Total Telecom 2009 №03 March

Business analysis for the global telecommunications industry. In this issue:MOBILE IN INDIA: Foreign operators hope to take advantage of mobile growth in India, but investors are not so sure of the economics.VENDOR FINANCING: Operators are looking for new ways to fund investment, prompting a return to vendor financing and calls for caution.MOBILE SERVICES: Rapid mobile growth in Eastern Europe is having a positive effect on some western operators’ balance sheets, including the Scandinavian incumbents TeliaSonera and Telenor.OPERATOR INVESTMENTS: Most of the headlines currently are about telcos cutting back, but international operators such as AT&T, Tata and Reliance are spending large on hosting networks and data centres.HANDSET DEVELOPMENTS: Europe’s big mobile show highlighted the intensifying battle for smartphone market share, with Microsoft taking centre stage.CABLE OPERATORS: Europe’s cable operators are having to invest in new standards to compete, but in some markets their future could be in the balance.NEXT-GENERATION MOBILE DEVICES: Apple’s App Store has created a new, workable solution for applications downloads that vendors and operators are keen to replicate.SOFTWARE-DEFINED RADIO: Software-defined radio is helping operators to maximise their investments, but the benefit of a more efficient use of spectrum is yet to come.