Huawei Technologies has today announced the launch of the industry's 'first' 3G / 2G Software Defined Radio (SDR) Single RAN product. The base station has been developed in close cooperation with technologists from Vodafone who are said to be exploring how to enhance the customer experience in a more cost-effective and energy efficient way.

The product enables mobile operators to seamlessly switch from 2G to 3G or use both simultaneously, with the potential to offer total cost of ownership savings to operators. The development is one of the first products from Huawei and Vodafone's Radio Mobile Innovation Centre based in Madrid, Spain.

Using Huawei's latest Remote Radio Unit, Huawei's Single RAN solution aims to provide greater cost efficiencies for operators in the areas of power consumption, transmission expense, footprint and maintenance costs when compared with traditional BTS solutions.

In either 2G, 3G or mixed mode, the solution is designed to enable operators to make significant CAPEX and OPEX savings because they only need to deploy a single Radio Access Network base station, compared to the costs involved with two independent 2G and 3G networks. Paving the way for technology evolution as well as protecting operators' network investment, Huawei's Single RAN Solution is also capable of seamlessly migrating to LTE.

"Vodafone has played a key role in helping to develop this innovative technology, which aims to deliver greater flexibility in terms of both running and planning increasingly cost effective networks in selected markets," said Andy MacLeod, Global Networks Director of Vodafone. "The ability to switch between different radio access technologies is designed to deliver a range of business benefits such as enabling the more efficient management of network capacity in appropriate markets. This technology also aims to reduce carbon emissions from base stations."

"Huawei is happy to have been able to collaborate closely with Vodafone to achieve this important industry milestone," said Wan Biao, the President of Huawei Wireless Product Line. "Over the course of its strategic partnership with Vodafone, Huawei has proven its significant track-record combining technological expertise with its customer-driven service capability. This strengthens Vodafone's leading market position as well as allowing Huawei to further build on one of the broadest product portfolios in the industry."

A study into the potential impact of unlimited music download mobile packages has unveiled a UK market worth £1.6 billion a year.

Last week's statement by Sony Ericsson that it will partner with Omnifone to offer its PlayNow plus service is the latest in the race to bring unlimited music downloads bundles to market – kicked off by Nokia's recent announcement that its ‘Comes With Music' package will be available from next month. Research specialist TNS believes this latest concept could revolutionise the mobile marketplace – with over a quarter (26%) of consumers interested in buying into this offer.

The impact of millions of users switching to unlimited music downloads would be huge, says TNS. With consumers estimating that they would download 64 tracks per month on their phones, TNS identifies a potential for British buyers alone to download 2.1 billion tracks a year via their mobile phones – equating to £1.6 billion worth of music. With legal UK music downloads in 2007 standing at just 1.5 billion across all channels, the step-change that unlimited mobile downloads could bring will mean big business for mobile operators.

The study also indicates that the new bundled music download services could shift consumers' music habits away from older CD and PC-based technologies.  45% of CD buyers in Britain claim that they would buy fewer CDs if they adopted Nokia ‘Comes With Music', while 47% of PC music down-loaders would expect to reduce their PC downloading.  And of significant interest for the music industry, 38 per cent of those who currently download pirated music would expect to reduce their illegal downloading activity following adoption of Nokia's service.

Amy Cashman, Managing Director of TNS Technology comments: "This research clearly underscores the powerful latent consumer demand for mobile music availability – which if successfully fulfilled will transform the way that people buy music as well as reducing illegal downloads.

"History indicates, however, that the execution against this demand has not always been ideal for consumers.  For example, incompatible file formats, download restrictions and lack of choice have all conspired in the past to act as barriers against consumer take-up of digital music platforms.  No doubt the industry will be watching closely to see if Nokia and Sony Ericsson will be able to move the goalposts substantially forward."

Nokia has announced the launch in Spain of its new digital music site, Nokia Music Store, which already has a catalogue of more than 4 million songs amongst which can be found the highest-selling records, independent record labels, and new national talent. With the launch of the store, Spanish consumers can enjoy music of all types on their mobile device or PC whenever they want and however they want, using a combination of downloads and streaming services.

The catalogue of the Nokia Music Store is focused on the local market, strongly associated with the consumer, as more than 70% of the music that is sold in Spain is local. To achieve this, there is a team in each country to determine more closely the tastes of each region. Its search engine enables the differentiation between genres such as Flamenco, Latin music, Alternative or Electronic, to name a few.

La Oreja de Van Gogh, Pereza, Melendi, Amaral, Deluxe, Krakovia, Coti, Ismael Serrano, Extromoduro and Miguel Bosé are some of the artists that can already be downloaded from the Nokia Music Store. Nokia has reached agreements with companies such as Universal Music, Warner Music (amongst others), with aggregators such as The Orchard, and with local record labels such as Blanco y Negro, Subterfuge and Pias, with the objective of offering a broad range of genres and artists.

"With the launch of the Nokia Music Store, Nokia aims to make available to all Spanish users of all ages the music that they want at any moment they want, with all the facilities that mobility permits nowadays," states Manuel Reverte, Head of Services and Software at Nokia Spain.

Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks have announced a patent license agreement with Huawei and its affiliates for standards essential patents. The agreement covers the worldwide use of all standards essential patents of all parties, including GSM, WCDMA, CDMA2000, optical networking, datacom and WiMAX in mobile devices, infrastructure and services.
 
"We are very pleased to have entered into this agreement with Huawei" said Ilkka Rahnasto, Vice President, Intellectual Property Rights, Nokia. "Huawei is the thirty-fifth company to license Nokia patents related to cellular standards and this agreement demonstrates how companies can license intellectual property in a way that encourages industry innovation and fosters a healthy IPR environment."
 
"As a newer player in the telecoms IPR environment, Nokia Siemens Networks see this as our most significant licensing agreement to date", said Gottfried Weidel, Head of Intellectual Property Rights, Nokia Siemens Networks. "It will help to create a more predictable business environment and further supports our goal of industry innovation."
 
"This agreement is of great significance and benefit to Huawei, Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks" said Song Liuping, Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, Huawei. "It underscores our commitment to create a harmonious environment for the benefit and development of the telecom industry."

Following the announcement on 9 September 2008 that the EMAPA region would be reorganised to provide greater focus on the Group's higher growth markets, Vodafone  has announced new senior management appointments:

Nick Read, currently CEO of Vodafone UK, will be appointed CEO of the Asia-Pacific & Middle East Region which will comprise Vodafone's interests in Australia, China, Egypt, Fiji, India, New Zealand and Qatar.

Morten Lundal, currently CEO Middle East & Africa in EMAPA, will be appointed CEO of the Central Europe & Africa Region which will comprise Vodafone's interests in the Czech Republic, Ghana, Hungary, Kenya, Poland, Romania, Turkey and Vodacom Group in South Africa. 

Nick Read and Morten Lundal will report to Vittorio Colao, CEO of Vodafone Group.

Guy Laurence, currently CEO of Vodafone Netherlands, will become the CEO of Vodafone UK. He will report to Michel Combes, CEO of the Europe Region. 

Nick Read joined Vodafone in 2001 and has had a variety of senior roles including CFO and Chief Commercial Officer of Vodafone UK and was appointed CEO of Vodafone UK in early 2006. Prior to joining Vodafone, Nick held senior global finance positions with UBM and Federal Express Worldwide.

Morten Lundal was appointed to his current position at Vodafone earlier this year.  He joined Telenor in 1997 and held several CEO positions, including for the Internet Divison and Telenor Business Solutions.  He was Executive Vice President for Corporate Strategy, after which he became the CEO of Digi Telecommunications in Malaysia (a subsidiary of Telenor). 

Guy Laurence joined Vodafone in 2000 and has had a number of senior roles including CEO of Vizzavi, Vodafone's original mobile internet venture, and Global Consumer Marketing Director before moving to Vodafone Netherlands. A search is currently underway for the CEO position at Vodafone Netherlands.

Latest research from Wireless Intelligence shows that total revenues generated by mobile operators in Western Europe reached EUR155 billion in 2007, 3.32% growth from 2006. In EU15 countries, cellular revenues represent 1.5% of Gross Domestic Product. In most countries, mobile revenues have been growing faster than GDP which demonstrates that the telecom sector has proven to be resilient to the general economic downturn. "In 2008, we expect to see a similar relatively healthy growth in mobile revenues" says Joss Gillet, Senior Analyst at Wireless Intelligence.

Non-voice revenues appear to be driving growth as voice revenues remain under strong pressure. As market penetration continues to rise, mobile operators are looking at increasing revenue share and focusing on customer retention.

In Western Europe, the top 5 operator groups (Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, Telefonica O2 and TIM) generated revenues of 106.6 billion Euros, or 69% of the total revenues for the region. In markets such as Germany, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria, cellular revenues have decreased year on year, partly due to: new European roaming regulations, domestic regulations (Bersani Decree in Italy), weakened ARPU, and decline in effective voice price per minute.

Gillet concludes that "operators are now focusing on revenue stimulation and fighting churn through key competitive factors such as: price elasticity, network coverage, loyalty policy, quality of services, value added services and market segmentation which includes MVNO development".

Arriva Scandinavia AB, bus and train operator in Denmark and NZR have announced that it has commenced the roll out of free broadband internet access services to customers on the Arriva Denmark bus fleet.

Twenty three buses have already been equipped the Multimesh mobile broadband gateway developed by Meshhopper Wireless (member of UK based Something Group), a industry leading innovator, developer and operator of mobile and static
wireless access solutions. Arriva also selected Odyssys, the industry
leading automatic vehicle location solution that is embedded in all the
Multimesh broadband gateways to track and monitor each bus location in
real time via the centralized monitoring system that has been developed for
real time passenger transport information use. Arriva is largest bus operator
in Denmark, carrying more than 250 million passengers every year

"We are continually seeking new ways to improve the quality of bus travel
in Denmark," said Johnny Hansen, Managing Director of Arriva Scandinavia. "We
believe that the introduction of broadband services on these two bus lines in
Copenhagen today will enhance the passenger experience and provide a useful
and productive way for our customers to spend their journey time. If more
people decide to take the bus and leave their cars at home we can make a
serious contribution to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions," said
Johnny Hansen, CEO of Arriva Scandinavia.

The Multimesh gateway provides easy to use Wi-Fi Broadband Internet
access on each bus by creating a link between the bus and the 3G HSPA (High
Speed Packet Access) cellular broadband network provided by 3. In
addition, Multimesh offers Ethernet connectivity for in-vehicle systems
such as vehicle location, CCTV and ticketing. Free internet access is
provided by NZR with their Top-Portal product, so ensuring that users can be
online quickly, easily and free of charge.

"We are pleased that Arriva and NZR chose to work with our design and
development team to provide a solution that met the needs of Arriva and its
customers. As a pioneer in next generation networks, we were able to overcome
hurdles of integration and scalability, which placed the Multimesh
solution in the driving seat against other offerings in the market," said
Nigel Wesley, CEO of Meshhopper.

Arriva Scandinavia awarded the contract for in-bus broadband to Network
Zone Relations (NZR), Meshhopper`s representative in the region and a
specialist in wireless communication systems. "Arriva's roll-out of Wi-Fi for
bus passengers is a clear indication of the importance broadband access has
in today's bus industry," said Louis Preben Nezer, CEO of NZR. "Our winning
proposal included free Wi-Fi hotspots supported by revenue-generating
advertising; looking to the future, buses with broadband connections will
also be able to serve streaming media and other forms of passenger
information and entertainment material. MultiMesh is the gateway for this
type of dynamic content and we look forward to working with Meshhopper
Wireless on similar projects throughout the EU."

According to a new report from Informa Telecoms & Media "Mobile Broadband Access at Home: The Business Case for Femtocells, UMA and IMS/VCC Dual Mode Solutions", mobile traffic generated in the home environment was estimated at 40% in 2007. By 2013 it is expected to reach 58%, and the Analyst firm expects Femtocells deployment to help operators offload up to 8% of total mobile traffic to fixed networks via end-user broadband lines.

The report found that mobile voice minutes of use (MoU) in the home environment will approach 42% of total mobile voice traffic by the end of 2008. As the price gap between fixed and mobile calls narrows mobile voice usage at home will gradually increase to reach 49% by 2013. The office environment will come in second position with a 30% market share, while only 9% of calls will be initiated on the move – when walking, driving, or on the train or bus – and the remaining 21% of calls will be generated from other public environments.

Mobile data usage is also expected to increase over the coming years, thanks to the aggressive flat-rate data-plans pushed by mobile operators, the rollout of mobile broadband networks and most importantly the advances in mobile terminal software. In particular, advanced user interfaces are leading to the proliferation of new type of smartphones and mobile internet devices, including Apple's iPhone and Google's G1.

2007 was a watershed year for operators in terms of their strategy regarding the development of new non-voice services for their customers. "While mobile operators continue to develop their own services and strategies around applications such as music, games, TV and video, there was a realisation during 2007 that a far greater opportunity exists in providing unrestricted broadband access to the Internet" said Malik Saadi, Principal Analyst at Informa and lead author of the report.

"In the same way that voice traffic has moved from old fixed line telephony service PSTN to mobile, there is reason to believe that a significant percentage of Internet traffic generation will move away from fixed personal computers to mobile devices including mobile handsets, mobile Internet devices (MIDs) and connected notebooks" he continued.

These strategies are starting to pay off with the leading mobile operators seeing data revenues surpassing 40% growth in 1H 2008 compared to the same period last year. Australia's Telstra for example announced its non-SMS data revenues have jumped 84% to Aus $360 million in 1H08 from Aus $196 million recorded for the same period last year. Verizon Wireless recorded 49% year on year data revenue growth in 1Q08 and AT&T 57%. At the same time mobile data traffic is surging with operators now recording growth ranging from 120% to 250% over their networks. However, Informa Telecoms & Media has estimated that annual revenues generated by 1 PetaByte of data traffic will decrease by a factor of 4.9 by 2012 to reach US$125 million – down from US$612 million in 2008.

In 2008, the home environment will already be responsible for more than 43% of total mobile data traffic but this traffic is expected to predominate with an overwhelming 60% by 2013. The growth will be driven by users increasingly initiating longer and richer data sessions in the relaxed environment of their home, through browsing the internet, watching longer and richer video clips, downloading music and video content, exchanging pictures, or using VoIP and on-line chatting.

"This does not mean that mobile broadband services will fully substitute fixed broadband, but users will prefer to keep some applications on their mobile or portable devices since these offer greater privacy" said Malik Saadi.

In order to cope with the explosive mobile data traffic growth, operators have invested heavily in offering better 3.5G+ coverage in busy urban areas. However, these areas are also data-hungry hotzones, where the majority of smartphone and connected notebook users reside, so this will eventually result in overloaded networks and low bandwidth per user. In addition, as the 3G/3.5G+ signal travels away from the base-station or penetrates thick concrete walls in residential or business environments, the received signal strength deteriorates considerably, resulting in a significant drop of bandwidth in inbuilding environments, which could in turn affect the overall user experience.

Mobile operators have a vested interest in ensuring that call connection, call quality, and mobile broadband capabilities are as high as possible in the home environment. Mobile Broadband Access at Home clearly shows that, if implemented properly, mobile access at home (MAH) solutions including femtocells, UMA/dual-mode, VCC/dual-mode, and alternative technologies have the potential to help mobile operators offload a substantial part of mobile traffic to the subscriber fixed line. This could potentially lead to significant savings by relaxing network capacity upgrade requirements while enabling considerable improvement in both coverage and capacity of mobile broadband access in the home environment.