Latest Blogs
Analysis of European telco priorities reveals surprising results
We recently conducted an exercise looking very closely at the major strategic initiatives that have been implemented by the European telco community. It was a fascinating exercise that revealed a perhaps surprising level of consensus amongst all major European telcos. Whilst the tactics in reaching the goals may vary, our analysis showed the long-term strategic priorities are shared and fall into four very clear and focused aims. Read more »
JIL’s slow progress doesn’t bode well for WAC
The Wholesale Applications Community is keeping up with the timeline it announced back in May and was registered as a limited company in the UK on July 1, as well as appointed a board of directors featuring an impressive array of top executives from leading carriers from different corners of the world. It has also fleshed out plans for its merger with JIL – a similar initiative launched in April 2008 by a select clique of operators; namely China Mobile, Softbank Mobile, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone. JIL will be fully subsumed into WAC by the end of September, Michael O’Hara, chief marketing officer at the operator association the GSMA, told journalists and analysts during a webinar this week. Read more »
LTE looms on the horizon, but GSM still has a long shelf life, says Thomas Wehmeier
I recently chaired the keynote session at our flagship LTE World Summit in Amsterdam. The event was packed with a who’s who of the LTE sector – more than 600 attendees from all around the world and all parts of the LTE ecosystem. Perhaps not an obvious occasion upon which to switch discussion toward the useful life of 2G. But with Seizo Onoe of NTT DoCoMo confidently outlining the Japanese operator’s aggressive plans to switch off its 2G network within two years and many other operators wondering how long they’ll have to operate multiple costly radio access networks (GSM, UMTS, LTE), the discussion was entirely valid. Would other operators join DoCoMo in moving away from their 2G networks so early? We’re not yet convinced and believe the Japanese situation is a very market-specific issue based both on the choice of a proprietary and niche technology (PDC) for 2G and on an unusually high level of 3G coverage and user migration in that market. Read more »
Ofcom’s broadband speed report: interesting, but what’s it for?
I have just read the press release and the correpsonding BBC article on Ofcom’s broadband speed report, published today. The research itself is worthy and interesting, but:
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Reliance’s move for Digicable must be a first step not a final move
Reliance Communications’ purchase of a majority stake in leading cable operator Digicable has again proved that the Anil Ambani led company is capable of pulling a headline-grabbing deal out of the bag, but what does the acquisition really mean for the company’s ambitions in the Indian broadband market? Read more »
China Mobile rallies operator support for TDD-LTE
China Mobile, the world’s largest operator by subscriptions, has reached an agreement with 11 operators worldwide to co-operate on TDD-LTE. The move underlines China Mobile’s intent to create a sizeable global market for TDD-LTE, a technology the operator is heavily invested in. Read more »
Disney acquires Tapulous to further drive its strong customer engagement on mobile
Disney has acquired Tapulous, a Silicon Valley start-up that makes music games for Apple’s App Store. The acquisition is aimed at strengthening Disney’s mobile games division, which is already seeing strong growth driven by the mobile apps market explosion.
A CDMA iPhone would be great for Verizon, but does it make sense for Apple?
If Apple decided to make a CDMA iPhone, the whoops of jubilation would be heard all the way from Verizon Wireless’headquarters in Basking Ridge, NJ, to AT&T’s HQ in Dallas, TX, where the news would no doubt be greeted with stunned silence. Latest reports cite unnamed sources as confirming that Verizon Wireless will offer the iPhone in January, when they say AT&T’s exclusive deal with Apple ends.
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SIM-based services are driving mobile VAS market growth in Latin America
A number of Latin American operators are reporting good results from deployments of SIM-based mobile VAS. For example, Telecom Personal is seeing a high level of adoption of its SIM-based mobile VAS in Argentina. Telecom Personal and Oi in Brazil are offering the Windows Live IM service on mobile SIM cards.
Gemalto buys into M2M future
French mobile vendor Gemalto has acquired German M2M vendor Cinterion for €163 million (US$198.8 million) in cash in a bid to position itself to capitalise on the fast-growing M2M market. Read more »
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