Vodafonewatch Report #95 September-October 2011 Snapshot
19 October 2011
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- GROUP: Vodafone practically wiped the slate clean with its presence in the Far East, announcing batches of regional arrivals and departures from its Partner Markets programme. Noteworthy new allies included Hong Kong’s Hutchison Telecom, adding to recent intertwining of the two Groups’ development; and Japan’s NTT DoCoMo, through which Vodafone has now effectively drawn a line under its troubled past Vodafone Japan business. Some of the partnerships — including the DoCoMo tie-up — look awkward, exposing conflict with other Group businesses or allies. However, generally, the changes fit in with recent signs of a much more coordinated approach by the Group to Partner Markets, re-focused on tier one and more committed players, rather than weaker potential acquisition targets; and emphasising support to other Group operations, rather than self-aggrandisement. [pp.4-6.]
- Vodafone again highlighted India as a likely source of future leaders for the Group, flagging a plan to handpick more Vodafone Essar executives for assignments elsewhere in the company. [p.7.]
- Vodafonewatch met with RealNetworks for an in-depth look at the software company’s launch partnership with Vodafone Germany on new ‘media cloud service’ Unifi, including the offering’s go-to-market ambitions, differentiation from rivals, and business case for operators. [pp.8-12.]
- The first partner emerged for Xone, Vodafone’s new, Californian research and development centre, in the form of Los Angeles-based technology group NantWorks [p.16.]
- Group executives will have been listening closely as Lowell McAdam, Chief Executive of Italy and US partner Verizon Communications, highlighted his desire to acquire more spectrum in the USA, a move with potential repercussions for Vodafone’s cash extraction from the Verizon Wireless joint venture. McAdam pointed to arch rival AT&T’s proposed purchase of struggling number four mobile operator T-Mobile USA as a sign of operators’ need for more frequencies. [pp.16, 17.]
- There was mixed news for the Group’s growing number of cross-network mobile wallet alliances, with: Verizon Wireless securing the support of several device partners for its Isis joint venture; but competition concerns rearing their head in Europe, following a move by 3 UK to prevent Vodafone UK’s equivalent scheme. [pp.18, 31.]
- EUROPE: Vodafone Germany furthered recent activity around outsourcing, and again signalled downgrading of DSL ambitions, by saying it is reviewing opportunities to farm out functions within its fixed broadband customer services operations. As with Vodafone Germany, Verizon Wireless pointed to Long Term Evolution as a partial replacement technology for DSL. [pp.19, 23.]
- Vodafone’s European HSPA expansion and enhancement programme continued, with: Vodafone Ireland introducing Dual Carrier HSPA+ alongside a quality-of-service differentiation system; and Vodafone Czech Republic releasing an HSPA+ 64QAM enhancement in parts of its network. The latter OpCo separately released a beta version of a new mobile content portal, with little Group involvement or functionality on show. [pp.21, 22, 26, 27.]
- Vodafone Hungary firmed up a previously mooted partnership with supermarket chain Tesco — securing its first mobile virtual network operator partnership, in a sign of the OpCo’s ongoing competitive and economic challenges. The partners plan to release mobile services in the first half of 2012. Meanwhile, the European Commission again clashed with the Hungarian government over the country’s controversial “crisis” tax, which has added to pressures over the last year. [pp.24, 25.]
- Vodafone Italy and incumbent rival Telecom Italia came away with the biggest spoils from Italy’s ‘digital dividend’ frequency auction, picking up spectrum in the crucial 800MHz band, as well as 1800MHz and 2.6GHz blocks. Fourth player 3 Italia lost out on the 800MHz airwaves, adding to perceived vulnerability to an acquisition by one of its larger rivals. [p.29.]
- AFRICA, MIDDLE EAST, AND ASIA-PACIFIC: Vodafone Hutchison Australia trumpeted a spectrum exchange deal with state rail authorities, saying it will strengthen previously flagged plans to rollout Long Term Evolution services across 1800MHz frequencies in the coming months. [p.33.]
- Regulatory problems continue to mount up for Vodafone in India, with: authorities taking interest in recent price increases, and Vodafone Essar’s 3G roaming arrangements with Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular; as well as reports that the OpCo and rivals face questions following a government investigation into licence fee payments. Vodafone continued to attack India’s controversial, retrospective spectrum fee proposals, pointing out apparent contradictions with earlier government policy. [pp.34-36.]
- Vodafone Essar was reported to have renegotiated its long-running IT outsourcing contract with IBM, as well as elsewhere forming a second recent partnership, focused on bringing value-added services to India’s huge base of non-data users, in the form of a tie-up with Swiss mobile software developer Myriad Group on unstructured supplementary service data-based messaging tools. [pp.35, 36.]
- As with India, signs emerged of a pull-back in intense price competition in Kenya, with Safaricom announcing voice tariff increases as it again conceded pressure on margins. [p.38.]
- Malawi was again highlighted as a potential new market for Vodacom Group, following re-activation of the latter’s acquisition plans in Africa. Vodacom was reported to be planning an investment in mobile operator Telekom Networks Malawi. [p.39.]
About Vodafonewatch
Report: #95
Covering: September-October 2011
Published: October 2011
Next report: November 2011
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