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Wireless Federation » archive for 'Philippines'

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.

   

 

 

Smart baulks at NTC’s proposed cap on SMS, voice charges

  • June 4th, 2008
  • 3:06 pm

Filipino mobile operator Smart Communications, a subsidiary of national fixed line operator PLDT, says the regulator, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), does not hold the authority – under the remit of the Telecommunications Act of 1995 – to impose price caps on the access charges which are levied on short messaging service (SMS) and voice services. According to a report from the local Inquirer newspaper, the operator’s position is the one currently being taken by a number of mobile companies in the country during a public hearing Wednesday to discuss a draft recommendation to cut mobile operators’ access charges. In an interview with the Inquirer, Smart’s head of public affairs Ramon Isberto is quoted as saying: ‘Smart supports the government’s thrust to provide more affordable, better quality telecommunications service. But we respectfully submit that the proposed circulars imposing a cap on interconnection charges are not the means to achieve this goal.’ He went on to point out that under current telecoms law, access and interconnection charges are part of bilateral agreements negotiated by telecommunication companies, and any effort to change this would constitute a violation of the rights of operators.

   

 

 

 

Telcos to bring iPhone to Asia

  • May 14th, 2008
  • 2:34 pm

SingTel, Bharti Airtel, Globe Telecom and SingTel’s subsidiary Optus have signed an agreement with Apple to offer the iPhone in their respective markets later this year, an Associated Press report said.

SingTel will sell the multimedia gadget in Singapore, Bharti Airtel in India, Globe Telecom in the Philippines and Optus in Australia, the companies said in a brief joint statement, without giving details.

SingTel owns Optus and holds a 30.5% stake in Bharti and 44.5% in Globe. As of December 31, 2007, SingTel had about 2.3 million mobile subscribers in Singapore and around 7 million in Australia.

Bharti currently has about 64 million subscribers, while Globe reported a 21.3 million mobile subscriber base for the quarter ended March 31.

The announcement comes as Apple looks to expand sales of the iPhone, a combination phone, music player and web browser, that was launched in the US in 2007, the Associated Press report said.

Earlier, America Movil, the top mobile phone operator in Latin America, said it inked a deal to bring the iPhone to more than a dozen countries in that region starting later this year, the report said.

Apple has so far signed exclusive deals for the iPhone with AT&T in the US, O2 in Britain, T-Mobile in Germany and France Telecom’s Orange wireless arm in France, the report further said.

   

 

Globe Telecom launches mobile TV service

  • May 1st, 2008
  • 2:50 pm

Filipino mobile operator Globe Telecom has launched a mobile TV service on its 3G network using a platform supplied by Massachusetts-based NMS Communications. According to NMS, Globe users with a UMTS handset can make a video call to a dial-on number to access the service which offers six channels including live feeds from CNN and three local stations. Globe’s new mobile TV option will also offer ‘made-for-mobile’ TV programmes the NMS statement said. The Inquirer newspaper notes that the service will be available to existing 3G subscribers and that Globe is not actively marketing it as mobile TV at this stage, but rather as part of its standard video streaming service.

   

 

Essar buys stake in Kenya’s Econet (India)

  • January 14th, 2008
  • 6:10 am

Econet Wireless Kenya has received a new lease of life following the buy-out of the majority share holder by Indian mobile telecommunication Essar Communication, a subsidiary of Essar Global.

Essar has recently bought 49% of Econet Wireless International, which has 70% controlling shares in the third mobile operator in Kenya.

Econet which is yet to roll out its services, despite being issued with the frequency and licence, has been scouting for a suitable financier since the Communications Commission of Kenya cleared it in September .

By buying into the Econet parent company, Essar intends to inject capital for the roll out of the local third mobile network operator.

According to law firm Anjarwalla and Khanna Advocates, who advised on the deal between Essar Communications and Econet Wireless International, Essar Communication will provide close to “half a billion dollars for the roll out. ”

Essar also intends to bring in a new model which is similar to those used in places like Indonesia, Philippines, India and Pakistan, which will offer competitive pricing and aggressive network roll out” said the firm, noting that the deal would not affect the current ownership structure since shareholding would remain the same.

   

 

SingTel interested in GT stake, paper says (Ghana)

  • October 15th, 2007
  • 3:19 pm

Southeast Asian telecoms operator Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) is reported to be planning a bid for a 51% stake in Ghana’s state-owned national PTO, Ghana Telecom (GT), according to Reuters citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation. GT has confirmed on its website that investors are conducting due diligence on the company with a view to participating in the auction for the majority stake. A move into the African market is consistent with SingTel’s strategy of expanding into markets beyond its traditional Asia-Pacific region where it has spent upwards of SGD18 billion (USD12.2 billion) in recent years acquiring telecoms assets in high growth markets such as Thailand, the Philippines and Australia. Merrill Lynch is rumoured to be acting as SingTel’s advisor in the matter, although both declined to comment. Portugal Telecom is also rumoured to have been short-listed to participate in the auction, together with three other unnamed operators.

In a related story, Ghana’s opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called on the government to halt the proposed sale of 51% of GT until a careful review is held to assess the true economic value of the company. In a press conference a spokesman for the NDC said: ‘To proceed on the advertised terms is not in our national economic interest.’

   

 

Survey Show Mobile Ads Not as “Trusted” as Other Media

  • October 11th, 2007
  • 11:43 am

A recent global survey by Nielsen has shown that despite all the new forms of advertising that have developed over the years, consumers around the world still place their highest level of trust in other consumers.
Text ads on mobile phones are the least trusted with only 18 % of respondents saying that they would trust them. The survey was conducted among nearly 27,000 internet users across 47 global markets and was aimed at comparing 13 different types of advertising.

“Advertisers around the world are able to reach consumers across an increasingly diverse range of media platforms,” said David McCallum, the global managing director for Nielsen’s Customized Research Services. “And even though new media technologies are playing a role in ‘globalizing’ society, many purchasing decisions are still based on firmly held national and cultural attitudes. Furthermore, given that nothing travels faster than bad news - with estimates that reports of bad experiences outnumber good service reports by as many as 5:1 - the importance of responsive, high quality customer service is yet again highlighted.”

47 Markets Covered: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Thailand, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, UAE, United Kingdom, US and Vietnam.

   

 

Smart Communications subscriber base hits 28.5 million (Philippines)

  • October 8th, 2007
  • 2:48 pm

The subscriber base of mobile operator Smart Communications has reached 28.5 million as of 1 October. Danilo J. Mojica, head of Smart’s wireless consumer division, attributed the company’s continued subscriber growth to the company’s aggressive expansion and upgrade efforts, according to a Business World report. Smart also credited the surge of subscribers to its various marketing activation efforts. Its target by the end of 2007 is 30 million subscribers. Furthermore, Smart has partnered with another PLDT subsidiary to provide mobile services to online gamers. It is offering the service in collaboration with Level Up!, an online game publisher in the Philippines.

   

 

Globe announces major rebrand for all business, consumer operations

  • September 10th, 2007
  • 6:41 am

Filipino telecoms company Globe Telecom says it is rebranding all its operations under the Globe name in a bid to ‘better align its services’ for business and residential users. All mobile and broadband products will change to carry the unified Globe name. Gerry Ablaza, Globe’s president and CEO, said the exercise is designed to address the problem of multiple brand names at the company. The company also intends to streamline customer service and support services.

   

 

Yahoo! adds SMS to Yahoo Mail features (USA)

  • August 27th, 2007
  • 12:26 pm

Yahoo! is giving its e-mail users more ways to reach friends and online contacts by allowing them to trade messages with mobile phone users, according to Reuters. The new e-mail-to-phone connection is one of the features the Internet media giant plans to add as it makes available to the more than 250 million Yahoo Mail users a new version of the e-mail program in coming weeks. The new version of Yahoo Mail gives users three options for communicating with contacts: e-mail, online instant-messaging or SMS messaging to mobile phone users. Users can switch between the three, depending on which is most convenient. Initially, the SMS feature will be available to Yahoo Mail members in the United States, Canada, India and the Philippines.