Telecom

Videocon woos Motorola's handset biz

Sue Marek — Fri, 23 May 2008 10:54:43 -0400

Indian consumer electronics heavyweight Videocon says that it is engaged in talks with Motorola to buy the U.S. company's handset business. Videcon, which makes air conditioners, refrigerators and other products, said earlier this year that it wanted to manufacture mobile phones to support its telecom businesses. It also said in early April that it planned to make a bid for Motorola's business.

Motorola announced earlier this year that it was planning to separate its handset business from its other operations. Analysts say that Motorola's handset business is worth about $3.8 billion. The firm's handsets make up about 15 percent of the global market for wireless handsets.

For more:
- see this Business Standard story

Related stories:
Videocon to bid for Motorola's handset biz. See this Motorola story.
What will happen to Motorola's handset division? See this Motorola story.

iPhone Asia: Singapore, India, Phillipines, Australia deals

Brian Dolan — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:05:55 -0400

Singapore Telecoms announced that it has inked a deal with Apple to carry its iPhone on its networks in Singapore, India, Phillipines and Australia some time later this year. Singapore Telecoms owns SingTel, Bharti Airtel, Globe and Optus in each of the respective markets. The telecom did not disclose other information about the deal. So far, Apple has launched the iPhone in the U.S. on AT&T's network, U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria and France. Including these most recent four markets, fourteen other markets have been announced including Italia, South Africa, New Zealand and Greece.

For more on Apple's latest iPhone deals:
- read this article from Cellular-News

House investigates FCC's management practices

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:59:57 -0400

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is demanding numerous records and materials from FCC Chairman Kevin Martin as part of a Congressional investigation into Martin's management practices at the agency and his handling of various telecom regulatory matters. The investigation is specifically targeting his "management practices that may adversely affect the Commission's ability to both discharge effectively its statutory duties and to guard against waste, fraud, and abuse."

Engadget Mobile speculates that the investigation could also involve some of the drama surrounding the open access provisions for the nearly over 700 MHz auction: Last September FCC chairman Kevin Martin was "aggressively" trying to repeal the open access requirements for the 700 MHz auction, according to reports at the time. The maneuver followed a lawsuit by Verizon Wireless against the FCC over the provisions.

For more:
- see this post at Ars Technica
- check out the speculative piece at Engadget Mobile

SPOTLIGHT: Qwest talking to AT&T, too

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 06:59:52 -0500

Looks like Qwest is taking its wireless partner deal public. Last week Verizon Wireless let it slip that it was in talks with Qwest after the telecom announced it was unhappy with its reseller deal with Sprint. Now AT&T is in talks with Qwest, too. Article

Analyst: Infineon-powered 3G iPhone by June?

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 06:59:54 -0500

According to a research note from UBS analysts, Apple will launch a 3G iPhone by mid-year that will probably be powered by an Infineon Technologies' chip. Both Apple CEO Steve Jobs and AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega have said that a 3G iPhone would launch by the end of 2008. UBS also noted that production of EDGE-based iPhones will begin to ramp down by mid-year. The analysts wrote that both O2 in the U.K. and AT&T in the U.S. have urged Apple to release a 3G version of the handset during the summer.

For more on the rumored 3G iPhone timeframe:
- read this article from IntoMobile

Related Articles:
Chungwha Telecom wants to offer the iPhone, if it's 3G. Article
AT&T: 95 percent of iPhone users surf the web. Article

Nortel to cut 2,100 more jobs

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:59:54 -0500

Days after Siemens announced plans to cut some 3,000 workers, telecom networking vendor Nortel said it will cut 2,100 jobs as part of its turnaround efforts. Nortel reported a fourth quarter net loss of $844 million, or $1.70 a share, compared with an $80 million loss this time last year. Revenue fell 3.7 percent for the quarter to $3.2 billion, while the company had expected flat revenue with $100 million wiggle room.

The job cuts constitute a 6.2 percent reduction in its global workforce, but it also plans to move some 1,000 jobs to "higher growth and lower cost geographies." Nortel plans to sell some of its real estate assets as well. The changes should help the company save $300 million a year.

For more on Nortel's turnaround efforts:
- read this report from the WSJ (sub. req.)

Helio drops price of unlimited plan to $99

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:59:56 -0500

MVNO Helio has dropped the price of its unlimited plan from $145-a-month to $99-a-month. The change comes a mere week after Sky Dayton stepped down as CEO of the MVNO to let parent company SK Telecom's vet Wonhee Sull take over. Helio's unlimited offer includes voice minutes, texts and on-device data usage. Helio has offered the $99 unlimited plan in the past, and this is another limited time offer. Interestingly, the fine print notes that the $99 monthly fee only includes "membership fees" and does not apply to any other charges.

For more on Helio's $99 unlimited plan:
- check out the Helio site here

Helio launches Samsung Mysto Slider

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:59:55 -0500

Helio launched an English-version of the Mysto Slider nationwide. The phone, which was soft launched last month in a few markets and targeted to the Korean-American community, is now mainstream and features GPS-enabled applications such as Google Maps, Buddy Beacon and TellMe.

The phone costs $149 for new Helio subscribers. The retail price is $320.

For more,
- see our image slideshow
- see this article

Related stories:
SK Telecom invests $270M in Helio. Article
Helio to cut 100 jobs, expand kiosks. Article

Analyst: iPhone sales to boost AT&T's Q4

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 06:59:57 -0500

Cowen and Co. wrote in a note to investors that AT&T's market valuation is off the mark and that the telecom will "outperform the market by 15 percent" through the end of this year. AT&T's stock price fell sharply after CEO Randall Stephen hinted at weakened quarterly results thanks to a softening consumer wireline business, but Cowen believes that sales of Apple's iPhone and net subscriber additions will help the company outperform previous forecasts for its Q4. Cowen hiked its previous forecast of 2.36 million customer additions to 2.4 million customer additions thanks to an expectation of bullish sales of the iPhone during the quarter.

For more on Cowen's take:
- read this report from RCR News

C&L: Zannel's new VP of user experience

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 06:59:52 -0500

Pamela Mead has joined Zannel as VP of user experience.

Craig Berger has joined FBR Capital Markets as a SVP and Senior Research Analyst within its technology, media & telecom (TMT) group.

Ericsson's profit warning tanks share price

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 06:59:56 -0400

Ericsson issued an unexpected profit warning today that sent the telecom vendor's share price (and a few of its rivals') tumbling nearly 30 percent. Ericsson cut its guidance for Q3 citing a fall in sales for its mobile network upgrades. The company expects the slump to continue into 2008. Sales for Q3 were about $6.7 billion, well below the expected $7.9 billion. Operating income fell to $866.1 million, a huge 38 percent drop from the expected $1.4 billion.

For more on Ericsson's Q3:
- read this article from the WSJ (sub. req.)

Cubic Telecom's Global phone

Mike Dolan — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 12:42:16 -0400

Cubic Telecom's Global phone:

Announcing Dan O'Shea

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 06:59:59 -0400

A Note from the Editor-in-Chief:

I am thrilled to report some exciting changes at FierceMarkets. We are strengthening our editorial team with the addition of former Telephony Editor-in-Chief Dan O'Shea. Dan is a veteran telecom journalist with more than 15 years of experience covering the industry. I'm sure many of you may know him already. Dan will be working with us on a new publication, which we will launch next month. Our publisher, Jeff Giesea, will announce the details next week. Stay tuned. -Sue

Metric: 47% buy bundled telecom services

Sun, 17 Jul 2005 20:01:36 -0400

According to In-Stat, the number of Americans who buy at least two services from a single telecom rose from 33 percent last year to 47 percent in 2005. For those who do buy multiple services from a single provider, over one-third of those respondents are purchasing multiple service bundles, from two or more service providers.

For more on In-Stat's service bundle findings:
- go to this snippet from ZDNet