India

Sony Ericsson may not turnaround until 2010

Sue Marek — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:09:58 -0400

Analysts are painting a grim short-term outlook for Sony Ericsson. Neil Mawston, handset analyst with Strategy Analytics, says that the handset maker may see a bump in sales over Christmas, however, with mobile device sales in Europe being flat, he predicts that it will be another year or two before Sony Ericsson bounces back. The company is suffering from a poor product portfolio and minimal presence in emerging markets such as India, where millions of new phone users are added every month.

Sony Ericsson has finally starting ramping up its presence in booming markets in Asia--the company created a new division in India--but many fear it may be too late.

For more:
- see this article

Related articles:
Recession to hit Nokia and Sony Ericsson sales - iPhone unaffected
Sony Ericsson's 2Q profits sink, 2,000 workers cut

India's BSNL delays $6.5B GSM tender

Lynnette Luna — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:54:16 -0400

India's Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) is delaying its massive $6.5 billion tender for GSM infrastructure. The bids were supposed to be opened on July 16 but now won't be opened until Aug. 30. BSNL said it has been flooded by bids and needs time to address them all. The tender calls for 93 million GSM lines and garnered some 21,000 queries from vendors after the draft tender was posted on the operator's website, officials said. Article

Vodafone reports jump in revenue, lowers outlook for year

Lynnette Luna — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:25:46 -0400

Vodafone Group, the world's largest mobile operator by revenue, posted a 19.1 percent increase in sales for the first quarter, but warned that full-year sales will be on the low end of its previous guidance as it deals with economic weakness and lower-than-anticipated revenue from equipment. As a result, the mobile phone giant's stock opened 9.7 percent lower when the market opened in London today.

Vodafone attributed the jump in sales in the first quarter to growth in its emerging markets. Sales in the three months ended June 30 came in at $19.65 billion from $13.1 billion a year earlier. The company said that while its Spanish operations struggled with a weak economy and strong competition, growth in emerging markets and data revenue made up for the shortfall. Revenues from emerging markets jumped 30.5 percent with 50 percent of the growth coming from India alone.

For the full year, Vodafone now expects full-year revenues at the lower range of $63.1 billion to $64.6 billion.

For more:
- read the WSJ (sub. req.)

Related stories:
Vodafone announces new chief executive. Vodafone story
India set to overtake U.S. as number 2. India story

Sibling rivalry threatens MTN-Reliance deal

Lynnette Luna — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:16:44 -0400

The proposed takeover of mobile operator Reliance Communications by South Africa's MTN is in danger of moving to the courts as India's billionaire Ambani brothers fight over the terms. Mukesh Ambani, through his group Reliance Industries, warned that he would block the planned merger by claiming a right of first refusal over Reliance Communications, the company owned by his brother Anil Ambani.

Mukesh Ambani has threatened to sue MTN and Reliance Communications for damages if the deal moves ahead. Anil Ambani's group has responded with legal threats of its own.

"If Reliance Industries chooses to take any legal action, the same will be vigorously defended by Reliance Communications and Reliance Communications will claim costs and damages from Reliance Industries," the company said.

In May, Reliance and MTN announced an agreement on a reverse takeover that would see Reliance make a bid for MTN, but MTN would end up with control of Reliance. MTN has a market value of about $40 billion. Reliance is valued at just below $30 billion.

For more:
- read the Financial Times

Related story:
MTN and Reliance could form mobile-phone powerhouse. MTN story

India could see 3G, WiMAX in 2009

Lynnette Luna — Thu, 29 May 2008 10:40:41 -0400

India, which is expected to become a hotbed for wireless broadband services, could see 3G and more WiMAX deployments by 2009. The Indian government is expected to issue guidelines on the auction of both 3G and WiMAX network licenses next month.

According to telecom minister Andimuthu Raja, the license conditions would allow foreign participation. According to Indian law, up to 74 percent of an Indian company can be held by a foreign company. With the recent M&A activity and rumors surrounding the country's existing mobile operators, these licenses should attract a plethora of foreign operators.

The Indian government expects to see WiMAX and 3G networks begin rolling out in January 2009. The initial WiMAX plans laid out by the Indian government include the auction of three 2.5 GHz WiMAX licenses with a 10-megahertz allocation each for the winners. State-owned BSNL has already been handed 20 megahertz of spectrum in the 2.5GHz band for mobile WiMAX rollout.

For more about India's 3G and WiMAX plans:
- check out this telecoms.com article

Related stories:
Gartner: India to remain a niche market for WiMAX. Read this WiMAX India story
MTN and Reliance could form mobile-phone powerhouse. See this MTN-Reliance 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

North America and India boost Ericsson's Q1

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 06:59:57 -0400

Ericsson's first quarter results included a 55 percent drop in net income to $446 million, but still managed to beat analysts' expectations thanks to the networks division and increased sales in North America. The company's first quarter also included a restructuring charge of about $134 million. Total sales grew 4.8 percent to about $7.4 billion, which topped the average analyst's expectation of $7 million. Ericsson also noted that India was now its second largest market.

For more on the Q1:
- read this Ericsson Q1 press release

C&L: SiRF's new exec chairman

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 06:59:52 -0400

SiRF appoints Diosdado Banatao as its executive chairman.

Obopay India appoints Vijay Balakrishnan as CMO.

Apprion appoints Mike Sullivan as VP of global sales.

Forecast: Nokia's Q1 net profit up 42 percent

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:59:58 -0400

According to a poll of financial analysts conducted by Factset, Nokia's first quarter profit is expected to hit $2.19 billion, a 42 percent increase over the year-ago period in which the company posted $1.54 billion in profits. Analysts expect Nokia's sales to rise 28 percent to $19.9 billion as a result of strong growth in emerging markets. Nokia affirmed in late March that its global unit volume growth would rise 10 percent this year despite the economic downturn that has hurt some of its competitors.

"The focus on Nokia will be on the ASP (average selling price) as the market mix changes with stronger than expected BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries and weaker than expected mature markets," said Stockholm-based Kaupthing analyst Per Ekstrand. "We'll also be watching for the effects of the declining U.S. dollar."

The handset maker's ASP is expected to fall from its fourth quarter level of $131.

For more on analysts' forecast for Nokia:
- read this article from Dow Jones

Videocon to bid for Motorola's handset biz

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 07:59:58 -0400

One week after Motorola CEO Greg Brown announced plans to spin-off Motorola's handset business, the chairman of India's Videocon said that the company will make a bid for Motorola's business. "We will be bidding for Motorola's handset business, but at this point of time I cannot give out the price or the value of the bid," Chairman Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.

The broad strokes of Motorola's strategy are simply to spin-off the handset business to create two independent and publicly traded companies: Mobile Devices and Broadband & Mobility Solutions, which describes the enterprise business and the home networking business. Brown said the hunt is still on for a handset unit head, but now the position will come with a CEO title. Motorola plans to make the move some time in 2009--that is, if a buyer doesn't come along in the meantime.

For more on the Videocon bid:
- read this report from Dow Jones