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Wireless Federation » archive for 'Econet'

NZ Communication to launch its Network soon (New Zealand)

  • August 6th, 2008
  • 8:33 am

NZ communication, formerly known as Econet has hold-up its highly awaited launch of its network until late next year. Only 50 cell towers has build yet, but requires 400 for its launch.  Eight years has been spent by NZ communication in an attempt to build a national mobile network and become the country’s third mobile provider. For appealing customers,they have signed a roaming deal with Vodafone that enables future customers to get coverage in areas its mobile network doesn’t cover.  They have failed to the deal where it could place cellular equipment on Vodafone and Telecom towers  known as mobile co-location.

According to Commerce Commission, Progress with mobile co-location is slow, and issued a draft standard-terms determination on the non-price terms for the service. Regulation wasn’t anticipated to be finalised until mid-to-late November. Precisely, this is counted as the reason why NZ Communications has delayed the network launch.

Econet Wireless Kenya hires staff ahead of roll-out (Kenya)

  • February 15th, 2008
  • 2:19 pm

Kenyan mobile operator Econet Wireless is recruiting staff ahead of its planned roll-out in two major cities. Econet is working to beat a roll out deadline for August set under the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) licensing guidelines, which require a firm to roll-out within a year of being granted a licence. Econet’s Sure Kamhunga who is based in South Africa told the Business Daily that the roll-out was underway, but declined to give details on competition grounds. Kamhunga said the firm is also securing licences for the base stations from local authorities within Nairobi. CCK Director-General John Waweru said the company needed to secure permits from local authorities for base station sites. “The one year period is normally given to these companies so that they can raise the huge capital involved in the roll out and meeting other logistics, we hope they will meet the deadline” said Waweru. Econet was issued with the licence and the frequency nodes last September and has only got seven months to go before the deadline expires. Econet was first licensed in 2003 but was unable to roll-out then due to protracted court battles.

   

Econet sells stake to Essar to finance Kenya roll-out (India)

  • January 14th, 2008
  • 2:13 pm

India’s Essar Communication Holdings has bought 49 percent in Econet Wireless International, which has 70 percent of the shares in the third mobile operator in Kenya. Econet Wireless Kenya, which is yet to roll out its services, has been looking for a suitable financier since the Communications Commission of Kenya cleared its licence in September. By buying into the Econet parent company, Essar intends to inject capital for the roll-out of the Kenyan operations. Lawyers who advised on the deal told the Business Daily that Essar Communication will provide close to half a billion dollars for the roll-out. “Essar also intends to bring in a new model which is similar to those used in places like Indonesia, Philippines, India and Pakistan, which will offer competitive pricing and aggressive network roll-out,” said Anjarwalla and Khanna Advocates, noting that the deal would not affect the current Kenyan ownership structure. Econet had reportedly tried to get the foreign financier to be incorporated as one of its partners. This was however turned down by the government since it was against the licensing rules. Econet was licensed in 2003 but has not been able to roll out service due to protracted court battles. Econet Wireless International has a presence in eight African countries, Europe and the East Asia Pacific region.

   

Telkom Kenya applies for mobile licence (Kenya)

  • October 3rd, 2007
  • 12:50 pm

Fixed-line operator Telkom Kenya has applied for a mobile licence. A notice in the official Kenya Gazette from the Communications Commission of Kenya announced the application and set a deadline of 60 says for public comments, from 21 September, writes the East African Standard. Telkom Kenya already offers a fixed wireless service using CDMA technology. The incumbent would compete on the mobile market with Safaricom, Celtel and Econet, which has just received a licence and has yet to roll out services.

   

Econet secures future (Kenya)

  • September 25th, 2007
  • 1:09 pm

Econet Wireless Kenya looks finally to have secured its future after paying the remaining portion of its licence fee and finding new local investors to take a 30% stake in the venture. The firm, which won Kenya’s third national cellular licence in 2003, has paid KES840 million (USD12 million) owing of its total KES1.9 billion licence fee. It has also found two companies to take over the 30% interest previously held by the Kenya National Federation of Co-operatives; Corporate Africa will take a 21% stake while Rapsel will own 9%, Business Daily reports. The remaining 70% is owned by Econet Wireless International.

   

 

 

Third cellular network faces delays (New Zealand)

  • September 10th, 2007
  • 2:52 pm

NZ Communications says it may not meet the launch schedule for its planned national wireless network as it is struggling to sign roaming and co-location agreements with rival operators Telecom New Zealand and Vodafone. NZ Communications said in March this year that it planned to launch a commercial cellular service within 18 months, but the National Business Review reports that the firm is becoming increasingly frustrated at setbacks in signing agreements with established telcos. NZ Communications received both GSM and 3G spectrum back in 2001, when it was still known as Econet Wireless NZ, but has struggled to get its network deployment off the ground.

   

 

 

 

Econet’s growth plans on hold

  • July 30th, 2007
  • 3:01 pm

Econet Wireless has suspended plans to increase its subscriber base as it awaits the outcome of its current lobby to the Post and Telecommunications Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) to review mobile call tariffs. Businessdigest reports that the company has decided to stop connecting new numbers until POTRAZ and the cabinet’s Taskforce on Price Monitoring and Stabilisation approves a tariff review. The country’s three mobile network operators – Econet, NetOne and Telecel – were forced to reduce their tariffs drastically early this month following a government decision aimed at tackling hyperinflation (which reached 4,500% in May). Econet slashed its rates from between ZWD7,000 and ZWD10,000 per minute to between ZWD500 and ZWD800 a minute. The company has since informed POTRAZ that the changes threatened the viability of its network. Econet’s subscriber base was 634,414 at the end of March, up from 457,228 a year earlier.

   

 

Econet completes GPRS installation

  • June 1st, 2007
  • 1:02 pm

Econet Wireless Zimbabwe has completed the installation of a GPRS data platform on its network, which it says will enable it to meet high demand from its customers and roaming visitors to use ‘BlackBerry’ type mobile devices to send and receive e-mails and multimedia attachments. In another development, Econet said it would shortly start trials of a 3G mobile service for a sample group of around 2,000 customers.

   

 

Econet gets the builders in

  • May 6th, 2007
  • 7:21 am

Telegeography writes….Zimbabwe’s largest cellco by subscribers Econet Wireless has signed two contracts with Ericsson of Sweden and ZTE Corporation of China to supply equipment for the expansion of its network capacity from 800,000 users to 1.2 million by the end of 2007. The project will be the second of its type in less than a year, after its USD20 million network expansion to increase capacity from 500,000 to 800,000, which has just been completed. Ericsson, which has supplied the bulk of all equipment on the Econet network since the company launched operations in July 1998, will supply equipment for the expansion of its core network as well as base stations to be set up in the northern part of the country and the capital, Harare. The Swedish vendor will supply switches, Intelligent Network Platforms, pre-paid systems, as well as new base stations in Harare, Mashonaland and Manicaland provinces. ZTE has been awarded the contract to expand the GSM network in the southern part of the country where it will install new base stations and extend coverage to the two Matabeleland provinces, Masvingo and the Midlands. Econet said it had over 634,000 active subscribers at the end of February 2007.

   

Econet ready to roll with 3G

  • April 5th, 2007
  • 3:47 pm

Telegeography writes…Zimbabwe’s largest cellco Econet Wireless is ready to roll out its 3G network following the successful installation of 3G equipment, the company’s CEO Douglas Mboweni said this week. ‘We are now on the testing phase,’ he said in an interview, adding that ‘we need to make sure that before we start rolling out the network, our system is efficient and effective.’ He declined to give a planned launch date. The 3G network was expected to be in place by 31 March, but its rollout was postponed following delays in the procurement and installation of the equipment.