Mobile industry sees four billion subscribers by 2018

(File Photo)

Barcelona: The $1.0-trillion (750-million-euro) global mobile industry predicted on Monday a boom in subscribers to four billion people by 2018 as the world's largest mobile fair opened in Barcelona, Spain.

Already, 3.2 billion people pay for mobile services, nearly half of the world's population, said a study by A. T Kearney and GSMA, which represents 750 mobile operators and organises the vast, four-day annual Mobile World Congress.

The report forecast that a further 700 million subscribers would be added by 2017 and the four billion-subscriber mark would be hit in 2018.

Revenues for mobile operators alone amounted $1.0 trillion, or 1.4 percent of the world's gross domestic product, in 2012, the report said.

Most of the growth was in the Asia Pacific region, where operators were forecast to raise revenue by 4.0 percent a year up to 2017, adding $80 billion, or 23 percent, to their revenue of $350 billion, the report said.

But Africa showed the fastest growth, and mobile operators there were predicted to boost revenue by 25 percent over the 2012 to 2017 period to 70 billion dollars.

Worldwide, the growth in mobile operators' revenues was expected to slow, however, from a 4.0-percent annual expansion from 2008 to 2012 to an annual pace of 2.3 percent in the period up to 2017.

"One of the reasons for the slowdown is the decline of revenues in Europe," the report said, blaming "heavy regulation" of mobile prices, and impact of the euro-zone economic crisis for an estimated fall in revenue from $248 billion to $216 billion from 2008 to 2012.

"The mobile operator market in Europe is expected to decrease further by 2.0 percent a year to 2017 due to competition and regulation. This trend, together with the growth in traffic, show the increasing value to consumers, who are using mobile services more while spending less," it said.

New lightning fast fourth-generation mobile networks, which promise download speeds as quick as the best fixed broadband connections, could boost revenues, it said, pointing to higher prices being commanded for 4G in North America, Scandinavia, South Korea and Japan.

"In Europe it is still too early to judge consumer reaction to the new services but it is certainly true that operators are positioning 4G as a premium service," the report said.

The use of mobile phones was exploding, the GSMA report said.

"At the end of 2012, there were 6.8 billion mobile connections worldwide, a figure expected to grow to 9.7 billion by the end of 2017," the report said.

But the industry urged regulators to use a light touch.

"The mobile communications industry is creating a mobile economy, both directly through network investment, job creation and contributions to public funding, and by transforming adjacent industries such as education, healthcare, payments, transportation and utilities," said GSMA director general Anne Bouverot.

"But to fully realise this future and to enable the mobile industry to maximise its investments, it is essential that we establish a light-touch regulatory environment, based predominantly on competition, and develop new business models that will allow all ecosystem participants to benefit from the mobile economy."

'God particle' could spell doom for the universe

New York: A potential Higgs Boson particle discovered last year could spell doom for our universe, researchers claim.

The mass of the so called 'God particle', uncovered at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, is a key ingredient in a calculation that signals the future of space and time.

"This calculation tells you that many tens of billions of years from now there will be a catastrophe," Joseph Lykken, a theoretical physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia said.

"It may be the universe we live in is inherently unstable, and at some point, billions of years from now, it's all going to get wiped out," added Lykken, a collaborator on one of the LHC's experiments.

The sub-atomic particle is a manifestation of an energy field pervading the universe called the Higgs field, which is thought to explain why particles have mass, 'LiveScience' reported.

Physicists at the LHC announced in July 2012 that they had discovered a new particle whose properties strongly suggest it is the Higgs Boson.

To confirm the particle's identity for sure, more data are needed. But many scientists say they're betting it is the Higgs.

"This discovery to me was personally astounding," said I Joseph Kroll, a University of Pennsylvania physicist.

"To me, the Higgs was sort of, it might be there, it might not. The fact that it's there is really a tremendous accomplishment," Kroll said.

And finding the Higgs, if it's truly been found, not only confirms the theory about how particles get mass, but it allows scientists to make new calculations that were not possible before the particle's properties were known.

If that particle really is the Higgs, its mass turns out to be just about what's needed to make the universe fundamentally unstable, in a way that would cause it to end catastrophically in the far future.

Because the Higgs field is thought to be everywhere, so it affects the vacuum of empty space-time in the universe.

"The mass of the Higgs is related to how stable the vacuum is," said Christopher Hill, a physicist at Ohio State University.  

Scientists said if the Higgs mass were just a few per cent different, the universe would not be doomed.

Qatar poet remains in prison for 'offensive' verse

Doha: A poet jailed for a verse considered offensive to Qatar's ruler harshly denounced the Gulf nation's legal proceedings after an appeals court reduced his life sentence but still kept a 15-year prison term.

The rant in court rare in the tightly controlled Gulf Arab states underscored the free speech battles across the region as Western-backed authorities take strict measures against perceived political dissident in the wake of the Arab Spring.

From Kuwait to Oman, dozens of people have been arrested in the past year for social media posts deemed insulting to leaders or calling for political forms.

"Unjust," shouted poet Muhammad ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami in the heavily guarded courtroom in Qatar's capita, Doha, after his appeal to drop the conviction was denied.

The court, however, cut the life sentence handed down in November and imposed a 15-year term.

Al-Ajami faced specific charges from a poem posted online in 2010 that discussed the traits needed for a good leader which apparently was seen by authorities as a challenge to Qatar's emir and the ruling family.

But he also was more widely known for an Internet video of him reciting "Tunisian Jasmine," a poem lauding that country's popular uprising, which touched off the Arab Spring rebellions across the Middle East. In the poem, he said, "we are all Tunisia in the face of repressive" authorities and criticized Arab governments that restrict freedoms, calling them "thieves."

Al-Ajami still can appeal to a higher court.

"This sentence will not stand," said his brother Hasan.

"When you strip away everything, this is just a case about power and pressure."

Earlier this month, a Kuwait court sentenced three former opposition lawmakers to three years hard labor for insulting the country's ruler during speeches made at political rallies.

In January, a Kuwait blogger and online journalists received two-year sentences in back-to-back convictions for posts deemed "insulting" to the emir.

In November, the United Arab Emirates set stricter Internet monitoring and enforcement codes. They include giving authorities wider leeway to arrest Web activists for offenses such as mocking the country's leadership or calling for demonstrations.

Horsemeat found in Ikea's Swedish meatballs

Prague: The Czech veterinary authority says it has detected horsemeat in meat balls labelled as beef and pork imported to the country by Sweden's furniture retailer giant Ikea.

The State Veterinary Administration says the one-kilogram packs of the frozen meatballs were made in Sweden to be sold in Ikea's furniture stores that also offer typical Swedish food.

A total of 760 kilograms (1,675 pounds) of the meatballs were stopped from reaching the shelves in the Czech Republic.

The authority on Monday said horsemeat was also found in beef burgers imported from Poland.

Last week, the Czechs detected horsemeat for the first time in lasagna Bolognese made by frozen food processor Tavola SA Comigel and sold at Tesco.

Vatican says Vatileaks report to remain confidential

Rome: The Vatican said on Monday that a report into papal documents leaked by Pope Benedict's butler in the so-called "Vatileaks scandal" last year will remain confidential and only be shown to the next pontiff.

"The Holy Father has decided that the facts of this investigation, the contents of which are known only to Himself, will be made available exclusively to the new Pontiff," the Vatican said in a statement.

Some Italian media had called for the report to be made public ahead of the conclave that will choose the next pope.

Oscar Pistorius not required to report to police: court

Pretoria: Star athlete Oscar Pistorius, who has been charged with murdering his girlfriend, does not have to report to police as part of his bail terms contrary to previous reports, a clerk at Pretoria Magistrate Court clerk said on Monday.

"It is not part of his bail conditions," the clerk told AFP.

The bail order document seen by AFP confirmed it was not one of the terms.

The 26-year-old double amputee athlete known as the "Blade Runner" was released on a one million rand ($112,408) bond on Friday.

He was expected to report to the Brooklyn police station in Pretoria on Monday morning, where a large contingent of local and international media were waiting, but did not turn up.

Earlier reports had said that Pistorius had to sign in at the police station on Mondays and Fridays between 0500 GMT and 1100 GMT.

But the condition had been a suggestion from defence and prosecution teams that the magistrate, Desmond Nair, had not included in his final order, a prosecution official confirmed.

"The NPA (National Prosecuting Authority) has confirmed that the condition that he report to the Brooklyn police station has not been made an order of court," the official told AFP.

Prosecutors charge that Pistorius intentionally shot dead 29-year-old model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp at his upmarket Pretoria home in the early hours of Valentine's Day.

The Olympic and Paralympic sprinter denies the charge, insisting that he repeatedly shot at Steenkamp through a locked bathroom door in the dead of night having mistaken her for a burglar.

He is due back in court on June 4.

In addition to the bail payment, one of the highest ever set in South Africa, Pistorius had to surrender his passports and firearms. He is also barred from taking alcohol or drugs and will be subject to random tests.

The sprinter has to inform a prisons official of his movements within Pretoria and needs permission to leave the capital and been banned from leaving the country.

The athlete's father Henke told AFP in a telephone call on Monday that matters were "under control".

"Everything is prepared for the trial," he said, though he lashed out at news coverage of his family.

"The media have once again proven themselves reckless," he said, hanging up the call.

Pistorius's elder brother Carl made headlines Sunday over a manslaughter charge for a 2008 accident in which a woman motorcyclist died.

Oscar Pistorius inspired millions of people around the world after becoming the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in the Olympic Games last year in London.

His arrest has riveted South Africa and beyond.

British cardinal Keith O'Brien quits after 'inappropriate acts' claims

London: Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Britain's most senior Roman Catholic cleric, has resigned in the wake of allegations of inappropriate behaviour, the Catholic Church said on Monday.

"The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI has accepted on the 18 February 2013 the resignation of His Eminence Cardinal Keith Patrick O'Brien from the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh," a statement said.