CEO Saad Al Barrak resigns from Zain

On 02.03.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: After making Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Co or Zain the third-largest Arab telecom operator by market value in 2002, its CEO Saad Al Barrak handed in his resignation to the chairman of the board and the chairman will present the resignation to board members to look into the matter.

His resignation has raised questions regarding the future of the company, particularly when a major shareholder is pushing to sell a controlling stake in the company to foreign investors.

Due to the region’s current economic and financial circumstances, Zains major shareholder Kharafi Group feels that that sale of the 46% stake in the operator might take some more time.

According to Badr Al Kharafi, vice-chairman of Kharafi Group, groups of Indian investors like Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., or BSNL, and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd., or MTNL, and Malaysian investors like billionaire Syed Mokhtar Al Bukhary, plan to buy a 46% stake in Zain for about $13.7 billion and the deal would take about four months to conclude.

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Depreciation, taxes lowers America Movil’s Q4 net profit

On 02.03.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Due to due to higher network depreciation charges and taxes, the fourth-quarter net profit of, Latin America’s largest mobile operator America Movil SAB fell 17.2%. The net profit went down from MXN15.65 billion, or MXN0.47 a share to 12.96 billion pesos ($1.01 billion), or MXN0.40 per local L share.

Thanks to a 48.7% jump in data-related sales, the revenue grew 13.4% to MXN107.1 billion and EBITDA rose 16.9% to MXN40.82 billion.

However, 6.6 million net subscribers additions in the quarter was reported by America Movil and 18.2 million for the full year, bringing its total wireless user base to 201 million across the Americas at the end of December.

According to the company, with the South American economies recovering more rapidly than anticipated from the crisis that shook the world towards the end of 2008, subscriber growth in those countries reaccelerated, helping America Movil surpass its net subscriber additions target for 2009

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OFT seeks to examine Orange/T-Mobile deal

On 02.03.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: European Commission has been asked by Office of Fair Trading (OFT), Britain’s consumer watchdog to let it examine the planned merger of the UK arms of France Telecom’s Orange and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile, raising prospects of at least a delay to any deal.

A 50-50 joint venture was agreed between T-Mobile and Orange grabbing top spot with a market share of about 37 percent and at the same time reducing the number of mobile phone operators in the country to four from five.

According to T-Mobile UK Managing Director Richard Moat, the company was hoping that the proposed joint venture would be examined by regulators in Brussels, as scrutiny in the UK could take much longer. The investigations in the UK would delay the merger until 2011 which would not be in anyone’s interest.

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Telecom Italia’s takeover report rise shares prices

On 02.03.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: An explanation has been seeked from the government by the Italian stock market watchdog Consob regarding a report claiming it would give the all clear to a takeover of Telecom Italia by its Spanish shareholder Telefonica.

As per the report published in the newspaper, the Berlusconi government agreed to the merger provided management of the company remains in the hands of Italy while the alleged merger would have brought both companies under a single umbrella group called Telecom Europa

Soaring as high as 9 percent, Telecom Italia shares settled on a 6 percent gain to reach EUR 1.14. The government on the other hand has categorically denied that there had been any contact, meetings, or deal about an eventual merger.

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Grameenphone to share infrastructure with Banglalink (Bangladesh)

On 02.03.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: An infrastructure sharing agreement has been signed between Grameenphone and Banglalink as a part of an aggressive strategy to roll out networks in the rural market. Banglalink has also revealed its plans to raise BDT 4.25 billion through a bond issue to fund expansion and upgrades of its network.

Base stations, spectrum, billing platform, switching centres, base station controllers, and fibre-optic access and backbone networks are some of the infrastructure to be shared between the two companies.

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1.1 mln customers lost by Vodacom in December quarter

On 02.03.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With 9.5% increase last year, African mobile operator Vodacom’s mobile customer base reached 40.5 million. Due to the RICA rules in South Africa and a change in disconnection policy in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Vodacom lost a net 1.1 million customers versus September.

The decline was entirely due to prepaid losses, while the contract base grew by 190,000 to 4.349 million.

Quarterly revenues were up 6 percent year-on-year to ZAR 15.425 billion while the Vodafone subsidiary saw 7.5 percent annual growth in quarterly revenue. Traffic in South Africa was up 4.0 percent year-on-year and down 1.3 percent from the previous quarter to 6.655 billion minutes, while ARPU of ZAR 140 was stable year-on-year and up from ZAR 125 in the September quarter.

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Smartphone prices deducted by Nokia

On 02.03.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The phone prices have been cut by Nokia across its portfolio by up to 10%, putting its cheapest smartphones on a collision course with mid-range phones from rivals Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

According to Nokia, price changes were part of its normal, ongoing business as the company usually cuts prices across its portfolio a few times each year.

After the price cut Nokia’s cheapest smartphone model, the 5230, costs around EUR 170 in Finland and the model’s wholesale price is now below EUR 120.

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Sony unveils its Window’s green mobile

On 02.03.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: As a part of environmental GreenHeart portfolio, Sony Ericsson has unveiled a Windows Mobile based smartphone, Aspen. The device is targeted to those consumers who want to make a green choice in their daily work life.

HSPA 900/2100 and EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, HSPA 850/900/2100 and EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 are supported by Sony Ericsson and the phone will be available in selected markets from Q2 in Black or White. However, the price is yet unknown.

According to Quentin Cordier, Global Marketing Manager, Sony Ericsson, An affordable GreenHeart phone with the latest version of Windows Phone, the Sony Ericsson Aspen has a rich user interface and powerful productivity tools.

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Leap Wireless seeks merger or buyers (USA)

On 02.03.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: USA based Leap Wireless has hired advisers and formed a special board committee to take a decision on the future of the company which might be a merger or a sale out.

Earlier, it was reported that MetroPCS and Leap could seek a merger to be better placed to compete with the big-four networks.

However, an all-stock offer from MetroPCS, which valued the company at US$5.5 billion, was rejected by Leap Wireless in late 2007. Since then the company valuation is estimated to have plunged by around three quarters.

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iPad hailed as a “real start” of a tablet computer market

On 02.03.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Though not the first media tablet, Apple’s iPad has surely redefined the tablet computer market which is expected to grow more than tenfold to reach about 57 million devices sold annually by 2015.

According to a research company, a tablet might not replace a laptop, netbook or mobile phone, but will remain an additional premium or luxury product for wealthy industrialized markets for at least several years. It has also been predicted that the tablet computer makers will ship four million units this year.

Apple is expected to be a “fairly sizable player” in a tablet arena with traditional computer makers such as Lenovo and Hewlett-Packard as well as small firms such as Notion Ink.

When Apple chief executive Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad on January 27, he hailed it as a revolutionary device.

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