TMCnet News
BRIEFING - ASIA TELECOMMUNICATIONS - MAY 18, 2009May 18, 2009 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) -- An executive briefing on the telecommunications industry for May 18, 2009, prepared by Asia Pulse (http:/ www.asiapulse.com), the real-time, asia-based wire with exclusive news, commercial intelligence and business opportunities. INDIAN TELECOM INDUSTRY SEEKS RESOLVE OF SPECTRUM, LEVY ISSUE NEW DELHI - The telecom industry wants the new Indian government to tackle the issue of multiple levies on the sector on a priority basis. "(The) Government should make uniform licence fee of six per cent across all services to avoid arbitrage opportunities," said GSM operators association COAI director general T V Ramachandran. INDIAN TELECOM INDUSTRY WELCOMES DECISIVE MANDATE IN LOK SABHA POLLS NEW DELHI - India's telecom industry on Saturday cheered the decisive verdict of the people during the Lok Sabha elections and hoped for a stable and strong policy regime for the sector ahead. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman & Group CEO, Bharti Enterprises, whose company Bharti Airtel's (BSE:532454) number of subscribers has just reached 100 million, said on Saturday, "The industry has been hoping for a stable and strong government and the mandate clearly points in this direction. INDIA'S BHARTI AIRTEL REACHES 100 MLN CUSTOMERS MARK NEW DELHI - India's Bharti Airtel (BSE:532454) on saturday, May 16 said its subscriber base had crossed the 100 million mark, making it the world's third largest 'in-country' mobile operator. The milestone makes every fourth mobile phone user in the country a customer of Bharti Airtel, founded in 1995 as Bharti Tele-Ventures. INDIA'S BSNL TARGETS 7.5 MLN BROADBAND SUBSCRIBERS IN FY10 NEW DELHI - Indian state-run telecom services provider BSNL today said it is targeting to have 7.5 million broadband subscribers in the current fiscal, banking on the demand opportunities from the small towns and cities. "We are targeting (to have) 7.5 million broadband subscribers. Though the growth will come mainly from class A cities but B and C class cities are also catching up fast," BSNL General Manager (Broadband) Anil Jain told said on the sidelines of an IPTV summit. CHINA MOBILE INVESTS $US88MLN IN R&D FOR 3G TERMINAL DEVICES BEIJING - China Mobile (SEHK:941), one of the nation's three leading mobile operators, is to provide 600 million yuan ($88.24 million) to support the research and development of terminal devices for TD-SCDMA, the domestically-developed 3G standard. According to a cooperation agreement, the company signed with nine mobile phone manufacturers and three chipset producers on Sunday, the two sides would pour 1.2 billion yuan into the R&D project. SRI LANKA'S DIALOG TELEKOM TO SAVE US$4.2 MLN FROM STAFF CUTS COLOMBO - Sri Lanka's Dialog Telekom said it expects to make an annual cost saving of 500 million rupees (US$4.2 million) by shedding staff through a voluntary retirement scheme in an effort to stem losses. The firm, a unit of Telekom Malaysia, said in a statement it had provided for 256 million rupees to implement the companys Voluntary Resignation Scheme (VRS) in the March 2009 quarter. SAMSUNG, LG SELL MORE THAN 20MLN TOUCHSCREEN PHONES EACH SEOUL - The Samsung Electronics Co. (KSE:05930) and LG Electronics Inc., (KSE:066570) the world's No. 2 and No. 4 makers of mobile phones, each reported Sunday that sales of their touchscreen handsets had surpassed 20 million units. Samsung and LG have increasingly introduced mobile phones with touchscreens, which can detect the presence of a touch within the display. CORE BUSINESS UNITS POST HIGHER EARNINGS FOR PHILIPPINES AYALA MANILA - The Ayala Corporation, in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), Thursday reported that consolidated net income for the first quarter of 2009 had reached to P2.2 billion ($US46.2 million) in the first quarter. This was the highest in the past four quarters, excluding capital gains, but 18 per cent lower than the same period last year. EXTRA SPECTRUM TO BSNL: INDIAN COURT STAYS PART OF TDSAT JUDGEMENT NEW DELHI - The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the telecom tribunal judgement to the extent that directed the Department of Telecommunication to withdraw the allocation of additional spectrum to state-run BSNL. A Bench headed by Justice Tarun Chatterjee passed the order on a petition filed by BSNL, challenging the TDSAT judgement that directed the department to withdraw additional spectrum allocated to the telecom company. |