also a big money issue for an industry suffering through brutal price wars. A wireless directory could generate as much as $3 billion a year in fees and additional minutes by 2009, according to a study conducted by consulting firm Zelos Group Inc.
http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=93EF19DD-D3E2-4400-938B-2BFDE1E6A39E
Who Would You Trust?
Sun, Microsoft, or a stranger on the train?
May 20, 2004
Summary
Everyone is looking for our trust at the moment. Schemes for digitally signing applications seem to be popping up like gophers across the mobile landscape, each of them confident that we'll place our trust in their authority. Microsoft, of course, has been trying to convince us to only trust applications and drivers signed by them on our desktops.
By Bill Ray
Page 1 of 1
Everyone is looking for our trust at the moment. Schemes for digitally signing applications seem to be popping up like gophers across the mobile landscape, each of them confident that we'll place our trust in their authority. Microsoft, of course, has been trying to convince us to only trust applications and drivers signed by them on our desktops. Now Symbian will be signing applications for our phones while Nokia has launched their own scheme (called "Nokia OK") to demonstrate that the application meets with their approval.
While the lack of granular security in Symbian (once an application is running it can do anything) might make certification useful, Sun reckons that network operators would like to see their approval on Java applications (which generally don't have the same security issues), while the networks themselves are already preparing their own offerings.
So what will all these certificates tell us? Are any of these parties actually willing to take some responsibility for the application when things go wrong? When your digitally signed game starts sending out spam text messages to everyone in your address book will you have someone to sue? It seems not; while all these companies are happy to lend their names to say that the applications work properly, no one appears to be happy to accept the liability when it turns out they don't. Ultimately it's the network operators who will have to deal with irate customers, and blaming them for installing software (the normal defense in desktop support) isn't going to wash. Flashing warnings on the screen just doesn't work, as the recent My Doom and Bagel worms amply demonstrate; users will click "OK" no matter how many times they are told to take care, and it's not practical to educate all mobile phone users in the intricacies of device security.
BREW provides one alternative to pointless dialogs for the user to agree with; it just won't allow users to install an application unless QUALCOMM, or its partners, has approved that application. While that might seem draconian, it will be BREW users who are laughing when the first Symbian worm strikes.
With MIDP 2.0, the latest version of Java, applications are divided into domains including "vendor," "operator," and "trusted third party" with access to different APIs being restricted by who digitally signed the application. When messages are displayed to the user they are clear and action-related, such as: "This application wants to send a text message." The user is then free to make an informed choice to allow or disallow the action. Users understand actions, and an application that misbehaves will be given short shift. This mechanism allows informed choices from the users, while protecting them, and their network, from undue interference. But even this approach is fraught with problems. How do the certificates get onto the phone? What happens if a user changes networks? When an application manages to bypass this security who will be liable (Sun, the network, or the JVM vendor)?
A mobile phone is not a desktop computer, and the security it needs isn't the same. The sooner people start to recognize that fact the better.
Someone else asked me to trust them the other day, someone I had never met and will probably never meet. I was traveling on the subway, reading some documents on my Palm, when up popped a message saying that "Pug Ugly" was trying to connect and did I want to allow them. This was, obviously, a Bluetooth connection and I simply rejected it and continued reading. It seems that Mr. Ugly was a persistent soul, and tried another few times before I switched off my Bluetooth connectivity to be able to read in peace. I had heard about this use of Bluetooth (Bluejacking, as it's known), and while some Nokia handsets have had security issues, in general I leave all my devices advertising their presence and consider such approaches no different from someone walking up to me and talking. It occurred to me that I'm something of a gold mine for anyone playing with a new Bluetooth device, because I carry at least three active devices at any time. People sharing a carriage with me must think Bluetooth is everywhere.
Glancing around the carriage, I noticed a girl surreptitiously keying a Nokia 3650 and could only assume that the identity of Mr. Ugly had been established (though to be fair, the girl was neither Mr. nor Ugly). Checking my P900 later, I discovered dozens of messages sent over a period of months including graphics (like the skeleton pictured) and sounds. I've said several times that the best way to get users comfortable with a technology is to provide a silly application for it, the sillier the better. By playing with Bluetooth, users can gain confidence with this new wireless technology, so when they want a way to connect things together it's the obvious choice. Other than mobile telephones, wireless is still a novelty to most people, making this the perfect time to have some fun with it.
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http://www.sys-con.com/story/?storyid=44920&DE=1
Hit by fall in market share, weak image, Nokia increases R&D in China
Updated at 7:47 on May 21, 2004, EST.
HELSINKI (AP) - In an apparent move to revive its ailing market share, Nokia - the world's biggest cellphone maker - said Friday it will significantly expand its research and development operations in China.
Known for its sleek handsets and mobile innovations and regarded as an industry bellwether, the Finnish company shocked markets last month when it announced a fall in sales and profit and gave a flat outlook, citing increased competition from American and Asian rivals like Motorola and Samsung.
Nokia said the R&D expansion in China will be "significant," including the establishment of a CDMA research centre in Beijing. The company has long said that China, where it employs 4,300 workers, is a major market for it and am important centre of development for expanding its Asian business.
"China is definitely a strategic part of Nokia's global R&D network," said Nokia chairman and chief executive Jorma Ollila. "With increasing depth in China's talent base and an improving regulatory environment for R&D, we see excellent opportunities to expand our collaboration with leading domestic institutions."
Nokia said 40 per cent of the company's global handsets will be designed at the Beijing centre, and it will co-operate with 10 Chinese universities to develop new ideas.
Shares of Nokia were down in trading Friday on the Helsinki exchange, dropping 3.6 per cent to 10.95 euros ($13.07 US).
After last month's earnings report, analysts said Nokia, which had led the industry, had fallen behind recent trends in the mobile market, often set in Asia, like clamshell models.
Also, the company was deemed unable to provide a sufficient range of affordable models, including popular camera phones.
Nokia reported a 15 per cent drop in mobile phone sales during the first quarter, to 4.3 billion euros ($5.2 billion), down from five billion euros a year ago.
Even investors in the United States filed a lawsuit against the company last month accusing it of making "material misrepresentations" about its financial outlook for the first quarter.
Nokia, whose mobile phone sales account for 80 per cent of total revenue, has focused increasingly on the handset market. Last month, it unveiled a new, stripped-down version of N-Gage gaming deck series after the first version was seen as too cumbersome and expensive.
Nokia is still is the handset market leader but earlier this month analysts estimated it had lost as much as 5 per cent market share and now leads with 29 per cent, followed by Motorola with 16 per cent and Samsung with 13 per cent.
Nokia said it is still targeting a 40 per cent market share in mobile phones, and plans to launch 40 new products this year, patching up gaps in its selection of phones. The confident outlook comes despite recent announcements of Samsung increasing its global market share from 10 to 14 per cent.
Based in Espoo, just outside the Finnish capital, Nokia has sales in 130 countries with 53,000 employees.
© The Canadian Press, 2004
http://www3.cjad.com/content/cjad_news/article.asp?id=b05219A
Hutchison unveils 3G growth
Date: 21 May 2004
Hutchison Whampoa has signed up 1.73m 3G users, ahead of market forecasts for the company, but its UK arm still looks well short of its original subscriber ambitions.
The Hong Kong-based telco said at its AGM yesterday that it had seen subscriber growth across all seven markets of 700,000 in the past two months. A break down of UK figures was not available, but a company spokesperson said the UK market accounted for approximately a third of its 3G operations, suggesting a subscriber base in the region of 600,000, a long way short of the one million customers by the end of 2003, set by 3 when it launched in the UK last Spring.
However, Hutchison said its overall 3G operations - it also has services in Hong Kong, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Australia - were on track to break even on an EBITDA basis in 2005, while its UK average revenue per user (ARPU) was £44 per month. Significantly, it added that it did not need to raise more 3G funds,
The group said the figures were helped by aggressive promotions and an increase in available handset models. "3G's difficult period is over," Managing director Canning Fok told reporters at the AGM.
May 18 2004: Second movers have advantage, says 3G report
April 19 2004: 3 backs 'do or die' push with first Nokia handset
www.hutchison-whampoa.com
http://www.e-consultancy.com/newsfeatures/155864/hutchison-unveils-3g-growth.html
Swisscom picks Tellabs equipment for 3G capacity
21/05/2004 by Leigh Phillips
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Swiss mobile operator Swisscom Mobile has chosen the Tellabs 6300 managed transport system to build an integrated access network architecture with high capacity for 2G and 3G traffic.
Tellabs equipment has been part of the Swiss operator's network since 1996, and under the new agreement between Tellabs' Swiss partner Miracom and Swisscom Mobile, the operator has purchased the Tellabs 6350 switch node and its 6320 edge node from the 6300 series. Both products integrate with the operator’s existing Tellabs 8100 managed access system, enabling the operator to continue to manage the network under a single network management system. The 8100 network manager provides centralised end-to-end integrated network management of both the 6300 and 8100 product families.
Swisscom Mobile now has the ability to implement new Ethernet over Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) connectivity across its networks.
Source(s): press release
http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=1856
Nortel and Orange turns on 3G for Cannes Film Festival
May 21, 2004
Nortel Networks and Orange have launched a pre-commercial UMTS network and are debuting Orange's new 3G service offerings at the 2004 Cannes International Film Festival.
Consumer 3G services for mobile entertainment, including video telephony, video streaming and video mail featuring local content and television broadcasts are being showcased during the film festival. Services for interactive gaming, and a suite of business applications are also being launched. These new service offerings are planned for mass consumer availability later this year.
Nortel Networks is the exclusive supplier of Orange's UMTS radio access equipment covering Cannes, and provided specialized network engineering, installation, radio optimization, and network support services to maximize 3G coverage for the area.
Nortel Networks has also been selected as the sole supplier of Orange's UMTS radio equipment to cover the entire Cóte d'Azur region and southern France, including Cannes, Nice, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Toulon, Grenoble and St. Etienne.
Nortel Networks and Orange initially deployed the Cannes network in a brief, five month period (October 2003 - February 2004) to demonstrate live 3G networking capabilities to the global telecommunications industry earlier this year at the 3GSM World Congress held February 23-26.
http://www.3gnewsroom.com/3g_news/may_04/news_4520.shtml
Qualcomm's Cup Runneth
Ben Berentson, 05.20.04, 12:36 PM ET
NEW YORK - The market is oversold "at levels we haven't seen since the deepest, most depressing part of the last bear market," according to Dan Zanger, the editor of the Zanger Report technical analysis service.
Click here to profit from our free Monday morning e-mail dispatch, Forbes Newsletters' Stock of the Week
Zanger is looking for seasonal forces and these technical factors to drive the market up in June and July: "After a big May fall, June is often a very strong month and stocks tend to rally into earnings season." So which stock does Zanger thing is best-positioned to take advantage of this bounce? He likes Qualcomm (nasdaq: QCOM - news - people ), which owns the CDMA wireless technology used by cellular phone companies like Verizon (nyse: VZ - news - people ) and Sprint (nyse: FON - news - people ). Over the past 12 months, QCOM earned $1.3 billion on revenues of $4.3 billion. The stock has been locked in a solid uptrend for the past year and has more than doubled in that time. It currently trades for around $64.50 a share.
Special offer: Profit from the growing wireless sector with Forbes Wireless Stock Watch. Its picks were up 113.7% over the last 12 months, according to Hulbert Interactive. That's due to timely buys like Sprint PCS and Proxim. Click here to download the current recommendations.
Zanger thinks this is the perfect time to buy Qualcomm. He says it is in the process of making a cup and handle pattern, and investors have a chance to buy in at the bottom of the cup. "Qualcomm hasn't broken down like the rest of the markets--it's stayed strong and shown good relative strength," Zanger adds. He thinks investors should buy if QCOM breaks above $66 on heavy volume--as a sign that it is heading towards completing the cup. The successful completing of the right side of the cup could take the stock to $69 in the short-term, but a successful breakout off of the handle would push the stock to $80 within a few months.
http://www.forbes.com/investmentnewsletters/2004/05/20/cz_bb_0520chartroom.html?partner=yahoo&re...
Broadband Policy Show Moves to House
By Roy Mark
WASHINGTON -- After several weeks of complex, policy wonk discussions of telecom reform in the U.S. Senate, it was show-and-tell day for broadband technology vendors Wednesday in the House of Representatives.
Sprint (Quote, Chart) provided members of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet with cell phone Internet connections driven by high-speed wireless modems while Current Communications showed off its powerline modems. Verizon (Quote, Chart) previewed its rollout of fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) services and Qualcomm (Quote, Chart) walked lawmakers through its wireless broadband services.
The technology show was the first in a series of hearings planned by Subcommittee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) to consider the possibility of a major overhaul of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
"I . . . have made no secret of my belief that the legacy stovepipe regulation perpetuated by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 needs to be revisited given the evolution in technology and the marketplace that was virtually unforeseen at the time of the Act's creation," Upton said.
He added that the hearing was designed to focus solely on the technology that is blurring the traditional lines between voice, video and data services. Subsequent hearings will tackle suggestions for regulating the converged market.
Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.) pointed out that although the history of U.S. telecommunications law is based on scarcity of communications services controlled by dominant carriers, the proliferation of digital communications packages now being offered by telecoms, cable companies, wireless enterprises, satellite firms and other emerging technologies dramatically changes the regulatory landscape.
"As we look at all the products to be demonstrated today -- all of them enabled by the Internet and driven by advances in the software and hardware markets -- it is useful to remember these largely unregulated markets have a history of innovation that the highly regulated telephone market can't match," Cox said.
One of those dominant carriers, Verizon, told the panel it was "taking wireless into the broadband age" with a $1 billion commitment over the next two years. Adriana Rizzo, Verizon's executive director of services, said the company's 3G technology, known as EV-DO (Evolution, Data Optimized), "works a little like WiFi, but better. You don't have to be within a few hundred feet of hotspot. You can use it on a train or in a cab."
Rizzo said the service is already operating in Washington, D.C. and San Diego and by the end of the year, the service should be available to one-third of the Verizon Wireless network.
She also touted the Wednesday debut of an FTTP network in the Dallas suburb of Keller. A direct fiber to the home connection involves the use of glass, fiber-optic cable and associated electronics to replace traditional copper lines.
"Once deployed, the slowest broadband connection we'll offer customers will be three times as fast as broadband speeds commonly available today," she said, adding that Verizon plans to reach one million homes with the service by the end of the year and "potentially double the rate in 2005."
Verizon's EV-DO is technology developed by Qualcomm. Jonas Neihardt, vice president for Qualcomm's Federal Government Affairs, said the EV-DO is a 3G evolution for CDMA operators and delivers data rates up to 2.4 Mbps but more typically clocks in at 300-600 Kbps. The technology allows for "always on" use and can be utilized in fixed, portable or fully mobile modes.
Sprint impressed the lawmakers with handsets that allow for live television, streaming music and video and lived Major League Baseball audio broadcasts. The Sprint television service currently offers 18 channels including ABC News, MSNBC, CNBC, Fox Sports and the Discovery Channel. Sprint prices the package at $9.99 a month and also offers an unlimited data plan. The baseball package also costs $9.99 a month.
"The technology we're seeing today has one thing in common: Internet protocol is the underlying system running all of it," Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) said. "By offering voice and data to consumers using Internet protocol we're seeing what I would call advanced Internet communications system service. Instead of a killer app, we have a killer service."
Stearns said any examination of telecom reform should focus on the "division of services, not each individual application," alluding to the current debate in Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about possible regulation of Internet telephone service based on Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
"With all the options for the consumers today and all the competing platforms that offer video and voice and everything else that can be converted into digital data, we might wonder if our laws can possibly keep up," Cox said. "There's much talk in Washington right now of Congress gearing up for a rewrite of America's communications laws, but possibly from what we've learned today, retirement [of the Telecom Act] is a better option."
http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/3356331
CDMA gains toe-hold in European market
19 May 2004 -- PMN -- Romanian operator Zapp has become the first commercial CDMA network in Europe, using CDMA2000 in the 450 Mhz band. Zapp will offer voice and a range of data services based on Qualcomm's BREW platform.
It has launched with just one handset, an operator branded device with a colour screen referred to as the Zapp Series Z710i.
Zapp is controlled by Inquam Limited, a holding company which counts Qualcomm as one of its largest shareholders.
"Qualcomm is pleased to work with Zapp in bringing BREW-based services to Romania," said Johan Lodenius, senior vice president of European business relations and operations, Qualcomm Internet Services. "This launch demonstrates Zapp's commitment to delivering its subscribers options beyond traditional voice features by introducing a diverse suite of compelling, feature-rich data service offerings."
"Zapp is proud to be the first CDMA450 operator to introduce BREW-based services to the market," said Cuneyt Turktan, president of the board of directors, Zapp. "Zapp subscribers will now benefit from an enhanced user experience that allows them to choose from a wide array of communication, customization, information and entertainment options. Zapp Me enables us to provide our clients with the necessary instruments to help them become more efficient and better informed. Qualcomm's BREW solution positions Zapp as a technological leader and a cutting-edge mobile service provider."
Qualcomm's CDMA technology has been effectively shut-out from the European market since the introduction of GSM, but the company is now working to build support for its CDMA450 solution. It is also promoting BREW, its application distribution and execution environment, as a seperate solution capable of deployment over GSM, EDGE or UMTS networks.
Qualcomm is also enjoying success with its W-CDMA chipsets, which it claims are now the market leaders for 3G devices.
http://www.pmn.co.uk/20040519qualcomm.shtml