Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bruce_hamilton who wrote (106909)	10/12/2001 10:30:51 AM
From: JohnG	Respond to of 152472

INDIA - By Dec, Mobile CDMA 1X data to start despite Govt efforts to stop Competition with GSM Cellular political block Tata Teleservices to Start High-speed Mobile Services (Update2) By Abhay Singh New Delhi, Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- India's Tata Teleservices Ltd., a fixed-line phone company belonging to the $8.8 billion Tata Group, said it plans to offer high-speed mobile services, which allow data to be transmitted at 10 times the current speeds, by December to boost sales. The company, which will become India's first so-called 3G service provider, said it's switching over because it can upgrade its existing network at little extra cost. ``Our current spectrum is sufficient for 3G services,'' Ajay Pandey, chief operating officer at the company, said at a news conference. ``We just need to upgrade our software.'' The company offers fixed-line service in the southern province of Andhra Pradesh. New government rules announced this year allow companies such as Teleservices to also offer limited- range mobile phone services, using Qualcomm Inc.'s code division multiple access, or CDMA, technology. In announcing its plans for high-speed mobile telephony, Teleservices is taking advantage of a quirk in government regulations that makes it easier for fixed-line operators to offer such services rather than companies that have been licensed to provide cellular phone services. Implications India, unlike countries such as the U.K. and Germany, hasn't announced rules or auctioned spectrum for cellular phone operators that use the prevalent Global System for Mobile communications standard and may want to upgrade their networks. Radio frequency used to transmit voice and data is commonly referred to as spectrum. Cellular operators are already in court over the government's decision to permit so-called limited mobility services. Tata Teleservices' plan to use that to leapfrog to the next generation of mobile connectivity has them worried. ``This has mammoth implications,'' said T.V. Ramachandran, director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India. ``The government is not giving us additional spectrum for our current requirement and here they have given away free spectrum that allows 3G.'' Analysts agree cellular operators may be hurt by their inability to upgrade with ease but are skeptical on whether there is a market for such services at the moment. ``Technologically CDMA is ahead of GSM,'' said Anand Ramachandran, a telecommunications analyst at Salomon Smith Barney Inc. in Hong Kong. ``Having said that, given the low penetration of phone services in India it's too early to be talking of 3G.'' India has fewer than three phones per 100 people compared with a world average of about 15. The government permitted fixed- line operators to use wireless technology to offer services within a limited area to make it easier for them to roll out networks. 3G From the Start The Tata group has an interest on both sides of the dispute because it has a stake in Birla Tata AT&T Ltd., which announced plans to merge with BPL Communications Ltd. in June to form the country's largest GSM cellular network operator. The group has close to a third of the country's 4.5 million mobile-phone users. Still, Teleservices doesn't plan to limit its service to Andhra Pradesh. It signed license agreements with the Indian government to offer fixed-line and CDMA-based phone services in the city of New Delhi and the provinces of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat in August this year. It expects to start its services by second quarter of 2002. ``The new networks will be 3G-enabled from the start,'' Pandey said. The company is in talks with six vendors including the local units of Ericsson AB, Nortel Networks Corp. and LG Electronics Inc. to buy equipment for the new networks. It plans to spend 35 billion rupees ($729 million) over five years to build the networks. Partners ``Two-thirds of that amount will be spent in the first two or three years of which about half will be borrowed and the rest will come from the Tata group,'' said S. Ramakrishnan, managing director at Tata Teleservices. ``After two years we will look at bringing in other partners.'' Teleservices may also sign licenses to offer services in the provinces of Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Kerala by Oct. 31. In Maharashtra, the company may partner Hughes Tele.com Ltd., the current fixed-line phone service licensee in that state. The two signed an in-principle agreement in August to study a merger. They are in the process of working out details, said Ramakrishnan. In Andhra Pradesh, the company has 85,000 customers of which about half are connected using wireless technology. Ten percent of the total use their phones as a mobile unit within the city, said Pandey. The local unit of Lucent Technologies Inc., which has supplied the equipment for the company's CDMA network in that state, will also help to upgrade to 3G services at a cost of 100 million rupees, Pandey said. Teleservices is in discussions with Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics of South Korea to source hand phones for the service. ``We know 3G-1X handsets are a problem, but we are working on it,'' Pandey said. The company has spent 11 billion rupees on its network in Andhra Pradesh so far. It plans to raise that investment by another 5 billion rupees this year to expand its network beyond the five cities where it operates. The Tata group may make its Internet unit a division of Teleservices to consolidate similar businesses under one company, said Ramakrishnan. Access More Information and Services Above ©2001 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and Trademarks.

To: bruce_hamilton who wrote (106909)	10/12/2001 12:04:56 PM
From: golfinvestor	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

<The killer application is CAPACITY> ...and an always on connection.

To: bruce_hamilton who wrote (106909)	10/12/2001 1:48:52 PM
From: pcstel	Respond to of 152472

Bruce: We have talked at length about QCHAT, telematic related services, position services and music downloads etc. CDMA opperators will be able to experiment with these services and the aggregate revenue of these services may surprise you. I have never subscribed to the "killer application" theory on data. The killer application is CAPACITY. I agree.. However for the Service Providers.. The Illusion of "Not Enough Capacity" is important in order to maintain ARPU and per MOU charges. The consumer is force fed.. Too much demand...Not enough capacity.. If a company like LWIN shows up and says.. Hey.. Talk all you want.. We have loads of unused capacity.. Then the consumer starts to wonder.. Hey how come they have so much capacity.. And Verizon claims they don't have enough.. It's the supply and demand macro-economics at work.. The Middle East Countries have huge supplies.. But, they control the supply chain (and prices) via supply-side distribution.. The wireless operators are the OPEC and LWIN is the renegade pumping all the oil they can, as fast as they can.. And yes, I beleive QCHAT is a Killer Application that leads to Data usage.. Here is the phone I proposed to LWIN IR.. Color Display, PTT button on Left hand side of phone Walkie-Talkie style. Right hand side has Rotary Selector Switch for scrolling through buddy list. IR or bluetooth allow buddy's to be added to the list from phone to phone.directly. Buddy list displays which Buddies are On-Line... Rotary Selector Switch also has a PTT feature which engages the "Ping" feature.. When depressed.. The Ping feature sends MapQuest style map (Data) to your buddies phone displaying your current location. Phone Buddy list also ties in with AOL IM and buddies on computer using AOL IM can IM message to Phone users and vice versa.. The AOL Instant Messenger Crowd would go wild for a device like this. And would work nicely in a "Limited Mobility System" like LWIN". These types of Killer Applicaitons will proliferate on "All you can eat types of Wireless Services:" IMO.. There is a market for data.. But, It is more for a Data aided Voice maket.. IMO.. PCSTEL