Wireless Federation

The Western Union Company today announced that it has created an alliance with Orascom Telecom Holding S.A.E., one of the largest mobile operators in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Orascom Telecom and Western Union plan to work together to introduce mobile remittance services in select markets. The services aim to make low-principal, high-frequency remittances more convenient to the millions of consumers who send money every day.
Orascom Telecom, which was established in 1998, operates six mobile networks with a combined total of 77 million subscribers, including Djezzy in Algeria, Mobilink in Pakistan, Mobinil in Egypt, Tunisiana in Tunisia, Banglalink in Bangladesh, and Telecel Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe. In addition, in early 2008, Orascom Telecom acquired a license in North Korea to operate mobile services.
“Orascom Telecom mobile networks are in areas with high populations of people who have limited access to financial services,” said Naguib Sawiris, Orascom Telecom Chairman and CEO. “We believe this alliance, supported by our current mobile subscribers throughout the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, presents an effortless method to bring financial services to many of the world’s families for the first time.”
Western Union, together with its affiliates Orlandi Valuta and Vigo, maintains the industry’s largest global money transfer Agent network with more than 355,000 locations in over 200 countries and territories.
“As the need for remittances continues to grow, so does the desire for new channels to conduct quick, convenient and affordable money transfers,” said Gail Galuppo, Western Union Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. “Western Union is already offering this convenience with mobile money transfers from select locations, and we look forward to working with Orascom Telecom to offer this option to their subscribers in the future.”
Several of the countries where Orascom Telecom operates are among the top receivers of remittances in the world. For example, according to the World Bank, Bangladesh received US$6.6 billion in remittances in 2007; Pakistan received US$6.1 billion, and Egypt received US$5.9 billion.
The Western Union(R) mobile money transfer service is currently available from select Western Union Agent locations in the United States, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Europe to Globe Telecom and Smart Communications subscribers in the Philippines.
The mobile money transfer service connects mobile operators to Western Union’s trusted global “hub” for processing cross-border remittances. Once connected to Western Union’s service, mobile operators use their own “mobile wallet” software to enable person-to-person mobile money transfers over Western Union’s global remittance network. The Mobile Money Transfer service enables consumers to transfer money to or from mobile wallets and is being introduced into the global network of Western Union Agent locations for cash-to-mobile and mobile-to-cash transactions.
The agreement with Orascom Telecom is part of the pilot program of Western Union and the GSM Association, a global trade association representing over 750 GSM mobile phone operators, to facilitate the development of cross-border mobile money transfer services.

About The Western Union Company

The Western Union Company is a leader in global money-transfer services. Together with its affiliates, Orlandi Valuta and Vigo, Western Union provides consumers with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, as well as send payments and purchase money orders. It operates through a combined network of more than 355,000 Agent locations in over 200 countries and territories. Famous for its pioneering telegraph services, the original Western Union dates back to 1851. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.

About Orascom Telecom

Orascom Telecom is a leading international telecommunications company operating GSM networks in six high growth markets in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, having a total population under license of approximately 440 million with an average mobile telephony penetration of 44% as of June 30, 2008. Orascom Telecom had over 77 million subscribers as of June 30, 2008.
Orascom Telecom is controlled by Weather Investments S.p.a. which also owns Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.a., Italy’s third largest mobile operator and second largest fixed-line operator, and Wind Hellas, the third largest mobile operator in Greece.
Orascom Telecom is traded on the Cairo & Alexandria Stock Exchange under the symbol; and on the London Stock Exchange, its GDR is traded under the symbol.

About Wireless Federation

Wireless Federation is an industry research conglomerate headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The mandate of the Wireless Federation is to provide its members and customers industry knowledge that can further enhance their understanding of the wireless industry. Wireless Federation conducts bespoke research and produces boxed reports in collabaration with Industry Bodies, Telecom Operators for Issues that revolve around ARPU, CHURN and Loyalty.
They have been associated with more than 225 mobile operators globally to set their Pricing/ Tariff Strategies, Go-To-Market Strategies for Mobile Advertising, Mobile Payments, Cutting VAS among others amongst 59 countries globally.

For more information you can log on to www.wirelessfederation.com

Bangladesh’s subscriber base experiences a fall during the month of September which called for the weakest month for the three leading mobile operators of the country, reports BTRC.
According to BTRC reports, the active mobile subscriber base saw a decline of nearly 3 lakh in the month of September and the total number reached  45Mn in contrast with the subscriber base of 45.4 Mn at August end.
According to Mehbub Chowdhury, chairman of South Asia Mobile Forum, the sector is still growing. “Unregistered SIM cards are being disconnected. It is a good sign,” Chowdhury said.

Talking about the operators, Grameenphone individually saw a fall in its subscriber base to 2.82 crore at September end in comparison to 2.84 crore in August. Same was with Baglalink whose subscriber base fell from 11.7Mn at August end to 11.4Mn in September. Aktel also saw a decline in it’s subscriber base to 7.663Mn in contrast with 8.140Mn at August end.

Operators like Warid, Teletalk and CityCell saw a rise in their subscriber base, as Teletalk added 0.01Mn new subscribers in September, CityCell got 0.06Mn.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

According to a local media report, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) allocated a 17.5MHz block of additional wireless spectrum to the three largest mobile operators in the country.

As per the allocation:

Grameenphone- 7.4 MHz
Banglalink-5.1MHz
AKTEL-5MHz

The addidtional frequencies that will help to relieve the congestion will cost the operators USD11.9 million per MHz.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Over the last two to three years, the number of mobile subscribers in Bangladesh have been doubling on an annual basis. By end-2007, the subscriber base had reached 34 million and was continuing to grow at an annual rate of around 60%. With the momentum that has been developed on the back of the government’s deregulation process, the strong growth seemed likely to continue. The entry of new operators into the market has certainly helped to further boost the competitive environment.

The major operators are Grameenphone, Banglalink, CityCell and Teletalk.
Grameenphone, is the main player in Bangladesh’s mobile phone market with more than 20.8 million users followed by Banglalink, the No. 2 Bangladesh mobile phone carrier, with more than 10 million subscribers after rising 41 percent since January.

Notable highlights of the Bangladesh Mobile Forecast include:

• Total subscribers in Bangladesh will increase from the projected 47.4 million in 2008 to 58 million in 2010. It is therefore, forecasted that the level of wireless penetration will increase steadily in Bangladesh from 29% in 2008 to 35% in 2010.
• The level of competition in the wireless market will continue to increase, and the HHI index will go down to 0.296 in 2010. Major operators in the country will be losing subscribers to Warid.
• The largest operator in the country will continue to be GrameenPhone (Telenor), but its market share (by subscribers) will decrease from 45.5% to 43.3% in the forecast period, 2008 - 2010.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Orascom Telecom’s Banglalink, reported that it’s subscriber base has surpassed 10 million, rising at a pace of 41%.
According to the company, Banglalink, started Bangladesh operations in 2005 with 30,000 users, and has invested more than 56 billion taka ($817 million) expanding its business.
The firm’s competitors include Grameenphone, AKtel, CityCell and Teletalk.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Ericsson has been selected by Banglalink, the Bangladeshi subsidiary of Egypt’s Orascom Telecom, to supply, install and commission GSM network radio equipment. The deal is the first of its kind between the Swedish vendor and the Orascom group. Under the contract, Ericsson will initially supply network technology including radio base stations and base station controllers in Dhaka and its surrounds. Further new sites in other regions are scheduled later this year. The new equipment will enable Banglalink to expand coverage of its GPRS data platform, which it switched on in December last year, according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, and also raise network capacity at peak calling times.

(Bangladesh)

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Telecompaper writes…The number of mobile phone subscribers in Bangladesh grew 120 percent in 2006 to a total 22 million, after adding more than 12 million customers in the year, according to the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC). The mobile network operators acquired some 2.56 million new subscribers in December alone. Bangladesh has currently six mobile phone operators, of which five are in operation and the sixth, Warid Telecom, is expected to begin operations in April. Market leader GrameenPhone ended the year with 10.76 million customers after adding nearly 5.22 million subscribers in 2006. AkTel acquired 3.93 million new subscribers for a total 6 million, Banglalink grew by 2.61 million to 3.64 million subscribers, and the only CDMA operator CityCell grew to nearly 1 million customers from 440,000 in 2005. The government-owned Teletalk acquired nearly 400,000 customers in 2006.

Wireless Mobile Telecom