Wireless Federation

Vodacom South Africa and Safaricom has inked a deal, which allows both prepaid and post-paid subscribers to make call between the two countries for Sh30 per minute. The deal sees a drop of 25% on the previous rates.

Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Michael Joseph, said, “The preferential tariff rate will make it cheaper and convenient for our subscribers who frequently travel to South Africa to communicate freely within South Africa as well as with their fellow Kenyans back home. Safaricom Post Pay subscribers will also no longer need to pay roaming deposit to enjoy this service on Vodacom network in South Africa.”

“The partnership between Safaricom and Vodacom South Africa is very strategic considering that South Africa will host the largest football extravaganza, the 2010 World Cup in the next 19 months,” he added.

In South Africa, Vodacom leads the cellular network with an approximate market share of 58% and have more than 23 million subscribers in its kitty. The first provider to deploy a 3G or UMTS network in South Africa was Vodacom and also offers HSDPA.
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Thanks to its One Region One Rate roaming scheme, all du mobile subscribers can enjoy calling local numbers and receiving calls at just AED 1.25 per minute, while roaming in the GCC region.

The unified rates come into effect immediately without any extra charges and will be available by default to all du customers while they roam in the GCC region. du mobile customers can choose any telecom operator during roaming in the GCC while still benefitting from this attractive scheme.

Farid Faraidooni, EVP Commercial, du, said, “The unified roaming tariff is a reflection of our commitment to simplify the lives of our customers. It means our customers no longer need to keep track of the various complicated roaming charges used in the GCC region.”

Further, the rates are attractive and affordable for all customers roaming in the GCC. Faraidooni said: “Roamers will enjoy low and attractive rates which makes roaming simple and affordable.”

After having launched the Haj roaming promotion which provides the benefit of free incoming calls to its mobile subscribers roaming in Saudi Arabia during the Holy period of Haj, du introduces another breakthrough innovation in the international roaming services.

While roaming in the GCC, du Monthly Plan subscribers can make and receive calls, send and receive SMS and MMS, access high speed mobile internet, use BlackBerry services and video calling.

While roaming on any operator in the GCC, du Pay as You Go ® and Visitor Mobile Line subscribers can receive voice calls and send and receive SMS. Outgoing voice calls are also available in all GCC countries with selected operators.

One region, One rate charges

• AED 1.25 per minute for local calls and any incoming call (except Haj pilgrims to Saudi Arabia who will enjoy free incoming calls till 20th December 2008)

• AED 3 per minute for calls to UAE numbers

• AED 1 per SMS

• AED 9.0 per minute for all other outgoing calls

• AED 1 per 50 KB of data usage

For more information please visit www.du.ae

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 on “Innovative Pricing Structures; Plans and Tariffs”; please write back to Christina@WirelessFederation.com or call on +44(0) 208 1800 384

For Further information please visit www.wirelessfederation.com

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KDDI Corp has reported a 24% increase in net profits in second quarter which ended 30 September. This rise is mainly due to lower handset subsidies. According to the operator, net income ascended to JPY78.7 billion in the period under review, from JPY63.3 billion in the three months to 30 September 2007, although revenues slipped 1.5% to JPY876.8 billion.

With the introduction of instalment-payment plan the company introduced in June this year helped reduce costs for phone subsidies and also enabled it to contend with lower income after it cut its tariff plans to entice subscribers away from rivals NTT DoCoMo and Softbank Mobile, media reported. KDDI repeated its from April for profit and sales revenue to augment this fiscal year. The operating profit mounted 27% y/y to JPY138.5 billion in the second quarter.

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Etisalat Carrier and Wholesale Services unveiled its latest addition to its comprehensive suite of wholesale mobile operator services. UAE’s extensive roaming services to over 510 destinations covering BlackBerry services, 3.5G services, Push Mail, SMS, Voice, MMS and other voice and data services.

The new service was unveiled at the GulfComms exhibition during GITEX technology week to Etisalat’s international subsidiaries by the company’s Executive Vice President for Carrier & Wholesale.

Ali Amiri, Executive Vice President, Carrier & Wholesale said,”Our Roaming Replicator service is in line with our strategy to provide a comprehensive value added wholesale mobile services portfolio and our drive to GSMA Open Connectivity standards. With the addition of the Roaming Replicator, we are the first Middle East operator to provide advanced mobile wholesale services to the region’s growing mobile operator community. The Roaming Replicator complements our signaling, GRX, SMSHub, EDCH Data Clearing house and premium Mobile voice transit services. These services have a common theme which is to support the international services of mobile operators through one connection to etisalat C&WS. These services also provide a strategic advantage to our subsidiaries by providing a quick launch platform for their own roaming services.”

Etisalat’s subsidiaries in Egypt and Afghanistan are amongst the first operators to benefit from this service. Both operators launched in 2007 and face competition from several established operators. In Afghanistan, Etisalat’s operations are increasing its value proposition in a market where price competition is fierce.

Etisalat Afghanistan CEO Saeed Hamad Al Hamli said,”We are committed to providing the right level and variety of services to our customers at the right price. The variety of our roaming agreements allows our business customers greater freedom to travel and conduct business, supporting their productivity and helping to enhance their performance. It is only through the combined strength of the Etisalat group of operators that we are able to bring this and other service innovations to Afghanistan.”

Etisalat Egypt is leveraging roaming agreements for mobile broadband and data services to differentiate its services from its competitors.

Eng. Haitham Abdul Razzak, Chief Technology Officer, Misr said, “We are leveraging the strengths of the Etisalat group to bring the latest innovations to empower our customers in Egypt. Etisalat was the first company to bring high-speed mobile broadband to Egypt - now using the synergies of our international operations we are able to extend this service to international markets.”

Etisalat C&WS is the Middle East’s largest comprehensive wholesale services provider of Voice, Data, IP and Value Added Mobile Operator Services.

For further information, please visit www.etisalat.ae

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 you can log on to www.wirelessfederation.com

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Econet Wireless posts a 41% rise in its subscriber base for the six months period of February to August.
CEO Econet Wireless, Mr Douglas Mboweni, says the firm has a subscriber base of 910,047, maintaing it’s market share of 60%. “The expansion of the subscriber base is part of a 1,2 million capacity upgrade that began early this year, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2008. This would be followed by a major US$100 million plan to further expand in 2009,” said Mr Mboweni.
“In US dollar terms, our tariff averaged less than one cent during this period while the regional average was 30 cents per minute. Our tariff is the lowest in the world.
“We are regulated on tariffs by at least two bodies, the Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ), and the National Incomes and Pricing Commission (NIPC). This has been highly prejudicial to the whole telecoms industry,” Mr Mboweni said.

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The Philippines’ based mobile operators have criticised the government’s plan to take their half of the SMS cost as tax, whereas the government already collects a 12% tax on all calls and SMSs.
Globe Telecom releases a position paper as it reacts to the government’s proposed bill, saying that the following descision will hamper the operators’ expansion and will also discourage the investors.
“Providers and their foreign partners had managed to invest hundreds of billions of pesos to put up their respective networks, and whatever revenue they may have generated is simply a reasonable return of their investments,” the position paper reads.
The company also added, that if the proposed bill is implemented it has to raise the SMS tariffs in order to earn the required revenue.
Smart Communication has also joined the arguement and said that if the government wants constant revenues, it needs to lower the taxes on mobile communication and confirms to hike tariffs if the bill is implemented.

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3UK reveals it’s all new unlimited tariff plan to circumvent from the inflated MTRs.
The new tariff will commence from November 1 allowing the subscribers to make unlimited calls and send unlimited texts to other 3 UK users for £15 per month, bundled with 1GB of data per month, though 3UK will still have to pay MTR.
“The only thing we can’t include is a shed-load of off-net minutes,” says Kevin Russell, CEO 3 UK, who also conceded that urging subscribers to keep all their mobile activities on 3’s network “goes against our fundamental approach to running an open network”.
“We will not charge our customers to receive calls, pure and simple, that is something we would sign up to formally – there is absolutely no need to charge people to receive calls,” he added.
Russell explains that as the most recent entrant to the U.K. mobile market, with a low subscriber base, it tends to loose higher proportion of traffic termination outside its network, leading to higher termination fees of £190 million in last five years, and further making it hard to compete on price for voice and text services.
“The reality is we have £190 million less in our bank account than the rest of the industry, which has £190 million more that they can use to compete against us,” Russell concluded.

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Zain Kenya is working on to cover up its loss of first half 2008 where it lost around 20% of its subscriber base. Zain Kenya introduces a flat cross-network tariff ‘Vuka’ of KES8, a 50% reduction from the KES16. Safaricom is charging KES10 for on-net and KES25 for off-net calls where as Orange instigated services last week with a tariff of KES7 for on-net calls and KES14 for off-net calls. Managing Director of Zain Kenya, Rene Meza said we are gaining 500,000 customers a month.
Considering the last two years cross-network call charges in Kenya have been ripped from over KES50. Most recent steep reduction in cross-network tariff had been made possible by Zain’s movement to the KES4.42 standard interconnection charge set by sector regulator the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) for January next year, Meeza added.

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India’s wireless subscriber base has shown a speculated growth of 54%  over the past one year as it adds more than 100 million new users. As per TRAI statistics, country’s mobile users touched 296.08 million in July-end this year against 192.98 million last year in the same month, a year-on-year growth of 53.44 per cent. For this blistering growth, a low-tariff mobile market, cheap calls are the driving factors that helps in accommodating all kinds of subscribers. However, call rates are as low as few paise per minute. Analysts said growth of India’s mobile market remains robust as competition among mobile operators continues to intensify. With the mobile penetration level having just exceeded 25 per cent, considerable growth potential still remains, particularly in the massive rural markets. All the mobile operators are now targeting the rural markets. Much awaited 3G services will give another boost to the competition level and help stimulate industry growth.

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Cosmote, Romania’s mobile operator has slashed it’s tariffs of making calls abroad to be align to the EC’s guidelines.
The tariffs will be:

• Making calls to numbers in other EU states will fall from EUR0.49 per minute to EUR0.46

• Cost of received calls will drop from EUR0.24 to EUR0.22

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