Tuesday, 25th March 2008

SPORT SHORTS

* India is all set to become the world’s second largest wireless network next month, overtaking the U.S., thanks to the monthly addition of over 80-lakh mobile phone subscribers for the past few months. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), with the total mobile subscriber base crossing the 26-crore mark, India will have over 30-crore phone subscribers (wireless and wireline) in April. “The U.S. is adding about 20-30 lakh subscribers in a month whereas China is adding around 60-70 lakh subscribers a month. India’s monthly wireless subscriber addition is highest in the range of 80-90 lakh a month. Thus, India’s wireless subscriber base during the first half of April will surpass that of the U.S. and will become the second wireless network in the world,” it said. The Hindu, Web Media 123, 25th Mar 2008

* In order to push its up coming event Wrestlemania, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has announced a partnership with Habbo, the virtual community with more than eight million unique users in 31 countries around the world. The campaign called The Road to WrestleMania XXIV will kick-off today. It will challenge participants in Habbo to have their personal avatars compete against each other based on the themes of five anticipated WrestleMania matches, including The World Heavyweight Championship: Edge vs. The Undertaker and "The Biggest Battles The Best," which pits WWE's Big Show against welterweight boxing legend, Floyd 'Money' Mayweather. Indiantelevision.com, 24th Mar 2008

* The IMS Research study IPTV: A Global Market Analysis - 2008 Edition reveals that as a whole, an estimated 13.2 million households received IPTV service in 2007 with nearly 8.4 million IP-enabled set-top boxes shipping worldwide. IPTV households are forecast to grow 52.2 per cent annually though 2012. Shane Walker, research analyst and author of the study, states, "The increasingly competitive pay-TV landscape with proliferation of new content, triple/quadruple play offerings, and new Internet-based TV services is one of the main factors behind IPTV household growth. Another important factor is the rapid uptake of IPTV services in China and South Korea as governments relax regulations restricting deployment and as telcos become more involved with expanding IPTV services." ATV, 21st Mar 2008

* The combined IPTV and switched digital video (SDV) market is forecast to reach $9.8 billion worldwide, according to Infonetics Research’s IPTV and Switched Digital Video Equipment, Services, and Subscribers report. Said Jeff Heynen, analyst for IPTV at Infonetics Research, "buoyed by the success of rollouts by Orange, Free, Neuf, Fastweb, PCCW, Telefonica, and China Telecom, IPTV service providers continue to build out headends and spend on IP set-top boxes to aggressively court video subscribers. The report also highlights that total worldwide IPTV and SDV equipment revenue hit $1.1 billion in Q4 of 2007 and the number of IPTV subscribers is set to top 97 million worldwide by 2011. ATV, 21st Mar 2008


MORE NEWS

Singapore/Broadcaster: StarHub joins CTI's bid for Singapore NGN

Fixed and mobile operator StarHub has joined Hong Kong's City Telecom (CTI) and mobile firm M1 in bidding for Singapore’s next-gen broadband project. The trio will jointly submit a bid for the right to build the NGN network, for which contracts are expected to be awarded at the end of 2008. Previously, StarHub had planned to bid separately for the multi-billion dollar project.

The newly-enlarged consortium now comprises Singapore’s second and third-largest telcos and the owner of one of Hong Kong’s biggest broadband networks. “The proven expertise and experience that the partners bring to the consortium, backed by their knowledge of the local operating environment and conditions, will ensure a strong and resilient bid,” said M1 CEO Neil Montefiore. Eight other groups, including carriers SingTel, BT, NTT and vendors Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens, have registered to submit bids for the network project.Singapore’s Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) will separately sell the rights to operate the broadband services over the new network. telecomasia.net, 25th Mar 2008