Posted by: Bappy on: November 6, 2009
First, it was Warid who introduced 89 paisa/minute call rate to any operator. Then in September 2008, Aktel introduced 68 paisa/minute call rate to any operator. Teletalk followed their footsteps by introducing 66 paisa/minute call rate in 2009. Now it is Banglalink’s turn to follow the other three operators who already have offered flat tariff to their subscribers. Today (6th November, 2009) Bannglalink just launched their 87 paisa/minute flat tariff plan.
Looks like its becoming a trend in the Bangladeshi market, to introduce flat call rate and allow the subscribers to call any operator’s number without worrying much about the differential charges. As more and more operators are adopting it we can safely assume that the financial impact of this tariff is quite positive. In fact, if we analyze the financials of the two operators- Banglalink & Aktel, we can easily see that AMPU of Aktel is lower than Banglalink but their ARPU is much higher. Yes, there might be some other factors but flat tariff is got to be a major factor behind Aktel’s higher ARPU.
As Banglalink has finally introduced flat tariff, it seems they have got the message and has acted accordingly. Question is when Grameenphone is gonna realize it?
Posted by: Bappy on: November 2, 2009
Aktel is leading the way for Bangladeshi mobile operators to increase tariff. They were the first to raise the FnF tariff from 25 paisa per minute to 40 paisa per minute in 2008. Following their footsteps, Banglalink and Grameenphone increased their FnF tariff to 45 paisa and 49 paisa respectively. Now Aktel is active in another front, they have increased tariff of their NORMAL tariff plan.
Aktel has 3 different tariff plans for the subscribers which is flexible and can be changed twice within 15 days by sending SMS (charge applicable). Among the three, NORMAL tariff plan is the oldest one (the other 2 was introduced within the last 1 year). Most of the old Aktel subscribers (who bought their SIM before 2008) are subscribed to NORMAL plan. This is also true for the subscribers of Chittagong-Noakhali region where Aktel is holding a dominant position. Now subscribers of this tariff plan have to bear almost double call rate during the time slot of 4 PM to 12 AM.
For more, visit http://aktel.com/?module=176
Posted by: Bappy on: October 30, 2009
There is Tk. 800 tax on every newly sold SIM in Bangladesh. By adding the production cost, import tax and distribution cost with it total cost becomes something around Tk. 1200 for every SIM. But still time and again Bangladeshi Mobile Operators are introducing new campaigns to sell their connection as low as Tk. 150. Which means a subsidy of more than Tk. 1000 for each SIM sold. Grameenphone did it, Banglalink is doing it and Aktel, Warid, Teletalk are doing it all the time- selling new connection way lower than their cost. But question arises, why they are doing it?
I am sure that there is no real business case behind it. There is only one thing that can explain it is KPI factor. All the big bosses of Bangladeshi mobile companies surely have some KPI. And a major part of that KPI is related to achieving or maintaining certain market share. So when they see their market share dropping, they launch one or two new sales campaign and try to gain some ‘EASY’ subscribers. Of course, most of the customers acquired through this process are multiple SIM users. They buy new SIM at a lower rate just for the fun of it. After using the initial bonus (freebies) they keep their newly purchased SIM in the pocket (or drawyer) and wait for a CRM campaign.
Though the company suffers a huge financial loss, the bosses achieve the desired market share, after all its KPI that matters. I think it is the fault of the ‘KPI setters’ who don’t recognize that subscriber market share is no longer relevant in a market like Bangladesh. They should set their KPI based on REVENUE MARKET SHARE instead.
Posted by: Bappy on: July 27, 2009
China Mobile is reportedly in talks with Norway’s Telenor concerning an acquisition of their Pakistani mobile network. Both companies are denying such development, yet sources told the local Dawn newspaper that negotiations were being held secretly at the group level.
According to some statistics, the combined customer base of China Mobile (NYSE: CHL)’s and Telenor’s Pakistani operations is around 26 million, representing a 28% of the market.
For the record, China Mobile entered the Pakistani market in 2007, when it paid $460 million to buy Paktel from Millicom International. Previously, they had tried to acquire Warid Telecom, another smaller operator in the country, but failed to reach an agreement on the price.
China Mobile’s Pakistan subsidiary is called Zong and with just under 6 million customers, it is the smallest of the 5 main operators in the country.
Source: Into Mobile
Posted by: Bappy on: July 27, 2009
Huawei has announced that it recently has signed a Global Master Agreement with Telenor Group to supply Mobile Broadband Modems.
Under the agreement, Huawei will involve to deliver 1.2 million Mobile Broadband Modems in the coming 12 months for Telenor’s 13 operating companies in Europe, CIS and Asia, including Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro, Russia, Ukraine, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia.
According to the report from consulting firm ABI Research, Huawei secured a substantial 55% of the global mobile broadband terminal market. By the end of February 2009, Huawei had shipped over 30 million mobile broadband units, serving 235 operators in 115 countries and providing them with customization solutions that match subscriber requirements.
Source: Huawei website
Posted by: Bappy on: July 14, 2009
I don’t often write about tech issues, but so much is being written about the Google Chrome OS announcement I thought I’d weigh in.
On the surface, the announcement of a Google operating system seems to many like a shot at rival Microsoft, an attack at MS’s core business. But those who have been following Google’s moves know that it’s more than that — it’s an (expected) evolution in Google’s long-term strategy.
Google is moving everything online, and I really believe this is the future of computing. The desktop model of computing — the Microsoft era — is coming to an end. It’ll take a few years, but it will happen.
The Old Model
For years, the OS has used the desktop analogy, with folders and files, all stored in a big file cabinet (your hard drive). And applications such as Word have run from the hard drive.
What this has meant is that, in order to insure against computer crashes (which are eventually inevitable), you’ve had to back up your files to a remote disk (another drive, a CD-ROM, etc.). It also has meant a headache when it comes to accessing your files and programs from multiple computers — you have to save and sync files all the time, and buy and install multiple copies of applications.
It’s also meant a lot of headaches when it comes to filing and finding your files, and sharing them with other people (this had to be done using floppy disks/CDs, or more recently, email attachments).
Finally, operating systems, trying to do everything, have become bloated and slow, taking up a lot of your computer’s processing power, memory and storage.
The New Model
Google’s model is based on connectivity to the Internet, a model that was unthinkable a decade ago and has only been really viable in the last few years as almost everyone has high-speed connections and wi-fi or mobile access.
Google has moved applications, and increasingly, our files, to the web (or cloud). It started with Gmail’s success — a fast, powerful online email app that beats desktop email apps hands down. It expanded with a suite of simple web apps: Google Calendar, Docs & Spreadsheets, Google Reader, Picasa for photos, eventually YouTube for video, Blogger for writing for the web, and more.
These apps are lightweight but powerful. They aren’t as feature rich as desktop apps, but here’s what many critics don’t understand: in today’s (and tomorrow’s) computing world, they don’t have to be.
While the business world has long used Microsoft Word to create rich documents full of formatting and charts, the increasingly mobile world doesn’t care about any of that. We send emails and text messages and tweets and messages on Facebook and forums and other social media — with no formatting at all. We do blog posts that have bold and italics and links and photos and videos and not much more in terms of formatting text.
We don’t need feature-bloated Microsoft Word anymore. Nor Excel, with its 2 million features, nor PowerPoint (who likes to watch slides?). Sure, there are still some great desktop apps that people use, for photo and video editing and much more … but the majority of us don’t need those. We need to communicate simply and quickly, without hassle.
Web apps don’t match up with desktop apps … but that’s a good thing for most of us who use the new computing model.
Web apps are lightweight and fast. They store all your files online, so you don’t need to worry about syncing them or carrying around CDs or flash drives, or backing up. You can share with anyone you like, or everyone, with a click.
This is what the computing world is becoming, and will be for many years. Google has driven these changes, and when it announced the Chrome browser last year, that was an obvious move to make the browser handle web apps better.
The Chrome OS is an obvious move to make computers bypass the old model of desktop apps and files and folders, and go straight to the web, web apps, and online files. Chrome OS will be lightweight and fast (like the Chrome browser), it will feature web apps and not much else, and it will be perfectly aligned with how more and more of us are using the web — with mobility, speed, sharing, and connecting in mind.
Why Google Music is the Next Logical Step
If you read the Google Chrome OS announcement carefully, you’ll see an interesting item:
“[People] want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files.”
This obviously means Google OS will store all its files online — then people don’t need to worry about backing up the files, and if they lose their computer, nothing will really be lost.
And that makes sense, considering that Google has moved almost all your files online if you use its web apps: emails, photos (in Picasa), videos (in YouTube), documents (Google Docs & Spreadsheets), even pdfs now.
Almost all of your files.
The average user has one other type of file, though: mp3s. Sure, I know there are many other types of files, but I’m only concerned with what most people use computers for these days — email, online reading and social stuff, video, photos, music. And Google has not moved music online yet.
There are already sites that do this, but they’re not Google. So either Google will buy one of the online sites (like it did with YouTube and Blogger and Writely, which became Google Docs), or it will create its own.
Your mp3s will be stored online, and you’ll be able to play them from anywhere. This will complete Google’s goal of keeping all your files online.
Concerns: Connectivity and Privacy
There are two main concerns that people have when cloud computing or web apps are brought up, so we should talk about them briefly:
1. What if you’re not connected to the cloud? You might lose your Internet connection and lose access to your files. This is not a concern for most of us, as we’re almost always connected, more and more each year, especially with data plans on mobile devices (ala the iPhone). However, Google is already addressing this issue with Google Gears and HTML5 — you’ll be able to access your files and use web apps even when offline.
2. Do I really want Google to have all my files and info? This is a valid privacy concern, and I don’t have an answer. My personal feeling is that I don’t have any data that I’m incredibly worried about losing or that might become public. I highly doubt Google would be interested in browsing through my files, as they’re not very interesting. And if Google uses my data to serve up better ads … what do I care? I don’t look at their ads anyway.
However, I understand the privacy concern. It may turn out to be an important issue, or it might just be something we learn to live with, as we have with many other privacy issues (government having access to our financial data, Microsoft getting info from our computers, etc.).
Update: More info on Chrome.
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The toolkit launches in a couple of days, and until then there’s a pre-sale that drops the price from $67 to $49 (32% off).
Source: zenhabits
Posted by: Bappy on: June 24, 2009
The implementation of a direct operator top-up strategy can bring double digit revenue gains and reduced costs, claims a study commissioned by electronic payments vendor, Vesta Corp. Given the size of the prepaid market in Western Europe, this can equate to hundreds of millions of Euros annually, adds the report. Direct operator top-up channels include all operator-managed top-up channels that rely on electronic transactions outside a retail environment, such as the operator’s website, IVR and handset applications.
The research indicates the significant advantages that direct operator prepaid top-up has over other existing top-up methods, including improved performance metrics, lower costs and improved CRM capabilities. In addition, direct handset top-up has the ability to remove the fragmentation and complexity impacting the take up of m-payment services and drive new revenue streams for operators.
The research has been conducted by independent telecom consultancy Northstream and is based on the feedback of wireless operators across Western Europe.
Chris Parsons, CMO of Vesta commented, “When prepaid direct top-up is executed properly it not only offers an opportunity to increase the ARPU of prepaid but also provides the foundation for operators to seamlessly offer a wide range of profitable mobile payment services from the same platform. Aside from prepaid debit reload, other services such as peer-to-peer transfer, international remittance and mobile commerce become far more readily accessible.”
According to the whitepaper, with overall growth in the prepaid market slowing, operators are looking at ways to reduce costs while increasing prepaid customer loyalty and revenues. Non-cash (credit/ debit card/ bank) payment penetration has grown significantly in Europe, and a staggering 91% of operators interviewed intend to drive top-up transactions from costly commission-based retail infrastructures to “virtual” non-cash top-up (NCTU) channels.
Aligned with this view, not only are operators exploring alternatives to retail top-up but 100% of those interviewed want to shift their non-cash payment mechanisms from a bank centric model to a direct operator model. Given this finding, it is somewhat surprising that less than 20% of the NCTU offerings analyzed in the research included handset-based top-up applications, even though top-up frequency using handset applications can be up to 80% higher than other channels. This increased frequency also results in an ARPU increase of 23%.
The main imperatives stated for adopting a direct top-up approach were avoiding zero credit service interruptions, increasing top-up frequency and improving customer experience with anytime, anywhere top-up availability via handsets, the web and IVR. However, the research also indicated the ability of direct top-up to enhance CRM capabilities, enabling operators to identify high value customers and cross-sell while customizing and optimizing user experience. Indeed, over 90% of operators interviewed highlighted the need to strengthen the way that top-up integrates with their online services and other operator-controlled channels.
Chris Parsons continued, “By adopting a direct top-up approach, operators will improve their prepaid performance indicators by reducing costs, improving prepaid customer loyalty and increasing revenues. Operators are struggling to build-out direct top-up channels given the reduction in their IT budgets but those that address these challenges early will reap significant benefits in the prepaid market and create a strong platform from which to launch further mobile financial services.”
Source: cellular news
Posted by: Bappy on: June 14, 2009
Adobe Flash may still be excluded from the iPhone, but the software company is determined to provide a unifying standard for the rest of the smartphone world, and will launch its key handset product by year-end.
The company currently offers Flash Lite for phones, but Apple and others have complained that this is insufficiently powerful for the high-end mobile web experience.
Adobe has since formed the Open Screen Project to support its Flash and AIR technologies as key systems that could bridge PCs and handsets, and is now set to release actual products.
CTO Kevin Lynch, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, said that Adobe has made deals with chip designers and phonemakers and is offering incentives to developers to write programs the new version of the software.
Adobe will launch a trial version of Flash that works with most of the key smartphone OSs – including Palm WebOS, Google Android, Symbian and Windows Mobile – this year, though iPhone and BlackBerry remain off the roadmap for now.
“We need to have Apple’s agreement before we can do it,” Lynch said.
As promised for the past year, the new release will bring fully featured PC Flash to smartphones and Flash Lite will be phased out. Nokia is a key ally, and joined with Adobe in February to create a $10 million fund for developers who build mobile apps for Flash.
Source: telecomasia.net
Posted by: Bappy on: June 14, 2009
The two epic cellular battles that have dominated headlines for months continue.
In the first instance, France Telecom says it won’t make a bigger offer to buy Osracom’s stake in ECMS, Egypt’s largest mobile operator, the Financial Times reports.
France Telecom and Orascom have been squabbling over the French operator’s attempts own ECMS (and its 21 million subscribers) outright since 2007 – they assumed joint ownership in 2001 – amid many claims and counter-claims of failure meet agreed or arbitrated conditions.
The two companies control ECMS via Mobinil, a company that owns 51% of the Egyptian mobile operator. France Telecom owns 71.25% of Mobinil and Orascom the rest. Orascom also owns 20% of ECMS directly.
In March, an arbitration court, sponsored by the International Chamber of Commerce, ruled that Orascom should sell its stake to France Telecom for €517 million ($725 million).
But, as the FT explains, the Egyptian securities regulator has in effect blocked the transaction by saying it take place in tandem with a tender offer to minority shareholders at ECMS, which is listed on the Cairo stock exchange.
Egypt’s Capital Market Authority has rejected two offers by France Telecom to the minority shareholders on the grounds they were too low. The most recent offer was worth €1.5 billion ($2.1 billion).
France Telecom has repeated its previous stance that it is ready for as long a legal battle as necessary to secure its rights (and control of ECMS) and continues to accuse the Egyptian authorities of overriding international law and consequently damaging future investments into Egypt.
In the second epic struggle, Russian bailiffs have agreed to hold off on the sale of Telenor’s shares in VimpleCom until the court in the West Siberian city of Tyumen has reached a decision, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
Reuters reports that the court has adjourned the case until 30 September.
Telenor yesterday said any deal with Alfa Group to resolve the dispute over jointly-owned mobile ventures in Russia and Ukraine must wait until the Russian court case brought by Farimex is solved.
Telenor maintains that Farimex is an off-the-shelf, British Virgin Islands company with less than a 1% stake in Alpha, that is being used by Alfa Group for unfounded gain. Alfa Group is owned by an oligarchy of Russian billionaires.
Telenor and Alfa have joint ownership of VimpelCom and also Kyivstar in Ukraine. Farimex is suing Telenor for delaying the progress of Kyivstar in Ukraine.
In this complex, protracted case, the bailiffs had frozen the shares as collateral against the $1.7 billion damages the court awarded against Telenor by the Siberian court in favor of Farimex.
Under the country’s law, the bailiffs could have sold the shares before Telenor had the chance to appeal.
Telenor has prevailed on the Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, to see that justice is done and the principles of international law upheld in the interests of encouraging investors into Russia.
Source: telecomasia.net
Posted by: Bappy on: June 13, 2009
Research released today by mobile device management company Mformation highlights that the mobile phone is becoming increasingly central to consumer lifestyles. A significant amount of information is now stored on mobile devices. 94% of users surveyed store telephone numbers while 65% also store address and other contact information on their phones; 83% have digital photos, 51% have videos, 48% have calendar information and 40% have music downloads. With ever-increasing phone and network capabilities, this trend of using the phone to store valuable and sensitive data from every aspect of life is set to continue.
One consequence of using the phone as a method for creating and storing data and information is that people must now worry about this material if the phone is lost or stolen — 82% of people fear that if their phones were lost or stolen, someone would use the information stored on them for fraudulent means. 90% of those questioned are worried about the loss of their personal data if a mobile device were to go missing, with 72% admitting that the personal information stored on their devices would be difficult to replace. In addition, 40% of respondents even said that losing a mobile would be worse than losing their wallet.
“Mobile phones are becoming more and more essential to user lifestyles,” commented Matt Bancroft, Vice President, Mformation. “People can access the Internet and store significant amounts of valuable personal information and other content on their mobile devices. With new advances in mobile technology arriving every day, this trend will only increase the role of the mobile device in peoples’ lives by providing us with increasing freedom to store, manage, send, and receive information. Mobile operators need to make sure that users are confident that their devices are secure, the data on those devices is protected, and device content can be backed up and recovered if a phone is lost or stolen. Such a high level of dependency on mobile phones today means that operators need capabilities to help minimize risk and maximize trust,” continued Bancroft.
Because mobile phones are being used for such a wide range of activities, when a device is lost, it can prove to be devastating for the user. 91% of people questioned in the UK and US said they would be “devastated” if they lost their mobile phones. For this reason, it is unacceptable that three-quarters of the people interviewed said that it would take a day or more to get a new phone fully up and running with all their personal data after a loss or theft. In fact, 61% of people said that this should take 2 hours or less.
“Operators need to step up to the mark to make sure that their customers are getting the service they expect in terms of security, data recovery and phone setup,” said Bancroft. “As people continue to increase their reliance on mobile phones for everyday actions, operators have to make sure that they are ready to support this increased commitment by the user. More extensive use of the device is great, but the mobile operators need to underpin this activity by offering capabilities to protect and manage users’ data if things go wrong.”
The research was undertaken by independent research house Coleman Parkes, which asked 4,000 people in the UK and US about problems related to mobile usage.
Source: Total Telecom
