LG targets KRW 3 trillion in cost savings February 10, 2009
Posted by aikservices in Cost Cutting, Korea, LG Electronics.Tags: Cost Cutting, Korea, LG Electronics
add a comment
LG Electronics announced efforts to weather the world economic slowdown, including plans to reduce its costs by KRW 3 trillion. Despite the weaker demand, LG said it will continue to invest, and may even raise its spending, on R&D and marketing. The company has intensified its efforts to increase market share despite the volatile economic situation. To achieve this, LG has reorganized its business portfolio to focus on areas with longer-term growth potential and profitability. Partnerships will continue to be a key element of the company’s marketing activities to elevate its brand position.
LG will continue to invest in future growth engines such as solar power, commercial air conditioners and business (B2B) solutions, all sectors LG expects will expand and become increasingly profitable once the economy is back on track. At the end of 2008, LG Electronics established a Crisis War Room (CWR) to bring together LG’s five business units, eight regional headquarters and executives to implement and manage the company’s business plan. In three months, the CWR has identified and developed 11 key action items. Business units have been instructed to establish task force teams to take responsibility for managing the cost-saving initiatives. The company-wide cost-cutting initiative also applies to manufacturing and indirect costs. Globally, LG has been working to further improve its procurement system, which includes everything from raw materials to investment in facilities, financial services and recruitment. LG’s efforts to improve its cash flow has already resulted in reduced inventory, increased liquidity, optimized supply chain management and a more consolidated, efficient purchasing process overall, the company said.
Nokia to open Music Store in South Africa February 10, 2009
Posted by aikservices in Ireland, Nokia, South Africa, UAE.Tags: Ireland, Nokia, South Africa, UAE
11 comments
Nokia has announced its intention to bring the Nokia Music Store to South Africa. The store, which will open its doors on 24 April, promises to make millions of digital tracks available to local consumers. The store will feature a broad range of genres including popular and non-mainstream genres, independent artists and a wide selection of South African artists. In addition, the Nokia Music Store will offer a host of interactive features such as music browsing and personal track recommendations. South African users will be able to access the Nokia Music Store via their personal computer or directly from Nokia devices including the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia N96, Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia N81 8GB, Nokia N82 and the Nokia N79. All music on the Nokia Music Store can be purchased through a variety of payment options, including credit cards and prepaid vouchers. South Africa is the 12th country to see a local launch of the Nokia Music Store. Most recently the store was launched in Ireland and the United Arab Emirates.
Malaysia’s Digi Reports Full-Year Revenues Up 10% February 9, 2009
Posted by aikservices in Asia, Digi, Financial, Malaysia.Tags: Asia, Digi, Financial, Malaysia
add a comment
Malaysian mobile operator, DiGi has reported an after-tax-profit of RM1.1 billion (US$304 million) on the back of a 10% growth in revenue to RM4.8 billion (US$1.3 billion) in 2008. The rise in revenue was driven by steady demand for mobile services and an increase in subscriber base to 7.1 million at the end of 2008. Average revenue per user (ARPU) maintained at RM59 (US$16.35).
Commenting on DiGi’s performance in 2008, chief executive officer Johan Dennelind said, We are pleased to have met our financial guidance despite intense competition and a more challenging macro-economic environment towards the second-half of 2008. Encouragingly, we are gaining positive momentum for our postpaid business as seen in the significant increase in subscriber base by 56%, surpassing the 1 million mark.
Year-on-year, DiGi’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to RM2.2 billion (US$609 million). As expected, EBITDA margin decreased to 45.1% due to competitive price pressure, higher traffic and network operating costs as well as increased sales and marketing expenses.
New Palestinian mobile network receives funding February 9, 2009
Posted by aikservices in Financial, GSM, Palestine, Qtel, Wataniya.Tags: Financial, GSM, Palestine, Qtel, Wataniya
add a comment
International Finance Corp (IFC), the private-sector lending arm of the World Bank, is to invest USD 30 million in a new operator building a mobile network in Palestine’s West Bank. The operator, known as Wataniya Palestine, is a joint-venture between the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF) and Wataniya Telecom, which is majority-owned by Qatar’s Qtel. “The network being built by Wataniya Palestine will use the internationally popular GSM standard,” Allan Richardson, Wataniya’s chief executive, told Reuters. The operator received its GSM license, the second to be issued in Palestine, in September 2006. IFC said its investment was driven by the desire to provide jobs and help make mobile services more affordable and more widely available in the Palestinian territories.
Verizon CFO to Retire in Mid-2009 February 9, 2009
Posted by aikservices in North America, USA, Verizon Wireless.Tags: North America, USA, Verizon Wireless
add a comment
Verizon’s Chief Financial Officer, Doreen A. Toben has announced her intention to retire around the middle of this year. As CFO since 2002, Toben has been involved in virtually all of Verizon’s strategic initiatives and significant decisions. The company said that a successor to Toben will be named shortly.Verizon CEO Ivan G. Seidenberg said: Doreen’s contributions as CFO throughout Verizon’s history as a company will make a profound and positive difference for many years to come. She has been an outstanding executive, helping Verizon integrate multiple acquisitions, demonstrate financial discipline, improve execution and strengthen our balance sheet for the benefit of investors. We are grateful for her dedication throughout her career and are pleased that she will stay to assist during the transition period.
Since April 2002, Toben has been responsible for Verizon’s finance and financial planning efforts. Prior to being CFO, Toben was senior vice president and chief financial officer for Verizon’s Domestic Telecom group, with responsibility for finance and strategic planning.
Mobile Linux Group Selects Wind River As Systems Integrator February 9, 2009
Posted by aikservices in LiMo, Mobile Linux, Telecom, Wind River, Wireless.Tags: LiMo, Mobile Linux, Telecom, Wind River, Wireless
add a comment
The Mobile Linux organisation, the LiMo Foundation has selected Wind River as the systems integrator to deliver the common infrastructure, tools, testing and integration services for the LiMo platform. A Board member of LiMo Foundation, Wind River will now be LiMo’s chosen systems integrator providing technology and services to combine, harden and validate code contributions of LiMo members through a Common Working Environment (CWE).
As the mobile industry now breaks out of its traditional, controlled development environments and embraces collaborative approaches that unlock innovation, operators and device manufacturers are turning to vendors they can trust to guide them through the evolving mobile software landscape, said Morgan Gillis, executive director of LiMo Foundation. Through its selection of Wind River as a company with a legacy of world-class embedded software, LiMo expects to be able to accelerate its goal of reducing Linux fragmentation while intensifying platform development through the rapid adoption of member contributions.
VeriSign sells European mobile branch to Sinon February 9, 2009
Posted by aikservices in Europe, Financial, MMS, Sinon, VeriSign.Tags: Europe, Financial, MMS, Sinon, VeriSign
add a comment
Global internet infrastructure services provider VeriSign is selling its European mobile branch to Austrian investment group Sinon, with effect from 1 January. The new company, which specialises in mobile messaging, will be called Mobile Messaging Solutions. The sale follows VeriSign’s decision to withdraw from the mobile business sector and focus more on its online naming and security activities. MMS has named Otto Legerer as CEO. The management team comprises Peter Kraus as CFO and Harald Weinberger in the role of CTO. Kraus was previously VeriSign’s financial manager. Weinberger says that the company aims to expand its presence in Vienna and Central and Eastern Europe. Furthermore, ongoing technical development and innovation will be encouraged allowing the company to continue its ongoing expansion into new markets in Asia and Africa. MMS aims to provide mobile applications and SMS services with its international mobile messaging network made up of data centres. These centres will be responsible for the transmission of more than 240 million SMS messages each year on behalf of tier 1 clients including all Austrian mobile communications operators, media providers and large branded organisations. The company will also focus on SMEs to receive support for mobile marketing. MMS and VeriSign plan to continue a long-term partnership within the verticals of mobile security and mobile international services.
Samsung launches online mobile app store February 6, 2009
Posted by aikservices in Mobile Application, Samsung, Telecom, UK, Wireless.Tags: Mobile Application, Samsung, Telecom, UK, Wireless
3 comments
Samsung has launched an online mobile applications store. The online store called Samsung Mobile Applications allows innovator members to sell their applications via the website. The online store is initially focussed on the UK. The store will be officially launched at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona with 1,100 applications. The store will support both Symbian S60 and Windows Mobile applications, with further upgrades planned for later this year.
Femtocell Group Signs Up 100th Member February 6, 2009
Posted by aikservices in Femtocell, Mobile, Telecom, Wireless.Tags: Femtocell, Mobile, Telecom, Wireless
add a comment
The Femto Forum, the independent industry and operator association that supports femtocell deployment, has announced that is has reached 100 members. The body now boasts as members, all of the top 5 infrastructure vendors and 17 of the world’s top 20 operators covering more than 2.3 billion subscribers.The Forum was launched just 18 months ago with only seven specialist femtocell members and has since multiplied rapidly to over 100 companies which read like a Who’s Who of the industry. This momentum allows us to continue to overcome barriers as operators carry out advanced consumer trials and early deployments this year ahead of mass deployment in 2010, said Simon Saunders. At the beginning of 2008 we set ourselves some tough challenges – not least turning around a femtocell standard in record time. We’ve no intention of slowing down this year, which will be a critical period as operators start deployments.
Now that the 3GPP has committed to completing the WCDMA femtocell standard by the end of March the Forum will be working to ensure that devices from different vendors are fully interoperable, as well as supporting the 3GPP’s release 9 and its planned provision for IMS femtocells. There will also be a focus on developing ‘Home Zone services’, creating new mobile applications that take advantage of the ‘presence’ capabilities of femtocells and the ability to easily connect mobile phone users to the home network and the web.
Tata Completes GSMA IP EXchange Trials February 6, 2009
Posted by aikservices in Asia, GSM, India, Tata Communications, Telekom Austria, Telus.Tags: Asia, GSM, India, Tata Communications, Telekom Austria, Telus
add a comment
India’s Tata Communications says that it has successfully completed trials of its wireless IP interconnection technology, part of the international GSM Association’s program to develop the next generation of wireless services. Tata Communications’ trials were part of the GSMA’s IP eXchange (IPX).Pre-Commercial Implementation Project, which is verifying the design and operation of IPX networks through a series of trials designed to validate technical and commercial specifications.Once adopted, IPX will act as a private global IP backbone, open to any telecommunications company adhering to the required standards. IPX will provide fixed and mobile service providers with a technical and commercial platform for the performance-based exchange of IP-based services.
Tata Communications’ participation and completion of the GSMA’s IPX trial is key to our strategy of delivering innovative voice solutions to our customers worldwide,” said Michel Guyot, President, Global Voice Solutions for Tata Communications. Our company is committed to working with the IPIA (IP Internetworking Alliance) to promote and support the launch of IPX services and is planning to launch its own IPX rich, integrated offering to service providers – like TELUS and Telekom Austria – delivered over next-generation network architecture. We truly believe the IPX model will have a very significant impact on the industry.
Vodafone Portugal Tests Mobile Downloads at 16 Mbps February 6, 2009
Posted by aikservices in HSPA, Mobile Network Operator, Portugal, Vodafone.Tags: HSPA, Mobile Network Operator, Portugal, Vodafone
add a comment
Vodafone Portugal this morning initiated in Lisbon the first data session using the new HSPA+ 64QAM technology which makes it possible to use Mobile Broadband at a theoretical maximum download speed of 21.6 Mbps.The tests were carried out under real conditions on the Vodafone Portugal network in partnership with Ericsson, and real download peaks of 16 Mbps were achieved.These tests were carried out following those made in January by the Vodafone Group using the same technology.Vodafone Portugal is expecting to launch commercial HSPA+ Internet offers in 2009, as soon as compatible data devices come onto the market.
HSPA+ is the next step in the development of 3G/HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access) technology and uses the latest 64QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) modulation techniques. Vodafone estimates that the speeds achieved using HSPA+ technology could be increased even further with the MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) functionality which uses multiple antennas on base stations and data devices and supports a theoretical maximum speed of 28.8 Mbps.
RIM tops VeriSign offer for Certicom February 6, 2009
Posted by aikservices in Certicom, Financial, Research In Motion, RIM, VeriSign.Tags: Certicom, Financial, Research In Motion, RIM, VeriSign
add a comment
Research In Motion has made a new bid to acquire the mobile security developer Certicom, topping an offer from VeriSign. Certicom went to court to block RIM’s initial bid, saying it was too low. RIM is now offering CAD 3 per share, beating an offer of CAD 2.10 per share from VeriSign. Certicom’s board said it considers RIM’s offer a “superior proposal”, as defined in its agreement with VeriSign. VeriSign now has five business days, until the end of 11 February, to change its offer. If Certicom goes ahead with the RIM deal, it will owe a CAD 4 million termination fee to VeriSign.
T-Mobile USA Offering Motorola’s Carbon-Neutral Mobile Phone February 5, 2009
Posted by aikservices in Motorola, T-Mobile, USA.Tags: Motorola, T-Mobile, USA
add a comment
T-Mobile USA says that it has secured exclusive rights to the Motorola W233 Renew mobile phone – the plastics of which are made from recycled water bottles. Through an alliance with Carbonfund, Motorola also offsets the carbon dioxide required to manufacture, distribute and operate the phone through investments in renewable energy sources and reforestation, making it the first carbon-neutral mobile phone. We know that many of our customers are concerned about the environmental impact of the products they choose, and we share that concern, said Glenn Zaccara, senior manager of corporate responsibility, T-Mobile USA. T-Mobile is working to find ways to make it easier for our customers to limit their impact on the environment, and our partnership with Motorola to exclusively offer the Renew is a positive step along this journey.
In addition to Renew, T-Mobile also offers customers the option to sign up for paperless billing. In 2008, T-Mobile partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant trees for customers who signed up for this option and, to date, has planted more than 500,000 trees.
French Mobile Download Speeds Doubled Over Past Year February 5, 2009
Posted by aikservices in 2G, 3G, ARCEP, France, Mobile, Telecom, Wireless.Tags: 2G, 3G, ARCEP, France, Mobile, Telecom, Wireless
add a comment
The French telecoms regulator, ARCEP has published a report on the quality of service of mobile networks in Metropolitan France, after testing each operator’s 2G and 3G networks. As required by their authorisations, the operators help finance this study.Mobile network speeds in France have doubled in one year.File transfer tests were held in the twelve largest cities in Metropolitan France, using USB keys or PCMCIA cards connected to laptop computers. The results of these tests show bitrates more than double those measured in 2007.
Results show speeds one and a half times higher than those obtained in 2007 for average speeds, and up to two times higher for the highest speeds: bitrates for downloading were1 450 kbit/s on average, and over 4 Mbit/s for the fastest, while speeds observed when sending files reached 400 kbit/s on average, and over 740 kbit/s for the fastest. These speeds were reached using each operator’s highest performing offers, available in shops.These speeds are comparable to the bitrates offered by entry-level ADSL.
Alcatel-Lucent Writes Off $5 Billion in Assets February 5, 2009
Posted by aikservices in Alcatel-Lucent, Financial, LTE, WiMAX.Tags: Alcatel-Lucent, Financial, LTE, WiMAX
add a comment
Alcatel-Lucent has reported its eighth quarterly loss as it wrote down the value of its assets by over US$5 billion. The firm recorded a loss of €3.89 billion (US$5 billion), compared to a loss of €2.58 billion (US$3.35 billion) a year earlier. The company has now written down its assets by around €8 billion (US$10.3 billion) since Alcatel brought Lucent in 2006.For the full year, the company reported revenues of €16.984 billion (US$21.9 billion), down 4.5% year over year (down 1.1% at constant currency), and a net loss of €5.215 billion (US46.7 billion).
Alcatel-Lucent has started to implement its plan to introduce more focused R&D and streamline its product portfolio, starting with mature technologies and the refocusing of its WiMAX investment on the enhanced wireless DSL market opportunity, while at the same time significantly boosting investments in LTE.
