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Wireless Federation » archive for 'Etisalat'

In 2010 Mobinil may receive ARPU of US $7.47 per month (Egypt)

  • September 5th, 2008
  • 6:06 am

Egypt mobile market statistics reveals that the penetration rate has almost doubled since then to reach 43% in March 2008. The network operators have launched a wide range of advanced services, including 3G mobile broadband. Also Mobinil has launched commercial 3G services over a W-CDMA network covering Cairo, Alexandria, Sharm El-Sheikh, Hurghada, Dahab, Taba, Safaga, Marsa Alam, Luxor and Aswan. Mobinil have invested USD749 million so far this year on its infrastructure. Number of active base stations have been increased to more than 6,500 of which 700 offer 3G access.

Operators serving the Egyption mobile market are:

  • Mobinil
  • Vodafone
  • Etisalat

Notable highlights of  Egypt Mobile Forecast include:

  • The wireless penetration level in Egypt will increase from 56.0% in 2008 to 73.5% in 2010. In the meantime, the number of total subscribers will increase from 42.0 million in 2008 to 57.5 million in 2010.
  • Although both of the two largest operators - ECMS (MobiNil) and Vodafone will continue to have market shares in the range of 42% - 46% over the next few years, Nile Telecom to increase steadily over the forecast period. The market share of Nile Telecom to increase from 9.4% in 2008 to 15.7% in 2010.
  • In 2010, Vodafone will receive ARPU of US$ 10.44 per month whereas ECMS will achieve an ARPU of US$ 7.47 per month.
  • Lower EBITDA margins for Egypt operators in the 43% - 48% range compared to historical EBITDA margins of 49% - 54%.

Etisalat brings new application portal for it’s BlackBerry users (Saudi Arabia)

  • August 27th, 2008
  • 7:17 am

Etisalat brings to it’s BlackBerry users a brand new application portal, which will expand their productivity as they will have access to a wide variety of applications from Navigation to document management applications.

Etisalat stated “The initiative which is a first for BlackBerry users in the Middle East will enable them to literally carry their office with them through their BlackBerry service to enjoy a world beyond just e-mail”.

The portal, “bb.etisalat.ae”, can be accesed by the users through their BlackBerry browser to view and download applications with a fee, which cater to both individuals and business users.

There also a range of free applications for the users like the “Holy Quran” in Arabic, free RSS reader, Financial Times news reader and the BlackBerry stock ticker.

Abdullah Hashim, vice-president, enterprise solutions, etisalat, said: “While wireless access to e-mail and corporate information was the primary driver for the popularity of the BlackBerry device among corporate users, access to applications will transform the service into a must-have for people on the move. This is where etisalat is empowering its customers and extending the versatility of BlackBerry service.”

   

Mobile phone networks to be privatised soon (Lebanon)

  • August 13th, 2008
  • 1:57 pm

According to local media report, Lebanon’s parliament has approved the new ‘national unity’ cabinet line-up, which is now expected to announce a commitment to privatise the country’s two mobile phone networks. Originally, the privatisation was set for the month of february but suffered delay caused by political deadlock.  The sale of controlling stakes in the GSM mobile companies, MIC1 and MIC2, might now be delayed until after parliamentary elections set for May 2009 said Lebanon’s Ministry of Telecommunications.

MIC1 is currently branded Alfa and managed by a joint venture between DeTeCon International, part of the Deutsche Telekom group, and Saudi Arabia’s FAL Holding. MIC2 is currently managed by Kuwait’s Zain Group under the MTC Touch Lebanon banner. It is anticipated that telecoms including Zain, Etisalat, Orascom, Qatar Telecom and Saudi Telecom to take part in the upcoming auction.

Etisalat announces expansion of mobile business data service (UAE)

  • August 12th, 2008
  • 1:20 pm

Etisalat has announced a further expansion of its mobile business data service initiatives with Emirates NBD bank using Etisalat’s services to power its Point of Sale (POS) terminals for credit/debit card transactions through its Mobile Data network.

Global operators plan to stay out of 3G auction ring (India)

  • August 12th, 2008
  • 7:22 am

A closer look at the at the Indian 3G auction guidelines has made the global telecom operators to think twice before making any further progress. Many potential new entrants are now planning to stay out of the bidding ring, reports ET.

The response for the 3G auction has been degraded to “negative” as the implications it carries of steep financial and regulatory barriers, coupled with pockets of uncertainty for the bidders, sink in.

Till now, operators like NTT, AT&T, Deutsche Telecom and Etisalat who were showing interest in the Indian mobile market are now showing their absence in the bidding ring , has threatened to affect government’s plans of netting up to Rs 40,000 crore from the auction of 3G spectrum.

The global telecom operators have listed four key reasons forr their negative responses:

* They describe as an “unjustifiable, discriminatory and burdensome payment” of Rs 1,651 crore to first obtain a unified access service license.
* The second reason is the mindless application of April’s M&A guidelines to 3G licences
* The third concern is on the account of uncertainty of 3G spectrum allocation beyond 5 MHz. A 3G bidder can neither bid beyond a single block of 5 MHz nor acquire 2G spectrum.
* Lack of clarity on several areas critical to bid planning, such as number of blocks per circle, timing of auctions, interim steps and rules regarding transfer and sharing of spectrum.

   

Iran’s mobile market profile (Iran)

  • August 8th, 2008
  • 2:08 pm

Iran with a population over twice as high as any other of the countries of the Middle East has low mobile penetration levels. This scenario is changing and the market is seeing high mobile growth, particularly since the launch of a second national operator in late 2006. During 2007 the Iranian government announced that it would split up and sell off the state owned Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI), as part of its program to privatise 80% of state-owned businesses. Previously the telecom market was a state-owned monopoly with the exception of retail Internet service provision.

Irancell and TCI are currently the only two mobile operators working in Iran.

MegaFon, Russia’s third largest mobile operator, is ready to invest around €3 billion ($4.6 billion) in its business in Iran. In addition, UAE-based Etisalat, the second-largest Arab phone company by market value, is considering investments in Iran’s mobile-phone market.

   

NCS urges government to issue 3G licence (Nigeria)

  • August 7th, 2008
  • 1:03 pm

The Nigerian Computer Society (NCS)has asked the government to issue 3G licences. According to the president of NCS, 3G mobile communications services provide a window of opportunities for job creation in Nigeria. The government has been requested to to grant additional licences to increase the diffusion and deployment of wireless and internet access in Nigeria’.
The 3G concessions have been granted to Glo Mobile, MTN Nigeria, Zain and Alheri Engineering, by the government. However, only Glo and MTN have rolled out next generation services and Etisalat has applied for the 3G licence.

   

BlackBerry Du to be launched soon for the prepaid and corporate subscribers - CEO (UAE)

  • August 6th, 2008
  • 6:41 am

Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC, or Du, Chief Executive Osman Sultan revealed, that the company will be launching Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM) BlackBerry in the Persian Gulf state after recieving goverment’s approval.

“Everybody knows BlackBerry and it was necessary for us to expand it to our entire customer base including prepaid customers,” Osman Sultan reported.

Earlier it was only Etisalat, that was the sole operator to provide BlackBerry in the UAE, which was launched 2 years ago.

Along with targeting the prepaid subscriber, it will also facilitate the corporate subscribers.

This launch indicates a cut throat competition among the two operators to win the licence to market Apple iPhone.

“Apple will make the decision with the regulators, we want to offer our services to our customers through any devise they wish it to be a BlackBerry interface, Microsoft Windows mobile, or Apple’s iPhone,” he said.

   

KTC signs SMS and GSM deals with 450 international operators (Kuwait)

  • August 5th, 2008
  • 2:12 pm

Kuwait Telecommunications Company, third telecom services company in Kuwait, has announced that it has signed SMS and GSM deals with 450 international telecom operators in 185 countries.KTC’s agreement, which was supervised by Etisalat, is to provide mobile phone services for subscribers.
The deal was signed by Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Badran, the Project Manager for KTC’s Third Mobile Telecom License program in Kuwait, and Ali Amiri, Etisalat’s Executive Vice President for Operations.
Al-Badran showed interest in entering the Kuwaiti market with a strong impact by signing of the new deals, the company was looking forward to cooperate with other major regional companies.

   

CAMEL services for Beeline subcribers (Ukraine)

  • July 30th, 2008
  • 10:54 am

Unitel LLC  proclaims its expansion of CAMEL based roaming and international roaming services for its subscribers. Now automatic CAMEL roaming in the networks of Etisalat (Egypt) and Wind Hellas Telecommunications S.A (Greece).

Commercial Director of Unitel stated that “We are doing our best so that subscribers of Beeline will get pleasure from traveling abroad and instantly be able to share their joy with their relatives and friends.” “Due to the fact that roaming possibilities are constantly developing, communication borders for our subscribers are expanding and cellular service is becoming more accessible,” he further added.

Currently subscribers of Beeline in Uzbekistan automatic CAMEL roaming services are available in Tajikistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belgium, Turkey, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Armenia Slovenia, Afghanistan, Pakistan. Kirgizstan, Georgia, Egypt and Greece.

Monaco Telecom (Kosovo) has become the next roaming partner of Beeline. GPRS-roaming has been extended to TMN (Portugal), Viettel Telecom (Vietnam) and Indigo Tajikistan CJSC (Tajikistan).

International roaming services for users of Beeline in Uzbekistan are available in the network of 252 operators in 115 countries.