Google launches Chrome for Android

Google has announced the availability of a beta version of its Chrome web browser for the Android platform. The browser is available on handsets and tablets running the 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS, and is downloadable via Android Market in select countries and languages.

“Chrome for Android Beta is focused on speed and simplicity, but it also features seamless sign-in and sync so you can take your personalized web browsing experience with you wherever you go, across devices,” said Sundar Pichai, SVP for Chrome and apps at Google.

Pichai said that the browser has been redesigned from the ground up for mobile devices, and said that the development team reimagined tabs so they fit just as naturally on a small-screen phone as they do on a larger screen tablet.Users can flip or swipe between an unlimited number of tabs using intuitive gestures, as if holding a deck of cards in the palm of their hands.

“One of the biggest pains of mobile browsing is selecting the correct link out of several on a small-screen device. Link Preview does away with hunting and pecking for links on a web page by automatically zooming in on links to make selecting the precise one easier,” added Pichai.

Nokia plans to cut 4,000 roles

Struggling handset giant Nokia has announced that it will cut 4,000 jobs in Hungary, Mexico and Finland, as it looks to move device manufacturing to Asia.

The measures are part of the Finnish firm’s moves to overhaul its smartphone manufacturing operations, which it announced last September, as it aims to step up its efforts in the increasingly competitive global mobile device market.

As a result, the number of steps in manufacturing and the amount of work carried out at the three factories is expected to decrease substantially. They will focus on smartphone product customisation, serving customers mainly in Europe and the Americas, with assembly to be transferred to the company’s Asian factories, where the majority of component suppliers are based.

“With the planned changes, [these] factories will continue to play an important role serving our smartphone customers. They give us a unique ability to both provide customisation and be more responsive to customer needs,” said Niklas Savander, Nokia executive vice president, Markets.

He added that by shifting device assembly to Asia Nokia hopes to improve its time to market and ultimately be more competitive.

“We recognise the planned changes are difficult for our employees and we are committed to supporting our personnel and their local communities during the transition,” he added.

The job cuts are planned to be phased through the end of 2012, and Nokia said that it will offer a comprehensive locally-tailored support program, including financial support and assistance with local re-employment.

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Greg Owens, Alcatel-Lucent

Equipment vendor Alcatel-Lucent has launched an extended portfolio of software and services designed to ameliorate customer experiences on both fixed and wireless networks.

The Motive CXS portfolio is comprised of four solution suites: Motive CX Management, focused on getting new devices, applications and services up and running quickly; Motive CX Analytics, which provides monitoring tools that track the performance of the devices, applications and services running on a given network; Motive CX Optimization, which is designed to enable communications providers to make better use of network capacity; and CX Consulting, which consists of a dedicated team tasked with identifying opportunities for improving the customer experience.

The reorganisation of Alcatel-Lucent’s customer experience solutions follows the 2008 acquisition of US firm Motive for around $68mn. This deal gave access to its portfolio of software solution and the Motive brand, which had already notched up a number of high-profile customers.

Speaking to IPTV News, Greg Owens, Director of Customer Experience Solutions Marketing at Alcatel-Lucent said: “What we’re announcing today is a lot of work that we’ve done to organise our company around the area of customer experience and some new software and technology that we have to support that effort.”

“We have started seeing the term “customer experience” pop up more and more often, and realised that this is exactly what Motive is doing, but also that we have other assets in the company which are doing the same thing: in our IP division we have products that are intended to measure the experience that customers have with their mobile devices, in the wireline division we have products that are designed to test lines ahead of time, so we are basically bringing all those assets together.”

Owens observed that a number of Alcatel-Lucent’s big-name customers have recently been appointing senior executives with a focus on customer experience: Telstra for example announced a Chief Customer Officer last July, and there are a lot of companies in Europe doing something similar, according to Owens, such as Telefónica and Everything Everywhere.

One key benefit of the Motive acquisition (and one which doesn’t appear to have been immediately leveraged) is the advantageous fit between Motive’s customer care and device management capabilities, and Alcatel-Lucent’s tools for monitoring network performance.

Together, these should mean that when an irate customer calls their service provider’s help desk to complain about dropped calls or slow connectivity, for example, the agent has real-time information about the customer’s experience and can immediately say, “I see that you have had four dropped calls in the past week, we are already working on it for you, and apologise for this difficulty.”

On the device side, the Motive portfolio also offers a number of tools which can make life easier for end-users, such as self-configuration tools for IPTV customers: to take one example, Alcatel-Lucent has developed an app for AT&T which enables an IPTV subscriber to see the performance of their set-top box on their iPhone or iPad, reboot device remotely, conduct dynamic bandwidth configuration and more.

The Motive portfolio also offers a tool for mobile devices that can be pushed via the OMA-DM common standard and automatically configure the device for the customer, including pushing the apps they have bought to their new device, setting up email etc.

“Bragging about who has the best network coverage and the fastest service and that kind of thing starts to get into a difficult game – we don’t think that competing on network differentiation is the answer,” said Owens.

“We think that focusing on the customer experience and delivering the best experience possible for customers is a really unique way to differentiate, and at the same time it can also drive a lot of costs out of the business.”

Du and Huawei invest in Dubai Metro

In the Middle East, UAE operator Du has announced that it has provided wifi access across the Dubai Metro, the majority shareholder in Orange Israel is looking to sell its stake in the firm and a Bahraini operator is left reeling after the Indian Supreme Court cancels its licence to provide 2G services in the country.

Du has teamed up with Chinese vendor Huawei on a project to provide wifi access across the Dubai Metro, which will deploy its transmission network solution across the rail service. The project will see passengers and small retail businesses able to access mobile services in the stations across 18 metro stops on the Green line.

Huawei admitted that it sees a lucrative opportunity among urban rail operators. The vendor said that it has completed a number of rail projects worldwide, and that the MENA region is currently the world’s fastest growing market for rail projects and is expected to double in size in the next decade. There is more than $250bn of planned investment in the railways sector in the region and Huawei said that rail is central to its growth in the region.

“Dubai is a great place to live, work and do business in, but as the city continues to grow, congestion and traffic are becoming more problematic,” said Dr. Liu Qi, president, Middle East for Huawei Enterprise. “Better public transport infrastructure is an added draw for businesses investing in the region.”

Meanwhile, the majority shareholder of Orange Israel, Scailex Corporation, is looking to sell its stake in the operator. In Israel, France Telecom’s Orange brand is operated by a company called Partner Networks, in which Scailex currently holds a share of approximately 44.5 per cent.

The company has appointed Deutsche Bank and Lazard Freres to oversee the sale of its stake and Deutsche Bank has confirmed that it will supply a credit line of up to $1bn to the winning bidder, if necessary and subject to certain conditions.

The company is considering options including a deal that would turn Partner into a privately held company, according to Scailex’s statement.

And Bahraini operator Batelco said that it is carefully studying the detailed judgement handed down by the Supreme Court of India with its legal advisers and STel Management, following the decision from the Supreme Court of India to cancel 122 spectrum licences purchased in 2008.

Batelco invested in STel in order to enter the Indian market and said that it did so after following a diligence exercise with the support of financial and commercial advisers. The company said that it also received certain representations and warranties from STels promoter regarding the validity of the licence. However, it stressed that it was not involved in the bidding for licences, which have since been found to be marred by corruption.

“Batelco was not involved in the STel licence application process nor had any knowledge of any of the events surrounding the granting of the 2G licences in January 2008,” the firm said in a statement.

Batelco will also review the sustainability of its business operations under the revised conditions imposed by the Indian Supreme Courts. It has held 42.7 per cent equity in STel since May 2009.

“As Batelco continues to grow and diversify its operations, it intends to explore all options to remain involved in the Indian telecommunications market,” the company added.

Telenor wants to stay in India, despite having its 2G licences revoked

Nordic operator group Telenor has said that it will do what it can to keep Indian subsidiary Uninor operating in the country.

Last week, the Supreme Court of India cancelled 122 telecoms licences that were awarded in a 2008 spectrum sale, citing corruption in the sales process of the licences.

Telenor and Indian real-estate company Unitech had set up a joint venture in India, Uninor, which was allotted 22 pan-Indian licences during the sale.

Tor Odland, VP for group communications for mobile at Telenor, told Telecoms.com that 66 million customers were affected by licences being revoked, and of that number, 36 million are Uninor customers.

He added that the Supreme Court announcement actually stimulated an acceleration in the growth of its subscriber base. Uninor has been seeing 100,000 sign-ups per day on average, but this had actually increased since the ruling.

“On Thursday, the number increased to 106,000 new sign-ups; on Friday it was 150,000, and on Saturday, we saw it increase to 175,000,” said Odland.

He attributed the growth to sales staff in India making a concerted effort to continue growing the subscriber base at a difficult time, and said that the operator may have also benefitted from sympathy and support from the general public in the country.

“We definitely don’t think of it as a lost cause. It will be challenging but we are inspired to continue.”

He added that Telenor had pledged a commitment of NOK20bn, ($3.43bn) investment in India and has spent around two-thirds of that already on setting up the joint-venture, spectrum licences and infrastructure and loan guarantees.

Odland said that the group does not think it is fair that it is currently looking at losing its licences, which came with such a price tag, adding that the investment is probably the biggest investment that any Norwegian company has ever made in India. However, he did not rule out bidding for more licences in next the 2G spectrum auction to reassign the licences, due to be held in July 2012.

“It’s particularly hard given that we had just begun to get on track with hitting our targets for 2013,” he said. “We will do what we can to operate in India. Currently, everything is an option.”

Odland added that Uninor is not currently focusing on securing compensation from the India government for the licenses being revoked, as that is an issue for a “later stage”.

UK broadband prices could drop after regulator announces wholesale price cut

The UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has said it will be forcing down the prices that Openreach, the wholesale division of incumbent BT, can charge for broadband and telephone rental. However, BT intends to contest the decision.

The proposed charge controls would reduce the cost of a “fully unbundled line” from £91.50 to £87.41, while a shared unbundled line, where an ISP uses the line just to provide broadband, would drop from £14.70 to £11.92. The cost for phone rental services would drop from £103.68 to £98.81.

Ofcom said it has provided the European Commission with a draft of its decision, which it deems necessary due to Openreach’s significant market power. The charges would be imposed for the 2012/13 financial year and would run until 31 March 2014. Prices could decrease further in line with the Retail Price Index. The charges will only kick-in once they have been approved by the European Commission, which Ofcom said would occur in March.

How this will affect consumers is unclear as the Ofcom proposals do not force the purchasers of Openreach’s wholesale services to pass on savings to their customers. If they do however, it could mean customers of Openreach based broadband would see price drops.

However, BT has hit back at Ofcom over the decision, issuing a statement of its intentions, which could include appealing the decision.

“We disagree with some of the underlying assumptions that they have used to determine these charge controls. Our primary concern throughout this process is to ensure that we are able to achieve a fair rate of return in order to continue our investment in the future of the UK’s communications infrastructure,” read the statement.

“We will consider all options available to us, including appealing, after Ofcom confirms its final decisions.”

Last week, Openreach announced that it would make Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) services available in six locations in the UK from late October, making download speeds of up to 110Mbps available, with 300Mbps upgrades coming by spring 2013.

The Broadband MEA conference is taking place on the 25-27th March 2012, at the Westin Mina Seyahi Beach Resort and Marina, Dubai, UAE. Go to the website now to register your interest.

Vodafone pulls out of a proposed merger with Greek operator Wind Hellas

Vodafone Group has confirmed that it has abandoned its plans to merge its operations in Greece with local operator Wind Hellas, citing the uncertainty around the Greek market as a key reason.

Although Vodafone declined to go into detail about further reasons for the failure of the bid, it has been suggested that the regulatory environment in Greece also played a part in the company’s decision to walk away from the merger.

The group announced discussions had started with Wind Hellas in August 2011, but stated at the time that there was no certainty that an agreement would be reached.

“We have ceased discussions with Wind Hellas,” a spokesperson from Vodafone told Telecoms.com.

“We are still committed to the Greek market. Last year we purchased additional spectrum and we continue to add subscribers each quarter. We are the leaders in the smartphone and enterprise markets in Greece, so those are the areas we will particularly focus on.”

“Going forward there are still areas that we could potentially co-operate with Wind Hellas on,” the spokesperson added.

It has been suggested that the two firms are still in talks over the possibility of a network sharing deal.

Telenor has signed an agreement with small cell vendor ip.access

Norwegian operator group Telenor has signed a deal with ip.access which will see the UK vendor supply the operator with its end-to-end small cell solutions.

The agreement covers all 11 operators in the Telenor Group globally, and will see ip.access supply its 3G small cell solutions for the operator’s residential, business and public customers. The deal also has provision to potentially extend to 4G in future.

Telenor said that it chose ip.access as a supplier due to its ability to deliver “technical credibility” and a competitive long term total cost of ownership.

“This is another important milestone for both ip.access and the small cell market.  Major operators are recognising and reacting to the role that small cells can play to boost coverage, capacity and customer service in homes, offices and public spaces,” said Simon Brown, ip.access CEO.

“What’s more – as we move into an ‘always on’ world, small cells will be a key part of the connectivity solution from crowded office buildings to remote rural locations.”

Corning and Samsung are teaming up to innovate in OLED screen manufacturing

Samsung has signed an agreement with specialty glass and ceramics manufacturer Corning to establish a new venture for the organic light emitting diode (OLED) device market.

Based in Korea, the newly-formed entity will supply OLED backplane glass substrates for Samsung Mobile Display. It will combine Corning’s Lotus Glass substrate technology and Samsung Mobile Display’s OLED display expertise for devices such as handsets, tablets and TVs.

According to a recent NPD DisplaySearch report, display revenues from the OLED market have been growing rapidly and will exceed $4bn in 2011, which is approximately four per cent of all flat panel display revenues. The figure is expected to reach more than $20bn by 2018.

“Samsung Mobile Display has led the global display industry by constantly seeking innovations and challenging current technologies’ limits. We are confident that combining our business powers with Corning’s technology leadership will deliver greater value to our clients,” said Soo In Cho, Samsung Mobile Display’s president and CEO.

Wendell P. Weeks, Corning’s chairman, CEO and president added that Corning and Samsung have had a long partnership in the display industry, dating back nearly 40 years.

“The strength of our business relationship is built on Corning’s ability to develop and make high-technology glass with the key attributes that enable Samsung’s next-generation displays,” he said.

BT's 21C network will be based on fibre

UK telco BT has successfully trialled the delivery of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband on an on-demand basis in St Agnes, Cornwall, delivering speeds of up to 300 Mbps.

The trials take advantage of fibre infrastructure which BT has already installed between exchanges and street cabinets, and could lead to FTTP connections being made available anywhere in the company’s fibre footprint where a customer requires it.

BT is to conduct further trials of FTTP on-demand this summer, with the aim of making it commercially available to communications providers by spring 2013. The service is expected to be particularly attractive to small and medium-sized businesses.

The telco has also confirmed that it plans to upgrade its existing Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) connections this spring, approximately doubling currently available speeds to 80 Mbps downstream and 20 Mbps upstream.

More than 7m UK homes and businesses can now access fibre broadband from BT, and this figure is set to rise to 10m in 2012, and then to around two-thirds of all UK premises by the end of 2014.

In its third-quarter 2011 results which were announced today, BT revealed that it had a healthy 56 per cent share of all new broadband market net additions in the three-month period, having signed on a further 146,000 retail broadband customers in the period, taking its retail broadband customer base to 3.1m.

Take-up of its super-fast broadband product ‘BT Infinity’ (based on Fibre-to-the-Premises and Fibre-to-the-Cabinet) remained on track with 95,000 customers added in the quarter, bringing its total to over 400,000 customers. An average of 7,300 new BT Infinity customers are currently being added each week.