Eight more countries for the iPhone?
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Jan 22, 2008 at 5:46pm
By Gaurang Donovan
A Bangkok Post newspaper report emerged Monday of a local telephone company in Thailand, Advanced Info Systems (AIS), talking with Apple in selling the iPhone for Thailand. The most important aspect is to link into who is a shareholder of Advanced and if a bigger deal is in the works.
SingTel (a Singapore telephone company) has a 21 percent shareholding in AIS and has made significant shareholding investments in other telephone companies in the region and providing them with business and technical assistance and improvements at times instead of just passive shareholding.
Melbourne’s The Age newspaper ran an article on Tuesday reporting the second largest telco in Australia, Optus, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SingTel, is working with SingTel and Advanced to launch the iPhone throughout the region.
Information at the SingTel website reports the group’s major investments in the region include five other countries listed below:
Bharti Telecom Group in India
Globe Telecom in the Philippines
Pacific Bangladesh Telecom (PBTL) in Bangladesh
Telkomsel in Indonesia
Warid Telecom in Pakistan
It claims the group has more than 136 million mobile customers in eight markets and this is the largest mobile customer base in Asia outside of China.
Other than SingTel, most of these cellular carrier companies are number two or three in market share terms in their individual home market. Yet they represent respectable market share in all of them. Each has a respected record of competing in their markets for several years (generally by being seen to improve service and prices), have had SingTel’s capital investment (and possibly technical and business assistance) and are attracting more customers to their company offerings.
While they do possess a wide variety of network infrastructures and cellular systems that would provide technical challenges to overcome and perhaps requiring iPhone handsets working on different frequencies, these seem very solvable. Third generation cell networks are in the future for many as well. The odd member out is Pacific Bangladesh as it only operates a CDMA network. All the rest have GSM networks in place.
If viewed more as a singular entity the group represent a customer base double in size that ATT had when the US launch took place.
While these individual markets generally don’t have the same level of disposable income that Americans and Europeans have it would nevertheless represent a very good long-term deal by Apple to launch into for this region. The cellular telephone markets are growing as development occurs.
SingTel’s influence and assistance in these companies, their business and their networks would be very convenient in this effort for a deal like this. There will be business issues to overcome but it would be easier for Apple to have the same important shareholder in eight companies and countries moving their partner along toward the regional deal and eventual implementation on their individual networks.
The “Macsimum MWSF 2007 Coupon Book” is available for download. You can find it here and print it as a PDF. It has discounts, special offers and promotions in conjunction with the upcoming Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco.
TheMacMan Says:
I guess if these rumours are true, it validates the assumption that Canada is a third world country. C’mon Apple. We’re your closest neighbours and best friends.
Posted on January 22, 2008
mcloki Says:
I’m Canadian and I shudder to think what Rogers is going to charge for this service. I’d love an iPhone but the bill, I fear, is just going to be astronomical.
Posted on January 22, 2008
kev Says:
I’m allowing myself to dream that Apple and Google will partner together on operating a slice of the 700 MHz auction and cut the major networks out altogether. The U.S. bandwidth auction is taking place while I believe that the same frequency is set to be auctioned in Canada and Europe within a year…
Posted on January 22, 2008
T Molnar Says:
Well things may change because of some other legal wranglings on the horizon. A class action suit against Rogers and other providers has begun by a lawyer in western canada because of some the ways billing is done. Can’t remember the specifics but it has to do with repeated billing for what are essentially onetime set up charges.
The threat of that if not the actual success of such action might actually force Rogers etc.. to alter how they carry out business and what they charge.
If anyone knows more....please post.
regards
Posted on January 22, 2008
Greg Says:
It’d be good to see Singtel release the iPhone across multiple countries.
As for “less disposable income” - the great pity is when Apple not only doesn’t reduce price for some countries, but charges more than the US equivalent.
Anyway, income-wise Singapore and Australia should do fine :) - but I certainly won’t buy an iPhone at an inflated price. (Speaking of which, why doesn’t the rest of the world get a 25% price drop on the AppleTV as done in the US?)
Posted on January 22, 2008
Article Information
Comment on this Article Print this Article Email this Article Digg This
Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
Recent Articles
smokeonit Says:
no GSM, no iPhone…
Posted on January 22, 2008