Islam & Pakistan! Technology & Me!
Telecom
Big losses for Cell phone/handheld device manufacturers
32 years ago
The world has been hit terribly by the Global economic recession. The hit has been particularly hard for cell phone manufacturers that include big names like Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorolla.
I am particularly concerned about Nokia – the fact that its sales have plummetted by 90% is alarming indeed.
Here, I have tried to bring to your attention these losses and what impact they may have on the telecom industry using news from various sources of quarterly reports coming from manufacturers.
I’ll begin with Nokia, followed by Sony Ericsson and Motorola.
Nokia
Nokia’s net profit falls 90 percent
If you were wondering how bad things have gotten for the mobile handset market, just take a look at Nokia, the world’s largest maker of cell phones.
The company on Thursday reported a 90 percent fall in first-quarter net profits as the global recession took a big bite out of demand for mobile devices.
For the first quarter, which ended March 31, Nokia said that net profits fell to 122 million euros ($161.3 million). A year earlier the company reported net profits of 1.22 billion euros. Analysts had expected the company to report net profits of about 306 million euros.
The company’s sales fell to 9.27 billion euros from 12.66 billion euros last year. This was also below analyst expectations, which were counting on sales of around 9.80 billion euros.
Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson posts loss, plans to cut 2,000 jobs
STOCKHOLM – Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson on Friday posted a euro293 million ($387 million) net loss in the first quarter on falling sales and said it would slash an additional 2,000 jobs to cut costs.
The result was the third consecutive quarterly loss for the Sony Corp. and LM Ericsson AB joint venture, which reported a profit of euro133 million in the same period in 2008.
Sales in the January-March quarter tumbled by 36 percent to euro1.7 billion, from euro2.7 billion a year earlier.
Sony Ericsson attributed the sales drop to weaker demand for mobile phones, with distributors and retailers trimming inventories amid the economic slowdown.
Motorola
Motorola posts $3.6b loss as devices sales fall by 26 percent
Motorola reported a fourth quarter loss of $3.6 billion, or $1.57 a share, hit by falling sales, particularly in its mobile handset unit. Sales dropped 26 percent, sinking to $7.1 billion, and missing analyst expectations of $7.2 billion. Mobile Devices saw sales drop to $2.35 billion, a 51 percent decline compared to the same period last year. The operating loss was $595 million, compared to an operating loss of $388 million in the year-ago quarter. The struggling handset maker shipped 19.2 million handsets in the quarter, which it estimated gave it a 6.5 percent of the global market. It blamed the unit’s poor performance on the weakening economy and on “gaps in its portfolio.” Motorola also said it was suspending its dividend, and was embarking on a cost savings plan that aimed to save $1.5 billion in 2009. In another blow, Paul Liska, its chief financial officer, is leaving the company. SVP and corporate controller Edward J. Fitzpatrick has been named acting CFO until Motorola can find a replacement.
Other market players like Apple (net loss o f $69 million) and Palm (net loss of $841,000 approx.) have also reported losses over the first quarter.
Blackberry, however, seems to be gaining some ground with its demand rising, particularly in the Middle East and in South-Asian countries like Pakistan.
The mobile handset manufacturing industry does seem to be going through a really rough patch for now. Given the circumstances, there is not much hope for the immediate future but things might stabilize over the course of a couple of years, I hope.
Something that should is worrying for me as a Telecom professional is that this sharp drop in demand of handheld devices and cell phones will have a direct impact on service operators, but let us all hope for the best.
The market in Pakistan is promising indeed. There still is quite a lot of potential for growth here. Let us all hope for the best!
PTCL Administration comes under fire
22 years ago
The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd. (PTCL) administration has come under fire in the National Assembly and is reported that the new administration under Etisalat has already closed down 170 telephone exchanges across Pakistan and a few more may be closed soon.
Ever since Etisalat took over control of Pakistan’s largest telecom company, the company has shown dynamism by launching new products and packages for its existing customers and packages to attract new customers.
But the fact remains that changes are only seen on television, in press advertisements and at the ‘one-stop shops’ of the PTCL. The line-man monopoly remains. I am going through one hell of a time, knocking different doors at PTCL but to no avail as of yet. Acquiring a landline has become a nightmare, and I know it is routine business and everyone has to go through this unless you agree to the terms and conditions set by the ‘line-man’.
Never the less, what follows is an excerpt from the Business Recorder regarding the National Assembly taking up the issue with the PTCL management:
National Assembly body discusses deteriorating standard of PTCL
ISLAMABAD: Chairman National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology & Telecommunications Chaudhry Muhammad Berjees Tahir, chaired a meeting on Tuesday at the Parliament House, wherein the body discussed complaints made by the members and consumers regarding the poor performance and deteriorating standard of PTCL.
The Committee was perturbed being told that 170 exchanges have already been closed and more exchanges are being closed and shut down. They strongly recommended that no exchange should be closed, misplaced or sold forthwith.
The Committee took a serious note of the violation of contract between Etisalat and Government of Pakistan in which Etisalat having only 26 percent of shares holds the management of PTCL and does not bother about the complaints made by the Members of the Parliament and consumers. The Committee also directed the PTCL management to facilitate the customers and not burden them with extra call charges.-PR
http://brecorder.com/index.php?id=891648&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=
PTCL agreement with LMKR Pakistan for deployment of GIS Solution
3Okay, this sounds good. PTCL signed an agreement with LMKR Pakistan for the deployment of a Geographical Information System. This was back in November last year. I hope it helps improve PTCL’s operational efficiency. Yes I continue to hope so while I wait for the deployment of a landline at my place. It’s been months now. But still, all the best! =)
November 5, 2008 – Islamabad: Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL) and LMK Resources (LMKR) Pakistan Wednesday signed an agreement for the deployment of a state‑of‑the‑art turnkey Geographical Information System (GIS) solution.
PTCL’s SEVP South Adel Soufah and EVP of LMKR Mahmood Arsalan signed the agreement on behalf of their respective companies.
The solution will enable PTCL to better manage Access and Transmission Networks and inside plant (OSP and ISP) infrastructure including its copper and optical fibre network. The project, which would provide the network mapping of PTCL on the lines of google earth, would not only facilitate the PTCL to trace any fault in its fiber optic network, but also it would assist the PTCL consumers by early repair of any fault in PTCL network.
Under the project, one of the most strategic developments in the country, would enable the PTCL technical staff through the GIS component, a greater visibility by providing quantitative and qualitative spatial information about the capacity and integrity of the PTCL network and pinpoint faults and issues when they arise.
Through the project, LMKR Pakistan would launch network mapping of Islamabad under its first phase.
According to the scope of the project, the system will eventually be implemented across Pakistan and will become the only project of its kind to be put into practice on this scale in the South Asian region.
As part of the project, LMKR will be delivering this project on a turnkey basis. The objective is to design a robust and streamlined architecture that can be scaled to the national level.The resulting solution will significantly improve the operational efficiency through consolidation and better representation of spatial information.
This system will become the backbone of PTCL’s decision‑making framework in terms of planning new expansions and maintaining existing infrastructure.
It will also enable timely and efficient deployment of new technologies such as GPON and NGN. The consumer being the ultimate beneficiary will experience consistent quality of services and a more fault‑tolerant network. For the PTCL, this project will be a key strategic initiative in their long‑term growth plans and reinforce their position as the largest and most innovate telecom player in the industry.
This will also act as a testament to Etisalat and PTCL’s collective drive for innovation and industry leadership. For LMKR, this project will be another milestone, reinforcing their solid grounding and experience in the telecom domain. For Pakistan, projects of this nature will put us head‑to‑head with some of the most developed telecommunication industries in the world. President LMKR Shabana Atif Khan and Senior Manager PTCL Mubashir Haseeb Chaudhry were also present on the occasion.
Nokia 5800 touchscreen
43 years ago
Nokia rattled the market with the launch of its first proper touchscreen phone, the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music. The phone was first shown in the Hollywood blockbuster, “The Dark Knight”. Available in shades of Blue, Black and Red; the phone truly is lovely aesthetically.
I admit I have only seen it with a friend as yet, but I have gone through detailed reviews of the phone (pictorials, video’s and written reviews) and spoken to my friend about his experience with it.
One of the best features of this phone is Nokia’s experiment with SIM loading. Nope. It’s not under the battery anymore. You can conveniently load the SIM in a tab on the side, just like memory cards are loaded.
The phone has a big 3.2 inch screen with a 360 x 640 pixel resolution. So if you’re fingers are big (or small), Nokia has taken care of it. You can be sure you won’t run into trouble with using the touchscreen interface. The icons are bigger, better.
The Music features have been enhanced, you can slide the phone a notch upwards for the music controls, which makes the phone look even prettier. It has a new and improved Media player and it seems as if Nokia has not given up on its plans to dominate the music/media player market.
The phone is perfectly 3G compatible. Yes, we’re still waiting for these services in Pakistan but anyway. It’s a good plus if you’re a frequent traveller abroad. The Nokia 5800 Xpress music supports 3.6Mbps HSDPA (my final year project is on the deployment of HSDPA in Pakistan) with obvious GPRS and EDGE support for backward compatibility and for the fact that countries like Pakistan are still dependent on GPRS/EDGE. Bundled with Bluetooth and WLAN (Wi-Fi) services, the phone is a gem for data usage.
With the Nokia 5800 Xpress music, Nokia has also improvised its camera interface. You hit a button and you’re ready to play ith the view finder. A 3.2 mega pixel camera supported by a Carl Zeiss lense, I could’nt ask for more.
The phone is priced at around USD 600 and is not officially marketed and sold in Pakistan. It is available through what are known as ‘Grey Channels’ at varying prices from Rs. 36,000 to Rs. 41,000 without proper warranty support.
Hope to see it soon in Pakistan. If you are a user of the phone or have seen/used it or have read about is pro’s and cons. Do share.
Mobile Money Order, Mobilink and Pakistan Post
133 years ago
Mobile-Commerce is still in its experimental stage in Pakistan. There are hardly a few services to be named in this domain. Mobilink, an ORASCOM Telecom company based in Pakistan, has teamed up with Pakistan Post to launch Pakistan’s first Mobile Money Order service.
Using the service, Mobilink subscribers can send and receive amounts of upto Rs. 10,000/- across the entire country via SMS. But it is not as easy at it seems. You still have to go to authorized Pakistan Post Office branches and fill out a form after which, within 24 hours, this transaction may take place between two Mobilink subscribers.
Nevertheless, I believe such initiatives should be appreciated and encouraged to enhance Mobile commerce in Pakistan. I would also suggest that this service be extended to all other Mobile operators in Pakistan.
Chairman PTA, Dr. Mohammad Yaseen, also appreciated Mobilink’s innovative initiative at the inauguration of Mobilink’s new call center.
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