Wireless Federation

U Mobile, launched in 2008, a newcomer to the Malaysian mobile market, announced of signing up 100,000 subscribers. The figure includes subscribers on both pre-paid and post-paid plans, and chief executive officer Oh Kwang-Jin commented, ‘this achievement is testament to the appeal of per-second billing to our cost-conscious customers who want to save more’.

U Mobile was granted its licence in May 2006, and competes with Cellcom, DiGi Telecommunications and Maxis Mobile.

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Media Layers, the pioneer in rich-media mobile advertising solutions, and Cellcom, Israel’s leading mobile operator with over 3 million subscribers, announced today a multi-year contract for implementing Media Layers’ SMART solution for mobile advertising over Cellcom’s content services.

Media Layers’ SMART system was chosen by Cellcom and Logia and is already deployed in Cellcom’s network. Advertising over mobile video services will be launched in the coming days, and this will be expanded to additional content services and channels.

Adi Cohen, Cellcom’s VP Marketing, commented on the contract with Media Layers: “Mobile advertising is still in its early phases, but we see its importance in addressing the need in the market for a broader variety of business models, and we consider it to be a substantial future growth engine.”

Kobi Marenko, Logia’s CEO, added: “Mobile advertising is critical in turning mobile content services from a niche to a mass market offering. Media Layers’ SMART system provides an excellent infrastructure for this move. It addresses Cellcom’s and Logia’s needs in full, and creates a rich, relevant and effective experience for the mobile subscribers.”

Noam Man-El, Media Layers’ CEO, commented: “We are thrilled with the opportunity to work with Cellcom and Logia in building the next generation of mobile services. This contract is a substantial milestone for Media Layers, and strongly validates our product strategy – a cross-channels mobile advertising management solution based on a real-time approach, providing users with personalized and relevant ads.”

Media Layers’ SMART system is uniquely based on a real-time approach, enabling mobile operators and content providers to insert mobile ads into all content channels, with strong support for rich media – video clips, audio clips, banners and more. In video, the cutting edge of mobile content, SMART provides for ad insertion in multiple fashions – before, during or after viewing the chosen content; in a split screen; as an overlay (picture in picture); and in various other methods. Additionally, the matching of ads to the users is done in real time, thus presenting each and every user with relevant ads which are perceived as valuable and which lead to a high return on investment for the advertisers.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Sierra Leone is to get two new GSM operators after the National Telecoms Commission (NTC), gave Israel-based Cellcom and Lybian state-backed vehicle LAPGreen Networks approval to provide services. The watchdog’s executive secretary, Bashir M. Kamara said that the cellcos had been given the green light and would be launching services soon. ‘I can tell you that there are two other registered GSM operators in the country right now that are yet to roll out into the market. They have been approved and have paid their licence fees just like every other GSM service provider. They just need to roll out into the market.

Sierra Leone currently has five mobile operators, serving an estimated 800,000 subscribers at the end of last year. The NTC has recently announced that all GSM operators will be required to achieve 50% population coverage by the end of this year, which could well lead to consolidation in the market as the smaller cellcos may not be able to fund the required expansion.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
 

Israeli wireless network operator Cellcom has selected Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) to develop its next generation network (NGN). The new equipment will allow Cellcom to offer its subscribers fixed-mobile convergence whereby they can enjoy the same services with either fixed or mobile access. A core and broadband access network, including a SURPASS softswitch and hiX5625 multi-service access nodes, will be delivered by the vendor.

Cellcom Israel, the largest mobile phone operator in the country with more than 2.9 million subscribers, recently acquired licences to offer fixed line voice and data services. Following a rigorous and extensive review of offers, Cellcom chose NSN because of the high quality of its products and services, as well as its solid experience in NGN solutions worldwide.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
 

Israel’s largest cellco by subscribers, Cellcom, reports that second quarter revenue rose to USD343 million from USD326 million in the corresponding period last year, while net income jumped from USD30 million to USD50 million. The cellco cited subscriber growth and a reduction in operating expenses as being the main drivers behind the results.

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The recently reported trials with ad-funded free mobile games on Israeli operator Cellcom together with InnerActive Smart Media have concluded in a 44% click through rate and 19% acquisition rate with in-game mobile advertising.

The success of the service is amazing. With normal web advertising stuck at a click through rate of 3% and spam stuck at an estimated acquisition rate of 0,01%, mobile advertising really shows it potential as the adverts led to a 44% click through rate and 12% for the acquisition rate. The average number of mobile game downloads per consumer multiplied ten times with Tetris taking the lead with 14 times more downloads then normal. The consumer activity was also increased. 24% of the consumers say they didn’t download a game in at least six months before the trial and 54% said they at least didn’t download in the three months before.

“The new model used in the trial has proved to be effective and feasible to all the players. We succeeded to promote thousands of new users, that are not heavy gamers, to consumed and enjoyed games,” said Adi Cohen, VP Marketing of Cellcom. “The advertising-marketing stimulus trial confirms its effectiveness to all parties that took part in this project. This mobile advertising is working and shows far-reaching consequences for the mobile industry.”

“The ad-funded model used in the trial has created a new dialog with the consumers while at the same time setting a new level of response and conversion to targeted and relevant marketing content,” said Offer Yehudai, innerActive Co-manager. “The usage of in-content deliver within the games has become a great online media experience within various audiences, especial in the youth segment (9-20 year old) – 65% enjoying the benefits.”

“These trends reveal the huge potential and highlight innerActive’s solution of in-content ad-funded mobile advertising and business model,” said Ziv Elul, innerActive Co-manager. “Driving from this successful pilot, innerActive is about to launch its new solution for live streaming advertising on both video and music channels.”

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According to Israeli Daily The Globes, the Knesset is planning the launch of a tender for the sale of WiMAX concessions from 1 October 2007. The newspaper writes that the Ministry of Finance is proposing that only companies with less than a 25% share of the telecoms market will be allowed to participate in the tender, meaning that the country’s three largest cellcos -Cellcom, Partner and Pelephone - would be excluded from participating. The exclusion is driven by the fear that they would acquire the wireless broadband frequencies just to keep them out of the hands of competitors, thereby harming competition. The decision to allow Israel’s fourth wireless network operator - MIRS Communications - to participate in the tender is important in that it could enable it to develop a network that would be capable of challenging its competitors’ 3G networks.

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Telegeography writes…A European telco is reportedly offering to buy Cellcom from IDB. The offer was reportedly relayed to IDB a couple of weeks ago by US-based investment bank Goldman Sachs, which owns 4% of the Israeli cellco. While the identity of the prospective buyer is unknown, many have speculated that the most likely purchaser is the UK’s Vodafone Group.

Nochi Dankner’s IDB group bought 94.5% of Cellcom nearly two years ago. Having consolidated complete control over the company, Dankner then parcelled off 5-10% stakes in the company to investors including Goldman Sachs and Migdal. He then floated it on the New York Stock Exchange and means to dual-list it in Tel Aviv as well.

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Israeli cellco Cellcom has announced that in the three months ended 31 March 2007 revenues increased 7% to NIS1.44 billion (USD246 million) compared to the same period of 2006. Growth was as a result of a 17% jump in airtime usage as a result of a hike in subscribers and in minutes of use (MoU) which rose from 323 minutes to 341 minutes, EBITDA rose 20% to NIS535 million while net income jumped 43% to NIS208 million. Average monthly ARPU fell by NIS1 to NIS149.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Telegeography writes…Israeli wireless network operator Cellcom has raised USD400 million from the sale of 20 million shares. Underwriters have an option to sell a further three million shares, putting about 22% of Cellcom in public hands. Discount Investment Corp, which saw its stake in the company fall from 78.5% to 59% as a result of the IPO, said it would post a capital gain of NIS660 million (USD155.5 million) from the deal. If the extra shares are sold, Discount’s stake will fall to about 56%. Goldman Sachs Group, which held a 5% stake in Cellcom, sold about 975,000 shares.

Wireless Mobile Telecom