Global handset shipments fall 8pc in Q2-09, but showing signs of recovery

BOSTON, USA: According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global mobile handset shipments fell 8 percent year-over-year, to reach 273 million units in Q2 2009. The rate of decline was slower than the previous quarter, as the market showed tentative signs of stabilization.

Bonny Joy, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics said: "Global mobile handset shipments fell to 273 million units during Q2 2009, down 8 percent from 297 million units in Q2 2008. The eight-percent shrinkage was a noticeable improvement on the huge declines recorded of minus 14 percent in Q1 2009 and minus 11 percent during Q4 2008."

Neil Mawston, Director at Strategy Analytics, added: "We believe the relative upturn in the global handset market has been driven by improved consumer confidence in some regions, such as China, and by partial restocking of some retailers’ depleted supplies.

"Growth is certainly still available for those handset makers with compelling products and strong brands. For example, Samsung grew worldwide shipments a healthy 14% during the quarter, as consumers and carriers showed high interest in their touchphone models, such as Star and Jet."

Other findings from Strategy Analytics’ Q2 2009 Global Handset Market Share Update report include:

* LG Electronics shipped 29.8 million handsets worldwide during Q2 2009, for a record marketshare of 11 percent. An attractive portfolio of touchscreen QWERTY phones and increased distribution channels have been among the drivers of its success;

* Motorola shipped a better-than-expected 14.8 million handsets worldwide in Q2 2009, for 5 Global handset shipments fall 8pc in Q2-09, but showing signs of recovery marketshare.

The operating margin for its handset division improved sequentially and an aggressive cost-cutting program is benefiting the company;

* Apple shipped a better-than-expected 5.2 million iPhones worldwide in Q2 2009, for 1.9 percent marketshare. Apple launched its new 3GS model during the quarter and we believe Apple is developing a rolling pattern of one-year upgrade-cycles for its flagship iPhone family in an attempt to drive higher replacement rates among consumers.Source: Strategy Analytics

First draft for IEEE P1901 broadband over power lines created

PISCATAWAY, USA: The IEEE P1901 Working Group has agreed to circulate for approval the first draft for IEEE's first PHY/MAC standard related to Broadband Over Power Lines (BPL), IEEE Std 1901™, "Draft Standard for Broadband over Power Line Networks: Medium Access Control and Physical Layer Specifications."

At the recent meeting in Tokyo, Japan, the Working Group has agreed with more than 82 percent majority vote to convert the working specifications into the first IEEE P1901 BPL draft standard and to conduct a vote on whether the Draft is ready to go to Sponsor Ballot. Votes and comments are due by September 14.

"This is a major milestone," says Jean-Philippe Faure, chair of the IEEE P1901 Working Group. "Main development is completed and finalization now starts through successive rounds of circulations for vote and comment."

The draft is based on field proven technologies using FTT and Wavelet OFDM modulation schemes. It provides high performance and robust communications with privacy and high quality of service.

"This is a comprehensive specification that addresses all BPL applications including LANs, Smart Grid networks and Broadband access," says Faure. "The draft fully meets the over 400 technical requirements developed by the experts in these areas. The coexistence and interoperability part ensures all equipment and devices used on BPL networks are compatible." The draft also provides seamless integration with other communication media, such as Wi-Fi and Ethernet.

The Working Group will next meet in Boston, Mass., on 13-16 October 2009.

IEEE P1901™ is sponsored by the Standards Committee of the IEEE Communications Society.

Optical transport equipment market to reach $15 billion in 2013

REDWOOD CITY, USA: In a newly released forecast report by Dell'Oro Group, the global optical transport equipment revenues are forecast to resume growth in 2010 and approach a market size of $15 billion by 2013.

The report also indicates that 40 Gbps wavelengths will likely account for nearly half of the DWDM long haul capacity shipments in 2013.

“We forecast optical transport equipment revenues to decline slightly more than 10 percent in 2009, but the market should recover in 2010 with increasing consumer demand for faster access speeds in homes and mobile phones,” said Jimmy Yu, Director of Optical Transport research at Dell'Oro Group.

“The optical equipment segments that should return to positive growth first are the metro systems -- WDM metro and SONET/SDH multiplexers. The long haul capacity to support consumer demand is expected to expand with increasing deployments of 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps wavelengths on DWDM long haul systems.

"Even as the overall DWDM long haul market is in a period of a cyclical decline, 40 Gbps wavelength shipments are expected to continue growing and contribute almost half of long haul capacity shipments by 2013,” added Yu.

ZTE holds 25pc global CDMA network market share: Frost

NEW DELHI, INDIA: ZTE Corp. announced that it has been ranked as the second largest global CDMA network supplier with 25 percent market share by Frost & Sullivan.

In its recently published research report entitled “Global CDMA Network Market and Provider Competition Analysis”, Frost & Sullivan also anticipates that ZTE will become the number one provider in the worldwide CDMA network market by obtaining 29.3 percent global market share by 2010.

According to the report, which tracked up to 2Q09, Alcatel-Lucent and ZTE were the top two vendors leading the world’s CDMA network market with 30.1 percent and 25 percent accumulated market share by capacity, respectively. The two companies are considered top tier suppliers. Tier 2 and 3 CDMA vendors worldwide include those with less than 20 percent percent market share.

In the recent years, CDMA market has been growing fast in Asia and China’s CDMA equipment vendors are performing outstandingly in the industry. ZTE has demonstrated strong performance throughout the Asia Pacific region, especially in China and India where it has realized exceptional CDMA market share and is shaking up the leadership of the traditional CDMA equipment manufacturers.

China and India’s CDMA subscribers account for more than 30 percent of the world’s total CDMA user population. ZTE’s CDMA market share in India and China is 35 percent and 41.5 percent, respectively as of 1Q09.

For its excellent achievement in the CDMA market, ZTE’s next stage target is to realize market breakthrough in the US and other large-scale, high-end CDMA markets.

The Frost & Sullivan’s analyst cites ZTE’s technology advantage in EV-DO Rev.B as an opportunity to further expand CDMA and LTE dual-mode network construction opportunities, and to strengthen its supply of CDMA terminal equipment to the worldwide market.

ZTE has constructed a number of CDMA networks in the US market. In 2008, ZTE supported Aircell on an industry-first in-flight mobile broadband system to provide fast and accessible Air-To-Ground (ATG) Internet services to Aircell’s customers through its EV-DO Rev. A base stations stationed across the US.

To date, ZTE has been providing this high-speed in-flight mobile broadband access services to over 400 flights. This has helped ZTE earn the Annual Industry Innovation Achievement Award organized by the CDMA Development Group (CDG).

ZTE was ranked as the top 1 CDMA vendor for three consecutive years from 2006 to 2008 for its CDMA base stations global shipment volume. In 1H09, ZTE’s CDMA base station achieved a record high shipment volume of 75,000 and realized an accumulated global shipment of 200,000 CDMA base stations.

Telcos localise SaaS for the SME market

Comment by Claudio Castelli, Senior Analyst at Ovum

UK: National and regional telcos are increasingly picking applications with localised content to cement existing relationships with SMEs and differentiate from the global software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers.

The goal is to be the preferred ‘one-stop shop’ for ICT services for SMEs, combining applications and services from local developers and global providers. However, some of these partners will eventually also be competitors.

Administrative applications high on the agenda
With software delivered as a service from virtually anywhere, telcos entering the SaaS game will increasingly face competition from global players in their own backyards.

With much smaller scale, telcos will need to be creative in finding ways to differentiate in their marketplace. Existing customer relations and good knowledge of their particular needs will be key to telcos' ambitions to maintain a broader role in the value chain and avoid the risk of becoming only connectivity providers.

An increasing number of telcos are launching services focusing on SMEs' local needs. Telstra, for example, launched its SaaS proposition in April, with offerings including Workforce Guardian, an HR service that helps SMEs in Australia to create compliant employment contracts.

It has now announced Xero, a hosted accounting tool that provides SMEs with access to bank transactions, invoicing reports and tax data. In both cases, applications will run based on local requirements. This is expected to provide a competitive advantage against global players.

Telcos want to be a ‘one-stop shop’ for SMEs
Having a single ICT provider is on the majority of SMEs’ wish-lists. Ovum research shows that 65 percent of SMEs globally prefer to purchase all their fixed and mobile services from a single provider. Telcos are listening to their demands.

An important value that telcos can add is integrating multiple services into end-to-end offerings. They normally have relationships with the majority of small business customers, which in many cases extend beyond billing. Their reach and understanding of SME pain points might attract the right ISV partners.

However, some of these partners might eventually become competitors. Telstra will also offer Microsoft Online Services through its SaaS platform T-Suite. Although not broadly promoted, Microsoft also offers applications online directly to customers. We think there is potential conflict in the future.

SingTel is another operator that is working hard to build an end-to-end ICT proposition for SMEs in Singapore. The operator released a range of ICT packages for SMEs, and recently launched an Innovation Exchange programme to bring application developers into the service provider’s SaaS offerings.

The aim is to combine solutions from global players such as Microsoft, Google and Salesforce.com with local ISVs. Like Telstra, SingTel included HR applications in these initial offerings.

Other telcos are also rolling out their SME plans. AT&T has just re-launched its small business portal; AT&T Small Business InSite now provides a library of practical ‘how to’ articles, podcasts and video resources to help small companies integrate technology into their business, with a strong emphasis on mobile solutions, remote access and wireless applications.

Smartphone growth encouraging, yet global mobile phone market still likely to shrink in 2009

FRAMINGHAM, USA: The worldwide mobile phone market recorded another quarter of year-over-year decline in the second quarter of 2009 (2Q09).

According to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, handset vendors shipped a total of 269.6 million units worldwide, down 10.8 percent from 302.2 million units in 2Q08. The second quarter results are an improvement from the 17.2 percent decrease seen during 1Q09, but ongoing challenges stemming from the economic crisis remain a factor to watch.

"The challenges from the previous nine months – aggressive channel destocking, foreign exchange volatility, and uncertain demand -– continued to plague the mobile phone market in the second quarter, but were not as severe as before," says Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team.

"Those vendors who were able to adjust quickly were rewarded with greater shipment volumes. Although this tested the handset vendors' abilities to hit a moving target, customers reaped the benefits of lower-costs, even on key high-end devices."

For the full year, IDC believes that the market will decline 13 percent, with the market outlook for 2009 remaining relatively consistent among the top vendors. The small signs of improvement were centered around consumer demand for high-end handsets and the manufacturers' ability to shift portfolio to meet these needs.

"Among the big handset vendors, Nokia, Samsung, Research In Motion, and Apple, all beat expectations for smartphones within the second quarter," said Ryan Reith, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

"This demand for high-end mobile phones has created a price war among large mobile operators and handset vendors. Apple's price cut on the iPhone 3G reflects a trend we expect to continue in the upcoming quarters, and one that will effectively maintain competitive pricing within mature markets."

Regional analysis
Amidst the ongoing economic challenges in North America, the market for converged mobile devices thrived with the arrival of the Palm Pre and the iPhone 3G S towards the end of the quarter. Shipment volumes for other converged mobile device vendors also benefited from increased attention and price adjustments on the segment, pushing the market even higher.

At the same time, interest in prepaid devices remained strong for budget-conscious customers. Finally, the market for mid-tier and high-end devices began to show signs of improvement with the arrival of new devices from leading vendors.

Despite the expected decrease in volume from last year in Latin America, the second quarter of 2009 was stronger than expected, showing solid sequential growth from the doldrums that were seen in 1Q09. Local currencies in the key markets of Brazil and Mexico experienced revaluation from the precipitous drops that occurred in the prior six months, helping to alleviate some of the economic pain being felt by many businesses and consumers.

Interest in 3G services and offerings have been expanding in the region, helping carriers to increase, or at a minimum sustain, ARPUs that have been falling over time.

Results in Western Europe continue to reflect weaker demand from the previous year despite some improvement from the first quarter. The growth of the very low-end segment was not sufficient to reverse the decline in traditional mobile phones. However, the robust growth of converged mobile devices was a sign that the recession may have reached the bottom and some improvements can be expected for second half of the year.

In CEMA, the market showed more vitality after two quarters of abrupt decline, with regional shipments approximately 15% higher than in the previous three months.

With handset distribution and sale largely out of mobile operator hands, the financial crisis had squeezed inventory out of the channel as bank and trade credit dried up. The recovery of shipments in the second quarter suggests that this process has now been largely completed and that underlying demand remains robust.

High levels of private savings and aggressive national fiscal policies have helped sustain the demand for consumer products in Asia/Pacific, even as the global economy sputters along. Now, with several Asian economies showing the green shoots of recovery, mobile phone demand has also responded in a healthy fashion, with shipments for the region once again surpassing 100 million units in 2Q09.

Top five mobile phone vendors
Nokia finished 2Q09 with shipments back above the 100 million unit mark. Launches of key devices, including the E71, N97, and the 5800 converged mobile devices, mitigated further ASP decline and operational efficiency resulted in healthy gross margins overall. Nokia's shipment volumes were roughly equal to those of the next three vendors by the end of the quarter.

While still substantial, this is nevertheless down from a year ago when Nokia's shipments were nearly equal to the next four vendors' combined total shipments. While CEO Kallasvuo was pleased with the overall results and the company's traditional advantages, he also highlighted Nokia's ability to shape the evolving wireless landscape, combining mobile devices and the Internet with Nokia's strong operations, ecosystems, customer relationships, and metrics to track success.

Samsung saw its shipment volumes edge back above the 50 million unit mark on the strength of its broad product portfolio and was rewarded with the highest year-over-year gain among leading vendors. Its touch-screen and messaging devices continued to find a warm reception in Europe and North America while feature-capable devices and slim form factors attracted customer attention in emerging markets.

Meanwhile, operating margins returned to double digits despite higher marketing expenses. By the end of 1H09, Samsung was nearly halfway to its goal of shipping 200 million units in 2009.

LG Electronics maintained its momentum from 1Q09 to gain market share and improve profitability. Driving its success was a strong portfolio of mid-tier and newly-introduced high-end devices as well as overall operational efficiency.

LG also unveiled plans to improve its converged mobile device presence, with the launch of the GM730 this summer and up to five models by the end of this calendar year. Over the next two years, LG hopes to capture 10% of the converged mobile device market.

Motorola posted another quarter of operating losses as well as the largest year-over-year decline among the leading vendors. Not to be overlooked, however, is its significant improvement in reducing those losses 50% from the previous quarter. The company also made progress filling in some of the gaps in its product portfolio with the launch of several messaging devices.

These include the Clutch i465, Karma QA1 and the Rival A455. Moreover, plans to release Android-powered converged mobile devices during 2H09 appear to be on track and gained further clarity with the rollout for accelerated application development with its MOTODEV program.

Sony Ericsson's challenges in the mobile phone market continued, earning the company a fifth place finish in 2Q09 while falling further behind Motorola. Ongoing cost reductions, competitive pressures in key regions, and an aging product portfolio resulted in a gross margin of just 12 percent, but nonetheless an improvement from the 8 percent in the previous quarter.

Sony Ericsson announced plans it hopes will bear fruit later this year, including the launch of its GreenHeart and Communication Entertainment product lines, as well as enhanced content, services, and applications for consumers.

Top Five Mobile Phone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Q2 2009 (Units in Millions)Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, July 30, 2009

Note: Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors.

Mobile Phones: These small, battery-powered, voice-centric devices utilize operator-provided cellular/PCS air interfaces for voice communication. They are designed primarily, in both form factor and feature set, for a compelling mobile telephony experience, but may also include text-messaging capability.

Mobile phones may include a headset jack for hands-free operation as well as a variety of features, such as personal information management, multimedia, games, or office applications.

Mobile phones exist at all points along the form factor, price point, and feature set continua. Mobile phones that combine voice communications capabilities with pen or keypad handheld data features are tracked within the Converged Devices category.

Nokia Siemens Networks India appoints new head

BANGALORE, INDIA: Starting September 1, Nokia Siemens Networks will be led by Urs Pennanen in India. Currently Urs is the Head of Sales for the company’s Operations and Business Software business unit in Finland. He takes over as Sub Region Head of Nokia Siemens Networks for India and Nepal from Michael Kuehner.

Commenting on the appointment, Christian Fredrikson, Head of APAC Region, Nokia Siemens Networks said, “Urs brings with him close to 20 years of marketing, sales and general management experience, 16 of which were within this company. He’s a sales veteran, and currently leads sales for two business areas that are key to our future growth. This combination is perfect to steer our future growth in a dynamic market like India.”

Over the next few years, Nokia Siemens Networks’ focus in India will be to grow its market share in the country, with a specific focus on 3G. The company also seeks to consolidate its existing footprint among local communication service providers and build strategic partnerships with new entrants.

In his new role as Head of Sub-region India, Urs will drive this strategy, ensuring that Nokia Siemens Networks continues to enable the adoption of leading edge communication technologies in the country.

European telcos tread carefully in enterprise services business

Comment from Richard Mahony and David Molony, analysts at Ovum

UK: BT Global Services has reported a 4 percent increase in revenues to £2,079 million in the three months to the end of June, the first quarter in its current financial year, 2010. However, its EBITDA was squeezed further to £62 million and the division ended with an operating loss of £124 million.

Orange Business Services, the enterprise division of France Telecom, has reported revenues down 1.7 percent on a like-for-like basis to €3,836 million in the first six months, but its EBITDA margin was up at 20.4 percent.

Both companies cited the impact of exchange rates on their outcomes, but while BT’s sterling numbers were adversely affected, France Telecom said that exchange rates had worked in its favour.

Orange Business Services reported steady if unexciting progress overall, but the numbers are going in the right direction. Revenues from advanced and extended services -– the next generation of IP and value-added services -– increased 4.9 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively on a like-for-like basis.

Operators make the best of mobile
Orange Business Services’ subscriber numbers for managed services are at new higher levels. The worldwide total for IP VPN users increased to 324,000. Managed mobile service Business Everywhere increased end users to a new high of 718,000.

Mobile network capability is only one advantage that Orange Business Services enjoys over BT Global Services. The French service provider’s numbers also count revenues from SMEs in France, Poland, the UK and Spain.

BT Group keeps its SME services in the Retail division under BT Business. As we have pointed out previously, this is a key contributor to its margin. BT also improvises well with MVNO-based mobility services, although it did not break out revenues this time.

Equally, there is no sign that France Telecom thinks this is the time to try and take advantage of any perceived weakness at BT with a major expansion programme. Capex in the enterprise business was reduced by 12.1 percent to €138 million.

At the MNC level, it is less obvious that Orange Business Services has found the magic bullet for profitability; it does not break out margins for MNC contracts versus SME business.

However, the order book at Orange Business Services has been filled with a series of strong contract renewals this year, among them Fairchild Semiconductor, Total and Zurich Financial. These have all included new service features in the extended contracts.

For example, WAN optimization for Total has helped to raise the new contract value to €100 million. Zurich Financial’s IP outsourcing contract is being extended to include managed BlackBerry mobile services and HD videoconferencing.

BT clings to prospects for MNCs
Despite its setbacks, BT Global Services is maintaining a strong win rate in comparison with its competitors, and maintaining its regional strength within Europe. We also see that the business has a strong order book, with some profitable contracts. The latest performance has been largely down to some unprofitable deals.

However, in spite of its shaky financial performance, customer sentiment remains largely positive and the BT Global Services sales machine continues to win business at a rate that outstrips it competition in Europe.

The BT Global Services order book comprises some of the largest contracts, and it continues add to it, with £1.4 billion for the quarter. A key contract for the quarter was the extension of the DFTS contract through the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) as the business considers how to proceed with its future core network strategy.

The Fiat Group renewed its contract, worth €325 million (£278 million) over the next five years, presumably as a result of BT’s previous acquisition of Atlanet.

Whilst it is dangerous to make direct comparisons, assuming that this deal is of a similar scope to the one that BT signed five years ago, BT is not generating the same revenues -– the original contract was signed for €450 million (£303 million) in 2005.

CSR debuts breakthrough SiRFstarIV location-aware architecture

BANGALORE, INDIA: CSR plc., a leading provider of GPS-powered location platforms, launched its breakthrough SiRFstarIV location-aware architecture with exclusive SiRFaware self-assisted, micro-power GPS technology that enables consumer devices to always be location aware –- without draining batteries and without requiring network aiding.

CSR today also introduced its first SiRFstarIV-based product, the GSD4t receiver, which offers a superior solution for enabling mobile phones and other space- and power-constrained devices to have the robust, always-available geo-awareness consumers are demanding.

“I am very pleased that we are able to launch such a major, breakthrough technology so soon after our merger with SiRF,” said Joep van Beurden, CEO of CSR. “Today’s announcement significantly strengthens our GPS product offerings and our location technology portfolio.”

The essence of the SiRFstarIV breakthrough is its ability to continually maintain “better-than-hot-start” conditions in the GPS receiver for fast location fixes without having to be kept fully turned on all the time and draining precious battery power.

Until now, designers of mobile devices were forced to completely turn off GPS receivers when not in use to conserve power, causing annoying start-up delays when a location application needed to get a new location fix quickly. Through a fusion of multiple innovations, the unique SiRFaware technology overcomes this barrier with or without network aiding while consuming only 50-500 microamperes of current.

“With consumers expecting reliable location services everywhere, we had to rewrite the traditional rule book on GPS architectures and create a new, low-energy way to maintain continuous location awareness without draining the device battery or requiring network assistance,” said Kanwar Chadha, Chief Marketing Officer for CSR and Founder of SiRF.

“With SiRFstarIV and our unique SiRFaware technology, we have developed an architecture that will not only significantly improve the consumer experience when navigating with smartphones, but also enable consumer devices to maintain continuous location awareness.”

According to Chadha, people count on using their mobile phones and other mobile consumer devices just about everywhere, and expect pretty much the same of these devices’ location functionality, and this was a critical consideration while developing the SiRFstarIV architecture.

As a result, SiRFstarIV GPS receivers are more compatible with how consumers actually use these kinds of products, delivering a superior user experience by enabling handsets and other mobile devices to always get a fast location fix without significantly impacting battery life.

SiRFstarIV’s unique blend of high performance and low energy location-awareness modes opens the door to the more widespread use of GPS in digital still cameras and camcorders, hand-held games and a wide variety of portable consumer electronics devices.

SiRFstarIV Architecture
The SiRFstarIV architecture core is comprised of a high-performance GPS location engine, smart location sensor interface, adaptive micro-power manager and active jammer remover, which together deliver:

* Twice the search capacity of the industry proven SiRFstarIII™ architecture, resulting in enhanced sensitivity, reduced time-to-fix and improved positional accuracy.
* Advanced micro-power management and integrated switched-mode regulation that maintains hot-start conditions with minimal energy (50-500 microamperes).
* Intelligent MEMs sensor support (for accelerometers and other sensors) that improves the location experience, enabling greater contextual awareness, more sophisticated energy management and enhanced indoor positional accuracy.
* Advanced DSP technology that actively searches for jammers and removes them prior to correlation for maximum GPS performance and design troubleshooting.

GPS smartphone shipments to reach 77mn units in 2009

BOSTON, USA: According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, worldwide GPS smartphone shipments will grow 34 percent from 57 million units in 2008 to 77 million units in 2009.

GPS adoption in smartphones is being fueled by widespread consumer acceptance of portable navigation devices in Europe and the United States, and the increasing presence of mapping applications among mobile vendors such as Nokia, Apple and Blackberry.

Joanne Blight, Navigation Director at Strategy Analytics, said, "We forecast worldwide GPS smartphone shipments will grow a healthy 34 percent from 57 million units in 2008 to 77 million units in 2009. GPS smartphones, such as the Nokia N97 and Apple iPhone, are a high-growth segment that continues to expand even during the current, tough economic times.”

Neil Mawston, Wireless Director at Strategy Analytics, added, "Two key factors are fueling the adoption of GPS smartphones. First, there is widespread consumer acceptance of portable in-vehicle navigation devices from companies such as TomTom and Garmin in Europe and the United States. Second, mobile navigation services are improving. There is an increasing presence of mapping applications among major smartphone vendors, such as Nokia Maps, Apple Google Maps and Blackberry Maps.”

The full report containing further analysis on this emerging topic, called the GPS Smartphone Marketshare Tracker, is published by the Strategy Analytics Navigation and Location Opportunities (NLO) service.

MASERGY adds India hubs in response to increased network traffic

DALLAS, USA: MASERGY, a global service provider that is redefining global business networks for enterprises, has announced the addition of hubs in Bangalore and Hyderabad to support the increasing demand for network services within India.

“As part of our ongoing efforts to enhance the customer networking experience, we are expanding our physical presence within India to address the needs of this rapidly growing market,” said Chris MacFarland, chief operating officer of MASERGY. “This development is in direct response to demand increases we are seeing for more sophisticated application deployments such as HD video conferencing, TelePresence and converged network services.”

MASERGY deployed network hubs in Bangalore and Hyderabad to better support its growing inter- and intra-India traffic. These two new hubs strengthen MASERGY’s global presence by reducing latency and increasing price competitiveness.

“We have experienced a threefold increase in demand for MASERGY’s services in this region over the past two years,” said MacFarland. “Expanding our presence in India demonstrates our continued dedication to growing our business in accordance with our ‘build it when they come’ business model, in which we align capital investments with customer growth.”

MASERGY's comprehensive delivery ensures the broadest location and application coverage for global enterprise customers with unsurpassed site-to-site QoS guarantees to every business location. The network service provider also provides customers with sophisticated management and control capabilities delivered through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model on a global basis.

Tetco-Voxpilot's Videofy studio -- first 3G networks video creation studio

COURBEVOIE, FRANCE: Already present in the VoiceXML platform market with Open Media Platform, Tetco-Voxpilot, is launching Videofy studio, a software suite which enables both professional video creation, in any format, and its incorporation into interactive video broadcasting systems.

At a disadvantage for a long time due to the cost and complexity of implementation, video solutions are largely under-developed. Tetco-Voxpilot allows users with no technical expertise, to update video content at low-cost and thus improve its appeal.

With Videofy studio, Tetco-Voxpilot streamlines the creation of video content thanks to Video Composer. All you need to do is:
* “drag and drop” videos, images, audio files and text which make up your future video,
* piece together your video by setting the chronology of video sequences,
* publish the created video.

No previous knowledge of the VoiceXML language is necessary to use this package.

Video Portal Creator allows you to implement created videos as well as external dynamic elements solely with the aid of a graphical interface. Once this step is complete, all that is required is the publishing of the application onto the servers which become accessible in real time.

“We have finally managed to escape from the technical and financial restrictions linked with interactive video broadcasting on 3G telephone networks”, states Tristan Dessain-Gelinet, CEO of Tetco-Voxpilot.

“By streamlining video creation, service providers and operators now possess the tools which will allow them to quickly and easily update their offer of video services at low-cost and subsequently increase the number of calls and their revenues.”

Service providers and telecom operators may offer their subscribers new experiences with regularly updateable video content; including, broadcast of professional or amateur video content (videoblog for communities), dynamic advertising on video content sites for subscribers, creation of video clips mixing static content and dynamic content such as maps, weather forecasts, news feeds etc.

Tetco-Voxpilot will showcase its new Videofy studio solution at the following exhibitions: SpeechTeck (New York) 24-26 August, IP Convergence (Paris) 6-8 October, Cebit Bilisim Eurasia (Istanbul) 7-11 October, Futurecom 2009 (Sao Paulo and Rio) 13-16 October and Gitex 18-22 October (Dubai).

Mobile money in emerging markets still fragile, but ready to become a mass-market service by 2014

LONDON, UK: A new report from global consulting and advisory firm Ovum, reveals activity in mobile payment services (and more broadly mobile money services) is accelerating in many emerging markets.

The report titled, “Mobile money in emerging markets”, finds the market is still in its infancy, yet it has the potential to become a mass-market service, penetrating one-third of all mobile users in emerging markets in five years’ time.

However, much will hinge on how well the industry addresses various market barriers, and its ability to nurture user demand with clear, simple and attractive propositions.

The mobile money market has accelerated in the last two years in emerging markets, mostly in more mature markets. “The success of Vodafone’s Kenya subsidiary Safaricom with its mobile money service M-Pesa has underlined the potential for mobile money services,” says Angel Dobardziev, Emerging Markets practice leader and co-author of the report.

Yet, despite more than 100 launches of mobile money services by both service providers and banks globally the marketremains in a fragile state with few well-established services.

Whilst there is a range of alternative scenarios, Ovum predicts that the most likely scenario will be a market where service penetration reaches between 30 percent and 40 percent of the emerging market’s mobile users in 2014.

Where the industry resolves the market barriers more quickly than envisaged, an optimistic scenario is possible where strong user demand propels mobile money services to penetrate between 60 percent and 70 percent of the mobile users in the emerging market by 2014.

One of the key factors influencing market uptake of mobile money services is the relatively low penetration of access to financial services compared to higher (and fast-growing) penetration of mobile services.

Service providers along with banks will need to target unbanked and connected customers as they are the key demand driver for the market today, says the report. “Recruitment, training, incentivising and support of networks of mobile money agents will be key to service providers’ mobile money strategies, particularly when it comes to targeting unbanked customers”, says Dobardziev.

“Without access to an extensive distribution network for the users to deposit and withdraw cash as they make use of the service, users will be prevented from making the most of the service.”

In order to ensure early user disappointments do not extinguish the market, services providers must get the basics of the service right. “This means not losing sight of the fact that telecoms and banking have very different volume, size, margin and error tolerances on their core transactions.

As the two worlds draw closer with mobile banking, this will mean a different mindset and approach to service provision, reliability and security,” Dobardziev concludes.

PON market likely to grow in 2009 despite economic headwinds

REDWOOD CITY, USA: Dell’Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the networking and telecommunications industries, announced today that worldwide combined sales for DSL, Cable and PON Access equipment, including both access concentrators and CPE, are forecasted to decline 10 percent in 2009 to $8.7 billion. A slight overall market recovery is expected in 2010 before gradually declining thereafter through 2013.

PON revenues are expected to grow each year throughout the forecast period, while Cable revenues are forecasted to be relatively flat and DSL revenues are forecasted to fall significantly lower by 2013.

“PON is the bright spot in the Access market in 2009 and is expected to remain so throughout our forecast horizon,” said Tam Dell’Oro, Founder of Dell’Oro Group.

“We expect growth to be fueled by rapidly increasing PON deployments in China, as well as increasing numbers and size of GPON deployments around the world driven by service providers who need to upgrade their access networks in order to be able to deliver new revenue generating services such as TV over broadband,” added Dell’Oro.

BOLT mobile browser renders 100 millionth page

CAMBRIDGE, USA: Bitstream Inc. today announced that BOLT, the company’'s web browser for mobile phones of all types, has served more than 100 million page views for its users all around the world in the six months since its public debut.

Launched last February, BOLT continues to enjoy a solid adoption growth rate that exceeds 50 percent per month. Since February, the average usage rate of BOLT has tripled with the company’s servers reporting more than 1.4 million pages rendered daily.

BOLT’'s unique capabilities include:
* Fastest browser on the market.
* Displays full websites just as they would appear on desktop computers.
* Streams videos from popular video services such as YouTube.
* Copy and paste text.
* Upload video and photo files directly to websites from BOLT.

"There is no argument that the Internet is an essential part of peoples’ daily lives,” said Anna Chagnon, Bitstream’s president and CEO. “However a problem with the vast majority of mobile phones is that while they are capable of Internet access, they don’t possess browsers that display websites properly.

"Most websites are designed solely with PC viewing in mind, and even with billions of Internet-capable phones in use, a great many of the most popular websites still don’t have mobile companion websites. Of those that do, many lack the full functionality or features that people have come to expect when accessing them from their PCs.

"We believe the fact that BOLT was installed more than one million times in just the first four months since its launch is proof of the market’s desire to bridge this gap between the World Wide Web and mobile platforms."

Optimized to conserve data transmissions, BOLT features unrivaled speed, consistently at least 25 to 50 percent faster than competitors. BOLT offers ultra-fast viewing of streaming and flash video, high standards compliance, rich media and graphics enabling people to view websites just as they do on a PC.

Recent data also includes usage from the new BOLT lite, a new lightweight version of the BOLT mobile browser. Recognizing that some mobile phones currently in use cannot support robust applications and some network providers limit the size of application downloads, Bitstream created BOLT lite -– a smaller application that includes all the essential features of the BOLT mobile browser.

It excludes some of the advanced features to maintain a small application size that can work on lower-end phones and virtually every mobile network. BOLT lite retains BOLT’s feature-rich functionality, best-of-breed download speeds and desktop PC-style page layout.

GSA confirms 7.2 Mbps as new baseline for HSPA

UK: Half of the HSPA networks in commercial service globally are capable of peak downlink data speeds of 7.2 Mbps or higher, according to research just published by the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA).

GSA’s newly released HSPA Operator Commitments Survey confirms 316 HSPA network commitments in 129 countries. A total of 274 operators have commercially launched HSPA mobile broadband services in 115 countries, with around half of them supporting a peak downlink data speed of 7.2 Mbps or higher.

WCDMA has over 73 percent market share of commercial 3G networks worldwide. Almost 95 percent of WCDMA operators have now launched HSPA.

A related survey by GSA confirms that 1,605 HSPA devices have been launched by 183 manufacturers. The number of products announced increased by over 121 percent year-on-year. The number of HSPA-enabled notebooks tripled year-on-year, with the number of phones and smartphones rising by more than 88 percent in the same period.

Excluding notebooks, a total of 595 HSPA products (over 46 percent) support peak downlink data speeds of 7.2 Mbps or more.

Alan Hadden, President, GSA said: “With 135 commercial HSPA networks supporting peak downlink data throughputs of at least 7.2 Mbps, and almost 600 user devices launched in the market which are capable of operating at 7.2 Mbps or higher, clearly a new baseline for mobile broadband service and capabilities has been established using HSPA.”

Evolved HSPA (HSPA+) is the next step on the roadmap for many operators, which increases data rates by using higher order modulation schemes and multiple antenna technology (MIMO). 3GPP Release 7 introduced 64 QAM modulation, increasing the downlink peak data bit rate by 50 percent to 21 Mbps.

In the uplink, 16 QAM doubles the peak data bit rate from 5.76 Mbps to 11.5 Mbps. Release 8 allows for combining 64 QAM with 2x2 MIMO for peak rates up to 42 Mbps downlink and 11.5 Mbps uplink (per 5 MHz carrier). Further evolution of HSPA will utilize combinations of multi-carrier and MIMO to reach peak rates of 84 Mbps downlink and 23 Mbps uplink. Almost 40 operators have committed to HSPA+ network deployments.

The world’s first HSPA+ network was launched in February 2009. According to GSA, the number of HSPA+ networks in commercial service has now reached double figures. 10 HSPA+ systems are commercially launched, which are using 64QAM modulation to deliver 21 Mbps peak data throughput on the downlink, for a typical user experience up to 8 Mbps, depending on device availability.

The world’s first HSPA+ system utilizing MIMO technology has also been launched, in Italy, boosting peak downlink data throughput up to 28 Mbps. The recent GSA HSPA devices survey confirmed that 8 HSPA+ user devices are already launched in the market.

Uplink data speeds are also increasing. 98 operators have committed to HSUPA, with 87 networks now commercially launched, and an increasing number of these networks support 5.8 Mbps peak data throughput. The number of HSUPA user devices announced by manufacturers has more than quadrupled over the past 12 months, and now stands at 305 products. More than a third (102 devices) support, or are upgradeable for 5.8 Mbps peak operation, compared to only 14 products in July 2008.

GSA earlier announced that 31 operators are committed to LTE network deployments, which will significantly further boost network throughputs, improve spectrum and operational efficiencies and performance, and reduce latency for the next step in the user experience. GSA anticipates that up to 12 LTE networks will be in commercial service by end 2010.

Huawei, Intel to equip KACST wireless technologies R&D center

HYDERABAD, INDIA: King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and Intel Corp. announced the selection of Huawei to provide the Wireless Technologies Research and Development Center with state-of-the-art solution, including base stations, access network gateway, authentication servers and other needed equipment and software, in preparation for launching operations at the center in the next few months.

Intel signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Huawei to this effect in a ceremony attended by His Highness Prince Dr. Turki bin Saud bin Mohammed Al Saud, vice-president for Research Institutes at KACST.

Abdulziz Al-Noghaither, General Manager, Intel Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, signed the MoU on behalf of Intel, while Liu Qi, CEO of Huawei in Saudi Arabia, signed on behalf of Huawei.

According to the MoU, Huawei will provide the solution for building access and core WiMAX network in the lab. The center aims to use these equipment to showcase WiMAX technology, test interoperability and optimize network performance in order to guarantee effective operation of various client end-user devices on operators’ WiMAX networks.

Commenting on the event during the signing ceremony, His Highness Prince Dr. Turki bin Saud bin Mohammed Al Saud, vice-president for Research Institutes at KACST, said: "We are pleased to be hosts for each of Intel Corp. and Huawei in their signing of the memorandum of understanding, which represents an important milestone towards the launch of the Wireless Technologies Research and Development Center.

"We believe that the expertise offered by Intel, coupled by the advanced equipment provided by Huawei, will play a major role in making the center succeed. Companies working in the field of telecommunications, along with research centers and universities, will soon be able to benefit from the offerings of the center."

Upon signing the MoU, Abdulziz Al-Noghaither, General Manager, Intel Kingdom of Saudi Arabia called on telecommunication companies operating in the region to make use of the services that will be offered by the center, emphasizing the importance of WiMAX technologies in supporting broadband Internet penetration in countries of the region.

“With the help of God, the center has become ready for telecommunication companies operating in the region to benefit from its services and the field consultancy it offers with respect to WiMAX technologies. We hope that the center would actively contribute towards supporting wide use of WiMAX technology throughout the Middle East, Africa and Turkey,” he said.

It is noteworthy that Huawei is one of the world’s leading companies in the development and provision of wireless technologies, and it has supplied telecommunication operators worldwide with networks meeting the each customer’s demands. The company also has a long experience in setting up WiMAX networks and research in this field.

On his part, Liu Qi, CEO of Huawei in Saudi Arabia, said: “We take pride in the confidence shown to us by each of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology and Intel Corporation to provide the Wireless Technologies Research and Development Center with the necessary tools and equipment. We are pleased that Huawei will contribute towards the success of the center’s mission, which aims to support scientific research and contribute to the spread of WiMAX networks in the region.”

King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology will host the center whose operations will expand to serve the Middle East, Turkey and Africa, making it act as a hub for other branch laboratories that may open in the region to collectively work on the challenges facing the dissemination of networks.

The center will conduct validation for WiMAX infrastructure equipment and terminals, interoperability testing, studies for performance optimization, pre-certification for qualified products and experimentation with new WiMAX services and applications.

In addition to accelerating the deployment of WiMAX wireless broadband services, the lab will make use of best known methods from other regions to help stimulate new innovative ideas for network deployment in the region. The lab will put emphasis toward WiMAX mobility and broadband coverage problems in the region as well as other challenges such as validation of end-to-end network deployment.

64mn IPTV subscribers by end of 2012

DUBLIN, IRELAND: Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "The Future of Triple-Play: Growth Opportunities, Key Challenges and Competitive Strategies" report to its offering.

Cable operations and fixed-line telecoms operators continue their battle over a superior share in the triple-play arena. However, mobile operators have shown their interest in seizing a piece of the market while satellite TV providers are also complementing their core services with fixed-line offerings.

The future of pure-play providers appears limited, as the credit crunch places further pressure on consumers to seek the most cost effective way of obtaining the services they need.

'The Future of Triple-Play: Growth opportunities, key challenges and competitive strategies' is a report that examines the market opportunities and challenges for triple-play services.

The report analyzes the market conditions that have driven the deployment of triple-play services, and the strategies employed by leading service providers. It identifies the challenges faced by companies, and also provides recommendations into how to best counter competitive threats, extend service portfolios, and boost revenue potential in this rapidly evolving market.

Key findings:
* The popularity of mobile telephony is expected to continue to rise over the next four years. There will be over 5.6 billion mobile connections worldwide by the end of 2013, a 68 percent increase over 2007.

* Mobile broadband will be a substitute for fixed-line services in markets where fixed-line infrastructure has not been widely deployed. There will be an estimated 258 million mobile broadband notebook users in 2014, with consumers accounting for almost 200 million of these connections.

* It is forecast that there will be 64 million IPTV subscribers by the end of 2012, an almost six fold increase over 2007 levels.

* The average consumer is not motivated by new technological offerings. Price is much more important to most than the availability of advanced services such as VOD, DVRs and high definition programming.

LTE only road to wireless 4G in China

SCOTTSDALE, USA: Although competing 4G technologies will come to the fore in other countries, LTE will be the only route to 4G wireless service in China, reports In-Stat.

TD-LTE, one of the two flavors of LTE, will receive much more support than LTE-FDD in China. In 2010, China Mobile will use TD-LTE to construct a pre-commercial LTE network.

“China Mobile will be the first operator to launch commercial LTE operation,” says Anty Zheng, In-Stat analyst. “This will happen in limited areas in 2011. China Telecom and China Unicom will, we believe, follow China Mobile’s lead.”

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

* 2009 is the first year of China’s 3G era in which three 3G technologies (WCDMA, CDMA2000, and TD-SCDMA) have been adopted by separate operators.
* In-Stat predicts that China’s LTE subscribers will number no more than 500,000 by 2013, and that 80% of these will be China Mobile subscribers.
* China Unicom and China Telecom will begin LTE network construction later than China Mobile, likely in 2012.

'One size fits all' won't play in global SMB Wi-Fi markets

NEW YORK, USA: The number of small-medium businesses in the world is expected to reach 330 million in 2014. Outside North America these smaller enterprises (98 percent of which employ fewer than 100 people) account for more than 90 percent of all businesses.

Many of these firms are candidates for Wi-Fi networking; but according to a recent study from ABI Research, vendors addressing these markets must take regional conditions and tastes into account.

"When it comes to opportunities in wireless LAN equipment markets, these international SMBs represent the greenest of remaining green fields," comments ABI Research vice president Stan Schatt.

"The winning vendors will be those that develop equipment that meets the particular needs of those companies, at acceptable price points. Small businesses demand products that are designed specifically for them. You can’t just repackage enterprise products."

In Europe, the best SMB opportunities for WLAN equipment vendors are services companies with 20-99 employees. Eastern Europe is particularly attractive: Russia and Poland have very high PC penetration but their wired infrastructure is not as developed as in Western Europe.

The most intriguing SMB WLAN equipment opportunity in the Asia-Pacific region is India. In particular, there is a predominance of very small manufacturing companies that are green field targets for WLANs as their only network, since Ethernet cabling is not widespread.

In Latin America, where ABI Research believes the Wi-Fi penetration rate is still only around 25% in mid-sized businesses, the opportunity is found not just in the services sector, but in industrial settings as well.

Huawei opens LTE lab in North America

PLANO, USA: Huawei has announced the opening of a Long Term Evolution (LTE) laboratory located in Richardson, Texas.

Operators and industry partners in North America are now able to further explore the potential of LTE technology and experience Huawei's latest LTE solutions.

Initially established with prototype equipment in fall of 2008, the facility has been upgraded to fully support commercial product releases for North America. The lab recently implemented Huawei’s first commercial LTE solution release targeted at operators in the United States and Canada.

Additionally, local R&D teams are now able to work more closely with North American operators to rigorously test LTE systems before delivery.

"It is a key step forward in our readiness to support customers launching LTE in the United States and Canada with local facilities and resources," said Carl Liu, Executive Vice President of Huawei North America.

"Building on the LTE field trial we did in AWS (Advanced Wireless Services) spectrum in the US last year, we are very pleased to be able to offer the latest in LTE multi-band technology as carriers partner with Huawei to deliver advanced mobile broadband services."

The state-of-the-art lab is equipped with Huawei's SingleRAN DBS3900 eNodeB, USN 9810 unified service node, UGW 9811 unified gateway, M2000 element management system and the latest versions of commercial software.

Huawei's industry-leading SingleRAN solution incorporates software-defined radio technology to support CDMA/LTE and UMTS/LTE dual-mode operation, which Huawei first demonstrated in AWS spectrum at CTIA Wireless 2008.

Mobile handset inventories bulk up

NEW YORK, USA: The handset vendors are still telling us it is a frosty market out there but there is a spring in their step as 2Q-2009 results start to pour in.

“269 million handsets were shipped in 2Q-2009,” says Jake Saunders, VP for Forecasting at ABI Research. “That bodes well for 2H-2009. Shipments should build sequentially in a constructive manner with 4Q-2009 potentially returning the industry to better sales form.”

North America may be struggling to shrug off its economic woes, but Asian economies have been lifted by regional stimulus packages and by an anticipation of improved retail sales conditions in the latter part of 2H-2009. ABI Research is revising downwards its forecast 2009 contraction to -7.5 percent from -8.1 percent (1.11 billion).

Samsung (19.4 percent) and LG (11.1 percent) did particularly well. LG notched up a 2.2 percent increase in percentage points, Samsung, 1.45 percent. Nokia staged a remarkable swing in fortunes to achieve a 1.67 percent percentage point increase to 38.3 percent. Nokia is doing all it can to get a number of smartphone models into the market.

It will be interesting to see how Nokia’s market share holds up in 2H-2009, as Samsung and LG have carried out major refreshes to their smartphone product lineups. Sony-Ericsson experienced a 0.56% percent point reduction in its market-share while Motorola and RIM also saw contractions.

“It is well documented that smartphones are proving to be one of the main engines of growth, but they are not just benefiting the Tier 1 players”, says practice director Kevin Burden.

“A number of Tier 3 vendors are also making headway in a competitive market, including Apple and HTC but also vendors such as Huawei and ZTE. While a consolidation is widely expected in the industry, it will not be happening in 2009.”

The pressures for consolidation may not necessarily come from tightening shipment volumes but also from greater integration of hardware, OS and applications development. ASPs for smartphones are higher than the overall average, and have supported R&D to date; but in such a competitive environment, the R&D pricetag can only go up.

WiMAX Forum starts validation early for 2.3 GHz mobile certification profile

PORTLAND, USA: The WiMAX Forum announced that validation testing for the 2.3 GHz Mobile WiMAX profile in the 5/10 MHz and 8.75 MHz channels has begun and expects the first group of 2.3 GHz products to be WiMAX Forum Certified in 4Q 2009.

“The acceleration of the certification of 2.3 GHz WiMAX products demonstrates the WiMAX Forum’s unwavering commitment to effective certification programs for the ecosystem,” said Dr. Mohammad Shakouri, acting president of WiMAX Forum.

“The WiMAX Forum’s goal is to create an ecosystem that is supported by interoperable products. Our progress in certification of 2.3GHz also shows the market demand and potential for this spectrum band.”

The 2.3 GHz WiMAX operators are amongst the fastest growing sectors in WiMAX ecosystem. Globally, the WiMAX Forum has tracked 29 commercial deployments in this spectrum band as of June 2009.

“The certification of 2.3 GHz products is critical to the deployment of WiMAX networks in regions such as India, Asia and Africa,” said Ed Agis, co-chair of the WiMAX Forum Certification Working Group.

“Certification profiles for 2.3 GHz also pave the way for WiMAX Forum Certified tri-band devices in 2010 which will increase the opportunities for true global roaming across networks in the 2.3, 2.5 and 3.5 GHz spectrum bands which make up a global WiMAX footprint today.”

Currently, 13 WiMAX Forum member companies have submitted subscriber station and/or base station equipment to be part of the validation testing pool. With such a promising turnout from the vendor community, the WiMAX Forum sees the potential of multiple different form factors in this profile using WiMAX devices to enter the marketplace by early 2010.

Mobile WiMAX operators like Korea Telecom and Packet One are amongst the most active operators engaging with the WiMAX Forum for the 2.3 GHz validation process, providing over-site to the test cases and adding their networking expertise to optimize the tests for their networks.

“We are encouraged by how rapid this validation process has become thanks to best practices and knowledge gained from previous validation and certification processes,” said Agis. “At the start of the certification program, it took about nine months to get the first batch of test cases complete. Now it only takes two to three months to validate the test cases before we start certifying devices.”

Telcordia mobile ID delivers advanced subscriber information management

INDIA: Telcordia, a global leader in the development of IP, wireline, and mobile telecommunications software and services, announced the availability of Telcordia Mobile ID, an advanced subscriber information management solution that provides Communication Service Providers (CSPs) and content providers secure and accurate information and intelligence about its mobile subscriber base.

In turn, Mobile ID enables CSPs to deliver more relevant, personalized and targeted, content and services to its mobile subscriber base. With evolving network infrastructures, new mobile device capabilities and an ever-growing ecosystem of content providers, Mobile ID helps operators bridge the challenges of offering compatible and functional third party content to its subscriber base resulting in increased positive customer experience.

CSPs can extrapolate countless data points by outlining its customer's usage patterns, type of mobile device they use, location-based information, peak periods of use, frequently used services (e.g. voice, SMS, VoIP, etc.) and more. When this information is accurate, CSPs and mobile content providers can unlock millions of dollars in potential revenues by delivering relevant and personalized, value added services (VAS) services to subscribers.

"A mobile phone number is one of the most powerful forms of identity that people possess," said Richard Jacowleff, President, Interconnection Solutions, Telcordia.

"Accurately detailing a subscriber's mobile phone number is a powerful foundation to establishing a complete subscriber profile. CSPs and content providers can use Telcordia Mobile ID to develop and deliver behaviorally-based services, such as mobile advertising, location-based applications and promotions, and service upgrades."

Since the introduction of mobile number portability, there now are more than 50 countries that enable mobile subscribers to keep their mobile telephone number when switching carriers. Without accurate routing information to track the movement of numbers, this portability can wreak havoc for content providers.

Telcordia is the leading global supplier of number portability solutions with the most number portability deployments worldwide and it's this unique position that allows Mobile ID to provide authoritative, secure and accurate routing information for every mobile telephone number ensuring voice, messaging and all types of content reach the intended mobile subscriber quickly and cost effectively.

"Reliable portability data gives CSPs and content providers the tools they need to ensure the accurate routing of their applications and services to subscribers, thereby reducing churn, increasing revenue opportunities and ensuring positive customer experiences," added Jacowleff. "Mobile ID can add between three and four percent to a CSP's or message aggregator's annual bottom line by eliminating routing-oriented revenue leakage."

A component of Mobile ID, Telcordia offers country-specific dialing data, containing more than one million worldwide dial codes for more than 230 markets that are used for global routing, rating and billing of traditional PSTN voice traffic, mobile traffic, and VoIP and SMS traffic, as well as other multimedia services.

As dialing-code and numbering-plan changes occur, continuous updates are fed into the Mobile ID platform, enabling the auditing and analysis of a service provider's internal dial-code data to assess revenue impacts for its operations.

ST-Ericsson strengthens technological leadership, completes integration

SINGAPORE: ST-Ericsson, a leader in wireless semiconductors and mobile platforms, announced a new organization to further strengthen its technological leadership and integrate the operations further.

Alain Dutheil, President and CEO, said: “The new organization we are announcing today will allow us to timely and successfully execute on our new product strategy, based on the future convergence to one 3G roadmap, a continued commitment on 2G/EDGE and connectivity, as well as a strong focus on TD-SCDMA and on fast growing next generation access technologies such as LTE. Additionally, it will enable us to complete the integration of the different businesses we merged five months ago and provide our customers with a world-leading and even more compelling portfolio.”

The organization will be centered around three product groups, focused on the following areas:
- LTE and HSPA -Connected Devices, led by Magnus Hansson, Vice President
- 3G -Multimedia Platforms, led by Marc Cetto, Vice President
- 2G, EDGE, TD-SCDMA and Connectivity- led by Thierry Tingaud, Vice President
supported by an R&D shared services organization, led by Philippe Berger, Vice President.

Jörgen Lantto has been appointed Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer and Head of Strategy and Pascal Langlois Chief Sales and Marketing Officer.

The following positions of the management team reporting to President and CEO Alain Dutheil remain unchanged:
- Timothy Lucie-Smith, Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
- Abhijit Bhattacharya, Vice President, Operations and Quality
- Jean-Louis Champseix, Vice President, Human Resources
- Claudia Levo, Vice President, Global Communications
- Lotta Westerlund, Vice President, Legal Affairs

The following management changes will also occur:
* Tommi Uhari will act as Senior Advisor to the CEO.
* Monica de Virgiliis has decided to leave the company to pursue other career opportunities. Until then, she will act as Senior Advisor to the CEO for the implementation of the new organization.
* Robert Puskaric, Deputy CEO & Executive Vice President, has decided to leave ST-Ericsson to take on another appointment at Ericsson. Mr. Puskaric has played a key role in the first stages of the creation of ST-Ericsson, leading the integration and organizing the Sales & Marketing activities.

Nokia extends style association with Priyanka Chopra

BANGALORE, INDIA: Nokia further strengthened its style and imaging portfolio with the launch of the sleek and chic Nokia 6700 Classic and Nokia 6303 Classic.

The devices, which were launched by Bollywood diva, Priyanka Chopra, are targeted at the suave and savvy Indian consumers who are looking for superior functionality with premium finish at competitive prices.

Nokia also announced that it will continue its association with tinsel town’s reigning queen and Nokia’s youth style icon, Priyanka Chopra who will be seen in a new print and digital campaign being unveiled by the company soon. With the tagline “Pictures get us talking”, the new campaign has a contemporary visual appeal that brings out how people use the elements of mobile imaging in their way of mobile communication rather than just voice.

Alongside the Nokia 6700 Classic & Nokia 6303 Classic launch, Priyanka also rolled out an interesting consumer engagement initiative - “Pictures get us talking”. The consumer contest that starts from today, gives users an opportunity to upload their interesting and unique pictures on the Nokia website – www.nokia.co.in..

The picture that starts the maximum conversations and is the most talked about in the virtual world will emerge as the winner. The winning entry will get a complete makeover by a well known fashion designer. In addition, Priyanka will also talk and twitter about her favourite pictures on her twitter. .

Vineet Taneja, Director Marketing, Nokia India said, “Nokia is delighted to strengthen its bond with India’s style conscious consumers, both by extending our association with Priyanka Chopra and with the launch of Nokia 6700 Classic and Nokia 6303 Classic. Priyanka, with her signature glamorous style, has brought in a lot of vivacity to the Nokia brand. The Nokia Supernova campaign with Priyanka was one of our most popular ad campaigns last year."

Priyanka Chopra said: “I am very excited to continue my association with Nokia, which is a brand that is a key part of my everyday life. I’m an avid mobile user and I find that Nokia delivers a complete experience in a great looking package! It’s a leader in style, innovation, technology and above everything else its user-friendliness… you can’t but get hooked to your Nokia! The new Nokia 6700 Classic and Nokia 6303 Classic are super stylish and packed with some exceptional functionalities.

“I am also very excited to be a part of the “Pictures get us talking” contest. No matter where you are or what you’re doing, every interesting moment can be turned into a memory with the brilliant cameras on all Nokia phones. I know I’m going to have a tough choice in deciding the best pictures, so I’m using twitter to discuss the most interesting ones. I’m inviting everyone to jump in and help me choose the best!”

Giving details of the new devices, Taneja added: “The new devices combine the superior functionality and enhanced user experience with premium designs and materials available at an extremely competitive price point. The Nokia 6700 Classic shares the same 'DNA' as its predecessor Nokia 6300 and we believe that it will be one of our best selling devices in 2009.”

SMEs in India: Opportunities in credit crunch

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: According to Ovum, SMEs in India are highly price sensitive, less exposed to the global market, and confident about spending in the current economic climate. They are keen to move to managed services, although reluctant to increase the proportion of expenditure on mobile services.

India has a broad diversity of suppliers and is a highly competitive market place. There is no single dominant player across the country for telecommunication services and the competition is greater than in most of the Asian markets. The number of options for mobile service is greater than on the fixed services.

“As a result, in order to get the best of breed, the majority of SMEs prefers not to have single provider for multiple services”, says Claudio Castelli, Senior Analyst at Ovum and author of this report. “The common strategy of bundling services, deployed by service providers in many other places, is less likely to be effective in this market,”

SMEs in India are looking at ways of reducing unnecessary up-front capital investment. Castelli adds, “Seventy one percent of the companies surveyed prefer to have a predictable monthly recurring charge per user for telecoms equipment and services.”

The high interest in opex-based models for telecoms equipment and services in this market is reflected in the SMEs mature views on managed services. A few SMEs are already using managed services and many others are planning to do so in the future.

“They are most keen to adopt managed audio/video conferencing, PBX/IP PBX, security and specialist business software applications”, says Claudio, based in Melbourne.

In addition, the share of mobile workers is growing; 43 percent of SMEs' employees have some degree of mobility. “However this isn’t reflected in the budget allocated for mobile services”, says Claudio. “Unsurprisingly, controlling the cost of mobility is a high priority amongst the SMEs.”

Like in many other Asian countries, the majority of the companies does not provide wireless devices to employees needing mobility for business purposes. This is a clear indication that users are generally providing and supporting their own personal mobile devices when at work.

Ovum believes this practice is dangerous and might result in business risks. For example, if a salesperson goes to a competitor, their customers will continue to contact him at that number.

Overall, players taking the managed services path will have higher chances to succeed with SMEs in this market. At Ovum, we expect the software as a service (SaaS) approach to be a good opportunity for services providers and solution vendors.

LTE and Chinese infrastructure deployments offer hope for RF power amplifier and device markets

SCOTTSDALE, USA: While markets for RF power amplifiers continue their slow decline in developed regions, two new developments –- the massive wireless infrastructure rollout in China and the approaching wave of LTE deployments in the West –- will provide a temporary lift over the next few years, according to the latest ABI Research forecasts.

The Asia-Pacific Region, including Japan, presently accounts for nearly 50 percent of the RF power semiconductor devices that are sold into the mobile wireless infrastructure segment.

Although the market for RF power amplifiers has been less affected by the economic downturn than some other electronics segments, it has not been completely immune. The recession’s effects have added to the pre-existing gentle contraction of the market to create a somewhat bleak outlook.

But now, according to research director Lance Wilson, “China ‘has the pedal to the metal’ in its massive wireless infrastructure rollout, and since only some of the resulting demand for RF power amplifiers is being met domestically, it has been a windfall for international vendors.”

That demand is expected to buoy the market until at least sometime in 2010, and probably the Chinese deployments will only start to slow in 2011.

And in a happy coincidence for equipment vendors, 2011 is the expected time-frame for LTE deployments in developed countries to really gather a head of steam. “Although LTE has not significantly impacted RF power amplifier and device sales in the near term,” says Wilson, “it is going to bolster RF power sales in the wireless infrastructure space from about 2011 on.”

Wilson also notes that since the previous edition of the report, there have been some modest changes in the breakdown of market share held by the leading RF power device vendors.

Wireless mobile future determined by LTE

USA: As wireless mobile networks continue to grow and become more robust, the path to Long Term Evolution (LTE) remains certain with operators deploying the technology the first half of this next decade, a new Visant Strategies report finds.

“LTE for many operators, if not almost all operators, is the 4G end goal for upgrading wireless networks,” said report author Andy Fuertes of Visant Strategies.

“In the most established markets carriers are systematically deploying upgrades to HSPA or CDMA2000 and awaiting the commercial arrival of LTE, which will begin to be strongly deployed within three to five years.

“Despite announced deployment roll backs of LTE due to recent economy woes there really is no fragmentation when it comes to 4G,” Fuertes added.

“All operators, except for the comparatively few that will migrate to mobile WiMAX, will use LTE to create an OFDM-based 4G wireless network, creating unprecedented economies of scale for LTE handsets and infrastructure.”

According to the findings in “Long Term Evolution 2009: The World Role of LTE in Mobile Wireless Networks through 2015,” LTE macro base stations will account for roughly 10 percent of total deployed macro base stations by year-end 2015, with the bulk of the LTE shipments occurring between 2012 and 2015. Also, over 60 million LTE femtocells will be shipped in 2015, with the Asia-Pacific market accounting for a good percentage of these shipments.

“LTE really is the Hollywood ending to real 4G,” said Larry Swasey of Visant Strategies. “While there will be a continued use of GSM and EDGE Evolution in lower-tier mobile markets and WCDMA and CDMA EV-DO throughout the world, when it comes to real 4G, LTE will eventually account for over 90 percent of global subscribers.”

The study evaluates LTE-based services, devices, selling points and infrastructure on a world-by-region basis through 2015. Annual world and regional shipments for LTE handsets, base stations and femtocells are given as are LTE subscribers, revenues, average revenue per unit, handset ASPs and LTE femtocell subscribers and revenues.

ZTE chooses Wintegra for mobile carrier network

AUSTIN, USA: Wintegra, a market leader in access processing semiconductors, announced that ZTE Corp. has selected Wintegra’s Multi-Service Access (MSA) software and hardware solution for its next generation Mobile Carrier Network equipment.

ZTE, recognized by IDC as the “Fastest Growing Telecom Equipment Provider in 2008,” is pursuing the burgeoning business opportunities in China as well as other regions with their new generation of carrier class telephony equipment.

Packet transport addresses the ever increasing demand for more and more bandwidth over evolving IP networks. A key function of packet transport is the ability to carry legacy TDM traffic over these new packet based networks such as Carrier Ethernet.

Carrier Ethernet has an important feature known as clock recovery that provides the necessary clocking and precise timing information that was inherent in TDM networks over this asynchronous packet based network.

Wintegra provides market leading support for high channel density clock recovery enabling providers like ZTE to support a cost effective mix of legacy as well as packet based networks simultaneously.

ZTE has licensed Wintegra’s key technologies and software development tools to capitalize on the available protocols and design assistance provided by Wintegra.

“Wintegra has a compelling mix of hardware and software solutions for our next generation communication equipment,” said Yu Zhiyong, Chief Engineer of ZTE Mobile Carrier Network Product Dept. “We expect to work with them for other systems to broaden our carrier class solution portfolio.”

Wintegra has a strong presence in multi-service access and high channel density carrier class telephony. China is a prime geographic area for growth. “We’re really pleased to be working with ZTE on their new packet based solutions,” said Robert O’Dell, EVP of Marketing and Sales at Wintegra. “It is a testament to our technology to be used by a market leader like ZTE, and we’re looking forward to ongoing programs with them.”

Wintegra’s multi-service hardware and software solutions enable a fully channelized application running any protocol including PWE3 (Pseudo Wire End to End Emulation), MC/ML-PPP (Multi-Class Multi-Link PPP), IMA (Inverse Multiplexing over ATM), and MFR (Multilink Frame Relay).

These solutions also utilize Wintegra’s state-of-the-art clock recovery support providing accurate timing and synchronization critical for these new networks. Additionally, WinPath based designs are RAM-based, allowing for field upgrades of operational software with no truck rolls, a highly desired feature in this cost sensitive market.

Nortel in sale agreements for enterprise solutions business with Avaya for $475 million

TORONTO, CANADA: Nortel Networks Corp. announced that it, its principal operating subsidiary Nortel Networks Ltd (NNL) and certain of its other subsidiaries, including Nortel Networks Inc. and Nortel Networks UK Ltd have entered into a "stalking horse" asset and share sale agreement with Avaya Inc. (Avaya) for its North American, Caribbean and Latin America (CALA) and Asia Enterprise Solutions business; and an asset sale agreement with Avaya for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) portion of its Enterprise Solutions business for a purchase price of $475 million.

These agreements include the planned sale of substantially all of the assets of the Enterprise Solutions business globally as well as the shares of Nortel Government Solutions Incorporated (NGS) and DiamondWare, Ltd.

Commenting on the announcement, Nortel President and CEO, Mike Zafirovski said: "We continue to be fully focused on running our operations and continuing to serve our customers while actively engaged in the sale of our businesses. We have determined that the sale of our businesses maximizes value while preserving innovation platforms, customer relationships and jobs to the greatest extent possible.

"The CDMA and LTE Access stalking horse asset sale agreement announced on June 19, and today's agreements around our Enterprise business are solid proof of that value. This represents the best path forward, and we are advancing in our discussions with interested parties for our other businesses."

"The many customers I have spoken with have been highly supportive of our efforts and transparency throughout this process. They value our employees and technology platforms and are appreciative of our service levels which are at multi-year highs."

"Today's agreements underscore the value of Enterprise Solutions and the investments we have made in enterprise telephony, unified communications and data networking core competencies. If successfully completed, this transaction will provide clarity on the path forward for our Enterprise customers, partners and employees, and enable the industry to continue to benefit from Nortel-created technology, know-how and leading-edge innovation."

"We have some of the best talent in the industry and will explore all potential opportunities for them as we move through this process."

In EMEA, any impact on the Enterprise Solutions workforce in connection with this proposed transaction will be considered as part of any required information and consultation process with employee representatives or employees.

Joel Hackney, President, Enterprise Solutions added: "The successful buyer will gain access to an industry-leading portfolio that is optimized for real-time communications, bringing speed and simplicity to customers' network environments and allowing them to enhance collaboration, streamline business processes and improve productivity."

Hackney continued: "Enterprise Solutions has strong relationships with key customers and partners around the world, and we have helped them achieve industry-leading differentiation and competitive advantages. We remain committed to serving them without interruption through this process and, as we move forward, we pledge to communicate our progress to the greatest extent possible."

Chuck Saffell, CEOof Nortel Government Solutions, said: "Nortel Government Solutions has built a robust product and services business for US Federal government customers. If successfully concluded, this agreement will offer Avaya the opportunity to continue to grow this business and bring further value to customers."

Vodafone selects Tele Atlas to power location-based apps

GENT, BELGIUM: Tele Atlas, a leading global provider of digital maps and dynamic content for navigation and location-based solutions, and Vodafone Group have announced an agreement whereby Vodafone will use Tele Atlas digital maps and location-based content across its global footprint for the company’s location-based services (LBS) and navigation offerings.

Through the agreement, Tele Atlas and Vodafone will collaborate to enable powerful LBS, routing and mapping applications for mobile users around the world.

The agreement gives Vodafone access to Tele Atlas’ global digital map content and products, including 24 million points of interest (POIs), 3D Landmarks, 2D City Maps and Digital Elevation Models, which give local search application users maps that more closely reflect their surroundings.

Vodafone will also gain access to Tele Atlas Speed Profiles, which provides highly accurate speed data to help navigation application users find the most optimal routes and far more accurately estimate travel times.

Bobby Rao, Director, Internet Services Marketing and New Business Director at Vodafone Group said: "In an increasingly connected world, we are constantly striving to enrich our customers’ lives by enabling them to communicate wherever they are with the tools and services they need. Accurate location content is at the heart of many of these offerings, allowing Vodafone to deliver a powerful, seamless mobile experience around the world, based on up-to-date maps and content."

"We’re very pleased to partner with Vodafone to bring their customers fresh, accurate maps and innovative location content," said Bill Henry, CEO, Tele Atlas. "As the leading map provider we’ll focus on delivering the richest experience to Vodafone customers that advances their mobile lifestyle."

Extreme Networks, Dell deliver iSCSI performance and economics

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Extreme Networks today announced that its Summit X450a family of switches have been tested and are now available for sale with Dell EqualLogic SANs.

Extreme Networks Ethernet networking solutions, in concert with Dells’ EqualLogic iSCSI solution, provide a high-performance, cost-effective storage solution to meet the requirements of today’s demanding data center customers.

Extreme Networks Summit X450a switches provide data center customers with a switching solution that combines lower operating cost along with easier deployment and management.

“Customers are converging storage onto Ethernet technology to drive lower costs, boost simplicity and performance,” said Jitendra Gupta, Country Manager for India and SAARC region, Extreme Networks.

“By testing our products with Dell to ensure compatibility, we are able to bring to our customers a high performance, easy to manage and operate solution at very compelling price points compared to traditional SAN solutions.

"iSCSI is the established Ethernet-based converged SAN technology. The primary market drivers are the ability of current generation iSCSI products to meet the needs of data center customers from a performance, cost and management standpoint by leveraging standard Ethernet network infrastructure," said Steven J. Schuchart Jr., Principal Analyst for Data Center at Current Analysis.

"The offering from Dell and Extreme Networks creates a compelling solution in the converged all Ethernet storage marketplace."

GSA survey: 121pc rise in HSPA user devices

UK: The number of HSPA user devices launched in the market has risen 121 percent over the past 12 months, according to a new survey published today by the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA).

The GSA HSPA Devices Survey confirms that 1,605 HSPA devices have now been announced by 183 manufacturers worldwide. The survey provides clear evidence of how the mobile broadband eco-system enabled by WCDMA-HSPA technology is both robust and flourishing.

GSA confirms that 881 new HSPA user devices were launched over the past year, which is equivalent to more than 70 new product announcements every month.

HSPA successfully addresses all market segments. There are now 662 HSPA mobile phones, including several recent smartphone launches. The number of mobile phone products has increased by more than 88 percent year on year. The number of HSPA-enabled notebook products, another key segment, more than tripled in the same period to 336 models.

Excluding notebooks, almost half of HSDPA devices are capable of supporting peak download data speeds of 7.2 Mbps peak or higher, including eight HSPA+ devices supporting up to 21 Mbps.

HSPA devices by market segment:
- 662 mobile phones, including smartphones
- 336 notebooks
- 230 USB modems
- 162 PC data cards and embedded modules
- 151 Wireless routers/gateways
- 27 Ultra Mobile PCs
- 21 Femtocells
- 10 Personal Media Players (PMPs)
- 6 cameras

The number of HSUPA-capable devices quadrupled over the past year to stand at 305 products today. More than a third of HSUPA devices support 5.8 Mbps peak uplink data speeds. Navigational capabilities (GPS, A-GPS) are incorporated in 345 products, an increase of 238% over the past year.

Commenting on this latest survey, Alan Hadden, President of GSA said: "HSPA is firmly driving mobile broadband growth globally, and millions of new customers are signing up every month. Network speeds have increased and are matched by a huge choice of compatible devices for users.

"It is particularly encouraging to see that the number of suppliers increased by 59 percent, from 115 companies a year ago to 183 suppliers participating in the market today. Many of these companies are evolving their product portfolios to support HSPA+ and emerging LTE mobile broadband networks as the mainstream evolution path for operators."

HSPA mobile broadband systems are deployed in all the main cellular bands. While the majority operate in 2100 MHz spectrum, there has been an explosion in device availability in the lower frequency bands, including 850 MHz as widely deployed in the Americas, Australia and parts of Asia, and at 900 MHz. These bands are particularly well suited for economic wide area coverage, and improve penetration into buildings.

For example, there are now 155 user devices (compared to 20 by mid-2008), which operate in the 900 MHz band, spectrum widely used for GSM and which is now being re-farmed in several countries for 3G/mobile broadband by permitting deployment of UMTS900 (i.e., HSPA in the 900 MHz band) networks.

Excluding notebooks, 414 tri-band HSPA devices i.e. 850/1900/2100 MHz support global mobile broadband roaming.

Accenture to acquire Nokia's Symbian Professional Services

ESPOO, FINLAND & NEW YORK, USA: Nokia and Accenture have entered into an agreement for Accenture to acquire Nokia's Symbian Professional Services unit responsible for Symbian OS customer engineering and customer support.

The unit provides engineering consulting and product development services on a global basis to mobile phone manufacturers, as well as chip manufacturers and mobile operators.

Services provided by the Symbian Professional Services teams include advanced technical support, techniques for enhancing performance, memory, and power, advanced error diagnosis and repair, and turnkey software development services that can be used in a range of technical environments.

Approximately 165 people will transfer to Accenture as a result of the agreement. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close by the end of third quarter 2009.

IPv6 the next big step for Internet in Asia

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA:Leading Internet experts from around the world are gathered in Kuala Lumpur to address one of the most important Internet developments currently underway in the region.

Led by the Internet Society, in collaboration with the Asia Pacific IPv6 Task Force and the Malaysian National Advanced IPv6 Centre of Excellence, the INET Asia Regional Conference has brought together influential regional and international experts from industry, government, the technical community, and the private sector under the theme “IPv6: The next step”.

Implementing IPv6 will ensure Internet-based services will continue to reach the ever-growing number of people around the world with access to the Internet. Until now, most of the Internet has used IPv4 addresses.

However, with the free pool of IPv4 expected to be depleted within a couple of years, the need to increase deployment of the far more abundant IPv6 addresses is growing everyday.

“The technical community has been pushing for the move to IPv6 for many years now,” explained Rajnesh Singh, manager of the Internet Society’s Regional Bureau for Asia.

“In the last year or so, the need to deploy IPv6 has become an issue that has received widespread media and public attention, and the level of awareness on IPv4 to IPv6 transition issues has now become mainstream.”

A high-level event such this highlights the potential for business, industry, and governments in this region to show strong leadership in the next stage of global IPv6 adoption and deployment.

During the event, diverse speakers will share critical knowledge and expertise on the business and economic perspectives of IPv6, future applications and services that can evolve and benefit from IPv6, and important IPv6 success stories from the region.

China Unicom chooses GyPSii for 3G mobile social networking

SALO, FINLAND & AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS: GeoSentric Oyj, developers of the award-winning GyPSii mobile social networking application announced its partnership with China Unicom’s Shanghai Unicom, to become the premier mobile social network solution for its new consumer 3G SNS Service, UniSpace.

From today, over 5 million Shanghai Unicom customers are able to download the GyPSii client directly on to their mobile device from the UniSpace website.

This roll out will expand to 130 + million subscribers in China. As part of the GyPSii community, UniSpace members can immediately start to create “geotagged” content for sharing in “real-time” with friends, family and the growing global community of GyPSii members.

The content that UniSpace members create becomes true Internet-searchable destinations and experiences, available for all GyPSii friends and communities across the globe to immediately find, share and comment on.

“GyPSii’s ability to deliver an all-in-one, location-aware mobile social networking experience is proving extremely popular in China, with people using the application to create and share content, as well as connect with each other across a range of networks and devices,” said Lu Dongliang, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Unicom.

“With its fast-growing community and unique, intuitive user experience, GyPSii was the natural choice as a mobile social networking partner. We expect the new UniSpace offering to play an important role in driving the success of our 3G Value Added Service.”

GyPSii uses various handset location technologies -– including GPS, A-GPS and cell ID -– to allow Shanghai Unicom customers to automatically tag their location with photos, video, status updates and other information, for sharing their experiences in real-time.

GyPSii is available for UniSpace customers to use on a wide range of mobile devices, including Java, Symbian and Windows Mobile phones. Further mobile platforms will follow shortly.

"After GyPSii and Shanghai Unicom's success working together during the Olympics in 2008, we are delighted to deepen this important relationship and open up GyPSii to the wider community of Unicom's millions of subscribers," said Dan Harple, Executive Chairman of GyPSii. “Our goal is to have GyPSii on the world's most popular networks and devices, for mobile consumers worldwide to use and enjoy in all the world's most popular regions.

"Shanghai Unicom is an important and valued partner. Their 3G leadership in China, coupled with GyPSii's seamless “create, share, connect” model, provides a valuable new mode of communicating for Shanghai Unicom users. Our partnership truly enables Shanghai Unicom customers to create a new “people powered index” using GyPSii on their powerful 3G network.

"We look forward to welcoming UniSpace customers as new GyPSii users, who will use the application to connect and share their mobile lives with others. This, in turn, will help Shanghai Unicom to acquire new 3G customers, retain existing subscribers and importantly boost revenues."

The GyPSii application is already available worldwide on a wide range of devices, including the Apple iPhone, Samsung, Nokia, LG and BlackBerry Smartphones. New users can download the application directly.