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Focus for investment among MNOs shifts to supporting high-end mobile data services

Projects are underway in Yemen to improve telecommunications infrastructure

As of the first quarter of 2014, Chinese mobile phone users totaled around 1.25 billion and user adoption of 3G and 4G combined reached around 37%. Sales volume of smartphones in China arrived at 95.6 million units in the same quarter. Samsung and Apple both saw significant growth in market share. As for Chinese brands, Xiaomi was the best performer. This report examines the development of the Chinese smartphone market during the first and second quarter of 2014 from the perspectives of telecom operators and branded vendors.

VOIP, or Voice Over Internet Protocol, is a means for telecommunication that uses an internet connection to connect people around the world for a fraction of the cost of international phone calls through a traditional hard line. VOIP is increasingly essential for businesses who have clients and manufacturers overseas, and getting the right VOIP provider can make all the difference in making the right first impression with new and potential clients. VOIP Billboard is a site that has been getting a lot of attention lately for providing invaluable insight on such providers, and has now published a Nextiva review to help business users decide on their exciting packages.

4G has been rolling out around the country for quite some time. There are many benefits to this new service, and most of them relate to speed and download times. 3G might have been the best solution available in the past, but that has now changed. Experts claim that 4G can be up to five times faster, which obviously means a significant change for both business and personal users.

The Taiwanese telecom market is among the most mature in the region, with 126.8% mobile penetration in 2013 and 84.7% of the market is postpaid. Taiwanese mobile market looks to an exciting year ahead in 2014 as six operators have obtained their 4G licences and are expected to introduce 4G services by end-2014. However, operators face short-term ARPU squeeze from the regulators who have imposed compulsory cuts to mobile termination rates and requirements to provide free peering between 2013 to 2016. That said, the migration towards 4G market should open up new data-driven revenue sources for operators such as mobile payment, mobile commerce and cloud computing services.

OTT, M2M, Big Data and the Cloud drive the Global Telecoms Industry

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.

Healthcare organizations response systems should include well trained employees who can answer calls with patience, tact, and clarity. This human factor should also involve empathy, understanding, and clear communication which is especially crucial in emergencies. Friendly and dependable staff can make a significant difference to make hospital answering service effective. It personalizes the calling experience for patients and health care professionals.

TrackUrPhone, a blog about mobile surveillance, was put online through the My Spy (mSpy) Affiliate Partner Program on November 23, 2013. The website, which advertises a mobile tracking software called mSpy, provides advice on various topics regarding surveillance and tracking.

Business Phone System provider TelcoDepot.com launched a new batch of web pages created to provide potential customers with the necessary information to make an informed buying decision on its advanced phone solutions. Dedicated to offering customers top-notch services, TelcoDepot.com describes its different business phone options, as well as each of their main features, advantages, and technical details.

The Danish telecommunications market is highly mature and increasingly focused around value-added premium services. Most notably, while the broadband market is growing steadily on the back of demand for converged services, the mobile sector is beginning to show signs of fatigue with periodic declines in subscriber numbers linked to the retirement of low-value or inactive accounts. Curiously, adoption of M2M services lags other equally advanced European markets, although growth now seems to be accelerating. In this environment, there are scant opportunities for new or risk-averse investors, although the potential for niche value-added services is far from played out.

Telecommuting is on the rise and more work is being completed when we are away from the office and on the go. Using just a smartphone and an Internet connection, many of our day-to-day tasks can be accomplished anytime, anywhere.

All four of the leading mobile operators in Brazil have reported a positive response to the launch of 4G LTE services since H113, boosting subscriber growth to 1.310mn by the end of the year. This has come at the right time for the mobile market, which has seen growth slow down considerably, as it reaches a saturation point. Opportunities for revenue growth will come from the value-added services such as M2M and m-commerce as the market matures beyond a prepaid centric environment of subscription acquisition maximisation . In the broadband market, Anatel has been active in trying to enhance competition, reducing licence fees for operators wishing to provide multiple services and the potential entrance of VTR ( Liberty Global ) is reportedly due in Q214. Investments in broadband are beginning to be focused on fibre optic cables but it will be a number of years before this technology really takes hold.

Malaysia: HSBB and Mobile Data Innovation Fuel Telecom Revenue Growth', a new Country Intelligence Report by Pyramid Research, offers a precise, incisive profile of Malaysia's mobile and fixed telecommunications and pay-TV markets based on comprehensive proprietary data and insights from our research in the Malaysia market. Published annually, this presentation-quality, executive-level report provides a comprehensive study of the Malaysian telecommunication market, analyzing trends, near-term opportunities, competitive dynamics and evolution of demand by service type and technology/platform across the fixed telephony and broadband, mobile and pay-TV sectors, as well as key regulatory trends.

Despite the relative small size of the individual Caribbean markets, they are drawing a lot of interest from third parties, with a number of opportunities arising in the Bahamas and Trinidad & Tobago for additional players. As with the sale of Orange Dominicana in November 2013, these markets are attracting interest from a number of players, despite the existence of incumbent operators and highly penetrated mobile markets. This is likely because growth in mobile broadband is continuing at double digit levels, with small geographic islands ideal for deploying network infrastructure with access to submarine cables. Digicel 's Cayman Islands operations completed its rollout of 4G LTE this quarter and we expect to see strong uptake in the service due the country's higher spending power. Even Cuba, where mobile penetration and mobile internet services are limited is seeing excessive demand for its basic mobile email service launched earlier in 2014. ETECSA is having to expand its network in order to deal with the increased demand, with more mobile internet services expected throughout the year. This will be the main driver of operator revenues in the region over our five-year forecast period.

For people running a startup or small business, having a professional phone solution is almost always a major issue. While managing a limited budget, should they invest in an answering service, a receptionist or just use their cell phones?

Other than Libya, which continues to feel the effects of the 2011 civil war, competition is strong in North Africa's mobile markets. While there remains some growth potential in the region's mobile markets, BMI believes mobile data and increased liberalisation in the wireline segment will be the major drivers of growth throughout our forecast period to 2018. Morocco's regulator has given incumbent Maroc T?l?com until August to impleme nt local loop unbundling, Alg?rie T?l?com has reduced the price of broadband services to respond to the launch of 3G services in H114 and Tunisie T?l?com has ramped up investment in its wireline and mobile data networks. Meanwhile, Etisalat has completed its acquisition of a 53% stake in Maroc T ?l?com. BMI expects these developments to result in an acceleration of convergence strategies, as operators look beyond the mobile voice market for revenue and subscriptions growth.

Spoof call has been a constant in prank lists and fun surely gets double if it comes free. Much to the pleasure of ardent prank callers, MyPhoneRobot has announced to extend free prank calls online.

Microspace Communications, a Raleigh, NC based broadband solutions provider for enterprise applications, is excited to announce their transition to a new satellite, offering improved signal strength and reliability for their U.S. based customers. The transition will take place on August 24, 2014.

Medical answering services are the ideal solution for every medical professionals who receive large number of calls from their patients. For physicians, their patient’s health and wellbeing is the main priority; however, it is hard to attend each and every call they receive from their patient, mainly when they are busy with other patients. Therefore, to handle the call flow efficiently, doctors outsource their requirement to those firms that are dedicated in providing answering services. Whether it is a major ruin or a meek medical query, a medical answering service will ease the burden from one’s successful medical practice.

ShoreTel Inc.'s Technology Partner certification for EtherSpeak's SIP service now includes versions 14 of the ShoreTel Unified Communications PBX platform. EtherSpeak, a trusted SIP carrier, has been a member-validated partner in ShoreTel’s Innovation Network for the past eight years.

ShoreTel Inc.'s Technology Partner certification for EtherSpeak's SIP service now includes versions 14 of the ShoreTel Unified Communications PBX platform. EtherSpeak, a trusted SIP carrier, has been a member-validated partner in ShoreTel’s Innovation Network for the past eight years.

'France: To Cope with Fierce Competition, Converged Telecom Operators Focus on Bundling,' a new Country Intelligence Report by Pyramid Research, offers a precise, incisive profile of the French mobile and fixed telecommunications markets and pay-TV markets based on comprehensive proprietary data and insights from our research in the country. Published annually, this presentation-quality, executive-level report provides detailed analysis of the near-term opportunities, competitive dynamics and evolution of demand by service type and technology/platform across the fixed telephony, broadband, mobile and pay-TV sectors, in addition to a review of key regulatory trends.

South Korea is one of the most advanced markets in the world and is the first nation to have launched LTE-advanced services commercially. Only SK Telecom is still offering 2G services in the market and we expect 2G to be completely phased out by 2015. The key mobile growth driver is expected to be the migration of customers from 3G to 4G, although we see some downside risk to the pace of this transition after the handset distribution law takes effect from October 2014.