ReleaseWire

With organic growth in the mobile sector all but played out, Lithuanian operators are now focusing on improving their subscriber mixes in favour of more lucrative postpaid services. So far, they have reported mixed success and, although blended ARPUs declined at a slower rate in 2012, it was clear that increased data consumption was still insufficient to cushion the effects of declining voice usage and mobile termination rate cuts. That said, there was an uptick in data consumption in 2013 and a rise in the number of multi-product bundles, which bodes well for quad-play offerings should these emerge. As it is, we continue to forecast revenue, and therefore ARPU contraction, for the next three years. Operators will thus need to justify where and when they invest in next-generation networks, even after acquiring 800MHz spectrum in Q413.

This research report presents mobile phone shipment volume forecast and recent quarter review of major Taiwanese branded vendors. The report includes shipment volume and value, ASP, vendor volume ranking, shipment by brands, and price trend. Also provided are shipment breakdowns by system technology, operating system, display technology, panel size, shipment destination, and production location. The content of this report is based on primary data obtained through interviews with Taiwanese mobile phone branded vendors. The report finds that the shipment volume of Taiwanese branded mobile phones shrank 36.1% sequentially to around 4.39 million units in the third quarter of 2013, mainly due to international rivals' new flagship product rollouts, such as Apple iPhone 5S/5C and Samsung Galaxy Note 3. In China, Taiwanese vendors, who do not have strong brand image, are expected to lose ground under siege of many emerging Chinese vendors. Looking ahead to the first half of 2014, shipment volume of the Taiwanese branded mobile phones will reach around 8.52 million units, down 29% year on year.

As of the third quarter of 2013, Chinese mobile phone users totaled around 1.2 billion and user adoption of 3G reached around 31.2%. Sales volume of smartphones in China arrived at 87.4 million units in the same quarter. Samsung and Apple both saw slight decline in market share in China whereas Lenovo outperformed other Chinese brands. This report examines the development of Chinese smartphone market during the third-fourth quarter of 2013 from the perspectives of telecom operators and branded vendors.

The Iraqi mobile sector recorded double-digit growth over the 12 months to September 2013. This supports our outlook for continued subscriptions growth during our five-year forecast period ending in 2017, driven by network expansion to underserved areas and relatively strong private consumption. However, we caution that an uptick in sectarian violence in 2013 poses a downside risk to our outlook, as operators are likely to reassess their long-term investment strategies. The allocation of 3G spectrum, expected in H114, may also impact operators' investment strategies, prompting them to focus on building up advanced data networks in wealthier and more densely populated urban areas rather than pursuing subscriptions growth by extending networks to underserved rural areas. Although growth in the fixed telephony and data sectors remains stifled, we expect the implementation of various network infrastructure investment plans by the government and national fixed-line operator ITPC to boost growth over the medium-to-long term.

Fixed Line Telecoms in India industry profile provides top-line qualitative and quantitative summary information including: market share, market size (value and volume 2008-12, and forecast to 2017). The profile also contains descriptions of the leading players including key financial metrics and analysis of competitive pressures within the market. Essential resource for top-line data and analysis covering the India fixed line telecoms market. Includes market size and segmentation data, textual and graphical analysis of market growth trends, leading companies and macroeconomic information.

MarketLine's Company Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Partnerships & Alliances and Investments reports offer a comprehensive breakdown of the organic and inorganic growth activity undertaken by an organization to sustain its competitive advantage.

Mobile / Cell Phone Handsets in Spain by Mintel Global Market Navigator provides you with annual year-end market size data, most recently updated in 2013. This market covers 2G, 3G and 4G & other mobile/cell phone handsets. Market size includes residential and business markets. Market size is number of new units acquired annually. Market size for Mobile / Cell Phone Handsets in Spain is given in unit with a minimum of five years' historical data. Market Forecast is provided for five years. Included with this snapshot is socio-economic data for Spain. Population, Consumer Price Index (CPI), Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Exchange Rates.

As of late 2013, the overpowering impression given by Kuwait's (overwhelmingly non-life) insurance sector remains one of stagnation.

There is a strong level of competition in most North African markets, with the exception of Libya. The country is the exception to most of the trends in the region, a legacy of the country's civil war. Nevertheless, there is potential for renewed growth in Libya as a possible third operator is licensed and new infrastructure is deployed. This is also reflected in the improvements expected in its neighbouring markets. Incumbent Maroc Telecom has been acquired by Etisalat and a stake in Tunisie Telecom is also for sale, while Algeria issued 3G licences at the end of 2013. All four markets offer potential for growth despite maturity and their difficult business environments.

Wireless Telecommunication Services in New Zealand industry profile provides top-line qualitative and quantitative summary information including: market share, market size (value and volume 2008-12, and forecast to 2017). The profile also contains descriptions of the leading players including key financial metrics and analysis of competitive pressures within the market. Essential resource for top-line data and analysis covering the New Zealand wireless telecommunication services market. Includes market size data, textual and graphical analysis of market growth trends, leading companies and macroeconomic information.

Although Spain's mobile market continues to decline, we believe there is still scope for recovery for operators as 4G services have launched and smartphone ownership remains important. There has been no indication so far that this has improved ARPUs, but BMI believes this will be a longer term development. Economic pressures continue to affect market opportunities, but there is little indication that subscribers are willing to abandon their mobile and broadband services, but are more cautious about spending on these. Improved economic outlook will help create more opportunities for Spanish workers, in turn creating more opportunity and desire for spending. We maintain estimates of falling subscriber figures for the mobile market in 2013, but believe 2014 will see some recovery.

The broadband sector outperformed the mobile and fixed telephony sectors in 2012 and 2013, albeit from a low base, on the back of investments in next generation wireless and wireline access technologies, including 4G LTE and FTTx. Although we expect this trend to continue for most of our forecast period to 2017, we caution that service providers need to find ways to diversify their offerings further in order to sustain revenue growth amid growing market saturation and stagnating revenues from traditional services.

Vocalcom, world leader in contact center software solutions, is announcing today that it has partnered with TapCrowd, an innovative mobile marketing platform, to optimize the customer journey of the mobile consumer with Vocalcom contact center software.

Fixed Line Telecoms in France industry profile provides top-line qualitative and quantitative summary information including: market share, market size (value and volume 2008-12, and forecast to 2017). The profile also contains descriptions of the leading players including key financial metrics and analysis of competitive pressures within the market. Essential resource for top-line data and analysis covering the France fixed line telecoms market. Includes market size and segmentation data, textual and graphical analysis of market growth trends, leading companies and macroeconomic information.

Fixed Line Telecoms in the United States industry profile provides top-line qualitative and quantitative summary information including: market share, market size (value and volume 2008-12, and forecast to 2017). The profile also contains descriptions of the leading players including key financial metrics and analysis of competitive pressures within the market. Essential resource for top-line data and analysis covering the United States fixed line telecoms market. Includes market size and segmentation data, textual and graphical analysis of market growth trends, leading companies and macroeconomic information.

BMI's Q114 Southern Africa report analyses the latest industry, regulatory and macroeconomic developments in the telecoms markets in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Mauritius, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It also contains analysis of the latest market data relating to the end of Q313 and an update of our five-year forecasts to 2017 for the mobile, fixed-line and internet sectors.

Starting from January 2013, we will be using the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority data on the mobile sector. Previously, we have made estimates based on figures published by Vietnam's General Statistics Office (GSO) and the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), which tend to conflict with each other. The figures available do show a general upward trend in Vietnam's mobile market - although the pace of growth has slowed in recent years. Delays to the launch of 4G mean that, for the short term, operators will concentrate on migrating subscribers to 3G services. The broadband market also shows strong growth, although the geographical challenges of Vietnam's landscape mean there are physical limitations to infrastructure expansion. The fixed-line sector continues to post declines.

MarketLine's Company Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Partnerships & Alliances and Investments reports offer a comprehensive breakdown of the organic and inorganic growth activity undertaken by an organization to sustain its competitive advantage.

Fixed Line Telecoms in New Zealand industry profile provides top-line qualitative and quantitative summary information including: market share, market size (value and volume 2008-12, and forecast to 2017). The profile also contains descriptions of the leading players including key financial metrics and analysis of competitive pressures within the market. Essential resource for top-line data and analysis covering the New Zealand fixed line telecoms market. Includes market size and segmentation data, textual and graphical analysis of market growth trends, leading companies and macroeconomic information.

Fixed Line Telecoms in Spain industry profile provides top-line qualitative and quantitative summary information including: market share, market size (value and volume 2008-12, and forecast to 2017). The profile also contains descriptions of the leading players including key financial metrics and analysis of competitive pressures within the market. Essential resource for top-line data and analysis covering the Spain fixed line telecoms market. Includes market size and segmentation data, textual and graphical analysis of market growth trends, leading companies and macroeconomic information.

Despite the lack of growth opportunities in terms of subscriptions, the Netherlands remains a dynamic market with extensive roll-out and uptake of wireless data services. In the wireline segment, the popularity of bundled services in the Netherlands has mitigated the decline in fixed-line subscriptions through fixed-to-mobile substitution. Furthermore, the Netherlands broadband market is one of the most developed in Western Europe in terms of advanced infrastructure deployment and high penetration of wireline and wireless broadband services.

MarketLine's Company Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Partnerships & Alliances and Investments reports offer a comprehensive breakdown of the organic and inorganic growth activity undertaken by an organization to sustain its competitive advantage.

The sharp rise in the demand of the Telecom Services for the Modern Communication Network has introduced many new business telephone line rental services providers in the market. The companies are getting mixed response from the business firm due to technical hindrance which is common in the commercial broadband services. However, the Big Red Telecom Company claims to provide the best deal regarding the commercial telecom services along with the top grade broadband facility to the commercial firms. The company has been observing a rise in the demand of its services to the fine quality and the affordable price.

Fixed Line Telecoms in Belgium industry profile provides top-line qualitative and quantitative summary information including: market share, market size (value and volume 2008-12, and forecast to 2017). The profile also contains descriptions of the leading players including key financial metrics and analysis of competitive pressures within the market. Essential resource for top-line data and analysis covering the Belgium fixed line telecoms market. Includes market size and segmentation data, textual and graphical analysis of market growth trends, leading companies and macroeconomic information.

BMI View: Russia's telecoms market is doing well compared to its regional peers. There is a strong competitive dynamic between established operators, as well as a threat from smaller operators looking to increase their market share in the mobile sector. The fixed-line segment is declining at a slower rate than in neighbouring markets and the broadband market has expanded rapidly. Healthy competition and the demand for coverage provide good growth opportunities.