ON Wednesday Nokia finally launched its newest flagship handset: the Lumia 920 and hopes its fortunes will change with this smart device. At the launch, however, it showed a footage that was not shot on a Lumia 920, and for that, it had to do some damage control. And next week the iPhone 5 is expected to make its debut. These are new generation of smartphones that allow users to work, play and be entertained. These devices and others like the tablets and smart TVs are changing consumer behaviour and lifestyles for they prefer to remain constantly connected and be entertained. Hence the blurring of lines between the telecoms and broadcasting sectors. There are several global partnerships, alliances and mergers with the blurring of lines as it opens up new revenues streams for them. And it is ironic that two sister companies, which have all the makings of a powerhouse in content and access, took their time to come to terms that a partnership will be the winning way for them. Instead, all this while, they choose to slug it out individually. This is Astro and Maxis Bhd, one with a war chest of diverse content and the other with big pipes for access. Maxis even announced that it would build its own IPTV platform when Astro had already invested in one. Maxis had hoped to launch its IPTV in July and now that explains why the delay. Maxis signed up with several content providers while Astro has libraries of content and partnership with global content providers. Buying content is a serious business and requires a lot of money and it does not make logical sense for two companies within the same group to buy content. Astro on the other hand, chooses to work with its rival instead of Maxis to push content to multi-dwelling units. They may have their own reasons, business strategies and rationale for doing so, but the sceptics find it all odd that they did not explore the partnership earlier. Both only inked a partnership agreement on Wednesday to work together in some areas. To some experts, this should have done two years ago, but the companies maintained that it was about “windows of opportunity.” Still, it did not stop some quarters from concluding that they must have been pushed into itor given an ultimatum to conclude talks and work together. Maxis does not have to re-invent the wheel for its IPTV offering as Astro will do it, and Maxis will get content from Astro. The pay-TV company, Astro, will now have access to its customers via fibre. This is essential given the fact that its competitors have often stirred the “rain issue” in the fight for market share. Whatever the perception, the deal augurs well for both of them and it does send shivers down the spine of some competitors that are already looking at ways to protect their turfs simply because the Maxis-Astro combination has access via some platforms, and a huge content base. Together they can amass a lot more, but one thing they have to remember is, not to outprice themselves in the market place. Whatever packages they are working on, should be done with the consumer in mind, and not merely about increasing ARPUs.

singtel


newmedia express


viewqwest pte.ltd


SGIX


Tellin