China's second largest mobile operator China Unicom ( CHU ) added 3.3 million cellular subscribers in April, down 5.7% from the prior month. This takes the company's total customer base to 212.75 million.
The company's GSM subscriber base expanded to 160.97 million with net additions of 0.34 million customers, while its 3G subscriber base increased to 51.78 million with net additions of 2.92 million.
The 3G subscriber base is growing rapidly, particularly driven by Apple Inc. 's ( AAPL ) iPhone sales. Additionally, China Unicom is focusing more on improving its 3G data surfing service, and offering cheaper handsets and low cost services to win new customers. These efforts are drawing more 3G subscribers, eventually leading to higher average revenue per user.
Despite the loss of exclusive hold on iPhones to China Telecom Corp. ( CHA ), the company's 3G subcriber growth remained encouraging in April relative to its major rivals. China's mobile leader China Mobile ( CHL ) attracted only 2.3 million 3G subscribers while China Telecom added 2.01 million to its 3G customer base.
China Unicom expects its 3G subscriber base to reach 90 million by the end of the year, taking the 3G service revenue to RMB 70 billion ($11.1 billion) from RMB 40 billion last year.
Coming to the fixed-line business, the company is poised to benefit from expansion and speed enhancement of fiber optic service in its broadband business. China Unicom added 0.58 million broadband customers in April, bringing the total number to 58.87 million.
But the company is experiencing significant declines in its local access lines due to the impact of the ongoing fixed-to-mobile substitution. Erosion in the fixed-line subscriber base continues with approximately 0.01 million customers lost in April, taking the total number to 92.34 million.
We are maintaining our long-term Underperform recommendation on China Unicom. The stock retains a Zacks #4 (Sell) Rank for the short term (1-3 months).
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Nokia Lumia 610 Loses Skype Support - Brighthand
The Nokia 610 was created for those looking for an inexpensive Windows Phone, and it therefore has a minimal feature set. Nokia says that, as a result, users of this model won't be able to use Skype.
When the Windows Phone version of Skype was released a few months ago, Nokia 610 users could download this app, even though the device didn't meet the minimal criteria -- it does not have enough RAM.
Nokia has now released the following statement:
Nokia attachs great importance to the launch of products and services to bring the user experience, so even if the Skype Windows Phone version on the Nokia Lumia 610 does, but after intensive testing, we found the user experience does not guarantee to Nokia and Skype the expected level. Therefore, we do not recommend users to use Skype on the Nokia Lumia 610.
This has gone a bit beyond recommendations. Microsoft will no longer allow users of the Lumia 610 to download this software from the Windows Phone Marketplace, although those who already have it will continue to be able to use it.
Skype is a very popular VoIP and video-chatting app. Microsoft purchased its developer last year with the stated goal of integrating the service into Windows Phone. It can be used on more powerful models, like the Nokia Lumia 900 and HTC Titan II.
Everything Everywhere: Rivals chose not to 'champion' 4G - zdnet.co.uk
Orange and T-Mobile's parent company has said a lack of action by rival operators is part of the reason the UK lags other countries in the rollout of 4G services.
Everything Everywhere said its competitors, such as Telefonica (O2) and Vodafone, had chosen to improve efficiencies in their 3G networks, in pursuit of cost savings. By contrast, it has chosen to invest in its 4G network, it said.
"They've chosen not to champion 4G at this stage. It's a choice," David Salem, head of network strategy and end-to-end design at Everything Everywhere said on Tuesday, as the company announced it has finished integrating Orange and T-Mobile's 3G networks.
"We have many proof points of how they could have used their existing spectrum they already own today to run a 4G service to the UK," he added.
The comments come as Everything Everywhere pushes its case to be allowed to refarm 2G spectrum in the 1800MHz range to deliver faster 4G services. Ofcom, which needs to give its approval for this, on Wednesday published the responses it got in a public consultation on the refarming. Telefonica was one of those objecting, on a range of grounds.
If the Everything Everywhere does get the green light, it expects its Orange and T-Mobile customers will get access to super-fast 4G mobile services up to a year ahead of other operators' customers.
"The 900Mhz spectrum they do have actually was ahead of the spectrum we're using in terms of devices and equipment; they just chose not to do it. They've chosen to invest or reuse that spectrum for 3G," he said.
However, there are no devices in the UK that are compatible with 4G services in the 900MHz band. However, that situation arises out of whether operators have worked with hardware makers to have devices launched, Salem said.
"It's about commitment. You're talking about Telefonica and Vodafone, they're not minnows," he said, adding that creating a device ecosystem would take rival companies between nine months and one year.
Salem noted that even if Everything Everywhere is able to start rolling out 4G by the end of 2012, which is its hope, the UK will still lag the US and other countries by about two years.
T-Mobile in Springfield holding hiring event - KSPR.com
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. --T-Mobile is hiring in Springfield. With approximately 60 full-time Customer Service and Sales Representative positions available at the T-Mobile Customer Care Center in Springfield, the company is holding a hiring event this Wednesday.
Applicants can attend the T-Mobile hiring event on Wednesday May 23rd at the T-Mobile Springfield Call Center.
When: Wednesday, May 23rd from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Where: T-Mobile Springfield Call Center 2645 North Airport Plaza Ave. (Intersection of Kearny & West Bypass) Springfield
Employees receive a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, 401(k) matching, generous paid time off programs, mobile phone and service discounts, tuition reimbursement, and more.
T-Mobile picks Ericsson, Nokia Siemens for network - Yahoo Finance
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- T-Mobile USA on Tuesday said that Nokia Siemens Networks and LM Ericsson AB will supply the network equipment for its new wireless broadband network, a project worth $4 billion.
T-Mobile is commissioning a "4G LTE" network, the same technology used by Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc. for their high-speed networks. It will use, in part, radio frequencies handed over by AT&T after the bigger company backed off its deal to buy T-Mobile due to opposition from federal regulators.
In addition to handing over spectrum licenses, AT&T gave T-Mobile $3 billion in cash, which will help finance the upgrade. T-Mobile plans to have the network live next year, covering 75 percent of the 25 largest cities.
Sweden's Ericsson is one of the main suppliers for the LTE networks of Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint Nextel Corp., along with Alcatel-Lucent SA of France.
For Nokia Siemens Networks, a joint venture of Finland's Nokia Corp. and Siemens AG of Germany, the T-Mobile order represents a new chance to get into the U.S. market for network equipment. It got a $7 billion order from Harbinger Capital, a hedge fund, to build a network for its startup, LightSquared, but that project appears moribund because regulators concluded it would have interfered with GPS navigation.
T-Mobile USA is making the announcement on the first day of CTIA Wireless, the U.S. cellphone industry trade show, in New Orleans. The company is the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the U.S., with 33.2 million devices on its network. It's a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG of Germany.
T-Mobile goes back to lampooning AT&T iPhone - Yahoo Finance
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Six months after AT&T's deal to buy T-Mobile USA collapsed, T-Mobile's TV ads are going back on the attack against a favorite target: AT&T Inc.
Philipp Humm, the CEO of T-Mobile, showed off a new ad Tuesday featuring a hapless man on a motorcycle, cruising on a desert road as a woman on another motorcycle blows past him. The voiceover explains that the man represents an iPhone 4S on AT&T's network, and the woman is T-Mobile's 4G network.
The ad recalls other attack ads T-Mobile showed a year and a half ago. They likened the iPhone to a young man, carrying on his back a frumpy middle-aged man who represented AT&T's data network. The message: AT&T's network slows down the iPhone.
Those ads disappeared last spring when AT&T offered to buy T-Mobile for $39 billion. That deal collapsed in December after regulators opposed it on grounds that No. 2 carrier AT&T buying No. 4 T-Mobile would reduce competition.
Between the announcement of the deal and its collapse, T-Mobile was in limbo. That hurt the company's brand, and it's now looking at "relaunching" it, Humm told attendees at CTIA Wireless, the U.S. cellphone industry's annual trade show, which kicked off Tuesday in New Orleans.
Ralph de la Vega, the head of AT&T's wireless division, was on hand at the same event to give his opinion about the ads.
"It's comparing a phone to a network," de la Vega said. "Everyone gets that, right?"
The iPhone 4S can't use AT&T latest wireless data network, which uses so-called "LTE" technology. Nor could it utilize the top speeds on T-Mobile's network, even if it were available for T-Mobile subscribers.
"That's why this industry has a bad rap, we take the truth and we stretch it," de la Vega said.
Sprint Nextel Corp. CEO Dan Hesse, on the same panel discussion, chided both AT&T and T-Mobile for their advertising, saying some in the industry have "taken creative license around the use of the digit '4'." Both AT&T and T-Mobile have networks that are considered "3G," or "third-generation," in industry jargon, but started advertising them as "4G" when they upgraded the speeds.
Hesse argued that the wireless industry's "Achilles' heel" is the low trust people put in it, and the confusion around the network branding doesn't help.
T-Mobile subscribers could get a chance to test the claims of the motorcycle ad later this year, as T-Mobile rejiggers its network. That will, for the first time, make the iPhone compatible with T-Mobile's "4G" network. Even if T-Mobile doesn't sell the phone, used iPhones could be brought over from other carriers.
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