In the global financial turmoil under the influence of the development of the global handset market really has been some impact, but in early 2009, according to Bayesian thinking advice launch of the “2008 China’s Mobile Phone Market Research and Forecast Report 2009-2013,” shows that in 3G Under the stimulus, the mobile phone market growth potential in the future will not small.

From the global market perspective, as of the end of 2008, global annual mobile phone sales reached nearly 1.25 billion, maintaining a nearly 10% of the growth. Despite the financial crisis hit, the global mobile communications market in the positive as well as the 3G mobile phones continuous innovation and lower prices driven by factors such as maintaining a sustained growth, but the growth rate declined.

Despite Apple’s cell phone in 2007 after a strong pro-competitive, from a global mobile phone manufacturers supply-side view of brand competition, firms compete is basically not much change in the pattern, and the main manufacturers have larger market share, market concentration further improved.

Although the cut-off by the end of 2008, GSM users still the main, but with the 3G network to further improve with the construction of the expansion of the ranks of the world’s 3G customers will rapidly grow and develop. Meanwhile, with the 3G technology, standards, and the further development of the market, the global 3G handset sales growth, WCDMA3G mobile phone has entered the stage of rapid development.

From the Chinese market perspective, the mobile phone market demand for replacement demand has begun to dominate the market growth, in 2008 the scale of China’s mobile phone market, sales reached 174.416 million, the market sales volume continued to improve.

Competition from the supply perspective, the Chinese market concentration continues to rise, the brand entered a new stage of competition. The average price of mobile phones was stable orbit in the fall, the price of brand-name products from different vendors polarization trend. From the phone sales channel point of view, compound channel model into the mainstream, distribution, direct supply, custom gradual trend toward the full development.

China 3G mobile phone market quick start soon. 3G mobile phones in the global context of rapid growth, with China’s 3G network-related work further in-depth, in 2008, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information has formally promulgated three major 3G standards for out of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, China had restructuring of telecommunications operators, after which the global financial turmoil background, have an important role in stimulating the economy of the 3G license was finally issued in January 2009, China’s 3G mobile phone market quick start soon. From the perspective of mobile phone applications, mobile TV and mobile e-mail and other services will also push the product market and customer size of steady growth.

Generally speaking, the next five years, Chinese mobile phone market entered a new round of rapid growth stage. The next few years, the mobile phone market brand competition entered a stalemate, and from the hundreds of brands to compete with the cottage machine manufacturers so that the pattern of the mobile phone market is still variable. Diversified product competition structure, and lead the mobile phone market trends.

Competition, decline in product prices to grasp the rhythm is still an important element of the success of cell phone manufacturers. According to the Chinese users of different levels of products specifically targeted market segments in the future will be the key to success. The 3G was officially launched in early 2009 after the Chinese mobile phone market is expected to be a good impetus to rapid growth.

Last night, according to Taiwan media reports, Dell confirmed the company’s business into the smart phone market, plan and announced a partnership with China Mobile and Brazil Claro 2 the world’s largest mobile operators to cooperate, selling Dell’s new Mini 3 smartphone.

Dell’s adoption of value-added co-operation with leading operators to continuously expand its mobile Internet products and services, this time they stride into the field of smart phones that reflect this strategy. Earlier this year, Dell took the lead in the mobile PC manufacturers into the Chinese mobile 3G technology and services to embed their products in this Internet, and through China’s retail presence in this fast becoming the Internet’s leading vendors. In addition, Dell also working with several other leading telecommunications company has signed agreements, including Vodafone (Europe, Australia / New Zealand), AT & T and Verizon (U.S.), M1 and Starhub (Singapore) and Maxis (Malaysia), in order to create more opportunities to meet the lifestyle needs of networking.

Dell’s global consumer division president Ron Garriques said: “We enter the field of smart phones is Dell’s consumer business past two years, the inevitable result of evolution and development. We are developing smaller, more intelligent mobile phones, so customers do not at home when they can use the network, anytime, anywhere to do what they want to do. “

China Mobile, a spokesman said: “This represents a long-term cooperation of China Mobile and Dell in an important milestone. Dell and other manufacturers take the lead in OPhone platform to introduce new technologies, which make us feel excited. Dell will give us innovative new products and services for our customer’s lives and create more value, and we look forward to the cooperation with the Dell. “

Claro president João Cox, said: “As a leading innovator in Brazil, this time to provide the world’s first 3G version of Dell’s wireless operators smartphone is worth Claro pride thing. This proves that the Brazilian market’s potential, but also demonstrates the Claro to the Brazilian market for new technology products and services to the leading power. “

Mini 3 launched the first smart phone using Android platform design in order to bring users and vendors of the most significant power advantages, flexibility and personalization capabilities. Mini 3i is a traditional PC maker Dell’s first mobile phone product at next week’s conference is also Dell’s first release in the global mobile phone. It is learned that, Mini 3i’s name because it is a “3.5-inch” screen. The recent support for WCDMA Dell Mini 3ix also exposed on the Internet.

Dell Mini 3 smart phone has an elegant look and style, Dell has demonstrated its dedication to innovative design input. For China Mobile to provide mobile phones is expected by the end of November sales in stores, in order to provide Claro mobile phone market is expected to end of the year. For China Mobile to provide the Mini 3i using OMS operating system, a resolution of 640 × 360 pixels. Mini 3i There are two color to choose from. It is learned that the price of not more than 4000 yuan. As a OPhone phone, Dell Mini 3i, but it does not support the TD-SCDMA, working in GSM / GPRS / EDGE mode.

Himfr.com, one of China’s leading B2B search platforms with more than 30 B2B industry websites to its name, reports that after rapid growth in previous years, in 2008 China’s mobile phone chip market growth rate has declined, himfr’s analyst predicts that next few years, mobile phone chip market is hardly have explosive growth.  Mobile phone chips has been through a period of rapid growth enter into the smooth development period.

Mobile phone yield is the most important factor impact chip market. The reason for China mobile phone production growth decline as following: First of all, China is already the world’s largest mobile phone production base, such as Nokia and Motorola and so on, several major mobile phone manufacturers has set some of their production bases to China, mobile phone production growth rate year after year drop will become a trend; Secondly, from the previous years, the fourth quarter is a breakthrough for mobile phone production , but in 2008 Chinese mobile phone industry has felt the economic downturn brought about cold market.

Therefore, under the influence of a variety of factors, China’s mobile phone chip market growth appears on decline. But with the 3G era coming, the proportion of high-end mobile phones will continue to increase, with good market potential.

As China is the world’s most important mobile phone production base, the development of the global mobile phone market will directly affect China mobile phone industry growth and also affect China’s mobile phone chip market trend.

From future development, by the impact of the current economic situation, in 2009 China’s mobile phone production growth rate will continue to maintain the downward trend, for mobile phone chip market pull also weakened. GPS, mobile TV, mobile payment are also the mobile phone chip’s potential application areas, as lower chip prices and related policies established standards, these applications will be in the spread of mobile phone users, in the next two years, emerging applications will become the drive in development of chip market growth.

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The afternoon of October 14 news, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently released statistics show that in 2009 1-8 months, main telecom business revenue grew 3.1% over the previous year. Mobile phone users continue to maintain a rapid growth, the former in August a net increase of mobile phone users almost 70 million.

Phone users have more than one billion
According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology data published in 2009, 1-8 months, the national telecom business volume totaled 1.65929 trillion yuan, growing 13.0% over the previous year; main telecom business revenue totaled 552.7 billion yuan over the previous year year increase of 3.1%.
,1-Phone users in the area in August, the National accumulated a net increase of 54.88 million telephone users, a total of 1.036485 billion.

In the fixed telephone users, the August, the National fixed-line customers to reduce 1.96 million to reach 325.981 million. 1-8 month, fixed-phone users to reduce total 14.379 million, of which the city reduced 10.879 million phone users reached 220.679 million; in rural areas to reduce 3.499 million telephone users reached 105.301 million. Fixed-phone users, wireless Shihuayonghu 13.338 million decrease, reaching 55.593 million, in the fixed-line telephone users by the end of the share from the previous 20.2% to 17.1%.

Of mobile phone users regard, in August, a net increase of mobile phone users nationwide 7.853 million. 1-8 months, cumulative net increase of mobile phone users, 69.259 million to reach 710.504 million.

Moreover, Internet users will further tend to broadband. 1-8 months of basic telecommunications business broadband Internet access users a net increase of 14.352 million, reaching 97.23 million, while Internet dial-up users to a decrease of 3.072 million.

Mobile communications and data communications continue to increase proportion of income
Data show that 1-August, mobile communications revenue and data communications revenues over the same period the previous year increase of 11.5% and 5.5% in the telecommunications main business share of total revenue over the same period the previous year

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The letter from the Public Ministry statistics show that since 1988, China began the development of mobile phone users, the Chinese mobile phone users by 1988 30 million increase to 2008, 641.245 million, an increase of 213.7 thousand-fold.
Mobile exchange capacity changes

China’s first standard TACS analog mobile phone system in November 1987 in Guangdong province began commercial in 1988 to 1998 decade, China has experienced the development of mobile communications the first peak, mobile communication was the rapid development of capacity-building posture, move the switch 30000 jumped from less than in 1998, 47.067 million, ten-fold increase in 1568, an average annual increase of 108.7%;

In the meantime, mobile communications network has been transformed from analog to digital network transition. From 1998 to 2008 decade, mobile communications continues to maintain a rapid development trend of mobile switching capacity of 1.098247 billion added to the end of 2008, to 1.145314 billion, 23.3-fold increase in a decade; mobile long-distance service circuit to reach 2.684 million 2M. At present, China ranks the size of mobile communication networks in the world.

The number of mobile phone users 20 years of average annual growth of 84.7%
In 1987, China officially entered the mobile communication stage, but that only 3,000 of China’s mobile phone users.

Subsequently, the rapid expansion of mobile phone users, to the end of 2008, the number of mobile phone users by 1988 at the end of 03000 to 641.245 million, 20-year average annual growth of 84.7%;

At present, China mobile phone users has leapt to the world. By the end of 2008, every hundred mobile phone penetration rate reached 48.5, 22.7 percentage points more than fixed-line telephone. With the rapid rise of mobile phones, mobile service revenues accounted for the share of telecommunications revenue quickly climbed to 62.0%, becoming the main source of income for telecom services, and great continuous growth.

The Chinese Mobile Phone Industry, 4Q 2009

This research report presents industry shipment volume forecast and recent quarter review of the Chinese mobile phone industry. The report includes shipment volume, and shipment breakdowns by maker, maker origin, system technology, and production location, as well as subscriber base by operator in China. The content of this report is based on primary data obtained through interviews with mobile operators, key channel players and chipmakers in China. ( http://www.bharatbook.com/detail.asp?id=129835&rt=The-Chinese-Mobile-Phone-Industry-4Q-2009.html )

The report finds that in the third quarter of 2009 the industry’s mobile phone shipment volume saw both sequential and year-on-year growth for the first time since the third quarter of 2008. The industry’s year-on-year growth in the third quarter of 2009 was anticipated to continue into the fourth quarter. The industry, however, was expected to see a slight sequential decline in the fourth quarter of 2009 and is anticipated to suffer further decline in the first quarter of 2010.

Key chapters of the report :

Chinese Mobile Phone Industry Shipment Volume, 1Q 2008 – 2Q 2010
Chinese Mobile Phone Industry Manufacturer Volume Ranking, 1Q 2007 – 3Q 2009
Chinese Mobile Phone Industry Shipment Volume by Maker, 1Q 2007 – 3Q 2009
Chinese Mobile Phone Industry Shipment Share by Maker, 1Q 2007 – 3Q 2009
Chinese Mobile Phone Industry Shipment Volume by Maker Origin, 1Q 2007 – 3Q 2009
Chinese Mobile Phone Industry Shipment Share by Maker Origin, 1Q 2007 – 3Q 2009
Chinese Mobile Phone Industry Shipment Volume by System Technology, 1Q 2007 – 3Q 2009
Chinese Mobile Phone Industry Shipment Share by System Technology, 1Q 2007 – 3Q 2009
Chinese Mobile Phone Industry Shipment Volume by Production Location, 1Q 2007 – 3Q 2009
Chinese Mobile Phone Industry Shipment Share by Production Location, 1Q 2007 – 3Q 2009
Chinese Mobile Phone Subscribers by Operator, 1Q 2007 – 3Q 2009
Chinese Mobile Phone Subscriber Share by Operator, 1Q 2007 – 3Q 2009
Research Scope & Definitions
 

To know more and to buy a copy of your report feel free to visit : http://www.bharatbook.com/detail.asp?id=129835&rt=The-Chinese-Mobile-Phone-Industry-4Q-2009.html 

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Recent recommendations of the Trai, if accepted, will connect the 330 million plus mobile and fixed-line phone users to computers and usher in a new era of net telephony. It will also give subscribers freedom to choose a carrier of their choice for STD and ISD calls.  There is apprehension that Trai directives are bound to affect the bottomlines of major telcos. In addition to increasing competition among service providers, new formidable competitors such as PowerGrid, RailTel, Sify, AT&T, British Telecom, Gail and Tulip Telecom who have fibre networks in India, are expected to emerge on the overcrowded Indian telecom landscape. But what is forgotten is that the basic concept of Internet telephony has to spread in India, for existing competitors to feel the pinch.  A PC is required to take advantage of the STD and ISD facilities; however, PC penetration in India is very low. One also needs a good broadband connection and reliable power supply, all deficient in this country.  The stock market seems to believe this is negative for telecom companies.  However, I believe the telecom industry still has great times ahead.   Here’s why ?

   India has emerged as the fastest growing mobile market.  Over 7 million new connections are added every month.  Focus has so far been on the subscriber additions per month.  As the telecom market reaches maturity stage, their valuations are getting eroded. Most analysis of the telecom sectors centers around MOU (Minutes of usage) per subscriber per month and the ARPM (Average Revenue Per Minute).  Bharti Telecom has recently announced that the average revenue per minute which had fallen 5 per cent to 72 paise in the March 2008 quarter, fell further to just 66 paise in the quarter ended June 31, 2008, a drop of 8 %.  However, the MOU (Minutes of usage) per subscriber rose from 507 in the previous quarter to 537 in the quarter ended June 31, 2008.  Every time a telco announces its results, it is given a thumbs-up or thumbs-down by the capital markets depending on whether its Minutes of usage per subscriber and subscriber additions are in the positive or negative. This method of stock valuation is, in my opinion, taking a very parochial view of the tremendous potential of the telecom sector.

    I believe Indian telcos are positioning themselves well for changing trends. Bharti Telecom and RCOM are selling part of their stakes in the towers infrastructure or to spin off their towers infrastructure into a separate subsidiary, and thus realize value for their shareholders.  Nokia, the world’s largest maker of mobile phones, has been experiencing extraordinary rates of growth (recently reported 13 % year-on-year rise in earnings) thanks to its presence in emerging markets which has kept it relatively insulated from any western downturn. The current spread of global meltdown to the Asian continent is somewhat tapering off its growth targets though.

What is forgotten is that the global telecom sector is fast changing and the world’s biggest telecom companies are rushing to add capacity (even though they are located in matured markets) to add capacity on inter-continental routes, to meet escalating demand fuelled by consumers downloading bandwidth-hungry video content from YouTube, iTunes and other sites over broadband networks. Disruptive technologies that have begun to surface in the telecom sector will power rapid growth in this sector and result in significantly higher stock valuations, when the capital markets of the world finally recover and gather momentum.

According to TeleGeography Research, the Washington, DC-based telecoms consultancy, “the increasing capacity requirements on subsea cable systems connecting the continents of the world has been driven by the emergence of content-rich network applications and the growth of the internet, which in turn are warranting upgrades to existing routes, as well as construction of new cables on the less served routes”.  According to Gary Breuninger, Global Crossing’s chief marketing officer, “With more than a terabit of capacity in the Atlantic, Global Crossing has experienced annual increases of more than 60 per cent in demand between 2004 and 2008”.  It has made strategic investments in enhancing capacity on its mid-Atlantic crossing undersea fiber-optic cable system to meet growing demand for internet protocol and Ethernet transport among its corporate and other customers.

 There is also need to build additional “redundancy” into the network undersea cables as a protection against damage and failure.  The disruption in internet service in Middle Sea and South Asia that was the fallout of three undersea cables getting damaged is a grim reminder.  According to Telegeography, at least 25 new cables, costing about $ 6.4 Billion, will be built between 2008 and 2010. The reasons for cable construction are often a combination of several factors : including dwindling available capacity on some cables, a desire for wider restoration options, the need for physically diverse routes, competition and high capacity prices in some regions of the world.

     In 2001, only 30m households worldwide had access to broadband internet connections.    By the end of 2007, that figure had grown to more than 337 m households.   INDIA will soon see its first spectrum auctions for 3G and for broadband wireless access (BWA). 3G technology has made its mark today in several parts of the world. Prices of network equipment and handsets have fallen, making 3G affordable, and technology itself has improved. High speed packet Access (HSPA), the packet-data upgrade of 3G, delivers today about 5 Mbps average data throughput at each cell tower per 5 MHz of spectrum. The latest evolution of HSPA is claimed to support as high as 15 Mbps throughput. New YouTube-like applications bringing in enhanced revenue become possible. This is the opportune time for Indian operators to embrace 3G.

Video the new driver of internet traffic growth :

   According to TeleGeography Research, the Washington D.C.-based telecoms consultancy, video is now the primary driver of internet traffic growth.  Applications such as YouTube, the iTunes online store, and peer-to-peer such as BitTorrent, are helping internet users consume staggering amounts of bandwidth.  

      DoT has recently cleared allocation of 3G spectrum to BSNL and MTNL and India will soon see its first spectrum auctions for 3G and for broadband wireless access (BWA) services.   Third generation mobile phone services allow users to surf the Internet or download content, including music and video, at speeds faster than current technologies deployed on Indian networks allow.  3G is expected to ring in revolution in the broadband access space and is coming at the right time since the telcos are peaking in terms of new customer additions in the metros. It will also enable the government to achieve the target of 20 million subscribers by 2010 and further its initiatives of e-governance and m-commerce. Prices of network equipment and handsets have fallen recently, making 3G affordable, and technology itself has improved. High speed packet Access (HSPA), the packet-data upgrade of 3G, delivers today about 5 Mbps average data throughput at each cell tower per 5 MHz of spectrum. The latest evolution of HSPA is claimed to support as high as 15 Mbps throughput. New YouTube-like applications bringing in enhanced revenue become possible. This is the opportune time for Indian operators to embrace 3G. Apple’s 3G i-Phone has and will in addition to the factors mentioned above significantly change the way we talk, communicate, advertise and the factors influencing our entertainment, eating habits and investment of monies. The 3G iPhone combines three products in one – a revolutionary phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device.  With entertainment being big business in India, 3G with its multimedia applications capabilities does offer a huge potential opportunity.

WiMax and Wifi technologies to benefit telecom industry :

   These technologies can offer voice and data to stationary as well as mobile terminals.  WiMax can also be used in conjunction with Wifi for reducing the cost of the terminal equipment for deployment in rural areas. These technologies about to be deployed in a big way will play an important role in implementing e-governance, e-learning and tele-medicine.

Mobile/cell phone advertising : The next big thing after online advertising :

   The latest mode to invade the advertising world is AdRBT (Ad Ring Back Tone). Via AdRBTs, each time a person calls, he will hear an ad instead of a ring tone.  This product has the maximum reach as compared to other ad products that include advergaming, adfunded content and WAP advertising.  RCOM created one of the first of its kind AdRBTs for the Reliance Power IPO in January 2008. 

   Reliance Power jingle was estimated to have been heard 800 million to 1000 million times, which is 3-5 times over other traditional media. One of the campaigns of Tata Teleservices was with Parachute advanced hair oil, to promote the balladic flavour of their jingle ‘Tum Ho Gorgeous Hamesha’.  During IPL (Indian Premier League) cricket series, there were 8,00,000 downloads of the jingle ‘Cricket Ka Karmayudh’ in 45 days, thus fetching significant revenues to the telecom operators. AdRBT is non-invasive and has mass reach.

Tracking Stock quotes and mutual fund portfolios/NAVs on mobile phones :   Fidelity AMC and ICICI Prudential AMC have started allowing investors to check portfolio values and transaction details 24*7.  Against the backdrop of complaints of non-arrival of account statements in time, investors can real-time check the NAVs, their portfolio values and even switch and make additions/redemptions from the click of a button. This will enhance the usage of mobile phones and will enable investors to manage their investments anytime, anywhere.

Mobile/cell phone  gaming revenue :  Is it a ‘Home run’  ?

   Research firm Gartner predicts that mobile gaming revenue will experience a compound annual growth rate of 10.2 % between 2007 and 2011 with worldwide end-user spending reaching $ 6.3 Billion in 2011. India is expected to lead among Asian countries in terms of total mobile gaming revenue generated, with the 2007 figure at approximately $ 80 Million.  Mobile gaming revenue is forecasted to reach $ 450 million by 2012.  One can download a high-end game on a mobile for charges varying between Rs 50 to Rs 100.  For a relatively small sum, consumers can enjoy the game again and again, as opposed to paying a huge sum upfront. On a per game basis, Gaming Hungama could charge anything between Rs 20 to Rs 150. The pay-per-play cost with Jump Games (on Reliance) could be anything between Rs 5 to Rs 10.  Players like Breakpoint, Glu Mobile, Gameloft, Player One, Mophun, Electronic Arts are quickly moving in.

Mobile banking to get popular : With almost 41 % of India’s 1.1 billion population “unbanked”, mobile payment platform providers foresee a huge market in facilitating micro-lending services or variants thereof on mobile phones at reasonable costs.  Estimates put customers for mobile banking services at between 50 million and 100 million over the next two years, by when India could be home to nearly half a billion mobile phone users, up from about 300 million today.

Mobile messaging set to replace e-mails : Mobile messaging will help organisations to overcome the physical and economic barriers of mass reach, leading to reduction of costs and increase in efficiencies and productivity through real-time communication.

Rural growth an important growth driver :

 Some two billion new subscribers are expected to start using mobile phones in the next five years, and 80 % of them live in developing world markets.  To power mobile networks in remote areas today, telecom operators pair base stations – the tower-top radio transmitters that form the backbone of mobile networks—with diesel-powered generators and batteries.  The fact that fuel is 65 % of the cost of operating a typical base station acts as a dampener.

 Telecom giants such as Telefon AB LM, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Motorola Inc. are all looking into how they could tweak existing telecom gear to run on less electricity, or on renewable energy.  Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent have separately installed about 400 solar-powered base stations in African countries, including Senegal and Uganda.  In India, Ericsson has installed some 40 base stations that run ob biodiesel, essentially recycled cooking oil.  Alcatel-Lucent’s solar base station runs with 750W, while Ericsson’s requires 600W.

VNL (Vihaan Networks Ltd) has developed a simplified base station (costing $ 3500 or Rs 1.5 lakhs) powered by solar panels and consuming just 100W, about the same as an electric bulb. In comparison, GSM stations most widely used today can cost anywhere from $ 40,000 to $ 100,000.  Rural telephony is the opportunity to bridge the digital divide between urban and rural India.

4G technology making its appearance on the scene  :

One standard known as IEEE 802.16e (belonging to the Mobile WiMax family) is now commercially available and is a curtain-raiser to 4G. Its cell throughput per MHz of spectrum today may be comparable to that of HSPA; but its total data rate scales with higher transmission bandwidth.  Soon, the next-generation 802.16m will be standardised as a candidate for 4G, and promises to provide data throughputs of the order of 100 Mbps in 15 MHz spectrum. Another OFDM-based standard, LTE  and its cousin LTE-A will become a candidate for 4G with similar throughput. Such a high throughput will enable wireless broadband to compete with copper-based DSL widely available today. India is about to witness a wireless revolution.

Currently underserved areas including Africa, Caribbean and Middle East are fuelling demand for cable capacity addition :

Google, the internet search and advertising company, is one of six groups that announced plans to build a 10,000 kilometre high-bandwidth subsea fibre-optic cable linking the US and Japan.  Other partners in the $ 300 Million Unity consortium include India’s Bharti Airtel, Global Transit, KDDI, Pacnet and SingTel. 

AT&T, the largest US telecoms group, is involved in six international cable consortium projects including the Trans-Pacific Express, which it joined along with Japan’s NTT DoComo in early 2008.  Other participants in that project include Verizon and a handful of Asian carriers including China Telecom, China Netcom, China Unicom, Korea Telecom and Chungwa Telecom in Taiwan.

  Caution must not be thrown to the winds :  HSPA evolved by restricting CDMA techniques to a large extent (limiting it to a spreading factor of 16) and co-opting developments associated with the emerging 3.5G/4G OFDM wireless technology. However, it lacks the wider transmission bandwidth (typically 15-20 MHz); 4G technology is being built brick by brick using OFDM (Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) technology. The government and the regulators must act not only to ensure that spectrum is not under-valued but also that there is no over-valuation which could in the long run affect the customers and broadband penetration. Almost 30% of what we as consumers pay today goes to the government by way of service tax, licence fees, spectrum charges, USO charges, customs and excise duties, sales tax, and the like. Operators need to understand technology deeply and not go by vendor hype. Such hype had significantly contributed to unrealistic bids for 3G spectrum in Europe.

 
     The disruptive technologies making their mark in the telecom sector have the potential to transform the way we live our lives, ensuring rapid growth and significantly higher telecom stock valuations. It is no wonder that even a market-savvy company like Google which made its mark on the online advertising map and has been a darling of Wall Street has now changed its focus to the mobile / cell phone arena to power its growth in years to come.  It will be in India’s interest to see that both 802.16m and LTE-A compete as 4G standards in the Indian market. India should influence availability of handsets which support both the standards, and priced no more than a single-standard handset. The similarity of the two standards makes this technologically feasible. India is a large enough market to be able to demand convergence.  Google hopes to hook the millions of mobile phone subscribers in India who do not use data or SMS-based services with its voice-based search.  It is in the process of automating voice search service and is collecting voice and dialect samples from users in Hyderabad and Delhi.  Analogous to Just-Dial, another voice-based search engine; consumers will be asked to call up a toll-free number from either a landline or mobile and request the information they need.  Google will either deliver the information through an SMS or read it out.  The mobile phones of the future will be embedded with disruptive technologies that dramatically transform the way we search, analyze and retrieve voice and data.

Note : Mr Sunil Kewalramani is a WHARTON BUSINESS SCHOOL MBA.  He is the CEO, Global Capital Advisors.  He may be reached at worldequity@sunilkewalramani.com.

Mandatory Disclosure : It may safely be assumed that I own telecom stocks in global equity markets, and would have advised my clients on stocks on lines similar to the opinion I have expressed above.