China may well define new trends in 3G Video Services
China Telecom has launched 3G CDMA-2000 services in most cities, and China Unicom is soft-launching 3G WCDMA with multiple video oriented services. China Mobile is ramping up the launch of 3G TD-SCDMA, which is largely based on locally developed technologies.
One aspect that one could not ignore is the sheer scale of 3G activities, and what its global impact. The very large subscriber bases makes it difficult to extrapolate subscriber behavior in other countries to China. The recent experience of applications and services such as peer-to-peer streaming by Tencent, is I believe a convincing evidence that Chinese subscribers are far more video-aware than subscribers in other geographies.
It may well be that everybody will be surprised by the response of subscribers to various video applications, including video-calling, mobile video on demand, video ring back tones, and many new services that the highly creative Chinese software developers are likely to create, within the highly dynamic Chinese society. China may well define new trends in 3G video that other smaller countries did not dare to explore.
Vietnam ramps up to 3G launch
I was in Vietnam in the middle of May, and it was my first visit. I was really overwhelmed by the extent of modernization that is taking place there. Several mobile operators are preparing to launch 3G in late 2009 (desirably before the Tết festivities). 3G Video value added services are attracting strong interest, whether live TV, Video on Demand, Video-calling based services such as video surveillance and video portals. 3G may be an additional strong motor for local communication industry development and growth, in particular for the local system integrators and Application Service Providers.
Etisalat UAE Launches World First Video Push Service
Etisalat UAE, has launched world first Video Push service on its Weyak portal. The service is launched with Funniest Videos. The subscription costs around $5.50 per month, and the subscriber will receive a video call delivering the funny videos everyday at 7pm. An interesting aspect of Video Push is that subscribers can be introduced to new services automatically. The Video Push platform can be easily programmed to videocall subscribers who have opted in, to offer them and demonstrate to them the latest services.
Arabcom 2009 – Lebanon
I attended Arabcom 2009 on May 28-29 in Beirut, Lebanon. The conference was very well attended, with most Arab operators and service providers, regulators, vendors and the media. It was very interesting that many operators have launched 3G and video services (p2p and VAS), and service uptake appears to be much higher than in other geographies. Many Arab countries have been embracing competitive operations which have yielded a high level of innovation.