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World is the stage

May 6, 2010

Analysis of:AT&T Looks Beyond the iPhone for Growth | online.wsj.com

For any Telco, the growth can be via geographic expansion (have they looked at acquisition of a mobile operator in India),  service expansion (now hey have iPhone success story), application and handset options (application storefront limited only via imagination) riding on their 3G network and the customer segment expansion (they can certainly improve in the enterprise segment). Also, they should learn from operators in India about to service low ARPU customers to reach the unserved in USA. 

iPhone widening its appeal

April 15, 2010

Analysis of:Apple raises the bar on mobile devices | brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com

iPhone has come up with new features relevant to enterprise like multitasking (most other phone in same genre already have it), folders, unified mailbox and mobile device management which are all relevant to enterprise users. With more than 50 million units sold and more than 4 billion applications download (3.5 million sold) it is certainly popular and worthy contender to RIM.

SingTel Vs Bharti Africa Strategy

February 22, 2010

Analysis of:SingTel’s Strategy After Bharti Bid “Puzzles” Deutsche Bank | www.businessweek.com

Bharti has made statements (in newspaper ET) about its clear statements on finishing the Zain deal by March 31, 2010.Why is Deutshe Bank puzzled...i heard it is/may be mandated to raise money (loan) for Airtel to fund the purchase of Zain's share.Anyway SingTel ows more than 20% in Airtel and it gives it indirect exposure and additional resources/bandwidth to grow business in Africa

One more to eat the pie

February 22, 2010

Analysis of:Mobile operators including Singtel, AT&T and Vodafone to build own apps platform | www.theaustralian.com.au

The app. store success or i would say wave got another player in act. In the end, it makes available more choice and convenience to end user. The move makes more sense with advent / increasing subscribers of 3G. Who is most happy? Platform developers...it gives them more clients to work...take it operators, handset manufacturer, portals they all eventually go to these developers and IT companies

So Who Wants MNP?

February 10, 2010

Analysis of:BSNL set to miss next MNP deadline | www.totaltele.com

MNP is just an regulatory move to open up the market and give consumer more choice. With 3 months delay already, looks like it is being timed for overall market benefit :-). Further delay by BSNL shall impact only 70 million subscribers.The MNP providers each were targeting approx $ 100 million business from their MNP services but now shall look at the bright side as this delay is only from 1 provider and they have more mobile operators and subscribers available to serve.

Tackling Multiple Issues at a Time

February 10, 2010

Analysis of:Pushing to Bring TV to the Internet | online.wsj.com

Good move but to survive it has to be commercially viable to the ISP. Key to that is revenue leakage prevention (targeted advertising for better rates, better UI and programme guide) and cost management ((better content cost contracts since same content is being customized nowadays to be offered across cable, satellite, web TV, IPTV and Mobile TV, better compression technology to save on the last mile bandwidth). I can see some of the ingredients in this offering.

Smartphone Market: Crowd is Good

January 7, 2010

Analysis of:Google's Nexus One Set for Jan. 5 Unveiling? | www.internetnews.com

Smartphone market is getting crowded.  I feel crowd is good as it gives rise to healthy competition, developers gets enough audience, pricing goes low and consumer gets the best deal.Now such phone suited for GPRS, edge, 3G environment how such phones ensure working even in early 2G networks remains to be addressed, so will the nagging problem of mass adoption beside the 20 odd percentage share they command. 

Limited Play But Learning Ground For Play Later at Home Turf

December 19, 2009

Analysis of:Batelco begins telecom operations in India | www.totaltele.com

The Indian market is competitive but opportune for people with good network and service offer with marketing savviness. Beside trying to make profits for repatriation,Batelco will certainly benefit from the technical resources as well innovative operational model being employed by new companies (incl. STEL) as well hone its competitive skills which will provide beneficial as markets in Middle East open and Africa open to further competition. 

Smaller Pie of Bigger and Richer Cake

August 19, 2009

Analysis of:SingTel's Bharti risk | www.totaltele.com

MTN and Bharti acquisition will give SingTel indirect entry into the African Market - that is supposed to be next growth story after Asia. Now the only question is dilution of their stake down from current 30%, now that is a matter of negotiation.

Comfort Zone Perils

August 1, 2009

Analysis of:Motorola Breaks String of Losses, but Cellphone Sales Continue Slide | online.wsj.com

Now Android based handsets and Motorazr in past, Motorola's handset strategy calls for overall.

Good Move: Is it worth the effort

July 28, 2009

Analysis of:Google Voice Apps For Android And Blackberry Are Here | www.techcrunch.com

The mobile VoIP application by Google for Android and Blackberry is big welcome move that add significance to the efforts already initiated by players like “Jajah” and "skpe" on mobile and "RelianceiCall" on desktop. Now what will be noteworthy shall be how Google address the issues and respond to the actions from the operators, handset vendors, software vendor, regulators and markets around the world. 

Showing Right Move

June 15, 2009

Analysis of:Sprint, Level 3 Weigh Long-Distance Deal | online.wsj.com

As the margin on wholesale decreases, the long distance companies are increasing focusing on the enterprise play for better margins. Inorganic way is the faster route. Similarly, the enterprise player can make multi state play if it has better control of its network and bandwidth. So at the logic level, it is a good move but numbers need to be reconciled as well (note: I have not analysed them).

Unified Communication: Timing it Right

June 8, 2009

Analysis of:Google's New Wave | www.reuters.com

Unified communication is being touted as the new growth wave that merges IP, telephoiny, messaging, presence, social forum, email into one. It is expected to make life easier for individual and an employee and now has big names like Google promoting it.  

Boosting Confidence: Addressing Economics

June 1, 2009

Analysis of:Microsoft virtualizes IPTV suite | news.cnet.com

Virtualization is fruitful only if improves the economics while keeping the content delivery network performance intact. Also the regulatory and disaster recovery aspects have to be addressed when rolling out in rest of the world.

Reaping Benefits of the Option Play

June 1, 2009

Analysis of:Nortel Networks to puts stake in LG-Nortel joint venture up for sale | www.cbc.ca

The regional assets are usually second to go after the non-core assets as the companies consolidate to generate cash while undergoing the financial re-engineering.

Exploiting The True Potential

May 25, 2009

Analysis of:Telepresence + Interoperability: A winning equation? | telephonyonline.com

Private networks with NOC and multiple PoPs are long in practice for voice and data plus used extensively by service providers / enterprises and eventually evolving into voice and data peering exchanges with hubs at key locations. Now we see video conferencing solution and service provider like Glowpoint engineering / customizing their private global IP/MPLS network for video calls and providing dedicated service platform (SIP based?) with QoS and multiple standards / codec support and getting support from major solution provider like Polycom - eventually these network model will also  evolve into interoperable exchange / peering. It is welcome move to see established vendor like Polycom joining the multi PoP Glowpoint video-centric network video exchange.  It shall add value to their hardware and existing video conferencing suite e.g. Real Presence HD solution.

Innovative Essential But Risky

May 20, 2009

Analysis of:Is Verizon's $23 Billion Bet With Fios Paying Off? | adage.com

FiOS is certainly a bold step and huge investment by Verizon and need support by trend setting end users.  ROI wise it is a risky move and risk has to be shared by partners in ecosystem. Not only the network but also the web based communication and ecosystem of middleware, video encoding, content protection, test and measurement, IT software platform have to perform in sync. to make the service an eventual consumer delight.FiOS has certainly an upper hand in network, service support and marketing aspect. For business model and customer care, the company claims to have delivered by getting around 40% market share in last two years but it is too early to claim.

Possible Growth Options to to get Airtel another 100 million

May 19, 2009

Analysis of:Airtel's next call | www.business-standard.com

Next 100 million - Organic (rural and young), Inorganic (global acquisitions and greenfiwld ventures in Africa and Asia), Technology (M-commerce, VAS, social networking, 3G), Management (Global Talent) and Regulatory (Rural push, Wireless Broadband, Wimax, 3G and IMS). Airtel has reached 100 million subscriber base to become the largest GSM operator in India. The actions taken to secure the next 100 million will be closely watched by old and new competitors in India and around the world as Indian operator make their rightful pitch in global arena (100 million base shall make them among top 10 in the world). Also some of the actions will be significant from the technology, regulatory and market development of sector as well as form the consumer point of view.

Governance is the key

May 19, 2009

Analysis of:MTNL drops plan to acquire Sri Lankan telco Suntel | www.business-standard.com

M&A: In any M&A tranparency and governance are key factor beside the valuation and revenue potential. 3G: The market, services and vendors are closely watching the move since the lot of action is expected by the end of year by which the overnment can go for auction of 3G spectrum. 

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