Free win may shakeup French telecom market
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The issue of fourth 3G license to Free, a subsidiary of the aggressive Groupe Iliad at the cost of €240 million has resulted in a major shakeup in the French telecom industry. The decision has been fiercely condemned by other incumbent players- France Telecom’s Orange, Bouygues Telecom and Neuf-SFR who paid €619 million ($885 million) each for their 3G licences a decade ago.
The decision of awarding the license to Free came after Virgin Mobile and Numericable dropped out of the bidding. The operator will receive its license in January and will have two years to build its network. The service is expected to start in 2012 and will cover almost 75% of the population in 2015 and 90% in 2018.
By offering triple-play bundled voice, data and internet TV services for less than €30 ($43) a month, Free has become France’s second largest ISP. Further deduction in the fees for the French customers has been promised by Iliad chief Xavier Niel.
CHT picks Ericsson for LTE trial
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan’s leading operator by subscribers has signed an MOU with Ericson to set up a small-scale Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile broadband trial network in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan.
The basic network infrastructure including the base stations and network management systems for the 4G network will be provided by Ericsson.
The companies have set their target and are confident to complete their first testing phase by mid-2010. According to the reports of CommsUpdate, Chunghwa is looking forward to launch LTE services in 2011.
The company is also functioning with six firms including the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), HTC, HT mMobile, Asustek Computer, Coiler and the Institute for Information Industry (III) to develop LTE products in preparation for a commercial launch.
Italia Sarkle’s IP backbone extended to Bucharest and Istanbul
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Complementing the undisputed leadership position of Telecom Italia Sparkle throughout the whole Mediterranean basin, SEABONE, its global 1.5Tbps IP backbone has been extended to Bucharest (Romania) and Istanbul (Turkey). IP connectivity solution is now offered by SEABONE to the local Balkan and international communities of ISPs, ASPs and content providers.
A unique, ring-based topology submarine cable system in the Mediterranean Basin is run by Nautilus (MedNautilus) which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sparkle in Turkey. Telehouse and Data Centre facility in Istanbul has also been constructed and currently offers IP transit and connectivity solutions and also host services. 2010 will witness the launch of SDH/DWDM services.
According to Francesco Armato, CEO of Telecom Italia Sparkle, the local availability of the top-performing global IP and data solutions in Turkey and Romania will benefit both existing and future customers in these countries, by satisfying their increasing and sophisticated connectivity needs.
Gateway Communications acquires 10.5GHz spectrum license
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 10.5GHz spectrum license has been acquired by Gateway Communications, a telecoms network operator, for ten states in Nigeria: Kano, Kaduna, Rivers, Delta, Abuja, Edo, Oyo, Anambra, Abia and
Enugu. Earlier, Airlink and MetroLink 10.5GHz spectrum solutions targeted at SMEs in Lagos was deployed by the company.
Both the steps aim to strengthen its drive to build a pan-African connectivity network that covers every major African city based on satellite, submarine cable and fibre infrastructure. The services will be rolled out across the ten states in 2010 while Port Harcourt and Abuja will go live in February 2010. The solution will be deployed in further 14 states in 2011.
According to John Dindlebeck, MD at Gateway West Africa, the flexibility of the broadband 10Mbps solution with an MPLS backbone can customize the solutions provided to individual client needs.
Besides, the commitment of the company to provide world class connectivity solutions in Nigeria is also demonstrated through this expansion.
India’s 3G license auction to take place on time
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The much awaited 3G license auction in India will now be held as planned on January 14, 2010. Earlier, due to certain issues with military radio spectrum and postponement in sending out the formal notifications, further delays were reported.
According to Telecom Minister Andimuthu Raja, the auction will take place on time and allotment of spectrum to maintain the level playing field will be by August 2010. Through this auction, the government is expected to gain US$1.5 billion.
A separate auction for the WiMAX license will start two weeks after the completion of the 3G license.
Advisor on France’s Tel offer named by Mobinil
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mobinil, an Egyptian company for mobile services has appointed an independent financial adviser for evaluating and buying France’s Telecom’s offer. The firm has been at the centre of a long and often rancorous dispute between its two main shareholders, Orascom Telecom and France Telecom.
In a statement to the stock exchange, the firm attributed that they have appointed Prime Capital which will submit an evaluation of the offer before January 5. However the company will formally announce the results of the evaluation only before January 9, it said.
While Orange Participations, France’s Telecom subsidiary is offering 245 Egyptian pounds ($44.54) for each freely traded share in Mobinil, the last date for the offer for the shares will end with the closing of the trading session on January 14.
Chunghwa Telecom & Ericsson join hands for LTE trial
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A new trial network using new-generation LTE wireless technology will be set up by Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom and Ericsson under a new agreement jointly signed by them. The testing of the network would be started in northern Taiwan by the Chunghwa Telecommunication Laboratories under Chunghwa Telecom and the results would be released mid-2010.
Meanwhile, 25 networks worldwide based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology by China’s Huawei technologies are under construction. The huge area covered by Huawei, can help it to overtake Ericsson to become the world’s top telecommunications equipment maker.
Chunghwa Telecom has also announced a plan to set up a 30 million yuan ($4.4 million) call-center venture with an investment firm in Xiamen, China with the aim to expand overseas.
Bayan deploys first Convergent Voice SMS in Philippines
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Bayan Telecommunications Inc launched the first ever Voice SMS in Philippines wherein fixed line and wireless landline subscribers can send and receive Voice SMS messages. Subscribers of Bayan, one of the leading telecommunications service providers in Philippines, can send the message by voice, without taking the extra burden of typing the message. This will help them to communicate in a faster and in an easier way.
The voice SMS will cost PHP 1.50 (approximately USD 0.03) for sending them to both on-net and off-net subscribers within Philippines. To use the service, the wireless landline subscribers has to dial ‘*’ followed by the area code and the number of the person and speak a short message for 30 seconds in any language. BayanPHONE subscribers, on the other hand, will dial ’990+Area code+Tel number.
*0* is dialed to hear a new Voice SMS and *1* is dialed to retrieve the old SMS. PHP 1.50/msg will be charged for reply and forwards. Subscribers of other carriers in Philippines can dial 02-412-9621 to use the Bayan Voice SMS service. Standard call charges will apply.
Optus & Dodo sign $160 million deal
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: $160 million wholesale deal has been signed between Optus and Dodo wherein OPTUS will provide Dodo with its mobile, voice and mobile broadband needs, for four years. The deal is a renewal of an
existing wholesale mobile services contract Optus held with Dodo.
According to Optus wholesale and satellite managing director Vicki Brady, the deal is targeted at ensuring latest mobile products and services along with real choice and value to Australian consumers. While Larry Kestelman, Dodo’s managing director feels that the deal would help the company sustain the roll out of new products to the market.
BSNL superseded by Idea in the Indian market
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With 55.9 million customers, India’s Idea Cellular became the country’s third largest GSM operator, overtaking state-controlled BSNL which had 55.2 million subscribers based on the November figures.
After adding 2.8 million new customers, Bharti Airtel reclaimed the top spot of fastest growing operator. 2.78 million new customers were added by Vodafone.
11 million subscribers as a whole have been added by the GSM industry to take the countrywide tally to 366 million. The fastest growth rates are noticed in the mid-ranked B circles. However, a drop in mobile phone users was reported after recent ban on prepay phones in Jammu and Kashmir.
