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Source: Telegeography

 According to the Financial Times, SingTel is close to securing a 30% stake in Pakistani cellco Warid Telecom, in a deal that would value the country’s third-largest mobile operator at USD1 billion. Citing unidentified people familiar with the situation, the FT said SingTel had emerged as a strong favourite to buy the stake, ahead of MTN and Vodafone. ‘A deal between SingTel and Warid could be signed as early as next month,’ the newspaper quoted one of its sources as saying.

Warid is owned by the private Abu Dhabi Group, which is one of the largest foreign investor groups in Pakistan and owns Bank Alfalah and Wateen Telecom. Warid owns wireless and broadband operations in Bangladesh and Uganda.

Source: Telegeography

Orascom Telecom Holdings has confirmed it has purchased an 11.3% indirect stake in its Pakistani GSM operation, Pakistan Telecommunications Company (Mobilink), for USD290 million from Saif Telecom. The company said it now owns 100% of the cellco, through direct stakes held by its wholly owned subsidiaries. Orascom said it will fund the acquisition with proceeds from the USD750 million senior notes issuance that closed in February.

At the end of April 2007 Mobilink claimed 25.21 million subscribers from a total 58.39 million wireless users across the country, according to figures compiled by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

If you enjoy reading local technology blogs like this one (or this, or this, or this, or this, or this) and enjoy contributing information and commentary on the same, we are building up a mailing group and we are calling it Pakistan Telecom Grid. The group membership is open to all and other blog authors (like Babar, Tariq and Sajjad and anyone else who care to join) will be upgraded as managers so that we’ve a collective stewardship of the collection.

About the group: An informal grid of Telecommunication and Network Services professionals and insiders of Pakistan. Inspired from the fact that the collective authors and respective audience of the relatively few technology blogs that relate to Pakistan can be team up as a virtual pool of guys with an interested in communications technologies. This assembly can be used to enhance social interaction between the members, get-together events, private discussions, rumor sharing and rumor milling   etc.

Join in now.

Friday, 1 June 2007

Ericsson has inked a contract with China Mobile Pakistan (CMPak) to expand the cellco’s GSM network through the southern part of the country. Under the terms of the project – which is due to commence this year – the vendor will provide a complete GSM network to extend coverage to 312 cities in the densely populated Sindh and Balochistan regions. Financial details of the project are unknown.

 Source: Telegeography

According to industry sources, Pakistan’s third largest cellco by subscribers, Warid Telecom, is in talks with several foreign firms, including SingTel, to sell a minority stake. ‘Warid has been approached by several international telecom companies over the last six or eight months, including those from the Far East, the Middle East and Europe,’ said a source close to the company, before adding, ‘But no final decision has been taken as yet. The picture will become clear by July or August.’ The operator is currently owned by the Abu Dhabi Group of the United Arab Emirates.

Source : Telegeography

JUNOS Enterprise Routing Certification Fast Track Program

JUNOS
Enterprise Routing Certification Fast Track Web PortalThe JUNOS Enterprise Routing Certification Fast Track Web Portal contains all the Juniper Networks Education Services courseware, lab guides and diagrams, technical manuals, and the tools the CCP needs to become Juniper Networks JUNOS-certified. Specifically, they have access to the following materials:

    • JUNOS as a Second Language (JSL) eLearning course
    • Operating Juniper Networks Routers in the Enterprise (OJRE) student and lab guides
    • Advanced Juniper Networks Routing in the Enterprise (AJRE) student and lab guides
    • Hardware and software technical documentation
    • Basic installation eLearning courses
    • JNCIA-ER preassessment online exam

The JUNOS
Enterprise Routing Certification Fast Track Program Process

• Step 1: Juniper Networks or J-Partner CAM/SE gives a known CCP a JUNOS Enterprise Routing Certification Fast Track Web Portal Access Card (either a physical card or an e-mail version). The access card contains the Web address for the JUNOS Enterprise Routing Certification Fast Track Web Portal. • Step 2: The CCP accesses the JUNOS Enterprise Routing Certification Fast Track Web Portal authorization page.• Step 3: The CCP completes the registration page and advances to the curriculum page to complete the following activities:
     • Take the JSL eLearning Course.
     • Study the OJRE course material and the JNCIA-ER exam objectives.
     • Review the hardware and software technical documentation and the eLearning installation courses as needed. • Step 4: The CCP completes the Juniper Networks Certified Internet Associate-Enterprise Routing (JNCIA-ER) online preassessment exam. Once he/she passes the preassessment exam, he/she will receive a voucher to take the practical exam at any Prometric
Testing
Center worldwide – at not cost to them.• Step 5: After successfully completing the JNCIA-ER exam, the CCP will receive another voucher to take the Juniper Networks Certified Internet Specialist-Enterprise Routing (JNCIS-ER) exam at anyPrometric
Testing
Center worldwide-again at no cost to them! Formore information about the Prometric Testing Centers, please go to http://www.prometric.com

Source: http://www.cellular-news.com/story/23725.php

The worldwide 3G subscribers base will grow at a CAGR of 55.93% for the period spanning from 2006 to 2010, where major share is contributed by Asia-Pacific regions, according to the latest research from RNCOS.

Among its key findings include:

• CDMA2000 and WCDMA market is forecasted to account for 41% of the total worldwide wireless market by 2010.
• WLAN industry is set for wider acceptance across all industry segments. Particularly, the high growth will come from WLAN home applications.
• The standard 802.11n, anticipated to be formulated by 2007, will create exceptional uptake of technology as it has improved speed and security features.
• China presents the major opportunity area, where WLAN customers will increase as prices of WLAN equipment are seeing downward trend.
• The Indian hotspot market is on the cusp of a period of sustained growth. There are clear opportunities for full-fledged billing, PIN/security administration for hotspot users, and roaming solutions. Also, a more appropriate model around the hotspot (something similar to the Indian STD/ISD PCO or long-distance public calling office) needs to be developed making it a more attractive proposition to run a franchise or manage one.
• Consumer Electronics and Mobile phones, IT Security market will present new growth opportunities for WLAN industry.

Intel will add WiMAX to notebooks in 2008, the chip giant told delegates at the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing. WiMAX Vision spoke to Intel’s Christian Stavig, manager, WiMAX programme office, about his company’s WiMAX roadmap.

Source: http://www.wimax-vision.com/newt/l/wimaxvision/viewarticle.html?artid=20017419207

In a technology demonstration at the Developer Forum, David Perlmutter, Intel Senior Vice President and General Manager, Mobility Group, showcased for the first time Intel’s mobile WiMAX with MIMO solution integrated into a concept Centrino-based notebook.

An evolution of its Santa Rosa processor, Intel’s “Montevina” processor will be available in the latter half of 2008. It will contain 40 per cent smaller components making it “ideal for mini- and sub-notebooks,” Intel said in a statement. 

Intel will also offer an integrated Wi-Fi/WiMAX solution “as an option” for notebook manufacturers and other OEMs using Montevina silicon.

That first Wi-Fi/WiMAX silicon combination, which will likely embed 802.16e and 802.11b/g/n in notebooks, will be called Echo Peak.

Meanwhile, in 2007, Intel will supply OEMs with a standalone WiMAX processor called Dana Point, which will be housed in an external data card.

Dana Point will predominantly be used in trials at the end of this year and into next year.

Intel is still discussing with its OEM and service provider partners what the best channels to market are for WiMAX, how the WiMAX ‘option’ will be exercised by manufacturers, service providers and consumers themselves, and what the combination of hardware and software will be. 

“There are two distribution models [for WiMAX], one is the Wi-Fi model where you ship it as embedded, the other is a 3G model where it is built to order. In the WiMAX market over time the solution is more like the existing Wi-Fi distribution,” says Stavig.

Intel has slipped behind its original timetable for introducing WiMAX into notebooks in 2006 and handheld devices in 2007.

Independent analyst group Signals Research cites concerns among PC manufacturers.

“The general consensus is that there is a ‘wait and see’ attitude in place among all of the leading PC manufacturers,” Signals Research suggests. “Bottom line, in the words of one major PC supplier, ‘our concern that there may not be enough [WiMAX] infrastructure in place to drive the cost down on the devices to a level that is competitive with other technologies.’”

But there is now a sense that sufficient momentum is building behind WiMAX infrastructure rollouts to justify an acceleration of Intel’s WiMAX plans.

Stavig cites the commitments Sprint Nextel and Clearwire have made to build out infrastructure in the US and says that, globally, Intel anticipates multiple operators deploying WiMAX. 

“There needs to be deployments to justify embedding and hopefully there will be a bunch of announcements this year and next and they will provide proof points to help support the embedded distribution model. I would say the market in general is accelerating.”

Stavig won’t put a figure on Intel’s expectations for WiMAX penetration in notebooks but the chipmaker clearly envisages WiMAX evolving towards the almost ubiquitous presence of Wi-Fi in notebooks. 

He argues that for notebook manufacturers the incremental costs of adding embedded WiMAX will be reasonable as there are “substantial commonalities and reuse” between Wi-Fi and WiMAX in the PHY, MAC and RF subsystem layers because the underlying OFDM-based chips operate in a similar fashion.

Sprint Nextel, for example, will operate WiMAX in 2.5GHz spectrum and with Wi-Fi operating at 2.4GHz there are “options for substantial RF reuse” according to Stavig.  

He concludes: “We think the cost difference between standalone WiMAX and Wi-Fi/WiMAX will be reasonable. We expect the gap to be smaller than other WAN solutions, than 3G.”

“WiMAX chipset prices could reach $15 with sufficient volumes in 2010 or even as low as $5 at another point in time assuming integration with Wi-Fi and meaningful volumes,” suggests Signals Research. “Our estimate is that consumers will pay at least $75 when an embedded WiMAX solution is first available.”

There are challenges associated with combining WiMAX and Wi-Fi in the same silicon, acknowledges Stavig, such as “noise issues” between the two technologies, and Intel will have to work with notebook manufacturers and other OEMs to create appropriate antenna designs. 

In Beijing, Intel senior fellow and director of its Communications Technology Lab, Kevin Kahn suggested the solution lies in creating parallel modules for each radio standard, using the radios “so that they are never physically doing operations at the same time.”

Also in Beijing, Intel executives confirmed that the company would not integrate 3G into its silicon, but what about further down the line, will Intel support LTE?

“We cancelled our internal 3G project due to insufficient ROI,” says Stavig. “While we no longer have an internal HSDPA solution that doesn’t make any statement on future 3GPP and 3GPP2 solutions.”

Stavig is also reticent about Intel’s specific plans for WiMAX in handheld devices, but confirms that the company is still exploring ways to get WiMAX into mobile equipment and notes that among vendors there is “strong demand for WiMAX across mobile platforms.”

The increased take-up of portable and mobile WiMAX services will mean that, starting in 2009, growth in revenues from non-fixed WiMAX services will outstrip growth in revenues from fixed WiMAX services, according to a new report from Informa Telecoms & Media.

The report-’WiMAX Broadband Convergence: Emerging Fixed, Portable & Mobile Revenue Opportunities’-also says that non-fixed-service revenues will account for almost 80% of total WiMAX service revenues by 2012.

As the first portable WiMAX devices arrive, in the form of PC cards and notebook computers, portable revenues will start to increase strongly and will provide almost half of total revenues by 2012, the report says.

Mobile devices will follow, according to the report, with revenues from mobile users growing even faster, albeit from a small base, to reach 30% of total revenues by 2012, showing the value that will be placed on the ease of use and flexibility provided by a variety of device form factors.

The largest element of WiMAX revenues worldwide will be access charges, growing to US$17 billion in 2012, Informa’s report says. Value-added services for both the consumer and business sectors are forecast to grow significantly faster, reaching about 30% of total revenues in 2012, while advertising is expected to start later but show the fastest growth of the three revenue streams, reaching just under 13% of the total by the end of the forecast period.

WiMAX revenues by service type, 2007-2012 (US$bn)

Source: Informa Telecoms&Media “The assumption is that WiMAX operators will continue to charge flat-rate fees, similar to wired broadband fees, albeit with usage limits,” says Mike Roberts, a principal analyst at Informa. “This is in contrast to the per-megabyte fees charged by some mobile operators.”

Value-added-revenue streams will be derived from services aimed at both the consumer and the business sector, such as VoIP; e-mail; entertainment (including music, games, interactive TV/VOD and radio); information (including Internet searching, news and podcasting); and mobile-office/mobile-work-force products (VPN, intranet access, e-mail and scheduling applications).

In the WiMAX arena, services aimed at the consumer are likely to still be the main sector by 2012, driven by new forms of enhanced e-mail, combined with multimedia services, such as IPTV and audio/video clips, and the integration of web-enabled services with “rich voice” applications.

Take-up in the business sector is likely to increase with the merging of fixed and mobile functions (as seen in the BT Fusion FMC service), incorporating features such as single-number calling, intelligent conferencing and location-sensitive applications.

The forecasts assume that there will be a significant degree of convergence between fixed, wireless and mobile broadband services, meaning that a single subscription will often provide access to broadband via a range of networks, including fixed, wireless and mobile.

Business models are expected to be primarily based on subscriptions covering a basic access charge plus additional charges for selected value-added services. Prepaid charging is also assumed to increase alongside subscription-based models.

Advertising-funded business models will begin to be a feature of the market by 2012, the report says.

User-generated content will lead to viral marketing and widespread uploading/sharing of content, and VoIP will become a significant traffic generator (bundled into information/entertainment and business services), the report says.

Consumer e-mail will move into the mass market – using a push e-mail model similar to the BlackBerry, but not requiring special device or connectivity – and the business sector will begin to adopt advanced IP services, according to the report.

North America is forecast to be the largest regional market in terms of service revenues by 2012, largely because of the announced plans of major operators, such as Sprint Nextel and Clearwire. Next is Asia Pacific, where KT and SK Telecom have already deployed and where major operators, such as Japan’s KDDI, are waiting in the wings.

The report says that WiMAX will initially provide basic broadband access in emerging markets (the developing Asia Pacific countries, Latin America, Africa/Middle East) but will also evolve to support advanced converged services in these markets, though often later than in developed markets.

Given that the first certified WiMAX equipment only hit the market in early 2008, it is understandable that services based on WiMAX are still niche in most regions, the Informa report says.

The forecast figures cover both pre-WiMAX and WiMAX services, partly because these markets are closely related, and partly because there will be migration from pre-WiMAX to WiMAX. Even so, pre-WiMAX equipment is widespread and is forecast to remain in use beyond 2012.

For more information about the ‘WiMAX Broadband Convergence: Emerging Fixed, Portable & Mobile Revenue Opportunities’ report, contact jayshree.badhan@informa.com

New research from TeleGeography’s Wireless Operator Metrics Research Service reveals that monthly revenue per subscriber (ARPU) is declining globally, but the gap between operators with the world’s highest and lowest monthly ARPU remains huge. From a data set of more than 130 mobile operators, between September 2005 and September 2006 ARPU fell by an average of 6.4%.

Not surprisingly, providers with higher ARPU tended to be in countries with relatively high incomes—predominately in Western Europe and the U.S. Surprisingly, tiny BTCI, Turkmenistan’s dominant mobile operator, topped the rankings, with ARPU of USD83, far ahead of any other operators. At the opposite extreme lies Bangladesh’s Banglalink, which generated monthly revenues of only USD3.3 per subscriber.

In saturated markets lower voice tariffs and declining minutes of use contribute to the decline in ARPUs, whereas in fast-growing emerging markets the addition of incrementally less wealthy users to the subscriber base is the main cause behind the fall. TeleGeography analyst Mark Gibson commented, “a trait shared by most high ARPU companies is a low percentage of pre-paid users and high 3G subscriber growth. Growing data revenues are helping these providers to offset declining voice revenue.”

The gap between high and low ARPU providers shows no sign of narrowing: in fact, the five carriers with the lowest revenue per subscriber experienced far more rapid declines in ARPU than the five carriers at the top of the ranking. However, falling ARPU were offset by dramatic subscriber growth: the five low-ARPU carriers increased their total revenues by 175 percent.

This data derives from two sources:

The GlobalComms Database, TeleGeography’s continuously updated online encyclopedia of broadband, wireline, and wireless telecommunications competition, subscribers, and revenue for 150+ countries and 920+ companies. More information and trial subscription information can be found at:
http://www.telegeography.com/products/global_comms/

TeleGeography’s Wireless Operator Metrics Research Service, which tracks current and historical performance indicators for mobile operators in over 85 countries, serving more than 80 percent of the world’s mobile subscribers. More information can be obtained at:
http://www.telegeography.com/products/wom/

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 1st, 2007 at 6:00 am and is filed under TeleGeography Update.

Clearwire Corporation has received final approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the first WiMAX laptop card. The card will connect to the Clearwire network and is on target to be available during the second half of 2007. Clearwire Chairman and CEO Perry Satterlee said ‘The FCC’s approval of our laptop card is a significant milestone in bringing to market a ‘true broadband’ wireless service with a device that facilitates even greater portability than our existing modem permits.’

Clearwire offers service in 37 metro markets, covering approximately 8.9 million people in more than 350 municipalities in Alaska, California, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin in the United States, as well as 1.2 million people in Ireland, Belgium and Denmark (under the Clearwire name through Danske Telecom).

Source: Telegeography