Skip to Content »

Wireless Federation » archive for 'NEXTEL'

NII is looking forward for upcoming wireless auction in Brazil-Chief Exec

  • August 15th, 2008
  • 10:49 am

NII (Latin American wireless carrier) says that it it plans to increase investment in third-generation technology and ramp up its Brazilian business in a bid to sustain its recent strong growth in the region. NII Chief Executive Steven Dussek said that the company was looking to take part in upcoming wireless spectrum auctions in Brazil and Mexico in a bid to enter the 3G markets there. The company, which offers post-paid services to business customers under the Nextel banner, has already begun preliminary testing of a 3G network in Peru, the first market where it intends to launch the technology in late 2009. The prospect of offering mobile data services through 3G will double the group’s addressable market. Until now NII has relied exclusively on Motorola’s iDEN technology, Dussek added.

There are strong growth prospects in Brazil and NII last month proclaimed that it was increasing its CAPEX there by USD100 million to increase penetration. Dussek said that ‘We expect to work at increasing market share in Brazil towards 30% and hope to edge closer to that mark over the next three years’. NII also sees revenue growth opportunities in offering data services such as e-mail, internet and music.

Sprint plans to sale Nextel’s iDen network (USA)

  • August 14th, 2008
  • 6:07 am

According to a media report, Sprint Nextel is considering a sale of the Nextel wireless network it bought in 2005, but may have trouble finding a buyer for an asset whose value has plunged about 80% to an estimated $5 billion. Analysts said that aside from having to compete with newer network standards than iDen, which has a walkie-talkie feature, any buyer would find it tough to reverse the now-completed integration of the iDen business, including its billing, broadcast towers and customer service.

“They spent the last few years trying to integrate it. There are a lot of questions that a buyer and the government would have to have.” said analyst as quoted by the report. U.S. Federal Communications Commission is already pressuring Sprint to relinquish a key chunk of iDen wireless airwaves for emergency communications networks. Also iDen technology, developed by Motorola, was being left behind by newer mobile services with broadband web links, analyst said. Sprint said in a regulatory filing this week that it was exploring alternatives for iDen that include “improving operations, making additional investments, entering into strategic partnerships and considering potential divestitures.”

Mexico’s Mobile Market Profile

  • August 12th, 2008
  • 5:52 am

Mexico’s mobile industry is growing at a yearly rate of around 22%, reaching an estimated 60% penetration by September 2007. Mexico market is driven by a booming GSM market. Three major mobile operators: América Móvil’s Telcel and Telefónica’s Movistar offer GSM services, while Grupo Iusacell (recently merged with Unefón) uses CDMA technology. A fourth operator, Nextel de México, operates a mobile trunking system using the iDEN mobile communications standard. Despite increased competition since 2000, Telcel still dominates market share. Between 2003 and 2007, Mexican mobile operators have been upgrading their networks to offer high-capacity and high-speed data services, such as EDGE, 1xRTT and 1x EV-DO.

Highlights of 2Q ‘08 Mexico Mobile Forecast include:

*  Total subscribers in Mexico will increase from our projected 79.2 million in 2008 to a forecasted 98.5 million in 2010. The wireless penetration level of the country will continue rising and we expect it to reach 91.5% in 2010.

* Telcel will continue to be the largest operator in the country. We expect it to serve 66.6 million out of 98.5 million subscribers in Mexico in 2010. We are also forecasting that Telcel will enjoy the highest EBITDA margin of 55.0% in 2010.

* However, Telcel’s market share (by subscribers) is expected to decline from 70.3% in 2008 to 67.6% in 2010 as its competitors - Movistar Mexico and Nextel - continue gaining market shares.

* In 2010, the average ARPU in Mexico will be US$ 17.96 per month, or the highest ARPU in our seven-country Latin America coverage list. While the largest operator, Telcel, will register an ARPU level of US$ 16.71, we are forecasting that Nextel will receive a much higher ARPU of $65.38 per month in 2010.

Statistics as follows:

Operators           Subscribers                  Ownership

  • Telcel           52.852 (June 2008)         América Móvil (100%)
  • Movistar        3.306 (March 2008)        Telefónica
  • Iusacell           3.97 (March 2008)         Grupo Salinas (76%), Publicly Traded (23%)
  • NEXTEL           2.2697 (March 2008)       NIL Holdings

Source: Wikipedia.org

Brazil’s mobile market profile (Brazil)

  • August 8th, 2008
  • 6:06 am

Brazil’s mobile market is the fifth largest in the world, in terms of subscribers. Although Brazil holds almost one third of all the mobile users in Latin America, its mobile penetration is lower than the regional average. Brazil is lagging behind the rest of the region in SMS traffic, with text messages cost more than any other Latin American country. Number portability is to be implemented by March 2009. A 3G-spectrum auction in December 2007 was a huge success, and 2008 has been marked by 3G rollouts throughout the country with almost all operators – except for the market leader, Vivo – offering UMTS services.

A sale of 2.6 million mobile phones took place last month, Brazil reached 133.15 million mobile subscribers at the end of June’08, or 1.99% more than in May’08. The mobile penetration rate currently stands at 69.52 percent.

Brazil’s four major mobile operators, Vivo, TIM, Claro, and Oi, together hold about 91% of the market. Eight Brazilian mobile operators, Vivo, TIM Brasil, Claro, Oi, Brasil Telecom, Sercomtel, Nextel, and CTBC Telecom Celular, are reportedly functioning together to develop and launch IM services nationwide. Under the service the subscribers can exchange messages with users on each other’s network.

Vivo, Brazil’s number one mobile operator by subscribers, posted a net loss of BRL59.5 million (USD38 million) in the three months to end-June, EBITDA rose 16% from BRL756 million to BRL879 million . The subscriber base grew to 40.4 million subscribers, up by 19.4%, 7.7 million are post-paid and the remaining 32.7 pre-paid. Vivo leads with 30.36% market share this June.

Brasil Telecom earned a revenue of US$ 1.75 Billion, up by 2.9% in Q2′08, EBITDA reached US$ 0.70Billion (BRL 1.13 billion), up 16.4% BrT Movel registered 5 million mobile subscribers at the end of the period, up by 33.1% Brasil Telecom’s investments were estimated at US$ 509.8million (BRL 812.4 million), up by 168.5% versus last year, the reason being the 3G license acquisition and implementation of the new network.

Oi shows revenues up by 8.7%. Drop in Net profit, 46.8% to BRL 249 million, Mobile ARPU has improved to BRL 22.0 from BRL 21.3 in the first quarter, while churn increased to 6.8%.

   

8 Brazilian operators team up to develop IM services (Brazil)

  • August 6th, 2008
  • 2:10 pm

Eight Brazilian mobile operators, Vivo, TIM Brasil, Claro, Oi, Brasil Telecom, Sercomtel, Nextel, and CTBC Telecom Celular, are reportedly functioning together to develop and launch IM services nationwide.
Under the service the subscribers can exchange messages with users on each other’s network.

   

Argentina’s mobile market (Argentina)

  • August 4th, 2008
  • 2:17 pm

Argentina’s mobile market is the third largest in Latin America, after Brazil and Mexico and in terms of penetration, Argentina is the regional leader. The telecom sector has been growing rapidly, with a penetration of 75% mobile telephony. The three operators, Movistar, Claro, and Telecom Personal, run a close competition for market share. Besides the three main cellular providers, Nextel operates an iDEN network with a small but profitable slice of the market. GSM is the main technology in Argentina, with TDMA and CDMA slated to disappear after June 2008.
All three companies launched 3G services over HSDPA networks in 2007. Approximately 136,000 subscribers use 3G services in Argentina.

Country                       No. of 3G Users
Telecom Personal             75,000
Claro                              50,500
Movistar                         10,500

 

*Total subscribers in Argentina will increase from 38.03 million in 2007 to 44 million in 2010.
* The two largest operators - Movistar Argentina and CTI - will continue to have very similar market shares (by subscribers). It is forecasted that Movistar will increase its current market share from a projected 35.6% in 2007 to 36.8% in 2010 while CTI’s market share will drop slightly to 32.8% in 2010.
* Telecom Argentina will continue to suffer from the highest churn rate in the country at 3% monthly churn rate from 2007 to 2010.
*It is forecasted that Movistar Argentina will have the lowest EBITDA margin of 30.4% in 2010 in Argentina. On the other hand, Telecom Argentina, CTI, and Nextel will enjoy higher EBITDA margins at around 35% - 40% in 2010.
*In 2010 Nextel, will provide services to 2.9% of total subscribers, will receive the highest ARPU of $48.2 per month. It is noted that this is 3 times higher than the closest competitor, Telecom Argentina.

   

Deutsche Telekom eyeing Sprint takeover-report

  • May 5th, 2008
  • 2:24 pm

German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom is examining a possible bid for loss-making US mobile provider Sprint Nextel, a report said.

German weekly magazine Der Spiegel, quoted by an AFP report, said the Sprint project is top priority while specifying that there is “for the moment” no formal offer for shares or a takeover attempt and no active negotiations.

Number three in the US mobile market, Sprint, if allied to Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA affiliate, could rival America’s number one provider, AT&T Wireless, the report said.

Sprint is seen as a “soft target” for Europeans because of a weak dollar against the euro and a fall in share value, Der Spiegel said, ahead of publication of the weekly magazine on Monday.

The company has posted steep 2007 losses with €19.4 billion (US$30 billion) in exceptional costs relating to its acquisition of Nextel.

Sprint also announced in mid-January that it was cutting 4,000 jobs and closing 125 company-owned retail stores in anticipation of “downward pressure” on its profits in the coming year.

   

 

Sprint rejects investment offer from SK, Providence (USA)

  • November 30th, 2007
  • 2:20 pm

US mobile operator Sprint Nextel has rejected an offer from Korea’s SK Telecom and private-equity firm Providence Equity Partners to invest USD 5 billion in the company. Sprint’s former chairman Tim Donahue, who would have returned as CEO under the investment plan, made the proposal to Sprint’s board in a letter earlier this month, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. No meeting with the potential investors was held. Donahue is the former CEO of Nextel, acquired by Sprint in 2004. Sprint is currently searching for a new CEO. A Sprint spokeswoman declined comment, while Providence Equity and SK Telecom didn’t respond to inquiries. SK Telecom is already part owner of Helio, a mobile venture with Earthlink that uses Sprint’s network.

   

Sprint starts search for new CEO - report (USA)

  • October 5th, 2007
  • 11:55 am

US mobile operator Sprint Nextel has started a search for a new CEO to replace Gary Forsee, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. The move follows a recent downturn in Sprint’s results, with high customer churn, difficulties with its merger integration with Nextel and protests from certain investors. Sprint board members hope to announce the company’s new leader by early December. The incoming CEO probably will be an outsider, the people familiar with the matter said. A Sprint spokeswoman declined to comment. Earlier this week, activist investor Ralph Whitworth told The Wall Street Journal that he had lost confidence in Forsee. Whitworth threatened a proxy fight for board seats unless Sprint directors “immediately” dealt with the company’s leadership issue. Whitworth’s Relational Investors owns around 1.9 percent of Sprint shares.

   

Pair win wireless spectrum

  • July 31st, 2007
  • 3:19 pm

Claro Peru, the local operating arm of America Movil, and digital trunking operator Nextel del Peru have won wireless spectrum from ProInversion, the state investment agency. Claro won the Band B licence, which carries spectrum in the 835MHz-845MHz, 880MHz-890MHz, 846.5MHz-849MHz and 891.5MHz-894MHz blocks, with a bid of USD22.2 million, USD20,000 above the minimum price. Nextel del Peru won the Bands D and E concessions, with an offer of USD27 million. Band D covers the 1865MHz-1870MHz and 1945MHz-1950MHz blocks, while Band E band covers 1882MHz-1895MHz and 1962.5MHz-1975Mhz. The Band B concession requires Claro to install 500,000 lines outside Lima and Callao; it must also cover 200 districts which currently have no coverage. The operator of Bands D and E must put 500,000 lines in service, in total.