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

To: John Biddle who wrote (32714)	2/21/2003 7:33:15 AM
From: quartersawyer	Respond to of 196875

Trai is in favour of open competition More competition requires deepest pockets. BSNL is looking strongest, with existing network and gov't support. Interesting website: techtree.com ---------------------- BSNL gains popularity with cellular service CellOne, the cellular service from BSNL is gaining popularity in most of its operating state circles. The subscriber figures released for the month of January 2003 by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) have revealed that BSNL's share in circles of Madhya Pradesh to W.Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh accounts for 55 percent to 90 percent. BSNL attributes its success to its networking facility that has been planned to cover a wide area including small towns and various nodes along the highways. Maharashtra State recorded a total of 41,430 cellular subscribers in January. Of these 33,093 subscribers were from BSNL. Following suit was Bharti with 9,128 subscribers. Similar cases were registered in the circles of Gujarat and Karnataka with BSNL raking in around 85 percent subscribers. BSNL has its presence in around 900 cities and intends reach out to 1000 cities by the next month. The company is also said to be working on the revision of mobile tariffs. Authorities however, remain tight-lipped. ---------------- Its BSNL's turn to announce incoming call free regime After slashing its digital subscriber (DSL) rates, BSNL has rendered all incoming calls free, irrespective of the network they are originating from such as the fixed line, WLL or any cellular operators. The programme is applicable to prepaid and postpaid connections of BSNL. This move comes close on the heels of AirTel announcing a free incoming call regime in three states in N. India. While all prepaid customers can avail of this facility without being charged extra, only postpaid connections under plan 325 have been offered this regime. BSNL is yet to notify the TRAI about this announcement. It is aiming to capture a customer base of 60 lakh, an estimated number of 30 lakh customers for BSNL's cellular service, 16 lakh for WLL network and 14 lakh for landlines. Estimates have revealed that BSNL has raked in 14.4 lakh cellular customers within a mere four months of the launch of CellOne. Another 10 lakh customers are expected to be targeted by March-end this year. BSNL's fixed line subscribers have also been offered several value-added services including World Cup contests and access to national and local news and email via instant voice response system on telephones.

To: John Biddle who wrote (32714)	2/21/2003 5:30:33 PM
From: John Biddle	Respond to of 196875

3G gets closer to EDGE 14:12 Friday 21st February 2003 Tony Hallett, silicon.com news.zdnet.co.uk 3GSM: Although 3G networks are beginning to spring up in Europe, reports indicate that some networks will take an intermediary step With 3, Hutchison's UK greenfield mobile network, going live shortly and other operators close to UMTS 3G launches -- research company EMC estimates 40 this year -- it seems users are nearer to the fast and versatile mobile telecoms promised land they have heard so much about in recent years. However, news out of the 3GSM show in Cannes this week confirms a number of operators will take another step before fully fledged UMTS networks -- in Europe as well as other continents. EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) is sometimes referred to as 2.75G, sitting in the evolution path between 2.5G GSM/GPRS networks and 3G networks of the W-CDMA -- or UMTS -- flavour. So far equipment companies have been guarded about which operators will use EDGE, mainly because it is seen as an embarrassment that the leap to 3G cannot yet be taken. This week the EDGE Operators' Forum (EOF) announced that "EDGE will be a market reality during 2003," with operators and vendors giving it "their full commitment". Partly because of spectrum issues it is widely accepted at least three operators in the US will move to EDGE. However, Nokia admits to being involved in over 20 rollouts in 13 countries, some in its own back yard in Europe. Jarmo Leivo, Nokia Networks director for W-CDMA marketing, said: "EDGE is a chance to enhance existing networks but EDGE is no W-CDMA." The fear, however, is that some operators holding W-CDMA licences -- costing the legendary billions in a few cases -- may not roll out 3G widely, or maybe at all. The other main 3G standard besides W-CDMA is CDMA2000, developed by San Diego-based Qualcomm and now used by 36 networks across three continents. Qualcomm initially had a path to a very fast data rate 3G standard but an inbetween technology commonly referred to as CDMA2000 1x, of which there are several variations, has proved so popular in Japan, South Korea and the US that it is now recognised as a workable, respectably fast 3G technology. Jeff Belk, Qualcomm senior VP marketing, told silicon.com: "What we have learnt is that 3G cannot be faked in any fashion. If it doesn't meet the consumer bar operators won't be able to monetise it." The EOF refers to EDGE as the "most spectrally efficient of the 3G radio access technologies up to 100Kbps". Ultimately most operators realise that users will decide if it is worthy of the 3G moniker, especially as some will have made the leap in the meantime to W-CDMA 3G.