Mobile Ecosystem & TheBestAvise – Interviews, News and more …
Archive for September, 2009
ITU Telecom World 2009 – Geneva
Only held every few years, ITU TELECOM WORLD is an unrivaled event for the global telecommunication and information communication technology (ICT) sector. Forward-looking, WORLD 2009 attracts all stakeholders from across the sector and around the world for a truly global, world-class event and networking platform. To address shared global challenges in today’s information society, WORLD 2009 incorporates thematic elements to highlight the reach and role of telecommunications and ICT in areas of societal change such as the digital divide, climate change, and disaster relief. With its focus on development opportunities, the event brings together corporate social responsibility and displays cases of best practices.
http://www.itu.int/WORLD2009/
MVNO market to double in four years, driven by emerging markets
2 years ago
At present, MVNOs are predominantly a feature of well-developed telecom markets – most notably in Western Europe, North America and a small number of other countries. While MVNOs have succeeded in growing their share of these mature markets, the growth trend is obscured when looking at the global picture. Worldwide the statistics show that the growth in MVNO subscribers has not kept pace with the overall growth in wireless subscribers. But this is misleading. Globally, growth in wireless subscribers has been driven predominantly by explosive growth in a small number of developing countries, such as China, India, Russia, Brazil, Indonesia, Vietnam and Pakistan. These are countries in which MVNOs are either prohibited or at a nascent stage of development.
To clarify the numbers, in 2003 MVNOs accounted for 7% of subscribers in Western Europe and North America. At the end of June 2009 wireless subscribers had grown by almost 60% in these two regions to reach 800 million, and MVNOs’ share had increased to over 9%. In contrast, from 2003 to mid-2009 the number of wireless subscribers in regions other than Western Europe and North America more than quadrupled to reach some 3.5 billion. However, MVNOs have yet to make much impact in these higher growth markets: outside of Western Europe and North America, their share of the market remains less than 0.5%. So while MVNOs have been growing strongly in Western Europe and North America, those two regions account for an ever-smaller portion of the world’s wireless subscriber base – it slipped from almost 40% to less than 20%.
In summary the numbers show that globally MVNOs’ share of wireless subscribers has dropped from almost 3% in 2003 to its current level of just over 2%. But the reality is also that MVNOs have managed to gradually increase their market share in well-developed mature markets, while gaining some important toeholds in other markets around the world.
In 2003, Western Europe and North America accounted for well over 90% of all MVNO subscribers and, despite some growth elsewhere, these two regions still account for over 80% of the total. TeleGeography’s latest research predicts that MVNO growth will gain momentum all around the world over the coming five years. ‘As markets approach maturity and as regulatory regimes look to increase competition and to better serve diverse populations, MVNOs will be allowed to launch services in many new countries,’ said TeleGeography senior research analyst David Leach. While they will continue to account for only a small percentage of wireless subscribers, TeleGeography forecasts this will be a growing market niche. ‘Future MVNOs can learn from the successes and failures of the past five years, and as they do, we predict that the global MVNO subscriber base will more than double in size over the next four years,’ added Leach.
TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Insight provides detailed subscriber and market forecasts for over 160 countries and is a companion to the GlobalComms Database, a regularly updated online database of wireline, wireless and broadband competition. No other telecoms market research service rivals their collective geographic scope and depth of coverage.
Telecom Italia announces large scale SIM-based mobile commerce project
2 years ago
From next year, Telecom Italia subscribers will be able to use a new generation of SIM card to purchase train and bus tickets, parking, theatre seats, concert tickets and hotel rooms from their mobile phone. For the launch of the service, the mobile operator has partnered with Movincom, an Italian consortium of companies and service providers working to promote mobile retailing.
Exactly how the new service works is not completely clear – but we will be publishing more details as soon as we have been able to get more information from Telecom Italia.
Here’s how the official announcement explains things:
Starting in 2010, Telecom Italia will be building in an ad hoc application into its new Sim cards. Using this application, directly from their mobile phones, customers will be able to buy tickets for public transport and trains, pay for parking, purchase ski passes, buy tickets for a night out at the theatre or other events, and book hotel rooms.
Payment for these services will make use of methods offered by banks who sign up to the venture.
Using a SAT (SIM Application Toolkit) technology solution developed by Telecom Italia, this mobile commerce solution ensures high standards of security and authenticates the phone number from which each transaction originates. Specific menus integrated directly into the Sim card will guide customers through the process and make it quick and easy to make purchases. Orders placed for goods or services are dispatched by a text message generated automatically by the application. The text message features the purchaser’s cellphone number but no sensitive data about the selected method of payment.
The configuration-free service will be available on all mobile phones. It will be possible to update the service at any time, as and when new goods and services are added.
The Movincom Consortium currently has more than 650 operational services on board, a figure that is destined to rise to over 1,500 services in seven different market sectors. The consortium currently has the following members: Trenitalia, GTT (Turin), CTM Cagliari, 5T (Turin), Ataf (Florence), ATV (Verona), AMT Genova, TEP Parma, Ne-t (Gruppo APS Padua), Mobilità e Parcheggi (L’Aquila), Firenze Parcheggi, Telepark, Teleparking, CLUB Italia, AIPARK, ANAV, SIB – Società Impianti Bormio, Madonna di Campiglio, Monterosa ski, Funivie San Bernardo – La Thuile, Pila, Cervinia, Funivie Courmayeur Mont Blanc, Vittoria Assicurazioni, Coris Broker – 24h Assistance, Fratelli Carli, Charta-Vivaticket, BOL.it (the Mondadori Group’s online bookshop), SMS Hotels and Gruppo Prima. Many more companies are in the process of signing up.
“After becoming an indispensable personal communications tool,” says Oscar Cicchetti, Manager of Telecom Italia’s Domestic Market Operations, “the mobile phone is transitioning into a personal gateway to the internet, content and services, ranging from information to entertainment and professional applications. Leveraging the potential of the latest SIM cards and terminals, mobile phones are poised to become a powerful and secure transactions and identity management tool too. Today’s agreement paves the way for this by offering a broad range of services and a secure, straightforward and intuitive method for making purchases.”
“We know that security and a user-friendly purchase experience are vital to the development of mobile commerce via mobile phones. This agreement with Telecom Italia is a major step in that direction,” says Enrico Sponza, Deputy Chairman of the Movincom Consortium. “Banks will have access to an integrated set of operational processes and be able to fast track their entry into the mobile payment business.”
