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Huawei announces SingleRAN solution for Everything Everywhere’s 2G network

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Huawei today signed a contract with Everything Everywhere – the UK’s largest communication company – to enhance its 2G network, which, it’s claimed, will result in one of the most advanced, high-quality 2G networks in the UK.

Huawei says its delivery of the GSM (2G) Radio network upgrade program will enable superior network performance with richer data experience and higher speeds on the GSM network. There will also be a significant increase in coverage and network capacity, including indoor coverage. Customers can also expect HD voice experience for voice calls in line with the UMTS (3G) network. The upgrade will also prepare the Everything Everywhere network for its evolution to 4G or LTE in the coming years.

Through the rollout, Huawei will upgrade Everything Everywhere’s base stations within a period of four years, optimizing its GSM network, and future-proofing it through its multi-node capabilities.

Emin Gurdenli, Vice President of Network Services, Everything Everywhere said: “Huawei’s cutting-edge technology and professional, dedicated team with unrivalled global Radio Access Network experience will enable us to rapidly achieve our objective of building one of the biggest and best mobile networks in the UK and providing our customers with the best possible network experience.”

“This contract marks a very significant milestone in the evolution of the UK mobile market and represents yet another major breakthrough for Huawei in The European tier one wireless service provider arena,” said Victor Zhang, CEO of Huawei UK. “Huawei has a proven track record in providing cutting-edge mobile solutions to operators across the world. We are committed to becoming a serious network supplier for mobile operators in the UK and are pleased to collaborate with Everything Everywhere, offering an effective solution with future-proofed technology that will improve voice quality and network coverage for its customers across the UK.”

Address LTE Backhaul Demand with Lower Cost Carrier Ethernet

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Register for webinar on the technology decisions facing operators, backhaul transport providers, and technology partners

Speakers:
Barry Zipp, Ciena
Simon Parry, Ciena

As the popularity of smartphones and other intelligent devices increases, mobile operators recognise that future revenue growth hinges upon their ability to deliver a wider range of mobile broadband applications and services. However, delivering such applications and services can quickly overwhelm the capacity of current 3G and associated backhaul networks. As a result, an accelerating transition to LTE and other 4G network technologies is well underway. In fact, within the next five to ten years LTE will become the most widely adopted mobile network standard around the world.

According to Infonetics Research, “Carriers everywhere are increasing the bandwidth on their backhaul networks to handle this exploding IP data traffic, and the most efficient, cost-effective way to do that is to transition from TDM to packet IP/Ethernet, which is driving the mobile backhaul equipment market.” Packet backhaul can also provide more bandwidth and QoS granularity than legacy TDM services, providing higher degrees of flexibility and better scalability.

To address the high bandwidth and low latency required to deliver rich content to smart mobile devices, operators and backhaul transport providers are adopting IP/Ethernet backhaul as the default technology choice. A Carrier Ethernet solution—whether fiber-, microwave radio-, or millimeter radio-based—permits strong levels of control and robust functionality, making it a truly cost-efficient 4G backhaul solution. With Carrier Ethernet, backhaul providers can scale the network quickly and achieve the lowest cost per bit as they increase bandwidth to meet growing user demand.

This will be an informative discussion of the important technology decisions facing MNOs, backhaul transport providers, and their technology partners. Regardless of your role in this industry, access to objective information about the extraordinary opportunity resulting from the global explosion in mobile  demand will be of benefit to you. We hope you’ll join us!

Register here.

Samsung overtakes Nokia in Western Europe, says IDC

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The Western European mobile phone market grew 5% year-on-year to 45 million units in the first quarter of 2011, according to IDC’s European Mobile Phone Tracker. During the quarter Samsung shipments increased 5.3% year-on-year to 13.2 million units and became the biggest mobile phone maker in the region with 29.3% market share.

Nokia shipments dropped 10.3% year-on-year to 12.6 million units and is now the second player with 27.9% market share. In the smartphones segment Apple shipments increased 48.9% year-on-year to 4.4 million units and became the biggest player with 20.8% market share. Nokia comes second with 19.6% market share.

“Samsung and Apple achieved outstanding milestones this quarter in the region. Samsung became the biggest mobile phone vendor in Western Europe and Apple the biggest smartphone vendor. These results show how volatile this market is and how important it is not to underestimate the trends. Companies like Nokia (and Ericsson in the past) may have strong brands and big market shares as Nokia always had, but can be overtaken by their competitors on a blink of an eye,” said Francisco Jeronimo, European mobile devices research manager, IDC.

“Nokia is one of the most recognized and appreciated brands in Europe, but was Samsung the one understanding the trends first and moving faster. Samsung understood early the trend on touchscreen devices and became the market leader on feature-phones by providing a full range of devices at very competitive prices. On smartphones Samsung has quickly moved to Android as well as invests on its own platform, Bada. Flexibility and to address all market segments have contributed to quickly adjust to the market trends. Apple, on the other hand, coming from nowhere in the mobile phone business, capitalized on its strong brand and user-experience innovation. It took years to competitors to come up with devices that could challenge consumers’ preference for the iPhone.”

During the quarter smartphones shipments increased 76% year-on-year to 21.2 million units to represent 47% of total mobile phone shipments. Android was the smartphones operating system leader with 35.7% market share. Those vendors focusing mainly on Android have notably been improving their market positions on smartphones, which shows how successfully this OS attracts consumers to smartphones, driving manufacturers’ sales. Secondly comes iOS with 20.8% market share due the popularity of the iPhone. Symbian slipped to third place with 20.5% market share.

mobilkom and 3 Denmark top mobile broadband chart

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Belgique: Nul points

Three Denmark and mobilkom austria offer the fastest average download speeds in Europe, with users in Belgium receiving the slowest average speeds, according to estimated figures from ARCchart.

ARCchart has carried out speed and latency measurements of the mobile broadband networks of 94 European operators, finding wide discrepancies in service levels between competing operators in the same country, and also between the national arms of group operators.

ARCchart said it made its tests using a speed test application on the smartphones of tens of thousands of users globally, from whom it has collected millions of readings. Using these readings, ARCchart said it has been able to estimate averages for download speed, upload speed, latency and overall network quality, along with a measure of smartphone penetration.

The European results showed Hutchison (Three) Denmark and Mobilkom in Austria in first and second place, with three Scandinavian countries making it into the top ten, as do Bulgaria and Croatia. Belgium’s networks are the weakest, and the country ranks bottom, with the UK and Germany not far off.

ARCchart appears to illustrate that some animals in the mobile operator world are more equal than others, with, for example, T-Mobile Germany showing the country’s fastest download average of 1,459 Kbps while EPlus manages 649 Kbps. In the UK, Hutchison’s upload average is reported as 646 Kbps, while Orange’s is just 212 Kbps.

Not only that, but some national arms of group companies are delivering a beating to their group partners. For instance, T-Mobile in Germany offers an average download speed of 1.49Mbps, whilst its UK equivalent manages just 676kbps. They are both bested by T-Mobile Slovakia, however, which is delivering an average download speed of 1.7Mbps.

 

France Telecom CEO admits “arrogant” image

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Proposes possible cap on mobile contract lengths to foster innovation

Stephane Richard, CEO and President of France Telecom, has admitted that his company is viewed as arrogant. Richard said that the company would work hard to mend relations with its staff and turn its image around.

Speaking on May 4th at a conference run by the French telecomms regulator ARCEP, Richard said, “I would like to take this opportunity here to say that our image is not very good. We have the image of an arrogant company, but it is not a true image of our company. We have to make a lot of progress to improve that image. “

Referring to what he termed the “tragedy” of the most recent employees’ suicide, Richard said, “We also have to be a company that listens more to its employees and really have to see to it that our employees are fulfiled in their careers. France Telecom is submitted to considerable pressures, and employees do not see a future for their work. This explains why they are disastisfied; we are continuing to change that.”

Richard also laid down five wishes, or proposals for the industry – one of which included a proposal to cap mobile contract lengths at six or twelve months.

The five proposals were were:
1. Building a “new internet model” that links usage more accurately to pricing. The current model that sees operators responsible for investment without seeing revenue increases is “not sustainable for the long term”.
2. Stability in the regulatory framework. “We have to carry out huge investments in fixed and mobile networks, but no investment is possible without knowing exactly what kind of return it is going to have, and what kind of practical implementations will be imposed. For example, forced separation of networks and services leads to destruction of value in the long term.
3. Switch from a consumer-based approach to a genuine industrial strategy in Europe. “In order to foster investment, the government should leave private operators to explore new business models to better finance those investments.” Or maybe we could cap to 6 or 12 months the length of mobile supply offers, I believe that this could be favourable to the consumers and our industry in the long term.
4 Interoperability. “The European regulator has to extend the concept of net neutrality to all the range of value. Content bought on one screen should be transferrable to all other screens. We are far from that goal. We need to more rapidly industrialise our services and open up to other patners when it is necessary, for co-opeation in new areas, or to defend European interests. This is what I started a few months ago with my counterparts, the five main European operators, to step up this co-operation and optimise our databases in markets where cost reduction opportunities are limited.
5 Security. Operators have an opportunity to provide security of services and of personal data for users, across a range of services.

 

Ericsson selected by Magyar Telekom for network overhaul

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Hungarian operator Magyar Telekom, part of the Deutsche Telekom Group, has chosen Ericsson to undertake a complete overhaul of its radio access network. The overhaul will drastically decrease Magyar Telekom’s operational costs while further expanding mobile broadband service performance and coverage.

Ericsson will transform Magyar Telekom’s 2G and 3G networks using the multi-standard RBS 6000 radio access network, which will also be ready for 4G/LTE functionality once licenses have been allocated.

Istvan Maradi, Chief Technology Officer of Magyar Telekom says:,”Our partner, Ericsson, will make sure our network will meet the most demanding expectations and help us to stay on top in Hungary. It is also makes sense for us to prepare our network for easy introduction of LTE functionality by using Ericsson’s multi-standard network.”

Nils de Baar, Head of Global Account for DT Group at Ericsson, says: “We believe in Magyar Telekom’s wise decision to introduce a multi-standard technology when the aging 2G network needs a strong boost. This will bring both a reduction in OPEX and a better user experience, while also preparing the network to meet the ever-growing demand for mobile broadband. This is a prestigious obligation for us and we will make every effort to meet our customers’ expectations.”

Ericsson Hungary celebrates 100 years in Hungary in 2011. Ericsson today has the largest R&D operation in the country. Emil Nilsson, Head of Customer Unit Central Europe and President of Ericsson Hungary,said: “This great win further emphasizes the importance of our long presence in the country and strong focus on technology leadership. With the agreement with Magyar Telekom, Ericsson has teamed up with the market leading operator once again in Hungary.”

Telekom Austria ups bid for Telekom Srbjia

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But gains concessions and drops capex commitment

Telekom Austria has upped its offer for control of Telekom Srbjia from €800 million to €1.1 billion, but dropped a commitment to invest €450 over three years following the acquisition. The company has also gained concessions from Serbia’s Ministry of Finance relating to spectrum agreements and extensions to licenses.

Telekom Austria’s initial offer, made in March 2011, was for an equity value of €800-950 million, with a commitment to invest €450 million over a three year period.

An agreement to “address the company’s cost structure” within an agreed period of time of the acquisition will remain, as part of the new bid.

In 2010, Telekom Srbija reported revenues of EUR1.14 billion and generated an EBITDA of EUR 483 million.

Telekom Srbija is the incumbent operator of the Republic of Serbia with operations in Montenegro and Bosnia Herzegovina, where Telekom Srbija owns a 65% stake in Telekom Srpske. In the Republic of Serbia, the company offers both fixed net and mobile communication services with a 100% market share in the fixed net segment and a 56% market share in mobile communication. In Montenegro, the mobile market share of Telekom Srbija amounts to 23%, while the company’s fixed net operations account for a 2% market share. In Bosnia Herzegovina, the fixed net market share corresponds to 35% and the mobile communication market share to 39.7%.

 

WIND Hellas modernises network

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Under the three-year network modernisation contract, Nokia Siemens Networks is redesigning and consolidating WIND Hellas’ fixed and mobile networks in Greece by providing a high capacity IP/MPLS backbone. The technology aims to reduce network outages and energy consumption, improve network availability, increase capacity, and lower the total cost of ownership. The integration of Juniper Networks’ routing, switching and security technology is expected to allow WIND Hellas to benefit from a more reliable, scalable and secure network.

“While our primary aim is to ensure our network evolves to provide the best experience to our subscribers, we also want to do this cost efficiently,” said Nikos Babalis, chief network officer, WIND Hellas. “Nokia Siemens Networks has been our network technology provider for over a decade, delivering cost-efficient solutions to reduce our capital and operating costs. Moreover, its expertise in integrating various IP technologies, specifically that of Juniper Networks, makes it an ideal partner for this project.”
 
“In today’s highly competitive market environment, operators need to upgrade their networks in a cost-effective manner while meeting end users’ needs satisfactorily,” added Dimitrios Kiratsopoulos, head of WIND Hellas team at Nokia Siemens Networks. “Our expertise will provide a long-term evolution path toward a fully IP-based network while enabling WIND to attract new subscribers and grow further.”
 
Under the three-year contract, Nokia Siemens Networks has undertaken end-to-end network design, planning and implementation as well as managing the overall migration for IP aggregation and backbone. The company also provides training services and a full set of care services, including help desk, preventive maintenance, on-site support and spare part management.
 
Nokia Siemens Networks’ design and integration expertise combined with the Juniper Networks MX Series, M Series, EX Series and SRX Series platforms fully focuses on creating a unified fixed-mobile core and edge platform to meet WIND’s business needs, present and future.
 
After the successful completion of phase-1 of the modernization, WIND Hellas has achieved smooth migration of mobile edge services to the new convergent IP/MPLS network utilizing node-link protection scheme for maximum reliability.

Application generated mobile texts to exceed $70 billion revenues by 2016 – overtaking person-to-person messaging, says research

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A new report published today by Juniper Research forecasts that revenue from A2P SMS will exceed $70bn by 2016. Revenue from these types of messages will overtake that of P2P SMS during that year as the strategic focus for players within the mobile messaging ecosystem shifts from communication between individuals, to sending and receiving service-enabling messages.

A2P messaging – defined as those messages which are sent to or from an application – has a wide variety of use-cases. These include financial services, advertising, marketing, business administration, ticketing, television voting and any other service where information needs to be sent to, or received from a large number of users in text form.

Mobile Messaging Report author Daniel Ashdown argues: “While SMS is one of the oldest value-added services, it has an enduring appeal for a number of reasons. In terms of text communication it is unrivalled on the mobile device in its ubiquity – virtually every handset in the world can send and receive it. This makes it extremely appealing for brands who want to enable communication with their customers, as unlike other messaging mediums, they know it will reach almost its entire intended audience.”

However, revenue from P2P (Person-to-Person) SMS – commonly referred to as texting – will peak in a number of regions during the period 2010-2016 as it reaches a low point in valuation. The report finds that even in other regions where SMS has not reached the same levels of traffic, revenue growth will be moderate due to continuing competitive pricing, particularly of prepaid message buckets.

Other key findings:
•    Premium-rate SMS and MMS will decline due to challenges from other forms of billing/delivery.
•    MMS traffic and revenue will continue to grow, but A2P MMS will not have as bigger impact as A2P SMS.
•    Mobile IM will increasingly become a customer retention exercise as with fixed line services

RadiSys acquires Continuous Computing for $105 million

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Targets “high value” Trillium and ATCA products

RadiSys has said it is ready to buy Continuous Computing in a move designed to accelerate its move into the LTE, deep packet inspection and femtocell markets. The company will pay $105 million, with $73 million of that in cash, for Continuous Computing, with up to an an extra $18 million due in earn out payments over the three years following the acquisition. The transaction is expected to close by the end of July 2011.

A statement from RadiSys said that its board believes the acquisition of Continuous Computing has a number of “compelling strategic benefits”.  The acquisition would “drive further expansion into the high growth LTE, Femto / Small Cell Wireless and DPI markets with [Continuous Computing’s] high performance ATCA platforms and Trillium software.”

Following the acquisition, Mike Dagenais, Continuous Computing President and CEO, will become RadiSys’ Chief Executive Officer.  Brian Bronson, current Chief Financial Officer of RadiSys will become RadiSys’ President and Chief Financial Officer.  Scott Grout, current President and Chief Executive Officer of RadiSys will become Vice Chair of the RadiSys Board of Directors. 

Continuous Computing’s revenues were $56.6 million in 2010 and grew over 25% from 2009 with gross margins of approximately 50% in 2010.  RadiSys has just reported Q1 revenues for 2011 of $73.6 Million, up 9.4% on Q1 2010.

A Continuous Computing spokesperson said, “We are excited about this transaction and believe the acquisition by RadiSys will broaden the company’s solutions portfolio and accelerate our expansion into high-growth communications areas. In addition, the acquisition will bring benefits to our end customers through a broader set of technologies and solutions delivered by a combined team with greater overall scale and breadth.”

 

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