Econet’s growth plans on hold
Econet Wireless has suspended plans to increase its subscriber base as it awaits the outcome of its current lobby to the Post and Telecommunications Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) to review mobile call tariffs. Businessdigest reports that the company has decided to stop connecting new numbers until POTRAZ and the cabinet’s Taskforce on Price Monitoring and Stabilisation approves a tariff review. The country’s three mobile network operators Econet, NetOne and Telecel were forced to reduce their tariffs drastically early this month following a government decision aimed at tackling hyperinflation (which reached 4,500% in May). Econet slashed its rates from between ZWD7,000 and ZWD10,000 per minute to between ZWD500 and ZWD800 a minute. The company has since informed POTRAZ that the changes threatened the viability of its network. Econet’s subscriber base was 634,414 at the end of March, up from 457,228 a year earlier.
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Comcast reports surge in profits
The largest US cable operator, Comcast Corp, has reported a 28% rise in second quarter net profit on the back of strong customer take-up. Profits for the three months to the end of June stood at USD588 million, up from USD460 million in the year-ago period, while revenues reached USD7.71 billion, an increase of 31%. The firm added a record 1.6 million net new customers or revenue generating units (RGUs) in the quarter, and now claims over 24 million cable TV customers and 12.4 million high speed internet users.
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Tiscali agrees MVNO deal
Italian internet service provider (ISP) Tiscali has signed a wholesale mobile agreement with Telecom Italia which will allow Tiscali to launch as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). The ISP plans to market Tiscali-branded packages which combine mobile and high speed internet services.
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Google to create WiMAX portal
Sprint Nextel has announced a partnership with US-based search engine Google for its forthcoming WiMAX wireless broadband service. Google will develop a new portal for Sprint’s WiMAX network which will be made available across a variety of devices, including phones, PDAs, portable gaming consoles and personal media players. Sprint recently announced that it would be partnering with rival operator Clearwire to launch a nationwide WiMAX network.
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MTC investment expected
Speculation is growing that Kuwait’s MTC Group is preparing to sell off a 10% stake to a Saudi investor. The unnamed investor is also thought to be interested in acquiring a 25% interest in MTC’s pan-African mobile subsidiary Celtel. Kuwaiti newspapers say the deal is set to be announced in September. The speculation has been behind a rapid rise in MTC’s share price, which has grown 90% so far this year. MTC itself has not commented on the rumoured share sale. The operator recently won Saudi Arabia’s third cellular licence and plans to launch its first services there next year.
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Alfa and IPOC to end MegaFon dispute
A bitter feud between shareholders of Russia’s third largest cellular operator could be coming to an end, according to local newspaper reports. Business daily Vedemosti claims that IPOC and Alfa Group are set to end their battle over the ownership of a 25.1% stake in MegaFon. The report cites unidentified sources and claims that the two rivals are set to withdraw all legal action against one another. It is thought that Alfa will retain the 25.1% interest in MegaFon which it acquired in 2003; IPOC claimed that it should have been given first right of refusal on the stake. IPOC controls another 8% stake in the cellco which is set to be sold off b y owner Jeffrey Galmond.
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Sonaecom reports first-half loss
The Portuguese telco Sonaecom has reported a first half net loss of EUR4.6 million (USD6.26 million) after a profit of EUR32.6 million in the same period last year. The 1H 2006 result was boosted by a one-off income from the sale of Sonaecom’s Enabler unit. EBITDA fell 6.2% to EUR73.2 million following a 6.9% increase in operating costs which wiped out a 4.4% rise in revenues to EUR413.4 million. Sonaecom failed in a bid earlier this year to take over larger rival Portugal Telecom, but has since confirmed deals to acquire smaller players Tele2 Portugal and Oni Telecom. Sonaecom offers a range of fixed line and internet services and is also the major shareholder in Portugal’s third largest cellular operator, Optimus.
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Telefonica O2 CR grows net profit 14%
Czech mobile revenues rose 5.5 percent to CZK 15.7 billion, as the customer base grew 2.6 percent year-on-year to 4.894 million. Amid a focus on converting prepaid users to postpaid, the operator increased contract customers by 111,000 in the second quarter to 2.077 million at the end of June. Minutes of use rose 16 percent from a year earlier to an average 115 per subscriber in the first half, while ARPU was up 2.4 percent year-on-year to CZK 510 per month. Mobile data revenues were up 18 percent to CZK 921 million.
At the fixed-line business, revenues rose 0.3 percent to CZK 15.1 billion, helped by growth in internet and IT services. The number of fixed access lines fell by 17 percent from a year ago to 2.207 million at the end of June, as customers switched to mobile services. ADSL subscribers rose by 56,000 in the first half to 526,000 at the end of June, while the company added 22,000 IPTV customers in the period for a total 32,000.
In Slovakia, the company had 455,000 customers at the end of June, after starting prepaid services in February and a postpaid offer in June. Most customers however appear to be using the operator as a second SIM provider, so further marketing efforts are planned to promote the company as a primary service provider and launch more postpaid offers in the second half.
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Canadian telecoms revenue hits CAD 36.1 bln in 2006 – study
Total telecommunications revenues in Canada were CAD 36.1 billion in 2006, up 4.5 percent from CAD 34.5 billion in 2005, according to a report from the Canadian Radio-television & Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). The residential market is experiencing vigorous competition due to the efforts by cable
companies and, to a lesser extent, other providers of local phone service, according to the report. Internet and cellular phone services accounted for 50 percent of all telecommunications revenues in 2006, up from 45 percent in 2005. Competitors captured 38 percent of total revenues, up 3 percent. Competitors’ revenues were CAD 13.7 billion, up 12 percent. Cellular phone revenues were CAD 12.7 billion, up 15 percent from CAD 11 billion.
Cellular phone revenues were CAD 12.7 billion, up 15 percent from CAD 11 billion. Cellular phone revenues represented 35 percent of total revenue, up from 23 percent. Landline and cellular phone penetration rate was 98.6 percent. The number of households with high-speed internet access reached 7.5 million, or 60 percent of all households, up from 51 percent in 2005.
The telecommunications industry’s EBITDA was CAD 13.1 billion, up 5.3 percent from CAD 12.4 billion. Capex was CAD 6.9 billion, up 24 percent from CAD 5.6 billion. Internet revenues were CAD 5 billion, up 9.4 percent fom CAD 4.5 billion. Broadband availability increased from 92 percent of Canadian households in 2005 to 93 percent in 2006.
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Sprint, Google partner on WiMAX portal
US operator Sprint is working with Google to develop a mobile services portal for its WiMAX network currently being rolled out across the US. Sprint network bandwidth, location detection and presence capabilities will be matched with Google’s communications suite Google Apps. Customers will be able to access new forms of interactive communications, high-speed internet browsing, local and location-centric services and multimedia services including music, video and TV. Sprint will provide open standard APIs (application programming interfaces) to Sprint’s partners and the internet developer community to create customised products for browsable devices. The services will be available in a variety of WiMAX embedded devices such as personal media players, mobile internet devices, gaming devices and phones. Eventually, the WiMAX service will be available in vehicles for navigation information, news and entertainment. The company plans a WiMAX test service in the Chicago, Baltimore and Washington DC areas by the end of this year. The company will commercially launch this service in April 2008 in conjunction with Cleanwire.
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