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Wireless Federation » archive for 'Mobile services'

Vodafone Qatar set to launch nationwide mobile services

  • January 6th, 2009
  • 6:10 am

Vodafone Qatar, readies to launch pre- and post-paid mobile services nationwide on 1 March and will establish an international cable landing station in the Middle East country. Vodafone Qatar Chief Executive Officer Grahame Maher, said, ‘We have identified some sites in coastal areas to locate Vodafone’s new international landing station in Qatar to improve international access and redundancy in the country.’

‘There are several organisations looking to bring new cables to Qatar in a joint venture with our partners Qatar Foundation. Having Vodafone in Qatar improves the attractiveness of these cable ventures given the volume of our international traffic and size of our international footprint,’ added Maher.

In the beginning, the operator is going to use the existing landing stations established by Qatar Telecom (Qtel). Vodafone Qatar intends to provide high speed internet and data communications to mobile customers from the onset.

Digicel launches services in Panama

  • December 3rd, 2008
  • 8:47 am

Digicel, the largest telecommunications operator in the Caribbean and recent entrant to the Central American market, today launched operations in Panama — its third Central American market and 31st market world-wide — with an investment of US$350 million. Digicel now offers seamless mobile telecommunication services across Central America, with operations to date in El Salvador, Honduras and Panama.
According to the Panama Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Panamanian economy is expected to grow 7.5 percent by 2009. With a population of 3.4 million, mobile penetration is currently at approximately 71 percent. Having built the most modern nationwide GSM network in the country, Digicel is well positioned to maximize growth by offering service for the first time to many communities in Panama not previously served by incumbent operators.
The Digicel Panama network is underpinned by world-class 24/7 customer service, a nationwide network of more than 300 retail distributors and in excess of 15,000 recharge outlets nationwide. The company employs 300 people directly in its Panamanian operations as well as creating the indirect employment of 1,000 people.
“Panama promises to be a very exciting market for us and we are proud to offer the best coverage, best service and best value to the people of Panama,” said Digicel Chairman, Denis O’Brien. “Digicel is confident that it can stimulate growth in the mobile market in Panama by increasing mobile penetration within five years to 90 percent ensuring that more and more Panamanians have access to an affordable high-quality mobile network.”
Digicel won a competitive bid process for a license to operate a GSM mobile network in Panama in May 2008. With 20 years experience in telecommunications, Digicel Panama is led by Raul Burgos, whose past accomplishments include senior management positions in SunCom Wireless, Nextel, Telecorp and AT&T Wireless.
With operations in 31 markets world-wide and more than 6.4 million customers, Digicel’s investment in the Caribbean, Central America and South Pacific now exceeds US$3.4 billion. As the largest mobile operator in the Caribbean, Digicel is renowned for reshaping the competitive landscape through revolutionary offers and promotions. In El Salvador, Digicel trebled its customer base in its first year of operation to move from the fourth to the second mobile operator in the market.
Digicel Central America Holdings Limited is owned by Denis O’Brien, as is Digicel Group Limited and Digicel South Pacific Limited.

About Digicel Group
Since its launch in 2001, Digicel has become the largest wireless telecommunications operator in the Caribbean with more than six million customers. After seven years, Digicel is renowned for competitive rates, unbeatable coverage, superior customer care, a wide variety of products and services and state-of-the-art handsets. By offering innovative wireless services and community support, Digicel has become a leading brand in the Caribbean and has placed the region at the cutting-edge of wireless communications — the company is also a new entrant to the Central American market.
Digicel is incorporated in Bermuda and now has operations in 31 markets world-wide. Its Caribbean and Central American markets comprise Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Bermuda, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Curacao, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Panama, St Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago and Turks & Caicos. The Caribbean company also has coverage in St. Martin and St. Barths. Digicel Pacific comprises Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu.
Visit www.digicelgroup.com for more information.

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 please visit www.wirelessfederation.com
   

Vodafone Malta offers free SMS

  • November 28th, 2008
  • 6:31 am

Customers of Vodafone Malta Limited can enjoy free SMS by topping up their mobile accounts using its MyVodafone online service and the mobile SMS services available at BOV and HSBC. With a top up of €20, customers receive 25 free SMS to any Vodafone number plus a credit time window of 360 days. The customers will get 100 free SMS to any Vodafone number with a top up of €50. The free SMS are to be used within 30 days of top-up. Vodafone Malta lures new customers by giving 200 free SMS to Vodafone numbers on the first successful top up.

Daniel Grech, Consumer Marketing Manager at Vodafone Malta, said, “Topping up is very easy either way. If customers would like to use the online service, all they have to do is visit www.vodafone.com.mt, click on My Vodafone and click on ‘easy top up’ to activate this service. New My Vodafone registrations can also be done by creating a username and password.”

Blyk plans expansion, targets 200 brands (UK)

  • November 19th, 2008
  • 10:46 am

Blyk (Mobile Service Provider) is making a move to expand its operations. It has raised EUR 40 million for this move. Blyk is active in UK and planning to launch in the Netherlands and Belgium. Blyk said it has seen strong demand from the advertising industry to expand its service to other markets. They are focussing on youth market, offers free calls and texts for viewing advertising messages on mobile phones. The company reaches to the mark of 200, 000 subscribers in the first year of its operations in UK and claiming an average response rate to the ads of over 25%. With 180 brands using the advertising service, Blyk said it’s on track to hit its goal of 200 brands using the service by year-end. No financial details have been provided on the source of new investments.

Telsur to offer services in south, backs on Telefonica mobile arm (Chile)

  • November 18th, 2008
  • 5:50 am

Telsur, which bags third position among Chile’s Telecom company, is going to offer services in the country’s south on the mobile networks and antennae of Telefonica Spain’s mobile phone unit, Movistar. Telsur has inked an agreement with Movistar enabling it to add mobile phone services in an area where it dominates in fixed-line services. Also, Telsur allows Movistar to use some of its infrastructure. No financial details are available on the agreement yet.

Microsoft & Verizon may sign a deal, expects revenues of $550Mn to $650Mn

  • November 14th, 2008
  • 7:15 am

Microsoft reportedly is close to ink a deal with Verizon Wireless. As per the deal, Microsoft will provide the search services on mobile sold in the market by Verizon. The revenues generated through advertising on the mobile search services will be shared among the two companies. According to the sources, the deal would guarantee revenues of approximately 550 million dollars to 650 million dollars over five years for Verizon. This is said to be twice the amount offered by Google for a similar deal.

Turkcell invests $600 million in 2G mobile services (Turkey)

  • November 10th, 2008
  • 7:19 am

Turkcell, leading mobile operator in Turkey, will invest USD600 million in 2G mobile services in 2009.The company will also invest in 3G services, but the size of the investment will be determined by conditions attached to a tender for a 3G license to be held on 28 November 2008, Chief Executive Sureyya Ciliv, said.

A week earlier, Turkcell announced its third quarter results, posts a rise of 51% to USD603.8 million in net profit and subscriber base reaches to the mark of 36.3 million as of 30 September 2008.

DoCoMo to expand its services intends to enhance revenues (Japan)

  • November 3rd, 2008
  • 6:15 am

NTT DoCoMo, Japanese mobile service provider is soon going to expand their services to their customers. As the company facing stiff competition in their home market so the they are inetding to boost their revenues. NTT DoCoMo said that they are now going to focus on offering enhanced mobile services to their existing customers.

The market has reached the saturation point so luring new customers won’t earn more revenues to them. Therefore DoCoMo can earn more revenues from their existing subscriber base. According to NTT DoCoMo, “Through acceleration of the network speed, evolution of mobile handsets, and flat-fee structure, we shall enable usage of high-volume movie contents without worrying users about payment. ”

Zain’s e-GO2GO offers mobile internet for prepaid subscribers (Kuwait)

  • October 6th, 2008
  • 6:54 am

Now prepaid customers of Middle East can enjoy data transfer and mobile internet services as Zain launches  e-GO2GO. The company’s latest  pioneering product caters customers who prefer pay as you go method. Akin to the post-paid data services, the e-GO2GO is an easy plug play USB device that offers true mobility with high speed internet connectivity but with the convenience of cost control and with the peace of mind of having a prepaid account. Zain Kuwait Chief Operations Officer, Khaled Al-Omar said, To use the service, customers simply need to buy the device, insert a Zain Eezee SIM card and top up their credit with Zain Eezee recharge cards. This allows customers full control over their telecom bills. Anywhere and Anytime Zain customers can have access to internet as it offers high-speed mobile internet connectivity. It fits into the the personal budget of Zains pre-paid customers who wish to have access to the internet at their own financial pace. Zain has always been committed to offering innovative services to its customers with the aim of meeting all their needs. This new product comes in line with this commitment, Al-Omar added.

Digicel will roll out its new mobile network in Fiji soon (Fiji)

  • September 26th, 2008
  • 5:52 am

Caribbean-based Digicel Group said it could roll out its new mobile network in Fiji next week. The launch of Digicel mobile network will be going to give competition to Vodafone Fiji which has long enjoyed the monopoly on the provision of cellular services there. The interim government of Fiji issued Digicel Fiji with its mobile operating licence in July’08, it was announced five months after the firm had won the right to offer services in competition with Vodafone. Commerce Minister Tom Ricketts said that Digicel would be issued with its concession once it had paid the licence fee of USD10.25 million.