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(Telecompaper) Motorola Mobility reported third-quarter revenues of USD 3.3 billion, up 11 percent from a year earlier. The company’s net loss narrowed slightly, to USD 32 million or 11 cents a share versus USD 34 million or 12 cents a share a year ago. Excluding one-time items, it posted a profit of 12 cents per share, down from 13 cents last year. The Mobile Devices division posted sales up 20 percent year-on-year to USD 2.4 billion on strong demand for its Android smartphones. Motorola shipped 11.6 million devices in the quarter, including 4.8 million smartphones and 100,000 Xoom tablets. That compares to second-quarter shipments of 11.0 million mobile devices, including 4.4 million smartphones and 440,000 tablets. The adjusted operating profit at the division improved to USD 15 million from USD 3 million a year ago. The Home division saw revenues fall 10 percent to USD 825 million, while adjusted operating profit was flat at USD 77 million. Set-top box shipments were down 3 percent compared to the year-ago quarter. After operating cash flow of USD 25 million in the quarter, Motorola finished September with USD 3.3 billion in cash. Motorola said it will hold a shareholders meeting on 17 November to vote on the proposed takeover by Google, and the companies have filed for regulatory approval of the deal. Subject to thee clearances, the takeover is expected to close in late 2011 or early 2012.
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(Telecompaper) Mosaid Technologies has agreed to a takeover from private equity group Sterling Partners for CAD 46 per share, or a total CAD 590 million. The offer is a 45.3 percent premium on Mosaid’s share price on 17 August, the last day of trading before Wi-Lan launched a hostile bid for the company. It’s also higher than Wi-Lan’s last offer of USD 42 per share. Mosaid told its shareholders to not tender their shares inWi-Lan’s offer and await Sterling’s public offer. After Wi-Lan’s offer, Mosaid started a strategic review and invited over 35 companies to talks on a deal. In the end Sterling’s offer was the most attractive and is recommended by Mosaid’s management. The deal still depends on approval from shareholders, at a special meeting planned for late December 2011 or early January 2012.
never miss a day, thanks for the blog

(Telecompaper) HP has decided to keep its PC business. The company announced in August that it would look at ’strategic alternatives’ for its Personal Systems Group, at the same time as it halted production of mobile phones. This was expected to lead to a spin-off or sale of the PC division. The new CEO Meg Whitman, appointed last month, said the company has now decided that “keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees” and with the computer arm “together we are stronger”. According to the company, the strategic review revealed the depth of the integration that has occurred across key operations such as supply chain, IT and procurement. It also detailed the significant extent to which PSG contributes to HP’s portfolio and overall brand value. Finally, it showed that the cost to recreate these in a standalone company outweighed any benefits of separation. HP’s computer division is the world’s largest manufacturer of personal computers, with revenues totaling USD 40.7 billion for fiscal year 2010.
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(Telecompaper) Samsung Electronics reported record sales and operating profit at its telecom division in the third quarter, thanks to growing demand for the company’s smartphones. Revenues at the telecom unit were up 37 percent from a year ago to KRW 14.90 trillion, and operating profit more than doubled to KRW 2.52 trillion from KRW 1.16 trillion a year ago. Samsung said the overall handset market rose an estimated 6-8 percent in volume terms from the second quarter, while its own shipments were up over 20 percent. It did not release figures on total shipments, but said it saw increased shipments across all regions, led by smartphones like the Galaxy S II as well as new touch feature phones. The average selling price was up slightly from the previous quarter despite tougher price competition. Samsung expects demand to pick up in the last quarter thanks to seasonal promotions, but competition will also intensify as rivals launch more new products. The company plans both high-end and mass-market smartphone launches, as well as new mass-market tablet models. Results for the group in Q3 saw revenues rise 3 percent to KRW 41.27 trillion, and operating profit down 13 percent to KRW 10.25 trillion. The company was hurt by weak demand for semiconductors in the PC market and lower results for display panels. Net profit was down 23 percent from a year ago to KRW 3.44 trillion, also hurt by forex losses.
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(Telecompaper) The US Federal Communications Commission has approved major changes in the country’s Universal Service Fund aimed at focusing more on broadband expansion. The move will set aside USD 4.5 billion of the annual USF budget for the Connect America Fund, to award funding for broadband expansion in underserved areas. Carriers will start receiving the new funding by early 2012 and will be required to provide at least 4Mbps download and 1Mbps upload, with latency low-enough to support streaming and VoIP. Starting from 2013, the FCC will also change its cost model for determining the level of funding, adopt a competitive bidding system for awarding the funds, and tighten controls to ensure subsidised operators meet the coverage promised. The FCC will also start a Mobility Fund to support mobile voice and broadband coverage in outlying areas. This will award an initial USD 350 million via a reverse auction planned for Q3 2012 and is expected to have a further annual budget of around USD 500 million. At the same time the FCC announced plans to move the industry away from interconnection fees and towards a bill-and-keep system. In the near term, it plans new rules to prevent traffic-pumping, a technique used by operators to increase terminatation revenue. Over the next ten years, operators will be forced to gradually reduce terminate rates to zero, a move the FCC also expects to encourage the move to IP networks. The FCC expects the USF reforms will bring broadband to another 7 million Americans over the next six years. While consumers may see a small increase in their phone bills as a result of the changes, the FCC expects for every USD 1 extra charged, there will be USD 3 in benefits. The plans were largely welcomed by the telecoms industry, although mobile payers called for a bigger role for the Mobility Fund, and the cable industry saw too big a focus on copper networks.
if people only knew

(Telecompaper) Germany’s Federal Cartel Office has raised competition concerns about the proposed takeover of cable network operator Kabel Baden-Wuerttemberg (Kabel BW) by Liberty Global Europe Holding. Liberty has already proposed remedies to address the regulator’s concerns, with the regulator extending its investigation until 15 December. Liberty is already active in the German cable network market through subsidiary Unitymedia, which operates cable networks in North Rhine Westphalia and Hessen. The regulator believes that the takeover of Kabel BW would further reduce competition in the property supply market already controlled by a small number of suppliers. This relates to the provision of cable TV services over cable broadband networks to properties with a variety of residential units, in particular housing associations. In its preliminary assessment, the Federal Cartel Office concluded that this market is controlled jointly by the three major German cable network operators (KDG, Unity Media and Kabel BW). The takeover of Kabel BW through Unitymedia parent Liberty would restrict this competition even further as the three networks do not compete for supply contracts outside of their operating areas.
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(Telecompaper) China Telecom grew its nine-month revenues by 11.8 percent to CNY 182.36 billion from CNY 163.16 billion a year earlier. Revenues from sale of mobile handsets were approximately CNY 10.10 billion, up nearly two times over the corresponding period of last year. Meanwhile, other operating expenses increased significantly as a result of the corresponding significant increase in the costs of mobile terminals sold. Over the period, the group increased the sales initiatives and therefore, selling, general and administrative expenses increased by 13.7 percent to CNY 33.57 billion. EBITDA (before CDMA network capacity lease fees) totalled CNY 72.39 billion, up 6.1 percent, and EBITDA margin stood at 39.7 percent, down 2.1 percentage points year-on-year. China Telecom posted a profit of CNY 13.86 billion, up 10.1 percent from CNY 12.59 billion. The company ended the period with 116.95 million mobile customers, of which 28.43 million are 3G customers, as China Telecom added 26.43 million new customers in the nine-month period. The company also had 73.69 million fixed-line broadband subscribers, up by 10.21 million, and 170.96 local access lines in service, which continued to drop.
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(Telecompaper) Samsung Electronics passed Apple to become the world’s largest smartphone maker in the third quarter. According to estimates from IHS iSuppli, Samsung shipped 27.30 million smartphones in the quarter, up 43.7 percent from the second quarter. Apple’s shipments declined over the same period from 20.3 million to 17.1 million iPhones. Samsung’s share of the market rose to 23.2 percent from 17.5 percent in the second quarter, while Apple’s fell to 14.6 percent from 18.7 percent. Samsung enjoyed strong demand for its Galaxy range as well as low-end smartphones. Apple customers meanwhile delayed their purchases ahead of the iPhone 4S launch in October. Nokia remained third in the market with a 14.3 percent market share. The market researcher expects Apple to catch up to Samsung in the fourth quarter, when it’s expected to ship around 30 million iPhones. For the full year, Apple is on track to ship more than 85 million iPhones, up 80 percent from 47.5 million in 2010, according to a new forecast from iSuppli.
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(Telecompaper) BT has accelerated its fibre broadband roll-out with two thirds of UK premises to have access to the technology by end-2014, one year ahead of its original target of end-2015. To help achieve this goal, BT plans to hire an additional 520 engineers to help with the deployment, of which most will be ex-armed forces personnel. BT is bring forward around GBP 300 million of investment over the next few years to fund the accelerated roll-out. These funds are part of its total GBP 2.5 billion investment in commercial fibre broadband. BT Group CEO Ian Livingston said the accelerated deployment reflected the success of the programme to date. To date, six million premises have access to BT fibre broadband, with this set to rise to 10 million in 2012.
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(Telecompaper) HTC said it expects its handset shipments to slow to 12.0-13.0 million units in the fourth quarter, after shipping 13.2 million devices in the third quarter. The forecast means annual growth will drop to 31-42 percent, from a rate of 93 percent in the third quarter. The company posted third-quarter sales up 79 percent from a year earlier to TWD 135.8 billion, led by a nine-fold increase in sales in China. Both revenue and shipments were slightly below the company’s previous guidance. The average selling price was USD 344 in the quarter, up 0.6 percent from a year ago and down 1.4 percent from the second quarter. HTC said the flat performance was due to a broader sales mix of both low- and high-end phones. For the fourth quarter, it expects annual revenue growth of 20-30 percent, to TWD 125-135 billion. The gross margin is estimated at around 28 percent, in line with Q3, and the operating margin at around 14.5 percent, after 14.9 percent in Q3. HTC’s net profit in Q3 was up 68 percent from a year ago to TWD 18.68 billion. HTC said it plans to continue to expand in China, with a footprint of around 2,000 retail outlets carrying its products by year-end. Its new factory in Taoyuan should also be ready at the start of 2012, offering an annual capacity of 40 million units. In addition, it’s started the third phase of its brand campaign, focusing on “creating brand preference and emotional connection” with customers. This is supported by new services, based on the recent acquisitions Beats (headphones) and Dashwire (cloud storage).
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