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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: foundation who wrote (31397)	1/19/2003 3:20:25 PM
From: foundation	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 196584

Reliance mobile vs cellcos: It's competition time, folks RAJESHWARI ADAPPA THAKUR TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 2003 07:28:24 AM ] MUMBAI: A comparison of tariffs of cellular operators and Reliance India Mobile (RIM) shows that the entry barriers are lower in the case of cellular operators but the latter has lower airtime charges. The three private mobile operators, Hutch, BPL Mobile and Bharti in Mumbai, charge an activation fee of Rs 500 plus a refundable security deposit of Rs 1,000 from new subscribers. RIM offers two options. One is an unfront payment of Rs 21,000 for a three-year period to become a member of the ‘Dhirubhai Ambani Pioneer Club’. This includes a non-refundable upfront payment of Rs 3,000 and a monthly payments of Rs 500 for 36 months. The second option includes the non-refundable Rs 3,000 (this is common to both plans) and a monthly payment of Rs 600. The monthly payment of Rs 600 is to be made in the form of post- dated cheques for Rs 1,800 which will be encashed every quarter. A CDMA handset worth Rs 10,500 is provided free along with both options. The monthly payment of Rs 600 consists of a rental of Rs 240, airtime of Rs 160, financial charges of Rs 100 and ‘club privilege’ charges of Rs 100. The Rs 21,000 upfront payment offer saves the subscriber the monthly financing charges of Rs 100. Reliance is also charging refundable deposits of Rs 1,000 for those who wish to make only local calls, Rs 2,000 who wish to make STD calls and Rs 3,000 for those who wish to make ISD calls. Thus the minimum upfront payment in case of Reliance is Rs 4,000, consisting of the non-refunable Rs 3,000 and the refundable Rs 1,000 for those who want to make only local calls. For the Mumbai cellular operators there is usually a non- refundable activation of Rs 500 and a refunable deposit in the range of Rs 2,000-Rs 3,000 for ISD and STD calls. The club privilege payment of Rs 100 in case of Reliance gives its subscribers several benefits like access to content such as news, stocks updates, games, songs, etc. Some of this may be free and in some cases, high discounts would be applicable, besides a 25% discount on Reliance WebWorld membership, according to a brochure. The brochure says that there will be no ISP charge and you can select the content free. But it is not clear whether there will be any charges for downloading this content. Besides, unlike other cellular operators, Reliance is not offering immediate connectivity (it usually takes two days or so for the cellular operators), since the handsets need to be encoded by the company. Reliance is planning to start charging its subscribers only in April, according to dealer sources. The Reliance services are expected to start around early March, said dealers. Other than the Rs 3,000 that will not be refunded, for exits after 90 days, Rs 40 per month for the balance of 36 months will be deducted. On rentals, Reliance’s charge is lower than cellular operators. Reliance permits rollover of unused minutes within the same quarter. The airtime charges in the case of cellular operators are higher at 75 paise per 30 second than Reliance’s 40 paise per minute for local calls, especially the first 400 minutes. In the case of STD calls, while the first 400 minutes of outgoing calls will be charged at the rate of 40 paise per minute, calls beyond 400 minutes will be charged at the rate of Rs 1.90 paise per minute plus additional ‘off-net operator charges’ charged by other operators, which may work out to 40% cheaper, according to Reliance. One crucial difference is that for Reliance its low airtime charges are Rs 160 for 400 minutes of airtime (for local STD and ISD calls) while for cellular operators there is no link between tariff and the number of minutes of airtime. Besides, Reliance as part of introductory offer, is offering free SMS, caller identification, voice mail, voice divert, etc. Also, all incoming calls are free on the Reliance network. Cellular operators offer free incoming for calls from their own network. Reliance also offers a lower pulse rate of 15 seconds as compared to the option of a 30 second or 60 second offered by cellular operators. economictimes.indiatimes.com

To: foundation who wrote (31397)	1/19/2003 4:51:20 PM
From: foundation	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 196584

Korea-Nokia 2-0 Timo Poropudas Nordic Wireless Watch - January 12, 2003 at 19:10 GMT Nokia is leaving South Korea – again. Nokia Korea Ltd. announced on Friday that it is exiting the Korean handset market on orders from Helsinki. Nokia did not continue its OEM-agreement with Telson Electronics Co. Nokia also announced that it is closing its research and development center in Seoul. The score now is Korea 2, Nokia 0. Korea has driven Nokia of out its market now twice already. Nokia has nothing to show for its years of work and millions of investments. Well, almost nothing: It managed to gain a one percent share of the Korean cdma-handset market. while it has close to 40 percent of market share globally. Nokia is not crying foul publicly, while privately Nokian employees s have expressed an almost fervent desire to break into Korean market, and utmost frustration in its inability to do so. It is well know that Korea supports its industries with subsidies. According to Nokia sources Korea has organized its technological regulations and bureaucracy in a way that ties foreign competition into knots. Nokia's troubles are not limited to handset market alone. Korean telecom companies have organized two bidding competitions for 3g-networks. They were both wcdma-networks that are bread and butter to Nokia and Ericsson. Yet the contracts went to Korean companies, LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics. Out of nine bidders only the Korean companies and Nortel made it out of the first round. Korean markets are important and it is not globally meaningless what happens there. Korea and Japan are the technologically most advanced mobile countries. And Korea is Asia-Pacific's third largest handset market after China and Japan. Samsung's and LG's astounding success in the global handset market has been built on their strong domestic results. It has also been helped by the very generous subsidies that Korean mobile operators have given to consumers to encourage them to replace their mobile phones with newer models as often as possible. This has speeded up the mobile development and filled the coffers of domestic phone manufacturers. The Korean view of this development looks different. "In Korea, the trend of mobile handsets is very fast-changing. Domestic companies, such as Samsung Electronics or LG Electronics, have been aware of that, and were keen to cater to the fast-changing tastes of consumers," said Yong Jong-min, an analyst at Daishin Economic Research Institute in JoongAng Daily. After Nokia failed to sell the phones that had been created for the American cdma-market, it tailored its handset specifically for Koreans, but it did not help. Nokia built up a sales organization and invested somewhat into after-market care. Despite of this, the second Nokia launch into the Korean market in Mach 2001 produced no gains. Curiously, Nokia seems to be able to take some advantage of the Korean production environment. It has a handset manufacturing facility in Masan where it makes annually 30 million GSM-handsets for export. And it has no intention of giving up that facility. Nokia might launch its third attempt to penetrate Korean mobile phone markets in May when the WCDMA handsets are ready for shipping. It is possible that the Korean networks will have a feature or two that make the foreign made phones incompatible. But then again, maybe third time is the charm. …don't hold your breath, though. nordicwirelesswatch.com ========== "It has also been helped by the very generous subsidies that Korean mobile operators have given to consumers to encourage them to replace their mobile phones with newer models as often as possible." Handset subsidies ---- in Korea? LOL! Nokia complaining against protectionism? LOL! "Nokia's troubles are not limited to handset market alone. Korean telecom companies have organized two bidding competitions for 3g-networks. They were both wcdma-networks that are bread and butter to Nokia and Ericsson. Yet the contracts went to Korean companies, LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics. Out of nine bidders only the Korean companies and Nortel made it out of the first round." Nokia really expected to build SK's and KT's showcase wCDMA networks - that are designed to feature Korean technology prowess? <g> (As the new KT CEO crab crawls away from his predecessor's deadline.) I'd heard that Nokia had been romancing SK Telecom for some time for even a token piece of its network action... I wonder if it mattered that Nokia can't get any of its wCDMA networks to work?