News Analysis

by Arab Advisors Group

Amman, Jordan, May 18, 2011--The Arab Advisors Group released the results of its Cellular Competition Intensity Index 2011. The index ranks Saudi Arabia as the most competitive Arab cellular market. Jordan came in second, followed by Palestine.

Singapore, May 16, 2011--Research and Markets  has announced the addition of the "Singapore - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband" report to their offering. This report looks at Singapore, one of the outstanding telecommunications markets in Asia. At the same time as building its sophisticated telecoms infrastructure, Singapore has successfully promoted itself an IT hub and a place of excellence when it comes to all things to do with IT and telecommunications. It is determined to maintain its status and in the process it continues to embark on new and innovative telecom and IT projects.

Dublin,  Ireland, May 10,2011--Plans to transform Bangladesh into a digital country by 2021 are gaining traction after the Bangladeshi government announced plans in September 2010 to implement seven projects at a cost of BDT64.34bn (US$923.75mn). The seven projects will focus on rolling out next-generation technologies such as broadband wireless and fibre optic cable networks in order to improve Bangladesh's inadequate broadband infrastructure. The key objective is to lower operating costs and provide affordable broadband services to the population through the unification and standardisation of the country's broadband networks,  according to a new report by Resarch and Markets.

Noida, India, May 4, 2011-Despite the fact that, Indian DTH Industry faces several issues, such as low ARPU (average revenue per user), high cost of acquisition of content and subscribers, and various taxes, such as entertainment and service tax, the industry currently has about 30 Million subscribers and is poised to grow to 69 Million subscribers by 2014 end, according to a new research report by RNCOS.

Singapore, April 19, 2011--Mobile markets in Asia continued experiencing strong growth during 2010, according to a new Research and Markets report.  A total of more than 2.6 billion mobile subscribers in early 2011 and an average annual growth of over 25% (excluding the most highly penetrated markets) have combined to see the Asia region have the fastest growing telecommunications markets in the world. With difficult economic conditions and some markets saturating it is not surprising that the growth rate has slowed somewhat over the last year or so. This is after a period where annual mobile subscriber growth rates in Asia had been well in excess of 50%.

by NSR

Seoul, South Korea, April 13, 2011--Knowing the enemy is the key to defeating the enemy.  In terms of North Korea, one is not sure whether its behavior is merely posturing or one that could lead to serious conflict.  It is thus not surprising to see Seoul allocate funds towards the purchase as well as the development of its own UAV program in order to keep a closer eye on North Korea.  The capability is becoming even more paramount as 2012 approaches when it will take over wartime operational control of its military from the United States.

by NSR

Mumbai, India, March 28, 2011--NSR has often spoken of the "indi"osyncracies of satellite capacity supply in the Indian market – be it the role of ISRO/Antrix as a gatekeeper, glass ceilings on capacity prices or the preferential allotment to the domestic INSAT fleet. No efforts were spared to keep the country’s six Pay TV DTH operators on Indian transponders. But a combination of power anomalies, increasing backlog, spectrum controversies and (more importantly) unmet demand have allowed “foreign” transponders to trickle into the country’s DTH market – one 3-5 year contract at a time.

by Elisabeth Tweedie

Los Angeles, March 1, 2011-- The demand for mobile backhaul is growing at an unprecedented rate. Smart phones on ave-rage consume five times as much bandwidth as a regular cell phone and the number of smart phones is projected to increase by 300% to  two billion units in 2015.  This has prompted the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to call for an increase in both fiber and spectrum in order to avoid network bottlenecks.  In July 2010 NSR projected that the satellite portion of this market should be worth just under  US$ 600 million by 2015.