What does Verizon’s victory in the auction mean to Vodafone?

The impact of the FCC’s 700 MHz auction is amazing. I mean, who would have ever thought that the results of FCC auction could have an impact on the stockholders of Vodafone? Confused? Read on.

Verizon Wireless, in case you don’t know, is a joint venture between Verizon Communications and Vodafone. Now, as we all know, Verizon has won a major chunk of the wireless spectrum in the recently concluded auction. It paid close to an astronomical $5 billion for the licenses it acquired and it has got reflected in the stock prices of Vodafone.

Investec, a prominent South African bank, has advised its clients to sell Vodafone shares as it predicts its dividend payments to be delayed. Now, I’m not a stock market analyst or something. In fact, I have no idea of anything remotely associated with stock market. Could someone explain this?

Categories: All things mobile phones.

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Mobile phone growth in the U.S. and Asia - A perspective

When it comes to mobile phone market, not many people know that the U.S. is not the market leader. Instead, Asia beats everyone left, right, and center. Asia has been the hub for mobile phones for quite some time now and the surprising fact is, Asia leads in not just the number of mobile phones or mobile connections, but also in the kind of mobile technology that is being used.

How about this for a sample? In Japan, you can play games and fast forward through MP3 tracks with just a flick of your finger, literally. Certain mobile phones in Japan come with built-in motion sensors which let you do this at your comfort. Also, you can point your mobile phones at a big commercial complex and your mobile phone will display information about the building like what’s in there, how to get to a particular shop in the building, and even the daily special in the restaurant. This facility is available in certain models of Sony Ericsson and DoCoMo.

China has gone one step ahead and has come up with a technology through which mobile users can get live broadcasts of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The best part is, you’ll not get streaming videos that are pretty slow. Here, the signals from China’s mobile TV will be transmitted straight to a UHF/VHF antenna which is inbuilt in the mobile phones, and you will be able to get 50 times the normal bandwidth, which, needless to say, will be very quick and easier to watch.

As of now, technologies such as this are almost unheard of in the U.S. However, a lot of experts believe that the 700 MHz auction will change things significantly in the U.S. They actually predict a third network apart from Cellular and Wi-Fi/WiMax, which will make mobile phone market in the U.S. a fast growing one. Soon, people in the U.S. will be able to switch their handsets at their wish without having to change the provider. Well; we’re all waiting for that day, aren’t we?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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