Net income at leading Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo dropped 18.3 per cent in the fiscal year to end March 31 2006 to Y610bn (ВЈ2.95bn), as the operator struggled in an increasingly competitive market.

Operating revenues also slipped slightly, dropping 1.6 per cent year on year to Y4.76tn in fiscal 2006, compared to Y4.84tn in the previous year.

Competition in the country is expected to become increasingly fierce, with the introduction of new entrants to the mobile market and full fledged number portability scheduled for this year.

Service revenues for both FOMA 3G and mova 2G services were flat year on year at Y4.15tn, while average revenue per user (ARPU) declined as a result of the amendment of billing plans.

Voice ARPU, packet ARPU and aggregate ARPU of FOMA services hit Y5,680, Y3,020, and Y8,700 respectively, while voice ARPU, packet ARPU and aggregate ARPU of mova services came in at Y4,680, Y1,290, and Y5,970 respectively.

The number of FOMA 3G subscribers increased 104 per cent year on year to 23.46 million, while mova customers decreased 25.8 per cent to 27.68 million as a result of migration to 3G. The number of i-mode users across both technologies reached 43.36 million at the end of March.

Hutchison Whampoa’s Italian 3G operation, 3 Italia, this week began pilot transmissions of digital TV to mobile handsets, using the Digital Video Broadcast – Handset (DVB-H) standard.

The transmissions on its ‘Walk TV’ platform will initially be accessible by 500 trial customers, who will be able to view channels from state broadcaster RAI, Mediaset and Sky Italia.

From June, the services will be expanded to include 3 Italia’s own La3-branded channels, and World Cup football games, for which 3 Italia has bought the mobile broadcast rights.

3 Italia bought regional broadcaster Canale 7 last year, giving it a network that covers 40 per cent of the population and a license for the spectrum. Its own La3-branded channels will launch in June.

The LG U900 DVB-H capable handset will be sold by 3 Italia from May 15, while the Samsung P910 will go on sale soon after.

Meanwhile, rival operator Telecom Italia has signed up Samsung to deliver DVB-H terminals for its launch of mobile TV.

The Samsung SGH-P920 supports DVB-H, UMTS and offers multimedia functions including a 1.3 megapixel camera, music player, video recorder, video player, and Bluetooth.

Telecom Italia will also launch its mobile TV service in June. Non-exclusive agreements with Mediaset and Telecom Italia Media ensure programming from Canale 5, Retequattro, Italia Uno, LA7, MTV Italia, plus Serie A TIM and Champions League football matches.

Earlier this month, Vodafone Italia announced plans to step up development of its mobile terrestrial digital TV rollout, as competition in the market heats up.

The operator has partnered with Italian broadcast network, Mediaset, for the commercial deployment of mobile digital TV over DVB-H.

Vodafone expects to be able to launch commercial services by year end, making Italy the first country in Europe to offer mobile TV over DVB-H.

UK carrier Cable & Wireless today revealed that it is searching for a mobile company to partner with the beleaguered telco in its fixed mobile convergence strategy.

Cable & Wireless yesterday became one of 12 companies to be provisionally awarded a license for spectrum in the 1781.7-1785MHz band paired with the 1876.7-1880MHz bands.

The licences are technology neutral and targeted at systems to be managed on a low power basis. Potential applications for these bands include private GSM networks in office buildings or campuses as most mobile phones operate at these frequencies.

A spokeswoman for Cable & Wireless said the operator would use the spectrum to develop a fixed mobile convergence strategy, including the possible creation of private mobile networks within enterprise campuses.

The spokeswoman made allusions to British Telecom’s own convergence product, Fusion, which allows users to make calls over Bluetooth when at home or work and over cellular when outside.

“We are presently holding talks with a number of players with regard to finding a partner for mobile services,” the C&W spokeswoman said. When asked if those discussions could stretch to a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) agreement, the spokeswoman replied, “we’re using the term ‘partner’ at the moment, that’s all I can say.”

C&W last month announced a reorganisation that will see the company reduce its customer base from approximately 30,000 customers to about 3,000. The move is designed to allow the company to concentrate on fewer, larger customers and introduce more focused services.

BT meanwhile, which also grabbed a swathe of spectrum in yesterday’s auction, was less specific about its proposed usage of the spectrum. “It’s really for indoor networking and definitely for GSM services,” a BT spokesman said.

“It’s suitable for voice, but not really for data,” he added. “We plan on using it to deploy services that are complimentary to Fusion. Perhaps, some kind of basic mobile service which offers voice only capability,” he said.

Dean Bubley of Disruptive Analysis commented that we can now expect to see businesses exerting a much greater level of power over mobile operators. “If large enterprises and government bodies have a choice of 16 mobile operators (and probably countless MVNOs), it seems very likely that corporate cellular tariffs will cease to be such a burden on CIOs’ telecom budgets,” he said.

Bubley added that there will probably be some interesting international-oriented business models emerging as the licensees make use of the spectrum. “Other bits of cleverness that may emerge – maybe using GSM phones to dial-in to VoIP gateways, or perhaps something with innovative roaming arrangements.”

Jeremy Green, analyst at Ovum, noted that the on premises network model means that there is no need for complex, expensive, dual mode handsets and unproven handover mechanisms.

Green said that Teleware, one of the other successful bidders, has tested a solution based on a dual SIM battery packs.

“This relies on user-initiated handover and is possibly a bit clunky compared to the seamless in-call handover promised by dual-mode technologies; on the other hand, it will work on even the cheapest, oldest GSM handsets, making a DECT replacement application a workable proposition for a wide range of organisations and staff functions,” he said.