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Mergers and network investment are offering greater growth potential for wireline services, trends that are boosting growth in fixed-line services and putting innovations such as IPTV on the agenda for 2014. BMI believes that operators will increase their focus on data, network speed and content over 2014, seeing subscribers offered an increasing range of services and building revenue opportunities for operators. In the mobile sector, we remain concerned over increasing interference from the regulator and government intervention to reduce the dominance of market leader Claro. Nevertheless, BMI believes that Colombia will follow the emerging market trend of being a predominantly wireless communications market over the medium to long term if regulatory intervention remains limited.

Iran's large population should make it one of the most attractive telecoms markets in the Middle East. However, political and economic challenges remain and currency fluctuations limit access to the latest devices, limiting the market's growth. Added to which, the Iranian government is keen to restrict access to international internet content, creating a national internet network that will bypass international gateways and cut off large swathes of global content. For this, the government began talks with the Chinese government in early 2014. These factors offer considerable downside to the Iranian market and slow the expected growth of the market's sectors.

The Indian telecommunications market has experienced a considerable number of challenges in the last few years due to constant regulatory disputes and a hostile business environment, which includes an aggressive price war that has eroded operators' profitability. Despite the country's significant growth potential, the industry is struggling to capitalise on the opportunities, which will remain the central theme in the near future as we do not expect the market to reach a swift resolution of these complicated issues.

The opportunities and limits to growth in Uganda's mobile market are both related to its low penetration rate, which BMI estimates reached around 49% in 2013. Although the low penetration rate means there remain considerable opportunities for organic growth in Uganda's mobile market, these are limited by poor network coverage in rural areas, where most Ugandans live.

Poland is one of the largest telecoms markets in CEE, with vibrant competition across all market segments. This has benefited consumers through service innovation and lower prices, but operators' aggressive marketing strategies have increased the downward pressure on ARPUs, which continue to trend downwards and result in narrowing margins. In light of this recent experience operators are targeting growth of high value high-speed fixed broadband subscription growth, as well as mobile broadband growth via dedicated subscriptions and smartphones. These opportunities should allow operators to develop data revenues and help offset declines in traditional services revenues such as voice and SMS.

When spring arrives, many individuals decide to upgrade certain areas of the house, and that includes their communication and entertainment packages. That’s what spring cleaning is all about; out with the old and in with the new. This spring, ProCom is announcing new specials for their valued client base. With their fiber-optic internet network, as well as cable with eye-popping images and phone services—for residential and commercial customers—the technicians will provide free installation for any of their products this spring. The promotion allows homeowners that have been wanting to upgrade from DSL to high-speed internet the chance to do so without any startup cost.

Hong Kong has many positive characteristics including comparatively high purchasing power and a business-friendly environment, and it was the first to launch a commercial long term evolution network in Asia. Mobile subscriber numbers have long passed the 200% penetration mark and, despite the latest data from operators and the regulator showing continued growth, this rate is slowing down, prompting a downgrade in our forecast. 3G and 4G, however, are the key drivers of growth, outperforming our expectations for the year. Fixed lines continue to post declines at a more rapid pace, although IP lines are a bright spot for the industry.

During the quarter ending September 2013, the Romanian market registered its largest total of net additions since Q309, posting an increase of 262,000 and reversing a steady trend of decline. BMI does not believe that this was the beginning of a new trend towards growth, and still expect a continuing pattern of slow growth or net losses to be the norm as penetration remains over 126%. The market benefits from a good level of competition between major international players, all of which had launched LTE services as of May 2013. With smartphone penetration reaching 27% of Orange's customers, we expect the development of mobile data and value-added services to become the key driver of growth for these players. The ongoing privatisation of incumbent Romtelecom will see the removal of the government from its stake, benefitting the fixed market with increased investment.

Jordan's telecoms operators reported weak financial results in 2013, mainly due to tax increases during that year and rising operating expenses. We expect this to reduce operators' appetite for capital intensive projects with low returns on investment, such as rural expansion. The regulator is struggling to generate interest in 4G licences, an indication of investor apathy in the telecoms sector on the back of adverse macroeconomic and industry-specific factors.

Sweden's status as one of the most advanced markets in the world is evidenced by its leading position in M2M connections and the growth of LTE subscriptions. Regulatory data show that LTE subscription growth is being achieved at the expense of 3G, as users are increasingly looking to migrate up to the higher capacity and faster speed technology. As a more expensive service this bodes well for data usage ARPU and the expansion of value-added services (VAS). In the wireline sector this is matched by a 15.7% rise in the number of fibre connections in the year to June 2013. The acquisition of Tele2's fixed broadband assets by Telenor should give the latter increased scope in the Swedish market, although the ongoing decline of the fixed telephony sector continues to weigh on operators.

France continues to be one of the more lucrative markets in Western Europe, but operators have had to contend with an intensification of competition since the launch of Free Mobile in Q112, adding to pressure on revenues from regulatory measures such as MTR cuts. These developments have put pressure on operator financial performance and resulted in a revision of strategies by the existing operators. Compounding the pressure on revenues from competition and regulatory changes is the shift in consumer behaviour as they increasingly adopt IP alternatives, leading to declines in the volume of voice and SMS services being consumed. Operators are making headway in the development of higher value data services, but in terms of financial performance they are not yet offsetting the decline in traditional services. Meanwhile, in the wireline market more players are entering the converged services market; the rise of triple- and quad-play packages makes it difficult for established players to continue growing. Instead, they are focusing on extracting more value from those customers they retain.

Oman's telecoms markets are developing rapidly, with demand for data and value added services the fastest area of growth. Wireless data services have seen the strongest growth in terms of dedicated and voice and data subscriptions. Demand for smartphones has boosted subscription growth, while improved international connectivity is at the same time driving down the cost of services and deepening the market Total subscriptions are also continuing to increase, with opportunities existing due to continued population growth. However, saturation will ultimately be reached over the medium term and we therefore expect operators to shift their strategy towards upselling higher value services to existing customers to sustain revenue growth.

Qatar's telecoms industry is among the highest value in the world, with ARPUs supported by high incomes. The fixed-line, broadband and mobile sectors all recorded subscriptions growth in 2013, on the back of strong competition on price and quality of services between incumbent operator Ooredoo and Vodafone. However, with the mobile penetration now above 170%, we expect telecoms operators to increase their focus on higher value data and converged services for the enterprise and consumer markets in order to sustain revenue growth over the long term. Combined with strong government support for the development of next generation broadband networks, as well as its determination to transform Doha into a smartcity, BMI has a positive long-term growth outlook for Qatar's telecoms market.

Consolidation is driving the German telecommunications market as operators strive to reinvent themselves as full converged service providers. O2 hopes to acquire E-Plus, Vodafone has gained control of Kabel Deutschland Group, and cable and broadband operators are exchanging assets that will bolster their presence in key cities. Low value voice and messaging services are being superseded by data-centric services as more consumers demand 'everything everywhere' access. Consequently, business strategies are being reforged and investment budgets geared as much towards the development of differentiated services as next-generation infrastructure. The shift of one MVNO from low-value prepaid to high-value postpaid plans conveys the story set to play out over the next five years. BMI believes the German competitive landscape is changing quickly and that many of today's players will not stay the course.

Egypt's telecoms market is poised for a new phase of competition following the award of unified telecoms licenses to the country's telecoms service providers. Fixed-line incumbent operator Telecom Egypt is keen to enter the mobile market while mobile operators Mobinil, Vodacom and Etisalat would see the concession as an opportunity to developed converged telecoms services for business and residential customers. We expect this development to attract much needed investments in fixed and mobile network development over the next few years, but caution that investors would remain mindful of the political and economic environments in the run-up to new general elections.

Malaysia's telecommunications sector enjoys high levels of service penetration, owing to highly focused investment in advanced broadband infrastructure and supporting services and solutions. Wireless and wireline non-voice services account for an increasingly large proportion of operators' revenues, and this is encouraging them to reinvest heavily in next-generation infrastructure, including fibre-to-the-home and 4G LTE. However, this emphasis on broadband means falling demand for traditional voice telephone services has accelerated, while operator-provided mobile voice and messaging services have come under threat from network-agnostic over-the-top (OTT) competitors. As BMI has already noted, this has hit operator financial performance. Tackling the issue will be critical for operators over the medium term.

Ghana's mobile market recorded significantly slower growth in FY13 compared to the two previous years, a sign of increasing market saturation and fewer new subscriber acquisition opportunities. Meanwhile, the country's mobile operators took a hit in their finances from adverse macroeconomic and regulatory factors in 2013, such as the depreciation of the local currency, tax increases and fines for poor quality of service (QoS). These developments will shape operators' strategies in 2014, with high network investments, tariff increases and roll out of more non-voice services among the key trends we expect to see during the year.

Telcodepot.com, a leading business phone systems provider, is now offering 46% off Xblue X16 phone systems (with 2 phones budget package). According to TelcoDepot.com, this offer is ideal for small businesses making the transition to a more sophisticated telephone and looking to save some money in the process.

Switch2Voip is pleased to offer VoIP in Philippines now. Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP is one of the most affordable and cost effective solutions to reduce the overall cost of phone calls especially in huge contact centers or call centers. VoIP services for Businesses include voice and fax services including interoffice communication. Businesses can also make long distance calls, local as well as international calls at extremely low prices. They can see a 60% reduction in their telephone bills after they have switched to the VoIP technology. Businesses will not have to change their existing technology but simple make a few changes to their Dialer and PBX configuration.

Ease of Care: Protecting You and Your Loved Ones

Liberty Technology Solutions continues to install business telephone systems this spring. The company, one of the top providers of IT solutions in Philadelphia, offers traditional phone systems in addition to Voice-Over IP (VoIP) and Hosted VoIP. They help businesses all over Philadelphia and South Jersey integrate their new systems with comprehensive installation and on-site training. Liberty Technology Solutions never charges extra for what should be standard features – voice mail, caller ID, hold music, etc. The company is dedicated to helping their clients build customer relations and increase their revenue.

Telecom operators are under persistent pressure to manage capital expenditures related with network deployment and to reduce network operating costs. Managed services providers help network operators realize those goals. The next stage in evolution is to outsource value-added services including content, commerce, and next generation communication services. This is a key development as network operators are poised to lose revenue and margins both do to marginalization of bearer services (voice and data both) and the need for value-added service (VAS) applications.

Back to the Future for Mobile Price Comparison?

Mobile phone IC solution providers, like always, sought the opportunities to presenting their latest products at MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2014 for enhanced brand awareness. This year, 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) chips received the highest attention at the exhibition and many of products running on the latest LTE chips were demonstrated as well. Chipmakers participated this year include Qualcomm, Intel, MediaTek, Marvell, Nvidia, Broadcom, GCT, Sequans, Altair and Hisilicon. This report profiles mainly the latest offerings of major chipmakers and possible cooperation models surrounding around 4G LTE chips are examined.

International mobile transaction hub Tranglo announces a partnership with Canadian telecommunications carrier TELUS for International Top-up services, enabling TELUS’ prepaid and postpaid subscribers to send talk-time minutes or top-up credit to friends, family and loved ones abroad.