WCA July 2013

All the new entrants have struggled for the funding needed to support infrastructure and operations. Despite this, wrote Mr Lewis, the rookies have forced the incumbents to respond with their own discount brands and have played a significant part in Ottawa’s campaign to maintain a wireless market with at least four significant competitors. According to reports in the Canadian media the largest of the new entrants, Wind Mobile, has put itself up for sale despite some success in attracting subscribers, and Public Mobile is also seeking a buyer. The owner of Catalyst is believed to be pushing for a merger of Wind Mobile and Mobilicity, an outcome that the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, a consumer group, said could create a viable competitor. But, Mr Lewis observed: “Consumer advocates argue that the lack of more aggressive support, such as a set aside of spectrum for smaller entities in an upcoming auction, puts the goal of more wireless competition at risk.” Working with regulators in Africa, Google and Microsoft promote TV ‘white space’ projects there Reporting from Nairobi on 25 th April, Rebecca Wanjiku of the IDG News Service said that Google is conducting a pilot test of TV ‘white space’ technology in Cape Town, South Africa, in conjunction with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). At the same time, Microsoft is cooperating with the Ministry of Information and Communication in Kenya toward the same end: enabling connectivity in rural areas and removing barriers for small businesses interested in Internet service provision. White spaces are bands of spectrum between TV channels, deliberately left unused — up until now — to prevent interference. The testing is expected to prove that the spaces can be utilised to provide connectivity to rural areas that may not have such essential services as electricity. The two US companies in the undertaking

According to data from Strategy Analytics, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co captured a third of the global smartphone market in the first quarter as growth for the iPhone from Apple Inc, of the US, dropped to its slowest pace ever. Shipments of Samsung smartphones surged 56 per cent to 69.4 million units in the quarter, Boston-based Strategy Analytics said in a 25 th April statement excerpted by Bloomberg News . Shipments of the iPhone rose 6.6 per cent to 37.4 million units, while LG Electronics Inc — also South Korean — gained third place for the first time. “Samsung shipped almost two times more smartphones and grew nine times faster than Apple during the quarter,” Neil Mawston, a Strategy Analytics analyst, said in the statement emailed to Bloomberg ’s Edmond Lococo in Beijing. “Samsung should continue to deliver strong smartphone volumes worldwide in the second quarter.” The company’s new flagship Galaxy S4 handset went on sale the next day. Mr Lococo took note as well of the 25 th April report from researcher International Data Corp (Framingham, Massachusetts) showing that the quarter was the first in which smartphones, the high-end devices offering Internet access, outsold traditional (voice and text only) mobile phones. Total mobile phone shipments rose four per cent globally to 418.6 million devices over the period, according to IDC. Smartphones accounted for 216.2 million units, or 51.6 per cent of the total. “Phone users want computers in their pockets,” IDC analyst Kevin Restivo said. “The days where phones are used primarily to make phone calls and send text messages are quickly fading away. As a result, the balance of smartphone power has shifted to phone makers that are most dependent on smartphones.” ✆ Global smartphone shipments in the March quarter rose 36 per cent to 209.5 million units, driven by adoption of third-generation service in China and fourth-generation service in the US, Strategy Analytics said. Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE Corp, China’s two largest makers of equipment for phone networks, rounded out the top-five globally, with market shares of 4.8 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively, Strategy Analytics said. The rankings from IDC also had Samsung, Apple, LG, Huawei and ZTE as the top-five global smartphone vendors. In terms of total mobile phone shipments, Samsung also led worldwide with 27.5 per cent market share, followed by Finland’s Nokia with 14.8 per cent and Apple with 8.9 per cent, according to IDC. LG and ZTE completed the top five in mobile phone share, with 3.7 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively, IDC said. First quarter highlights: Samsung surges past Apple in smartphones — and these outsell traditional mobile phones

Cash-strapped newcomers to Canada’s wireless services market hold the incumbents’ feet to the fire Mobilicity, a small operator in the $19 billion Canadian wireless industry, said on 26 th April that it planned to ask its debt holders to approve a two-part restructuring plan for a recapitalisation of the company and a possible sale. The company offers

no-contract cellphone service in Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. Toronto Star business reporter Michael Lewis noted that privately held Mobilicity, formed after a 2008 government auction of radio wave spectrum used by wireless carriers, is among several new players in Canada’s wireless services segment attempting to win market share from the big three incumbent carriers: Bell, Rogers and Telus.

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Wire & Cable ASIA – July/August 2013