Entries from July 2008 ↓

The Indian subcontinent’s swelling appetite for media-rich content and services is expected to propel operator-billed data revenues from US$3 billion in 2008 to more than US$8.3 billion in 2013, a new report from Juniper Research forecasts.

Mobile TV and music downloads in the region are forecast to add substantial data revenues over the next five years.

Entitled The Indian Subcontinent Report covering Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the study forecasts the region’s burgeoning population will bolster mobile user numbers, rising from 431 million in 2008 to nearly 740 million in 2013.

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Indian operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has delayed the opening of bids for its GSM tender until August, following receipt of 21,000 queries from vendors.

BSNL officials had placed a draft tender on the company website, with an estimated contract value of US$6.5 billion, but said the unprecedented number of queries had pushed the opening of bids back.

BSNL plans to add 100 million GSM subscribers by 2010.

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As previously reported in Comm., Egypt’s Orascom Telecom, controlled by billionaire Naguib Sawiris, yesterday announced it is part of a consortium to bring a new wireless operator to Canada, pending regulatory approval.

The consortium has provisionally won AWS (advanced wireless services) spectrum in Canada after submitting the highest bids on spectrum across every region of Canada except Quebec. The consortium is now awaiting final approval by Industry Canada.

The consortium’s bids for spectrum, which covers 79 per cent of Canada’s population, cost almost C$442 million.

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UAE-based Etisalat has surpassed regional competitor Zain Group as the fastest growing operator in the world, based on the number of proportionate subscribers.

According to Informa Telecoms & Media, Etisalat grew 106.41 per cent in Q108 compared to the previous quarter, achieving a proportionate mobile subscriber base of 24.2 million across its 16 markets.

Chairman Omran says Etisalat is on track to become one of the world’s largest operators by 2010.

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The phenomenal subscription growth across the Middle East over recent years has seen with it an acceleration in network rollout and coverage as operators rush to meet the capacity needs of their growing subscriber base.

Devine Kofiloto is a senior consultant with Teleplan Consulting.

The subsequent increase in voice traffic and the take-up of wireless broadband will see backhaul, transmission and core networks come under further strain. In a region where many of the operators do not have adequate wireline infrastructure in place to backhaul cellular traffic, this bottleneck will become all the more pronounced with the current focus on data centric networks and the move towards converged service offerings. Continue reading →