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Telefonica raises its tariffs to offset slowdown (Spain)

  • August 27th, 2008
  • 1:24 pm

According to a report, Telefonica is raising its tariffs and scaling back promotions in its key Spanish market in order to counter a drop in consumer spending amid a slowdown in Spain’s economy. Company Spokesman said that Telefonica began charging fixed line subscribers US$0.73 per month for caller ID in July.Though the company was offering this service free of charge. Earlier, Telefonica said some of its promotions would stop counting toward the US$13.2 minimum monthly expenditure the company levies on mobile customers.

Report reveals that, Spanish consumer association Facua filed a complaint to the Spanish government questioning the legality of the caller ID charge. According to the Facua spokesman, the increase already affects 2 million customers, and will affect another 6 million in October. Telefonica anticipates that caller ID charge could boost its revenue by US$70.4 million a year. Report further said that in spite of stronger growth in Latin American and European markets, in Spain Telefonica is facing nearly stagnant revenue growth. In the second quarter of 2008, Telefonica Spain’s revenue rose 0.8% to US$7.6 billion.

Movistar Peru plans $232 million fo investment (Peru)

  • August 19th, 2008
  • 1:18 pm

Movistar Peru is keeping aside PEN681 million (USD232 million) for investment in 2008.
Movistar Peru is a subsidiary of Spanish telecoms operator Telefonica which is expected to use the funds for expansion and improvement of networks  and systems in its current areas of operation, while also expanding into new rural areas.
Movistar plans to launch 3G by the end of 2008.

   

Telefonica to test 3D IPTV service in Brazil before Spain

  • August 15th, 2008
  • 10:22 am

According to local reports, Telefónica plans to start testing a 3D IPTV service in São Paulo this year. This test will be done by using a TV supplied by Philips which does not require special glasses to view the 3D image. According to Raúl Ortega del Rio, Director of research branch Telefónica Investigación y Desarrollo, With luck, We will start the tests in Brazil before Spain. This service will be offered in partnership with Brazilian pay-TV operator TVA.

According to the sources two companies plan to launch an IPTV service in Brazil together. Service will be offered to residents of the region of Jardins in São Paulo, as these clients are connected to a fibre optical network which has the transmission capacity to deliver 3D IPTV. This service is only possible with the specially developed Philips television, which currently costs around €18,000 which is the biggest challenge  for the service. Philips believes that the television will be much cheaper in the near future. “Today the technology is aimed more at corporate applications,” said Renato Secco, Director of the company’s Brazilian subsidiary. “Inside three or four years it will be much more accessible to the consumer,” he added.

Vodafone continues to receive the highest ARPU in Czech (Czech Republic)

  • August 13th, 2008
  • 12:39 pm

Vodafone will continue to outpace Telefonica and T-Mobile in the competitive Czech Republic Mobile operator space. Mobile penetration in the Czech Republic is among the highest in Central European nations and is high even by western European levels. With mobile voice markets saturated, the established operators have focused on customer retention and launched a variety of mobile content services over 3G/HSDPA networks. Czech off-deck content is also appearing, a trend which is expected to continue if mobile broadband penetration increases as expected.

Operators covered for Czech include: Telefonica O2 CZ, T-Mobile, and Vodafone.

Notable highlights of the 3Q08 Czech Mobile Forecast include:

  • The wireless penetration level in the Czech Republic will continue to increase and it will reach 131.2% in 2010.
  • Our model predicts a relatively competitive scenario in the Czech market. Market shares in the Czech market will remain fairly stable over the next few years with Telefonica O2 CZ, T-Mobile, and Vodafone registering market shares of 39.4%, 40.4% and 20.3% respectively.
  • All the three operators will continue to have similar monthly churn rates in the range of 1.2% - 1.7%.
  • It is expected that Vodafone will continue to receive the highest ARPU in Czech. Its ARPU will reach US$36.27 in 2010 while Telefonica O2 CZ and T-Mobile will receive US$30.44 and US$28.73 respectively.

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

iPhone 3G launches in 20 countries on August 22

  • August 7th, 2008
  • 12:18 pm

The iPhone 3G will be launched in twenty more countries on August 22. All the operators concerned have made their formal announcements. 10 countries are Latin American.It is predicted that SingTel will also join the mix, but the reports are yet to be confirmed.

August 22 releases

    * Argentina - Telefonica and America Movil
    * Chile - Telefonica and America Movil
    * Colombia - Telefonica and America Movil
    * Czech Republic - O2
    * Ecuador - Telefonica and America Movil
    * El Salvador - Telefonica and America Movil
    * Estonia - Eesti Mobii Telefon
    * Guatemala - Telefonica and America Movil
    * Honduras - America Movil
    * Hungary - T-Mobile
    * India - Bharti Airtel and Vodafone
    * Paraguay - America Movil
    * Philippines - GlobeTelecom
    * Peru - Telefonica and America Movil
    * Poland - Orange and Era
    * Romania - Orange
    * Uruguay - Telefonica and America Movil

   

Motorola, Cisco joins the list of investors of Amobee

  • August 7th, 2008
  • 11:17 am

Amobee Media systems is through with its another round of Financing. Cisco and Motorola has join the existing investors Telefonica, Vodafone, Accel Globespan and Sequoia Capital who even participated in the round.  Amobee helps in managing advertising inventory at mobile operators. Amobee has already been positioned in the markets like Vodafone and Telefonica.

Telefonica shows growth in IPTV subscribers

  • August 1st, 2008
  • 2:09 pm

Domestic Market share of Telefonica IPTV service is 13%. Spanish Telco reports that it put on another 22,513 new subscribers, actually down on the 32,307 recorded in the same period in 2007, and 65,471 in the first six months of 2008. Subscribers percentage  increase to 27.09% When we take the total number of connections considering Spain, the Czech Republic, Peru, Chile, Colombia and Brazil, Telefónica stand at over two million, an increase of 57.4% on the prior year, following net additions reaching almost 280,000. On the whole Telefónica benefited from the €143 million gained from the sale of its stake in Sogecable to take first half revenues to €10.331bn.

No Capital slog for Tel Italia - Telefonica

  • August 1st, 2008
  • 8:53 am

According to Chief Executive Julio Linares,  Spain’s Telefonica finds no requirement for a capital increase at Telecom Italia. Through a consortium Telefonica holds an indirect 6.9 percent stake in its Italian rival. Telefonica does not rule out further share buybacks once its current shareholder remuneration plan is completed said Financial Director, Santiago Fernandez Valbuena.

Net Profit of Telefonica turn down 20% in Q2 (Spain)

  • July 31st, 2008
  • 10:29 am

Telefonica’s second quarter profit dropped 20% to EUR2.06 billion from a year ago as a one-time gain from asset sale was not repreated in the quarter. Following the forecast which says that Spain’s largest telecommunications company would have reported a profit of EUR1.82 billion for the quarter. Sales ascent 1.2% to EUR 14.25 billion.