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Wireless Federation » archive for September, 2007

Azercell signs new roaming agreements (Azerbaijan)

  • September 27th, 2007
  • 3:29 pm

Cellco Azercell has signed roaming agreements with two more operators; the United Arab Emirates cellco Du, and the Spanish company Xfera. The Azerbaijani mobile firm, was the market leader at the end of June 2007 with 2.6 million subscribers, now has 338 roaming agreements in 140 countries around the world.

   

 

 

 

Warid Telecom Uganda selects Motorola for WiMAX deployment (Uganda)

  • September 27th, 2007
  • 3:18 pm

Motorola has announced that it has been selected by Warid Telecom Uganda to design and deploy an 802.16e WiMAX network. Under the terms of the contract Motorola will deliver a high speed wireless broadband network, allowing Warid Telecom Uganda to quickly and cost effectively connect new customers. Initial deployment is due for completion by the end of 2007, enabling residential and enterprise voice and data connectivity services such as Voice over IP (VoIP) and virtual private networks (VPN).

   

 

Russia’s Sistema buys into India (India)

  • September 27th, 2007
  • 3:15 pm

Russian conglomerate Sistema has acquired a 10% stake in Indian fixed line telco Shyam Telelink for USD11.4 million. The Russian company had been reportedly scouting around for a local partner for more than a year and had previously tried to pick up a 49% stake in cellular service provider Aircel. As part of the deal, Sistema has the option to purchase a further 41% of Shyam and could even increase its stake to the maximum 74% if it gains approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board. Shyam Telelink, which offers basic telephony services in the state of Rajasthan, recently applied for new licences to offer unified access telecom services in 22 other states.

   

 

TeliaSonera says Yoigo expansion on target (Spain)

  • September 27th, 2007
  • 3:13 pm

TeliaSonera’s Spanish subsidiary Yoigo expects to double its subscriber base by the end of the year. According to Kenneth Karlberg, the head of the Nordic telecoms operator’s mobile business, the Spanish low-cost operator hopes to attract 350,000 subscribers by the end of 2007, versus 161,000 at the end of June. ‘We will do good business in Spain,’ Karlberg said. ‘The plan is to be at 350,000 clients by year-end. We’re following our current plan.’ If TeliaSonera meets its subscriber target, the company will still have a less than 1% market share in Spain behind Telefonica, Orange and Vodafone.

   

 

 

Tele2 Norway and Network Norway to jointly build a mobile network (Norway)

  • September 27th, 2007
  • 2:40 pm

Tele2 Norway and Network Norway have entered into an agreement to build a third mobile network in Norway. Under the terms of the deal Tele2 Norway has acquired 50% of the shares in AMI, holder of a GSM-900 licence. The equal joint venture aims to build a wireless network covering a large proportion of the Norwegian population. The roll out has already started and during the first phase the plan is to build out 400-500 base stations. The company will also investigate alternatives for providing future 3G services.

Niclas Palmstierna, Tele2’s Market Area Director Nordic, commented; ‘This joint network ensures that Tele2 can continue being the price leading mobile operator in the Norwegian market. With a customer base of more than 400,000, the timing is right for investing in our own infrastructure. We are pleased with the agreement with Network Norway and the roll out has already taken place.’ The joint network will be a compliment to Tele2’s existing MVNO and national roaming agreement with NetCom, which guarantees its customers a broad coverage during the roll out phase.

   
 

 

NSN wins EUR180m deal from Henan MCC (China)

  • September 27th, 2007
  • 2:31 pm

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has said it has won an order worth EUR180 million (USD253 million) from Henan Mobile Communications Company, part of China Mobile, for GSM network expansion, EDGE introduction as well as network planning and implementation services. Under the contract NSN will extend its cooperation with Henan MCC and become the sole supplier of EDGE in addition to already being a leading supplier of its GSM networks. The company will provide Henan MCC with its GSM and EDGE core and radio networks equipment, mobile soft switching solution including MSC (Mobile Switching Centre) Servers, MGW (Media Gateway) and HLR (Home Location Register), as well as system integration, network planning, rollout and support services for Henan MCC’s GSM and EDGE network. Henan MCC will provide EDGE commercial services for its customers from September.

   

 

Telenor drops objection to Vimpelcom’s purchase of URS, gives hope to Kyivstar debacle? (Ukraine)

  • September 27th, 2007
  • 2:28 pm

Norwegian telecoms group Telenor has announced that it has dropped a long-running legal case in which it objected to Vimpelcom’s 2005 purchase of mobile operator Ukrainian Radio Systems (URS, now rebranded under the Russian cellco’s Beeline trademark), reports the Moscow Times. However, Telenor said it would persist in seeking legal redress in other ongoing disputes with its Russian investment partner Altimo, the telecoms arm of conglomerate Alfa Group, which has a controlling stake in Vimpelcom. The dispute between Altimo and Telenor arose from differences over the strategy and control of Vimpelcom and Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator by subscribers. Altimo and Telenor own 37.7% and 26.6% respective stakes in Vimpelcom, whilst Telenor controls 56.5% of Kyivstar, with 43.5% of the company owned by Altimo; Vimpelcom owns 100% of URS. Alfa also has an indirect interest in another Ukrainian GSM operator, Astelit, through its stake in Turkey’s Turkcell, and a 40% stake in WiMAX provider Ukrainian High Technologies (UHT, Alternet), via its Russian Technologies venture fund, whilst Golden Telecom, which offers fixed and mobile services in both Russia and the Ukraine, is another regional player co-owned by the pair (Alfa 30%, Telenor 20%).

Vimpelcom spokeswoman Yekaterina Osadchaya yesterday welcomed Telenor’s decision, saying that it ‘vindicates our position that we were doing the right thing all along,’ whilst Altimo vice-president Kirill Babayev said his company would welcome future cooperation with Telenor. Relations between the two sides have deteriorated to the point that Telenor has been forced to omit Kyivstar’s results from its financial reports, and Altimo has consistently boycotted shareholder meetings at the Kiev firm, which has been forced to operate without a board of directors. Telenor has called a Kyivstar shareholders meeting for next Monday to resolve corporate governance issues, including re-electing a board, although according to the Moscow Times, neither the Oslo-based group nor the Russian investor has expressed any confidence in an immediate breakthrough being reached. The paper said that Altimo had declined to confirm whether it would attend the meeting.

Telenor has filed a series of lawsuits in Russian courts against Vimpelcom’s USD231 million purchase of URS in an effort to invalidate the deal, on the grounds that the price was excessive and that it already had a presence in the country via Kyivstar, but all the legal bids failed. A New York arbitration court last month ordered Alfa to sell its stake in Kyivstar to a non-affiliated company within 120 days or to relinquish certain holdings in rival Ukrainian operators, but the jurisdiction of the court was questioned by the Russian company. Telenor’s head of Russian operations, Kjell Morten Johnsen, said in an interview given to Russian newspaper Vedomosti yesterday that his company is prepared to drop its ongoing legal actions against Altimo with respect to disputes over its jointly-held Ukrainian assets, if Altimo agrees to abide by the New York court ruling, and stop blocking attempts to elect a board of directors at Kyivstar.

   
 

 

Mena man moots mobile moves (Bahrain)

  • September 27th, 2007
  • 2:25 pm

Abdulhakeem Al-Khayyat, the chairman of Bahraini alternative telco Mena Telecom, a subsidiary of Kuwait Finance House Bahrain (KFHB), has revealed ambitions to apply for the third mobile phone network operating licence in the Kingdom. The chairman, also the general manager of KFHB, said that: ‘We are definitely keen to apply for the third mobile licence in Bahrain as part of our strategy to enhance the business base of the company,’ and added that Mena would be looking at various opportunities in the international arena after establishing its domestic operations. Mena won one of two fixed line and fixed-wireless network operating licences in December 2006 alongside the country’s second mobile operator MTC-Vodafone Bahrain (now rebranded Zain Bahrain), and has invested over USD50 million to roll out infrastructure including a WiMAX network, which it expects to have nationwide coverage by May 2008.It also offers international ‘MenaTalk’ calling cards, carrier pre-selection telephony over incumbent Batelco’s lines and satellite internet connections at speeds ranging from 512kbps/128kbps to 4Mbps/625kbps (down/upload).

   

Vonage to appeal Sprint patent infringement ruling (USA)

  • September 27th, 2007
  • 2:17 pm

Digital broadband phone services provider Vonage plans to appeal a US District Court jury verdict in a patent infringement lawsuit brought by Sprint Communications. The jurors ruled that Vonage had wilfully infringed Sprint’s patents in providing its VoIP phone services. They awarded Sprint USD 69.5 million in damages, which they found to be 5 percent of Vonage’s revenues over the infringing period. Vonage will ask the court to aside the verdict. If this is not granted, it will pursue an appeal.

   

Tele2, Network Norway build mobile network in Norway (Norway)

  • September 27th, 2007
  • 2:11 pm

Alternative operator Tele2 Norway has signed an agreement with Network Norway to jointly build Norway’s third mobile network. Tele2 Norway has purchased a 50 percent stake in AMI, owner of a GSM 900 licence. The joint company, AMI, plans to build a mobile network covering a large proportion of Norway’s population. The first phase will see deployment of 400-500 base stations. Roll-out has already commenced. The joint network will be a compliment to Tele2’s existing MVNO and national roaming agreement with NetCom.