European Markets

Moldovan operator goes for high definition voice

Ian Channing — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:37:32 -0400

In pursuit of its high definition (HD) voice strategy, Orange has upgraded the voice sound quality on its Moldovan network to support the WB-AMR codex. This step follows the launch of a high-definition voice service for VoIP calls in 2006.

Over 500,000 Livephone devices have already been sold in France and the range will be extended to Orange operators in other countries over the coming months. The first mobile phone with high-definition voice capability that will be launched by Orange Moldova is the Nokia 6720c.

Orange plans to quickly extend the range of HD voice-compatible mobile handsets across Europe. It will be introducing HD voice services to the UK and Belgium markets by the end of 2010 and believes that these handsets will represent the majority of the 3G handsets sold within five years. Orange will also continue its plans to roll out HD VoIP in other European markets such as Poland and Spain.

For more on this story go to Cellular News

Vodafone: Losing market share, drops Live! branding

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:19:29 -0400

Vodafone is losing share in three of its four main European markets according to the Swiss bank UBS, which has downgraded its rating of the mobile phone giant. The bank maintains that Vodafone's KPIs are likely to show deterioration across the board, with the European businesses seeing a revenue decline of 5.5 per cent.

To rectify this decline in market share, UBS believes that Vodafone will need to cut prices or increase promotional expenditure, with the latter flying in the face of management's stated aim of reducing the cost base.

However, Morgan Stanley is more upbeat, believing there is a reasonable chance that Vodafone's first quarter forms the low point of the current decline, or at least that the second quarter records a figure comparable to the first, with less negative quarters ahead.

Meanwhile, Vodafone has announced that it plans to dump its Live! brand after spending around €150 million promoting it since it was launched in 2002 across Europe. The company said it plans to replace Live! (which has 18 million UK subscribers) with an open and customisable mobile internet portal dubbed My Web that will be progressively deployed this summer in 11 international markets.

Simon Ryder, marketing planning manager at Vodafone, said, "We've proven via Vodafone Live that people love our services. It's about making them easier to use. Our subscribers say time is important to them and anything which increases efficiency is a good thing. They also say Live! is great but it would be better if they were able to personalise it more."

The shift forms part of the launch of the Vodafone Homescreen user interface, which also includes the launch of the Vodafone Apps Shop. This features around 60 apps from providers including AOL, BBC Sports, Time Out and Toptable. Vodafone aims to have 1,000 apps by October.

However, Stephen Cheliotis, chairman of UK Superbrands, said Vodafone is the UK's top mobile operator but is only 151st overall in this week's Superbrands Council survey. He welcomed the changes but questioned the need for a rebrand of the widely known Live! service. "Customers are increasingly savvy, sceptical and cynical, and a large number will question the benefit and costs associated with dropping the Vodafone Live! name," he said.

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Sharecast and NMA

Mobile spam in Europe-study finds worrying trends

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:14:16 -0500

The volume of spam received by European mobile phone users has risen by almost 25 per cent in the past 12 months. This is the key finding of a new study covering five major European markets carried out by comScore M:Metrics on behalf of Airwide Solutions.

The study reported that, although some mobile operators are leading the way in deploying anti-spam technology, the number of European users receiving unwanted text messages is growing at 21.3 per cent year-on-year. French mobile users are apparently the worst sufferers with the number of spam messages containing mobile worms and viruses they receive increasing at a rate of 61.3 per cent every year.

The growing ownership of smartphones is also a major concern as many subscribers store sensitive work and personal data on their phones which could be at risk from attack. However, there is some good news. The study believes that the growing spam threat means that mobile operators could have a significant opportunity to play a strategic role in protecting their subscribers by deploying new security solutions across their networks.

For more on this story go to Mobile Europe

Blyk expands further into Europe

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:25:59 -0400

Having already launched its ad-funded mobile service in the U.K. and The Netherlands, the MVNO Blyk has announced it will expand further during 2009 into Germany, Spain and Belgium. The company, which offers a quantity of free calls and texts to teenagers in exchange for sending adverts to their mobile phones, claims over 200 brands will have used the service by the end of this year with an average response rate of nearly 30 per cent. Blyk's CEO and co-founder, Pekka Ala-Pietilä said, "There is a great opportunity for Blyk in these new European markets. Our research shows that young people in Germany, Spain and Belgium are interested in the Blyk proposition because they want to interact with brands they like in exchange for free communication. Our success in the U.K., illustrated by robust member adoption, has proven that Blyk is a youth media that works."

For more on this story:
- go to Cellular News

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