Wireless Federation

Telegeography writes…Turkey’s largest wireless operator Turkcell has reported a 3.8% rise in full-year revenues to USD4.7 billion, while net profit was up 13% at USD875.5 million. The rise in sales was attributed to increased usage and a rise in subscriber numbers; the firm ended 2006 with 31.8 million subscribers in its domestic market, while average monthly minutes of use (MoU) per subscriber increased to 70.3 in 2006, up from 67.7 the year before. Some bad news for Turkcell, however, was a drop in monthly average revenue per user (ARPU), which fell from USD14.00 in 2005 to USD12.10.

Wireless Mobile Telecom

Telegeography writes…Nokia and Telenor Pakistan have announced that they have extended their existing frame agreement on GSM radio network equipment and services until the end of 2009. Over the three-year period, Nokia will deliver more than 2,000 base stations and continue to plan, build and manage the radio network in close association with the cellco. The cooperation aims at increasing Telenor Pakistan’s network coverage and capacity in most of Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan Administered Kashmir and northern regions of Pakistan, including the capital Islamabad. ‘The continuing co-operation with Nokia enables us to quickly roll out a high-quality radio network while reducing our operating expenses,’ said Tore Johnsen, CEO of Telenor Pakistan.

Wireless Mobile Telecom

Telegeography writes…Malaysia’s Maxis Communications has reported a 51.5% increase in fourth quarter net profit on the back of rising domestic sales and a burgeoning customer base in India. Net profit for the three months ended 31 December 2006 increased to MYR642 million (USD183 million) compared to MYR425 million a year ago, while revenue improved by 25.8% to MYR2.12 billion from MYR1.68 billion in 2005. The firm’s Indian wireless subsidiary Aircel contributed 9.7% of total group turnover in the fourth quarter, a figure it expects to increase to 10% in 2007. ‘We are expecting [Aircel’s] subscriber base to almost double to eight million by year-end,’ group chief executive officer Datuk Jamaludin Ibrahim told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

For the full year 2006 Maxis’ net profit and revenue increased by 27.6% and 20.9% to MYR2.1 billion and MYR7.71 billion respectively. It recorded a net loss of 795,000 domestic subscribers during 2006, as a result of the government’s implementation of a pre-paid registration scheme, but this was cushioned by Aircel’s net addition of 709,000 subscribers.

Wireless Mobile Telecom
 

Telegeography writes…It’s the story which refuses to go away. French media giant Vivendi last week stepped up a USD7.5 billion federal lawsuit against T-Mobile USA, Deutsche Telekom and a wealthy Polish businessman, alleging that together they defrauded it out of a USD2.5 billion investment it made in Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa (PTC). Last Tuesday Vivendi filed a 54-page amended complaint with a Seattle court, in the latest move in a complex, seven-year fight. Last October Vivendi filed its original complaint under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations (RICO) Act, a law passed to combat organised crime. Vivendi claimed in the filing that Deutsche Telekom illegally appropriated Vivendi’s USD2.5 billion investment in PTC, without compensation. It initially made that assertion in Europe, in 1999, as Deutsche Telekom began investing to increase its 22.5% stake in PTC. Through an investment partner - Elektrim, a Polish company controlled by multibillionaire Polish citizen Zygmunt Solorz-Zak - Vivendi acquired 51% of PTC. But Vivendi maintains it was left with neither its rightful shares of PTC nor its USD2.5 billion after March 2005, when Deutsche Telekom allegedly colluded with Solorz-Zak to assert ownership over Vivendi’s shares, seized physical control of PTC and threw out the management installed by Vivendi. Dozens of hearings in arbitrations and courtrooms - including the Polish and Austrian supreme courts - have failed to yield up Vivendi’s investment.

Last Tuesday’s filing attempts to strengthen its case by adding that T-Mobile USA also: a) enjoyed an unlawful benefit of racketeering by Deutsche Telekom and its European cellular subsidiary, T-Mobile, specifically in the ability to pay USD4.2 billion for additional spectrum at a 2006 Federal Communications Commission auction and b) benefited from that racketeering by gaining the ability to charge more for calls to and from Poland because of the corrupt takeover of PTC.

‘Vivendi regards T-Mobile USA as an indirect beneficiary of both a corrupt global wireless network and of the racketeering conduct of its parent company’s taking over the Polish cellular company,’ said Vivendi attorney Lanny Davis. T-Mobile USA has until mid-March to respond to last week’s filing, which will be argued before U.S. District Judge James Robart.

Wireless Mobile Telecom

Telegeography writes…Telekom Austria has announced that its mobile subsidiary, Mobilkom Austria, has started a DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) pilot in cooperation with ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation), Hutchison 3G, Siemens Sterreich, ORS (Austria Radio Broadcaster), the University of Applied Sciences Salzburg and Rundfunk und Telekom Regulierungs (RTR). One thousand trialists are testing the digital terrestrial TV via mobile service. Via the platform, dubbed ‘mobile tv austria’, the user has access to TV programmes tailor-made for mobile phones. The DVB-H transmission network currently covers central parts of Vienna.

Wireless Mobile Telecom

Telegeography writes…Virgin Media, the UK largest cable operator formed by the merger of ntl and Telewest, has said its 2006 loss widened as costs more than doubled after the company increased marketing. The net loss for the year was GBP533.9 million pounds (USD1.05 billion), compared to a profit of GBP421 million a year earlier. Costs rose to GBP3.59 billion from GBP1.97 billion, while revenue grew from GBP1.95 billion to GBP3.6 billion. At the end of the year the company claimed 4.11 million cable telephony customers, 3.35 million cable TV subscriptions and 3.06 million cable broadband connections, taking its ‘on-net’ revenue generating units (RGUs) to 10.52 million.

Overshadowing its results announcement is Virgin Media’s ongoing and very public spat with satellite TV rival BSkyB over distribution fees for four of BSkyB’s channels. Virgin’s current contract to air Sky One, Sky Two, Sky Sports News and Sky News expires at midnight tonight and BSkyB said on Monday that it was possible they might not reach a distribution deal. Virgin responded by saying that BSkyB was seeking to double the cost of the existing distribution contract for the four channels, whose average audience size has fallen on average by 7% a year over the past three years.

Wireless Mobile Telecom

Telecompaper writes…Austrian public broadcasters ORF and ORS, mobile operators mobilkom austria and Hutchison 3G Austria, Siemens Austria and the University of Salzburg have joined forces to launch the first pilot project of DVB-H mobile digital terrestrial TV technology in Austria. The ‘mobile tv austria’ test runs from 22 February to end-June and includes around 1,000 test customers. The trial uses the broadcasting network of ORS. The test is supported by the Austrian telecommunications regulator.

Wireless Mobile Telecom

Telecompaper writes…Unlicensed mobile access (UMA) technology provider Kineto Wireless has completed a USD 10 million funding round, led by InterDigital Communications. InterDigital contributed USD 5 million, with existing Kineto investors also participating in the round. Kineto president and CEO Rick Gilbert said the funds would be used to continue global deployment of its UMA technology.

Wireless Mobile Telecom

Telecompaper writes…Japan’s NTT Com and Russian operator TransTeleCom have agreed to build an undersea data link between their two countries. The memorandum of understanding for the Hokkaido-Sakhalin Cable System (HSCS) agrees to a 500 km high-capacity fiber-optic cable that will transmit data at up to 640 Gbps between Ishikari, Hokkaido in Japan and Nevelsk, Sakhalin in Russia, based around DWDM technology. The project will be completed by the end of 2007. The cable will link up with TransTeleCom’s transcontinental optical route along the SIberian railway connecting to Europe. The new route will also function as a rerouting network for the existing route that connects Japan and Europe via the Indian Ocean, providing extra backup in the event of a probable disaster like an earthquake. NTT Com and TransTeleCom already signed an agreement last October to interconnect the two companies’ MPLS networks, IP Transit and International Private Line.

Wireless Mobile Telecom

Telecompaper writes…French mobile operator Bouygues Telecom’s contribution to group EBITDA fell by 7 percent to EUR 1.23 billion in 2006 from EUR 1.32 billion a year earlier, according to the construction conglomerate’s financial results. The figure does not account for Bouygues Telecom Caraibe and a stake in satellite operator TPS, which were sold last year. The group previously reported that Bouygues Telecom generated a EUR 4.54 billion turnover in 2006, up 2 percent on a comparable basis. The telecommunication subsidiary’s contribution to group net profit rose by 46 percent to EUR 440 million from EUR 301 million over the same period.

Wireless Mobile Telecom