Skype and 3 launch mobile phone

LONDON (Reuters) - EBay division Skype and mobile phone group 3 have launched a mobile handset that allows Skype users to make free Internet calls to each other while on the move.

The companies said on Monday the new 3 Skypephone could also send free Skype instant messages, and that they hoped to sell "several hundred thousand" units worldwide in the fourth quarter of this year.

"We are optimistic that if you look at one or two years, (we will sell) millions rather than hundreds of thousands, but in the fourth quarter (2007) we are looking at several hundred thousand worldwide," Frank Sixt, finance director of 3-owner Hutchison Whampoa, told reporters.

The phone is being launched in nine markets including Britain, Australia and Italy, with a roll-out into other countries under consideration.

In Britain, the phone will cost 49.99 pounds ($102.6) on a pay-as-you-go basis, and will be free for 3 contract users. It will be on sale in 3's stores on Friday November 2.

Sixt said the phone's non-Skype tariffs were the same as on its other phones, with call minutes and texts priced the same way, and the phone will have a special Skype button.

Skype is now truly mobile. This new handset lets you make free mobile Skype calls when you are on the move to other Skype users all over the world," Skype acting CEO Michael van Swaaij said in a statement.

He added on a conference call that he expected the launch to boost the group's 246 million-strong registered user base, as the service was now available to people without computers.

"We think there will be significant interest from those who aren't on Skype as it is so easy to set up. You don't have to have a laptop," he added.

Skype was bought by EBay for up to $4.3 billion in 2005 as the online auction site gambled on the fast-growing popularity of the web-based call service, although it wrote down $1.2 billion from the value at the start of this month.

Entertainment on Web could bloom with strike

Reuters, (3 Nov 2007)

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - The last time the Writers Guild of America went on strike, restless viewers turned to cable, sending the category into a growth spurt that continues to this day.

With a writers strike set to be announced Friday, the question looming over digital Hollywood is: Can the Web become the cable of 2007?

The answer might be as murky as the politics of the strike itself.

Creators may be drawn to the Web as other avenues are sealed off. While strike rules at the moment seem to limit writers' latitude, some television veterans are calling for a rethinking of writers' relationships with online platforms. "There is an opportunity, if there is a protracted strike, to create channels of development on the Internet that are outside the big companies, and I wonder if the guilds are thinking about that," said Marshall Herskovitz, the veteran TV creator behind "Quarterlife," the television-style drama that will air exclusively online. In a prolonged stoppage, new-media experts say, viewers certainly will be looking for alternative platforms, and initial traffic numbers could be expected to spike. Such sites as Revver, DailyMotion, GoFish and My Damn Channel could become the TNTs and HBOs of today -- unknown before the 22-week walkout in 1988, a part of life after it. "Viewers have already been watching on the Web, writers are writing for the Web, and networks are looking for programming on the Web," said an executive at one online-content site. "The strike will speed all of that up."

As NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker warned this week, a strike could be a "watershed event" that "drives more people away from primetime."

But to keep those viewers, Web sites will have to offer content that consumers feel improves on the reruns and low-cost programming on the air. And that might be the tricky part. Online content sites and the agents who sell to them are seeking to stake out a delicate strike position. They hope to capitalize on the immense opportunities the strike offers. But they also want to preserve relationships that could be more critical in the long term; if agents and sites are seen as too aggressive, they could jeopardize their standing with the WGA -- and future deals along with it. That means a conservatism when it comes to signing new deals.

The latest strike rules from the WGA make clear that the guild will consider writing for Web sites a violation of strike rules. Members who do so could be penalized, and those who aren't yet members could be prevented from ever joining the guild. Still, there may be more wiggle room than those rules indicate.

The WGA reportedly has told some members which Web sites are considered signatory companies and which ones aren't, potentially loosening the work rules for the latter firms. And it's an open question whether the WGA's restrictions are posturing or policy. "The purpose of the rules is different for the two weeks leading up to a strike than it might be three months into a strike," Herskovitz said. "All along the guilds have been a bit overwhelmed by Internet production and at the same time winking at it because it's too small and too invisible to be worth policing."

The real fear for the WGA may not be that writers pen material for the Internet -- it's that such material will find its way onto network airwaves.

So far, the WGA restrictions haven't stopped some sites from mapping out a plan to seek out creators. "We think the strike will give us many more opportunities to sign new talent in the coming weeks and months," said Rob Barnett, the former MTV executive who now runs original-content site My Damn Channel, which features series from "The Ten" director David Wain and "The Simpsons" veteran Harry Shearer. "The dark times for old media are definitely good times for new media."

And unlike a more binary split on television, the Web is home to content that crosses genres, which might leave room for many creators. "This is much grayer than the rules on television," one agent said. "If I'm a man on the street asking funny questions and getting goofy responses, is that considered written or not?" Agents said younger writers who are hungry to work have been talking to them about finding work on the sites, WGA rules be damned.

Revver's Angela Gyetvan said that the site "welcomes an increase" of viewers and creators if a strike takes hold. But she expressed concerns that the rules could tie the site's hands as much as it did the networks.

The original content sites connected to networks -- notably Viacom new-media properties such as AtomFilms and News Corp.'s MySpace -- find themselves in a double bind: Not only do they have the relationships to manage, but they also need to fight the perception that they're simply extensions of the same networks showing recycled content.

Agents expressed hope that the WGA will loosen some rules, both to win goodwill for members and encourage the alternative platforms to increase their leverage in contract negotiations with the studios.

If they do, the Web might become the cable of the future; if they resist, Web content might look no better or more appealing than the cable networks of yesterday -- or today.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

AIS looking for revival in earnings next year

AIS 1 2 Call 2 years ago.

Bangkok Post (3 Nov 2007.) Profits have fallen steadily since 2005Advanced Info Service, the country's largest mobile operator, expects its core earnings to grow in 2008, after declines since 2005, due to rising tariffs and strong data services.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) should not improve much this year because the company spent more to lift its revenues, said Pornrat Janjarassakul, head of corporate planning and investor relations.

Service revenues, which accounted for more than 80% of its total and fell in the last two years during a fierce price war, were expected to be flat or slightly higher this year and rise in single digits in the next few years, he said.

''Service revenue growth in the next few years should be in single digits. We have a turnaround this year after we saw a year on year rise of service revenues in the second quarter,'' Mr Pornrat explained.

AIS was expected to report a 2007 EBITDA of around 43.5 billion baht, up 0.6% from 2006, and a 4.2% rise in revenues to 95.3 billion baht, according to 20 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

The company has raised tariffs for new subscribers gradually this year and plans to increase rates for existing clients next year when consumer confidence is expected to improve after a Dec 23 general election, said Mr Pornrat.

''Prices should hit bottom this year,'' he said, referring to Thailand's mobile phone rates, the world's third cheapest after India and China. ''Our competitors already raised prices by 10%, but their rates are still 20% cheaper than ours. With this gap, we can't raise prices at the moment.''

Revenues from data services, which accounted for about 10%, were expected to rise 15% this year after annual 30% growth in the last two years and growth would remain in double digits in the next few years, he said.

Contributions from data services should rise to 20% of revenues in the next three or four years when Thailand, the world's second heaviest mobile user after the United States with estimated calls of 600-700 minutes per user per month, has third-generation (3G) mobile services, he said. AIS, one-fifth owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, has spent 18 billion baht on its network this year, down from 20 billion last year due to less competition, and planned to spend 16 billion baht next year, he said. The budget may rise to 25 billion baht if AIS obtained a licence to operate long-delayed 3G services in the fourth quarter of 2008 and it planned to launch 3G services to cover 10 major cities in 2009, he said.

''Capital expenditure should be around 25 billion baht in the next few years to expand the 3G network. We have more room to borrow money due to our low gearing,'' Mr Pornrat said. AIS, which had a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 0.55 times compared with the 1.5 to two times of regional peers, plans to take loans or issue bonds to finance the 3G network expansion.
The launch of 3G in Thailand would not only enable firms to tap new revenues by beefing up voices services with music, video, pictures and data, but was also a key step in reducing regulatory costs for operators, Mr Pornrat said. ''3G in Thailand is a unique case because it's a cost-driven project,'' he said. AIS, which now paid 25% of revenues to state-run TOT for the rights to operate networks, should pay 7% of revenues under the 3G licence, he added. AIS also plans to launch WiMax, a new super high-speed wireless standard that provides internet access to home computers and mobile phones and seen as a new growth driver for the company in the next few years.

Thailand, where there are more than 46 million mobile phones, or about 70 per 100 people, has 700,000 to 800,000 high-speed broadband Internet users, a very low portion of its 16 million household, he said. REUTERS

Tighter internet cafe rules soon

Deputy Prime Minister Paiboon Wattanasiritham announced that his last mission during his two remaining months in office would only concern with finding new and more effective steps to stop the exploitation of children on the internet.

His mission includes the developing of a ratings system for computer games and popular websites, putting restrictions on internet cafes, and protecting children's personal information on the internet.

Mr Paiboon, also social development and human security minister, said he has appointed a committee, which would exclusively deal with protecting children's personal online information, chaired by acting permanent-secretary for Social Development and Human Security Charnyut Kosirinont.

The committee would come up with new regulations to ban internet service providers and website operators from presenting children's personal information such as age, photo, contact address, telephone number, and email address on the webs.

''We've found that the disclosure of such information on children in the cyber world is the reason why child exploitation is up so sharply,'' said Mr Paiboon. He cited an Abac Poll survey which found that 70% of the children who chat online with strangers have ended up dating them, and one in every 10 even had sex with the stranger they knew online.

Dr Krisada Rueng-areerat, a member of the Committee for Safe and Creative Media, said the measure on personal data protection is to caution website operators to be more careful when posting information on the internet.

''The posted information, such as a child's age, photo and contact address is what the criminals are looking for to get to them,'' said Dr Krisada. The panel is working on regulations to restrict that kind of online information. However, more discussion is needed to determine the children's protection age.

The regulation is likely to be drawn up by the end of November.
A ratings system for registered computer games and popular websites would be similar to the TV programmes for children. It would assess the contents in three facets _ violence, sex and language.

National statistics show that around six million Thai youths are using the internet today, and the number of newcomers to computer games is going up by 2,500 each month. According to Dr Krisada, the ratings system could be categorised into 5-6 levels, depending on the age of children. The ratings process is expected to be completed in December. But internet cafe{aac}s would stay under the supervision of the Culture Ministry.

Ladda Tangsupachai, director of the Culture Watch Centre, said the ministry would give another 1-2 months to internet cafe{aac} owners operating illegally to apply for a licence from the Culture Ministry before the launch of a crackdown. ''After the deadline, those operating without a licence would face legal punishment and also ordered to close the cafes,'' said Ms Ladda. Besides the licensing measure, the government will soon launch a White Internet Cafe{aac} campaign to endorse the internet shops that meet the required standards, such as being free of alcohol and limiting service hours to child customers. The white internet cafes would be given a sticker to distinguish themselves from the others, along with incentive packages such as special software programmes at cheaper prices.