China Unicom Chairman Xiao-Bing Chang will keep his job after the company merges with China Netcom, Unicom said. The combined company will have 259 million subscribers and 170,000 wireless base stations, it said. It affirmed that 2009 capital spending on wireless will be $15 billion, most to develop 3G. China has yet to issue 3G licenses, but Unicom expects to be awarded a license once the merger is completed, it said.
Exports to China
Entertainment-themed Web sites are the most popular with mobile Internet users in Brazil, Russia, India, China and other emerging markets, Nielsen said. In North America and Europe, weather, news and search are the favorite categories, it said. Mobile Internet users keep multiplying, Nielsen said. The U.S. leads in mobile Web use with 15.6 percent penetration, followed by the U.K., Italy and Russia, it said. Mobile fills “an important access gap” where online access isn’t readily available, it said. The arrival of mobile data services will have “a tremendous positive impact” on emerging markets, Nielsen said.
By 2012, more than 12 million Chinese will have 3G handsets using the TD-SCDMA standard developed there, said EJL Wireless Research. It said 13 percent of 3G handset orders from China have been to foreign suppliers. China expects mass production of TD-SCDMA handsets to bring prices to within competitive range of similar products, it said. China has yet to issue 3G licenses.
Nokia is seeing continued growth in Latin America, said Avian Securities analyst Matt Thornton. The manufacturer will see sequential growth in China now that earthquake disruption has ended and communications spending is rising during the Beijing Olympics, he said. Nokia’s European market is “a mixed bag,” with weakness in Spain and the U.K. and better performance in Eastern Europe, Italy and Germany, he said.
Motorola won multiple contracts worth $431 million with China Mobile for its GSM network upgrades and expansion, it said. Motorola will supply China Mobile with GSM network gear and varied services. China Mobile will deploy the upgraded GSM networks across 16 provinces and municipalities, Motorola said. Chinese operators are undergoing one of the most “critical changes in history” as Chinese telecom restructures, said Motorola China President Ruey-Bin Kao.
Inmarsat’s proposed takeover of Stratos Global Communications differs from the suggested acquisition of Inmarsat by SkyTerra Communications and Harbinger because “it is a done deal,” Inmarsat CEO Andrew Sukawaty said in an interview. Inmarsat recently asked the FCC to approve its eventual takeover of Stratos Global Communications, making the request almost a year before the acquisition could close due to a ban on Inmarsat owning its distributors (CD July 16 p13).
Miranda Technologies will provide signal processing and monitoring gear to NBC during coverage of the Olympic games in China, Miranda said. The terms weren’t disclosed.
Foreigners at the Beijing Olympics can rent 3G handsets from China Mobile, Guo-Hua Xi, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MII) said on a conference call. China Mobile will offer 20,000 3G handsets for rent during the games, it said. China has not adopted WCDMA or CDMA 2000, 3G standards popular worldwide, so guests in China can’t use 3G mobile phones, Xi said. Queried on mobile network stability during the games, Xi said “temporary congestions” could occur use spikes, but a system collapse is highly unlikely. MII and Beijing metro authorities are collaborating to offer mobile services for subway passengers, he said.
GENEVA -- The collapse of World Trade Organization talks last week left market-opening gains in telecom, computer and computer-related services on the table. Trade officials are now struggling to find ways to avoid losing ground after seven years of talks. “We would definitely like to preserve the progress that has been made,” said John Goyer, vice president of international trade negotiations and investment at the U.S. Coalition of Service Industries. Coalition members include AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner, Microsoft, CompTIA, Oracle, IBM, EDS, Discovery and the Global Information Infrastructure Commission.
Nokia will pump $150 million more into venture capital arm Nokia Growth Partners to invest in Chinese and Indian consumer Internet markets. The company plans to set up direct operations in China and India and seek local partners, she said. Likely targets include companies creating innovative mobile applications and services that encourage rapid adoption of mobile solutions, such as context- and location-based services, mobile banking and advertising, entertainment and music, the company said. Nokia’s venture finance commitments exceed $900 million, it said. The move reflects Nokia’s aim of pushing into the mobile Internet market, Global Insight analyst Jing Li said. She predicts that Nokia will search for start-ups in the two countries with technologies that match Nokia Internet market aims. Mobile-device makers have tended in recent years to set up venture funds, Li said. Research In Motion set up a $150 million fund with partners to invest in companies creating software for the BlackBerry. Apple has a $100 million iFund to develop iPhone and iPod applications.