Qualcomm and Teleepoch
Enter Into a 3G CDMA Subscriber Unit License Agreement, October
6, 2007
MTN chooses Cambridge Broadband
Networks for multi-service wireless network in Rwanda, October 6,
2007
Brazilian government to
publish 3G bidding rules soon, October 6, 2007
KTF 3G service suffers
from technical problems, October 6, 2007
Argentina’s Personal
lunches 3G service in Rosario, October 6, 2007
Russia has it's first 3G
network, October 6, 2007
AT&T could drop Alcatel-Lucent
as 3G mobile network supplier, October 6, 2007
Enea Extends License Agreement
with ZTE for 3G Handsets, October 2, 2007
LG to unveil premium handsets
in Brazil, October 2, 2007
KTF 3G subscribers doubled
in less than 3 months, October 2, 2007
3G policy in India will
be non-uniform, October 2, 2007
- previous news
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UK price cut ruling affects 3G rollout
July 24, 2003
The High Court ruling last month demanding British mobile phone operators
to cut charges for cross mobile calls by around 50% over the next three
years has affected the business strategies of UK’s 3G licence holders.
Mobile operators took the British telecom regulator to court as it proposed
in January to slash prices of cross mobile calls. The price cuts will
cause financial impact on operators battling in an already competitive
market and hence regain back their investment in 3G networks.
mmO2, UK’s fourth biggest operator to hold a 3G licence, planned to launch
commercial 3G service early next year but has refused to rule out any
further delays because of the regulator’s decision. mmO2’s chief executive
Peter Erskine said “nothing is set in stone” after the government’s intervention
to force price cuts. Because of the expected fall in revenues from the
decision he said the company “won’t be investing hundreds of millions”
on 3G and the rollout “will be a slow process.”
Chief executive of Orange, Solomon Trujillo, said the operator had planned
a test launch of its 3G service late this year and a commercial launch
by mid-2004. He admitted because of the ruling to cut price, “the time
for it (3G) has not yet arrived” and the government’s judgement “does
not help our cause.” He carried on and said "Today's revenue is what enables
3G investment, without that I don’t think we can see 3G becoming a reality
this year."
A spokesman from Vodafone, the world’s largest voice carrier, said the
decision will not affect the company’s 3G launch date by the end of this
year and added “we have no plans to delay it any further” but the decision
by the regulator was "fundamentally flawed".
T-Mobile, a cash strip operator, has not been very active in its 3G rollout
plans. The company would rather try to squeeze more cash out of existing
networks than launch 3G mobile services.
3 UK, the first 3G service provider in the UK, will be unaffected by
the judgement because the company already offered the cheapest cross mobile
rates in the UK, hence the decision does not apply to the company.
The UK market in general is not very interested in 3G technology and
Hilary Cook from Barclays Investment said 3G technology was “not that
exciting”.
Stephen Pentland, wireless analyst at Spectrum Strategy Consultants in
London, said the decision by the competition regulator to reduce how much
they charge consumers on cross mobile calls “will have some impact on
the UK being a slower 3G country than others."
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3G Motorola A920
