Wireless Federation

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has inked a deal with Oman Mobile to upgrade 90% of the cellco’s network. The contract, worth between USD80 million and USD100 million, will see 90% of the company’s base stations and core connectivity replaced, and take 18 months to complete.Oman Mobile had 1.48 million subscribers at the end of 2007, equivalent to a 59.7% market share. In 2008 it hopes to add an average 100,000 subscribers per month.

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Kazakhstan’s largest cellular operator by subscribers says it plans to invest USD264 million this year, up from USD223 million in 2007, as it pushes ahead with the expansion of its network. GSM Kazakhstan (GSM-K), which offers services under the K-Cell brand, is set to install 310 new base stations by the end of the year, Interfax reports. GSM-K is 49%-owned by Kazakhtelecom and the remainder is held by Fintur Holding, a venture between Turkcell and TeliaSonera. The cellco had just over six million subscribers and a 54% share of the Kazakh mobile market at the end of 2007.

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Kenya’s largest cellular operator by subscribers, Safaricom, has launched the country’s first mobile TV service. Under a partnership with pay-TV operator DSTV and Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, customers can access ten local channels plus content from international broadcasters such as CNN and the BBC. At launch services are available only to customers in the capital, Nairobi. With a DVB-H handset priced at KES25,000 (USD388) and monthly subscription charges set at KES1,000, subscriber take-up is likely to be slow, for the time being at least.

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M-Tel* has launched ‘M-Tel Free Surf’ a prepaid 3G tariff available to ‘Prima’ customers (prepaid). The tariffs which can be ordered via SMS – text to read 250 MB” or “25 MB  - are as follows:

         Tariff                           Cost per             Included               Cost per           Validity
                                             month                                        extra Mbyte
   M-Tel Free Surf 25                9.90                  25 MB                  2.56               30 days
   M-Tel Free Surf 250             24.50                 250 MB                2.56               30 days

Prices are in BGN and include tax at 20 per cent, BGN 9.90 = Euro 5.08
Connections are billed in increments of 20 kbytes

 Pay-as-you-go for prepaid subscribers accessing the Internet is BGN 2.56 per 1 Mbyte, tariffed in increments of 100 kbytes, however billed in increments of 20 kbytes. Postpaid subscribers benefit from a lower rate of BGN 0.61 after 10 use of 10 MB.

 By launching ‘M-Tel Free Surf’, M-Tel is attempting to increase usage of its mobile Internet service to a larger customer base. This is because by allowing customers to purchase prepaid 3G, they have more flexibility and are not tied to a commitment. For reference, the following per Mbyte rates apply as per the inclusive amount.

        Tariff                            Per Mbyte                                  Factor
                                          outside bundle                   Outside versus inside bundle
   M-Tel Free Surf 25                  0.396                                      6.5
   M-Tel Free Surf 250                0.098                                      26.1
  

 Prices are in BGN and include tax at 20 per cent.

 Postpaid subscribers have the option to sign up to three bundles namely 250 kb, 1.5 GB and 5 GB.

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Chinese operator is first customer for Huawei’s core router cluster system, which claims to lower TCO by up to 60%.
The cost and complexity of increasing network capacity to cope with the growth in broadband customers and changing usage patterns presents a significant challenge to telecoms carriers, according to China Telecom.

“[There has been a] rapid and huge increase in the number of broadband users, and insufficient network capacity,” said David Chen, deputy managing director of China Telecom Europe, at Sofnet on Tuesday.

Operator challenges going forward also include a “very complicated network structure,” and the fact they have to “spend a lot of money on high construction and maintenance costs,” he added.

China Telecom ended 2007 with 35.65 million broadband subscribers, up from 28.31 million a year earlier and 21 million in 2005, representing an annual growth rate of 25%.

By the end of 2007, 85% of the telco’s broadband customers had services “at [speeds of] 2 Meg or higher, and 65% at 8 Meg,” added Ronald Raffensperger, director of core network marketing at Chinese equipment maker Huawei Technologies.

As the speed of downlink services grows, operators need to be capable of routing at least 10 terrabits per-second in data, said Raffensperger.

He recommends that rather than adding additional routers to the network, thereby multiplying the number of connections and making the network more complex to manage, operators should move to a cluster model.

“[Clusters] allow you to expand quite easily,” he said. They are simpler and “you have a lower cost of ownership.”

On Tuesday Huawei presented its Quidway NetEngine 5000E core router multi-chassis cluster system, which it claims is the first in the industry to provide 10 terrabits per-second of throughput.

Huawei introduced the 5000E router, capable of 1.28 Tbps of throughput, in 2004 and two years later enabled the connection of two together for double the bandwidth. “Today [we have]… the ability to go to eight clusters,” said Raffensperger. “That gives you 10 terrabits per-second of throughput.”

Raffensperger claimed that cluster system can generate total cost of ownership savings of between 40% and 60%.

Much of this comes from its reduced power consumptions and more efficient cooling, but also from the fact that it weighs less than traditional hardware and is more compact.

China Telecom is currently the world’s largest Internet service provider by customers, Raffensperger said. “They were our first customer for this cluster.”

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Creation of Nordic super-operator on the cards once again, but competition issues would likely derail any deal.
Telenor is considering a tie-up with TeliaSonera and has hired advisors to look at a possible deal, the newswires reported Tuesday, citing Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.

The paper, which did not name its sources, said the Norwegian incumbent has appointed Nordea and JP Morgan to analyse the situation, adding that the two telcos have already held talks.

Both Telenor and TeliaSonera declined to comment on the rumours.

The news comes two weeks after it emerged that France Telecom is interested in taking over TeliaSonera.

Having initially refused to comment, the French telco later admitted it has take exploratory steps towards TeliaSonera, describing the operator as potential strategic opportunity. It also expressed interest in other possible targets, including Telenor.

However, France Telecom has not made any formal bid.

While Telenor and TeliaSonera might appear to be a good fit culturally, a merger would face heavy scrutiny from competition bodies. Both companies have mobile operations in the other’s home market, and both offer mobile services in Denmark, for example, while there is also cross-ownership with their emerging market assets.

History is not on the side of a tie-up between the pair.

Sweden’s Telia agreed to merge with Telenor in October 1999, but the deal fell apart two months later as the two governments failed to resolve various issues surrounding the deal.

Telenor admitted to a second attempt in 2002. Following the tie-up between Telia and Sonera to create TeliaSonera, the Norwegian operator revealed that it had taken part in secret talks earlier that year over a possible three-way merger.

The path would be unlikely to be any smoother this time around.

The Norwegian government still holds a 53.97% stake in Telenor, while Sweden and Finland claim shares of 37.3% and 13.7% respectively in TeliaSonera.

Quoting Norwegian analyst firm SEB Enskilda, Reuters also noted that the Norwegian government would be unlikely to agree to the deal, since it would result in it losing some control of Telenor, as the telco would have to pay for part of the acquisition in shares.

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Etisalat has told Reuters that it is considering a move into India’s telecoms market. ‘The market value for shares (in India) has gone down a little so it’s a good time for us to consider entry,’ said Mohammed Omran, chairman of Etisalat. ‘We could spend in the range of USD1 billion to USD3-4 billion; that depends on the opportunities and on how much of a percent we buy,’ he added. In April the company revealed that it was in talks with several Indian telecoms companies, including Spice Communications. ‘Our aim is to buy into an operator that covers most of India, and Spice is one possibility,’ Omran reiterated yesterday, although he stressed that no decision had yet been made.

Etisalat, which has operations in 16 countries and 51 million customers, has spent USD5 billion on acquisitions in the last four years alone. Assets acquired by the company since 2004 have doubled in value and are now worth USD10 billion. ‘Our target is that international operations contribute 20% to 30% of net profits in three to four years,’ he stated, adding the segment had contributed ‘very little’ in 2007.

Omran also revealed that Etisalat is preparing a bid for a second fixed line licence in Egypt and said the company expected its mobile operations there to become profitable by early 2010. ‘We think we will make the right bid. Because we are a mobile operator, we are in a better position than others to bid for a licence.’

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Omantel has posted record net income of OMR38.4 million (USD99.7 million) for the first quarter of 2008, up 60% year-on-year and comfortably ahead of analyst expectations. The result reflects a 15% increase in revenue to OMR98.2 million for the three months, and a 3% fall in operating expenses to OMR57 million. Shares in the company jumped almost 7% to their highest level since 2005.

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Zain Sudan has launched a GSM network in southern Sudan as part of a USD150 million plan to provide services in the formerly embattled region. The cellco has already spent over USD500 million in Sudan, although the bulk of the expenditure has been directed towards the north of the country. ‘We now have a vastly improved service … with 50 antennas across the South,’ said CEO Khaled Muhtadi. He added that the company may have around 150,000 customers in the south, but because lines had been sold on the black market it was difficult to know exactly. Southern Sudan is currently recovering from a long running civil war with the North that has hampered investment in the area.

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Venezuelan state-owned mobile operator Movilnet has now installed 600 GSM base stations across the country, the company said in a statement. Movilnet president Jacqueline Faria said that the company will launch commercial GSM-based services once the quality of service on the new network and the level of staff expertise matches the levels of its existing CDMA services. Faria added that staff are currently testing 300 post-paid and pre-paid GSM handsets.

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