Elisa posts a steep fall in Q2 profits (Finland)
Elisa, Finland’s telecom operator, has posted a steep fall in second-quarter profits, but repeated it sees sales and profits in 2008 flat year-on-year.
Elisa reported April-June earnings per share of 0.20 euro, compared with 0.31 euro a year earlier.
Italian telecom and antitrust authorities SMS/MMS service probe (Italy)
Italy’s telecom and antitrust authorities have launched a joint investigation, in the Italian Market, into transparency of prices and offers of SMS and MMS.
According to the two authorities, the SMS and MMs market together topped the revenue share with EUR4 billion in 2007.
“The two authorities intend to collect data and analyze information and documents on prices and offers for the both kind of services,” the statement said.
The regulators noticed that Italian Operators like Telecom Italia SpA, Vodafone, Wind and 3 Italia, offer a huge variety of offers to different profiles of clients, with huge discrepancies among prices.
Double digit growth predicted for Mobile Phone Market – Analysts
According to a report, 306million handsets has been shipped by the vendors, during second quarter, a 15% increase a year before. New data reveals that globle phone market is going to have solid growth during second quarter. According to research analyst, “Since the start of the year, vendors have been wary of the potential decrease in demand for mobile phones.” “That has not stopped vendors from experimenting with and releasing a host of mid-range and high-end devices with GPS, touchscreen, and multimedia. This also goes for hotly contested emerging markets, where vendors are introducing phones that offer features in addition to voice telephony,” analyst further reports.
Comparing the growth by region, the Asia/Pacific area had massive growth due to rapid adoption of phones in markets like China and India. Europe saw a soft demand for high-end devices, and the Middle East and Africa also had a high demand for entry-level phones. Considering Latin America market, users are migrating from entry-level devices to feature phones is continuous to show positive growth.
Viewing the top 5 mobile phone vendors, Industry-leading Nokia shipped 122 million handsets during the period, Samsung maintained its second-place position, but did see a slight decline in shipments from the previous quarter. Motorola retained the number three position, and managed to have a small profit for the quarter. Due to sluggish demand in Europe and increased price competition Sony Ericsson had a tough quarter.
France Telecom not preparing for big acquisition projects (France)
France Telecom SA’sofficial, the comapny isn’t preparing for any big acquisition projects as of now even if the company remains interested in consolidation over time.
“There’s no large-scale project even if, in terms of strategy, consolidation is something important in our business in the coming years,” FTE’s CFO revealed.
France Telecom had abandoned a takeover worth $42 billion for TeliaSonera AB, last month.
France Telecom announced that it will pay an interim ordinary dividend of EUR0.60 a share in September, but for that the investors will have to wait until the closing of the 2008 accounts in February 2009.
Omantel 25% stake timetable preponed from September to August (Oman)
The Oman government has the sale of 25% stake in Oman Telecommunications’ timetable, as reported by Oman Ministry pof Finance Web site.
The deadline for selected parties to submit first-round proposals has been preponed from September to August, with the second rounds due in the fourth-quarter.
Earlier this month, the Government of Oman had reported to sell 25% of its 70% stake in Omantel to a “suitably qualified” strategic bidder.
Femtocell offers enhanced cell phone coverage & unlimited home calling for $10 a month (US)
An option to drop traditional landline, company’s femtocell is offering enhanced cell phone coverage and unlimited home calling for $10 a month. A new hardware that enhances cellular coverages in the home or office is the other option brought by Sprint. The Airave is a mini- cell phone tower made by Smasung. The femtocell connects to Sprint’s network via a user’s broadband network and creates a smaller cell phone network, up to 5,000 square feet, within the user’s home or business.
Simultaneously, three different cell phones can use the mini network . $4.99 monthly fee is required for Airave. Also customers with carrier’s Simply Everything plan has an added advantage that they will be able to make unlimited in-house calls. According to the Company,switching from a Sprint tower to the femtocell will not change the plan to unlimited. “People want ubiquitous cell service on their wireless phones everywhere they go, and that includes their home and offices,” said Tom Jasny, Samsung Mobile’s VP of wireless systems and broadband said. From 17 Aug Femtocell will be available nationwide for $99.99.
SingTel’s CFO Heing resigns, Optus CFO takes over (Singapore)
SingTel, Southeast Asia’s biggest telecoms group, has announced that it’s chief financial officer Francis Heng’ resignation effective from Sept 1. According to SingTel spokesperson, this step was out of personal reasons.
The comapny also announced the name of it’s new chief financial officer, Jeann Low Ngiap Jong, who is currently working as the chief financial officer of its Australian unit Optus. He will join the job on Sept 1.
