In previous posts here, I've mentioned the buzz of interest around Turkey's Telecommunications Board paving the way for MVNOs to enter the market. With this in mind, I am pleased to announce that a new feature of the 5th annual Eurasia Com conference (Istanbul, 31 March & 1 April 2009) will be a co-located workshop on the theme of exploiting opportunities created by this move by the regulator. The workshop will be led by Alex Bessen of the Bessen Group, a US-headquartered international management consulting practice to the mobile data industry.
Alex will be drawing on his company's MVNO Service Portfolio, MVNE Service Portfolio and HNO Service Portfolio so the workshop will be of interest to executives from all of these value chain actors.
While speaking with contacts in Turkey, I've heard expressed several times the opinion that regulators in nearby markets (i.e. CIS markets in the Caucasus region, such as Azerbaijan and Armenia) will probably watch developments in Turkey with interest ahead of making their own decisions about whether there is a case for licensing MVNOs. Given that our conference attracts delegates from these markets and from other former-Soviet states in Central Asia, as well as a good showing from Turkey, I am confident Alex will be sharing insights with a diverse group of workshop participants.
19 Nov 2008
Eurasia Com boosted by confirmation of Turk Telekom CEO
I am delighted to announce that the profile of next year's 5th annual Eurasia Com conference in Istanbul (31 March & 1 April 2009) will be boosted significantly by the presence of Dr. Paul Doany, which was confirmed this morning.Dr. Doany is the CEO of both Türk Telekom and Oger Telecom, an emerging markets telecommunications group controlled by the Saudi Oger Group, one of the Middle-East's most prominent multi-sector organisations. Dr. Doany will be welcoming international visitors to the conference with a Keynote Address on the morning of 31 March, and has been invited to use this speaking opportunity to outline his vision for the development of world-class services in Turkey and in developing markets elsewhere. Eurasia Com attracts delegates from the telecoms businesses of Turkey and the former Soviet Republics of the Caucasus and Central Asia. The event therefore offers a highly convenient one-stop shop for anyone looking to do business with the operators and service providers of this fast-developing region.
Türk Telekom, Turkey's incumbent fixed-line operator, owns a majority stake in MNO Avea, which continues to lag behind rivals Turkcell and Vodafone in terms of market share. I've commented this week on speculation around how the recent implementation of MNP in Turkey will affect how the mobile market is divided up and I daresay that Eurasia Com 2009 will be taking place against a background of ongoing battles for high-value subscribers.
17 Nov 2008
Turkey's MNP adventure gets underway
Our Global Mobile Daily service last week told me that there had been around 50,000 porting requests in Turkey on the first day of MNP being available in the country. The story went on to say "it is thought that up to seven million porting requests could eventually be made by subscribers of the country’s three networks, Turkcell, Vodafone Turkey, and Avea."
Working to create the next iteration of our annual Istanbul Eurasia Com conference and exhibition has led me to watch the Turkish market a little more closely of late than I get the chance to do throughout the rest of the year. I daresay anyone asking about burning issues for Turkish cellco execs would get the same sorts of answers I've been hearing. 3G licensing, MVNOs and MNP are the three hottest topics. With this in mind, as well as making the usual calls, I tried using our Eurasia Com LinkedIn group to get a sense of who is set to gain from these developments. When asking which operator is set to gain most from the implementation of MNP, I've received a pretty mixed bag of responses. One school of thought seems to be that MNP will work well for third-placed Avea, which is owned by incumbent carrier Turk Telekom, the theory being that they will win market share by competing aggressively on price. Others feel that Turkcell, having made more progress with getting ready to launch 3G services, will gain by finding it easier to nab subscribers from rival networks less able to offer attractive services. I won't pretend to know enough to take a view one way or the other.
In other Eurasia Com-related news, I am pleased to announce our partnership with the organisers of Mobile Monday Istanbul. We are proud to be hosting the April 2009 meeting, which will immediately follow the day two conference sessions at Eurasia Com. Also, I gladly accepted the organisers' kind invitation to attend the January meeting and offer an overview of the Informa Telecoms & Media take on mobile social networking.
Working to create the next iteration of our annual Istanbul Eurasia Com conference and exhibition has led me to watch the Turkish market a little more closely of late than I get the chance to do throughout the rest of the year. I daresay anyone asking about burning issues for Turkish cellco execs would get the same sorts of answers I've been hearing. 3G licensing, MVNOs and MNP are the three hottest topics. With this in mind, as well as making the usual calls, I tried using our Eurasia Com LinkedIn group to get a sense of who is set to gain from these developments. When asking which operator is set to gain most from the implementation of MNP, I've received a pretty mixed bag of responses. One school of thought seems to be that MNP will work well for third-placed Avea, which is owned by incumbent carrier Turk Telekom, the theory being that they will win market share by competing aggressively on price. Others feel that Turkcell, having made more progress with getting ready to launch 3G services, will gain by finding it easier to nab subscribers from rival networks less able to offer attractive services. I won't pretend to know enough to take a view one way or the other.
In other Eurasia Com-related news, I am pleased to announce our partnership with the organisers of Mobile Monday Istanbul. We are proud to be hosting the April 2009 meeting, which will immediately follow the day two conference sessions at Eurasia Com. Also, I gladly accepted the organisers' kind invitation to attend the January meeting and offer an overview of the Informa Telecoms & Media take on mobile social networking.
14 Nov 2008
Dual-mode WiMAX/GSM device hits Russian market
Earlier this year WiMAX watchers Maravedis were talking up Russia as one of the world's top WiMAX/BWA markets. Some weight was added to this arguments when we hosted a, WiMAX Forum-endorsed and well-attended Russia/CIS conference in Moscow last month. Further evidence of Russia being a key market for WiMAX equipment and device vendors was reported yesterday by telecoms.com, who noted that Taiwanese PDA and handset maker HTC has officially unveiled a dual-mode mobile WiMAX/GSM handset to add to its 'Touch' range of devices using Windows Mobile OS. The first to get their hands on the HTC Max 4G, which is being heralded by its makers as the world's first commercially available device of this type, will customers of Russia's Scartel.
Scartel, currently building out a mobile WiMAX network in Moscow and St. Petersburg and offering services under the 'Yota' brand name, will offer the HTC device to subscribers from November 26th.
According to the telecoms.com piece, for voice, Scartel HTC MAX 4G users "will be able to make and receive GSM calls with any Russian mobile phone network operator; when both callers are Yota subscribers, calls will be routed as VoIP on the Scartel's mobile WiMAX network."
We hope that Scartel and HTC will both be represented at our 7th annual Russia & CIS Com conference (formerly GSM>3G Russia) in Moscow next June when, once again, we will be gathering high level executives from telecoms businesses mainly in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. For companies looking for good business development opportunities in the CIS, this event offers a very convenient one-stop shop for meeting operators of every type and size - fixed, mobile, integrated, cable MSOs and more. An earlier opportunity, relating more specifically to meeting prospects from the CIS markets of the Caucasus region and Central Asia (i.e. Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) is our Eurasia Com conference. The next of these will be 31st March and 1st April 2009 in Istanbul. Companies which have already confirmed their high-level participation include: MTS, MegaFon, Kyrgyztelecom, Bakcell, AzEurotel and Megacom.
Scartel, currently building out a mobile WiMAX network in Moscow and St. Petersburg and offering services under the 'Yota' brand name, will offer the HTC device to subscribers from November 26th.
According to the telecoms.com piece, for voice, Scartel HTC MAX 4G users "will be able to make and receive GSM calls with any Russian mobile phone network operator; when both callers are Yota subscribers, calls will be routed as VoIP on the Scartel's mobile WiMAX network."
We hope that Scartel and HTC will both be represented at our 7th annual Russia & CIS Com conference (formerly GSM>3G Russia) in Moscow next June when, once again, we will be gathering high level executives from telecoms businesses mainly in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. For companies looking for good business development opportunities in the CIS, this event offers a very convenient one-stop shop for meeting operators of every type and size - fixed, mobile, integrated, cable MSOs and more. An earlier opportunity, relating more specifically to meeting prospects from the CIS markets of the Caucasus region and Central Asia (i.e. Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) is our Eurasia Com conference. The next of these will be 31st March and 1st April 2009 in Istanbul. Companies which have already confirmed their high-level participation include: MTS, MegaFon, Kyrgyztelecom, Bakcell, AzEurotel and Megacom.
13 Nov 2008
GSM>3G Middle East speaker: we're on target to double our subscriber base
One of the confirmed speakers for our annual GSM>3G Middle East conference (15-16 December, Dubai) has recently made a very positive prediction regarding his company's growth.
Iraq's Asiacell has indicated that it is on target to double its subscriber base within a 12 month period. CEO Dr Diar Ahmad, who will be joining the panel of speakers at our Dubai conference, said in a recent interview that the customer base has now passed the six million mark.
“By the end of the year we expect to have 6.3 million subscribers,” he told an ITP publication, adding “We have had 90% growth on customer numbers. It is a very aggressive growth - more than we planned for.”
Iraq's Asiacell has indicated that it is on target to double its subscriber base within a 12 month period. CEO Dr Diar Ahmad, who will be joining the panel of speakers at our Dubai conference, said in a recent interview that the customer base has now passed the six million mark.
“By the end of the year we expect to have 6.3 million subscribers,” he told an ITP publication, adding “We have had 90% growth on customer numbers. It is a very aggressive growth - more than we planned for.”
10 Nov 2008
Kyrgyz incumbent carrier: CEO-level support for Eurasia Com conference
Our 5th annual Eurasia Com conference (31 March & 1 April 2009, Istanbul) received a huge boost this morning. While we have done well in terms of attracting speakers and delegates from the mobile operators of the South Caucasus and Central Asia regions, it has frankly been rather more difficult to engage with the mainly state-owned incumbent carriers from that part of the world. Doing this more effectively is an ambition I've held for a couple of years now. I am convinced that many of our customers (telecoms tech vendors looking to access emerging markets regions worldwide) also find their business development in the CIS to be above-averagely challenging. My vision for this event, therefore, has been to gather every kind of telecoms operator from the region under one roof for a two-day one-stop-shop for our sponsors. The CIS markets' incumbent wireline carriers have been the one missing piece from this jigsaw.
That changed today with the confirmation of Mr Marat Mambetaliev, General Director of KYRGYZTELECOM as a member of the panel of speakers. We will now work to leverage this confirmation to encourage the participation of Mr Mambetaliev's counterparts from other countries in the region.
That changed today with the confirmation of Mr Marat Mambetaliev, General Director of KYRGYZTELECOM as a member of the panel of speakers. We will now work to leverage this confirmation to encourage the participation of Mr Mambetaliev's counterparts from other countries in the region.
6 Nov 2008
Turkcell boosted by net adds in 3Q08
The ever-essential Global Mobile Daily just popped up in my inbox, pointing out encouraging numbers for one of the companies that we always like to involve in our annual Eurasia Com conference in Istanbul.
Turkcell has reported a subscription base of 36.3 million, up 4.3% from 34.8 million for the same
period a year earlier. Of these postpaid subscriptions increased 14.3% to 7.2 million in 3Q08 up from 6.9 million in 3Q07, while prepaid subscriptions increased to 29.1 million in 3Q08 up 2.1% from the same period a year earlier. ARPU increased to US$17.3 from US$15.3 for the same period a year earlier, of which US$11.2 was prepaid, up 12% from US$10.0 at end-3Q07, while postpaid came in at US$41.9, up 6.1% from US$39.5 at end-3Q07, while churn increased to 6.2% up from 5.7% at end-3Q07.
The operator had total revenues of US$2.48 billion at end-3Q08 up from US$2.18 billion
at end-3Q07.
Already represented by the Deputy GM of its Northern Cyprus subsidiary, we expect the Turkcell presence to be strong once again at the next Eurasia Com, which we will be hosting March 31 and April 1 at Istanbul's Movenpick Hotel.
Turkcell has reported a subscription base of 36.3 million, up 4.3% from 34.8 million for the same
period a year earlier. Of these postpaid subscriptions increased 14.3% to 7.2 million in 3Q08 up from 6.9 million in 3Q07, while prepaid subscriptions increased to 29.1 million in 3Q08 up 2.1% from the same period a year earlier. ARPU increased to US$17.3 from US$15.3 for the same period a year earlier, of which US$11.2 was prepaid, up 12% from US$10.0 at end-3Q07, while postpaid came in at US$41.9, up 6.1% from US$39.5 at end-3Q07, while churn increased to 6.2% up from 5.7% at end-3Q07.
The operator had total revenues of US$2.48 billion at end-3Q08 up from US$2.18 billion
at end-3Q07.
Already represented by the Deputy GM of its Northern Cyprus subsidiary, we expect the Turkcell presence to be strong once again at the next Eurasia Com, which we will be hosting March 31 and April 1 at Istanbul's Movenpick Hotel.
5 Nov 2008
Mobinil to speak at GSM>3G Middle East; Zain presence increased
I are pleased to announce two very welcome additions to the panel of speakers at GSM>3G Middle East, taking place December 15-16 in Dubai. Khaled Khorshid is Regional COO at Zain Sudan. Operators in Sudan face challenging market conditions, as evidenced by the fact that mobile penetration in the country, has not yet reached the 25% mark. Low GDP per capita is a major growth inhibitor, both in terms of overall market size and in terms of ARPU. Khaled Khorshid's presentation will focus on how to address these challenges and boost ARPU and MoU.
Also joining the panel will be Guillaume van Gaver, VP Commercial at Mobinil of Egypt. Mr van Gaver will be speaking on the theme of boosting consumer acceptance of mobile value-added services.
Delegate and exhibition visitor bookings are tracking well ahead of last year's numbers, so we are looking forward to a great show.
Also joining the panel will be Guillaume van Gaver, VP Commercial at Mobinil of Egypt. Mr van Gaver will be speaking on the theme of boosting consumer acceptance of mobile value-added services.
Delegate and exhibition visitor bookings are tracking well ahead of last year's numbers, so we are looking forward to a great show.
29 Oct 2008
Eurasia Com: 2 out of 3 giant Russian cellcos say 'yes'
Following hot on the heels of our recent announcement about Russian cellco MegaFon sending its Deputy CEO to our 2009 Eurasia Com conference in Istanbul comes news of another important speaker confirmation.
Joining MegaFon's Alexey Nichiporenko in a Keynote Session Roundtable Discussion will be Oleg Raspopov, VP and Director of the Foreign Subsidiaries Business Unit at market-leading MTS (MobileTeleSystems). We expect the discussion to be a robust forum for the exchange of views about how best to exploit the remaining telecoms sector growth opportunities across the CIS markets of Central Asia and the Caspian region.
In the region we have defined as the target market for delegates for this particular conference, MTS has a presence in Armenia, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. MTS has furher CIS subsidiaries in Ukraine and Belarus.
Of Russia's 'big three' mobile players, only Vimpelcom has yet to confirm that a participant will take part in this discussion, which will take place on the morning of Tuesday 31 March, day one of the two-day Eurasia Com conference and exhibition. Naturally, we are in discussions with Vimpelcom about this and I remain confident about a positive outcome.
I will consider this Roundtable line-up to be perfectly formed if we are also able to add a high-level participant from TeliaSonera's Eurasia business unit. I will keep you posted.
Joining MegaFon's Alexey Nichiporenko in a Keynote Session Roundtable Discussion will be Oleg Raspopov, VP and Director of the Foreign Subsidiaries Business Unit at market-leading MTS (MobileTeleSystems). We expect the discussion to be a robust forum for the exchange of views about how best to exploit the remaining telecoms sector growth opportunities across the CIS markets of Central Asia and the Caspian region.
In the region we have defined as the target market for delegates for this particular conference, MTS has a presence in Armenia, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. MTS has furher CIS subsidiaries in Ukraine and Belarus.
Of Russia's 'big three' mobile players, only Vimpelcom has yet to confirm that a participant will take part in this discussion, which will take place on the morning of Tuesday 31 March, day one of the two-day Eurasia Com conference and exhibition. Naturally, we are in discussions with Vimpelcom about this and I remain confident about a positive outcome.
I will consider this Roundtable line-up to be perfectly formed if we are also able to add a high-level participant from TeliaSonera's Eurasia business unit. I will keep you posted.
28 Oct 2008
MegaFon, Kuzey Kibris Turkcell join speaker line-up for Eurasia Com 2009
I am pleased to announce the confirmation of two very strong additional speakers for Eurasia Com 2009 (Istanbul, 31 March & 1 April 2009), both representing influential cellcos in the region served by the conference.
Mr Alexey Nichiporenko is First Deputy CEO at Russia's MegaFon, and General Director, of MegaFon-International, the unit which manages the Russian MNO's subsidiaries beyond the Russian Federation. Mr Nichiporenko will be joining a day one round table discussion (on Tuesday 31 March), during which participants will be invited to comment on the Eurasia region's most promising remaining growth opportunities and the challenges operators can expect to face when working to exploit them.
Turkcell is also a significant player in the region, not least in the host country of our conference, where the cellco is the mobile market leader. For the past two years, Turkcell have strongly supported our event, sending large delegations of executives to enjoy the networking, discussions and presentations, as well as confirming CxO-level speakers from the company. We are in discussions with our friends at Turkcell now about who will represent the business at the lectern in 2009. In the meantime, a Turkcell subsidiary company has already confirmed its high-level participation.
Kuzey Kibris Turkcell operates in the Turkish Republic Northern Cyprus, where the company has recently rolled out 3.5G services over an Ericsson-supplied W-CDMA/HSPA network. The three MNOs in Turkey itself have yet to go to market with 3G services and of the Caspian and Central Asian countries from where we will be gathering delegates, only Tajikistan and Georgia have W-CDMA networks. We therefore expect there to be a strong interest in the detailed network/services-deployment case study that will be offered at the conference by KK Turkcell. The speaker will be Mr Burak Merzeci, the company's CMO.
We are having many positive conversations with invited participants and we confidently expect to assemble our strongest-ever speaker line-up for the event in 2009.
Mr Alexey Nichiporenko is First Deputy CEO at Russia's MegaFon, and General Director, of MegaFon-International, the unit which manages the Russian MNO's subsidiaries beyond the Russian Federation. Mr Nichiporenko will be joining a day one round table discussion (on Tuesday 31 March), during which participants will be invited to comment on the Eurasia region's most promising remaining growth opportunities and the challenges operators can expect to face when working to exploit them.
Turkcell is also a significant player in the region, not least in the host country of our conference, where the cellco is the mobile market leader. For the past two years, Turkcell have strongly supported our event, sending large delegations of executives to enjoy the networking, discussions and presentations, as well as confirming CxO-level speakers from the company. We are in discussions with our friends at Turkcell now about who will represent the business at the lectern in 2009. In the meantime, a Turkcell subsidiary company has already confirmed its high-level participation.
Kuzey Kibris Turkcell operates in the Turkish Republic Northern Cyprus, where the company has recently rolled out 3.5G services over an Ericsson-supplied W-CDMA/HSPA network. The three MNOs in Turkey itself have yet to go to market with 3G services and of the Caspian and Central Asian countries from where we will be gathering delegates, only Tajikistan and Georgia have W-CDMA networks. We therefore expect there to be a strong interest in the detailed network/services-deployment case study that will be offered at the conference by KK Turkcell. The speaker will be Mr Burak Merzeci, the company's CMO.
We are having many positive conversations with invited participants and we confidently expect to assemble our strongest-ever speaker line-up for the event in 2009.
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