Two “fundamental changes” in technology could underlie future regulatory policy, Martin Rofheart, an executive of Freescale Semiconductor, told the FCBA audience Sat.: The “cellphone as a 3rd screen” and the emergence of China with its closed standards. On cellphones, there will be 3 kinds of services, each with its own DRM and other issues, Rofheart said: (1) A broadcast model offering “things everyone wants to buy” such as the World Series, election coverage and the World Cup. (2) Narrowcasting such as local sports coverage. (3) Personalized items such as e-mail, Google searches, maps, which is where “the industry is now, more personalized.” He said he expects all 3 categories to be “driven by commercial content because networks have to be paid for.” On China, Rofheart said its closed standards might seem bad to some but there’s a “subset of people who see opportunity to align with that and provide innovative content.”
Exports to China
TIA’s largest companies now do most of their business overseas, a central reason for the group’s split from Supercomm and focus on global markets at the upcoming Globalcomm show, Pres. Matthew Flanigan told Communications Daily Mon. Despite greater Hill interest in the event than ever, Flanigan said, it’s the recent trend toward deregulation that has allowed the manufacturing sector to thrive and expand to new markets. He also identified increased competition to the traditional Bells as a reason for an upswing in business among TIA’s members.
Qualcomm Wed. hiked its Q3 earnings forecast based on more demand for low-end cell chips and high-end wireless technology. The manufacturer upped its revenue estimate to 38-40 cents per share, up 2 cents from earlier projections. Most of the company’s growth is coming from China and India, it said. Investment firm Lazard Capital Markets ranked the company a “BUY,” saying the raised earnings projections are a “hard act to follow.” It noted concern about 6 competitors in Europe and the U.S. suing Qualcomm for unfair business practices.
Three trends will reshape the media business in the connected society, Nitin Desai, special asst. to the UN Secy.-Gen., said Wed.: The world’s shift in economic balance from developed to developing nations; more people exercising democratic rights; and emergence of new networking technologies. Real change will come from the Internet’s increasingly communitarian nature, Desai said at We Media 2006 London. The challenge is finding a business model that combines established media professionalism with the Web’s collaborative potential, he added.
Ultra-wideband (UWB) chipmaker Alereon, which predicts UWB could have a breakthrough year in 2006, plans to ask the FCC for permission to transmit at higher power levels at the upper ends of the radio spectrum. Alereon, perhaps in tandem with other UWB firms, plans to ask the FCC to revisit parts of its UWB rules, Alereon CEO Eric Broockman told us. But any proposal for higher power levels for UWB is likely to be controversial.
Shin Satellite and China Satellite Communications (China Satcom) will launch iPSTAR satellite broadband services in China with an eye to drawing a million broadband customers, Shin said. The first iPSTAR gateway, under construction in Beijing, should be working by May, Shin said. Gateways are planned for Shanghai and Guangzhou, they said. China Satcom wants to tap iPSTAR for satellite-based broadband leased lines, virtual private networks, and telephony, data and multimedia services for corporate customers in China, it said. Shin Satellite launched the iPSTAR craft in mid-2005 to provide satellite IP services in the Asia-Pacific region.
Questionable laws and rules bar satellite firms from pursuing market share in dozens of nations, the Satellite Industry Assn. (SIA) said last week. SIA spoke in response to a 2005 Congressional request for a list of nations that sap satellite competition. The FCC is compiling data for a report to Congress on satellite market competition, mandated by a 2005 ORBIT Act amendment. Satellite competitors responded to the query by accusing one another, terrestrial competitors and unnamed foreign nations of anticompetitive behavior -- though EchoStar was blunt enough to take a shot at Canada.
Texas Instruments (TI) reported a 23% year-over-year revenue increase for Q1. 3G mobile handset sales and higher demand for low-end handsets in poor countries were largely responsible, the company said. TI said 3G chip revenue doubled this quarter. A company executive said sales in China, India, Brazil and Russia are surprisingly strong.
Nokia said it will upgrade it wireless R&D in Chengdu, China this week, trying to integrate further into the Chinese market. The govt. soon will issue 3G wireless licenses and carriers will need manufacturers that meet Chinese standards.
TiVo’s court win over EchoStar may exert little immediate impact on it, since an appeal is likely and another courtroom showdown looms, analysts and CE industry officials said.