Mobily offers 70% free credit on recharge of SR60 or more (Saudi Arabia)
Mobily launches a brand new offer for its pre-paid susbcribers, excluding the Rehal subscribers, which allows them to enjoy nearly 70% free credit when they recharge their subscription for SR60 or more. The offer will be available till November 9.
“Mobily aims to provide a great deal of offers to its subscribers for them to enjoy the best rates,” said David Murphy, chief marketing officer. “This offer gives prepaid subscribers the highest bonus credit in the Kingdom on their individual phone lines, with the subscribers being the primary beneficiaries of the extra credit upon recharging.”
He also says that the subscribers can utilize their extra credit to make voice and video calls, send SMS messages and surf the Internet. The extra credit should be used up within 90 days of getting it.
DTAC adds 780,425 subscribers in 3Q’08 (Thailand)
DTAC, Thailand’s second largest telco in terms of subscribers has announced its third quarter results. Its net profit grows to 4.7% year-on-year to THB1.836 billion (USD53 million), up from THB1.362 billion a year earlier as costs were reduced, but fall 53.0% from THB3.904 billion in the previous quarter, mainly due to a one-time gain in 2Q from a settlement from minor operator DPC.
DTAC subscriber base reaches to the mark of 18.213 million by adding 780,425 subscribers in 3Q08. Its strong pre-paid take up in provincial areas and strong post-paid net additions, with the cellco’s contract base growing by 7.5% q-o-q to 2.351 million has boosted the customer growth.
STC, Astro & SRMG in mobile content JV with a capital of $74.8 million (Saudi Arabia)
Saudi Telecom Company (STC) in association with Astro All Asia Networks of Malaysia and Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG) set up a new mobile content services company. The firm reportedly has a capital of USD74.8 million, will be 51% owned by STC, with Astro holding 29% and SRMG 20%. According to STC, the firm will have a potential customer base of 70 million.
50% of New Subscribers Choose Zain (Kenya)
Five out of every ten new mobile phone subscribers in Kenya during the months of August and September selected Zain as their preferred mobile service provider, a research study carried out by a local Research firm AC Nielsen Kenya has shown. According to the study conducted randomly, customers are selecting Zain owing to the mobile phone company’s superior network quality and affordable on-net and cross network calling rates.
The strong showing by the Zain brand has been largely driven by the successful Vuka tariff campaign. Zain moved ahead of other operators in the country by resonating with consumers and understanding that the vast population is very conscious about ability to talk across networks at all times at affordable rates, with no complications and penalties,†the report notes.
Commenting on the research study, Managing Director Rene Meza welcomed the findings saying the new Vuka tariff had recorded tremendous success since it was launched in the market a month ago. The tariff has grown in popularity because this is not a limited offer. Subscribers are interested in consistency,†said Mr. Meza.
He expressed confidence that the new products being introduced by Zain will turnaround the local mobile telephony landscape. We still have some more propositions that we intend to roll out in addition to the much anticipated revolutionary mobile banking services,†he said.
The country wide research was done in September among respondents who were selected randomly. The researchers carried out face to face interviews with subscribers who had bought or acquired a new SIM card or mobile phone in the past three months.
The new Vuka tariff is available to both prepaid and postpaid subscribers. Prepaid subscribers can switch to the new Vuka Tariff, free of charge, by dialing *123*8# while postpaid subscribers can migrate by dialing*128*8#.
The new Vuka Tariff has also been successful due to the Choose Your Number service which enables existing and new prepaid customers to select and reserve numbers of their choice on any prefix soon after they activate their lines. Last week Zain launched a low cost Motorola handset in the market retailing at KES1,200 for customers connecting to the Vuka tariff.
For more information log on to www.ke.zain.com
About Wireless Federation
Wireless Federation is an industry research conglomerate headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The mandate of the Wireless Federation is to provide its members and customers industry knowledge that can further enhance their understanding of the wireless industry. Wireless Federation conducts bespoke research and produces boxed reports in collabaration with Industry Bodies, Telecom Operators for Issues that revolve around ARPU, CHURN and Loyalty.
They have been associated with more than 225 mobile operators globally to set their Pricing/ Tariff Strategies, Go-To-Market Strategies for Mobile Advertising, Mobile Payments, Cutting VAS among others amongst 59 countries globally.
For more information you can log on to www.wirelessfederation.com
TTSL 3Q revenues grows to 21% y/y basis (India)
Indian cellco Tata Teleservices (TTSL) posted its financial results for the third quarter. TTSL reported a decline of 4% in net losses for the quarter, down from INR49.31 million last year to INR 47.35 million. Revenues for the operator grows 21% year-on-year, climbing to INR5.18 billion for the three-month period whereas EBITDA mounts 52% in the same period to reach INR1.61 billion. As reported earlier by Wireless Federation, it is speculated that NTT DoCoMo is considering the acquisition of a 26% stake in the Indian operator.
PCCW shareholders fail to deduce the pricing for ownership deal (Hong Kong)
PCCW Group Chairman Richard Li and Hong Kong telco’s largest overseas shareholder China Unicom have failed to reach a common point over the pricing of a proposed joint buyout, media reported. China Unicom had deemed an initial offer of HKD4 (USD0.52) a share to take PCCW private, while minority shareholders, whilst minority shareholders refuses to accept less than HKD5 a share.
PCCW when cancelled a plan to vend off 45% of its core assets via a newly formed unit, dubbed HKT Group Holdings, shares drop to their lowest level since 1999, HKD2.45. Good news turn up with the proclaimation of PCCW securing the second fixed line licence in Oman, through a local joint venture.
STC reports net profits of $803.7Mn in Q3’08, plans expansion (Saudi Arabia)
STC posts a fall in Q3’08 net profits driven by increased costs related to expansions in the Middle East and Asia. Net profit slipped to SAR3.01 billion ($803.7 million) from SAR3.14 billion in 2007. Operating revenues rose by 58% to SAR13.54 billion while operating profit were up by 20.5% at SAR4.2 billion.
STC has won third mobile licence in Kuwait and also shown interests in operations in Malaysia, Indonesia and India through its 25% stake in Malaysia’s Maxis Communications. Additionally, it owns 35% of Dubai-based Oger Telecom which has telecoms operations in Turkey, South Africa, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Jordan, and it is among the bidders for a 25% stake in Oman’s dominant wireline and wireless operator Omantel.
SK Telecom posts a fall of 58% in Q3’08 earnings (South Korea)
SK Telecom, South Korea, posts a fall Q3’08 earnings by 58% on increased marketing costs.
Net income earned 333.6 billion won (US$224.5 million) Q3’08, compared with 777 billion won in Q3’07.
Sales grew by 2.98% to 2.89 trillion won in Q3, while operating profit slipped by 6.06% to 504 billion won.
Telekom Srbija’s privatisation potponed until 2010 (Serbia)
Serbia postpones the privatisation process for Telekom Srbija until 2010, which earlier was 2009, due to the global financial crisis. According to the company’s head, Branko Radujko, Telekom Srbija is currently worth EUR 2 billion, and the price can increase significantly over the next year or two, once the landline telephony network is modernized, market liberalization hikes its value and economic prices are established.
Pannon and T-Mobile together launch MobilePayment (Hungary)
Hungary based mobile operator Pannon and T Mobile together with financial institutions FHB and MPP launch a mobile payment service, dubbed as MobilePayment. The service is available to Pannon and T Mobile postpaid and prepaid customers who have a bank account at FHB. Service users can pay for products or services directly via their mobile phones to merchants joining the system, either in the shops or with remote access, as well as pay mobile phone bills, or top-up their mobile accounts, or transfer money to other customers using the system.
