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Telecomnews
Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2012
Even so, wrote Ms Field, at least
800,000 of the terminals were in use
when the system was closed down,
and income from Minitel connections
in 2011 was $38 million.
“Today it is hard to imagine the
revolution that was the Minitel,”
wrote Ms Field on njherald.co.nz. “In
terms of ease of information, it was
the equivalent of gaining access to
electricity after gas lamps. (“France
Unplugs Wizardly Minitel,” 3rd July).
Mobile broadband
subscribers will total
2.6 billion by 2016, with the
greatest gains in Russia,
India, China and Brazil
Infonetics Research on 15th June
released excerpts from its latest “Total
Fixed and Mobile Subscribers Pivot,”
a report on market size which includes
a forecast through 2016.
From its headquarters in Campbell,
California, the market research firm
tracks some 40 categories of wireline
broadband, wireline voice, mobile,
wireless, mobile broadband, video,
IMS, and WiMAX subscriber.
According to Stéphane Téral, principal
analyst for mobile infrastructure
and carrier economics at Infonetics,
the number of mobile broadband
subscribers jumped nearly 50 per cent
in 2011 to 846 million; and that total is
expected to reach 2.6 billion by 2016,
driven by Brazil, Russia, India, China,
and others in the developing world.
Mr Téral wrote: “We anticipate Asia
Pacific to account for over half of the
world’s mobile broadband subscribers
by 2016, while Latin America will see
the fastest growth.”
These are the highlights of the
Infonetics report:
✆ ✆ Total mobile subscribers —
including GSM, W-CDMA, LTE,
TD-CDMA, cdmaOne, and
CDMA2000 – are forecast to pass
the 6 billion mark in 2012, and to
approach 7 billion by 2016
✆ ✆ In some countries the number
of mobile subscribers already
surpasses the population: eg,
Finland, many of whose citizens
have both personal and work
phones
✆ ✆ More than 200 million traditional
voice access lines are expected
to be dropped over the next five
years as people continue to “cut
the cord” to their landlines
✆ ✆ China Mobile, Vodafone and
América Móvil are the world’s top
mobile operators by number of
subscribers
✆ ✆ The number of LTE subscribers is
forecast to approach 450 million
by 2016
✆ ✆ Despite some subscriber migration
to TD-LTE, WiMAX subscribers
are expected to grow at a 35 per
cent compound annual growth rate
through 2016, when they will top
132 million
✆ ✆ DSL continues to grow despite
competition from cable, FTTH,
and LTE, with DSL subscribers
accounting for over two-thirds of all
wireline broadband subscriptions in
2011
Elsewhere in telecom . . .
✆ ✆ “Now that the reserve price
has been set for Thailand’s
long-awaited 3G auction, all
eyes are on the issue of foreign
dominance, which threatens
to derail October’s auction.”
According to Don Sambandaraksa,
reporting in Telecom Asia (2 nd
July), under the previous National
Telecommunications Commission
a foreign dominance law (FDN)
notification empowered the Thai
regulator to impose penalties
and revoke licenses on national
security grounds. Non-compliance
might be deduced even from the
personal character of a CEO, or
management diversity within the
foreign company.
But apparently the revised FDN
is itself problematic. Thailand
holds foreign telecommunications
business shareholding to a
maximum of 49 per cent. The
FDN now looks in much greater
detail into the shell companies
popular with foreign investors, to
the extent that invoking it could
push the two largest players in
the 3G auction over the 49 per
cent limit. Mr Sambandaraksa
wrote: “AIS is 49 per cent owned
by [Singapore’s] SingTel. DTAC
is 49 per cent owned by Telenor
[of Norway]. Only TrueMove is
comfortably away from being
majority foreign-owned by that
measure.”
✆ ✆ Having confirmed plans to upgrade
around 7,500 cell sites over the
next 12 months as part of a
network improvement programme,
the Australian operator Telstra
suggested that it could offer
advanced LTE services over the
900MHz and 1,800MHz bands.
Australia’s largest telecom by
subscribers — and its first mobile
network operator to introduce
commercial LTE services —
currently uses the 900MHz band
for its 2G voice services. As
reported by TeleGeography (3rd
July), Australian sources believe
that Telstra may be seeking
to maintain its technological
edge with respect to Optus and
Vodafone Hutchison Australia
(VHA), both having unveiled
plans to enter the 4G arena
commercially.
In separate news, Optus revealed
that its wholly owned MVNO (mobile
virtual network operator) Virgin
Mobile Australia is expected to
offer LTE services before the end
of 2012. As previously reported
by CommsUpdate, Optus in May
2012 reiterated that it plans a
commercial launch of 4G services,
with an extension of those services to
Brisbane and Adelaide in the first half
of 2013.
✆ ✆ Kenya’s communications ministry
has given its approval to the
ending of analogue broadcasting
in the East African country. As
planned, the capital city of Nairobi
will have gone dark — as far as
analogue TV is concerned — at
the end of August, followed by the
coastal region of Mombasa and
then Kisumu. Information minister
Bitange Ndemo said the process
would be complete by the end
of the year. As reported by Chris
Forrester of Advanced Television
Ltd (3rd July), Kenya already has
two digital signal distributors:
Signet, which is a subsidiary
of state-owned broadcaster
KBC; and Pan African Group.
The country in April adopted
DVB-T2 technology, chosen for its
improved spectral efficiency.
Dorothy Fabian
Fetures Editor