TelecomHype

Few days back, there was rumour on TGP of possible merger of Telenor and Zong. Dawn News has conformed of possible merger negotiations.

According to sources, Telenor group is interested to sell its shares in Pakistan and is holding talks with the China Mobile.

Though both the operators have denied any such development, sources said that negotiations were being held secretly at the group level.

Though Telenor, a Norwegian company, has a subscriber-base of 20 million or so in Pakistan, it has been deliberating to sell its management shares since long because of ‘security issues’.

The Telenor group has already focused on India for investment, as it recently sought to buy about 67 per cent shares of Unitech Wireless and telecom arm of Unitech Ltd in India.

The Indian market is experiencing a major growth in mobile penetration and currently it stands at 27 per cent with a total population of about 1.2 billion.

There has been a lot of potential in the market and the global operators see it a best place for future market.

China Mobile’s first international business venture, Zong, currently has over six million subscribers.

Before the merger talks with the Telenor group, the China Mobile had offered to buy the management shares of Warid Telecom Pakistan.

However, deal could not materialise owing to price issue.

Mobilink, Telenor, Ufone, Warid and Zong (CM-Pak) have reportedly conveyed to the PTA that there was a room for only ‘four’ players.

A PTA official said there were chances that by 2010, the country may have four operators.

The number of cell-phone users in Pakistan has reached over 90 million. Though Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) shows declining trend over the last few years, aggressive marketing and expansion of network has enabled mobile operators to grab more subscribers on their networks.

[via DAWN.COM]

As the world is entering an era of technology convergence, the wireless panorama is changing ‘fast and furious’. The recent convergence of the Internet and mobile radio has also accelerated the demand for “Internet in the pocket” on light, low-cost terminals, as well as for radio technologies that boost data throughput and reduce cost per bit. Mobile networks are now going multimedia, potentially leading to an explosion in throughput from a few bytes for the Short Message Service (SMS) to a few Kbits/s for the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), to several 100 kbits/s for video content.

This trend to higher data rates over wireless networks will culminate in the introduction of Third Generation (3G) System UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System).

High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) technology is a cost-efficient upgrade to UMTS systems and promises to deliver performance comparable to today’s wireless LAN services, but with the added benefit of mobility and ubiquitous coverage.

Mobile operators who have invested heavy amounts in existing infrastructure will obviously show reluctance towards deployment of new 3G infrastructure. An extremely flexible expansion and migration strategy along the road to the 3G would be “soft” network evolution that does not render existing installations superfluous.

Evolution Path

Investment risks are minimized and competitive positions strengthened through the gradual deployment of technology. Intelligently expanding existing infrastructures is often all it takes to be able to offer new forms of mobile data services in practice quickly and flexibly.

Basically four transmission systems play a role in the evolution from GSM to the Third mobile radio generation (3G), namely:

• HSCSD (High Speed Circuit Switched Data)
• GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)
• EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution)
• UMTS (Universal Mobile Telephone System)

The chart below shows the evolution path.

The present network architecture stands on EDGE, it stands for Enhanced Data Rates for Global (instead of “Global”, originally: GSM) Evolution. Based on the GSM standard, EDGE permits faster data rates - and so is intermediate step from GSM technology toward UMTS.

UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) is the name given to a totally new performance dimension in mobile radio. UMTS is the cornerstone of what is called the third mobile radio generation (3G) for voice and data communication, both packet and circuit-switched. UMTS employs separate frequency bands so is free from the bottlenecks of GSM systems.

Once UMTS is implemented, it would pave the path for HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access). HSDPA provides a smooth evolutionary path for the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) networks to higher data rates and higher capacities, in the same way as Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) does in the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) world. HSDPA is primarily implemented in the Node B (identical to a BTS in a GSM network) and the RNC (Radio Network Controller, both are the entities oF UMTS RAN (Radio Access Network).

Advantages of HSDPA

Eventually every UMTS market will see HSDPA deployments - the technology offers operators too much of an edge to be ignored.

Major advantages include:

• Peak data rates of up to seven times higher than those in the most advanced UMTS networks
• A four-fold improvement in network capacity
• Reduced round-trip time between network and terminals
• Sophisticated scheduling allowing favorable allocation of resources

HSDPA’s improved spectrum efficiency enables much faster downstream throughput - between network and terminal - than current UMTS technology. Although the theoretical maximum data transfer speed of HSDPA is 10- 14Mbps, the technology will deliver a 2 - 3Mbps downlink on average. Shared among users in an adequately covered area, this will provide each user with a 300K - 1Mbps downlink, i.e. comparable to current wireless LANs and domestic fixed line broadband.

HSDPA is an extremely cost-effective path to higher data rates and provides more efficient use of valuable spectrum. It enables operators to compete effectively in increasingly converged markets and satisfy the need for enhanced QoS and bandwidth-hungry services in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

References:

[i] www.umts-forum.com

[ii] http://www.3gamericas.org/pdfs/gsm_to_umts-siemens.pdf

[iii] www.3gamericas.org/pdfs/lucent_hsdpa_paper_2005.pdf

The recent launch of wi-tribe has definitely elevated the level of competition in WiMAX market in Pakistan. Now the latest news is the expected launch of Qubee an Augere brand for WiMAX services in Pakistan.

Qubee is a new and exciting company providing fast, reliable and competitively priced broadband internet services to residential and business customers across Pakistan. We believe that everyone should be able to enjoy trouble-free access to the internet and the world of opportunities that it brings. Our aim is to make a magical internet experience available to everyone, everyday, without exception.

Qubee is the creation of a group of global telecoms professionals who saw that a new technology called WiMAX could really change the internet experience for millions of people worldwide.

The details of the tariff and packages offered is not yet mentioned on their website, www.qubee.com.pk.

They are starting in Karachi, but quickly plan to expand thier network and cover other cities nationwide. The current coverage area for Qubee can be seen on the following link.

Qubee’s launch right after the launch of wi-tribe reminds me of the year 2005 when at the GSM front we saw Warid following Telenor’s launch. Nevertheless Qubee will bring on-air the fourth WiMAX operator of Pakistan, the other three being Wateen, Mobilink Infinity and the recent Wi-tribe. Will this start a price/data-rate war among the WiMAX operators? This will only become clear with time.

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Augere is an European company focused on broadband delivery in emerging markets, they had been selected by TeleCard as the principal contractor to design and build the network such as to position a great offering / value proposition for the growing and very quality sensitive internet user community in the country.

Wi-Tribe has now officially launched its Wi-MAX services in Pakistan. The official launch press release is as follows.

wi-tribe Launches largest wireless broadband Internet service in Pakistan

Doha, June 30, 2009: wi-tribe, a Qtel Group company, today announced the official launch of its wireless broadband service in Pakistan, its largest market to date. The launch phase will include the cities of Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, and Rawalpindi.

“Today, a new milestone is achieved in the evolution of wi-tribe and the realization of our vision to become one of the top 20 telecom players by 2020,” said Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Thani, Chairman of The Qtel Group. “Following our launch in Jordan, Pakistan marks a major stepping stone towards our expansion strategy and our intention to leverage the scale and strengths of TheQtel Group in order to deliver the latest technologies to our customers and continue to enhance services across our operations,” addedSheikh Abdullah.”

Dr. Nasser Marafih, CEO of The Qtel Group and Chairman of wi-tribe, commented: “Consumer broadband is at the heart of the Qtel Group strategy and a major pillar of growth. The launch of wi-tribe in Pakistan is a very important moment for all of us at The Qtel Group as it reflects a major stepping stone towards our commitment to bring broadband wireless access to more people, to connect individuals and businesses more easily and to improve access to theinternet in all new and emerging markets.

“Broadband penetration levels in new emerging markets are currently very low compared to markets in the region. However, consumer demand for wireless services is growing at a fast pace. So we will continue to focus on this area in the future as we see good business opportunity and significant growth potential,” added Dr. Nasser.

Shaikh Abdulrahman Ali Al Turki, Chairman and CEO of A.A.Turki Group A.A. Turki Group of companies (ATCO), commended on the growth and success achieved by the wi-tribe group stating, “At ATCO we are extremely pleased with wi-tribe’s developments since its establishment in 2007. The addition of Pakistan to our tribe is proof of our firm commitment to bridge the digital divide and bring to emerging markets the best in connectivity and ease of access. It is about time these markets got excellent quality service.”

“wi-tribe uses WiMAX technology to provide customers with the advantage of broadband internet access wirelessly, giving them the option of accessing the internet whenever and wherever they choose within the network area,” commented Sami Hinedi, CEO, wi-tribe Group. “We strongly believe in improving the lifestyle of our customers by understanding their needs and offering them the best personalized customer experience. We want to provide solutions that are simple, easy and valued by individuals, businesses and the Government,” he added.

wi-tribe is a focused and dedicated consumer wireless broadband provider and will offer instant connectivity with applications tailor-made and simplified to accommodate the needs of every customer. Thewi-tribe service will deliver broadband internet access through the ‘plug in and play’ option offering speeds of 256Kbps, 512 Mbps, and 1 Mbps. The process of becoming a wi-triber is extremely simple and beneficial. The wi -tribe service uses an efficient and highly effective plug and play modem which provides online access on the go. Internet users in Pakistan will experience the best in consumer wireless broadband service andwi-tribe’s unique customer care experience.

The official website has details for packages that wi-tribe is offering in Pakistan.

With this launch the WiMAX competition will definitely boom in Pakistan.

Those who have used the wi-tribe services, do share your experience with us.

[Press release via Zawya.com]