India’s Supreme Court yesterday quashed an appeal by several local operators calling for it to review its controversial decision two months ago to cancel a swathe of 2G licences.

The review had been requested by operators Uninor, Sistema Shyam, Idea Cellular, Etisalat DB, S-Tel, Tata Teleservices and Videocon, which were among the players affected by the court’s decision to revoke 122 regional licences.

The court ruled in February that the award of these licences in 2008 had been “totally arbitrary and unconstitutional.” The administration at the time – led by disgraced former telecom minister A Raja – is accused of selling-off the 2G licences on a first-come-first served basis and potentially costing the country the billions it would have made if it had conducted a competitive bidding auction.

The order gave the affected networks four months to wind down operations, and some foreign investors – including Etisalat, Batelco and Telenor – have already announced they are exiting the market.

Chinese telecom technology supplier Huawei is reported to have overtaken Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) as the second-largest wireless infrastructure company in the world in terms of sales in the final quarter of 2011, according to ABI Research.

Huawei sold US$2.53 billion worth of equipment, up 54 per cent on the previous quarter and 38 per cent compared to the same quarter a year ago.

In contrast, NSN managed to generate US$2.4 billion in equipment sales during the same period.

NSN recently shifted its focus to mobile broadband as part of a major restructure which has seen it spin off a number of non-core business divisions and cut 17,000 jobs “to improve our profitability and cash generation.”
ABI Research said most technology suppliers finished the calendar year strongly, with Ericsson continuing to lead the way with US$3.5 billion in wireless equipment sales for the period.

However, the fourth quarter was weaker in terms of wireless equipment sales in general, compared to 2010.

Sony Mobile has announced that Sony Corporation’s corporate executive officer and executive VP Kunimasa Suzuki will become its new president and CEO from May 16.

Suzuki will replace Bert Nordberg who headed up the business during its transition from Sony Ericsson to Sony Mobile following Ericsson’s exit from the handset joint venture, first announced last October. Nordberg becomes chairman of the Sony Mobile Communications board.

It was announced that Suzuki would assume responsibility for planning and design of all of Sony’s consumer products and services and to drive the horizontal integration of different product lines. The mobile business has been identified by Sony as one of its core electronics business areas.

Suzuki will continue in his Sony Corporation roles alongside his responsibility for the mobile division, and will be based in Lund, Sweden and Tokyo. Yoshihisa Ishida and Kristian Tear will continue as deputy CEO and executive VP of sales and marketing for Sony Mobile, respectively.

Suzuki reiterated Sony Mobile’s plan to focus exclusively on smartphones in 2012.

Bharti Airtel is on track to become the country’s first 4G operator, with plans to switch on a TD-LTE network later this month.

CEO Sanjay Kapoor said the operator’s first 4G network will go live in Kolkata – with launches to follow soon after in Maharashtra, Punjab and Karnataka, reports The Hindu Business Line.

The operator acquired 20MHz of Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum in the four circles during auctions in 2010, paying INR33.14 billion (US$650 million) for the licences.

It is working with various vendors on the rollout. It is thought that ZTE will handle build-out in the Kolkata circle, though Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks are understood to have been signed up in the other three circles.

Although Bharti looks set to be the first to launch, there are a number of other players that also acquired the BWA spectrum suitable for TD-LTE.

Chief among these is Reliance Industries, which is planning a pan-Indian TD-LTE rollout after having secured spectrum across the country, spending over US$2.5 billion at auction two years ago. Other TD-LTE players due to launch soon include Tikona Digital Networks, Augere and Qualcomm.

However, take-up of 4G services in India is currently hamstrung by the high cost of compatible devices.

According to Wireless Intelligence, with an average retail price of US$500, the cost of an LTE smartphone is four times the average monthly GDP per capita in India, and at an average of US$200, the retail price of an LTE USB dongle is twice an Indian’s monthly income on average.

Ericsson announced the completion of its acquisition of BelAir Networks, a North American carrier-grade Wi-Fi company. This acquisition gives Ericsson a strong carrier-grade Wi-Fi portfolio, technological expertise, IPR, and established customer contracts and relationships.

The closing follows the announcement on February 21, 2012 that Ericsson had entered into an agreement to acquire 100 per cent of the shares in BelAir Networks.

"We are gaining BelAir Networks’ leading position in carrier-grade Wi-Fi equipment both in terms of installed base and product portfolio. By integrating BelAir Networks’ talented people and these new assets into Ericsson’s mobile infrastructure leadership, we will accelerate the integration of Wi-Fi and cellular technologies and strengthen our heterogeneous network (hetnet) offering," said Johan Wibergh, executive VP and head of business unit Networks, Ericsson.

"We welcome BelAir Networks’ 120 employees to Ericsson. Together we can deliver the industry’s first integrated Wi-Fi cellular offering to Ericsson’s global customer base in 180 countries, to enhance consumers’ mobile broadband experience," continued Wibergh.

The former BelAir Networks’ staff will be integrated into the Ericsson group in business unit Networks over the coming months and will work under the Ericsson brand effective April 2. Ericsson is committed to ongoing evolution of BelAir Networks’ former customer networks and the assurance of a seamless business transition.