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Tender for 3G licence begin in Moldova

  • August 11th, 2008
  • 10:53 am

The National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) has instigated a tender for a 3G licence in the 1900-2025/ 2110-2200MHz frequency bands.

Licence tender includes:

  • Licence will be granted for a 15-year period, with the possibility of renewal
  • Licence fee is set at USD 8 million.
  • Licence winner will have to launch 3G services before 1 August 2009

Licence operation includes:

  • By the end of the first year of operation, the licence holder will have to provide 3G coverage of the capital Chisinau as well as to the Balti region.
  • By the end of the second year of operation, coverage should be expanded to Comrat municipality, as well as district centers Cahul, Orhei, Ungheni and Soroca.
  • By the end of the third year of operation, the operator will have to cover the remaining 29 Moldavian district centres.

Orange Moldova, Moldcell and Eventis are three GSM operators serving in Republic of Moldova.

Turkcell to bid for Belarus mobile operator (Turkey)

  • April 11th, 2008
  • 11:18 am

Turkey’s leading mobile phone operator Turkcell TCELL.IS said on Friday it has decided to bid for state-owned Belarussian mobile operator BeST as it seeks to expand its reach in the region.

“Our company has decided to begin works to make a bid to shareholders to buy a majority stake in Belarussian Telecommunication Network (BeST),” Turkcell said in a statement.

Last year Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said the government was ready to cede control of BeST for around $500 million.

In October, Belarus agreed to sell control of the country’s No. 2 mobile phone operator MDC, operating under the Velcom brand, to Telekom Austria for $1 billion.

Turkcell’s major shareholders are Nordic telecommunications company TeliaSonera AB, Russian private equity firm Altimo and unlisted Turkish conglomerate Cukurova.

Turkcell already has interests in mobile phone operations in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Georgia and has repeatedly said it wants to expand in the regions around Turkey.

   

Orange ups Moldovan stake (Moldova)

  • August 13th, 2007
  • 2:10 pm

France Télécom’s mobile business Orange has acquired 33.3% of Orange Moldova for EUR103 million (USD141.1 million) in cash, according the French financial paper Les Echos. The purchase brings Orange’s stake to in Orange Moldova (known as Voxtel until April this year) to 94.3%. The cellco reported 995,000 customers at the end of June, a two-thirds market share.

   

 

Orange raises Orange Moldova stake to 94.3 percent (Moldova)

  • August 13th, 2007
  • 11:23 am

Orange has acquired 33.3 percent of Orange Moldova for EUR 103 million in cash, writes Les Echos. The purchase boosts Orange’s stake to 94.3 percent. Orange Moldova, which was branded Voxtel until 25 April, is the country’s largest mobile operator. It has 995,000 customers, for a two-thirds market share.

   

Turkcell grows in second quarter(Turkey,Ukraine)

  • August 9th, 2007
  • 3:25 pm

Turkey’s largest cellco by subscribers, Turkcell, has announced its results for the second quarter ended 30 June 2007, including revenues that grew by 29% year-on-year to USD1.5 billion, and EBITDA that also rose by 29% on an annual basis to USD597 million. Net income of USD274 million was a 215% improvement over the same period last year, mainly due to rising sales as a result of a growing subscriber base, higher average minutes of use, and lower taxation compared to 2Q06, and despite foreign exchange losses due to appreciation of the Turkish lira against the US dollar in 2Q07. The company expects full-year 2007 revenue growth of at least 20% on the back of growth in subscribers, current usage trends and revised exchange rate expectations.

Turkcell’s domestic GSM subscriber base grew by 1.5 million quarter-on-quarter, or 13% year-on-year, to 33.8 million as of 30 June 2007, whilst 2Q monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) was up 13% at USD14.1. Astelit, Turkcell’s 55%-owned subsidiary in Ukraine, recorded a 178% year-on-year increase in revenues to USD54.8 million, whilst its subscriber base reached 6.3 million (4.0 million active over three months) at the end of June, up from 5.8 million (3.5 million active) at the end of March, and 3.9 million (2.0 million active) at the end of 2Q06. USD505 million of Turkcell’s USD703 million consolidated debt at mid-2007 was related to the Ukraine unit, and the restructuring of a USD390 million long-term syndicated loan obtained by Astelit in December 2005 was completed in June when Financell, a wholly owned subsidiary of Turkcell, assumed the entire commitment and Turkcell guaranteed the payment of the loan.

Turkcell holds a 41.45% stake in holding company Fintur, through which it has interests in GSM operations in Kazakhstan (4.5 million subscribers at the end of June 2007), Azerbaijan (2.6 million), Moldova (500,000), and Georgia (1.1 million). Revenues from Fintur operations in the second quarter totalled USD355 million. Kibris Telekom, Turkcell’s 100%-owned unit in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, reported 300,000 users at end-June, up from 200,000 a year before. Group-wide, Turkcell reported 42.5 million proportionate GSM subscribers at the end of the period under review.

On 7 August 2007 Turkcell decided to apply for the pre-qualification stage and conduct necessary studies to bid in the public auction of a 26% ownership stake in the new company that will be incorporated as the third mobile operator in Kuwait. Additionally, the company decided to conduct the necessary studies to participate in the tender of three 15-year national mobile licences in Iraq.

   
 

Turkcell is eyeing Kuwait-Iraq deals

  • August 8th, 2007
  • 7:44 am

Leading Turkish mobile phone company Turkcell said yesterday it would apply to take part in pre-qualification for a tender to buy a 26 per cent stake in Kuwait’s third mobile phone company.

In a statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange, the company also said it had decided to consider taking part in tenders for three mobile phone licences in Iraq.

Kuwait said on July 9 it was inviting companies to express interest in a 26 per cent stake in the Gulf country’s third mobile phone company.

“Our company has decided… to take part in pre-qualification for the public tender which will be opened for the sale of the 26pc stake,” Turkcell said.

A committee in Kuwait was to pre-qualify companies for the next round of a public auction process, with potential investors required to give a minimum bidding price for the stake.

Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC), the Gulf’s second-largest telecom firm by market value, and National Mobile Telecommunications Company operate networks in Kuwait.

Kuwait will offer 50pc of the third operator to the public and retain the other 24pc.

Turkcell already holds interests in GSM operations in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Georgia. Turkcell’s major shareholders are Turkey’s Cukurova, Swedish-Finnish telecoms firm TeliaSonera and Russian private equity firm Altimo.

   
 

 

Voxtel revenues and customer base increased in 2006

  • February 9th, 2007
  • 3:18 pm

Telegeography writes…Moldova’s leading cellco Voxtel, which is 65% owned by France Telecom’s cellular arm Orange, has reported a 36% rise in its subscriber base during 2006 from around 660,000 at the end of 2005 to 900,000 at the end of 2006. A company spokesman revealed that the operator’s revenue was up 39% in 2006 to MDL1.3 billion (USD105.4 million), adding that investment had amounted to USD20 million for the year.

   

 

 

 

Eventis gets GSM licence

  • January 22nd, 2007
  • 1:41 pm

Telegeography writes…Cypriot-Moldovan company Eventis Mobile has been awarded a GSM 900/1800 licence by Moldovan regulator, the National Agency for Telecommunications and Information Regulation. Eventis’s licence came at a price of USD8 million, half of which has been paid with the balance required within two years. The cellco is required to deploy a network that covers 40% of the population with one year of launch, and 90% by the end of 2009. The licence is for 15 years, and was also bid for by Moldova’s Union-Prim and Russian cellco Vimpelcom. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, Moldova was home to 1.23 million mobile subscribers at the end of September 2006, 65% of whom were with Voxtel and the remainder with Moldcell. A third operator, Moldtelecom, was awarded a CDMA licence in June 2006 but has not yet launched services. Both Moldcell and Voxtel suffer from illegal jamming of their networks by companies in the breakaway region of Trans-Dniester.