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Technology Stocks : Nokia (NOK) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LarsA who wrote (16646)	11/19/2001 11:29:39 AM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34857

Mumbai Carriers Put GPRS On Back Burner NOVEMBER 19, 2001 The Economic Times via NewsEdge Corporation : BPL has failed to keep its October date for the rollout of its General Packet Radio Service network while rival Oranges plans for GPRS have been indefinitely postponed. Officially, the reasons for the delay range from technical problems to lack of availability of enough handsets. Unofficially, sources admit that the GPRS business is not a hot proposition in todays world. GPRS is a wireless internet technology which promises to speed up internet access compared to wireless application protocol, the current technology for internet access from cellular phones which did not enjoy the expected level of success. BPL officials said that their network was ready to roll, but there was a technical hitch and the problem was with the handsets. They refused to give further details. A senior Mitsubishi official, one of the handset providers, confirmed that there was no problem with the BPL network. "The problem lies in the handsets. The Indian networks are different from the European networks where these phones have been used. The handsets need certain changes before they can be used in India, hence the delay, he said. But the larger issue seems to be that of the price of the handset. Mitsubishi plans to launch four models in India targeted at various segments of the market. "While the model at the top end is likely to be priced around Rs 60,000, the cheapest handset may cost not less than Rs 20,000, said the official. The steep price of the handset is likely to result in few takers, which would be a limiting factor for the market. It also raises questions about the viability of GPRS as a business and is possibly the reason that corporates are shy of launching GPRS at this juncture. One operator admitted that GPRS is not a viable business proposition at this point in time. Apart from the handset prices, the hoopla regarding internet connectivity through mobile phones has also died down. Unlike last year, the euphoria over the internet has died down and ISP businesses are floundering. The retail part of the ISP business is going through tough times and corporate users seem to be the only hope for ISPs. According to sources, the lower demand for internet could have an impact on the viability of GPRS as a business model. This is because, the unique selling proposition (USP) of the GPRS is that a person would be connected with the net all the time. Thus, he saves the time taken to log on and would not have to worry about losing connectivity either. All Material Subject to Copyright Copyright 2001: The Economic Times. All Rights Reserved. Financial Times Information Limited - Asia Africa Intelligence Wire mcweb.mitsubishi.co.jp <<The Economic Times -- 11/17/01>> << Copyright ©2001 Financial Times Limited - All Rights Reserved >>

To: LarsA who wrote (16646)	11/19/2001 4:21:32 PM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34857

Janus, Fidelity Slashing Tech Stakes By Ian McDonald Senior Writer 11/19/2001 11:30 AM EST Just as some bargain hunters were picking up the ravaged shares of tech or telecom companies in the third quarter, the folks at Fidelity and Janus kept right on selling them. That's the upshot from each firm's latest quarterly filing with regulators that lists firmwide stock holdings. For a string of quarters now, Boston-based Fidelity, the nation's largest fund shop, with nearly $455 billion in stock-fund assets, and Denver-based Janus, the growth shop with some $127 billion in its stock funds, have been dumping shares of tech companies. Last quarter, for instance, both firms slashed their stakes in wireless giant Nokia (NOK:NYSE ADR - news - commentary - research - analysis) and server king Sun Microsystems (SUNW:Nasdaq - news - commentary - research - analysis), and put that money to work in sleepier sectors such as financial services and consumer staples. Both fund giants, particularly Janus, are largely known for their ability to read the mercurial tech sector. Most of their growth funds were smacked by the sector's collapse over the past year, but their exodus will still give tech rooters pause. Though the firms' managers have reversed field since Sept. 30 -- no easy feat, given their funds' girth -- the timing and breadth of their selling casts a shadow over the sector's current rally. "What this filing reflects is Fidelity's feeling that tech was too richly valued and might still be," says Jim Lowell, editor of the independent FidelityInvestor.com newsletter. Fidelity cut its share balance in Nokia from some 65 million to just 4.3 million in the third quarter. At the same time, Janus, which owned about 476 million shares of Nokia in two different share classes on June 30, whittled its stake to 216 million shares. Janus funds still own 4.6% of Nokia, whose shares are down 44% since Jan. 1. Both firms also cut their positions in Sun Microsystems and data storage concern EMC (EMC:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis). Fidelity sold 56 million Sun shares in the third quarter, but still owned 96 million shares, or 3% of the company, on Sept. 30. Janus sold 14.7 million shares, leaving its funds with 3.4 million. The stock is down 80% over the past 12 months. Fidelity sold more than 47 million EMC shares in the third quarter, leaving 19.2 million left over. Janus sold a little over 40 million shares and owned 6.4 million on Sept. 30. EMC-You Later! The firms dumped millions of these companies' shares Fidelity Janus Stock Millions of Shares Sold Stock Millions of Shares Sold Nokia 61.4 Nokia 221 Sun Microsystems 56.1 Ericsson 97.1 Nortel Networks 47.7 Legend Holdings 45.9 EMC 47 Juniper Networks 42.2 Compaq 24.2 EMC 40 Immunex 21.9 Qwest Communications 23.3 Hewlett-Packard 19.9 Sun Microsystems 15 Akamai Technologies* 19.8 I2 Technologies* 13.5 Source: Lionshares.com. *Indicates the entire position was sold. Managers at Fidelity also reduced their stakes in Nortel (NT:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), from about 67 million shares to 19 million shares. While the Boston firm's managers did put some new money to work in big-cap tech stocks such as top-holding Microsoft (MSFT:Nasdaq - news - commentary - research - analysis), where they bought 19.5 million shares, and Intel (INTC:Nasdaq - news - commentary - research - analysis), where they picked up 8 million shares, they also spread the money elsewhere. They were net buyers of Citigroup (C:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), Wal-Mart (WMT:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis) and Coca-Cola (KO:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis). p.s. they added 800.000 shares of QUALCOMM..........lol! Happy Thanksgiving....