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Telenor customer base swings past 150m

  • June 23rd, 2008
  • 2:22 pm

Telenor has seen its subscriber base grow to beyond 150 million customers, 60 million of them in Asia.

Telenor has operations in the Nordic region, Eastern Europe and Asia.

“We have become one of the largest operators in mobile services in the world,” CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas was quoted by the Reuters report as saying.

“At year-end we had the position of number 7, and … we these days we are crossing 150 million ,” Baksaas said.

“We have now crossed over 60 million customers in our four operations in Asia,” he said, adding that important growth was coming particularly in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

   

 

 
 

SingTel said to considering China Telecom investment (Singapore)

  • June 5th, 2008
  • 3:13 pm

The Wall Street Journal reports that Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) is considering investing in China Telecom Corp, the world’s largest fixed line operator by lines in service. However, citing unnamed sources the report states that formal talks have yet to begin. SingTel, 55-owned by Singapore state investment company Temasek Holdings, holds stakes in mobile phone operators in India, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It also owns Optus in Australia.

   

 

 

SingTel says regional mobile subscribers up 50 percent

  • May 16th, 2008
  • 12:52 pm

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel) said Tuesday its Asia Pacific mobile phone subscriber base rose almost 50 percent to 185.34 million at the end of the March quarter from a year earlier.

Southeast Asia’s biggest telecom firm said the increase was driven by strong growth in all eight of its markets: Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand as well as the home market in Singapore.

Compared with the previous quarter, growth came in 8.0 percent higher, or a record 13.80 million new customers, SingTel said ahead of its full-year earnings report on Wednesday.

India’s Bharti, where SingTel holds a 30.44 percent stake, drew a record 6.82 million new clients for the quarter ended March 31, it said. Bharti’s total mobile subscriber base stood at 61.99 million, up 67 percent from the year before, SingTel said.

Indonesia’s Telkomsel added 3.45 million new mobile clients during the quarter, bringing its total subscribers to 51.34 million, up 32 percent from the same quarter last year, SingTel said. It owns 35 percent of Telkomsel, Indonesia’s biggest mobile phone operator.

Thailand’s AIS, where SingTel has 21.36 percent equity, expanded its customer base by 3.6 percent in the quarter or 19 percent year-on-year, while the Philippine associate Globe Telecom added 26 percent more subscribers compared with the same quarter last year, SingTel said.

Warid Telekom of Pakistan reported 14.40 million mobile clients at the end of March, up 9.0 percent from the previous quarter. Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd (PBTL) grew its customer base by 11 percent from the December quarter, SingTel said.

SingTel owns 30 percent of Warid Telecom and 45 percent of PBTL.

SingTel’s wholly-owned Australian subsidiary Optus reported a total mobile customer base of 7.14 million for the March quarter, up 5.9 percent from the previous year and 2.0 percent from the December quarter.

For the Singapore home market, SingTel added a record 244,000 mobile customers, raising its customer base to 2.57 million, up an annual 41 percent, it said.

SingTel, the biggest company on the Singapore stock exchange in terms of market capitalization, is 56 percent owned by state-linked investment firm Temasek Holdings, according to the Temasek website.

SingTel shares were trading at 3.76 Singapore dollars a share Tuesday afternoon, up five cents from the previous day.

   

 

 
 

Omantel buys stake in Worldcall (Oman)

  • February 19th, 2008
  • 2:11 pm

Omantel has finalised an agreement to buy control of Pakistani operator Worldcall Telecom. The company will acquire 60 percent of Worldcall from its shareholders plus a 5 percent stake from the Pakistan Securities Market. The transaction will include 70.65 percent of Worldcall’s subsidiary operations in Sri Lanka. The total consideration for the takeover is USD 193 million. Omantel intends to fund the acquisition through long-term debt. Worldcall offers voice and internet services in Pakistan, via metro fibre, hybrid fibre coaxial and wireless local loop.

   

Pakistan reports 78.74 mln mobile subscribers in January (Pakistan)

  • February 14th, 2008
  • 1:35 pm

The number of mobile subscribers in Pakistan reached a total of 78.74 million at the end of January versus 76.88 million subscribers in December. According to figures from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, Mobilink had the highest number of subscribers with 30.88 million subscribers, followed by Ufone with 16.44 million subscribers, Telenor with 15.35 million subscribers and Warid with 13.38 million subscribers. The mobile density was 48.96 in January compared to 48.61 in December. The number of fixed-line subscribers in Pakistan totalled 4.83 million in December. PTCL had the highest number of subscribers with nearly 4.69 million subscribers followed by NTC with 106,336 subscribers, NayaTel with 13,500, Worldcall with 10,008 and Union Communication with 3,500 subscribers. The number of wireless local loop subscribers rose to 2.20 million at the end of January, compared to 2.12 million in December. PTCL had the highest number of WLL subscribers at 1.27 million. TeleCard, World Call, and Wateen had 0.46 million, 0.39 million and 11,792 subscribers respectively. The new operators Burraq and Mytel had only 190 and 138 users respectively. The total fixed teledensity was 4.45 for January, which was comprised of 3.06 fixed density and 1.39 WLL density.

   
 

Pakistan ends 2007 with 76.6 million mobile users (Pakistan)

  • January 15th, 2008
  • 12:17 pm

Pakistan ended 2007 with 76.61 million mobile phone users, up from 74.59 million in November, according to figures from market regulator the PTA. Mobilink was market leader with 30.66 million customers, followed by Ufone with 16.66 million. Telenor Pakistan is third with 14.60 million, while Warid finished the year with 13.21 million. Mobile teledensity reached 48.42 percent at the end of the year, versus 39.94 percent at the start of 2007.

   

Orascom to join Zain, Batelco in Lebanon mobile auction (Egypt)

  • November 6th, 2007
  • 1:28 pm

Egyptian mobile group Orascom Telecom is considering entering the upcoming auction for one of two state-owned Lebanese mobile network operators, its chairman Naguib Sawiris said yesterday. The Egyptian tycoon dismissed risks of political instability in the country, saying that the main problem would be high prices set by the Lebanese government, which hopes to raise as much as USD7 billion from the sale on 21 February. Sawiris said his group, which has stakes in countries including Iraq, Zimbabwe and Pakistan, was used to political and security risks. ‘This is normal for us…Beirut is like a safe haven,’ he told press. At present, Lebanon’s only two mobile networks – MTC Touch Lebanon and Alfa – are managed under government contracts by Kuwaiti-based Zain Group (formerly MTC Group) and German-Saudi consortium DeTeCon respectively. The state also intends to issue a third mobile licence to fixed line incumbent Ogero Telecom (which will be renamed Liban Telecom). Bahrain’s Batelco has also said it is planning investments in Lebanon as part of a USD4 billion foreign acquisition plan, whilst Zain Group has announced a plan to bid in the auction to remain in the country, although it too has expressed concern over high prices.

   

 

Orascom to join Zain, Batelco in Lebanon mobile auction (Egypt)

  • November 6th, 2007
  • 1:28 pm

Egyptian mobile group Orascom Telecom is considering entering the upcoming auction for one of two state-owned Lebanese mobile network operators, its chairman Naguib Sawiris said yesterday. The Egyptian tycoon dismissed risks of political instability in the country, saying that the main problem would be high prices set by the Lebanese government, which hopes to raise as much as USD7 billion from the sale on 21 February. Sawiris said his group, which has stakes in countries including Iraq, Zimbabwe and Pakistan, was used to political and security risks. ‘This is normal for us…Beirut is like a safe haven,’ he told press. At present, Lebanon’s only two mobile networks – MTC Touch Lebanon and Alfa – are managed under government contracts by Kuwaiti-based Zain Group (formerly MTC Group) and German-Saudi consortium DeTeCon respectively. The state also intends to issue a third mobile licence to fixed line incumbent Ogero Telecom (which will be renamed Liban Telecom). Bahrain’s Batelco has also said it is planning investments in Lebanon as part of a USD4 billion foreign acquisition plan, whilst Zain Group has announced a plan to bid in the auction to remain in the country, although it too has expressed concern over high prices.

   

 

Global mobile penetration to reach 75% by 2011

  • November 2nd, 2007
  • 10:43 am

Over half of the world’s population will have a mobile phone by 2008, according to new research.

A new report from Portio Research predicts that the global mobile penetration rate will surpass the 50 per cent mark next year. That’s not all though, because a further 1.5 billion mobile phone users are expected over the next four years to bring the overall penetration rate to 75 per cent by 2011.

Some 65 per cent of these additional users are likely to come from the Asia Pacific region, rather than from Africa as has previously been supposed. Moreover, the majority of the new subscribers will be from rural regions in countries such as India and Pakistan.

While mature markets such as Europe aren’t expected to show any serious signs of growth over the next few years, Portio predicts that the US is likely to buck that trend seeing five years of sustained high-value volume growth.

Portio’s report, entitled The Next Billion: Strategies for driving growth and making profits in low-ARPU mobile markets, puts the future growth of the mobile industry into some sort of perspective.

The study notes that while there will be a rapid rise in mobile owners in emerging markets, the monthly Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for US subscribers is expected to be equivalent to yearly ARPU from customers in other countries. In India and Bangladesh, for example, subscribers are only just beginning to move towards monthly ARPU of about $3 or $4.

Indeed, the report goes on to claim that each North American subscriber is worth as many as seven new subscribers in Asia in terms of revenue.

Despite the obvious disparity in profits for mobile operators geographically, Portio’s study does offer insights into why the big players can’t afford to ignore any region.

It notes that while Asia Pacific offers massive growth in subscriber numbers and North America and Europe offer the highest levels of ARPU, South America will see continued growth of basic services with significantly higher returns per user than much of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

Moreover, it adds that Africa offers great future potential as “the last billion” when markets everywhere else are reaching saturation.

A recent study from Informa also heralded a rise in global mobile penetration. The firm announced in July that mobile subscriptions had reached three billion worldwide, but it said that there were fewer than 2.3 billion users of mobile services.

According to Informa’s forecasts, users of mobile services will not reach three billion until the end of 2009, by which time subscriptions are forecast to reach four billion.

   

 

Pakistan sees 70 mln subscribers in September (Pakistan)

  • October 29th, 2007
  • 3:09 pm

The Pakistan mobile market grew to a total of 70 million mobile subscribers in September, up 3 percent from 68 million in August, according to figures from the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority. Mobilink was the number one, with 28.57 million customers versus 27.83 million in August. Ufone came in second with 15.42 million subscribers from 15.33 million a month earlier, and Paktel grew to a total 1.23 million users from 1.04 million in August. Warid had 11.87 million subscribers at the end of September versus 11.5 million subscribers in August. The mobile density was 43.60 in September as compared to 42.64 in August.