asia

Nimbuzz gets a client distro deal on India handsets

Doug Mohney — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:33:56 -0500

Rotterdam-based Nimbuzz has worked out a distribution deal for its free client with Spice Mobiles, a distributor with 25,000 retail outlets in India, and said it go throughout APAC?

Nimbuzz's mobile IM/"(geo) presence"/VoIP/kitchen sink client will be pre-installed on phones for users to chat, message and send files on the go. According to the release, "most" of the new Java and Windows Mobile handsets going out in December to Spice Mobile's Indian market will have the full Nimbuzz communications "portfolio" installed.

But this just isn't a straight "here's the software" deal. Nimbuzz and Spice Mobiles are going to heavily promote the client with a marketing campaign including info on Spice Mobiles website, links to Nimbuzz through Spice Mobiles WAP portal and point of sale promotions - POS means there's some real money being spent.

In addition, the distribution deal is a global contract. Spice Mobile devices with the Nimbuzz code-load will also be sold in other APAC territories, further expanding the reach of Nimbuzz across the region.

The numbers and potential upside are huge. Gartner expects India's mobile user base of 300 million to expand to 737 million by 2012.

Nimbuzz follows Fring for on-the-handset deals. Fring cut one earlier this year to put their client on Mobilkom's A1 service over IP, with Nokia's S60 handset as the targeted platform.

For more:
- Nimbuzz Nimblogs its Spice Mobiles news.

Bangladesh gets tough on illegal VoIP

Doug Mohney — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 07:35:14 -0500

The chief telecom regulation authority in Bangladesh will cancel the license of any Internet service provider (ISP) found running an illegal VoIP business in the country.

A "zero tolerance policy" is in effect. After raids last week, the authorities shut down one ISP and seized equipment used for the illegal activities

In February the Bangladesh Telecommunication and Regulatory Commission (BTRC) issued three international gateway (IGW) licenses to companies for the purpose of routing international incoming and outgoing calls through VoIP. However, the three IGW operators can't handle the VoIP call volume being generated within and routed to the country, resulting in a booming grey market. About 25 percent of IGW calls are being routed successfully, said one source.

About 11 million minutes of calls go to and from Bangladesh every day, with 90 percent made by expatriates living around the world and calling home. With over 200 authorized ISPs in the country, a little illegal VoIP on the side is quite tempting, especially since they can charge 2.5 cents per minute - undercutting 4 cent rates charged by IGW licensees.

Bangladesh regulators have had a long-running battle to control VoIP within the country. Phone minutes are a good source of revenue for the government.

For more:
- The Daily Star reports on the coming illegal VoIP crackdown in Bangladesh

LG Dacom nets 1 million VoIP customers

Pete Wylie — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:52:46 -0400

South Korean telecommunications company LG Dacom announced continued success converting consumers in South Korea to its myLG070 residential VoIP play. Since launching the service in July 2007, LG has attracted 1 million subscribers, according to company figures. Adding to LG's momentum in the space, the South Korean government this month enabled a service for customers to maintain their existing telephone number while they migrate from legacy services.

LG also announced this week bullish projections on continued subscriber growth, due in no small part to the government's plan. Taking out impediments to service-switches, like maintaining the same home phone number, looks like a sure-fire win for VoIP services encouraging customers to make the switch. Korea Telecom has got around 90 percent of the South Korean landline market, so LG, the third-largest largest telco in South Korea, saw a good spot to build market share in an increasingly attractive segment with this VoIP push.

For more:
- see the article here
- for good background on the South Korea VoIP market, see the Korea Herald article here

SPOTLIGHT: VoIP in Thailand master plan

Doug Mohney — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:34:11 -0400

Thailand's National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is promoting local VoIP software development to reduce the country's "heavy reliance" on imports, and the project is part of an industry master plan to ultimately export Thailand-developed technology.

As the worldwide market moves to IP, industry leaders see the potential for growth. Currently, only two Thai companies produce VoIP software and IP PBX products. In 2006, Thailand imported $260 million in telecommunications and IT equipment. It also imports up to 40 million mobile handsets per year.

NTC's R&D arm is promoting projects in several key areas, including VoIP, wireless broadband access, optical communications, and next generation networks.

For more:
- Bangkok Post reports on Thailand VoIP development aspirations. Article.

Korean Carriers Swarm VoIP

Doug Mohney — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:12:22 -0400

Korean carriers are pushing VoIP in a big way, despite some regulatory challenges carriers want to have fixed.

Hanarotelecom, Korea's second largest fixed line phone and broadband internet provider, is scheduled to start aggressively promoting VoIP on Friday when it emerges from a 40 day "business suspension" for unlawful marketing activities.

The Korean government is expected to adopt number portability for VoIP as early as next month, a move that would benefit Hanarotelecom and others as telephony subscribers switch to cheaper VoIP services; currently, VoIP service requires a new phone number. Not helping matters is the 070 prefix used by VoIP numbers--a prefix typically associated with telemarketing pitches.

Hanarotelecom expects to gain a win with a "quadruple play" bundling its fixed line, broadband, IPTV, and VoIP offerings with SK telecom's mobile phone service, tapping into SK's 22 million customers.

LG Dacom, controlling only 1.1 percent of the fixed line market, has also seen VoIP success, bringing in more than 800,000 customers for its "myLG070" VoIP service, a 10 times increase from last year's numbers.

Analysts believe VoIP offerings will make a big difference in the competition between leased line services, with IDC Korea forecasting an annual growth of about 53 percent for the next five years.

KT, which owns more than 90 percent of the Korean fixed-line market, is worried that VoIP will cannibalize its customer pool; sales are already starting to decline in 2008.

For more:
- Korea Times reports showdown on Internet telephony

Related articles:
SPOTLIGHT: VoIP in India 'On The Runway'
Revamping VoIP Regs Down Under