Motorola has been selected by TDF a leading European provider of network services to broadcasters and telecom operators, to design and deploy 802.16e WiMax networks for several regions in France where HDRR, a TDF subsidiary, holds WiMax frequency licenses.
The three-year frame agreement with TDF follows an initial pilot at the end of 2006 and successful deployments in Loiret, Sarthe and Limousin regions which enabled the roll-out of innovative networks enabling the delivery of high speed broadband access to end users.
TDF and its partners, including local governments, deliver a wholesale broadband service to retail ISPs which in turn provide broadband data as well voice over IP services to businesses and consumers.
By selecting Motorola’s 802.16e WiMax solution, TDF customers will enjoy advantages of the new WiMax services in the future.
Motorola provides deployment, integration and support services to TDF in addition to WiMAX equipment such as WiMAX Access Points (the WAP 400 series), and outdoor and indoor customer premises equipment such as the CPEo 400 series and CPEi 200 series.
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The Financial Times reports that France Telecom (FT) has warned that it would walk away from its proposed EUR26.5 billion (USD41.6 billion) takeover of TeliaSonera unless the Nordic operator rapidly signalled its interest in a tie-up. FT’s shares have lost around 10% of their value since the board of TeliaSonera last Thursday rejected a friendly takeover offer by FT which would have valued the Scandinavian telecoms giant at around SEK282 billion (USD47 billion). The Paris-based operator submitted an ‘indicative’ SEK56.225 per share cash and stock offer, amounting to a cash transaction for around 52% of the Stockholm-based firm’s stock, with the remainder being paid for in shares, at a ratio of three new FT shares for every eleven TeliaSonera shares. However, TeliaSonera’s board (backed by a Swedish cabinet member) unanimously agreed that the offer ‘substantially’ undervalued the company. Reuters writes that FT’s Chief Financial Officer Gervais Pellissier told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper that FT had no plans to raise the shares-and-cash bid. He was quoted as saying: ‘There are two grounds on which we could withdraw the offer. The first is that it will not be received as friendly by the shareholders and management of TeliaSonera…The second would be the continuation of market turbulence. If our share price continues to plunge, that would make the operation difficult.’
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Orange is getting set to launch pay-TV satellites to households in France in early July, the company said
A Satellite Today report said the launch of the direct-to-home service in conjunction with Eutelsat will mean 24 million French households, about 98.3% of the mainland population will be able to enjoy Orange TV.
Previously, broadband TV technology only enabled half of France’s households to benefit from the offer.
Canalsat is the market leader in direct-to-home services in France with more than 5.2 million subscribers. Orange has nearly 1.3 million IPTV subscribers in France, and the launch of the new service should increase its impact in the French pay-TV market.
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French mobile operator SFR, backed by media and telecoms conglomerate Vivendi, has launched a formal public offer for rival French telecoms group neuf Cegetel, Dow Jones reports. SFR has reportedly submitted a filing with the country’s stock exchange watchdog AMF committing to acquiring the neuf Cegetel shares it does not already own for EUR35.90 (USD55.56) per share between 19 May and 13 June. The filing also confirmed SFR already owns 77.9% of neuf’s shares.
On 16 April SFR and parent company Vivendi announced they had received permission from the government to close the purchase of the stake held in neuf Cegetel by the Louis Dreyfus Group. SFR outlined a EUR4.4 billion deal to buy the alternative telco in December 2007. The SFR/neuf Cegetel tie-up will create France’s second largest operator and provide a credible competitor to dominant telco France Telecom.
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A report in French newspaper Les Echos claims that Orange France is preparing to cut the price it charges for an iPhone. The paper goes on to say that top officials from the French mobile operator have travelled to California to ask the handset maker what can be done about the stocks of unsold iPhones it is currently carrying, amid fresh industry rumours that a 3G version of the innovative device is soon to be on the way. Indeed, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica has claimed that the 3G iPhone is coming shortly to Telecom Italia without a revenue sharing deal and without long-term exclusivity. In the meantime, the French cellco could opt to subsidise the price of the iPhone – a move that has already been taken by O2 in the UK and T-Mobile Germany – although Orange France has denied all the rumours, saying that ‘everything is going well’ where the iPhone is concerned. Earlier this month, Orange France released sales figures for the iPhone, reporting that it had shipped just 96,000 units since launching the device in November.
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French Internet provider’s still eyes mobile market entry; government undecided on possible fourth operator.
Iliad subsidiary Free has had another set-back in trying to get hold of mobile network space in France, following the government’s decision last year not to award it a mobile licence.
According to Dow Jones, Maxime Lombardini, CEO of Iliad, told a French newspaper that the operator was interested in renting network space from the three other French mobile service providers Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom. But all three declined to strike an agreement.
Free wanted to use the operators’ networks at a fee that would be just above cost price as a short-term solution, reports say.
The company is currently waiting on the French government to make a decision on available spectrum in France.
Free applied for the fourth mobile telecommunications licence during last year, but the application was turned down as the French regulator Arcep felt Iliad would not be able to meet the financial criteria.
If Iliad wants to build a network large enough to cover 90% of the French population, it would have to fork out about EUR1.2 billion. Its net profit for 2007 was EUR150.2 million.
At the beginning of April, the French government said it is considering not allocating a fourth licence at all. Apart from Free’s financial situation, the government is also concerned that there is not really space for another operator, Dow Jones reported at the beginning of this month.
Commentators think that the government might decide to sell the available spectrum off in blocks.
In such a case, Iliad would be able to get hold of some parts of the spectrum.
In the meanwhile, CNN reports that Free and another alternative operator Neuf Cegetel will be testing interoperability of their fibre optic systems. This will bring them one step closer to sharing network space within buildings, Neuf Cegetel’s general manager Michel Paulin said.
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France’s three mobile network operators have reportedly rejected a call by French ISP Free to allow it to use their networks to offer mobile services at near-cost prices, citing a report in French paper Les Echos. Free’s latest move is being seen as a fall-back solution should it fail in its second attempt to buy the country’s unsold fourth 3G licence. The ISP is awaiting the outcome of the government’s revised tender for the award of the concession which is expected to be sold off in lots. Free parent company Iliad’s CEO, Maxime Lombardini, reportedly told the newspaper that his company does not want to be an MVNO such as Tele2 Mobile, Virgin Mobile or NRJ Mobile which enjoy ‘little financial or technological autonomy’. Instead, Free is proposing an alternative arrangement under which it would pay a fixed annual fee to its host network provider, and then pay a reduced rate for traffic volumes based on cost price plus an operator margin of less than EUR 0.02 per minute. Mirroring the company’s unbundling arrangements for fixed line broadband services, Free also proposes to be able to interconnect its own equipment with the host operator’s mobile network, especially for subscriber location functions. It is understood, however, that Orange France, SFR and Bouygues Telecom are not interested.
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France Telecom which, together with a Dubai-based Alcazar Capital Limited, secured a 51% stake in December 2007 in Telkom Kenya, plans to invest KES7 billion (USD115 million) in the telco during 2008. The majority of the funding will be spent on the company’s new wireless network which will be based on GSM technology and will operate under France Telecom’s Orange brand name. France Telecom CEO, Didier Lombard, said ‘We are investing in Kenya for the long-term because we believe it is one of the fast growing economies in the world’, and claimed the new network will be launched ‘very soon’. About 20% of the KES7 billion investment will go towards upgrading Telkom Kenya’s international broadband capacity and fixed line network.
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- April 16th, 2008
- 12:45 pm
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has approved a proposed takeover of telecommunications operator Neuf Cegetel by Vivendi’s mobile phone arm, SFR, an Associated Press report said.
The Associated Press report, quoting the ministry said under the deal, announced in December, SFR would boost its presence in the fast-expanding broadband market by buying commodity trading group Louis Dreyfus’ 29.5% stake in Neuf Cegetel.
SFR already holds 40.5% of Neuf Cegetel which had said the purchase of the Louis Dreyfus stake was subject to approval from antitrust authorities, the report said.
The €4.4 billion (US$6.96 billion) deal would combine France’s No. 2 mobile operator with its No. 2 broadband provider, reshaping the country’s telecom landscape as companies have begun to invest heavily in rolling out next generation fiber-optic networks to give consumers access to ever faster Internet connections, the report said.
The deal takes telecommunications and entertainment giant Vivendi, which owns 56% of SFR, a step closer to taking full control of Neuf Cegetel to create an integrated telecom provider in France to rival the country’s dominant France Telecom, the report further said.
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Responding to newspaper reports earlier in the week that it had dropped plans for a fourth 3G licence, the French government has announced that it has not yet decided one way or another. ‘Today all options are open’, Eric Besson, Secretary of State for Public Policy, said in an interview with the daily Le Figaro. Besson added that it is a matter of whether consumers will benefit from the best technology at the lowest cost, taking into account the chance to prepare for 4G mobile telephony and efforts to foster the development of MVNOs.
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Motorola wins WiMax deal in France (France)
