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| > Industry News > Telecoms |
Smartphone shipments overtake PCs for first time
Research firm Canalys has said more smartphones had been shipped globally last year than client PCs for the first time ever, PC Magazine has reported. Vendors shipped 488 million smartphones in 2011 as compared with 415 million PCs, the market research firm said in a report on country-level smartphone and PC shipment estimates for the year. Smartphone shipments in 2011 grew by 62.7%, compared with figures from the year before, while shipments of 159 million units in the fourth quarter of last year represented a 56.6% increase from the same period in 2010, the report said. "Smartphone shipments overtaking those of client PCs should be seen as a significant milestone," said Canalys analyst Chris Jones in a statement. "In the space of a few years, smartphones have grown from being a niche product segment at the high-end of the mobile phone market to becoming a truly mass-market proposition."
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EU mulls sanctions against Iran's telecom sector
EU governments could ban the sales of some telecoms equipment to Iran in the coming months, under plans for new sanctions discussed by EU experts in Brussels, Reuters has reported. EU diplomats said on Friday the bloc's 27 governments have reached an agreement in principle to target equipment that could be used by the Iranian authorities for monitoring of anti-government dissent. "There is a political deal to include in the next round of sanctions a mechanism to ban the purchase and sale of telecommunications equipment which could be used to carry out interceptions or to spy," one EU diplomat said.
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Mobily teams with nine other providers for Global Meeting Alliance
Saudi Arabia’s second telecoms operator, Mobily, together with nine global service providers, have announced the launch of an open ecosystem of leading telecom providers that have aligned to interconnect their respective business video communities, Saudi Gazette has reported. The Global Meeting Alliance comprises Sprint, Glowpoint and TELUS in North America, Safaricom in Africa, Telstra in Australia, Etisalat, Qtel, Tata Communications and Neotel in South Africa. The network allows any service provider to connect to enterprises and institutions on all major continents, irrespective of service provider, following a similar business model to the airline alliance networks.
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Etisalat cuts roaming tariffs for Gulf countries
Etisalat has announced its GCC roaming tariffs have been reduced by 26% on outgoing calls made when travelling within the GCC countries, Gulf News has reported. The new rates, which takes effect today, apply to both prepaid and postpaid customers, the telecoms firm said "This decrease in tariff would essentially mean that UAE travellers will now choose an operator for roaming entirely on the basis of quality of service and coverage rather than pricing, since GCC roaming charges for both operators are the same now," said Hasan Sandila, a telecom analyst at IDC.
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Oman telecom operator posts flat Q4 profits, subscribers down, revenue up
Omani telecoms operator Nawras has reported flat quarterly profits, as subscriber numbers declined but revenues edged slightly higher, Reuters has reported. The firm, majority owned by Qtel, made net profit of OR11.9m for the quarter ended December 30, unchanged from the prior-year period. Mobile and fixed subscribers numbers fell to 1.96 million at the end of 2011 from 2.03 million in 2010. Revenue in the quarter was OR50.8m, up from OR49.9m a year earlier, Nawras said.
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