3G draws 20% more subscribers
HA NOI — Viet Nam has 16 million 3G (third generation mobile telecommunications) subscribers benefiting from wide-area wireless voice messages, mobile Internet access, video calls and mobile TV by the end of May.
The figure represents a 20 per cent increase over December 2011, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications.
Of the four mobile operators that provide 3G services, MobiFone has the largest number of subscribers at 6.74 million while Vinaphone has 5.74 million, Viettel 3.38 million and Vietnammobile, 113,000.
First provided in Viet Nam in 2009, the third generation network is being used by two types of terminal equipment, 3G USB receivers (for computer) and 3G enabled smartphones.
Mobile operators in the last three years have installed 33,700 3G BTSs (Base Transmission Stations) nationwide, providing wireless broadband internet access to 91 per cent of the country.
According to a recent survey on 3G carried out in Ha Noi, Da Nang and HCM City by market researcher Nielsen and Viet Nam Post and Telecom newspaper, 52 per cent of subscribers access 3G via USB receivers and 48 per cent via smartphones.
Meanwhile, 90 per cent of subscribers access 3G 3-4 times per week while 40 per cent of them access the network daily.
NTT DoCoMo in Japan launched the first pre-commercial 3G network in 1998 and the first commercial launch of 3G on 1 October 2001.
While Viet Nam has 16 million 3G subscribers out of its 120 million mobilephone subscribers, there are 1.1 billion 3G subscribers out of the 5.9 billion cellular subscribers worldwide, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). — VNS
Is the iPhone overcrowding the world’s 3G networks? - Gigaom.com
Traffic originating from the iPhone is nearing 50 percent of all data traversing carriers’ HSPA networks. Those numbers could have a chilling effect on emerging LTE operators, who are trying to migrate to 4G but are finding themselves contending with the iPhone’s enormous 3G demands.
For its Traffic and Market Report, Ericsson sampled data from GSM carriers in the Americas, Europe and Asia, discovering that, on average, the iPhone accounts for a little more than 20 percent of their total subscribers but a whopping 45 percent of their total 3G/HSPA traffic. In comparison, Android penetration level among those same operators is around 15 percent, while those devices account for about 30 percent of their 3G traffic loads.
The differences between Android and iPhone users
Ericsson found that, on average, the iPhone and Android ran neck and neck when it comes to average consumption per subscriber: around 350 MB per month. But there was huge variation in those usage levels between different carriers, especially on Android. At the high end or Ericsson’s measurements, Android users consume 1400 MB a month, compared to 1200 MB for the iPhone, while on some networks Android phone usage averaged just a mere 50 MB a month. Network monthly averages for the iPhone never drop much lower than 200 MB.
The overall variation can be explained by carriers’ widely differing pricing policies. For instance T-Mobile USA not only offers up fairly liberal data buckets in its data tiers, but it allows customers to use mobile hotspot capabilities at no extra charge, driving up monthly consumption. Ericsson explained the even bigger variation among Google OS phones, however, by the fact that Android devices run the entire gamut of the market, while Apple targets the mid-to-high end. So in networks where Android plays second fiddle to the iPhone – which for a long while was the case at AT&T – Android devices often gravitate toward the low end, while Apple devices wind up in the hands of power users.
That helps explain how the iPhone can have such an enormous impact on operators 3G networks. Not only are iPhones a plurality of all devices on the network, they’re often winding up in the hands of carriers’ most aggressive data users.
Ericsson’s data only takes HSPA networks into account. CDMA operators like Sprint and Verizon only recently landed the iPhone, so they have spent the last several years loading up their 3G networks with Android devices. Android also is the only smartphone OS besides Windows Phone supported on an LTE network. Compared to 3G, the LTE phone installed base is miniscule, but it’s growing rapidly.
If Apple doesn’t include LTE in this year’s iPhone, then the gap between Android and iOS on 3G traffic levels may only grow bigger. Android power users will start migrating to new LTE networks, while iPhone users will remain on much more inefficient 3G networks.
How moving to LTE impacts you
As I’ve written before, a 3G-only iPhone scenario could play havoc with the wireless industry, particular in North America. If operators must keep investing in their 3G networks in order to meet mounting iPhone traffic, then they won’t be able to focus on their future LTE networks, which will ultimately allow them to deliver a lot more data, a lot more cheaply.
Apple has signaled that it’s ready to embrace LTE with the launch of the new iPad, hopefully securing 4G’s place in at least some versions of the new iPhone. LTE may sound like a carrier conceit — promising little to consumers except higher speeds and crappier battery life – but consumers stand to lose out as well if the transition to LTE is delayed. LTE is the first stepping stone to much higher-capacity LTE-Advanced systems and heterogeneous networks.
By dramatically lowering the cost to deliver data, carriers will start lowering the data prices they offer to the consumers. They won’t do it out of the goodness of their hearts, but that’s where competition comes into play.
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Motorola’s Updated MOTOACTV Combines Fitness and Social Media - Zeropaid
Hey kids, don’t tweet and run: fitness and social media collide head on with Motorola’s updated MOTOACTV gadget.
Motorola have released a comprehensive update for their fitness gadget MOTOACTV, giving users advanced fitness tracking features, and the ability to receive Twitter and Facebook updates during a workout.
As well as a redesigned screen, new options for workout plans and the ability to set targets, users can now read Twitter and Facebook updates. The gadget can already send and receive texts and phone calls, and the new update is designed to provide users with added communication options. While you can’t send updates using the device, you can still “Like” other people’s posts
But how useful is this feature? For the less coordinated among us, it takes enough brain power to put one foot in front of the other, let alone make a phone call, check Facebook or read the latest Twitter updates. Plus, the screen size of the MOTOACTV is designed to be small enough so that it can function as a watch or armband, which doesn’t make it the most user-friendly device for reading.
This raises the much-heard question: how much social media is too much? Is it really necessary to be able to stay connected with our friends and followers while pounding the pavement, on a bike, or letting off steam on the driving range? With this feature, it seems like Motorola are attempting to move their product out of the “only for exercise buffs” category and into the mainstream. Starting at $250, this isn’t exactly the cheapest watch on the market, so the availability of the optional social media plug-in somewhat sweetens the deal for users who aren’t persuaded by the watch’s existing features.
Even without the plug-in, the MOTOACTV’s latest update consolidates the gadget’s place in the top ranks of sophisticated fitness devices. Its GPS tracker uploads your exercise route to the website, allowing you to analyze time and speed statistics, measure your heart rate and set fitness goals. With a scratch-resistant touch-screen display that adjusts to lighting, and a smart player that learns what music motivates you the most, the device isn’t for the faint-hearted, but rather encourages users to get serious about exercise.
To download Motorola’s update, tether your device to your computer, then go to the GooglePlay store and search for MotoACTV Facebook and Twitter. There you’ll find the app’s software update and the social plug-in.
Vodafone in controversy over its tax bill - Daily Telegraph
It invests £1.5m a day in mobile networks in Britain, and is still writing tax off against the £5.96bn it paid the government for mobile spectrum in 2000. It also paid around £700m in payroll and other taxes last year.
Meanwhile, its highest paid member of staff, chief executive Vittorio Colao, saw his pay package more than double from £6.6m to over £14m last year, including more than £12m in bonuses.
In avoiding corporation tax in Britain, Vodafone joins a growing list of major multi-nationals that have a major presence in the UK but pay little or no corporation tax.
In the past, Google’s chairman, Eric Schmidt, has blamed the low payments on the UK’s weak tax laws, saying it has a duty to shareholders to pay no more tax than required and his company’s hands are tied by the Government’s low demands.
“It is true we could pay more tax but we would have to do so voluntarily. It’s called paying the legally minimum amount of tax required,” he said.
Vodafone caught up in new tax row - WalesOnline
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