Mobile Operator
Highlights from Day 3 of the MWC in Barcelona
RIM champions BlackBerry traffic efficiencies
In Asia-Pacific markets, operators are putting pressure on Apple to address some of the signalling issues made increasingly worse by continued growth of smartphone adoption, in order to reduce the iPhone’s impact on the network. We’re hearing from the operators we speak to that the device is proving more inefficient in the way it handles signalling versus other competing devices. Somewhat controversially citing BlackBerry devices as a solution to the capacity crunch, RIM CEO stated that ‘you could carry five BlackBerry devices for each iPhone on the network’. Whether true or not, this bears no relevance to consumer purchasing decisions – whether it convinces operators to push the BlackBerry more aggressively is unclear.
Indian and Chinese investors are making their play for Africa
As the great and good of the mobile industry browsed the exhibits at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona this week, they may have overlooked a couple of watershed moments in emerging-market telecoms. Read more »
Highlights from Day 2 of the MWC in Barcelona
Voice takes centre stage
It’s the end of day two here in Barcelona and despite the wind, rain and the long queues at the entrance gates (not to mention the food halls), it’s been another overwhelmingly positive day. The hustle and bustle in and around the stands here at MWC is obvious and there’s clearly an upbeat mood generally, a marked contrast to last year’s event.
Perhaps one reason for the general positive feeling is that operators have remembered just how big this business is. There’s a lot of talk about the importance of data and whilst it will, of course, be the main revenue driver in the future, it’s worth taking stock of just how much the mobile industry has grown. Informa’s latest forecasts suggest that more than US$700 billion will be generated in operator service revenues from voice in 2010 alone.
Read more »
Highlights from Day 1 of the MWC in Barcelona
An agreement between 15 of the world’s largest mobile operators to combat the dominance of Apple in mobile applications dominated proceedings on Day 1 of the Mobile World Congress here in Barcelona.
Other highlights in Barcelona today included Microsoft’s latest attempt to build an attractive, user-friendly operating system for mobile phones and Ericsson’s entree into the already-crowded mobile applications space. Read more »
Virtual Goods turn into Real Revenues for Mobile Social Networks
You know that funny little picture of a sword in the hand of your avatar? Or the animated graphic of a glass of champagne which you received on New Year’s from a friend? What about the kitten which is purring and acting cute next to your girl friend’s name in the new mobile phone book? Have you considered sending out a big bouquet of virtual roses for Valentine’s Day? Read more »
Middle East operators are seeking economies of scale
As the Middle East’s mobile markets mature, and with the impact of the recession still raw, many of the region’s operators are becoming more cost-conscious. Read more »
African operators are focusing on data services
At Informa Telecoms & Media’s Africacom conference in Cape Town earlier this month, it was apparent that major operators across the continent are looking more to data and other value-added services to stimulate future expansion, as the strong growth in mobile subscription count seen in the past few years begins to slow. Read more »
Confusion reigns over M&A in the Middle East and Africa
Progress on the region’s big M&A deals – the prospective sale of Zain Africa or a stake in Zain; and the cash and share-swap deal between Bharti and MTN – appears to have stalled. Read more »
Countries demonstrating vastly different approaches to competition
Three countries in the Caribbean and Central America are taking divergent paths as they nationalize, liberalize or privatize their mobile industries, providing a fascinating microcosm for future study regarding which economic approaches will prove the most fruitful for investors and governments and deliver the best value to customers.
Belize’s government hopes that taking over incumbent operator Belize Telemedia (BTL) will ultimately mean that the company has more money to devote to its networks and enable it to provide better service. Costa Rica’s aim is similar, in that it hopes to bring in licensees to invest money and time in its newly liberalized telecoms market. And the Bahamas is convinced that privatizing its incumbent operator will attract fresh funding and pioneering business tactics that will benefit customers. Read more »
Download the Executive Summary from our Mobile Enterprise report
Total mobile enterprise revenues are forecast to reach approximately $92.6bn by 2014 with over 479 million mobile enterprise subscribers. This has been an area that cellular operators have long coveted but have historically failed to generate substantial revenues from. Now more than ever, vendors, operators and content providers must develop strategies to maximise new revenue streams while reducing costs. Read more »
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