WCA March 2012

Microsoft of the US to meet technical standards in expectation of both a China and a US launch in the first half of 2012. There are also plans for a Lumia rollout in Malaysia and Indonesia before the end of the year. Nokia’s ambitions for its Lumia 800 handset proceed from an extraordinarily strong debut in the Netherlands and France. KPN, the largest Dutch mobile carrier, reported that the 800 was its best-selling phone as of 6 th December. This is especially remarkable in light of the brisk sales continuously reported for the new Apple iPhone 4S. Anticipating high Lumia demand, Nokia is expected to increase orders to its suppliers by as much as 20 per cent in 2012. DigiTimes on 7 th December reported that the Taiwanese keypad and metal chassis maker Silitech saw its consolidated revenues grow 6.8 per cent to $44.33 million in the year through November, credited by sources to orders for aluminium- magnesium alloy chassis from Nokia. ✆ IntoMobile’s George Tinari observed that Nokia and its suppliers are not the only ones expecting to benefit from the Lumia 800. Constrained by its hardware, Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system (OS) has attracted relatively few users. By increasing the “install base” of the Windows Phone, Lumia is heightening customer awareness. Wrote Mr Tinari: “Mango added a high level of polish to the OS, so Microsoft definitely deserves the attention.” ✆ There are remarkable similarities between the Lumia 800 and another of Nokia’s smartphones: the N9, also unveiled late last year. The salient difference between the two devices lies in their operating systems. As noted by nvonews. com (January 5 th ), otherwise they are “two machines with the same dimensions [and] almost the same weight, screen size, and form factor.” The Northern Indian news blog pointed out that, while Lumia 800 is Nokia’s first phone with Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, the N9 may be one of the last phones from Nokia with its own MeeGo OS.

China Telecommunications Corp, the nation’s largest fixed-line phone company, plans to expand into more European markets after inaugurating its first overseas wireless service in the United Kingdom. As reported by Bloomberg News , the managing director for China Telecom Europe, Ou Yan, said that the service, aimed at Chinese residents, will begin in the UK by the end of March and expand to Germany and France if it is successful. There are two million Chinese living in western Europe, according to Liu Changhai, the China Telecom executive responsible for regional development. The company’s initiative in the UK will target the more than half-million Chinese citizens living there, as well as the tourists expected to flock to the Olympic Games in London in June. (Itself London-based, China Telecom Europe is a subsidiary of the state-owned parent company but is not part of the publicly traded China Telecom Corporation.) “Our target customers are the Chinese communities,” Mr Liu said in an emailed response to questions from Bloomberg . “We are exploring a new market.” (“China Telecom May Expand to France, Germany After UK,” 5 th January). Mr Liu said his company will become the first Chinese operator to start a mobile virtual network outside China. The UK service is to run on the network of Everything Everywhere, a joint venture of France Telecom SA and Deutsche Telekom AG. China Telecom will lease the capacity from Everything Everywhere. Bloomberg ’s Jonathan Browning and Edmond Lococo noted that intensifying competition in China has led domestic companies including China United Network Communications Group Co to cut international roaming fees by as much as 90 per cent. The reporters were told by Neil Juggins, a Hong Kong-based analyst at JI Asia Research Ltd, that setting up a mobile virtual network will help China Telecom, the nation’s third-largest wireless carrier, to compete on international roaming rates with China United. China Telecom’s wireless service ranks behind China Mobile Ltd and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd in the world’s largest mobile market by users. From data supplied by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China had 975 million mobile subscribers at the end of November 2011. The nation is believed to have recently overtaken the US as the world’s largest smartphone market. A China Telecom plan to expand into western Europe hinges on an initial success in the United Kingdom

Nokia entertains vaulting ambitions for its Lumia 800 smartphone Nokia Corp, the world’s largest mobile phone maker by volume, is tackling technical hurdles in China ahead of a launch there of its new Lumia 800 with Windows Phone 7.5 Mango. According to Dow Jones Newswire (7 th December), a Singapore-based executive of the Finnish company confirmed a working relationship with

Of related interest . . . ✆ A new study by the London-based media communications services company WPP identified China Mobile as the most valuable Chinese brand, with an estimated brand worth of over $53.6 billion. The WPP report had China Telecom and China Unicom in 11 th and 15 th place, respectively. China Telecom’s brands are worth an estimated $10.86 billion; China Unicom’s, $6.25 billion.

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Wire & Cable ASIA – March/April 2012