Setting the table for a merger unlikely to see much regulatory interference, Lucent and Alcatel shareholders both approved their companies’ $10.8 billion takeover deal at shareholder meetings last week, though by slimmer than expected margins in both cases. The merger will allow the new AlcatelLucent to move into the emerging markets sector, where most of the revenue growth has been this year; the intense state of competition in a highly consolidated telecom and equipment market probably means the new company won’t face significant regulatory challenges, at least in the U.S., one analyst said.
Exports to China
Cellular connections worldwide hit 2.5 billion Wed., reported Wireless Intelligence, a venture of Ovum and GSM. “The cellular industry took 20 years to reach 1 billion connections, 3 years to reach 2 billion connections, and is on target to reach its 3rd billion in a period of just over 2 years,” said Wireless Intelligence Dir. Martin Garner. In the 4 quarters to the end of Sept., world additions totalled 484 million, 41% in Asia Pacific. Eastern Europe and Latin America together accounted for 30% of growth, Africa 10% and remaining European, Middle East and N. American markets 20%. Most growth is in emerging markets such as China and India.
China Voice Holding Corp. will acquire DTNet Technologies, a provider of broadband, VoIP and wireless products. The company, which provides VoIP, office automation and wireless products and services in China, said DTNet CEO Bill Burbank will become CEO of the merged company. No terms were given.
Strong growth of fixed line, broadband and mobile is expected in Chinese telecom, Research & Markets said. Chinese fixed line subscribers will reach 425 million by 2009, growing 4% annually the next 3 years. China’s broadband subscribers will grow to 101 million by 2009, at 21% a year, the report said. By 2010, China will have nearly 200 million more mobile subscribers, the report said.
The “elephant” China Mobile will still “run fast” in coming months, said new chmn. Wang Zianzhou in his first interview with international media since taking over. He said market demand is so overwhelming the company is poised to match its enormous growth of recent quarters, especially as China Mobile looks to expand into rural regions. Wang said data services will continue to increase revenue for existing urban users.
A “darknet” Web service that lets users share music files anonymously launched in Sweden. The Relakks service allows users to send and receive files through a heavily- encrypted connection. It’s the first commercial darknet -- a virtual network set up to share files between trusted users. The service is endorsed by Sweden’s Pirate Party, competing in elections on a platform of remaking copyright. A darknet is a cordoned-off, anonymous section of the Internet where users chat and swap data. Usually they're confined to small, tight-knit groups such as hackers who use the secure connections to distribute information and hacking tools. Many are invitation-only services, and would-be members must upload material to qualify for full access. Similar identity-hiding tools such as Tor are used by dissidents in countries like China to avoid persecution for Web activities. Previous attempts to launch large-scale anonymous networks, such as Nullsoft’s Waste program, have been unsuccessful. After its release in 2003, Waste was removed from distribution by Nullsoft’s parent company, AOL. The Swedish system works by giving a user’s computer a new IP address, the unique number the machine uses to identify itself and communicate with other machines over the Internet. Relakks users appear to have Swedish IP addresses, no matter where they are in the world, and in theory their locations can’t be traced. Users can share files, like music or films. File sharing and copyright law are divisive in Sweden. Until recently the country was a hotbed of piracy, where films, music and software were readily swapped online. Last year, Sweden outlawed unauthorized downloading of copyrighted movies and music.
PacificNet’s Q2 revenue grew 57% year-over-year to $19.3 million, company officials said. Net income grew 61% to $952,000. Company officials attribute the success to a focus on acquisitions that will raise the share price long term. PacificNet has invested in 10 companies that serve China’s CRM, IVR and e-commerce markets. This year PacificNet became Nokia’s sole authorized provider for Nokia’s online store in China.
China Telecom may buy Unicom’s Chinese CDMA network, according to Chinese press reports Thurs. The Ming Pao Daily News said China Telecom is looking to expand its CDMA presence but the decision is up to the Chinese govt.
Rumors of lagging handset demand in Asia are exaggerated, Citigroup analysts said, briefing from the company’s “Asia Tour.” None companies Citigroup spoke with, multinational or local, said they knew of any inventory increases. Also, the bank said, Motorola is poised to increase market share in all but China’s top-tier markets, mostly because local vendors, which have high market share, “don’t have either the cost structure or financial strength to use pricing as a longer-term tool to prevent share loss.” The blend of general progress toward TDS-CDMA and China Mobile’s leading position for that license means the company should emerge as the top tier leader there, Citigroup said.
Geneva - A raft of new NGN (Next Generation Networks) specifications and reference materials will enter ITU’s 4-week approval process in August. If approved, they will set the stage in the fall and 2007 for the next array of global NGN standards under development.