WCA March 2007

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Telecom News
26 Wire & Cable ASIA – March/April 2007
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analyst, European VoIP. “While
some companies remain static, with
traditional voice strategies, others
are forging ahead into new areas of
converged communications, seeking
newer services and service providers.”
Each year, IDC conducts a WAN
Manager Survey, interviewing European
enterprises to gauge their attitudes
toward communications.
Fuller information may be obtained
from the website
or from Ms Wall in Amsterdam at
Short takes . . .
In a bid to save money on GSM
rollouts in emerging markets,
Motorola of the US is turning to
local manufacturing of GSM (global
system for mobile communications)
products to be supplied to local
mobile operators currently engaged
in network buildouts.
As reported by Chee Sing
Chan from the International
Telecommunication Union ‘Telecom
World 2006’ Show in Hong Kong
(4th-8th December), Motorola will
begin production in India of its
Reach Strongbox, an outdoor
enclosure for the company’s
Horizon II macro base transceiver
station (BTS).
Phased production of 1,300 unit
shipments has begun and will serve
major mobile carriers in India. The
strategy is expected to ensure
lower production costs and lower
duties and taxes.
The company’s intention is ulti-
mately to lower rollout costs for
operators in emerging markets, with
China and Africa included during
the course of 2007.
China’s own technology for
3G mobile phones is ready for
large-scale commercial use, a
Financial Times article reported on
5th December.
Citing an Agence France-Presse
report, the London-based news-
paper quoted Chinese telecom
equipment maker ZTE as saying
that equipment based on the
Beijing-backed TD-SCDMA stan-
dard for 3G telecoms services
could now compare with that of
the rival European-led W-CDMA
standard and the US-favoured
cdma2000.
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Commercial readiness for China’s
TD-SCDMA technology could
clear the way for Beijing to issue
long-awaited 3G licences to home
telecom operators, the FT said.
ZTE president Yin Yimin was
quoted as saying, “Now it is up to
the state and the operators.”
Swisscom AG will repurchase a
25% stake in Swisscom Mobile
from Britain’s Vodafone Group Plc
for $3.5 billion.
The deal will enable Swisscom,
which is majority held by the
government of Switzerland, to
strengthen its domestic position.
Swisscom has sought to retrench at
home after a surprise government
decision a year before blocking
major foreign takeovers.
The British mobile giant said it
expected to record a gain on the
sale of approximately $195 million
for the year ending 31st March
2007.
Vodafone acquired the 25% holding
in Swisscom Mobile in early 2001
not long after the height of the
telecoms boom, but recently has
been shedding stakes to focus on
its core western European markets
and expand in emerging markets.
Last August, it sold its 25% stake
in Belgium’s Proximus to partner
Belgacom for $2.63 billion. Before
that, it had sold its struggling
Japanese business.
The electronics maker Vtech
Holdings said that telephone sales
in the US have sent its profits
soaring. For the first half of its
2006 fiscal year the Hong Kong
company posted a $65.8 million net
profit – some 42% higher than in
the corresponding period of 2005.
Sales rose 27.1%, to $713.8 million,
from $561 million in the year-earlier
period.
The advance reflected a rebound
in cordless phone sales in the US.
But with so much of its growth
concentrated there, Vtech said it
sees the wisdom of diversification.
The company will build a new
factory in Dongguan, China,
for contract manufacturing for
Japanese clients, among others.
Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom Co
plans to spend nearly $4 billion over
the next five years to upgrade its
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telecom networks and build a new
undersea cable system, Chairman
Ho Chen Tan said on 3rd January.
The spending plans were in place
before the earthquake off Taiwan’s
southern coast in late December
damaged data transmission cables,
disrupting telephone and Internet
links within Asia and between China
and the US.
The island’s largest communications
company said it is earmarking
around $2.1 billion for its mobile
network. It will also spend around
$1.88 billion on upgrading its
fixed-line network by replacing
the existing copper lines with fibre
optic cables, Mr Ho said.
Chunghwa Telecom is working with
Verizon Communications Inc, of
the US, and four Asian operators
to build a $500 million trans-Pacific
undersea cable system linking the
US and China.
Shares of China Netcom, the
smaller of Hong Kong’s two fixed-
line telephone operators, fell
as much as 7% on a report on
8th January that the company
may scale back its businesses in
Shanghai and Guandong.
The South China Morning Post
reported that China Netcom may
sell assets in the two areas back
to its parent, which currently owns
most of Netcom’s southern China
business.
As noted by Janet Ong in China
Daily (9th January), a withdrawal by
Netcom would indicate a failure
to weaken China Telecom’s
dominance in the southern regions
of the country. In Shanghai and
Guangdong, which have about
47 million fixed-line users, China
Telecom has an estimated 95%
market share.
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