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Arabic Forum |
amnesia
Joined: Jan 15, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Doha, London, Tokyo, Shanghai
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8800's used will be more expensive than Europe or ebay because those are required items
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nasty devil
Joined: Apr 17, 2006
Posts: 0
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ÇäÇ ßæíÊí ÈÚÏ
im kuwaity too, i was in usa and came back to q8 in 1998, love usa, so what do u wanna chat about? |
amnesia
Joined: Jan 15, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Doha, London, Tokyo, Shanghai
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welcome.
Feel free to chat whatever you like.
(except for something that can cause a flame ware  )
Mobile's, technology and gadgets. Thats what I love.
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Skrue
Joined: Dec 15, 2002
Posts: > 500
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quick info:  z530i costs 595AED(from Axiom) while N91 costs 4600AED(from virgin megastore)
im actually thinking of getting a z530i, its cheaper than the z520i and smaller too imo..it would be a good backup  |
amnesia
Joined: Jan 15, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Doha, London, Tokyo, Shanghai
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thats around 589 Qatari Riyals (QR) not bad imo
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amnesia
Joined: Jan 15, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Doha, London, Tokyo, Shanghai
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Booz Allen Hamilton: Middle East mobile markets opening up to competition for first time
New entrants in the Middle Eastern telecommunications industry have been mainly operating in the mobile space, which has witnessed intensifying competition. Existing operators have adopted defense strategies, and as new entrants gained grounds and markets approached saturation, operators have expanded into new markets in search for growth, according to Booz Allen Hamilton.
Changes in technology will further influence the mobile communications value chain, creating a new trend of multimedia convergence, which could be the next battleground for operators and media players alike. Mobile broadband and broadcasting will allow more dynamic and rich content to reach a wider audience. Operators will then be challenged to balance the attractiveness of full mobility and practicality of handheld devices on the one hand, and high speed connectivity on the other.
Market liberalization impact
The number of Arab countries gaining World Trade Organization membership is on the increase, exceeding 12 countries in 2005, with the latest member being the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
A commitment to Telecom liberalization is a requirement for WTO accession and so the region has seen the rapid emergence of new operators being granted licences. Some markets are more liberal than others, with Jordan and Bahrain offering the greatest choice, and UAE and Qatar being the latest to show signs of open markets.
The mobile sector was the first to benefit, where new operators have emerged within national boarders, and expanded across the region and beyond. The number of mobile businesses in the region stood at over 30 by the end of 2005, compared to just half as many fixed operators, which are still predominantly monopolies. Even more mobile companies are expected in the next three years in countries like Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia, Syria and potentially Lebanon upon the conclusion of the four year management contracts with the two existing operators in that country.
As licenses are issued, direct foreign investment is attracted, such as France Telecom’s 35.2% stake in MobileCom in Jordan, but a significant source of funding still comes from the region. Investments across the Middle East and North Africa include Etisalat, who own 35% of the second operator in Saudi Arabia, MTC Vodafone who have large stakes in mobile operators in Jordan and Bahrain, and Wataniya with a 40% stake in Asia-Cell in Iraq.
Regional and global expansions
Expansions have been driven by two main factors: pull from new opportunities and push from increasing competition or saturation in the home market.
Kuwait and UAE, home for MTC, Wataniya, and Etisalat, respectively, had a mobile penetration of over 85% in 2004. MTC and Wataniya have initially expanded into 5 countries each, and Etisalat had acquired operations and licenses in over 10 countries by April 2005. Most of the expansion territories of Etisalat and MTC have been through major acquisitions that took place in March and April 2005. Etisalat added 7 countries in Central Africa, by acquiring a 50% stake of Atlantique Telecom, a West African mobile operator. MTC added over 11 operators in the same region through the acquisition of Celtel.
According to consultants at Booz Allen Hamilton, the situation was different in the case of Orascom. For Orascom, the Egyptian market was becoming highly competitive with a low Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). Although market saturation wasn’t reached, Orascom went into an aggressive expansion plan at the turn of 2000. By 2002, their share price was negatively impacted. Orascom Telecom divested the majority of non-strategic assets (mostly sub-Saharan mobile licenses), restructured its balance sheet and developed a highly focused and disciplined regional growth strategy. The share price recovered steadily, with its GDR recovering from a 91% drop in value over September 2000 – 2002, to register a 3500% increase in value by 2005.
Orascom’s boundaries of operations have expanded into Africa, Pakistan and Europe. However, it is too early to judge whether these expansions will be successful or not as factors such as geographical proximity, growth potential of the target market, cultural fit, trade and relationship between the source and target markets, sector attractiveness, overall company strategy, among others come into play.
But, Ghassan Hasbani, Booz Allen Hamilton Principal, urges a word of caution: “Foreign investors have seen the enormous potential and are backing the newly formed operators and providers, giving even more confidence to the market. But, a lesson that has been learned from Europe is that chasing every new opportunity can be a strain on human and financial resources and well planned strategy is vital.”
Home market protection
Although a lot of focus has been on expanding beyond the national boundaries, investment in local markets is still an important element of an operator’s strategy, especially with the high growth potential.
Booz Allen Hamilton Senior Associate, Hilal Halaoui, says that as competition increases, new operators are looking to expand their subscriber base while those already established are defending their market position and minimizing losses of their traditionally high revenues. “In a drive to defend the home market, the incumbent operators are looking to enhance their network infrastructure and develop new services to reward their customers” he says. “Some of the schemes have proved popular with subscribers and could be effective in slowing if not stopping the damage caused by new competition.”
Loyalty programs, for example, have become popular with operators. Qitaf, offered by Saudi Telecom for its mobile and fixed services customers has proved a success and Al Tamayoz was launched recently by Aljawal in Saudi Arabia to retain regular and frequent users. Similar programs for collecting and redeeming loyalty points are available in Jordan, Morocco and Bahrain.
The emerging business models
New technology is also allowing operators to introduce services that could play a major part in customer choice.
As mobile devices become more sophisticated, the user experience is changing. Operators are evolving their services to deliver entertainment and information to mobile phone screens. In the last four years, SMS traffic has increased significantly on mobile networks in the region. As more bandwidth becomes available on networks following the introduction of GPRS, more complex messaging can be supported, hence the introduction of Multimedia Messaging (MMS). Today, most networks in the region have introduced GPRS standards and a large number of successful operators offer MMS services.
Messaging services can be classified into three broad categories:
1- Person-to-person: where the use generates the message and sends it to other users
2- Downloads: where the user downloads a message such as a ring tone from a machine
3- Voting or public posting: where the user participates in voting or sending a message to be posted publicly, typically on a television program.
Currently, telecom operators share revenues from these services with content developers and content aggregators. The main players in this field are television broadcasters, music rights owners and companies who collect content from various developers, including news, sports, directories, etc.
Booz Allen Hamilton Vice President, Karim Sabbagh, believes this could bring an even stronger bargaining position to the operators. “Many thematic TV broadcasters have emerged recently to offer music content with continuous SMS-based message boards and downloads, along with MMS. Traditionally, content providers commanded a significant share of the revenue in return for their copyrights, but telecom operators are now realizing the importance of their role as the ultimate owner of the relationship with the end user.”
As messaging and interactivity services become more widely spread, revenues to mobile operators will become more significant. Many are increasingly sourcing content directly from the developers, others are looking at entering the content development industry themselves and producing their own libraries to capture a larger portion of revenues.
Interactive television in the region is highly successful, with shows such as Star Academy, Superstar and Alwady creating significant revenue opportunities for TV broadcasters, beyond traditional advertising income. This is made possible by the Telecom operators, who may at some point in the near future also investigate the possibility of expanding their operation into the media part of the value chain.
The advent of Mobile broadband
Current GSM services are expected to keep dominating the revenue forecasts for telecom operators in the region for several years to come. Further investment in the current GSM technology is set to continue over the next 5-8 years by way of new deployment and network upgrades and during this period, gradual deployment of wireless broadband technologies is expected to take place. Over four countries in the region have deployed 3G, EDGE and WiFi technologies, and the number is increasing. Although deployment has been limited to specific areas, coverage is set to increase with the new entrants.
WiMax is entering the region through specific initiatives and trials. The future is not a question of which technology will dominate the market place. It could very well be a mixture of all of them. A lot depends on the availability of practical user devices. Full mobility will always remain a key factor, and wireless technologies that do not cater for the practicality of small and easy to carry devices will face difficulties breaking into the mass market.
Mobile broadband provides freedom of movement and practical access to entertainment, information and other individuals, whereas wireless broadband offers “portability” and high speed connectivity for applications requiring slightly larger devices such as laptop.
Technology deployment models are expected to include a mixture of wireless technologies, serving different market segments, as shown by global operators Vodafone and T-Mobile who have introduced WiFi services in conjunction with their GPRS offering.
The future outlook
The market is set to see further liberalization and privatization in the coming few years as new entrants gain market share and challenge the dominance of incumbent operators which may lead to potential consolidation at a regional level as some small players start finding difficulties competing with the larger ones.
MVNOs may emerge in different shapes and forms, ranging from basic resellers to full MVNOs, falling short of owning network infrastructure. Such service providers will sell excess capacity installed in existing networks as a result of aggressive expansions during the early days of competition.
Wireless broadband will be on the increase through third generation mobile services and countless other wireless broadband technologies.
Although lines between fixed and mobile communications will become blurred, full mobility will remain a handheld personal communications service while fixed line services will focus on serving households and companies.
Telecom operators in the region are expected to continue reviewing their operating models and organizational structures, further expanding their operations into the value chain and accommodating changes in consumer behavior and market dynamics. We may increasingly see telecom and media convergence activities which could result in cross industry acquisitions or cooperation agreements.
Incumbent operators will be challenged by the nature of competition, which may come in the form of mobile or fixed separately or integrated services where they are combined. The nature of competition in each market will influence the way organizations are structured and customers are served. However, a common model is emerging to enhance the capability of operators to address specific needs. Structures will vary though, depending on how market segments are defined by operators. They could include home, enterprise, personal and other carriers, or a combination.
Booz Allen Hamilton has a recommendation to allow for an orderly entrance of new competition: regulation. But the regulation must not punish companies already established in the region. In order to ensure healthy growth and benefit to all stakeholders, regulators should focus on the task of creating value in the market and not transferring it from the incumbent operator to new entrants. Good regulation would result in benefits to the consumer, operators, vendors and Governments who will be, as a result, creating job opportunities, encouraging foreign and local investment and democratizing access to communications services.
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deido
Joined: Sep 27, 2004
Posts: 13
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Hi there...
can someone plz tell me, how much does the imate new jam (the black one) cost in dubai ???
i'll be really gratefull ..
thanks in advance |
Skrue
Joined: Dec 15, 2002
Posts: > 500
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k510i is already released @ Cellucom for the price of 695aed. While nokia's n80 and n91 costs 3400aed @ Axiom. both shops at deira city centre. k510's joystick looks alot similar to the k500's, one thing i love was the matte finish of the handset.
il try to find out the cost of the new jam in a day or two..
[ This Message was edited by: Skrue on 2006-05-08 00:18 ] |
deido
Joined: Sep 27, 2004
Posts: 13
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yes skrue...i'll be so gratefull..........i am waiting for you. |
deido
Joined: Sep 27, 2004
Posts: 13
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another one please....do u know how much is the SE P910 in dubai ??? |
amnesia
Joined: Jan 15, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Doha, London, Tokyo, Shanghai
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P910 is around 200 Bahraini dinar.
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deido
Joined: Sep 27, 2004
Posts: 13
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thx amnesia...but i need the price in UAE Dhs.... |
amnesia
Joined: Jan 15, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Doha, London, Tokyo, Shanghai
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www.xe.com
you can do all the conversions easily there.
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Skrue
Joined: Dec 15, 2002
Posts: > 500
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afaik, P910i's production have already been stopped. don't see carrefour holding stocks on them.
quick info: nokia n71, e60 and e61 has already been released. also, w700i is now available at axiom for 1495aed. |
deido
Joined: Sep 27, 2004
Posts: 13
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the nokia n71 costs how much ? | |
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Access the forum with a mobile phone via esato.mobi
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Posted: 2006-04-17 19:15
