WCA March 2015

Telecom news

• In conjunction with the publication of the annual report ETNO’s chairman, Luigi Gambardella, issued a call: “The time [for reform] is now,” he wrote. “Data shows that a new phase of growth is in sight. We need to encourage this expectation with a new regulatory and policy framework. More investment will mean better networks and better services for European citizens and businesses. For this reason, we welcome the Juncker Commission intention to create an investment-friendly climate in the EU.” Elsewhere in telecom . . . • Last year a Chinese company, Xiaomi, took over the number one spot in China’s smartphone market, the world’s largest. Founded in 2010 to sell smartly designed phones at low prices over the Internet, Xiaomi has now also become the number three phone maker globally, behind the giants it supersedes in China – Apple and Samsung. With China expected to account for 500 million smartphone sales in 2015 – more than three times as many as will be sold in the USA, according to the research firm IDC – Xiaomi is poised to build on that momentum. In preference to the American and European markets, its founders hope to use e-commerce networks to reprise Xiaomi’s Chinese success in huge developing countries like Brazil and India. • Huawei on 9 th December announced it had signed a global agreement with the Norwegian communications and IT group Telenor to supply radio access equipment and professional services over a five-year period. The focus for the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker, the world’s largest, will be on modernising the 2G and 3G mobile networks of Telenor subsidiaries throughout Europe and Asia. • In association with three Indian non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the Swedish telecom equipment supplier Ericsson has

launched its Connect To Learn global education initiative in India. The programme aims to scale up access to quality secondary education, in particular for girls, by providing information and communications technologies (ICT) to schools in remote, resource-poor parts of the world. Emphasis is on the use of connec- tivity to implement low-cost and user-friendly ICT solutions in schools through mobile broad- band and cloud computing. • Nextel Brasil is set to double its capital expenditure for 2015 to $1 billion as it extends its mobile network to some 200 new cities in addition to the 497 it already covers. Alfonso de Orbegoso, vice president of legal and regulatory affairs, told TeleSintese (15 th December) that Nextel had entered into a five-year network sharing agreement with fellow mobile operator Vivo. Mr Orbegoso also said that Nextel is still interested in acquiring the vacated 1,800MHz frequencies held by the now-defunct Unicel in São Paulo – the most populous metro area in Brazil. • The New Zealand Telecommunica- tions Forum (TCF), a government- mandated organisation of carriers and service providers, has marked the first anniversary of nationwide mobile handset blacklisting for lost and stolen devices. Since the programme was imple- mented in December 2013, the country’s three mobile operators (Spark, Vodafone and 2Degrees) have disabled over 32,000 devices reported by customers as lost or stolen. Blacklisting works by blocking a device’s unique International Mobile Equipment Identity number, or IMEI. Under the TCF’s Handset Blacklisting Code of Practice, once a device is blocked on one mobile network it is blocked on all networks across New Zealand. Said CEO Geoff Thorn of TCF: “That means that thieves and ‘finders’ can’t profit from your misfortune.”

“Take-up of broadband services continues to progress across Europe and consumer habits are evolving with an increase in the use of IP messaging, IP calls, and location- based services.” This decidedly upbeat overture introduced the annual economic report of ETNO (European Tele- communications Network Operators’ Association), prepared by the digital- economy think tank IDATE. Published 11 th December, the status report on the European telecom sector includes figures from 2013, estimates for 2014, and projections through to 2016. These are the main points of the ETNO/IDATE report: The data indicates that telecom services revenues were four per cent lower in 2013 than in 2012, reaching $314.9 billion. However, the IDATE estimate for 2014 has the rate of decrease narrowing to -1.8 per cent. The telecom industry is seen as returning to the positive camp (with a growth rate of +1 per cent) in 2016. In the period 2012-2013, overall capital investment growth in the European Union was negative (-0.4 per cent), compared to strong growth in the USA (+5.7 per cent); and the 2014 data confirms that the investment gap between Europe and the USA is widening. Investment in the telecom sector in Europe totalled $58.2 billion in 2013. Most of the investment in Europe’s networks comes from ETNO members: $34.6 billion in 2013, representing nearly 59 per cent of total investment. The greater part of the ETNO funds went into fixed networks ($20.3 billion), the rest toward mobile networks ($14.3 billion). At the end of 2014, for the first time, fixed broadband subscriptions would outnumber traditional circuit-switched fixed lines. This reflects growing use of Internet voice services alongside other broad- band services and confirms that broadband retains its role as one of the industry’s main growth engines.

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Wire & Cable ASIA – March/April 2015