One billion mobile users in India by 2015

India could have more than one billion mobile phone users by 2015, with the bulk of that growth in rural areas, one of the country's top telecom executives said on Wednesday.

Manoj Kohli, chief executive of India's biggest mobile phone group Bharti Airtel, told an industry conference in Hong Kong that his firm is aiming to almost double its customer base to 200 million people in the next few years.

"Achieving a billion plus (Indian mobile users) by 2015 is possible," he told the Mobile Asia Congress, the region's largest telecom industry gathering.

"The largest growth will happen in the rural market," he said, adding that pricing wars between providers were knocking down rates in the Indian market and making phones affordable to more people.

Competition in India has become even more aggressive as new players unleash deeper price cuts with innovative per-second billing plans that have pushed call costs down to less than a cent a minute.

"There is hyper-competition like no other place in the world," he said.

India is the world's second-biggest cellular market with more than 400 million users, lagging behind only China, which has over 600 million users.

Rural customers are also seen as key to growth in China, said Chang Xiaobing, chairman of China Unicom, one of the nation's three major telecoms operators.

The company aims to tap "vast rural areas" for growth as demand for basic mobile voice services slows in saturated urban markets, he said, with customers now looking for multi-function devices that can send emails or play movies.

"Voice is a mature market in some areas, but we still see some growth potential," Chang told the conference. "Voice will be in continuous demand (in China)."

But Chinese operators must boost their data business to offset falling prices on voice calls, he said.

Chang has said he expects Apple's iconic iPhone, which Unicom distributes, will be China's highest-selling smartphone despite disappointing results after its official launch this month.

Mobile connections in Asia Pacific are expected to cross the two billion mark this year, more than triple the level in 2003, according to statistics released by conference organiser GSMA, a mobile industry trade group.

Agencies

Go multilingual in 51 languages using Google gadgets

Google on Wednesday released free software that lets website operators automatically translate online pages into any of 51 languages.

A "translator gadget" powered by Google Translate offers to transform pages for visitors if the language settings in their browsers are different from the language of a particular website, according to Google product manager Jeff Chin.

"Automatic translation is convenient and helps people get a quick gist of the page," Chin said in a blog post.

"However, it's not a perfect substitute for the art of professional translation."

In August the Internet giant added automatic translation to Google Docs allowing users to translate documents into 42 languages.

The "Tools" menu on Google Docs now includes a "Translate Document" feature which provides a list of the various languages offered, which run from Albanian to Icelandic to Vietnamese.

The Mountain View, California-based company has already built automatic translation features into its popular email program Gmail and into services such as its blog reader.

Agencies

Mobile number portability licences to be granted in March

The list of companies that will be granted licences for mobile number portability (MNP) - a technology that enables cellphone users to retain their phone numbers when changing operators - will be announced next month, the government said Thursday.

"The successful bidders for grant of mobile number portability service licences will be announced by March 5," Communications and Information Technology Minister A. Raja said in Rajya Sabha.

The letter of intent will also be issued the same day, Raja said, adding that the implementation of MNP has not been delayed.

The government had issued guidelines for award of MNP service licences Jan 1 this year.

As per the guidelines, MNP is to be implemented in all metro and category 'A' service areas within six months of the award of the licence, and in rest of the service areas within one year.

Agencies

Mobile phone sales set to slide in 2009!

An IDC report Says the impact of economic crisis on mobile phone market may not continue past 2009.

Technology research firm IDC said in a report that the global mobile phone sales are set to slide for the first time since 2001 as a result of the global economic crisis.

The report forecasts that total mobile phone volumes would be 1.9 per cent lower in 2009 than the 2008 levels, said a press release.

In 2001, the shipments had declined 2.3 per cent. Over the past several years, the mobile phone market has enjoyed double-digit annual growth due to an increased emphasis on emerging markets.

However, emerging market growth has been steadily slowing as these markets mature, the release said. IDC now expects worldwide growth to be just 7.1 per cent in 2008 before slipping into negative growth in 2009.

A number of major industry players, including component suppliers, handset makers, and operators have announced their concerns about handset volumes in 2009.

Most have indicated that they expect a year-over-year decrease due to the flagging global economy, the release added.

The report stated that it did not expect the downturn to continue past 2009, with the market in 2010 showing signs of revival as the economic recovery takes effect. "Converged mobile devices remain a much sought-after option for many consumers," noted Ramon Llamas, senior analyst, Mobile Devices Technology and Trends.

He added that users have come to realize what these devices can do beyond voice telephony, especially when it comes to running applications. In response, handset vendors have been building the product and applications portfolios to catch this wave of opportunity.