The cost of network equipment is a serious threat to the continued growth of an otherwise promising mobile broadband market, according to mobile strategy consultant Omnitele of Finland. In effect, mobile operators could pay up to several hundred EUR per broadband subscriber in network CAPEX alone – more than ten times the benchmark CAPEX per voice subscriber, it claims.

Omnitele says that in particular traffic-dependent infrastructure software license fees are a threat to mobile broadband profitability. "When data traffic increases, it quickly becomes very expensive to upgrade and expand the networks. This is a clear threat to the mobile broadband business case," says Mr Antonios Drossos, Vice President of Omnitele.

The popularity of mobile broadband flat-rate services with HSPA is driving the market forward, but operators also need to have a clear strategy to limit extreme usage, Omnitele says. "Broadband operators are faced with entirely new technical and commercial challenges compared to 2G. They need to move the business forward but at the same time must limit extreme usage that degrades services or requires disproportional network investments," says Senior Consultant for Omnitele, Pal Zarandy.

Omnitele advocates that detailed techno-economic business models must be developed to tackle new broadband challenges effectively. In 2G it has been relatively easy for operators to estimate voice CAPEX and related costs, while mobile broadband services require much tighter links between the technical and commercial aspects of the business. Omnitele says that this approach is needed to make sure that profitability can be sustained.

The findings, as well as a guide to taking on new mobile broadband challenges, are presented in Omnitele's latest White Paper titled "Mobile Broadband – ensuring sustainable profitability" available for download at www.omnitele.fi

Telekom Austria has chosen Tribold to provide its centralized product catalog and management capability, a move that will centralize the disparate product catalogs currently in place at the communications services provider.  The new platform will allow for the creation of new products and services across product lines and feature configurable products and add-ons to allow Telekom Austria's marketing team to create customised service offerings.  The centralized product catalog will ensure operational savings and efficiencies and reduce the time to market for new services, says Tribold.

Tribold's Product Portfolio Manager suite will integrate fully into Telekom Austria's BSS/OSS applications, providing a single, comprehensive view of product information across Telekom Austria's service offerings and automating the process of product management end-to-end.

Helmut Leopold, managing director, Platform and Technology Management, Telekom Austria, commented: "A centralized catalog is essential in effective product management in the increasingly competitive world of communications.  Frequent and rapid new product introduction is central to retaining a competitive advantage, acquiring new customers and retaining existing ones.  The disparate nature of our existing product related information in different BSS/OSS systems was clearly having an impact on our ability to deliver new services quickly and cost-effectively.  Centralized product catalog plays one of the cornerstone roles in the transformation of our comprehensive BSS/OSS landscape." 

Mario Huterer, director, Marketing Wholesale and Platform Management, Telekom Austria, said:  "We undertook a thorough evaluation of the product management solutions and Tribold was better than other competing options in almost all of our evaluation criteria. This centralized product catalog gives us the possibility to structure our marketed products out of a very much reduced number of streamlined 'basic' products and to drastically optimise our production efficiency.  I'm happy that we've got a mature product life cycle management solution that will meet our immediate needs and support us in creating and capturing quickly new market opportunities."

Simon Muderack, COO of Tribold, added: "Communication service providers across the globe are recognizing that an integrated centralized product catalog is the foundation upon which to build effective and efficient product management.  Without a single view of product data across the business, a CSP is going to find that its competitors are bringing new, valuable services to market more quickly and, through that, offering improved products to existing subscribers and winning new customers.  We look forward to continuing to work with Telekom Austria to deliver substantial and quantifiable benefits in the areas of time to market and cost to market."

The second European 2.6GHz spectrum auction concluded this week in Sweden and, with auctions coming up in other European countries, including the UK, Austria and the Netherlands, the outcome of the Swedish auction provides information on the price that operators will pay for 2.6GHz spectrum throughout Europe, says research specialist Analysys Mason.

The Swedish auction concluded at a price of EUR0.13/MHz/pop, with unpaired spectrum going for just below EUR0.04/MHz/pop and paired spectrum for EUR0.16/MHz/pop.

"Clearly prices fetched at the 2000/2001 European UMTS auctions, especially in the UK and Germany, are unlikely to be repeated. On the other hand, operators are reporting a rapid uptake of mobile broadband dongles, and new WiMAX players may be eager to enter the arena, suggesting that prices may still be substantial," says Bart-Jan Sweers, Strategy Consultant at Analysys Mason.

Despite being significantly below the UK and German UMTS auctions in 2000, the prices achived in the Swedish auction were considerably higher than the recent Norwegian 2.6GHz auction (EUR0.03/MHz/pop).

"Interestingly, the Swedish auction may be a more reliable indicator of prices in other upcoming European auctions than the Norwegian auction. The reason for this is that the competitive situation in Sweden, with four mobile players, is more representative of the situation in most European countries than the Norwegian two-player market," says Sweers. "Still, there are plenty of specifics in the Swedish situation that should lead to caution when using this auction result as a benchmark."

For example, taking the viewpoint of a bidder for paired spectrum in a country that adopts the CEPT band plan (2 ´ 70MHz of paired spectrum plus 50MHz of unpaired spectrum), two factors need to be taken into account when considering the Swedish outcome.

Firstly, just as in the Norwegian case, Sweden has a very low population density compared to most European countries. Consequently, it has a relatively low traffic density, leading to lower spectrum demand and hence lower prices. Secondly, later auctions may be affected by rising expectations in the industry regarding the uptake of mobile data and the anticipation of LTE approaching commercial availability.

Bidders for unpaired spectrum also need to factor out the effect of the PTS's decision to auction the unpaired spectrum in one block. This decreased the liquidity of the spectrum, and potentially decreased its value.

"Some European countries (e.g. the UK and the Netherlands) plan to deviate from the CEPT band plan by using a flexible band plan, in which the split between paired and unpaired spectrum is not fixed but varies according to demand at auction. In theory, this will enable a more efficient allocation of spectrum among FDD and TDD operators, and therefore could lower prices overall but at the same time could lead to higher prices for paired spectrum. The Swedish result suggests that competition between bidders for paired and unpaired spectrum will be minimal, given that the price fetched for unpaired spectrum was four times lower than for paired spectrum," says Sweers.

Having suggested that the Swedish auction may ultimately prove to be at the lower end of 2.6GHz auction prices, it is important to stress that operators should remain conservative in their assessments of spectrum value.

The upcoming 2.6GHz auctions are not the only way for operators to prepare for future demand, says Analysys Mason. Refarming of 2G spectrum, the digital dividend and general easing of spectrum restrictions improve the supply side of spectrum, while femtocells may well relieve any capacity issues. Operators should therefore carefully consider such alternative options when valuing 2.6GHz spectrum, it says.

TeliaSonera was one of the winners in the auction for 4G, the new generation mobile network in Sweden, which was concluded today. With the frequencies TeliaSonera in Sweden has been awarded, the company says it will be able to build a next generation super-fast mobile broadband network, offering access speeds of more than 100 Mbps.

"We are naturally very pleased to receive this nationwide 4G license", says Håkan Dahlström, President of Mobility Services, TeliaSonera Sweden. "Above all, the 4G license is important for our customers, who will have access to even faster mobile broadband in the future."

The frequencies now received will enable TeliaSonera to build a mobile network that is more than 10 times faster than today's networks. The license received is not subject to any conditions regarding the timetable of the network build-out or population coverage in Sweden.

The license is valid for 15 years and the cost for 4 frequency blocks totaling 2 x 20 MHz in the 2.6 GHz band are SEK 563 million. The payment will be made to the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency in the second quarter of 2008.

Messaging specialist, Acision, has forecast mobile messaging revenues of US$165 billion globally by 2011, 200 per cent higher than previous industry predictions. Releasing the projection to coincide with the annual Global Messaging gathering in Cannes this week, the company has explained its optimism with a five-step action plan that operators are already embarking upon in pursuit of messaging revenues.

Since its inception fifteen years ago, mobile messaging has delivered a 6,000 per cent return on investment but the growth phase is not yet over, with markets such as India, North America and China seeing phenomenal traffic increases. Even within the more mature markets of Western Europe and South East Asia, messaging still has huge growth potential.

Acision believes that the following five steps have the capability to double messaging revenues for operators in the next four years:

    – Personalising the messaging experience with added
      functionality relevant to specific consumer and enterprise segments
    – Using partnerships and multi-play strategies to extend mobile
      messaging to the fixed environment using converged messaging
    – Subsidising mobile internet revenues through messaging
      integration with interactive web applications such as Facebook and eBay
    – Mobilising enterprise applications
    – Leveraging the mobile marketing opportunities offered by the
      reach of messaging platforms

Acision CEO Rory Buckley explains Acision's optimism; "SMS has achieved more than anyone imagined it would fifteen years ago, but speculation that messaging has reached its peak ignores much of today's market dynamic.
Peer-to-peer communication is showing no sign of stalling or declining, and already in South East Asia operators' efforts to differentiate their services by adding features such as out-of-office and blacklisting are proving popular with subscribers. However, it is with application-to-peer and peer-to-application messaging that the wider opportunities lie. We believe that capitalising on the opportunities afforded by web applications as Facebook (essentially an enormous web-based multimedia messaging environment) and effectively harnessing mobile marketing will enable operators to double mobile messaging revenues by 2011."

Mobile and Wireless Group has today announced its entrance into the European market and unveiled its latest Windows Mobile handsets.

MWg is a Singapore-based company, recently established by the former management of O2 Asia, which develops and markets converged devices for the global market. Since its birth in November 2007, the company says it has consolidated its presence in Asia and the Middle East as well as expanded into Europe and the Americas.

"We see ourselves in a unique position of having inherited the premium heritage of a global brand and the agility and flexibility of a start-up." said Mark Billington, CEO of MWg. "As a start-up, we naturally work with like-minded and innovative partners to offer an engaging experience for our customers. Our devices are designed to complement the consumers' lifestyle needs."

"Windows Mobile is about creating mobile connections, helping people do more with work play or anything in between no matter where they are", said Alfredo Patron, EMEA Regional Director, Microsoft Mobile Communications Business. "We are excited to see MWg expand their innovative Windows Mobile phone offerings to Europe and look forward to compelling new hardware designs and device specs that will expand the possibilities of what people can do while on the go."

The Atom V features in-built SiRF Star-III GPS, FM Radio, 3.5G HSDPA with speeds up to 7.2Mbps, onboard Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0.  The Zinc II, offers similar features to the Atom V with the addition of a semi-automatic sliding keyboard, a slightly more compact form factor and the incorporation of Microsoft's latest OS, Windows Mobile 6.1.

Mobile messaging provider End2End Connectivity has today announced that it has been selected by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to provide the SMS delivery of flight status notifications (FSN). End2End Connectivity takes care of the carrier grade delivery of the flight status notifications via SMS which will inform all KLM passengers that registered for this service via KLM.com on flight disruptions and service notifications immediately. End2End's deep-level access to the global mobile telecoms infrastructure (SS7) and direct connections with international mobile operator is said to enable KLM to keep its passengers updated anytime and anywhere in the world.

In the current stage of the SMS flight notification service, End2End will deliver updates on flight cancellation information, flight delay information, gate changes at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and boarding alerts at Schiphol via SMS as soon as the notification appears. An additional pull-service is available for passengers to request arrival & departure information by sending an SMS including the flight number to an international Virtual Mobile Number (VMN) from End2End. These numbers can receive SMS from almost all countries in the world, even if a passenger is travelling abroad in a foreign country.

"We chose End2End Connectivity to benefit from the global SMS footprint reaching over 400 destinations and its high quality" said Jan Willem ten Kate, E- Development Manager at KLM.

"We are very pleased that KLM chose End2End as a reliable partner for international SMS delivery," said Alexander Schebler, VP Sales of End2End Connectivity. "The SMS flight status notification service from KLM is a great example that mobile messaging is the ideal way to provide time critical information directly to the handset anytime and anywhere."

Tango Telecom, a provider of advanced messaging and real-time charging solutions, has today announced the launch of iAX SMS Advertising, its revolutionary SMS Advertising platform at the Global Messaging Congress 2008 in Cannes.

Built on the iAX Platform, iAX SMS Advertising is designed to deliver targeted and relevant SMS advertising to mobile subscribers in a variety of ways such as via peer to peer messaging or inserted in sponsored SMS delivery reports. The solution also provides detailed reporting and tracking for operators and advertisers as well as advanced opt-in and opt-out functionality for subscribers.

According to Tango, the key to successful SMS advertising lies in its ability to ensure real value for the mobile subscriber either in the form of personalised relevant information delivered directly to the handset or by providing free or discounted messaging. 

iAX SMS Advertising enables operators exploit their valuable subscriber profile database and use them to fuel a highly effective channel for advertisers and to reduce messaging costs for their subscribers, opening a new and sustainable revenue source for themselves.

Speaking in Cannes, Richard Choi, VP of Sales and Marketing at Tango Telecom outlined the Tango Telecom solution. "Tango Telecom provides an innovative and patented SMS advertising and content delivery solution, enabling operators to deliver a mix of targeted advertising and useful personalised content such as news services without disrupting normal service flow. By implementing our advertising solution, operators are guaranteed a quick and cost-effective way to reap the benefits of SMS Advertising".

"However it is essential that subscribers receive real benefits from the proposed SMS Advertising and do not see it as SPAM, so iAX SMS Advertising enables the slicing and dicing of subscriber data to ensure the right message gets to the right person, managing the frequency, relevance and target of the advertising – ensuring value for subscribers and advertisers alike."