Apple reclaimed its position as the number one smartphone vendor in Q411, displacing Samsung following the launch of the iPhone 4S, according to figures from Strategy Analytics.

Strategy Analytics noted that for the full year 2011, Samsung was the market leader, with a share of 20 per cent – displacing long-term number one Nokia.

Nokia’s smartphone market share halved to 16 per cent from 33 per cent in 2010, due to “a lacklustre touchscreen smartphone portfolio and a limited presence in the huge United States market.”

For the market as a whole, 155 million smartphones were shipped in Q4, compared with 100.7 million in the same period in 2010. For the full year, 488.5 million devices shipped, compared with 299.5 million.

In the handset market as a whole, Nokia retained its number one spot in the fourth quarter, with a market share of 25.5 per cent, down from 30.9 per cent year-on-year. Samsung was in number two position, with a market share of 21.3 per cent, up from 20.2 per cent.

In the fourth quarter, 445 million handsets shipped, up from 400.1 million in the comparable period in 2010. Full year shipments were 1.55 billion, compared with 1.36 billion.

Nokia has reported a net loss of €1.07 billion (US$1.4 billion) for the fourth-quarter of the year as revenues also fell by 21 per cent to €10 billion. The company dropped into a loss due to a €1.1 billion impairment charge at its location services division.

Smartphone sales fell by 23 per cent compared to a year ago, but by less than analysts had expected.

"Overall, we are pleased with the performance of our mobile phones business, which benefited in Q4 from sequential double-digit percentage growth in our dual SIM business, with particular strength in India, Middle East and Africa and South East Asia," commented Stephen Elop, Nokia’s CEO.

He did highlight that there has been an acceleration in the "anticipated trend towards lower-priced smartphones with specifications that are different from Symbian’s traditional strengths." He warned therefore that the company will sell fewer Symbian devices than originally expected.

In Q411, Nokia received the first quarterly platform support payment of US$250 million from Microsoft. It in turn will have made unspecified payments for the Windows Phone OS licences and support services.

On a year-on-year basis, the decline in total Devices & Services volumes in the fourth quarter was driven by significantly lower smart device volumes. Nokia shipped 113.5 million mobile devices in Q4, down eight per cent year-on-year, and up six per cent sequentially.

Nokia Siemens Networks saw an operating profit of €67 million, compared to €1 million in the prior-year, on sales of €3.8 billion, down from €4 billion.

India’s Reliance Communications (RCom) is reported to have barred new entrant Etisalat DB from accessing its telecom towers, alleging that Etisalat DB has not paid its leasing fees on time.

"Despite repeated reminders, payments have been inordinately delayed by EDB (Etisalat DB) without any reasonable cause," an RCom spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires.

A spokesperson for Etisalat DB confirmed that the operator is facing network disruption across India beginning this weekend, but claimed this was due to a "technical issue beyond our control" rather than a direct result of RCom’s action.

Etisalat DB is a joint-venture between Etisalat and its local partner DB Realty, a real estate firm. The cellco is active in 15 of India’s 22 telecom service circles.
It entered into a 10-year deal worth about US$2.2 billion to use RCom’s towers infrastructure in 2009.

Ericsson today warned of short-term challenges as operators remained cautious with their spending plans, as a result of factors including macro-economic and political uncertainty.

The world’s leading telecom infrastructure vendor is already seeing the effects of this, with its fourth quarter profit falling by 66 per cent as spend shifted to lower margin projects. Net income fell to SEK1.5 billion (US$220 million) from SEK4.4 billion a year earlier, on revenue of SEK63.7 billion, up one per cent. Gross margin decreased to 30.2 per cent from 36.6 per cent.

In a statement, Hans Vestberg, president and CEO, said that the fourth quarter drop was a result of “weaker development in Networks, as well as an expected gross margin impact from a changed business mix with more coverage projects, modernisation projects in Europe, and a higher services share.”

The company noted pressure in North America and Russia, where there was slower operator spending after a period of high investments in capacity. It also noted increased cautiousness due to economic development and political unrest in some countries.

For the full year, net income increased by 12 per cent to SEK12.6 billion, on revenue of SEK226.9 billion, also up 12 per cent. During this period, software represented 23 per cent of sales, hardware 40 per cent, and services 37 per cent.

Ericsson also saw weaker results from its joint ventures, ST-Ericsson and Sony Ericsson. Ericsson is expected to complete the sale of its stake in Sony Ericsson to Sony imminently. Separately, ST-Ericsson has warned of tough times to come, as a result of reduced demand from a major customer.

Ericsson also noted that following the completion of its Telcordia acquisition, “we have also gained a leadership position and skilled people in the important areas of operating and business support systems.”

Batelco Group announced that it is investing JD50 million (US$70.47 million) to obtain a 3G licence in Jordan, via Umniah, its 96 per cent-owned subsidiary.

Umniah has obtained a 3G licence pursuant to paying JD50 million to the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) and will further invest towards infrastructure and network expenses related to the roll out during the next six months.

Umniah acquired 2.1 GHz of spectrum from the TRC, preparing it to move forward with the rollout of the 3.75G services to its growing customer base. Umniah currently serves more than 2.3 million customers in the kingdom, giving it a 31 per cent market share.

Scheduled to be launched nationwide between the second and third quarter of year 2012, Umniah’s 3.75G services will ensure fast and accurate transfer of data and will provide subscribers with instant multimedia services (MMS). Service deployment will take place via an Evolved High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA+) infrastructure. Umniah’s network is already 3G ready with more than 1500 sites prepared to deploy 3G services.

The cellco becomes the third in Jordan to launch 3G, after Orange Jordan and Zain.