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Friday, October 28, 2011
HTC EVO 3D Pre-register offer From Dialog
Dialog Continues Growth Momentum with Strong Q3 Results
Dialog Axiata PLC announced, Friday 28th October 2011, its consolidated financial results for the nine months ended 30 September 2011. Financial results included those of Dialog Axiata PLC (the “Company”) and of the Dialog Axiata Group (the “Group”) post consolidation with subsidiaries Dialog Broadband Networks (Pvt.) Ltd (“DBN”) and Dialog Television (Pvt.) Ltd (“DTV”).
The Group recorded strong revenue growth across all segments to reach Rs 11.6billion for the 3rd Quarter. Group Revenue for the nine months ending 30th September 2011 was recorded at Rs 33.7billion, delivering growth of 5% QoQ and 10% YoY.
Revenue growth in combine with effective cost management lead to the Group posting a healthy growth in EBITDA with Q3 2011 EBITDA being recorded at Rs 4.3billion, inclusive of the recognition of Rs 342million pertaining to Telecommunication Development Fund refunds from the TRCSL accordingly, EBITDA increased 14% QoQ. The Group EBITDA margin grew by 2 percentage points on a QoQ comparison to reach 37% for the 3rd Quarter. Group EBITDA for the 1st nine months of 2011 was recorded at Rs 11.7billion up 5% compared to the corresponding period in 2010 featuring an YTD EBITDA margin of 35%. Group net profit for Q3 2011 was posted at Rs 1.4billion, up 1% QoQ. Net profit for the 1st nine months of 2011 was recorded at Rs 3.9billion, up by 4% YoY.
The positive performance trajectory at Group level was underpinned by robust growth in the Group’s core mobile business as reflected in the financial performance of the Company.
On the strength of a 7 million strong mobile subscriber base, Company Revenue grew by 5% QoQ to reach Rs 10.7billion. Company revenue for the nine months ending 30th September was recorded at Rs 30.9billion, up 10% relative to the corresponding period in 2010.
Company costs grew by 16% YoY. Cost expansion at company level is attributable in the main to revenue linked costs associated with International origination and Domestic Interconnection Charges, and escalation in network operating costs in line with the aggressive expansion of the Company’s 2G and 3G infrastructure footprint. Cost escalation YTD was further influenced by the impact of non-recoverable VAT expenditure, in light of changes in the VAT environment applicable to the telecom industry since January 2011.
Notwithstanding revenue linked cost expansion, EBITDA at company level increased by 15% QoQ (inclusive of the recognition of TDF refunds) to reach Rs 4.1billion in Q3 2011.The Company’s EBITDA margin improved by 3 percentage points QoQ, to reach 38%. Company EBITDA was recorded at Rs 10.9billion for 1st nine months of 2011 and featured an EBITDA margin of 35% YTD.
On the backdrop of robust EBITDA performance in the 3rd Quarter, Company PAT grew by 3% QoQ to be recorded at Rs 1.7billion in Q3 2011. On an YoY basis, flat EBITDA performance in combine with increased depreciation charges, lead to YTD NPAT (recorded at Rs 4.6billion), exhibiting negative growth of 7% relative to the corresponding period in 2010.
Dialog Television (DTV) continued its positive growth momentum recording YoY revenue growth of 13% to reach Rs 1.7billion for 1st nine months of 2011. EBITDA for Q3 2011 was posted at Rs 118million and Rs 377million for the 1st nine months of 2011. On an YoY comparison, DTV EBITDA improved 182% relative to the corresponding period in 2010. The DTH Pay Television subscriber base increased by 32% relative to the corresponding period in 2010 to surpass the 200,000 subscriber milestone during the 3rd Quarter.
Dialog Broadband Networks, featuring Dialog’s fixed telecommunications business continued to consolidate performance trends of the previous quarters, to record its sixth successive quarter of positive EBITDA in Q3 2011. DBN EBITDA was recorded at Rs 154million, a 3% decrease on a QoQ basis. EBITDA for 1st nine months of 2011 however exhibited positive growth with YTD EBITDA growing 175% YoY to be recorded at Rs 456million. DBN remained PAT dilutive in Q3 2011 on the backdrop of the application of aggressive depreciation charges accruing from the accelerated amortization of its CDMA and WiMAX networks.
The Group continued to make aggressive investments in consolidating its leadership in terms of nationwide ICT infrastructure footprint and the application of cutting edge technology across its mobile, fixed and broadband businesses. Group Capital expenditure for the nine months ending 30th September 2011 was recorded at Rs 6.7billion. Capital expenditure was directed in the main towards strategic investments in High Speed Mobile Broadband and Optical Fibre Network (OFN) expansion projects.
On the backdrop of robust EBITDA performance, the Group continued to record positive Free Cash Flows (FCF) for the seventh consecutive quarter, with Q3 2011 FCF being recorded at Rs 3.2billion. In line with the generation of healthy free cash flows, the Dialog Group continued to maintain a structurally strong balance sheet with the Group’s Net Debt to EBITDA ratio improving from 1.5x as at 30th September 2010 to 0.99x as at the end of Q3 2011.
Siri Gives Apple a Two-Year Advantage Over Google
Could Siri, the voice-based virtual assistant for every iPhone 4S owner, constitute a threat to Google’s Android operating system?
Absolutely, says Gary Morgenthaler, a partner at Morgenthaler Ventures, recognized expert in artificial intelligence, and a Siri board member and investor. Apple, he argues, now has at least a two-year advantage over Google in the war for best smartphone platform.
“What Siri has done is changed people’s expectations about what’s possible,” Morgenthaler said in an interview with Mashable. “Apple has crossed a threshold; people now expect that you should be able to expect to speak ordinary English — and be understood. Siri has cracked the code.”
This threshold, from mere speech recognition to natural language input and understanding, is one that Google cannot cross by replicating the technology or making an acquisition. “There’s no company out there they can go buy,” Morgenthaler says.
Google has Voice Actions, a voice search application for Android. So what’s the big difference? It comes down to semantics, Morgenthaler says: “Siri understands what you mean.” She has a far more precise understanding of what you’re saying and the context you’re saying it in, in other words.
Morgenthaler calls Google’s Voice Actions a “capable speech recognition program,” and says it was the state-of-the-art voice-based user interaction program. That was, until Siri, with all her semantic prowess, debuted on iPhone 4S. (Of course, Morgenthaler may well have a financial stake in Siri’s future; the terms of the company’s sale to Apple were never disclosed.)
Currently, Google is making dismissive public pronouncements about Siri: “your phone shouldn’t be your assistant,” Android chief Andy Rubin told the AsiaD Conference. But Morgenthaler believes they’re scrambling to catch up behind the scenes, because Apple won’t stand still with this technology.
Rather, it will use Siri to solidify the strength of its platform and steal advertising dollars away from Google, he argues. “Siri is a platform,” Morgenthaler says. “It’s not just limited to those things that Apple has done at launch.”
At the moment, Siri has a lot of iPhone-centric functions. But Siri the company implemented more than 45 APIs prior to being acquired by Apple — meaning the possibilities of a conversation interface to the web are endless. Back in April 2010, just after the Apple acquisition, Mashable noted Siri’s potential role as a driver in mobile search.
“Apple has the opportunity to outmode the entire Android ecosystem,” Morgenthaler says. Of course, that hinges on Apple making those APIs available to iOS developers, but he believes Apple will do just that: “This will be the differentiating factor in the iOS platform.”
Siri’s threat to Google could reach further than Android. In fact, Siri challenges Google’s entire search empire and shakes it to the foundation, Morgenthaler says.
“Google has made a huge contribution to all of our lives … they’ve made search comprehensive and instantaneous … but the whole paradigm is wrong,” he says. “[People] don’t want a million blue links, they want one correct answer. All the rest is noise that you’d rather have go away.
“Apple has the opportunity to really understand the question that you’re asking, and apply semantic knowledge such that [Siri] will deliver you the right answer, or a small set of highly relevant answers.”
When that happens, Morgenthaler says, all the steps that typically comprise an online search, including the ads served against search results, become completely irrelevant. He believes Apple can and will circumvent this search experience, passing consumers to merchants by way of Siri — and earning a finders fee for doing so. Under this paradigm, Google could be completely forgotten.
In short, forget the search engine — Siri will be an answer engine. She can perform executable actions and change consumer expectations in the process.
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