Entries from July 2008 ↓

Prime intellectual property

vishwanarh

IMImobile is a global player in providing content and value added services (VAS) to mobile operators and is a pioneer of the managed services model in this space. Michelle Mills speaks with Vishwanath Alluri, founder and CEO of IMImobile about the exciting prospects for VAS and his company’s evolving business model

“Mobile advertising is a question of when and not if. It is at early stages right now, but advertising will definitely come in to subsidise the content delivery,” Vishwanath Alluri, IMImobile’s CEO states. “But right now, there is not a right advertisement model that is appealing to advertisers. The mobile phone is a personal device, if you are to exploit it you really need to personalise it.”

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Constrained by success

jordan

Jordan has one of the highest numbers of licensed communications providers per capita in the Middle East, and such a level of liberalisation has given way to its fair number of positives as well as its drawbacks. Despite its leadership position in the number of providers in the market, Jordan lags behind in the licensing and implementation of 3G services, though a process has finally commenced to rectify the situation

At the end of June a forum on mobile communications and 3G services was held in Amman, where Ahmad Hiasat, chairman of the board of commissioners and CEO of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) confirmed that the regulator is working on creating a suitable environment for the introduction of 3G services in the kingdom.

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Alcatel-Lucent bosses resign after string of losses

Speculation has already started over contenders to replace the chairman and CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, both of whom stepped down yesterday following the sixth successive quarterly loss for the distressed telecommunications vendor.

Alcatel lucent - Serge Tchuruk & Patricia Russo

Tchuruk and Russo resigned after the US$1.7 billion quarterly loss for Q208 was announced.

Chairman Serge Tchuruk and CEO Patricia Russo orchestrated the  takeover of US-based Lucent Technologies by French company Alcatel, but the combined company has never been as successful as the two lone entities. It has shed more than half of its market value since it started operating as Alcatel-Lucent in December 2006.

Considered the world’s largest supplier of fixed-line telecoms networks, it posted a second quarter loss of €1.1 billion (US$1.7 billion) to end-June, which trails a yearly loss of €3.5 billion in 2007 and €176 million in 2006. The stock price has fallen 63 per cent since January 2007.

There is suggestion that investors have been trying to oust the pair for months, and in May shareholders publicly criticised Tchuruk and Russo, approving measures that made it easier to remove them.

Tchuruk is set to leave operations on October 1, while Russo will stay until the end of the year when she will receive her €6 million (US$9.3 million) ‘golden handshake’.

“Serge and I think the company could benefit from new leadership,” Russo told analysts. “I am committed to ensuring a smooth transition.”

The equipment supplier has started to look for successors, most probably from outside the company and possibly from outside its two home countries.

India doubles broadband users in 15 months but no comparison to China

A report from India’s telecoms regulator shows broadband Internet users have almost doubled since April 2007 to reach 4.38 million subscribers end-June. However, the country’s figures pale in comparison to China’s whopping 202.4 million broadband users at the same period.

india computer lab crop The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said the number of Internet users with download speeds faster than 256Kbps increased 3.6 per cent from the previous month, up from 4.15 million.

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China Telecom to launch CDMA next March

China Telecom, the country’s largest fixed-line operator, said it would trial mobile services as early as October on the CDMA network it acquired from China Unicom in a  CNY110 billion (US$16.11 billion) deal.

China telecom

China Telecom said it would also invest CNY80 billion in upgrading the CDMA network over three years. It plans to launch commercial services in late March 2009 under the China Telecom brand, while China Unicom will continue to provide mobile services on its GSM networks.

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