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Zain cuts roaming charges to nil

  • August 6th, 2008
  • 11:46 am

Celtel, is extending it’s One Network Scheme across Africa and the Middle East, making a commercial advantage over its rivals like MTN and Vodacom. This expansion will cut down the high roaming fees.

The One Network Scheme will spread to 17 out of 22 countries where Zain operates after it launches networks in Saudi Arabia and Ghana. Zain subscribers will now be able to travel from Arabia to East West Africa with using one local tariff and no roaming charges. Top up and recharge cards will be available for the pre-paid subscribers at one of million of outlets available. In the network countries, the subscribers will not pay for the incoming calls.

“Our immediate plans are to expand in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. These are the emerging markets, the neediest markets, the most lucrative markets and highest growth markets,” said Barrak.
“With mergers and acquisitions you have to be clandestine — as we speak we are considering two or three merger and acquisition opportunities,” added Barrak.

   

RCOM shows slow quarterly profit growth (India)

  • July 31st, 2008
  • 2:47 pm

Reliance Comunications Ltd. reports the slowest profit growth in nine quarters after adding less profitable customers in rural areas. Anil Ambani (Billionaire) controls Reliance having slow pace in signing up the customers compare to Bharti Airtel and Vodafone. Net income rose 24 percent to 15.1 billion rupees ($355 million) in the three months ended June 30, according to Mumbai-based Reliance .They need to compete in India’s villages to bolster profit growth after the failure of MTN merger. According to the statistics, Reliance doubled the number of villages covered by its network to 600,000 in the nine months ended March 31.

Mobile internet usage growing in Uganda (Uganda)

  • July 29th, 2008
  • 8:11 am

The internet usage in Uganda is gradually shifting from traditional fixed access to mobile wireless access, a Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) official reportedly said. According to the officials the shift is a direct result of operators investing millions of dollars into network upgrades.

According to a report, there were 175,568 active mobile Internet users in Uganda between January and March 2008. These users accessed the Internet through either data-enabled handsets or at fixed WiFi hotspots.

Though Infocom made the first foray into mobile Internet in 2006 with hotspots in Kampala, mobile Internet was only widely introduced in Uganda in June 2007 through MTN’s launch of Mobile Office. Therefore, comparative user data is not available for the first quarter of 2007.

Infocom has also widened the reach of its mobile Internet offerings over the past year, with the expansion of WiMax and the introduction of a new broadband offering called SpeedMax.

   

Celtel plans to invest $70m for its network (Zambia)

  • July 29th, 2008
  • 7:14 am

An effort to boost the subscriber base from 2.3 million to 2.7 million, Celtel Zambia has announced plans to spend some $70 million on its network.  The firm reported  net profit for the 6 months rose to $34.3 million compared to $29.9 million in the same period last year.

The company, which controlled by Zain, offered 20% of its stock for the floatation. The sale was three-times oversubscribed from both domestic and overseas investors. The current shareholder profile is 78.9% held by Zain - via Celtel International, 20% in free float and 1.1% held by the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

“Customer numbers exceeded 2.3 million in June. We are optimistic we will reach our target of 2.7 million, said Celtel Zambia MD David Venn. High taxes on imports of network infrastructure kit of 25% is hampering the company’s plans warned Venn. The company is lobbying the government to have this tax lowered, and also on licenses for 3G services.

Statistics shows that Celtel ended last year with just under 2 million customers - and a market share of nearly 78%. The country itself has a population penetration level of just 21% and two other operators, Zamtel and MTN.

MTN plans R7,1bn in capital expenditure (South Africa)

  • July 29th, 2008
  • 6:40 am

To increase the network capacity and coverage MTN is planning to spend R7, 1bn this year. Comparing the South African operations last year the spending is roughly double the amount invested. The plans centre on laying fibreoptic cables in urban areas of Gauteng and laying another 5000km of lines to create a national backbone. That will end its reliance on leasing lines from Telkom for its network backbone.

Tim Lowry (MTN, South Africa,MD) said it would lay the cables in conjunction with another operator to save them both money and minimise the disruption to traffic as roads are dug up. “We are building strong capacity, which will allow us to do multiple things in the future,” Lowry said. The capacity needed to carry voice calls was very predictable, he added, but when data transmissions were involved far more capacity was needed.

Etisalat has an edge over growing mobile operators (UAE)

  • July 28th, 2008
  • 9:39 am

Etisalat, the leading Telecom regulator of Middle East has prove the ability to deliver quality service as recognised once again with research findings and market intelligence reports that it now leads the world’s fastest-growing mobile operator table. According to latest findings, Etisalat was named the fastest growing telecommunications company in the world having achieved a 106.41 per cent growth in proportionate mobile subscriber base in the first quarter of the year 2008 ahead of other regional competitors MTN and Zain.
In fact, the South Africa-based MTN Group didn’t picture in the top five table which had the Zain Group in a far second position ahead of SK Telecom. Whereas, Etisalat subscriber base in their combined operational territories amount to 106.31 million, the Zain figure is put at 70.31 million which cuts across the Middle East and Africa.

Mr. Hakeem Belo-Osagie, Chairman, Etisalat Nigeria said: “Etisalat’s global strides are extremely reassuring for us; we are confident that Etisalat will also strive to replicate these standards in the telecom industry in Nigeria.

MTN and Vodafone both recorded increases and moved into the top ten, with annual growth rates of circa 40 per cent in their proportionate bases, putting Etisalat far ahead of other regional players with 106.41 per cent in the same quarter.

Will MTN recommence talks with Bharti?

  • July 24th, 2008
  • 9:14 am

After the breakdown of negotiations with Anil Ambani , MTN yet to decide whether there is any possibility of any alliance with Bharti Airtel.

Bharti Airtel CFO, Akhil Gupta believes that “There were always synergies between both the companies to have an alliance. That is why we went up to a certain stage of our discussion with them.”
Gupta, however, clarified that the company’s stand on the structure of the alliance has not changed.

MTN’s door to India is not shut yet (South Africa, India)

  • July 22nd, 2008
  • 2:25 pm

MTN’s next move, as being speculated by the local media is that after the failure of talks with Reliance Communication (RCOM) and Bharti Airtel for a merger, may now target other telecom operators in India.

MTN might also pursue a potential deal with companies from other emerging markets in Latin America and Asian nations like Pakistan and Bangladesh.

According to analysts, India has other small and regional operators that would make suitable targets for MTN.

   

Bharti and other global telcos may enter the tussle for MTN

  • July 21st, 2008
  • 2:30 pm

Reliance Communications (RCOM) and South Africa’s MTN announced that merger talks between the two telcos have ended. RCOM has become the second Indian telco in as many months to fail in pulling off a merger with MTN.

Bharti Airtel and MTN were close to a merger in May but the Indian telco called off the talks after the two companies failed to agree on the corporate structure of the combined entity.

The failure of RCOM and MTN to clinch a deal may present a second chance to Bharti Airtel to re-engage with the South African telco. As reported earlier, MTN is learnt to have sent feelers to Bharti for reviving talks if it failed to clinch a deal with RCOM.
Sources close to the development reveals that Bharti was ‘open to take the discussions with MTN forward’. However, it is possible that other global telcos may also enter the fray for MTN.

 

   

RCOM-MTN deal called off

  • July 21st, 2008
  • 2:30 pm

 

The much-touted deal between Anil Ambani group company RCOM and South African telecom giant MTN is called off.

“The two sides were unable to conclude the transaction due to certain regulatory issues,” RCOM spokesperson said in statement.

The deal, which was clouded by the bitter dispute between the Ambani siblings, was called off a day after RIL nominated an arbitrator to resolve the dispute with RCOM.

RCOM and MTN decided to end the exclusivity agreement three days before its expiry.

MTN, in a statement to Johannesburg Stock Exchange, said, “With regard to exclusive negotiations relating to a potential business combination between MTN and RCOM, owing to certain regulatory issues, the parties are unable to conclude a transaction. Accordingly, it has been mutually decided to allow the exclusivity agreement to lapse.”

This is the follow up of the story as reported yesterday http://wirelessfederation.com/news/rcom-under-ril-arbitration-india/ by wireless fedration site.