International News 18th November

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Swedes get free upgrade to 3G TeliaSonera

Sweden's 3.6 million TeliaSonera GSM customers will be able to have their subscriptions upgraded to 3G free of charge. According to reports, all of these customers will be offered the opportunity to exchange their SIM cards to new card that can be used in both GSM/GPRS and 3G networks.

On December 1, Telia will start a trial for 500 customers and will launch the service commercially in March 2004. "The step to third-generation mobile telephony must be a simple one. We want our customers to enjoy functions on their mobile handsets that used to be available only on a desktop computer connected to the Internet - without having to worry about the technology," says Marie Ehrling, head of TeliaSonera Sweden.


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O2 reports first profit in two years


MMO2, the UK MNO, revealed its first pre-tax profit since it was spun off from BT two years ago. For the six months to September 30, the company, reported pre-tax profits of £26 million (E36.4 million) compared to losses of £259 million (E362 million) last year, on the back of strong growth in revenues and core earnings across all its businesses.

Total revenues rose 21 per cent to £2.7 billion (E3.7 billion) with a 13 per cent increase in its customer base to 19.2 million and a rise in average revenue per user at all its businesses. The company runs its O2 networks in the UK, Germany and Ireland.

According to the FT, CEO Peter Erskine cautioned of "intense competition" in the UK and Germany, MMO2's two biggest markets, in the second half of the year. He repeated warnings that a second termination rate cut imposed by UK telecoms regulator Oftel would begin to take effect and predicted a slowdown in UK service revenues.

Nevertheless, he stuck to full-year growth and margin targets set earlier in the year as new initiatives and cost restructuring helped maintain momentum. O2 UK is targeting service revenue growth of 10 per cent for the year.

MMO2 also reported progress at O2 Online, its mobile e-commerce business, which signed up its one-millionth customer.


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Antena 3 TV doubles its losses


The Spanish commercial channel Antena 3 TV declared a net loss of E 106 million to September, 117 per cent more than the same period last year.

Net revenues were E 370.24 million, 0.8 per cent down from the previous year. The company attributes the financial results to the drop in the average audience share now at 19.7 per cent, one point below the same period last year.

While Antena 3 TV is going through a tough financial time, the other Spanish private commercial channel, Tele 5, claims to be one of the most profitable channels in Europe, with a gross profit of E 102.6 million to September.




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Murdoch: SKY Italia breakeven within 18 months

Sky Italia, News Corps' pay TV platform, will reach the breakeven point within 18 months, according to an announcement by chairman Rupert Murdoch during an awards ceremony in Milan. He said: "We began with two million subscribers and at present we have about 2.3 million. Before digital begins, we expect to reach three million".

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CETV to relaunch in 2004


Loss-making China Entertainment Television (CETV) will breakeven within three years, according to new owners, the Hong Kong multimedia company, Tom.com.
Chief executive Sing Wang made the prediction as he unveiled plans to relaunch CETV, the cable and satellite-delivered Mandarin-language channel in 2004, its' 10th anniversary year.

Sing also revealed plans to move CETV's production base from Hong Kong to the Chinese city of Shenzhen. At the same time the sales, advertising, marketing and public relations teams would be relocated to China's largest cities, Guangdzhou, Shanghai and Beijing as part of a cost-cutting move.

CETV, founded by Hong Kong-based entertainment veteran Robert Chua, has failed to turn a profit since it went on air in 1994, even after Chua sold it to Time Warner in 1999 before they sold the channel to Tom.com earlier this year.

CETV is only one of four channels with landing rights in southern China, although this advantage is offset by its poor reception by audiences and it only has a two percent market share in the areas it can be seen. Sing said that next year the channel will ramp up the percentage of in-house production from 15 per cent to as high as 45 per cent.

The losses in 2002 reached $17 million before taxes and other deductions, with less than $500,000 in revenue.


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Hutchison's 3G performance delayed

Hutchison Whampoa's third-generation mobile phone business will not break even until late 2006 - more than a year later than expected - due to a delay in the delivery of handsets, the FT reported.

As previously reported, the hand sets delay will impact on its subscriber numbers which now seem very unlikely to reach the one million mark in the UK and Italian key markets by the end of the year. The delay will force the Hong Kong-based group to find additional funding for its 3G operations in eight countries.

Li said NEC and Motorola had delayed delivery of handsets. Hutchison had ordered three million handsets for an "autumn offensive" to kick-start sluggish growth in subscriber numbers. The delay would affect marketing for the crucial Christmas season. He added the 3G division would break even on an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation basis, three years after the delivery of the handsets - or 2006 at the earliest.


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MTV launches mobile division in Asia


MTV Networks Asia has announced the launch of a new business division, MTV Mobile, in nine territories across the region -- China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. MTV Mobile will be available in English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Bahasa Indonesia and Thai.

Sangeeta Gupta, Senior Vice-President, General Manager, MTV Mobile, MTV Networks Asia, will oversee all strategic and operational aspects of the new division in the region.

MTV has been working on the possibility of brining television content on mobile screens and it has been is in discussion with various mobile companies to venture into new arena in Hong Kong.

The company intends to capitalise on advances in mobile technology that allow for high speed data transmission of multimedia images, such as streaming videos, on to mobile handsets. In the pipeline are features such as real-time song dedications on MTV music programmes through short messaging services (SMS) and content based on multimedia messaging services (MMS), such as screen backgrounds and logos.

Lee Cheok Yew, Executive Vice President, Southeast Asia and Mobile, MTV Networks Asia Pacific said: "These are exciting times for MTV as we continue to grow our business across the region. MTV has always been at the forefront of delivering music and entertainment content and the introduction of MTV Mobile is a natural progression as we harness the mobile platform to reach our youth audiences. The launch of the new business will serve to meet another important facet of their lives today."


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UK Macs get broadband Satellite service

UK Macintosh users in areas still unserved by broadband have been promised satellite broadband by Mac-1 Internet. The company - also known as Smile Broadband - will launch its Mac-ready one-way satellite broadband system "in the next few weeks", it said.

A PC version of the one-way satellite broadband service has been available since February. The system employs a dial-up connection - either a landline or ISDN - for the uplink, and a 60cm satellite dish for the downlink.

Four connection speeds will be available: 256K, 512K, 1,024K and 2,048K. Installation of the dish, software and a PCI modem costs £215 (E300) (excluding VAT).


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PCCW introduces convergence technology in HK


Hong Kong PCCW has introduced the latest stage of its convergence technology, that provides businesses with voice and data communications.

PCCW Convergence uses PCCW's world-class IP-VPN Network and innovative systems technology to enable businesses to organise all their fixed-line, mobile, fax and email communications from a single PC interface.

The initiative follows the launch of new generation fixed-line services, including SMS to other fixed-line phones and mobiles, information download onto big-screen phones, voice-activated personal and corporate directories, and the network-based Auto Receptionist that greets and relays incoming calls for businesses.

PCCW chief operating officer Mike Butcher said: "The spread of broadband and the emergence of new technologies have led people to expect an 'anytime - anywhere - any device - any medium' environment. Convergence technology goes beyond convenience."

PCCW's launched pay television service Now Broadband in October and has reportedly gained150,000 subscribers, exceeding the company's original 20,000 subscribers per month growth target.

"We expect to have 200,000 subscribers by the end of the year and 350,000 by the middle of 2004," said the company. Now Broadband has attracted 75 per cent of the subscribers from its existing Netvigator broadband subscribers. The pay television service offers its customers the option to subscribe to channels individually rather than in the bundles common with other cable- and satellite-TV services.


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Orca partners with Corecess

Israeli broadband-TV operator, Orca Interactive and Corecess Global, a provider of IP-based access communication systems, have formed a co-marketing agreement to offer a complete triple play of broadband solutions to telecommunications service providers

"This relationship with Corecess is another example of how Orca can work globally with access providers, to bring a complete solution to telcos," said Yosi Glick, Vice President of business development, Orca Interactive.

"The combination of the Corecess 6800 IP DSLAM with integrated routing and Orca's RiGHTv application suite creates a powerful platform for delivering enhanced triple play services," said Y.B.Son, Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing of Corecess Inc. "Orca and Corecess share a strong global position strengthened through this relationship."


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Grupo Televisa to enhance its video distribution

Grupo Televisa, the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world, has selected Thales for a major international satellite network project. Through the deal with Thales, Televisa is looking for a platform that could make the most out of its 8Mbps satellite link, which enables the delivery of popular TV serials to 17 TV stations in South America. The optimisation of the bandwidth will allow the broadcaster to speed up transmissions and make room for an additional promotional channel without changing the whole system layout. A solution was also required to make the system more flexible by allowing the provider to schedule the delivery of the video content to send different files to the 17 TV stations.