Vol. 10 No. 12 December 2006 In This Issue... Asia-Pacific VoIP service revenue PowerTel launches ($ billions) wholesale ASDL2+ services in Australia..................... 2 14 ShinSat to bid to acquire license for mobile-phone 12 service in Bhutan........... 3 10 China Netcom to switch from H.264 to AVS for 8 IPTV .............................. 4 6 Huawei unveils commercial IMS VCC solution .......... 5 4 Indonesia’s Telkom to take 2 part in fiber-optic tender valued at $1.5 billion ..... 6 0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Five years after its launch, W-CDMA becomes leading Source: Infonetics Research technology in Japan ...... 7 ACROSS THE REGION NEC, Juniper to extend their NGN partnership ........... 8 Redknee to expand partnership with Digicel Pacific Redknee plans to expand its partnership with Digicel Hanaro agrees to acquire Pacific in the South Pacific, and with a sister firm to Digicel Onse broadband subs ... 9 Asia Pacific Telecom Newsletter is published monthly by Information Gatekeepers Inc. 320 Washington St., Brighton, Massachusetts 02135, USA. Fax: (617) 782-5735. Editorial telephone: (617) 782-5033. Circulation telephone: (617) 782-5033. (800) 323-1088 (Outside MA) Publisher: Dr. Paul Polishuk Editor: Dr. Hui Pan Managing Editor: Bev Wilson Circulation Mgr: Jaime Perez Subscription rates: $695 per year U.S. and Canada; $745 per year elsewhere. Discounts available for multiple subscriptions. © Information Gatekeepers Inc. 2006. All rights reserved. (ISSN 1097-8283) No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a data base or transmitted without prior written permission of the publisher. For photocopying authorization, contact Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Dr., Danvers, MA 01923, Tel: (978) 750-8400. Asia Pacific Telecom Newsletter December 2006 Group in Central America and the Caribbean. In October, the company had predicted Digicel Samoa will use Redknee solutions to a 2 percent to 2.5 percent growth in EBITDA for offer wireless services in Samoa. the period up to 2009-10. The annual EBITDA Digicel uses the Redknee Turnkey is now expected at 46 percent to 48 percent, Converged Billing Solutions, IP Charging compared to the previous estimate of 50 percent Solution, Enhanced Messaging Gateway, and to 52 percent. USSD Gateway to offer prepaid and postpaid services to mobile users in over 20 markets in Hutchison introduces cheap mobile data Central America and the Caribbean. modem in Australia Lucas Skoszkowski, CEO of Redknee, Hutchison has unveiled the first ever said that the Pacific Region presented good express-card format mobile data modem in opportunities to Digicel and the company would Australia. Though Hutchison is offering its data look forward to replicating the success achieved plans with 2 Gigabytes at an attractive rate of buy its sister company in the Caribbean. $69 per month, a full-quota usage outside its 3G network could force users to pay above AUSTRALIA $3,000. Hutchison is offering three plans for its 3G services: $29 a month for 200 Megabytes, PowerTel launches wholesale ASDL2+ $49 a month for 1 Gigabyte, and $69 a month services in Australia for 2 Gigabytes. However, excess data and data Australian operator PowerTel has for uploading and downloading would cost $1.65 unveiled wholesale ASDL2+ services and per Megabyte. Hutchison offers 3G in big finalized the deal to offer connections to centers on the network shared by Telstra. It has Westnet, an ISP based in Perth. roaming access to Telstra’s GSM/GPRS PowerTel’s ASDL2+ network uses the network outside those areas. Thus, if the modem extensive ASDL2+ network created by its ISP is not able to connect with a 3G base station in partner iiNet. PowerTel had taken a 14.9 percent the coverage area, the rate of $1.65 per stake in iiNet earlier this year. Fixed-line Megabyte will apply. But a Hutchison company Telstra is also likely to launch ASDL2+ spokesman clarified that the card would have services very soon. LEDs to indicate its communication mode and could be configured to operate on the 3G Telstra CE announces expectations of network only. growth in earnings in H2 of 2006-07 Sol Trujillo, chief executive of Telstra, said BigAir to offer broadband speeds almost 50 at the company’s Melbourne AGM that the times faster than ADSL2+ company expected to increase earnings in the BigAir Limited intends to increase its second half of 2006-07. broadband presence in Australia, amid the EBIT were expected to fall by 17-20 differences between telecom giant Telstra and percent in the first half and rise by 37-40 percent the Australian regulator. Over the next year, in the second half. The company is in the second BigAir would offer its next-generation wireless year of its five-year revamp exercise. Last week, broadband services with symmetric speeds of the company started high-speed broadband around 1Gbps, which is 50 times speedier than services but complained that regulatory the highest download speed, and around 1,000 restraints from the Australian Competition and times speedier than the standard upload speed Consumer commission restricted it to existing on ADSL2+. The firm also intends to build competitive services. another 10 wireless base stations over the next Copyright 2006 Information Gatekeepers Inc. 320 Washington St. Brighton, MA 02135 Tel: (617) 782-5033 Web: www.igigroup.com 2 Asia Pacific Telecom Newsletter December 2006 year to meet the increasing needs of its BANGLADESH business-grade broadband services. BigAir’s annualized revenue reached $9.5 million, Ericsson signs four-year deal with Warid compared to the previous full year’s result of Telecom $6.9 million. Ericsson has signed a four-year contract with Bangladesh-based Warid Telecom for Internode launches ASDL2+ Annex-M managed services like rolling out the operator’s services in Australia GSM/GPRS in Dhaka and a network expansion. Australia-based ISP Internode has Earlier this year, Ericsson signed two deals to launched ADSL2+ Annex-M services. It offers supply Mobile Softswitch, backbone broadband upload speeds of around 2.5Mbps. transmission equipment, and packet core for Internode started the trial of Annex-M through Warid Telecom’s GSM/GPRS network in various Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer parts of the country. Ericsson will be responsible (DSLAM) technology in July. It is now offering for the designing, operations, rollout, the service without extra cost to its SOHO and management, and maintenance of the Business clients on supported exchanges. Bangladeshi operator’s network. Internode does not intend to provide this service to residential users. BHUTAN Telstra International launches Asia’s first ShinSat to bid to acquire license for mobile- enterprise VoIP solution with distinctive phone service in Bhutan classes of service Thailand-based ShinSat is one of the four Telstra International (Telstra) announced companies that will bid for a license for a private the launch of “Global Voice over IP” (Global mobile-phone service in Bhutan. The officials VoIP), marking its strategic move to provide IP of the Bhutan Infocom and Media Authority telephony (IPT) and voice services to (BIMA) seem to suggest that the auction will take enterprises beyond the Australian market. place in December. Bhutan had reportedly Telstra’s Global VoIP is based on an award- invited AIS, Thailand’s biggest cell-phone winning next-generation network (NGN) and operator, to take part in the bid, but Shin customer premises equipment (CPE), while its assigned the deal to ShinSat. Shin is the parent three voice Classes of Service (CoS) and company of AIS. Three of the four short-listed imbedded IP monitoring systems sets a new firms are joint ventures. BIMA has categorically industry standard for terminating IP-originated stated that the Bhutanese partner of any such voice traffic, maintaining quality and network joint venture must hold a share of at least 51 security. percent. The winner of the 15-year license will Telstra’s Global VoIP can lower need to pay 25 percent of it straightaway; the termination costs by over 50 percent compared remainder can be paid throughout the operating to traditional telephone services, while saving tenure. ongoing maintenance and operational costs associated with traditional PBX systems. While CAMBODIA cost-savings is one key driver for IPT adoption, companies are also now using IPT and VoIP as Samart looking to acquire major stakes in key communication tools to improve business two or three companies by this year’s end resiliencies, increase team collaboration, and Samart Corporation is planning to enhance communication needs. acquire major stakes in two or three telecom Copyright 2006 Information Gatekeepers Inc. 320 Washington St. Brighton, MA 02135 Tel: (617) 782-5033 Web: www.igigroup.com 3 Asia Pacific Telecom Newsletter December 2006 firms by the end of this year. Samart will also Eastern Guangdong province ranging from bid for its second power plant in Cambodia. If Shenzhen to include DongGuan and Huizhou approved by the Cambodian government, the by December 2006. project would warrant an investment of $273 Nokia and Guangdong Provincial million. Samart announced its new subsidiary, Government signed a MoU in October 2006 in Vision and Security System Co., to address the Finland, which names Nokia as an important requirement for Internet Protocol-based security player in the information industry development systems. Samart is likely to earn consolidated of Guangdong province. revenue of $820 million this year, compared to the forecast $684 million. For the first nine Number of fixed-line users in China reaches months, the company earned $656 million 370 million consolidated revenue. The company aims to China’s Ministry of Information Industry earn $13.7 million in 2007, $21.9 million in 2008, stated that the number of landline users in China and $32 million in 2009. Its consolidated nine- had reached 370 million. The nation’s mobile- month net profit was $49 million on revenue of phone base reached 440 million, taking the $667 million.