Bharti Airtel & Zain to sign Africa deal on Tuesday
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The much talked about $10.7 bn deal between Kuwait’s Zain telecom and India’s top mobile firm Bharti Airtel, which has been making the rounds of the telecom world is expected to be signed on Tuesday at the headquarters of Zain Africa.
African market was penetrated by Zain in 2005 by the acquisition of the operations of the Dutch Celtel firm for around $3.5 billion. Last week, both the companies stated that they have finalized agreement for the sale of Zain’s operations in 15 African nations. Zain’s operation in Sudan or its investment in Morocco is not included in the sale of the African assets.
$8.3 billion, raised mainly from international banks, will be paid by Bharti on signature of the deal, while the remaining $700 million will be paid a year later. Through the deal, 42 million clients in 15 African countries from Burkina Faso to
Zambia would be gained by Bharti while Zain clients will shrink to 30 million from 72 million.
Telekom Srbija 40% stake to be sold by govt (Serbia)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Selling of 40 percent stake in the state-owned operator Telekom Srbija has been decided by the Serbian government. Transfer of PTT Srbija shares of all Telekom Srbija shares it owns to the state without compensation has also been requested the government.
The two working groups will be headed by the state secretary for finance, Slobodan Ilic to organize the tender and sale. One group will monitor the sales process and the other should choose a privatization consultant. The company will choose the privatization advisor within 90 days. EUR 3 billion and EUR 3.5 billion has been the estimated value of Telekom Srbija by a leading US consulting firm.
Invitation of offers will be invited by Serbia from prospective sale advisers in April and select the consultant in May. In September, bids for 40 percent holding will be invited and in November, suitors that pass the qualification stage will compete in an auction.
The government controls 80 percent of Telekom, while the remaining 20 percent is held by Greek telecom company OTE.
Saudi Telecom launches FTTH based internet service
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 100Mbps internet service based on FTTH technology has been introduced by Saudi Telecom Company.
It has been claimed by the incumbent operator that the internet service is the fastest one available in the entire Middle East.
No details regarding the pricing and availability of the service has yet been released.
Telekom Austria eyed by Sistema
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Sistema, Russian telecommunications holding company, is seeking to bid to acquire Telekom Austria. Vladimir Yevtushenkov, who is the main owner of Sistema would be prepared to pay much more than the current share price, which values Telekom Austria at EUR 4.5 billion.
27 percent of Telekom Austria is currently held by Austrian state holding company Oeiag. However, any legal permission to sell its share is denied by Oeiag as a result of which it is unable to be in talks to sell Telekom Austria shares.
Telekom Austria has mobile operations in Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Serbia and Belarus. Sistema which has operations in Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia and Belarus is among others owner of Russia-based mobile operator MTS.
Vivendi to buy outstanding shares of GVT (Brazil)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Remaining 15 percent of Brazilian broadband operator GVT will be acquired by French telecommunications and entertainment group Vivendi for BRL 56 per share. Securities commission CVM has given authorization to GVT to tender 17.79 million shares.
This will result from the transfer of control of the company to French telecommunications and entertainment group Vivendi, announced last November, and the increase in Vivendi’s voting stake in the company.
Delisting of GVT at a price of BRL 56 per share has also been approved by the CVM and the amount has to be paid in cash before the settlement of the tender offer on April 30. An auction will be carried out for the tender in the electronic trading system of BM&Fblovespa to be held on April 27.
Until January, Vivendi held 85.7 percent of GVT.
Brazilian telco Intelig launches BPL technology
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Internet access and fixed telephony services have been launched by a subsidiary of cellco TIM Brasil, Intelig, in selected areas of the capital of Brazil, Sao Paulo. The service will be launched by using broadband over powerline (BPL) technology.
Intelig’s BPL voice and data bundled offering has been named as ‘InteligCombo’ and was launched over the infrastructure of local power utility Eletropaulo. 350 buildings, covering 18,000 homes will initially receive the double-play service.
30% penetration of potential customers covered by the rollout within six months is targeted by the operator which has also announced that coverage will be expanded if demand proves sufficient.
TeliaSonera & Cisco ink cloud computing deal (Sweden)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In order to offer cloud computing services for business customers in Sweden under the banner ‘Business Class Cloud Services’, Cisco and Scandinavian telco TeliaSonera have undergone a deal.
Virtual conferencing services allowing users to join online meetings on mobile handsets will be included in the new range along with the facility of sharing documents and replaying conferences on demand.
According to TeliaSonera, the financial downturn boosted demand for cost-efficient solutions amongst businesses, driving rapid take-up of cloud computing; this gives on-demand access to applications and services over the internet, with customers charged only for the capacity used.
Apple’s iPad attracts existing Apple product owners
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Strong awareness has been created regarding iPad in certain key demographic groups even if the device is not expected to hit the market soon. Current Apple owners have the maximum awareness that comprise 82%. 80 percent of consumers with $100,000 or greater income and 18-34 year olds which comprises 78 percent also have great awareness.
The demography represents the ones with the most interest in buying an iPad. Real interest to own an iPad has been expressed by only 18 percent of all consumers being surveyed while 27 percent of 18-34 year olds and 24 percent of Apple owners said they were extremely or very interested.
IPad being an Apple product is also attracting the attention of the Apple users. “Liking the Apple brand” has been cited by 37% of the people as the top reason for their interest in the iPad along with the quality of “multi-touch screen” driving interest among 18-34 year olds who would also like to play music and access the internet on the iPad.
According to Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD, the most interested potential iPad customers see it primarily as a music device, or for its internet access capabilities
Survey declares Android as the riskiest smartphones for enterprises
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: It has been declared by the security professionals that Apple’s iPhone poses the maximum risk to enterprise’s security as 57% of security workers believed that it is the riskiest of all smartphones.
Android poses 39% risk, 28% risk is posed by Blackberry and Nokia poses 13% risk. According to network security firm, Apple could easily make the iPhone more secure but it continues to do only the absolute minimum to address enterprise security and supportability requirements.
A new enterprise-tailored security feature has still not been introduced by Apple since hardware level encryption in mid-2009 and even that feature was almost immediately compromised. In response to the potential threat posed by smartphones, 58% of the enterprises have already implemented a smartphone security policy to mitigate risk; however, just 65% of these enforce that policy in practice.
Demonstration of a way to hack the iPhone’s SMS database within 20 seconds by a security researcher at the CanSecWest Security first highlighted the vulnerability of the iPhone last week.
Etisalat withholds payments to Pakistan again
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Payment of USD800 million by UAE-based Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) to the Pakistani government is again expected to be withheld by the Middle Eastern company for the fifth month in a row.
The payment was supposed to be made by the end of March as part of Etisalat 2006 acquisition of a 26% stake in Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL). The difference between the Pakistani government and Etisalat over the transfer of real estate units remains unresolved.
According to Mohammad Omran, Etisalat chairman, until now, the government has not released a list of properties to be converted to PTCL ownership and the payment will be made when the list is released. On the other hand, according to Shahab Khawaja, federal secretary at Ministry of privatization (MOP), they have already approached provincial governments to put value to the properties in their respective provinces and as soon as they get it, same will be conveyed to Etisalat and PTCL.
Etisalat has made it clear that the payments will be withheld until properties that were originally part of the company’s 2006 acquisition of a 26% stake in PTCL are registered in the Pakistani operator’s name. MOP has announced March 31, 2010 as Etisalat next payment date.
