India’s smartphone market has finally seen a change at the top, with Chinese vendor Xiaomi now leading with shipments close to 8.2 million units in Q4 2017, according to research firm Canalys. Despite annual growth of 17%, South Korea’s Samsung failed to maintain its lead, shipping just over 7.3 million smartphones to take second place.
Industry News
The first 5G New Radio 3GPP standard is complete
The 3GPP TSG RAN Plenary Meeting in Lisbon successfully completed the first implementable 5G NR specification on December 21. Global telecom players, including operators, vendors, and manufacturers, made a statement that the completion of the first 5G New Radio (5G NR) standard has set the stage for the global mobile industry to start full-scale development of 5G NR for large-scale trials and commercial deployments as early as in 2019.
Indian operator suffers more financial woes ahead of potential merger with Vodafone
Indian telecommunications operator Idea Cellular has suffered more financial woes ahead of a proposed merger deal with Vodafone India. Idea Cellular disclosed its financial report for Q4 and it makes for grim reading. In fact, it’s the largest ever quarterly loss posted by the operator, which has been attributed to a rapid decline in interconnection revenue.
Nokia seals deal to supply 5G base stations to Japanese mobile operator
Finnish telecommunications colossus Nokia has announced that it has sealed a major deal to supply 5G base stations to Japan’s largest mobile operator NTT Docomo. The agreement represents the vendor’s first large-scale 5G contract since the first formal 5G New Radio (NR) standard was established and subsequently approved in last month.
Chinese vendor displaces Samsung as India’s No.1 smartphone manufacturer
Chinese handset vendor Xiaomi has scored a big success in India following confirmation that it has displaced South Korean colossus Samsung as the country’s No.1 smartphone manufacturer.
Politicians express security concern over potential China Telecom deal in Philippines
A number of politicians in the Philippines have expressed their concern over the threat to national security posed by a potential deal involving Chinese telecommunications operator China Telecom.
Qualcomm signs $2bn deals with Chinese mobile vendors
Qualcomm has signed MoUs with four Chinese mobile vendors - a deal worth around $2 billion over three years – who have expressed interest in Qualcomm’s RF Front End (RFFE) components, designed to enable original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to rapidly build mobile devices at scale for easy global expansion.
South Korea and EU approve Qualcomm’s acquisition of NXP
Qualcomm announced that the European Commission and the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) have authorized the acquisition of NXP Semiconductors. The acquisition has now received 8 of the 9 approvals around the world, with China remaining.
Qualcomm to appeal $1.2bn fine by European Commission
Qualcomm released a statement on January 24 confirming it will appeal a massive fine imposed by the European Commission for alleged market dominance abuse. Earlier that day, the European Commission said in a statement it had decided to fine Qualcomm €997 million ($1.2 billion) for payments it made to Apple in order to secure its leading market position for LTE baseband chipsets.
Malaysian telco extends business support deal with Ericsson
Ericsson has further extended its partnership with U Mobile Sdn Bhd to transform the Malaysian telecommunications service provider’s Business Support System (BSS) into an industrialized, real-time converged environment.