About this weblog

What you need to know: This weblog captures key data points about the global telecoms industry. I use it as an electronic notebook to support my work for Pringle Media.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Sharp Fall in Motorola Device Sales

Motorola's sales fell 28% to 5.37 billion US dollars in the first quarter of 2009 compared with the same period a year earlier. Revenues in its mobile device segment were down 45% to 1.8 billion dollars. During the quarter, Motorola shipped 14.7 million handsets and estimates its share of the global handset market was 6%. source: Motorola statement

Reliance Rises 15%

Boosted by new customers, Reliance Communications, a leading telecoms operator in India, said that its revenues in the January to March quarter were 61.24 billion Indian rupees (1.23 billion US dollars), 15% higher than the 53.11 billion rupees it reported in the same quarter of 2008. source: Reliance statement

SK Wins New Customers

South Korea's SK Telecom said that first quarter revenue rose 1.4% year-on-year to 2.88 trillion Korean won (2.15 billion US dollars) thanks to a 4% increase in subscribers. As a result of increased spending on its WCDMA network, SK said that capital spending climbed 25% to 348 billion won.

SK said that wireless internet revenue rose 5% in the first quarter to 625 billion won thanks to growth in flat rate data plan subscribers and phone mail use. source: SK Telecom statement

HTC Shipments Slip

HTC, a leading maker of handsets running Windows and Android, said it shipped 2.4 million mobile devices at an average selling price of 364 US dollars in the first quarter of 2009 compared with 2.6 million at 388 dollars in the same period of 2008. source: HTC presentation

Softbank Forecasts Growth

Softbank of Japan said it expects revenues, operating income and cash flow to grow in the year to March 31, 2010 despite a 4% decline in revenues in the previous year to 2.67 trillion Japanese yen (27.19 billion US dollars). Net sales in Softbank's mobile communications division fell by 4% to 1.56 trillion yen dragged down by a fall in handset sales.

Softbank said it expects capital spending of 220 billion yen in the year to March 31, 2010 compared with 259 billion yen the previous year. source: Softbank statement

Ericsson Bucks the Downward Trend

Bucking the trend in telecoms equipment sales, Ericsson reported a 5% year-on-year rise in revenues on a like-for-like basis in the first quarter to 49.6 billion Swedish krona (6.16 billion US dollars). Revenue in Ericsson's professional services business, which includes managing networks for operators, grew 10% year-on-year in constant currencies. However, net income fell 30% hit by losses at Sony-Ericsson.

"Investments in wireless networks largely continues, and rollouts of new networks and new technologies accelerate in markets such as the US, China and India," said Carl-Henric Svanberg, President and CEO of Ericsson.

Ericsson's sales are growing fastest in Asia-Pacific. The Stockhom-based company described the mobile broadband rollout in China as "the largest ever in the world and is being done in record time." It said that deliveries are also high to India, Indonesia and Vietnam, but cautioned that operators in Bangladesh and Pakistan are slowing investments due to the difficult local business environment.

Ericsson said that mobile subscriptions worldwide grew by 181 million in the first quarter to a total of 4.16 billion, while the number of WCDMA subscriptions grew by 27 million to 319 million. In 2008, Ericsson estimates fixed broadband connections grew by 18% year-over-year to close to 400 million. source: Ericsson statement

Slowing Semiconductor Sales Hit ARM

ARM Holdings, a leading designer of chips for mobile devices, said that revenues fell 10% to $121 million in the first quarter of 2009.

ARM said that semiconductor industry activity continued to slow in the first quarter and, whilst there are early signs of improving visibility in some sectors, the near term remains uncertain.

The UK-based company also reported that shipments of ARM-based chips into mobile devices were down about 16% in the first quarter compared with a year ago, whilst the overall number of chips being shipped into mobiles was down about 25%. source: ARM statement

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Sales Slide At Qwest

Blaming a fall in voice revenues, tighter cost controls and a change in its wireless business model, Qwest Communications said its revenue in the first quarter fell 7% year-on-year to 3.17 billion US dollars. Capital spending in the quarter was 334 million US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 20%.

Qwest reconfirmed that it expects full year 2009 adjusted free cash flow will be between 1.4 billion and 1.5 billion US dollars, while capital expenditure will be a maximum of 1.8 billion US dollars - about the same capex as 2008. source: Qwest statement

Rogers Revs Up Revenues

In the first quarter of 2009, Rogers Communications of Canada generated 5% year-on-year growth in revenue to 2.75 billion Canadian dollars (2.29 billion US dollars) thanks to 8% growth in its wireless network revenues. Wireless data revenue growth accelerated to 43% year-on-year, while capital expenditure climbed 12% to 359 million Canadian dollars.

Rogers forecast that revenue will grow between 5% and 9% in 2009 over the 11.34 billion Canadian dollars it generated in 2008. source: Rogers presentation

Growth Slows in Russia

Benefiting from rising mobile usage, Russian conglomerate Sistema said its telecommunications unit increased revenues by 24% to 12.08 billion US dollars in 2008. But growth at the unit, which includes Russia's largest mobile operator MTS, in the fourth quarter slowed to 5%. source: Sistema statement

Unicom's Revenue Tops $5 billion

China Unicom said it generated revenue of 37.92 billion Chinese yuan (5.55 billion US dollars), including 16.74 billion yuan from its cellular business, in the first quarter of 2009. The group did not provide comparative figures for 2008 because it said it doesn't have the equivalent accounts from China Netcom, which Unicom acquired last year. source: China Unicom statement

France Telecom Ekes Out Growth

Despite an estimated 1.7% decline in GDP in the countries in which France Telecom-Orange operates, the group reported a 0.4% rise in revenues on a like-for-like basis in the first quarter of 2009 to 12.69 billion euros. Capital spending fell 16% to 1.23 billion euros as the group cut back investment in Poland and Romania in particular.

Despite a significant slowdown in the first quarter in Eastern Europe and parts of Africa, the Paris-based group re-confirmed its forecast of 8 billion euros in organic cash flow for 2009.

France Telecom reported a 80% year-on-year increase in "3G mobile broadband customers" to almost 21 million as of March 31, 2009, but mobile data revenues grew much more slowly. In the U.K., for example, revenues from data services increased 3% in the first quarter of 2009 despite an 82% rise in mobile broadband customers to 3.82 million. source: France Telecom statement

America Movil's Sales Up 15%

America Movil, one of Latin America's largest mobile operators, said first quarter revenues totaled 93.8 billion Mexican pesos (6.79 billion US dollars), up 15 year-on-year, boosted by currency movements, new customers and rising data revenues. Capital expenditure in the quarter was 10.6 billion pesos.

Revenues from mobile data services rose by 47% in the period, mostly on the back of rising usage of 3G services. America Movil estimated that mobile penetration has now reached 84% in Latin America. source: America Movil statement

Bharti Bullish on India

Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile operator, reported a 37% rise in revenues to 369.6 billion Indian rupees (7.25 billion US dollars) for the year to March 31, 2009 aided by expansion into rural areas. The company's EBITDA grew by 33% to 151.7 billion rupees, while capital expenditure for the full year was 140.2 billion rupees.

Although revenue growth slowed to 26% in the January-to-March quarter, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman & Managing Director of Bharti Airtel, said: "We expect revival of the economy in the second half of this fiscal year. I have no doubts that the telecom sector will lead the economic revival."

Revenue from non-voice services, such as SMS, accounted for 14.1% of total revenues in the January-to-March quarter compared with 14.9% in the same period a year earlier. source: Bharti Airtel statement

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Mobile Market Falters in Poland

Blaming a faltering mobile market and price regulation, TP Group of Poland reported a 5% decline in revenues in the first quarter of 2009 to 4.31 billion Polish zlotys (1.26 billion US dollars). Capital spending fell by 20% to 513 million Polish zlotys. source: TP Group presentation

Telmex Revenues Down 4%

Hit by falling voice traffic and prices, Telmex, Mexico's dominant fixed-line operator, said revenues fell 4% year-on-year to 30.02 billion Mexican pesos (2.16 billion US dollars) in the first quarter of 2009. source: Telmex statement

KPN Forecasts Flat 2009

Lowering its guidance, KPN said its expects its revenues in 2009 to be the same as the 14 billion euros it generated in 2008, stripping out disposals, before increasing slightly in 2010. It also forecast that capital spending will be 2 billion euros this year compared with 1.9 billion euros in 2008.

In the first quarter of 2009, KPN's revenues fell 6% to 3.4 billion euros following the disposal of Getronics. On a like-for-like basis, revenues were virtually flat despite a doubling of wireless data revenues in KPN's home market of Holland. source: KPN statement

NTT DOCOMO Sees More Decline

Facing intense competition and declining voice revenues, NTT DOCOMO estimated that its revenues in the year to March 31, 2010 will fall 1.5% to 4.38 trillion yen (45.58 billion US dollars). The Japanese mobile operator also forecast a 6% decline in capital spending to 690 billion yen.

In the year to March 31, 2009 NTT DOCOMO's revenues fell 6% to 4.45 trillion yen even though revenues from packet communications services (data) climbed 10% to 1.51 trillion yen. source: NTT DOCOMO statement

Monday, April 27, 2009

Qualcomm Raises Forecast

Qualcomm raised its forecast for revenues in the year ending September 30, 2009 to between 9.85 and 10.25 billion US dollars, which would amount to a decline of between 8% and 12% on the previous financial year. The chip maker also forecast that about 348 million WCDMA handsets will be shipped worldwide in calendar 2009 compared with 264 million in 2008.

For the quarter ending March 29, 2009, Qualcomm reported a 6% fall in revenues to 2.46 billion US dollars as the global handset market contracted. source: Qualcomm statement

Data Drives Verizon Forward

Following the acquisition of Alltel, Verizon Communications said it revenue grew 12% year-on-year to 26.6 billion US dollars in the first quarter of 2009. If the acquisition had occurred on January 1, 2008, revenue growth for Alltel and Verizon combined would have been 3%.

Verizon Wireless' data revenue in the first quarter was 3.6 billion US dollars, up 37% on a like-for-like basis from the first quarter 2008. Verizon Wireless said that 58% of its data revenue was from non-messaging services.

During the quarter, Verizon Wireless 86.6 million customers sent or received more than 127 billion text messages, sent nearly 2.1 billion picture/video messages and completed 48.6 million music and video downloads.

Verizon's Wireline business recorded a 14% increase in consumer ARPU thanks to adoption of its premium fibre-optic broadband and television services. Capital expenditures totaled 3.7 billion US dollars in the quarter down from 4.2 billion in the same period a year ago. source: Verizon statement

Friday, April 24, 2009

Sales Down 7% for KT

Hit by declining sales in its telephone, wireless and land-to-mobile businesses, KT of South Korea reported a 7% year-on-year decline in operating revenues in the first quarter of 2009 to 2.77 trillion Korean won (2.07 billion US dollars). source: KT presentation

TeliaSonera Forecasts Flat Sales

After warning that the economic slump is changing customer behaviour in several of its markets, TeliaSonera forecast that its revenues, in local currencies and excluding acquisitions, will be around the same level in 2009 as in 2008.

The Nordic operator also said that its capex-to-sales ratio is expected to be "somewhat lower" in 2009 than in 2008 and it added that capital expenditure may be reduced further if the economy continues to deteriorate.

TeliaSonera's revenues grew 12% in the first quarter of 2009 to 27.2 billion Swedish krona (3.32 billion US dollars) compared with the same period in 2008, but the company said that organic growth in local currencies was just 0.6%. source: TeliaSonera statement

Samsung Claims More Market Share

Samsung Electronics said it expects global demand for handsets to be flat or see a marginal increase in the second quarter of 2009 compared with the first quarter. The company is predicting industry handset shipments will be down between 5% and 10% in the whole of 2009 from the 1.2 billion units shipped in 2008.

After reporting a 30% year-on-year increase in consolidated revenues for its telecommunications division to 9.77 trillion Korean won (7.3 billion US dollars) for the first quarter, Samsung believes it will again outperform the market in the second quarter. It expects its handset division to benefit from rising demand for touch-screen smart phones and its networks division to benefit from the expansion in mobile WiMAX services in Japan and the U.S. source: Samsung presentation

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Idea to Boost Capital Spending

Not factoring in the possible 3G auction in India, Idea Cellular forecast that its capital spending for the year to March 31, 2010 will be 60 billion rupees (1.19 billion US dollars), up 10% on the previous year.

Idea reported a 48% rise in revenue to 99.62 billion rupees in the year to March 31, 2009 as it increased its number of cell sites across India from 24,793 to 44,230. source: Idea presentation

ZTE Shows Strong Growth

Telecoms equipment maker ZTE said its revenue in the first quarter grew 35% year on year to 11.67 billion Chinese yuan (1.7 billion US dollars). The company said that its networks business grew 47% driven mainly by revenue generated from 3G and GSM network building, while handset revenues grew 22% with growth in domestic sales of CDMA handsets and international sales of 3G handsets. source: ZTE statement

Nokia Lauds 5800 Success

The 5800 Xpress Music device has the potential to become Nokia's most successful device ever, according to Nokia President and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. He estimated that the 5800 smartphone accounts for about 20 per cent of all touch screen devices sold worldwide.

Mr. Kallasvuo also estimated that Nokia's "consumer retention rate" of around 55 percent is almost twice the rate of its global competitors. source: Nokia statement

KDDI Sees Sales Slipping

Cutting back on handset sales, Japanese operator KDDI forecast that its revenue will fall 0.5% to 3.48 trillion yen (35.39 billion US dollars) in the year to March 31, 2010, while operating income will rise 6% to 470 billion yen.

The Tokyo-based company, which plans to launch a LTE network in 2012, also estimated that capital spending will decline 6% to 540 billion yen in this financial year.

Operating revenues in KDDI's mobile business fell 5% to 2.72 trillion yen in the year to March 31, 2009. source: KDDI statement

Apple Ships 3.8 Million More iPhones

Apple said that it sold 3.8 million iPhones in the quarter ending March 28, 2009, compared with 1.7 million in the same period of 2008. In the quarter ending December 27, 2008, Apple shipped 4.4 million iPhones and in the previous quarter 6.9 million handsets. source: Apple statement

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

AT&T Flat in First Quarter

In the first quarter of 2009, AT&T's revenues declined marginally to 30.6 billion US dollars from 30.7 billion in the year-earlier quarter, as growth in wireless and fixed-line data services offset declines in demand for fixed-line voice services.

The U.S. operator said it is still on track to meet its 2009 targets, which includes revenue growth in the low single digits.

AT&T generated a 39% increase in wireless data revenues to 3.2 billion US dollars, as text messages on the AT&T network more than doubled to 94 billion in the first quarter.

At the end of the first quarter, 41% of AT&T's postpaid wireless subscribers had a 3G device, up from 20% one year earlier. source: AT&T statement

Soaring Sales at Huawei

Telecoms equipment maker Huawei said its revenue rose 43% in 2008 to 18.33 billion US dollars, while net profit rose 20% to 1.51 billion US dollars. sources: Dow Jones/Total Telecom

Resilient Tele2

In the first quarter of 2009, stripping out the impact of currency movements, Tele2’s net sales increased by 1% year-on-year to 10.12 billion Swedish krona (1.19 billion US dollars) and its EBITDA grew by 34% to 2.23 billion krona as the Stockholm-based operator cut operating costs.

Expanding its mobile operation in Russia, Tele2's capital spending rose 32% year-on-year to 1.17 billion krona in the first quarter of 2009. source: Tele2 statement

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Broadcom Battles Slowdown

Telecoms chip maker Broadcom forecast that it will make revenues of between 900 million and 975 million US dollars in the second quarter of 2009 compared with 1.2 billion US dollars in the same period in 2008.

Revenue for the first quarter of 2009 was 853 million US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 17%. source: Broadcom statement

PCCW Cautious on 2009

Hong Kong-based PCCW said that it "must tackle 2009 with caution" after seeing trading conditions deteriorate in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Core revenues rose 7% in 2008 to 22 billion Hong Kong dollars (2.84 billion US dollars) on the back of a strong performance by its TV, content and mobile businesses. PCCW more than doubled its 3G mobile subscriber base to 414,000, while 2G subs rose 4% to 899,000 during 2008. source: PCCW statement

TI Wireless Sales Down 40%

Chip maker Texas Instruments said that revenue in its wireless division fell 40% year-on-year to 551 million US dollars in the first quarter of 2009. Sales were hit by lower demand for the baseband chips used in mobile phones and, to a lesser extent, application processors. source: Texas Instruments statement

Saudi Revenue Rise

Saudi Telecom reported a 27% year-on-year rise in operating revenues for the first quarter of 2009 to 12.14 billion Saudi Arabian riyals (3.24 billion US dollars). source: Dow Jones/Total Telecom

Deutsche Telekom Warns on Profits

Hit by the economic slowdown in the U.K. and the U.S. and adverse currency movements, Deutsche Telekom warned that its EBITDA will be between 2% and 4% lower in 2009 than the 19.5 billion euros it generated in 2008, stripping out the impact of the acquisition of OTE of Greece.

In the first quarter of 2009, Deutsche Telekom increased revenue by around 6 percent to approximately 15.9 billion euros. Without OTE, Deutsche Telekom's revenue would have been stable at 15 billion euros, with adjusted EBITDA dropping by 5% to 4.5 billion euros. source: Deutsche Telekom statement

LG Forecasts Rising Handset Sales

In the second quarter of 2009, LG Electronics expects its handset shipments to increase by at least 10% from the first quarter despite an anticipated 10% decline year-on-year in the global market to 260 million units.

In the first quarter of 2009, LG's handset shipments were 22.6 million units (down 7% year-on-year). But handset revenues in the first quarter were boosted by growth in sales of mid-tier phones to 3.92 trillion Korean won (2.9 billion US dollars) - a 23% increase on the same period in 2008. Even so, operating profits fell from 445 billion won to 362 billion won. source: LG Electronics presentation

Monday, April 20, 2009

Turk Telekom's Travails

Fixed-line operator Turk Telekom's revenues rose 3% to 2.51 billion Turkish Lira (1.52 billion US dollars) in the first-quarter of 2009 from the same period in 2008, but net profit fell 26% to 291 million lira. source: Dow Jones/Total Telecom

Etisalat Seeks Expansion

Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat said its revenues increased 13% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2009 to 7.12 billion UAE dirhams (1.94 billion US dollars), while net profits rose 4% to 2.18 billion UAE dirhams.

The operator said it is awaiting an appropriate opportunity to expand into Syria and Lebanon. source: Etisalat statement

Growth Slows at China Mobile

Adding 6.6 million customers each month, China Mobile said its revenue rose 9% in the first quarter of 2009 to 101.27 billion Chinese yuan (14.8 billion US dollars) compared with the same period a year earlier. Curbed by falling prices, that represents a slowdown on the 15.5% revenue growth China Mobile managed in the whole of 2008.

The Beijing-based company's EBITDA rose 8% in the first quarter of 2009 to 53.38 billion Chinese yuan.

During the first quarter, users of China Mobile MMS service rose 5 million to 134 million, while its customers sent 174 billion text messages compared with 158 billion in the previous quarter. source: China Mobile statement

China Telecom Mobilising for Growth

Driven by its expanding mobile business, China Telecom said its revenues in the first quarter of 2009 rose 15% to 50.89 billion Chinese yuan (7.44 billion US dollars). China's largest fixed-line operator also said it had 33 million mobile subscribers on March 31st compared with 28 million at the end of 2008, but total mobile voice usage on its network in the first quarter was only slightly higher than in the fourth quarter of 2008. source: China Telecom statement

Friday, April 17, 2009

Sony Ericsson Sales Slump

Blaming destocking by handset distributors and low consumer confidence, Sony Ericsson said its revenues fell 36% to 1.74 billion euros in the first quarter of 2009 compared with the same period in 2008.

Sony Ericsson forecast that the global handset market will contract at least 10% in 2009 from around 1.19 billion units in 2008. source: Sony Ericsson statement

Google Still Growing Year on Year

Google said its revenues in the first quarter of 2009 were 6% higher than the same period of 2008 at 5.51 billion US dollars. The Internet company also said that clicks on adverts on its own Web sites and those of its partners were up 17%. source: Google statement

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Hon Hai Targets 30% Revenue Rise

Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the world's largest contract electronics maker, is targeting a 30% increase in sales in 2009 despite an 8% fall in revenues in the first quarter. The company, which makes a wide range of white-label electronics goods, recorded revenues of 1.47 trillion Taiwanese dollars (43.5 billion US dollars) in 2008. source: Total Telecom/Dow Jones

Nokia Sees Market Stabilising

Nokia said it expects the industry to ship the same or slightly more mobile devices in the second quarter of 2009 as the 255 million shipped in the first quarter. However, the Helsinki-based company said it still expects industry mobile device shipments to be down 10% in 2009 compared with 2008.

Nokia Siemens Networks now expects the telecoms infrastructure and related services market to decline approximately 10% in euro terms in 2009 compared with 2008. It had forecast a decline of 5% or more.

In the first quarter of 2009, Nokia's revenues fell 27% to 9.28 billion euros as distributors ran down their handset stocks. The company's devices and services business recorded a 33% decline in sales despite a 79% increase in revenues from selling services to mobile phone users to 150 million euros. Nokia Siemens Networks' revenues fell 12%.

Nokia also said that industry smartphone shipments were 36 million in the first quarter of 2009 compared with 33 million in the same period in 2008. But its own smartphone shipments fell from 14.6 million to 13.7 million. source: Nokia statement

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Intel's Sales Slide

Intel said that sales of its Atom microprocessors and chipsets, which are designed for use in netbooks and other mobile Internet devices, fell 27% in the first quarter of 2009, compared with the fourth quarter of 2008, to 219 million US dollars.

More broadly, Intel's Mobility Group, which supplies chipsets to the laptop and mobile device market, saw its revenues fall 21% in the first quarter compared with the same period in 2008 to 2.91 billion US dollars.

Citing continued economic uncertainty, Intel declined to give a company revenue forecast for the second quarter of 2009, but said "for internal purposes" it is planning on revenue of about $7.1 billion US dollars, which would amount to a decline of 25% on the second quarter of 2008. Intel's revenue fell 26% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2009. source: Intel statement

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Games Lead Apple Apps Sales

Twelve of the most popular 25 apps for the iPhone and the iPod Touch in the U.S. were games in February, according to media metrics firm comScore. The most popular app was Tapulous’s Tap Tap Revenge, in which players shake and tap their handset in time to music tracks. source: comScore statement

For more please see my post at the Mobile Innovation Exchange.

KPN Still On Course

At is annual general meeting, KPN confirmed that it is still on course to meet its target of generating revenues of more than 15 billion euros in 2010 compared with the 14.6 billion euros it achieved in 2008. KPN is also forecasting that its EBITDA will be greater than 5.5 billion euros in 2010 up from 5.06 billion euros in 2008.

KPN said in February that its capital spending will be about 2 billion euros per annum in both 2009 and 2010 compared with 1.93 billion in 2008. source: Total Telecom/Dow Jones

MetroPCS Rides the Recession

MetroPCS, a Dallas-based mobile operator specialising in pre-paid services, recorded its highest ever number of subscriber net additions in the first quarter of 2009. Its customer base rose by 684,000 to 6.05 million.

"Our continued growth in a slowing economy is a result of our innovative unlimited wireless service offerings that are predictable, affordable and flexible, providing subscribers with a superior value proposition," said Roger D. Linquist, MetroPCS' Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. source MetroPCS statement

Monday, April 6, 2009

HTC Revenue Slips

Smartphone maker HTC said it still expects double digit revenue growth in 2009 despite a 3.4% contraction in revenues in the first quarter to 31.59 billion Taiwanese dollars (954 million US dollars). The Taiwan-based company, which makes smartphones running Microsoft and Google software, blamed the shortfall on delays in shipping new products.

HTC's operating income in the first quarter of 2009 was 4.85 billion Taiwanese dollars, down 35% on the same period in 2008. source: HTC statement

Thursday, April 2, 2009

The Rise and Rise of RIM

Research In Motion said it expects revenue for the quarter ending May 30 to be between 3.3 and 3.5 billion US dollars compared with 2.24 billion in the same period last year. The Ontario-based smartphone maker expects earnings per share of between 0.88 and 0.97 US dollars compared with 0.84 in the same quarter in 2008.

RIM's revenue for the fiscal year ended February 28, 2009 was 11 billion US dollars, up 84% from 6 billion the previous year year. source: RIM statement

U.S. Wireless Data Boom

Revenues from wireless data (non-voice) services in the U.S. grew 39% in 2008 to 32 billion US dollars, accounting for 22% of all wireless service revenues, according to industry body CTIA. A survey of U.S. carriers found that more than one trillion text messages were exchanged in 2008, almost triple the 363 billion text messages transmitted in 2007. MMS traffic more than doubled to 15 billion messages from 6 billion in 2007. source: CTIA statement.

Usage Holds up in The Philippines

Ernest Cu, the new CEO of Globe Telecom in The Philippines, told reporters: "The business is not bad. Demand is there from the consuming public and the usage level is the same as last year." Referring to Globe's first quarter performance, Ernest Cu said revenue may have been supported by steady remittances from overseas Filipino workers. source: Dow Jones/Total Telecom

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Android's Apps Aptitude

Owners of T-Mobile's G1 handset, which is controlled by Google's Android software, have downloaded an average of 40 applications each, according to T-Mobile USA. source: mocoNews
WHERE WE'RE HEADED: TELECOMS TRENDS AROUND THE WORLD: SUBSCRIBE HERE