London named European hub for Huawei innovation in smartphone design

[Basingstoke, November 10, 2011]: Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, is to open a dedicated European design centre for its Mobile Device business in the heart of London.

Huawei expects to open its new London Design Centre (LDC) in Q1 2012. The Huawei LDC will be headed by Huawei Device UK and Ireland Executive Vice President Mark Mitchinson, who will be supported by Huawei Device Creative Director for ID Europe Andy Davey.

Huawei is to recruit a team of world leading designers to drive new product conception, design and development in order to deliver groundbreaking design thinking and solutions in the European smartphone market.

Huawei's LDC will help drive growth of the company's market share in smartphones across Europe. The centre will focus Huawei's design capability, and enable it to respond to local customer and market demands in a dynamic and nimble way. It demonstrates Huawei's clear and strategic commitment to the operator and retailer customers and consumers in the UK and European markets.

Plans for the LDC come as Huawei announces new additions to its European smartphone portfolio, in the shape of its Huawei Vision smartphone and Huawei MediaPad tablet.

Richard Ren, Huawei Device President of West Europe, said: "The Huawei LDC demonstrates we are absolutely committed to the UK and Europe for the launch of our new smartphone products and brand. The LDC will enable us to grow smartphone market share in Europe through customer insight, focus and collaboration. Through Mark's leadership, creativity and knowhow, Huawei will attract the best talent in design from around the globe to our LDC."

Mark Mitchinson, Huawei Device UK and Ireland Executive Vice President, said: "The Huawei LDC will give us clear differentiation in a fiercely competitive European market as we launch new and innovative smartphones and build a compelling brand story. The LDC will enable us to better serve all of our customers in the years ahead, without compromise. Great design spans borders but a local market driven focus and understanding is critical to our future success."

Vodafone announces completion of the disposal of its stake in Polkomtel

Vodafone announces completion of the disposal of its stake in Polkomtel

Further to the announcement on 30 June 2011, and following clearance of the transaction by the Polish competition authority, Vodafone1 today announces the completion of the disposal of its entire 24.4% interest in Polkomtel in Poland.

Vodafone has received a cash consideration of approximately €920 million (£790 million2) from Spartan Capital Holdings SP. z o.o before tax and transaction costs.

Half-year financial report for the six months ended 30 September 2011 - Vodafone

Half-year financial report for the six months ended 30 September 2011 - Vodafone

Consistent results: growth, investment, cash generation, shareholder returns

Q2 Group organic service revenue growth +1.3%(*); Europe -1.2%(*), AMAP +8.2%(*)

H1 EBITDA up 2.3% to £7.5 billion; EBITDA margin 32.0%, down 0.6 percentage points, as expected

Adjusted operating profit £6.0 billion; full year guidance now improved to £11.4 – £11.8 billion

Free cash flow £2.6 billion; full year guidance of £6.0 – £6.5 billion confirmed(1)

Interim dividend 3.05 pence, up 7.0%; special dividend of 4.0 pence to be paid at the same time

Continued progress on strategic delivery

Data revenue +23.8%(*), with smartphone penetration in Europe rising to 21.7% in Q2; 24% of consumer contract customers in Europe(2) are on integrated voice, SMS and data tariffs

Enterprise revenue +2.6%(*), driven by new account wins, growth in demand for converged services and increasing penetration of existing clients

Continued strong momentum in emerging markets: India service revenue +18.4%(*), Turkey +27.9%(*), Vodacom +7.3%(*)

Increased focus on new services: M-Pesa now in 7 markets with 27 million registered users; charge-tobill launched in Europe; machine-to-machine revenue up 33%(*) with 6.2 million SIMs

£2.8 billion dividend from Verizon Wireless due January 2012, with £2.0 billion special dividend to be paid to Vodafone shareholders; SFR stake sold, with £4.0 billion committed to a share buyback

Ericsson predicts Mobile Data Traffic to grow 10-fold by 2016 - Ericsson

Ericsson predicts Mobile Data Traffic to grow 10-fold by 2016

In its new Traffic and Market Data report, which provides insights into current trends, Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) forecasts a 10-fold increase in mobile data traffic by 2016. The report is based on measurements the company recorded over several years in live networks covering all regions of the world.

Johan Wibergh, Head of Ericsson Business Unit Networks, says: "Ericsson performs a broad range of measurements in order to monitor the pulse of the Networked Society - measurements that we use to efficiently design our products and plan networks. This report offers snapshots that, together, show how a growing number of people and businesses benefit from mobility, broadband and the cloud."

According to the report, mobile broadband subscriptions will reach almost 5 billion in 2016, up from the expected 900 million by the end of 2011.That would represent 60 percent year-on-year growth, at the same time as the data consumed by smartphone users is surging. Total smartphone traffic is expected to triple during 2011.

Across all devices, internet access will continue to drive mobile traffic development and mobile data traffic is expected to grow by nearly 60 percent per year between 2011 and 2016, mainly driven by video.

Other highlights from the report:

By 2016 more than 30 percent of the world's population will live in metropolitan and urban areas with a density of more than 1,000 people per square kilometer. These areas represent less than 1 percent of the Earth's total land area, yet they are set to generate around 60 percent of total mobile traffic.

Mobile broadband, new smartphone launches and applications uptake will continue to drive data consumption. At the same time, there is strong momentum for smartphone uptake in all regions. Ericsson expects traffic generated by advanced smartphones to increase 12-fold to roughly equal mobile PC-generated traffic by 2016.

Ericsson's presence in more than 180 countries, where it supports more than 1,000 networks, enables it to measure mobile voice and data volumes. The result is a representative base for calculating world total mobile traffic in 2G, 3G, and 4G networks.