Asian subscriber growth drops 21%

Mobile subscriber growth in the Asia-Pacific telecom market fell 21% in Q4 2008, the region's lowest growth rate in seven quarters, says research firm Informa Telecoms and Media, according to BusinessWeek.

The region's operators added just 68.7 million new subscribers, the researchers said. Some of the fastest-growing mobile markets-Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines-were hit particularly hard.

Globally, subscriptions fell 15% to 162 million in Q4, and growth also slowed markedly in Europe, North America and Latin America, Informa said. The quarter is usually the strongest in the year because of the Christmas holiday.

Bowing to the pressure from the Centre, the GSM-based mobile service providers in India have started barring services to mobile phone handsets without a valid International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number, reports Express Buzz.

“As per government rule, services to mobile numbers using invalid IMEI handsets will be barred. To avoid barring, use Idea SIM on valid IMEI handsets...'', said a recent SMS message sent by Idea Cellular services to its customers.

Other service providers, including the public sector giant BSNL, are also taking steps to bar services to mobile phones using invalid IMEI numbers, as the department of telecommunications has issued a deadline that expires today (15 April).

The European Union (EU) could force carriers to allow VOIP to run on their cellular networks and has already prepared draft legislation that would open smartphones to the technology, according to a report published in Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper, states Wireless Week.

VOIP allows consumers to place much cheaper calls than those placed over cellular networks. European carriers view the technology as a threat to their business model and have widely banned VOIP from being used on their networks.

Currently, EU member states independently regulate blocked Internet services. However, EU telecom commissioner Viviane Reding recently said “action” should be taken against carriers that use their large market share to “block innovative services”.