A new dawn?

Two days to go to MWC and themes are already emerging... HSPA+ is going to be big, with commercial deployments delivering speeds that may question just why is there such a rush for LTE. However, one theme has emerged which has seemingly come from no where ... solar-powered handsets!

With Samsung set to launch its 'eco-phone' dubbed 'Blue Earth', one could be forgiven for burying your head in your hands, shaking it in despair, and cursing Al Gore for unleashing a storm of eco-everything as companies jump on the bandwagon.

However, rumours abound that ZTE* will be launching the first low cost solar-powered phone at MWC.

Now, this really is a different story from the Samsung play. This isn't about making celebs feel better about themselves by giving them a trendy (and expensive) solar-powered phone that will only work if you live in the sun drenched Beverly Hills.

Bringing solar-power technology to an ultra-low cost handset will arguably do more to connect the two billion people who live in areas with limited or no electricity than anything else.

Watch this space ...

* ZTE is an AxiCom client at Mobile World Congress

India ... some good news on a bad news day

While the world's attention is focused on the shocking events in Mumbai, it's easy to be drawn into a spiral of doom and gloom. India is a country I know well and love even more. A country full of diversity in all the best and worst that that implies. But it's richness is something one can't deny.

The potential of the country is similarly unarguable.

The Telecoms Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has just announced that 10.42 million mobile subscribers were added in October alone. This follows on from 10+ million in September and over 9 million in August ... making a staggering 92.1 million new mobile subscribers in 2008 so far and a total of well over 325 million nationally.

It's easy to see both why the likes of Vodafone and Telenor are making big moves on the market ... and on the flip side why behemoths like Tata are now undisputed global companies.

Ultra-low cost handsets will undoubtedly further drive the unquenchable growth in Indian mobile subscribers. But is that enough? Is it enough to just add more and more subscribers ... especially when the ARPU per subscriber is going to get ever smaller as less well off communities become connected?

India, however, can also give us much to learn about mobile content ... a continent with such a passion for music, where Bollywood stars make the Hello Magazine faces of the West seem anonymous in comparison; with such a passion for sport, where cricketers are not only megastars in the true definition of the word but are reinventing a sport and, despite the poverty in parts of the country, contributing over 70 percent of the money in the sport globally ... such a market is going to offer up rich potential for mobile content.

Well, provided the networks can cope, the pricing and business models make sense, and the right sort devices are in the hands of subscribers.

So, while there is understandable concern about the recent violence in Mumbai (and don't get me started on that ... Indian history and politics is my first love and I could wax lyrical for hours!) the potential of India remains undimmed.