China Telecom will spend $11.7 billion the next three years to upgrade a CDMA network it’s acquiring from China Unicom. The network acquisition is part of China’s telecom reshuffling (CD June 5, p6). China Telecom said its initial outlays will be to upgrade networks in first-tier cities and to improve rural coverage. The company expects to start its mobile business in March and to have 100 million subscribers in three years.
Exports to China
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.
The number of cellphone users in China “increased drastically” in June, and fixed-line telephone users continued to fall, the government said. The ranks of broadband Internet users grew steadily during the month, by 1.6 million, to 76 million. China’s 957 million phone users include 601 million using cellphones, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said. Major Chinese telecom carriers had total sales of $58.5 billion, up 9.2 percent from a year earlier, it said. Fixed telecom asset investment was $16.7 billion in June, up 9.9 percent year over year.
STANFORD, Calif. -- The Verizon Wireless new open-mobile business unit’s head sees himself as an internal “insurgent, a competitor against the rest of the business.” But Anthony Lewis, vice president of open development, said late Wednesday that he’s in the catbird seat as the rest of the company scrambles to align with industry’s new openness. “I'm the lead dog,” he said at the AlwaysOn and STVP Summit at Stanford University. “They're chasing me.”
China Mobile’s 36.6 percent net growth in mobile subscribers in June from a year earlier beat Pali Research’s estimate by 278,000. The gain was paced by the prepaid business, China Mobile said. Growth in total subscribers accelerated for the 14th consecutive month to 24.7 percent, pushing the subscriber base over 400 million.
China Unicom’s June net subscriber additions were 1.090 million, down 29 percent from a year earlier and 409,000 below Pali Research’s estimate. It was China Unicom’s lowest figure since July 2006. The carrier’s GSM network added 1.074 million subscribers, 116,000 below Pali’s estimate, as post- and prepaid net additions didn’t meet expectations, Pali said. The CDMA network added 16,000 subscribers. The subscriber base was up 12.6 percent to 170.7 million at the end of June. Pali said China’s industry restructuring would have cut China Mobile’s market share, but “the distraction of the break-up of China Unicom” may improve its prospects.
China Unicom’s June net subscriber additions were 1.090 million, down 29 percent from a year earlier and 409,000 below Pali Research’s estimate. It was China Unicom’s lowest figure since July 2006. The carrier’s GSM network added 1.074 million subscribers, 116,000 below Pali’s estimate, as post- and prepaid net additions didn’t meet expectations, Pali said. The CDMA network added 16,000 subscribers. The subscriber base was up 12.6 percent to 170.7 million at the end of June. Pali said China’s industry restructuring would have cut China Mobile’s market share, but “the distraction of the break-up of China Unicom” may improve its prospects.
Sprint Nextel said it has withdrawn from the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance after the group endorsed long term evolution as the technology for 4G wireless. Sprint, a founding member, was disappointed that the group had dropped its “original technology-neutral stance,” a company spokesman said. He said Sprint still plans to turn on its WiMAX network in a few cities by September and expand service next year. Other founding members of the alliance were China Mobile, NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone, Orange, KPN and T-Mobile.
With the Beijing Olympics weeks away, China’s mobile TV lacks a key component: a satellite. A Chinese official said earlier that the mobile TV service based on its homegrown standard, China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting (CMMB), would be launched during the games. But with no satellite, launch of which has been delayed, the service is significantly hobbled.
Qualcomm is betting that not one but two device categories will emerge between cellphones and laptops, despite industry misfires, an executive said. As the company tries to reach beyond handsets with its Snapdragon chipset, it foresees the success not only of “pocket computing devices” with four to six inch displays -- always online and turned on, and carrying all of the owner’s personal information -- but also of “personal computing devices” whose seven to 12 inch displays easier to read, said Jim Clifford, senior vice president and general manager for operations at Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. There’s demand for ever-increasing resolutions, graphics and screen sizes, Clifford said Monday in San Francisco at the SEMI Market Symposium for the semiconductor industry. Snapdragon’s 1 GHz processor runs at less than 500 mW to “enable whole new categories of devices that we haven’t dealt with before,” he said. Communications and CE devices have replaced conventional computers in importance to the semiconductor industry, intensifying pressure to cut component costs and their power use, he said. Qualcomm chipset costs must fall 29 percent annually, compounded through 2014, in line with recent years’ patterns, Clifford said. The other needs are low power use, including on standby, small size and high performance, he said. To hit those marks, Qualcomm is depending on industry innovation in chip architecture, design and packaging, he said. The handset industry faces a margin squeeze as sales surge in India and China and entry-level prices sag as low as $20, Clifford said. In 2012, the largest number of phones being sold, around 600 million, will cost about that price, he said. “The place where you can still make money” will be smartphones, which will sell about 500 million units at around $300 each in 2012, Clifford said. A middle tier of enhanced-feature phones will run about $100, he said. A big challenge for Qualcomm is persuading foundries to spend to expand capacity despite doubts that the accompanying demand will appear, Clifford said. “The macroeconomics are working in the wrong direction… We just have to find a way to share the wealth so we both make money.”