The global market for inbuilt set-top boxes will grow at a 2 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), passing 179 million units by 2020, said a Technavio report Friday. Driving the moderate growth are government mandates in countries such as China and India where digitization of TV networks will fuel demand for set-tops that offer more channels, improved picture quality and DVR technology, it said. Hybrid versions combining satellite, cable and IPTV set-tops and offering over-the-top and pay-on-demand service are expected to grow at a 13 percent CAGR to 53.5 million units by 2020, said Technavio. To tap the growing set-top market, vendors are introducing services such as on-demand, push-VOD and specialized Internet services to increase average revenue per unit, said analyst Soumya Mutsuddi. Services include free-to-air and pay TV on the digital video broadcasting side and value-added services on the IP side, Mutsuddi said. The market is led by Asia Pacific and Europe, Middle East and Africa countries. In the Americas, the market for satellite set-tops is “declining rapidly” as consumers switch to smart TVs and hybrid set-tops, said the researcher, while the market for Ultra HD set-tops will grow "substantially" during the period.
MCI agreed to FCC conditions for waiving a U.S. benchmark termination rate for Cuba as specified in a 2011 TeleCuba waiver order and 2012 international settlements policy reform order, MCI parent Verizon told the commission in a letter posted Wednesday in docket 10-95. Cuba didn't accept the U.S. benchmark rate of 19 cents per minute for terminating calls, preventing direct U.S.-Cuba calling for years (indirect calls were routed through other countries). Under the 2011 and 2012 FCC orders (here and here), U.S. carriers can exceed the benchmark rate and pay up to 84 cents a minute to terminate calls in Cuba if they adhere to various conditions, including that they reach nonexclusive interconnection agreements with Cuban carrier Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A.. The agreements must state the parties intend to reduce the termination rates toward or below the benchmark rate over time and take at least one significant step in that direction. IDT Telecom and Sprint reached three-year agreements in 2015 (here and here) that generally set termination rates of 60 cents per minute for U.S.-to-Cuba traffic and 15 cents per minute for Cuba-to-U.S. traffic.
Global smartphone demand reached 368 million units in 2015's Q4, up 14 percent from Q3 and 6 percent from Q4 a year earlier, GfK said in a Wednesday report. But Q4 sales growth on a monetary basis was flat at $115 billion compared with a year earlier because of average selling price declines of 6 percent, the research firm said. For the full 2015, 1.3 billion smartphone units were sold, an increase of 7 percent from 2014, it said. But ASP declines of 2 percent caused revenue to increase only 5 percent to $399 billion, it said. In China, the world’s largest smartphone market, Q4 unit sales jumped 12 percent to 107 million, but in North America, unit sales declined 1.1 percent to 56 million, it said. GfK sees global smartphone sales again increasing 7 percent this year to 1.4 billion units, led by a 23 percent increase to 227 million in “emerging” Asia Pacific markets, which GfK says include India, Indonesia, Kampuchea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. China will remain the largest global smartphone market this year, with shipments of 397 million units, a rise of 3 percent from 2015, it said. In North America, GfK forecast sales rising 2 percent to 194 million units.
The European Commission approved the proposed combination of Dell and information technology and cloud services provider EMC, Dell said in a news release Monday. A week ago, the FTC cleared the companies' merger. The deal is still subject to approval by EMC's shareholders and regulatory bodies in "certain other jurisdictions," said Dell.
Digital literacy and ensuring that “locally relevant content and services are available” are keys to connecting 363 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean already covered by mobile broadband networks but not yet connected to the Internet, the GSM Association said in a report released Tuesday. Affordability and network coverage are the other major barriers to “digital inclusion” in the region, the report said. Some 634 million live in the region and only about 10 percent are outside the footprint of a 3G or 4G network, GSMA said. “Mobile broadband is the primary method of delivering affordable internet access across the Latin America and Caribbean region, delivering a range of economic and social benefits and supporting the UN Social Development Goals,” said Sebastian Cabello, the GSMA’s head-Latin America, in a news release. “But there is also the danger of a widening ‘digital divide’ in the region due to millions being either unable or unwilling to use mobile broadband services. We therefore urge governments to work with the mobile industry to address the barriers to adoption and ensure that the mobile internet is more accessible, useful and understandable for everyone.”
Four cybersecurity software products from Malaysia's e-Lock Corp. are considered of U.S. origin for government procurement purposes, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a final determination published in Monday's Federal Register. The “source code” is written in Malaysia while the “object code” is compiled in the U.S. "CBP has consistently held that conducting a ‘software build’ -- i.e., compiling source code into object code -- results in a substantial transformation," the agency said. The finished software products are determined to be of U.S. origin, CBP said.
Facebook announced a new collaborative project among operators, infrastructure providers, system integrators and other technology companies that would "reimagine traditional approaches to building and deploying telecom network infrastructure," wrote Jay Parikh, the company's global head of engineering and infrastructure, in a news release. He wrote Sunday that the current infrastructure isn't moving fast enough to meet the "data-intensive experiences like video and virtual reality." In its new Telecom Infra Project, member companies will contribute designs in access, backhaul and core and management areas through a more open framework to get better cost and operational efficiencies, which could lead to faster development of technologies like 5G, he said. In one example, he said, Facebook collaborated on a pilot, based on the project's principles, to provide cellular coverage for the first time to a small Philippines village. Facebook along with members Intel and Nokia would contribute an initial suite of reference designs, while Deutsche Telekom and SK Telecom would help define and deploy technology tailored to their needs, he added. Other partnership members include Harman, its website said.
Control4 announced a shift in its Australia distribution model, adding in-country staff to handle sales, technical support and training to expand its reach with home automation integrators. The move, effective April 1, leverages Control4 operations and employees from its January 2015 purchase of audio/video distribution company Nexus Technologies and its Leaf brand, it said Thursday. Control4 undertook similar transitions in the U.K. and China in 2011 and in Germany last year.
Liberty Global and Vodafone plan to combine their Netherlands operations by year's end, with the 50/50 joint venture creating what they said in a Monday news release would be a "national unified communications provider ... with complementary strengths across video, broadband, mobile and B2B services." Vodafone will pay Liberty Global 1 billion euros (roughly $1.11 billion) to equalize ownership in the joint venture, they said. “The combination of Vodafone’s leading mobile business with Ziggo’s successful broadband and TV business creates a strong and competitive integrated communications player, which will invest in digital infrastructure, entertainment services and productivity applications for Dutch consumer, business and public sector customers," said Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao. The joint venture will operate under both the Vodafone and Ziggo brands, the two said.
SoftBank will provide high-speed commercial LTE service in Japan this year using Gilat's satellite-based cellular capabilities, the companies said in an announcement Tuesday. SoftBank said it already provides 3G mobile communications in Japan using satellite communications as backhaul. The LTE service announcement follows trials demonstrating file transfer protocol downlink rates of up to 100 Mbps using actual mobile handsets, the two said. “We will be able to also offer high-speed LTE services in mountainous regions, remote islands and other areas in Japan where it is difficult to install fixed-line backhaul cost-effectively and quickly," said SoftBank Head-Technology Unit Yasuyuki Imai. "We already have satellite-based backhaul in those regions, but now we will be able to offer our customers LTE speeds. We also expect to see the application of this technology to the mobile network of our group company Sprint in the U.S. Our hope is that this technology will help play a role in bridging the digital divide.”