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Wireless Federation » archive for May, 2008

Virgin takes WiMAX to Russia

  • May 13th, 2008
  • 3:25 pm

UK-based Virgin Group is preparing to announce a WiMAX wireless broadband partnership in Russia. A report from Russian Business says that Virgin is setting up a venture with local wireless ISP Trivon, in which Virgin has a stake. WiMAX networks will be deployed in 30 Russian cities, the report suggests.

   

 

 

Bakrie Telecom – you’ve been Tango’d

  • May 13th, 2008
  • 3:20 pm

Indonesian fixed wireless operator Bakrie Telecom has installed a short message service centre (SMSC) platform from messaging and real-time charging developer Tango Telecom on its network. Telecomworldwire reports the SMSC was implemented in conjunction with Tango’s flexible next generation iAXT SMS MAX platform, which it claims is capable of providing fast value added SMS services deployment. The solution is designed to store and forward, real-time charging and inter-working between GSM and CDMA networks it said, while iAXT SMS MAX provides anti-spam capabilities and SMS forwarding. The new platform will help Bakrie Telecom introduce revenue-generating VAS quickly to subscribers while protecting the subscriber base from unwanted and malicious spam.

   

 

 

Bharti Airtel falls on concerns of possible bidding war for MTN

  • May 13th, 2008
  • 3:15 pm

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 148.13 points, or 0.83%, to 17,004.67, as a retreat in oil prices eased worries about inflation and after news of a takeover deal in the technology sector helped drive Wall Street higher on Monday, 12 May 2008.

On BSE, 79,554 shares were traded in the counter. The scrip had an average daily volume of 5.19 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 846 and a low of Rs 826 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 1,149 on 10 October 2007 and the stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 700 on 22 January 2008.

India’s largest telecom services provider by sales had underperformed the market over the past one month till 12 May 2008, gaining 4.23% compared to the Sensex’s return of 6.66%. It had also underperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 2.05% compared to Sensex’s return of 1.52%.

The company’s current equity is Rs 1,897.92 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The current price of Rs 830.50 discounts its Q4 March 2008 annualised EPS of Rs 37.77, by a PE multiple of 21.98.

Bharti had recently said it was in exploratory talks for a stake in MTN. Media reports suggest Bharti may bid for a controlling 51% stake in MTN

Other potential contenders such as China Mobile, Orascom and Vodafone have all said they are interested in the African market, but are not bidding for MTN.

While Bharti’s offer for MTN is said to be around rand 165 per share, international media said the company would raise this to around rand 175 per share. Reports added that Indian telco is prepared to offer up to rand 200 per share. This values MTN at around $45-$50 billion. The proposal envisages acquisition of 51% in MTN by Bharti Airtel.

Meanwhile, Bharti said Monday, 12 May 2008, it has signed a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to India, later this year.

Bharti Airtel reported 39.30% rise in net profit to Rs 1792.30 crore on 42.1% increase in sales to Rs 7,413.73 crore in Q4 March 2008 over Q4 March 2007.

The company provides mobile telecommunication services in India. It also provides fixed-line, VSAT, Internet and broadband services.

   

 

Vodafone Says It Won’t Bid for Mobile Operator MTN, FT Reports

  • May 13th, 2008
  • 3:13 pm

 Vodafone Group Plc said it will not be bidding for MTN Group Ltd., a mobile-phone company in Africa and the Middle East, the Financial Times reported, citing an unidentified spokesman.

We have no intention of pursuing an offer for MTN,'’ the spokesman said, according to the FT.

Unidentified people familiar with the matter said they could not definitely say that Vodafone would not decide to make an offer for MTN in the future, but that it was unlikely, the newspaper said.

The U.K. mobile phone company last week assessed the idea of making an offer for MTN after Bharti Airtel Ltd. made an informal bid for a controlling share, the FT said.

The Vodafone spokesman said the company is interested in increasing its stake in Vodacom Group Ltd., South Africa’s largest mobile phone company, which it owns 50-50 with Telkom South Africa Ltd., according to the newspaper.

   

 

South Africa: Speculation Rife About MTN Suitors

  • May 13th, 2008
  • 3:10 pm

BHARTI Airtel is still definitely in, Etisalat has expressed a tentative interest, but Vodafone and China Mobile can be counted out in the guessing game of who is wooing MTN.

Since Indian operator Bharti confirmed “exploratory talks” towards acquiring 51% of MTN, speculation has been rife about which other operators may decide to make a move.

Yesterday UK-based Vodafone said it had “no intention of pursuing a bid for MTN”. Vodafone holds 50% of Vodacom, but that did not prevent speculation about a deal to sell its shares to Telkom, the other joint owner, and invest in MTN instead. Another theory was that Vodafone could hang on to its Vodacom stake , but buy MTN’s networks in 20 other countries instead.

But the thumb-sucking has been quashed with Vodafone spokesman Simon Gordon saying it was interested in owning more of Vodacom, not less. “We are committed to our shareholding in Vodacom. “If the opportunity presented itself to increase that, we would look at it, as we’ve said in the past.”

Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates is eyeing MTN as part of its expansion plans, its chairman Mohammed Omran said in Cairo. “We are always looking for expansion in Africa. We are evaluating MTN, among other companies.”

Within four years Omran wants Etisalat to earn at least a quarter of its revenue from Africa. It already serves 51-million users in 16 countries, and has spent $5bn over four years to launch in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and to buy into a Pakistani operator. In December, it said it would buy 16% of an Indonesian operator.

China Mobile, the world’s largest cellular operator by user numbers, said it is interested in SA, but not in MTN.

Meanwhile Bharti is said to be raising its offer, which sources originally pegged at R165 a share. The Asian Wall Street Journal quoted an unnamed source as saying it would now offer R175 a share, and that an official bid may come this week. Local investors in MTN have said they would not consider less than R200, although that positioning may change if a firm offer is made.

Bharti has won the support of a major investor, Azmi Mikati, CEO of M1 Group, which also owns 9,82% of MTN.

The speculation is doing the rand good as well as boosting MTN’s shares. The currency reached a two-month high against the dollar yesterday, gaining 1,2% to R7,6396 a dollar on speculation that MTN may be bought by a foreign operator, and that Bharti will up its bid.

   

 

Vodafone: no MTN bid

  • May 12th, 2008
  • 3:19 pm

The UK-based cellular operator Vodafone has ruled out making a bid for South Africa’s MTN Group. A Vodafone spokesperson told The Financial Times: ‘We have no intention of pursuing an offer for MTN.’ Last week it was reported that the UK giant was considering making a move for MTN, which has cellular operations across Africa and the Middle East. This followed an informal bid from India’s Bharti Airtel. Vodafone has reaffirmed its commitment to its existing South African operation, Vodacom, and says it is looking to increase its stake in the company to above the current level of 50% to give it more management control.

   

 

 

Leap up

  • May 12th, 2008
  • 3:14 pm

The US cellular operator Leap Wireless International has posted 19.1% growth in its first-quarter revenues, which stood at USD468.4 million, and has narrowed losses from USD24.2 million to USD18.1 million. The San Diego-based company added just over 230,000 net new customers in the three months to the end of March 2008, taking its total subscriber base to 3.1 million. The customer churn rate rose slightly from 3.4% to 3.6%, though average revenue per user (ARPU) increased from USD44.81 a month in Q1 2007 to USD44.98 in the most recent period.

   

 

 

SK Telecom says no to MVNO merger

  • May 12th, 2008
  • 3:09 pm

SK Telecom of South Korea has denied reports saying it is in talks with Virgin Mobile USA over a possible merger between Virgin and SK Telecom’s US mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Helio. SK Telecom spokeswoman Mina Ryu told Dow Jones: ‘We’re not in any sort of talks with Virgin Mobile.’ She added: ‘We’re committed to Helio.’

   

 

 

BSNL lays down terms for 93 million-line GSM tender

  • May 12th, 2008
  • 3:08 pm

Indian state-run telecoms firm Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has invited bids for a contract valued at over USD6.5 billion to supply it with 93 million GSM lines. The company’s director for finance SD Saxena said global equipment vendors such as Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks, Motorola, Nortel Networks, Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei and ZTE are expected to participate in the bidding process. Bids will be opened on 16 July. ‘It should take about six to eight months to award the tenders,’ Saxena said.

The Indian government has stipulated that only those companies with a turnover of USD2 billion or above for the last two years, and a successful track record of rolling out over 20 million GSM lines, will be permitted to tender bids. The maximum number of lines that a single company may be awarded has been set at 50 million.

   
 

Zain to employ Nokia Siemens for expansion work

  • May 12th, 2008
  • 3:05 pm

Zain Iraq, the country’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, has contracted European vendor Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) for a USD150 million job to expand capacity and simplify and modernise the existing core network. Further details were not provided.Zain Iraq was formed at the end of 2007 when cellco MTC Atheer adopted the corporate brand of parent company, the Zain Group of Kuwait, formerly MTC. MTC Atheer won a 15-year national cellular licence in August 2007 for USD1.25 billion. The parent company acquired rival Iraqna from Egyptian group Orascom late last year for USD1.2 billion, and has since consolidated the two networks. The unified infrastructure served well over seven million customers at the end of 2007, a market share of 57%.