Security firm Lookout says that a malicious suspicious app has been downloaded anywhere from 1.1 million to 4.6 million times.
The app in question is called Jackeey Wallpaper and was uploaded to the Android Market where users could download the application for free. According to Lookout, the application would access the owner's SIM card number, subscriber identification, and voicemail password (as long as it is programmed automatically into your phone) and send it to a site called imnet.us. That site is owned by someone in the Chinese city of Shenzhen.
Update: Lookout contacted me to say the original Venturebeat report was inaccurate:
The app does not actually access SIM card numbers or voicemail passwords. Instead, the app transmitted the device's phone number, subscriber identifier (e.g. IMSI), and the currently entered voicemail number on the phone. This is an important distinction for Lookout, because they did not actually find that the app was doing anything malicious. It is certainly suspicious, but it is important to clear up that they did not actually steal info like SMS conversations.
Upon installation, the wallpaper app asks for permission to access your phone calls, which should have been a clear warning not only to users but for the people manning the Android Market's approval process.
This isn't the first case of mobile app developers sneaking deviant code into their apps this month. Earlier, a 15 year old developer submitted a flashlight application to Apple's (AAPL) App Store which had code that turned iPhones into Internet routers. Apple removed the application within a few hours of it being widely reported.
According to Venturebeat, John Hering, chief executive of Lookout said in a press conference afterward that he believes both Google and Apple are on top of policing their app stores, particularly when there are known malware problems with apps.
Tags: Android Market, Lookout Posted by Seth Weintraub July 29, 2010 11:55 AM
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Jul 29, 2010
HTC Profits Jump 33 Percent on Android Success
HTC's efforts in the high-end smartphone market are paying off, as the company today reported a 33 percent jump in profits for the second quarter of 2010.
Building on its success with Google's Android operating system, with smartphones like the Evo 4G and Droid Incredible, HTC today reported net profit for the quarter of $269 million. Unconsolidated revenue topped $1.9 billion, up 58 percent year-over-year.
The company shipped 5.4 million units in the second quarter, but in its third-quarter guidance said it expects that number to rise by 20 percent. In 2009, HTC shipped just 2.8 million units in the third quarter.
In other third-quarter guidance, the company said it expects revenue to more than double to around $2.2 billion from $1.1 billion a year earlier.
In March of 2010, Apple filed a lawsuit against HTC, alleging that it infringed on patents. HTC returned fire, leveling a patent infringement suit against Apple. In a statement, the company said that it believes the lawsuits will have limited impact on its financial results or sales activities.
The company recently announced that it would be switching display technologies on some of its devices, from AMOLED screens to Super Liquid Crystal Displays (SLCD). Lack of AMOLED supply was cited as the reason for shortages of the HTC Droid Incredible.
The company claims that of every two Android-based smartphones being sold, one is made by HTC.
Meanwhile, the company took the positive earnings as occasion to announce a series of executive promotions and newly created management positions which it said are "focused on building a stronger foundation for future growth."
HTC filled two newly created positions with talent from Sony Ericsson. Ron Louks was appointed chief strategy officer and Kouji Kodera was appointed chief product officer.
Among the promotions was David Chen, who has been elevated to chief engineering officer. Previously vice president of product development, Chen will continue to drive HTC's product development and engineering.
Jason Mackenzie was promoted to president of HTC North America and Latin America. Previously vice president of HTC North America, Mackenzie will continue to drive HTC's strategy and market growth in North America and Latin America.
HTC shares rose a sharp 7 percent on today's results, climbing from yesterday's close of $16.67 per share to $17.83. By Andrew BergThursday, July 29, 2010
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Building on its success with Google's Android operating system, with smartphones like the Evo 4G and Droid Incredible, HTC today reported net profit for the quarter of $269 million. Unconsolidated revenue topped $1.9 billion, up 58 percent year-over-year.
The company shipped 5.4 million units in the second quarter, but in its third-quarter guidance said it expects that number to rise by 20 percent. In 2009, HTC shipped just 2.8 million units in the third quarter.
In other third-quarter guidance, the company said it expects revenue to more than double to around $2.2 billion from $1.1 billion a year earlier.
In March of 2010, Apple filed a lawsuit against HTC, alleging that it infringed on patents. HTC returned fire, leveling a patent infringement suit against Apple. In a statement, the company said that it believes the lawsuits will have limited impact on its financial results or sales activities.
The company recently announced that it would be switching display technologies on some of its devices, from AMOLED screens to Super Liquid Crystal Displays (SLCD). Lack of AMOLED supply was cited as the reason for shortages of the HTC Droid Incredible.
The company claims that of every two Android-based smartphones being sold, one is made by HTC.
Meanwhile, the company took the positive earnings as occasion to announce a series of executive promotions and newly created management positions which it said are "focused on building a stronger foundation for future growth."
HTC filled two newly created positions with talent from Sony Ericsson. Ron Louks was appointed chief strategy officer and Kouji Kodera was appointed chief product officer.
Among the promotions was David Chen, who has been elevated to chief engineering officer. Previously vice president of product development, Chen will continue to drive HTC's product development and engineering.
Jason Mackenzie was promoted to president of HTC North America and Latin America. Previously vice president of HTC North America, Mackenzie will continue to drive HTC's strategy and market growth in North America and Latin America.
HTC shares rose a sharp 7 percent on today's results, climbing from yesterday's close of $16.67 per share to $17.83. By Andrew BergThursday, July 29, 2010
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Jul 27, 2010
Unlockers Win Copyright Ruling
People in favor of unlocking their cell phones – or in doing so for other people – received good news yesterday when the Library of Congress said cell phone users who unlock their phones for use on a different but compatible network or access to third-party applications are not in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
The ruling stems from a request from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) that asked the Librarian of Congress to renew a 2006 rule exempting cell phone unlocking so handsets can be used with other telecom carriers. EFF says cell phone unlockers have been successfully sued under the DMCA even though there was no copyright infringement involved in the unlocking.
In its reasoning in favor of EFF's jailbreaking exemption, the Copyright Office rejected Apple's claim that copyright law prevents people from installing unapproved programs on iPhones.
In a statement, Free Press Policy Counsel Aparna Sridhar said the decision by the U.S. Copyright Office is an important step toward promoting open wireless networks. "This approach will assist consumers who want to vote with their feet by taking the phone of their choice to the carrier of their choice," Sridhar said. "Not only is this a win for consumers, but it's also a win for innovators and developers whose products and applications now have a fighting chance in a market plagued by exclusive device arrangements dictated by the largest wireless carriers."
Wireless phone provisioning firm HoudiniSoft welcomed the news. HoudiniSoft sells its service to the likes of MetroPCS, Leap Wireless International and other service providers, and questions about the practice of re-provisioning or flashing of handsets finally have been answered.
HoudiniSoft General Manager and Vice President of Business Development Rex Lee expects more carriers will adopt the practice now that the exemption from the 2006 DMCA ruling has been extended. He notes that the ruling expands the law for three years. "The biggest winner here is the consumer," he says.
Digital locks on cell phones make it harder to resell, reuse or recycle the handset, prompting EFF to ask for renewal of the rule on behalf of its clients – The Wireless Alliance, ReCellular and Flipswap.
EFF also won a new protection for video remix artists featured on Internet sites like YouTube. The new rule holds that amateur creators do not violate the DMCA when they use short excerpts from DVDs in order to create new, noncommercial works for purposes of criticism or comment if they believe that circumvention is necessary to fulfill that purpose. By Monica Alleven, Wireless WeekvJuly 27, 2010
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The ruling stems from a request from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) that asked the Librarian of Congress to renew a 2006 rule exempting cell phone unlocking so handsets can be used with other telecom carriers. EFF says cell phone unlockers have been successfully sued under the DMCA even though there was no copyright infringement involved in the unlocking.
In its reasoning in favor of EFF's jailbreaking exemption, the Copyright Office rejected Apple's claim that copyright law prevents people from installing unapproved programs on iPhones.
In a statement, Free Press Policy Counsel Aparna Sridhar said the decision by the U.S. Copyright Office is an important step toward promoting open wireless networks. "This approach will assist consumers who want to vote with their feet by taking the phone of their choice to the carrier of their choice," Sridhar said. "Not only is this a win for consumers, but it's also a win for innovators and developers whose products and applications now have a fighting chance in a market plagued by exclusive device arrangements dictated by the largest wireless carriers."
Wireless phone provisioning firm HoudiniSoft welcomed the news. HoudiniSoft sells its service to the likes of MetroPCS, Leap Wireless International and other service providers, and questions about the practice of re-provisioning or flashing of handsets finally have been answered.
HoudiniSoft General Manager and Vice President of Business Development Rex Lee expects more carriers will adopt the practice now that the exemption from the 2006 DMCA ruling has been extended. He notes that the ruling expands the law for three years. "The biggest winner here is the consumer," he says.
Digital locks on cell phones make it harder to resell, reuse or recycle the handset, prompting EFF to ask for renewal of the rule on behalf of its clients – The Wireless Alliance, ReCellular and Flipswap.
EFF also won a new protection for video remix artists featured on Internet sites like YouTube. The new rule holds that amateur creators do not violate the DMCA when they use short excerpts from DVDs in order to create new, noncommercial works for purposes of criticism or comment if they believe that circumvention is necessary to fulfill that purpose. By Monica Alleven, Wireless WeekvJuly 27, 2010
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Asia still getting the fastest Internet
Of the 100 cities in the world with the fastest average Internet connection speed, 61 are in Asia, and only 12 in the U.S. The U.S. ranks eighth when it comes to average maximum speed – 16 Mbps – less than half the average maximum of first-place South Korea.
The data is from the first quarter of 2010, and was compiled by Akamai Technologies.
The city with the fastest Internet is Masan in South Korea. It is followed by dozens of cities in Japan, another handful in South Korea, and a few cities scattered across Romania, Germany, and Norway. The first North American city appearing on the list is Monterrey Park, Ca., which ranks 57th.
In the first quarter of 2010, Akamai calculated an average maximum connection speed of 33 Mbps in South Korea, almost 3X the average connection speed in that country. Asia continues to lead this metric as well, with South Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan taking the first three slots in the top 10 list, Akamai said. European countries took six of the remaining slots, all with average maximum connection speeds over 15 Mbps. The U.S. placed eighth with an average maximum connection speed of 16 Mbps.
In contrast to the average measured connection speed, the average maximum connection speed metric is more representative of the capability of many end-user Internet connections, Akamai said.
In the U.S., on a state-by-state basis, the overall average connection speed for the U.S. was 4.7 Mbps. This was exceeded by 22 states. Delaware held its spot as the state with the fastest average connection, while Alaska continued to be the state with the lowest average connection speed, at 2.7 Mbps (up 30 percent year over year).
Average maximum connection speeds on mobile networks around the world were fairly strong, with 83 of the 109 mobile providers achieving maximum measured speeds greater than the 2 Mbps broadband threshold; 33 achieving maximum measured speeds greater than the 5 Mbps high broadband threshold; and six achieving maximum measured speeds greater than 10 Mbps. Average measured connection speeds ranged from 7.2 Mbps down to 105 Kbps. Coincidentally, both extremes were observed on mobile providers in Slovakia.By Brian Santo July 27, 2010
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The data is from the first quarter of 2010, and was compiled by Akamai Technologies.
The city with the fastest Internet is Masan in South Korea. It is followed by dozens of cities in Japan, another handful in South Korea, and a few cities scattered across Romania, Germany, and Norway. The first North American city appearing on the list is Monterrey Park, Ca., which ranks 57th.
In the first quarter of 2010, Akamai calculated an average maximum connection speed of 33 Mbps in South Korea, almost 3X the average connection speed in that country. Asia continues to lead this metric as well, with South Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan taking the first three slots in the top 10 list, Akamai said. European countries took six of the remaining slots, all with average maximum connection speeds over 15 Mbps. The U.S. placed eighth with an average maximum connection speed of 16 Mbps.
In contrast to the average measured connection speed, the average maximum connection speed metric is more representative of the capability of many end-user Internet connections, Akamai said.
In the U.S., on a state-by-state basis, the overall average connection speed for the U.S. was 4.7 Mbps. This was exceeded by 22 states. Delaware held its spot as the state with the fastest average connection, while Alaska continued to be the state with the lowest average connection speed, at 2.7 Mbps (up 30 percent year over year).
Average maximum connection speeds on mobile networks around the world were fairly strong, with 83 of the 109 mobile providers achieving maximum measured speeds greater than the 2 Mbps broadband threshold; 33 achieving maximum measured speeds greater than the 5 Mbps high broadband threshold; and six achieving maximum measured speeds greater than 10 Mbps. Average measured connection speeds ranged from 7.2 Mbps down to 105 Kbps. Coincidentally, both extremes were observed on mobile providers in Slovakia.By Brian Santo July 27, 2010
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Jul 26, 2010
San Jose could be called Solar City
Green Energy
Alternative energy, cleantech and related topics.
San Jose brands itself the capital of Silicon Valley.
Now it can also call itself Solar City.
New data about the California Solar Initiative, the state's aggressive program to encourage homeowners, businesses, local governments and nonprofit organizations to install solar panels on their roofs, shows that San Jose has installed more solar power than any other city in the state.
From Jan. 1, 2007, to July 7, 2010, San Jose installed 14.9 megawatts of solar power on residential and commercial roofs, followed by San Diego with 11.3 MW and Fresno with 9.2 MW, according to an annual report released by the California Public Utilities Commission last week.
The news was no surprise to San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, who installed solar power at his own home about a year ago and has made renewable energy a key platform of his "Green Vision" for the city. The fact that San Jose averages more than 300 sunny days a year also helps.
"I'm not surprised that we're high up the list," Reed said Wednesday. "We've got some major solar installations in the city — including at eBay, Cypress Semiconductor and the San Jose Unified and East Side Union High School districts."
One megawatt is enough to power 750 to 1,000 homes. But since the sun doesn't shine all the time, solar industry experts say that 1 megawatt of solar can power about 200 households. Posted: 07/14/2010 05:08:35 PM PDT By Dana Hull
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Alternative energy, cleantech and related topics.
San Jose brands itself the capital of Silicon Valley.
Now it can also call itself Solar City.
New data about the California Solar Initiative, the state's aggressive program to encourage homeowners, businesses, local governments and nonprofit organizations to install solar panels on their roofs, shows that San Jose has installed more solar power than any other city in the state.
From Jan. 1, 2007, to July 7, 2010, San Jose installed 14.9 megawatts of solar power on residential and commercial roofs, followed by San Diego with 11.3 MW and Fresno with 9.2 MW, according to an annual report released by the California Public Utilities Commission last week.
The news was no surprise to San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, who installed solar power at his own home about a year ago and has made renewable energy a key platform of his "Green Vision" for the city. The fact that San Jose averages more than 300 sunny days a year also helps.
"I'm not surprised that we're high up the list," Reed said Wednesday. "We've got some major solar installations in the city — including at eBay, Cypress Semiconductor and the San Jose Unified and East Side Union High School districts."
One megawatt is enough to power 750 to 1,000 homes. But since the sun doesn't shine all the time, solar industry experts say that 1 megawatt of solar can power about 200 households. Posted: 07/14/2010 05:08:35 PM PDT By Dana Hull
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Jailbreaking iPhone apps is now legal
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- IPhone users can now legally hack their phones to download applications that aren't in Apple's App Store.
The U.S. Copyright Office, a division of the Library of Congress, has authorized several new exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), one of which will allow mobile phone users to "jailbreak" -- or hack into -- their devices to use apps not authorized by the phone's manufacturer. The new rules will be published on Tuesday in the Federal Register.
Jailbreaking iPhones in order to download apps that are unavailable in Apple's App Store had been a legal gray area: Apple technically had the right to request a $2,500 government fine for damages every time a user violated the law that bans "circumvention of technological measures" controlling access to copyrighted works -- in this case, the iPhone's iOS software.
Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) never actually requested that a fine be levied on an iPhone customer. But it fought to preserve its right to: Apple filed an objection last year to the rule the Copyright Office has now adopted.
The Copyright Office's decision means that jailbreakers will not face legal sanctions, but phone makers are still free to fight back technologically against the practice. Apple typically voids the warranty on iPhones that owners have hacked. The company maintains that tampering with the iPhone can introduce bugs and glitches.
"Apple's goal has always been to insure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone, and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience," a company spokeswoman said in response to the Copyright Office ruling. "The vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones."
The Copyright Office also renewed and expanded its 2006 decision allowing mobile phone users to jailbreak their phones in order to switch carriers. Previously, the office allowed firmware updates to enable network-switching; this week, it added a provision allowing software hacks as well. In other words, iPhone users can now legally download software that will enable their phones to join a non-AT&T (T, Fortune 500) network.
The Copyright Office conducts an extensive rulemaking process every three years to determine what exemptions should be granted to the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions. Each cycle, the office's previous exemptions expire unless they are renewed.
This time around, the Copyright Office granted six exemptions. In addition jailbreaking provisions, it renewed an exemption allowing e-book copy controls to be circumvented to enable read-aloud functions or to render the text into a specialized format. That's a clause advocates for the blind fought for.
The agency also granted an exemption allowing users to break DVD copyright controls to extract snippets of copyrighted movies for the purpose of incorporating them into new works, so long as the new creation is noncommercial. Known as "vidding," such remixing is a popular hobby among fan artists, and their creations are widely available for viewing on YouTube.
The ruling doesn't remove all of the legal murk around vidding. Creators still need to ensure that their clips meet "fair use" guidelines, and the Copyright Office specified that its exemption applies only to motion-picture snippets extracted "for the purpose of criticism or comment."
But advocates say the decision is a big step forward. Hollywood movie studios had long held that ripping DVDs for any purpose whatsoever is a violation of the DMCA.
"This ruling is useful because it removes a tool that was able to be deployed over and above copyright law that already has fair-use safety valves," said Rebecca Tushnet, a law professor at Georgetown University who testified in favor of the exception at a Library of Congress rulemaking hearing last year. "Now we're back to where we should have been all along, and we can continue the conversation about what's reasonable fair use."
Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) declined to comment on the implications for YouTube of the new exemption.
Lobbying group Electronic Frontier Foundation, which requested and backed the jailbreaking and remixing exemptions, celebrated its victory on Monday.
"We are thrilled to have helped free jailbreakers, unlockers and vidders from this law's overbroad reach," Jennifer Granick, EFF's civil liberties director, said in a prepared statement. "The Copyright Office recognizes that the primary purpose of the locks on cell phones is to bind customers to their existing networks, rather than to protect copyright." By David Goldman, staff writerJuly 26, 2010: 7:14 PM ET
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The U.S. Copyright Office, a division of the Library of Congress, has authorized several new exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), one of which will allow mobile phone users to "jailbreak" -- or hack into -- their devices to use apps not authorized by the phone's manufacturer. The new rules will be published on Tuesday in the Federal Register.
Jailbreaking iPhones in order to download apps that are unavailable in Apple's App Store had been a legal gray area: Apple technically had the right to request a $2,500 government fine for damages every time a user violated the law that bans "circumvention of technological measures" controlling access to copyrighted works -- in this case, the iPhone's iOS software.
Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) never actually requested that a fine be levied on an iPhone customer. But it fought to preserve its right to: Apple filed an objection last year to the rule the Copyright Office has now adopted.
The Copyright Office's decision means that jailbreakers will not face legal sanctions, but phone makers are still free to fight back technologically against the practice. Apple typically voids the warranty on iPhones that owners have hacked. The company maintains that tampering with the iPhone can introduce bugs and glitches.
"Apple's goal has always been to insure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone, and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience," a company spokeswoman said in response to the Copyright Office ruling. "The vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones."
The Copyright Office also renewed and expanded its 2006 decision allowing mobile phone users to jailbreak their phones in order to switch carriers. Previously, the office allowed firmware updates to enable network-switching; this week, it added a provision allowing software hacks as well. In other words, iPhone users can now legally download software that will enable their phones to join a non-AT&T (T, Fortune 500) network.
The Copyright Office conducts an extensive rulemaking process every three years to determine what exemptions should be granted to the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions. Each cycle, the office's previous exemptions expire unless they are renewed.
This time around, the Copyright Office granted six exemptions. In addition jailbreaking provisions, it renewed an exemption allowing e-book copy controls to be circumvented to enable read-aloud functions or to render the text into a specialized format. That's a clause advocates for the blind fought for.
The agency also granted an exemption allowing users to break DVD copyright controls to extract snippets of copyrighted movies for the purpose of incorporating them into new works, so long as the new creation is noncommercial. Known as "vidding," such remixing is a popular hobby among fan artists, and their creations are widely available for viewing on YouTube.
The ruling doesn't remove all of the legal murk around vidding. Creators still need to ensure that their clips meet "fair use" guidelines, and the Copyright Office specified that its exemption applies only to motion-picture snippets extracted "for the purpose of criticism or comment."
But advocates say the decision is a big step forward. Hollywood movie studios had long held that ripping DVDs for any purpose whatsoever is a violation of the DMCA.
"This ruling is useful because it removes a tool that was able to be deployed over and above copyright law that already has fair-use safety valves," said Rebecca Tushnet, a law professor at Georgetown University who testified in favor of the exception at a Library of Congress rulemaking hearing last year. "Now we're back to where we should have been all along, and we can continue the conversation about what's reasonable fair use."
Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) declined to comment on the implications for YouTube of the new exemption.
Lobbying group Electronic Frontier Foundation, which requested and backed the jailbreaking and remixing exemptions, celebrated its victory on Monday.
"We are thrilled to have helped free jailbreakers, unlockers and vidders from this law's overbroad reach," Jennifer Granick, EFF's civil liberties director, said in a prepared statement. "The Copyright Office recognizes that the primary purpose of the locks on cell phones is to bind customers to their existing networks, rather than to protect copyright." By David Goldman, staff writerJuly 26, 2010: 7:14 PM ET
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Pace plc proposed acquisition of 2Wire, Inc.
Pace widens US reach into telco market through proposed acquisition of 2Wire, Inc.
July 26 2010
Overview
2Wire is a leading provider of advanced residential gateways and associated software and services for the broadband service provider market
2Wire is the number one supplier into the fast growing US telco residential gateway market
Proposed acquisition widens out Pace’s US customer base and opportunity beyond cable and satellite to include the telco market
A logical extension of Pace’s successful strategy, adding another growth market to the Group’s well-established Americas business
Adds further software and gateway expertise that will strengthen the development of Pace’s home entertainment convergence strategy
Strong financial rationale: profitable and cash generative business. Benefit of increased scale and operational synergies
Summary
Pace plc (“Pace” or the “Company”) today announces the proposed acquisition of 2Wire, Inc. (“2Wire”), a leading provider of advanced residential gateways and associated software and services for the broadband service provider market, for cash consideration of $475 million (£308 million) (the “Acquisition”). The acquisition price is inclusive of 2Wire’s balance sheet cash at closing, anticipated to be approximately $55 million (£36 million).
2Wire has established customer relationships in the tier one telco market, in particular with service providers in North America. AT&T has been a customer of 2Wire for 10 years and 2Wire provides software and hardware solutions to enable AT&T’s U-verseSM suite of services that includes multiroom high definition TV, high-speed broadband and telephony. 2Wire is currently owned by a consortium including Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T, Telmex, and Oak Investment Partners.
The Company intends to finance the Acquisition from existing cash resources, together with new bank facilities. The new bank facilities are currently under negotiation and the Acquisition is conditional, inter alia, upon final agreement being reached on the terms of these facilities.
The Pace Board believes the Acquisition is a logical extension of its successful strategy and will enhance its established position in cable and satellite markets in the US with entry into the tier one telco market. At the same time, 2Wire’s software and gateway expertise will support Pace’s development of its home entertainment convergence strategy.
Following the completion of the Acquisition, Pace, already the number one global digital set-top box company, would also become the number one provider of telco residential gateway devices in the US and the number three globally.
The Acquisition is expected to be earnings and cashflow enhancing for the Company in the first full financial year of ownership1.
Neil Gaydon, Chief Executive Officer of Pace, commented:
“This acquisition will strengthen our Americas business, extending Pace’s US market coverage with entry into the tier one telco market. We have built a strong position in the US with cable and satellite operators and 2Wire, with its expertise in the broadband residential gateway market, will enable us to address a full range of US operator requirements. 2Wire’s software and gateway expertise will further drive development of our home entertainment convergence strategy. The transaction introduces deep client relationships with important customers including AT&T and further develops our platform to deliver ongoing sustainable growth.”
Pasquale Romano, Chief Executive Officer of 2Wire, added:
“Pace is an excellent strategic fit for the 2Wire business and will enable us to take our products and services to the next level of their development. The combined customer base, engineering capability and product breadth of Pace and 2Wire make this a compelling transaction for our customers, our employees and our end users globally.”
Tim Harden, President – Supply Chain and Fleet Operations, AT&T commented:
“AT&T looks forward to continuing our working relationship with 2Wire under Pace’s ownership.”
A presentation for analysts and investors will be held at 9.30 a.m. (London time) today at the offices of RBS, 250 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 4AA.
The Acquisition is conditional on (amongst other things) 2Wire shareholder approval, certain regulatory consents and finalisation of Pace’s bank financing arrangements. In view of its size relative to the Company, the Acquisition is also conditional upon Pace shareholder approval.
A circular including details of the Acquisition and the bank financing arrangements and containing notice of a General Meeting of the Company (at which a resolution seeking the requisite Pace shareholder approval will be proposed), is expected to be despatched to shareholders within 7 – 8 weeks (the “Circular”).
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of the current financial year following the satisfaction or waiver of all conditions.
Evercore Partners is acting as Sponsor and sole financial adviser to Pace. RBS Hoare Govett and JPMorgan Cazenove are acting as corporate brokers to Pace.
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Original Article Here
July 26 2010
Overview
2Wire is a leading provider of advanced residential gateways and associated software and services for the broadband service provider market
2Wire is the number one supplier into the fast growing US telco residential gateway market
Proposed acquisition widens out Pace’s US customer base and opportunity beyond cable and satellite to include the telco market
A logical extension of Pace’s successful strategy, adding another growth market to the Group’s well-established Americas business
Adds further software and gateway expertise that will strengthen the development of Pace’s home entertainment convergence strategy
Strong financial rationale: profitable and cash generative business. Benefit of increased scale and operational synergies
Summary
Pace plc (“Pace” or the “Company”) today announces the proposed acquisition of 2Wire, Inc. (“2Wire”), a leading provider of advanced residential gateways and associated software and services for the broadband service provider market, for cash consideration of $475 million (£308 million) (the “Acquisition”). The acquisition price is inclusive of 2Wire’s balance sheet cash at closing, anticipated to be approximately $55 million (£36 million).
2Wire has established customer relationships in the tier one telco market, in particular with service providers in North America. AT&T has been a customer of 2Wire for 10 years and 2Wire provides software and hardware solutions to enable AT&T’s U-verseSM suite of services that includes multiroom high definition TV, high-speed broadband and telephony. 2Wire is currently owned by a consortium including Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T, Telmex, and Oak Investment Partners.
The Company intends to finance the Acquisition from existing cash resources, together with new bank facilities. The new bank facilities are currently under negotiation and the Acquisition is conditional, inter alia, upon final agreement being reached on the terms of these facilities.
The Pace Board believes the Acquisition is a logical extension of its successful strategy and will enhance its established position in cable and satellite markets in the US with entry into the tier one telco market. At the same time, 2Wire’s software and gateway expertise will support Pace’s development of its home entertainment convergence strategy.
Following the completion of the Acquisition, Pace, already the number one global digital set-top box company, would also become the number one provider of telco residential gateway devices in the US and the number three globally.
The Acquisition is expected to be earnings and cashflow enhancing for the Company in the first full financial year of ownership1.
Neil Gaydon, Chief Executive Officer of Pace, commented:
“This acquisition will strengthen our Americas business, extending Pace’s US market coverage with entry into the tier one telco market. We have built a strong position in the US with cable and satellite operators and 2Wire, with its expertise in the broadband residential gateway market, will enable us to address a full range of US operator requirements. 2Wire’s software and gateway expertise will further drive development of our home entertainment convergence strategy. The transaction introduces deep client relationships with important customers including AT&T and further develops our platform to deliver ongoing sustainable growth.”
Pasquale Romano, Chief Executive Officer of 2Wire, added:
“Pace is an excellent strategic fit for the 2Wire business and will enable us to take our products and services to the next level of their development. The combined customer base, engineering capability and product breadth of Pace and 2Wire make this a compelling transaction for our customers, our employees and our end users globally.”
Tim Harden, President – Supply Chain and Fleet Operations, AT&T commented:
“AT&T looks forward to continuing our working relationship with 2Wire under Pace’s ownership.”
A presentation for analysts and investors will be held at 9.30 a.m. (London time) today at the offices of RBS, 250 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 4AA.
The Acquisition is conditional on (amongst other things) 2Wire shareholder approval, certain regulatory consents and finalisation of Pace’s bank financing arrangements. In view of its size relative to the Company, the Acquisition is also conditional upon Pace shareholder approval.
A circular including details of the Acquisition and the bank financing arrangements and containing notice of a General Meeting of the Company (at which a resolution seeking the requisite Pace shareholder approval will be proposed), is expected to be despatched to shareholders within 7 – 8 weeks (the “Circular”).
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of the current financial year following the satisfaction or waiver of all conditions.
Evercore Partners is acting as Sponsor and sole financial adviser to Pace. RBS Hoare Govett and JPMorgan Cazenove are acting as corporate brokers to Pace.
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Original Article Here
Jul 19, 2010
Verizon May Not Need The iPhone
Big red's slowly leeching smartphone customers from AT&T without it
tags: competition · business · wireless · hardware · alternatives · consumers
According to the New York Times, despite not having the iPhone, Verizon's been slowly leeching smartphone customers from AT&T for the last two years. Verizon's share of the smartphone market has jumped from 20 to 26 percent since 2008, while AT&T's smartphone market share has dropped from 45 to 40% during that same period. What's more, Verizon is only paying $300 for each Android, BlackBerry and Palm phone sold, while AT&T pays Apple at least $450 for each unit sold. There's no doubt that having the iPhone exclusive helped AT&T, but there's also no doubt that their inability to provide a network that can handle the device hurt AT&T. The real question is, if AT&T's bleeding subscribers while they have the exclusive, what happens when that deal expires? Monday Jul 19 2010 by Karl Bode
FREE sample (VDSL/ xDSL filters, Connectors, Cable & Wire harness, power supply charger)
Original Article Here
tags: competition · business · wireless · hardware · alternatives · consumers
According to the New York Times, despite not having the iPhone, Verizon's been slowly leeching smartphone customers from AT&T for the last two years. Verizon's share of the smartphone market has jumped from 20 to 26 percent since 2008, while AT&T's smartphone market share has dropped from 45 to 40% during that same period. What's more, Verizon is only paying $300 for each Android, BlackBerry and Palm phone sold, while AT&T pays Apple at least $450 for each unit sold. There's no doubt that having the iPhone exclusive helped AT&T, but there's also no doubt that their inability to provide a network that can handle the device hurt AT&T. The real question is, if AT&T's bleeding subscribers while they have the exclusive, what happens when that deal expires? Monday Jul 19 2010 by Karl Bode
FREE sample (VDSL/ xDSL filters, Connectors, Cable & Wire harness, power supply charger)
Original Article Here
Jul 18, 2010
The Summer of Super Smartphones
Last year saw the Palm Pre, another iteration of the iPhone and later on, the Motorola Droid. This year, it’s a whole new ball game.
The summer of 2009 came in like a lion, with big hype for the Palm Pre and new iPhone, but went out more like a lamb. The Palm Pre fell flat due to a lack of apps and half-baked hardware, and the iPhone 3G S was more about a speed upgrade than anything else. In the fall, the Motorola Droid was a hit but it wasn’t so much revolutionary as it was evolutionary for the Android platform.
Handset enthusiasts rejoice. The summer of 2010 is looking to make up for last year’s mediocrity. All flaws aside, Apple’s redesign of iPhone 4 is on the whole exactly what most users were looking for. The Android offerings on tap are refined and go beyond anything the industry has seen from that camp as of yet. Motorola and HTC are making gains hand over fist, while Samsung appears to be impressing with its Galaxy S line of Super AMOLED devices.
Here’s a look at one stand-out from each major U.S. carrier as we head into August. Judging by the looks of it, if Research In Motion (RIM) decides to tack on a major overhaul of its BlackBerry line in the dog days or a Windows Phone 7 device arrives, 2010 could be remembered as the year the smartphone truly came of age.
HTC Evo 4G for Sprint - Launch Date: June 4
HTC was the first to introduce an over-sized tablet-like smartphone. The company showcased the hot spot-enabled, 4G-capable, media-spewing behemoth in March at CTIA in Las Vegas. The commercial launch happened in early June, with Sprint announcing that the phone had shattered first day records for the carrier. To be sure, the Evo turned heads, but Apple and the rest of the gang weren’t far behind.
Price: $199 with a two-year contract
Apple iPhone 4 for AT&T - Launch Date: June 24
Apple reports having sold 1.7 million iPhone 4 units in the first 72 hours after launch. That’s a lot of phones and enough that it beat analysts’ expectations by a country mile. What percentage of those, if any, will be returned to Apple and AT&T over the phone’s highly publicized antenna issues remains to be seen. Nevertheless, Apple has managed to bring all the pieces together once again for the iPhone 4, and it represents quite a leap over the 3G S. Whether the iPhone 4 can overcome some of its flaws via firmware updates remains to be seen. With so many strong contenders on the market, many are wondering whether Apple CEO Steve Jobs can afford to be so dismissive of customer complaints about the device.
Price: $199 16GB with two-year contract or $299 32GB with two-year contract
Motorola Droid X for Verizon Wireless - Launch Date: July 15
The Droid X follows the Evo with an over-sized 4.3-inch screen. The phone puts more HD muscle behind its media with 720p video capture and HDMI output, as well as a pre-installed Blockbuster app for downloading movies and TV shows. There was some grumbling that the Droid X won’t come with Flash 10.1 and Android 2.2 preloaded. Users who drop $199 for the latest Droid will have to wait until “later in the summer” for the highly anticipated release of Froyo, as well as Flash 10.1.
Price: $199 with two-year contract
Samsung Vibrant for T-Mobile USA - Launch Date: July 15
How many handsets come with a blockbuster movie like Avatar? As far as we know, only the Samsung Vibrant (Galaxy S) from T-Mobile USA. While Samsung has been plagued with product support and quality issues in the past, the latest Galaxy S units appear to be real contenders and have already proliferated in one form or another to every major carrier in the United States.
The Vibrant is a lightweight, speedy little unit that represents a 4-inch happy medium between the 4.3-inch screens of the Evo and Droid X, and the relatively smaller 3.5-inch screen of the iPhone 4. Excellent battery life, a Super AMOLED display that is truly stunning (and no doubt the reason for the inclusion of Avatar) and Samsung’s own 1GHz Hummingbird processor are promising signs for Samsung’s aspirations in the high-end smartphone market. Whether it’s promising enough that the company will succeed in doubling Samsung’s global smartphone market share from 5 percent to 10 percent by the end of 2010 is anyone’s guess, but no one will deny that the Galaxy line is most certainly a step in the right direction.
Price: $199 with two-year contract
WILDCARDS
While the summer has started out hot, it could get even hotter if a couple of key players get busy in August, namely RIM and Microsoft. While RIM consistently has put out mostly solid financials, it’s lagged in the innovation department. Rumors are swirling that the company is rolling out a major hardware revamp to complement the release of BlackBerry 6.0. Most are looking for the company to offer up a consumerfocused touchscreen competitor to the iPhone that improves on the disappointing Storm.
If RIM can’t offer anything until fall, then maybe any number of OEMs will break the seal on the highly anticipated Windows Phone 7 OS from Microsoft. After killing the KIN project, Microsoft appears to be dumping all its available resources into Windows Phone 7. Sure, Microsoft has lost a lot of its gusto due to some blunders over the past couple years, but many believe that early glimpses of Windows Phone 7 foretell a reawakening of Windows on the mobile.
ANALYSIS: HTC IMPRESSES
Avi Greengart, research director of consumer devices for Current Analysis, says that nearly all the OEMs in our summer picks have made big gains over the past year. “If I had to choose one that has made the biggest leap over the past year, it would be HTC, but there are so many possibilities,” he says.
Apple gets points for going from “mindshare leader to a legitimate sales leader,” he says. Motorola has leveraged Android to bring its handset division back from the dead, and Samsung finally has a competitive smartphone.
But it’s HTC that most impresses Greengart. “HTC has gone from being primarily a Windows Mobile shop to being one of the top global smartphone providers on the back of Android and its own Sense software,” he says.
When asked whether RIM can play catch up on the consumer side of things with BlackBerry 6.0 and some new hardware, Greengart says it’s definitely possible but he still laments RIM’s dropping margins. “RIM’s sales volumes have held up despite much stronger competition from Apple and Google, but its margins are dropping as consumers can get 90 percent of the BlackBerry experience on a $49 Curve rather than paying $199 for a Bold.”
As for Microsoft and Windows Phone 7, Greengart looks to the fall. “LG, HTC and Samsung will all be backing the new OS, and we’ll see if Microsoft can actually deliver on all of its promises, if application developers can be enticed to support the platform, and if consumers care.”
MOTOROLA CARRIES MOMENTUM
Ross Rubin, senior analyst at NPD Group, says that his pick for most improved this summer is Motorola, hedging out HTC for the strong momentum that the original Droid carried into early 2010. HTC’s original Windows Mobile business will need a complete overhaul as Microsoft brings out Windows Phone 7, he says.
Rubin also has positive things to say about the Samsung Galaxy S line, which he says benefits from being available on all the major carriers. “We may not see the carriers promoting the various versions of the Galaxy S with equal vigor. T-Mobile will likely be one of the stronger channels for the Galaxy with the Vibrant, because it doesn’t have another leading high-end Androidbased device,” he says, noting that Sprint too may be a good outlet for the Samsung Epic, also a Galaxy phone. The Epic is Sprint’s second 4G-capable device and will offer some differentiation between the Evo 4G.
When asked whether the 4.3-inch screens on the Evo and Droid X are blurring the lines between smartphone and tablet, Rubin seems to think that’s about as big as you get before you’re taking on the iPad. “I haven’t really seen so much of that slate pitch with the Evo and Droid X, rather the focus remains on the iPhone and out-specing the iPhone. The Evo and Droid X are still pocket-able devices. Once you move to 5 inches, like the Dell Streak, you see things venture further into that zone between smartphone and tablet device.”
KING FOR A DAY
Regardless of how big the screens get or how fast the processors run, a bevy of top-notch devices are available to choose from this summer. And it’s probably not wise to proclaim a clear winner anytime soon.
“It is worth noting that this industry now moves so fast that the competitive situation can change overnight,” Greengart says. “Over the next few months, I expect to see additional high-end Android phones hitting the market from LG, Motorola, HTC and Sony Ericsson, and budget models from Dell and Kyocera.”
In other words, summer is just the beginning and there’s always the fall line-up to look forward to. By Andrew BergSunday, July 18, 2010
Let’s us provide you (Cable & Wire harness, connectors, charger FOR mobile)
Original Article Here
The summer of 2009 came in like a lion, with big hype for the Palm Pre and new iPhone, but went out more like a lamb. The Palm Pre fell flat due to a lack of apps and half-baked hardware, and the iPhone 3G S was more about a speed upgrade than anything else. In the fall, the Motorola Droid was a hit but it wasn’t so much revolutionary as it was evolutionary for the Android platform.
Handset enthusiasts rejoice. The summer of 2010 is looking to make up for last year’s mediocrity. All flaws aside, Apple’s redesign of iPhone 4 is on the whole exactly what most users were looking for. The Android offerings on tap are refined and go beyond anything the industry has seen from that camp as of yet. Motorola and HTC are making gains hand over fist, while Samsung appears to be impressing with its Galaxy S line of Super AMOLED devices.
Here’s a look at one stand-out from each major U.S. carrier as we head into August. Judging by the looks of it, if Research In Motion (RIM) decides to tack on a major overhaul of its BlackBerry line in the dog days or a Windows Phone 7 device arrives, 2010 could be remembered as the year the smartphone truly came of age.
HTC Evo 4G for Sprint - Launch Date: June 4
HTC was the first to introduce an over-sized tablet-like smartphone. The company showcased the hot spot-enabled, 4G-capable, media-spewing behemoth in March at CTIA in Las Vegas. The commercial launch happened in early June, with Sprint announcing that the phone had shattered first day records for the carrier. To be sure, the Evo turned heads, but Apple and the rest of the gang weren’t far behind.
Price: $199 with a two-year contract
Apple iPhone 4 for AT&T - Launch Date: June 24
Apple reports having sold 1.7 million iPhone 4 units in the first 72 hours after launch. That’s a lot of phones and enough that it beat analysts’ expectations by a country mile. What percentage of those, if any, will be returned to Apple and AT&T over the phone’s highly publicized antenna issues remains to be seen. Nevertheless, Apple has managed to bring all the pieces together once again for the iPhone 4, and it represents quite a leap over the 3G S. Whether the iPhone 4 can overcome some of its flaws via firmware updates remains to be seen. With so many strong contenders on the market, many are wondering whether Apple CEO Steve Jobs can afford to be so dismissive of customer complaints about the device.
Price: $199 16GB with two-year contract or $299 32GB with two-year contract
Motorola Droid X for Verizon Wireless - Launch Date: July 15
The Droid X follows the Evo with an over-sized 4.3-inch screen. The phone puts more HD muscle behind its media with 720p video capture and HDMI output, as well as a pre-installed Blockbuster app for downloading movies and TV shows. There was some grumbling that the Droid X won’t come with Flash 10.1 and Android 2.2 preloaded. Users who drop $199 for the latest Droid will have to wait until “later in the summer” for the highly anticipated release of Froyo, as well as Flash 10.1.
Price: $199 with two-year contract
Samsung Vibrant for T-Mobile USA - Launch Date: July 15
How many handsets come with a blockbuster movie like Avatar? As far as we know, only the Samsung Vibrant (Galaxy S) from T-Mobile USA. While Samsung has been plagued with product support and quality issues in the past, the latest Galaxy S units appear to be real contenders and have already proliferated in one form or another to every major carrier in the United States.
The Vibrant is a lightweight, speedy little unit that represents a 4-inch happy medium between the 4.3-inch screens of the Evo and Droid X, and the relatively smaller 3.5-inch screen of the iPhone 4. Excellent battery life, a Super AMOLED display that is truly stunning (and no doubt the reason for the inclusion of Avatar) and Samsung’s own 1GHz Hummingbird processor are promising signs for Samsung’s aspirations in the high-end smartphone market. Whether it’s promising enough that the company will succeed in doubling Samsung’s global smartphone market share from 5 percent to 10 percent by the end of 2010 is anyone’s guess, but no one will deny that the Galaxy line is most certainly a step in the right direction.
Price: $199 with two-year contract
WILDCARDS
While the summer has started out hot, it could get even hotter if a couple of key players get busy in August, namely RIM and Microsoft. While RIM consistently has put out mostly solid financials, it’s lagged in the innovation department. Rumors are swirling that the company is rolling out a major hardware revamp to complement the release of BlackBerry 6.0. Most are looking for the company to offer up a consumerfocused touchscreen competitor to the iPhone that improves on the disappointing Storm.
If RIM can’t offer anything until fall, then maybe any number of OEMs will break the seal on the highly anticipated Windows Phone 7 OS from Microsoft. After killing the KIN project, Microsoft appears to be dumping all its available resources into Windows Phone 7. Sure, Microsoft has lost a lot of its gusto due to some blunders over the past couple years, but many believe that early glimpses of Windows Phone 7 foretell a reawakening of Windows on the mobile.
ANALYSIS: HTC IMPRESSES
Avi Greengart, research director of consumer devices for Current Analysis, says that nearly all the OEMs in our summer picks have made big gains over the past year. “If I had to choose one that has made the biggest leap over the past year, it would be HTC, but there are so many possibilities,” he says.
Apple gets points for going from “mindshare leader to a legitimate sales leader,” he says. Motorola has leveraged Android to bring its handset division back from the dead, and Samsung finally has a competitive smartphone.
But it’s HTC that most impresses Greengart. “HTC has gone from being primarily a Windows Mobile shop to being one of the top global smartphone providers on the back of Android and its own Sense software,” he says.
When asked whether RIM can play catch up on the consumer side of things with BlackBerry 6.0 and some new hardware, Greengart says it’s definitely possible but he still laments RIM’s dropping margins. “RIM’s sales volumes have held up despite much stronger competition from Apple and Google, but its margins are dropping as consumers can get 90 percent of the BlackBerry experience on a $49 Curve rather than paying $199 for a Bold.”
As for Microsoft and Windows Phone 7, Greengart looks to the fall. “LG, HTC and Samsung will all be backing the new OS, and we’ll see if Microsoft can actually deliver on all of its promises, if application developers can be enticed to support the platform, and if consumers care.”
MOTOROLA CARRIES MOMENTUM
Ross Rubin, senior analyst at NPD Group, says that his pick for most improved this summer is Motorola, hedging out HTC for the strong momentum that the original Droid carried into early 2010. HTC’s original Windows Mobile business will need a complete overhaul as Microsoft brings out Windows Phone 7, he says.
Rubin also has positive things to say about the Samsung Galaxy S line, which he says benefits from being available on all the major carriers. “We may not see the carriers promoting the various versions of the Galaxy S with equal vigor. T-Mobile will likely be one of the stronger channels for the Galaxy with the Vibrant, because it doesn’t have another leading high-end Androidbased device,” he says, noting that Sprint too may be a good outlet for the Samsung Epic, also a Galaxy phone. The Epic is Sprint’s second 4G-capable device and will offer some differentiation between the Evo 4G.
When asked whether the 4.3-inch screens on the Evo and Droid X are blurring the lines between smartphone and tablet, Rubin seems to think that’s about as big as you get before you’re taking on the iPad. “I haven’t really seen so much of that slate pitch with the Evo and Droid X, rather the focus remains on the iPhone and out-specing the iPhone. The Evo and Droid X are still pocket-able devices. Once you move to 5 inches, like the Dell Streak, you see things venture further into that zone between smartphone and tablet device.”
KING FOR A DAY
Regardless of how big the screens get or how fast the processors run, a bevy of top-notch devices are available to choose from this summer. And it’s probably not wise to proclaim a clear winner anytime soon.
“It is worth noting that this industry now moves so fast that the competitive situation can change overnight,” Greengart says. “Over the next few months, I expect to see additional high-end Android phones hitting the market from LG, Motorola, HTC and Sony Ericsson, and budget models from Dell and Kyocera.”
In other words, summer is just the beginning and there’s always the fall line-up to look forward to. By Andrew BergSunday, July 18, 2010
Let’s us provide you (Cable & Wire harness, connectors, charger FOR mobile)
Original Article Here
Jul 17, 2010
Chunghwa: Double Speed, Same Price To Find Subscribers
Taiwan's achieved 80% household penetration - higher than the U.S. - by keeping prices down. The market is so close to saturation that modest problems led to Chunghwa actually losing broadband customers in 2009. To counter that, and with government encouragement, they've doubled speeds at the low end. ~$8/month DSL will go from 256K to 512K down. The ~$22/month offering goes from 1M/64K to 2M/128K. That's after an 8% price drop last year. Low income customers get 50% off the line rate and disabled customers also get discounts.
Much of the island can get 100 megabit VDSL and IPTV. Any building promising to sign up 20 apartments will get 100 megabits within a few months. They've just ordered 200K IPTV set tops for $90 each in an open tender. The suppliers - DinYen and HwaCom - surely would love to bring their low priced units to other markets.
Chunghwa often pays less for equipment than giant companies such as Telstra and AT&T because open tenders work.
The U.S. needs to apply them for our $2B schools and libraries program. The information is invaluable. Alcatel once demanded I retract a story Telstra's costs of doing FTTN were out of line because they were twice as high as similar builds elsewhere. I wrote that implied either Telstra was incompetently organizing the build, fudging the numbers, or paying their supplier Alcatel twice as much as others paid Alcatel for similar gear. I pulled out Alcatel's bid to Chunghwa, which was far below what they were charging Telstra. They promptly shut up and never did apologize.
Shyue-Ching Lu of Chunghwa will be in Paris in December for the Broadband World Forum. It's going to be a good show. Written by Dave Burstein
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Original Article Here
Much of the island can get 100 megabit VDSL and IPTV. Any building promising to sign up 20 apartments will get 100 megabits within a few months. They've just ordered 200K IPTV set tops for $90 each in an open tender. The suppliers - DinYen and HwaCom - surely would love to bring their low priced units to other markets.
Chunghwa often pays less for equipment than giant companies such as Telstra and AT&T because open tenders work.
The U.S. needs to apply them for our $2B schools and libraries program. The information is invaluable. Alcatel once demanded I retract a story Telstra's costs of doing FTTN were out of line because they were twice as high as similar builds elsewhere. I wrote that implied either Telstra was incompetently organizing the build, fudging the numbers, or paying their supplier Alcatel twice as much as others paid Alcatel for similar gear. I pulled out Alcatel's bid to Chunghwa, which was far below what they were charging Telstra. They promptly shut up and never did apologize.
Shyue-Ching Lu of Chunghwa will be in Paris in December for the Broadband World Forum. It's going to be a good show. Written by Dave Burstein
FREE sample (VDSL/ xDSL filters, Connectors, Cable & Wire harness, power supply charger)
Original Article Here
DSL 2013: Double And Triple Speeds Possible, Limited Deployment
John Cioffi amazed the FCC hearing with talk of 200 megabit bonded VDSL with DSM3, which one carrier believes will make fiber unnecessary. Infineon and ECI in Paris both demonstrated working DSM3, although field units are a few years away. Infineon and ECI in Paris. VDSL bonding is working according to carrier engineers testing it in the field. Over modest distances like 1,000 feet two pair can deliver 200 megabits without breaking Shannon's Law.
But rather few homes are likely to be offered more than today's 10-20 meg in the U.S. Few in Europe will be offered double speed bonding. DSM3 will come from the labs to practicality over the next few years and likely be standard on new DSLAMs. Few carriers will replace existing DSLAMs any time soon and it will probably be a decade before most homes are upgraded. Working technology doesn't mean anything if the carriers don't deploy it.
10-15% with marginal IPTV speeds are likely to be offered bonded service. AT&T almost certainly will use bonding offer TV to homes that can't get 25 megabits without it. That's typical of homes 3,000-5,000 feet from a U-Verse DSLAM. There may be as many as 10M homes that need bonding to receive U-Verse, three or four times as many as the first U-Verse planners expected. DT and others offering HD TV will probably do similar although for fewer homes.
Virtually no carriers today have plans to offer bonding except to bring distant homes to 20-30 meg for HD TV. The current RFPs, which are for the equipment for the next 2-5 years, almost never are planned for widespread bonding. With massive firings of network staff continuing, they are reluctant to make changes in their system. One regulator thinks it's a good idea to offer a second line to the lowest speed homes, but doesn't expect that to be required.
For the TV homes using bonding, about half of the bandwidth will be dedicated to TV. So even for those home, the effective download speed will be 10-15 megabits and upload will be 1-3 megabits. Except for fiber to the basement huge in Japan and now beginning in New York and other American cities - the hybrid DSL/FTTN offering will be closer to 1 up, 10 down the 100 megabits routine with fiber home.
DSM3 noise cancellation, the other major improvement likely, is 1-3 years from the field. Because it requires replacing the line card or the entire DSLAM, it will mostly go to new builds. The 40-50 million homes passed by U-Verse and similar cannot be inexpensively upgraded. There's no reason to think many will be replaced in less than 5, or perhaps 10 years. So DSM is crucial for new equipment and particular situations, but it will be a decade before it has much of an impact in existing deployments.
I probably underestimated the cost of bonding when I said it was $200 right now but likely to go down towards $50 fairly quickly based on the increased cost of the modem and extra DSLAM port. Stagg Newman reminds me that it requires a technician to the home in most cases. If they are installing IPTV, they need that truck roll anyway. But for an upgrade, especially from a U-Verse field terminal, that also requires a technician.
Takeaway: DSL, except from the basement, should be considered as 5-15 meg of data down, 1-3 meg up. Networks take a decade to rebuild, so there's no magic coming from the technology. Written by Dave Burstein
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Original Article Here
But rather few homes are likely to be offered more than today's 10-20 meg in the U.S. Few in Europe will be offered double speed bonding. DSM3 will come from the labs to practicality over the next few years and likely be standard on new DSLAMs. Few carriers will replace existing DSLAMs any time soon and it will probably be a decade before most homes are upgraded. Working technology doesn't mean anything if the carriers don't deploy it.
10-15% with marginal IPTV speeds are likely to be offered bonded service. AT&T almost certainly will use bonding offer TV to homes that can't get 25 megabits without it. That's typical of homes 3,000-5,000 feet from a U-Verse DSLAM. There may be as many as 10M homes that need bonding to receive U-Verse, three or four times as many as the first U-Verse planners expected. DT and others offering HD TV will probably do similar although for fewer homes.
Virtually no carriers today have plans to offer bonding except to bring distant homes to 20-30 meg for HD TV. The current RFPs, which are for the equipment for the next 2-5 years, almost never are planned for widespread bonding. With massive firings of network staff continuing, they are reluctant to make changes in their system. One regulator thinks it's a good idea to offer a second line to the lowest speed homes, but doesn't expect that to be required.
For the TV homes using bonding, about half of the bandwidth will be dedicated to TV. So even for those home, the effective download speed will be 10-15 megabits and upload will be 1-3 megabits. Except for fiber to the basement huge in Japan and now beginning in New York and other American cities - the hybrid DSL/FTTN offering will be closer to 1 up, 10 down the 100 megabits routine with fiber home.
DSM3 noise cancellation, the other major improvement likely, is 1-3 years from the field. Because it requires replacing the line card or the entire DSLAM, it will mostly go to new builds. The 40-50 million homes passed by U-Verse and similar cannot be inexpensively upgraded. There's no reason to think many will be replaced in less than 5, or perhaps 10 years. So DSM is crucial for new equipment and particular situations, but it will be a decade before it has much of an impact in existing deployments.
I probably underestimated the cost of bonding when I said it was $200 right now but likely to go down towards $50 fairly quickly based on the increased cost of the modem and extra DSLAM port. Stagg Newman reminds me that it requires a technician to the home in most cases. If they are installing IPTV, they need that truck roll anyway. But for an upgrade, especially from a U-Verse field terminal, that also requires a technician.
Takeaway: DSL, except from the basement, should be considered as 5-15 meg of data down, 1-3 meg up. Networks take a decade to rebuild, so there's no magic coming from the technology. Written by Dave Burstein
FREE sample (VDSL/ xDSL filters, Connectors, Cable & Wire harness, power supply charger)
Original Article Here
Telmex: 403K Quarter, 2M Year, 6.4M Total
Good growth, finally, in Mexico, with a third more net adds than the U.S. adjusted for population. Prices have been high in relation to income, given per capita a third of that on average as the U.S.. Measured by Gini coefficient, Mexico's inequality is very high (46,) similar to the U.S. (45) but much higher than France and Germany (28) or Britain (34.)
Part of Telmex's success is installment sales of 2.3M computers, with brand name laptops currently available from 100 pesos/month (US$8.) Telmex tells investors, “the service has to be affordable to succeed in appealing to large numbers of users. An important component of expanding the broadband market is to make sure that customers have access to computers.” A customer can “walk out of a TELMEX store with the computer in hand, online service arranged, and monthly cost set.”
This highlights what Brian David of the U.S. broadband plan emphasized: poor people often can't afford the computer even when they can pay for the broadband connection. He put that as one of the highest priorities. Folks making $100,000 often forget that coming up with hundreds of dollars up front is often as great an obstacle as the cost over time.
That needs to be part of the program, along with a requirement that companies set reasonable deposits for people without credit. Hooking up a DSL line, including modem and labor, costs $50-150.
Washington lobbyists talk as if the only way to bring down prices is massive government subsidies, most of which go to company shareholders rather than helping the poor. The marginal cost of broadband at line speed up to 20 meg is $5-12/month, including initial equipment. Add a generous profit to that and you come to a fair wholesale price for the service. It's far less than what many carriers demand for even slow, 3-5 megabit service.
If the government is paying for hundreds of thousands of lines through universal service, they should ask for a wholesale, not a retail price. http://bit.ly/280HH4
The poor should not pay more. Written by Dave Burstein
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Original Article Here
Part of Telmex's success is installment sales of 2.3M computers, with brand name laptops currently available from 100 pesos/month (US$8.) Telmex tells investors, “the service has to be affordable to succeed in appealing to large numbers of users. An important component of expanding the broadband market is to make sure that customers have access to computers.” A customer can “walk out of a TELMEX store with the computer in hand, online service arranged, and monthly cost set.”
This highlights what Brian David of the U.S. broadband plan emphasized: poor people often can't afford the computer even when they can pay for the broadband connection. He put that as one of the highest priorities. Folks making $100,000 often forget that coming up with hundreds of dollars up front is often as great an obstacle as the cost over time.
That needs to be part of the program, along with a requirement that companies set reasonable deposits for people without credit. Hooking up a DSL line, including modem and labor, costs $50-150.
Washington lobbyists talk as if the only way to bring down prices is massive government subsidies, most of which go to company shareholders rather than helping the poor. The marginal cost of broadband at line speed up to 20 meg is $5-12/month, including initial equipment. Add a generous profit to that and you come to a fair wholesale price for the service. It's far less than what many carriers demand for even slow, 3-5 megabit service.
If the government is paying for hundreds of thousands of lines through universal service, they should ask for a wholesale, not a retail price. http://bit.ly/280HH4
The poor should not pay more. Written by Dave Burstein
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Jul 13, 2010
GE teams up with venture capitalists for $200 million 'smart energy' fund
General Electric CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt talks about GE... (Maria J. Avila Lopez, Mercury News)
Green Energy
Alternative energy, cleantech and related topics.
SAN FRANCISCO — General Electric on Tuesday announced the creation of a $200 million clean-energy contest to stimulate innovation, and also unveiled a sleek electric vehicle charging station that it hopes will sprout along city streets like parking meters.
GE, one of the world's biggest companies, with a large stake in the electricity industry, touted what it called the "GE ecomagination challenge" in an event that also featured venture capital firms that are teaming up on the project, which will promote production of clean energy and energy efficiency.
GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said the goal is to marry the entrepreneurial creativity of the venture capital community with GE's ability to deploy systems on a global scale.
While GE has "invested broadly and deeply" in energy research and development, Immelt said, the new fund is needed "to jump-start" innovation. "We can get things going with massive distribution," he said. "We have 50,000 sales people and 50,000 engineers."
Entrepreneurs, technologists and startups from throughout the world are invited to submit entries for the challenge fund via www.ecomagination.com. Over a 10-week period, GE and participating venture capitalists will evaluate candidates for funding as well as a "potential commercial relationship" with GE. The company said it would include "leading academics and technologists" in selecting winners.
By Scott Duke Harris Posted: 07/13/2010 11:09:00 AM PDT
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Green Energy
Alternative energy, cleantech and related topics.
SAN FRANCISCO — General Electric on Tuesday announced the creation of a $200 million clean-energy contest to stimulate innovation, and also unveiled a sleek electric vehicle charging station that it hopes will sprout along city streets like parking meters.
GE, one of the world's biggest companies, with a large stake in the electricity industry, touted what it called the "GE ecomagination challenge" in an event that also featured venture capital firms that are teaming up on the project, which will promote production of clean energy and energy efficiency.
GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said the goal is to marry the entrepreneurial creativity of the venture capital community with GE's ability to deploy systems on a global scale.
While GE has "invested broadly and deeply" in energy research and development, Immelt said, the new fund is needed "to jump-start" innovation. "We can get things going with massive distribution," he said. "We have 50,000 sales people and 50,000 engineers."
Entrepreneurs, technologists and startups from throughout the world are invited to submit entries for the challenge fund via www.ecomagination.com. Over a 10-week period, GE and participating venture capitalists will evaluate candidates for funding as well as a "potential commercial relationship" with GE. The company said it would include "leading academics and technologists" in selecting winners.
By Scott Duke Harris Posted: 07/13/2010 11:09:00 AM PDT
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Jul 12, 2010
Dado Of Ikanos: Every Available Medium, Including Fiber & Wireless
"It's all about delivering as many bits as possible," Ikanos' new chief Dado Banatao tells me. "We will create more bandwidth using every available medium." He's looking for new ways to increase performance. Ikanos is big in both ADSL and VDSL, so I asked what mix he anticipated in a few years. "We'll choose the algorithm that gives us the best performance for a given distance. ADSL, VDSL, or a new YDSL if that delivers the speed our customers' customers' - the carriers - want."
Mike Gulett, Dado's predecessor, believed Ikanos has a superior method for DSM vectoring, although he held back details until they are closer to product. Dado served with DSM inventor John Cioffi on the board at Marvell and Ikanos has a license to ASSIA/Cioffi's patents, so expect close collaboration. Vectoring is crucial now that AT&T's John Stankey has told investors vectoring will increase AT&T speeds; AT&T's U-Verse VDSL deployment was the prize that came with the Conexant purchase, but the other chip vendors are regularly flying to Texas offering deals. See AT&T Trialing 80 meg bonded for Stanley's comments. Cioffi believes that effective vectoring (DSM Level 3) requires full integration with DSM Level 1 controllers, which makes sense to me.
Dado is genial and good to talk with, but Ikanos employees can expect a demanding boss. He began as a barefoot boy speaking Itawes, a poor farmer's son.
College in the Philippines led to an engineering job at Boeing and ultimately to Stanford, where he learned about the Internet from a young Vint Cerf. His Chips and Technologies startup was perhaps the first "fabless semiconductor" shop. Back in 1985, I reported C & T's plan to revolutionize the PC business by creating the first "chipset" for the IBM PC. Growth was phenomenal, with sales quickly in the $100's of millions. It didn't come easy. "When I started out, I was literally not sleeping every night due to working and thinking," he tells The Star. "Real success comes due to hard work." His next company, S3, also did remarkably. He invested his earnings ($300M by one estimate) in venture capital. He funded and became Chairman of Marvell, which made $billions.
Banatao now has the best of toys (two jets) and no need to work so hard, but he dived in to actively manage Ikanos to ensure returns on his investment. Today's Ikanos is the successor to Conexant/Globespan/ADI/Virata and has strength in network processors as well as DSL chips. I've previously reported they were working on GPON, but wireless is a new initiative as far as I know. At Marvell, "They're hard charging, driven workaholics, and they expect their people to produce,'' Will Strauss tells Ed Robinson of Bloomberg. As we all know, the folks at Marvell went over the line with back-dated options, but I've seen no evidence that Dado played a direct role. Written by Dave Burstein
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Mike Gulett, Dado's predecessor, believed Ikanos has a superior method for DSM vectoring, although he held back details until they are closer to product. Dado served with DSM inventor John Cioffi on the board at Marvell and Ikanos has a license to ASSIA/Cioffi's patents, so expect close collaboration. Vectoring is crucial now that AT&T's John Stankey has told investors vectoring will increase AT&T speeds; AT&T's U-Verse VDSL deployment was the prize that came with the Conexant purchase, but the other chip vendors are regularly flying to Texas offering deals. See AT&T Trialing 80 meg bonded for Stanley's comments. Cioffi believes that effective vectoring (DSM Level 3) requires full integration with DSM Level 1 controllers, which makes sense to me.
Dado is genial and good to talk with, but Ikanos employees can expect a demanding boss. He began as a barefoot boy speaking Itawes, a poor farmer's son.
College in the Philippines led to an engineering job at Boeing and ultimately to Stanford, where he learned about the Internet from a young Vint Cerf. His Chips and Technologies startup was perhaps the first "fabless semiconductor" shop. Back in 1985, I reported C & T's plan to revolutionize the PC business by creating the first "chipset" for the IBM PC. Growth was phenomenal, with sales quickly in the $100's of millions. It didn't come easy. "When I started out, I was literally not sleeping every night due to working and thinking," he tells The Star. "Real success comes due to hard work." His next company, S3, also did remarkably. He invested his earnings ($300M by one estimate) in venture capital. He funded and became Chairman of Marvell, which made $billions.
Banatao now has the best of toys (two jets) and no need to work so hard, but he dived in to actively manage Ikanos to ensure returns on his investment. Today's Ikanos is the successor to Conexant/Globespan/ADI/Virata and has strength in network processors as well as DSL chips. I've previously reported they were working on GPON, but wireless is a new initiative as far as I know. At Marvell, "They're hard charging, driven workaholics, and they expect their people to produce,'' Will Strauss tells Ed Robinson of Bloomberg. As we all know, the folks at Marvell went over the line with back-dated options, but I've seen no evidence that Dado played a direct role. Written by Dave Burstein
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Q1 2010 DSL: China Remarkable, India, Russia, Philippines Surging
Q1 results from the ever invaluable Point-Topic show that countries 60% or more served with broadband are growing slowly. Several with low penetration are catching up. China continues to dominate growth, likely to continue as the cablecos jump into the market with DOCSIS and EPON. Fiona Vanier sums up "China contributed 40% of the total broadband lines added in the first 3 months of 2010.... Relatively poor performance in the American markets and flat numbers in Europe."
Some observations:
Most of the growth is from less wealthy companies, with China, India, Russia and Mexico among the leaders. Turkey, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Egypt also grew.
In IPTV, France currently leads as triple play over DSL is the primary product. The U.S. is catching up, led by AT&T U-Verse. China is growing rapidly and with government support for "convergence" is likely to quickly pull ahead.
China has 25M more broadband lines than the U.S. and the gap is widening at about 10 million lines per year.
Where fiber is available, it draws subscribers from DSL. Korea and especially Japan are seeing absolute drops in DSL with Japan losing 1/7th of the DSL lines in the last year.
From Point-Topic, The top 7 countries in DSL and those with the best DSL growth in Q1 DSL. Then, from the Broadband Forum, again dependent on Point-Topic data, the leading broadband countries and the leaders in IPTV. Written by Dave Burstein
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Some observations:
Most of the growth is from less wealthy companies, with China, India, Russia and Mexico among the leaders. Turkey, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Egypt also grew.
In IPTV, France currently leads as triple play over DSL is the primary product. The U.S. is catching up, led by AT&T U-Verse. China is growing rapidly and with government support for "convergence" is likely to quickly pull ahead.
China has 25M more broadband lines than the U.S. and the gap is widening at about 10 million lines per year.
Where fiber is available, it draws subscribers from DSL. Korea and especially Japan are seeing absolute drops in DSL with Japan losing 1/7th of the DSL lines in the last year.
From Point-Topic, The top 7 countries in DSL and those with the best DSL growth in Q1 DSL. Then, from the Broadband Forum, again dependent on Point-Topic data, the leading broadband countries and the leaders in IPTV. Written by Dave Burstein
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Verizon: Voice Is Dying
Ivan Seidenberg, Verizon CEO, saying “voice is dying” is a defining moment in telecom history. He didn't use those words, but his comments at Goldman Sachs are clear “we have to pivot and make a shift from the voice business to the data business and eventually to the video business. ... we must really position ourselves to be an extremely potent video-centric asset.”
“The issue there is perhaps it is like the dog chasing the bus a little bit. So what I need to do is get ourselves focused around the following idea, that video is going to be the core product in the fixed line business. ... I shed myself of the burden of chasing the inflection point in access lines and say I don't care about that anymore.”
Ivan is spending $18B on FiOS and has been a telco guy for four decades, If he can't see the way to a profitable voice business, who can? Randall Stephenson of AT&T was ahead of Ivan (and me) figuring this one out. I think he put wireline into “harvest mode” in 2002 when he cut capex literally in half. I don't think he would have bought the wired side of BellSouth if he could have overcome Ed Whitacre's ego. Saul Hansell was one of the few reporters to catch the story. Few in D.C., except Blair, understand these issues.
Verizon remains one of the most profitable companies in the world, but the wireline business is heading downhill so fast JPMorgan writes “Action will likely be necessary to support the dividend beginning in 2012.” They won't be able to support $5B/year in dividends without tapping wireless 45% owned by Vodafone. Martin Peers think Verizon will buy a satellite TV company. Knocking out one of the four TV providers is unthinkable if the Obama team is serious about competition, but that's not proven.
Written by Dave Burstein
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“The issue there is perhaps it is like the dog chasing the bus a little bit. So what I need to do is get ourselves focused around the following idea, that video is going to be the core product in the fixed line business. ... I shed myself of the burden of chasing the inflection point in access lines and say I don't care about that anymore.”
Ivan is spending $18B on FiOS and has been a telco guy for four decades, If he can't see the way to a profitable voice business, who can? Randall Stephenson of AT&T was ahead of Ivan (and me) figuring this one out. I think he put wireline into “harvest mode” in 2002 when he cut capex literally in half. I don't think he would have bought the wired side of BellSouth if he could have overcome Ed Whitacre's ego. Saul Hansell was one of the few reporters to catch the story. Few in D.C., except Blair, understand these issues.
Verizon remains one of the most profitable companies in the world, but the wireline business is heading downhill so fast JPMorgan writes “Action will likely be necessary to support the dividend beginning in 2012.” They won't be able to support $5B/year in dividends without tapping wireless 45% owned by Vodafone. Martin Peers think Verizon will buy a satellite TV company. Knocking out one of the four TV providers is unthinkable if the Obama team is serious about competition, but that's not proven.
Written by Dave Burstein
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Apple might have to sell the Iphone 4 without AT&T in the US
Alleged secret five-year deal incurs consumers' wrath By Rob Coppinger
MONOPOLY ABUSE is the allegation made against Apple and AT&T in a class action lawsuit that has been given the go-ahead by a US federal judge.
The complaint relates to Apple allowing Iphones to be used only on the AT&T network and dates back to 2007 when the first legal actions took place. Multiple lawsuits that included challenges to apps limitations have now been combined into a single class action.
Judge James Ware of the US District Court for the Northern District of California decided that parts of the lawsuit that dealt with antitrust law violations can continue as a class action. He dismissed other claims against Apple including that the company broke laws when an update to the Iphone's OS caused phones to stop working and deleted apps programs that users had purchased.
The Associated Press reports that Apple has sold over 50 million Iphones in the last three years and that the lawsuit says the fruit-themed company secretly made AT&T its exclusive Iphone partner in the US for five years.
Consumers agree to two-year contracts with AT&T so the deal would conceivably lock customers into six years of contracts. The class action includes anyone who bought an Iphone with a two-year AT&T agreement since the device first went on sale in June 2007.
If the plaintiffs win Apple will not be able to sell locked Iphones in the US and might have to pay the plaintiffs legal fees and other costs. In its response to the complaint Apple said it did not hurt competition.
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MONOPOLY ABUSE is the allegation made against Apple and AT&T in a class action lawsuit that has been given the go-ahead by a US federal judge.
The complaint relates to Apple allowing Iphones to be used only on the AT&T network and dates back to 2007 when the first legal actions took place. Multiple lawsuits that included challenges to apps limitations have now been combined into a single class action.
Judge James Ware of the US District Court for the Northern District of California decided that parts of the lawsuit that dealt with antitrust law violations can continue as a class action. He dismissed other claims against Apple including that the company broke laws when an update to the Iphone's OS caused phones to stop working and deleted apps programs that users had purchased.
The Associated Press reports that Apple has sold over 50 million Iphones in the last three years and that the lawsuit says the fruit-themed company secretly made AT&T its exclusive Iphone partner in the US for five years.
Consumers agree to two-year contracts with AT&T so the deal would conceivably lock customers into six years of contracts. The class action includes anyone who bought an Iphone with a two-year AT&T agreement since the device first went on sale in June 2007.
If the plaintiffs win Apple will not be able to sell locked Iphones in the US and might have to pay the plaintiffs legal fees and other costs. In its response to the complaint Apple said it did not hurt competition.
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Jul 9, 2010
Global IPTV revenue to hit $46bn by 2014
The total number IPTV subscribers will reach 102 million in 2014, according to the multimedia Research Group. Robust broadband and IPTV investments have been driving growth as a means to meet and outperform cable and satellite competition. IPTV operators are using fibre in high-competition markets and advanced DSL such as channel bonding and VDSL2 in other (less competitive) markets. As a result, telcos have been discreetly improving their IPTV bandwidth capacity to sub-markets that need upgrades without overspending in markets that don’t require immediate upgrading, writes MRG.
The Eastern European IPTV market is moving quickly to early maturity, while ROW markets show faster gains than other regions. “As late as 2007, Eastern Europe had only a few IPTV trials or startups. Now, there are 16 fully operating IPTV operators and another 3-6 in trial,” said Jose Alvear, IPTV Analyst with MRG, in a statement. “These operators continue to grow their service base, because they have much greater technical and creative control over their service than their cable competition.” By 2014, Europe will have 45% of the global market, Asia 31%, North America 19% and ROW about 5%.
High ARPUs still favour Europe and US IPTV markets, with largest service and systems revenues also coming from these regions. Of the specific CapEx items tracked by the report, expenditures will grow from $3.1 billion (€2.4 billion) in 2010 to $5.1 billion in 2014, while service revenue will grow from $17.5 billion to $46 billion in 2014. Over 50 companies are profiled in the report, including many emerging markets in Eastern Europe and ROW. Despite many obstacles and competition, 23 IPTV SPs (mostly in Asia and Europe) will have exceeded the million-subscriber mark by 2014. “For many IPTV operators, STBs make up over 70% of capex expenditures,” said Alvear. “Therefore we can expect greater penetration of integrated hybrid, IPTV, and OTT STBs (including connected TVs with STBs embedded in TV sets).”
In the North American markets, all eyes have recently turned to Verizon and AT&T, each adding about 1 million subscribers in 2009. Since Verizon stopped signing new franchise agreements outside its existing footprint, speculation is growing that Verizon will switch from its QAM/IPTV architecture to an all IPTV (fibre-based) architecture for future franchises after 2010. Meanwhile AT&T, with no such technical constraints, is free to use a “discreet upgrade” approach to growing bandwidth using a mix of advanced DSL or FTTX as needed. Published: July 9, 2010 06.03 Europe/London By Robert Briel
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The Eastern European IPTV market is moving quickly to early maturity, while ROW markets show faster gains than other regions. “As late as 2007, Eastern Europe had only a few IPTV trials or startups. Now, there are 16 fully operating IPTV operators and another 3-6 in trial,” said Jose Alvear, IPTV Analyst with MRG, in a statement. “These operators continue to grow their service base, because they have much greater technical and creative control over their service than their cable competition.” By 2014, Europe will have 45% of the global market, Asia 31%, North America 19% and ROW about 5%.
High ARPUs still favour Europe and US IPTV markets, with largest service and systems revenues also coming from these regions. Of the specific CapEx items tracked by the report, expenditures will grow from $3.1 billion (€2.4 billion) in 2010 to $5.1 billion in 2014, while service revenue will grow from $17.5 billion to $46 billion in 2014. Over 50 companies are profiled in the report, including many emerging markets in Eastern Europe and ROW. Despite many obstacles and competition, 23 IPTV SPs (mostly in Asia and Europe) will have exceeded the million-subscriber mark by 2014. “For many IPTV operators, STBs make up over 70% of capex expenditures,” said Alvear. “Therefore we can expect greater penetration of integrated hybrid, IPTV, and OTT STBs (including connected TVs with STBs embedded in TV sets).”
In the North American markets, all eyes have recently turned to Verizon and AT&T, each adding about 1 million subscribers in 2009. Since Verizon stopped signing new franchise agreements outside its existing footprint, speculation is growing that Verizon will switch from its QAM/IPTV architecture to an all IPTV (fibre-based) architecture for future franchises after 2010. Meanwhile AT&T, with no such technical constraints, is free to use a “discreet upgrade” approach to growing bandwidth using a mix of advanced DSL or FTTX as needed. Published: July 9, 2010 06.03 Europe/London By Robert Briel
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