Orange CEO Ahuja chosen to lead Harbinger’s future carrier
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Orange CEO Sanjiv Ahuja has been chosen by US hedge fund Harbinger to lead its efforts to build a new high-speed mobile carrier in the US using LTE technology. Besides providing access to 13 MHz of terrestrial spectrum, the new company has a controlling interest in SkyTerra Communications, an L Band mobile satellite services company.
An LTE network will be built by the company to combine a terrestrial wireless broadband network with next-generation satellite technology. The aim will be to provide nationwide wireless broadband connectivity.
Harbinger is in talks with potential strategic investors including US operator Qwest Communications and South Korean conglomerate SK Holdings to raise USD 1-2 billion in equity and bank financing for the venture. The venture plans to start service in the trial markets Phoenix and Denver.
France Telecom revenue falls 2% in Q1
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 2.0 percent drop in the first-quarter revenues has been reported by France Telecom to reach EUR 10.959 billion. The EBITDA also came down to EUR 3.764 billion falling 4.8 percent from a year earlier. UK operations are not included in the figures as after its merger with T-Mobile UK, it has been reported to be discontinued.
In France, revenues were down 2.4 percent to EUR 5.77 billion and in Spain it fell 3.3 percent to EUR 923 million. Ivory Coast, Kenya, Senegal and Uganda accounted for 7 percent revenue growth in the Africa and the Middle East region.
Due to regulatory effects and new taxes in France, EBITDA margin fell to 34.3 percent from 35.4 percent a year earlier on a comparable basis. Following high spending in Q4 and bad weather in Q1, capital expenditure was down 21 percent from a year ago to EUR 874 million.
Google emerges as world’s most valuable brand
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: According to a survey commissioned by an adverting group to find Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands”, Google has emerged as the world’s most valuable brand. 14% increase in the brand value of Google has been reported from 2009 to USD 114.26 billion in 2010.
The ranking welcomed social networking site as a new entry into the list for the first time with a brand value of USD 5.5 billion.
Others in the ranking list include- IBM, up 30 percent to 86.38 billion, Apple up 32 percent to USD 83.15 billion, Microsoft unchanged at USD 76.34 billion, Coca Cola up 1 percent to USD 67.98 billion, McDonald’s down 1 percent to USD 66.01 billion, Marlboro up 15 percent to USD 57.05 billion, China Mobile down 14 percent to USD 52.62 billion, GE down 25 percent to USD 45.05 billion and Vodafone down 17 percent to USD 44.4 billion.
Samsung, NSN conduct first TD-LTE call (China)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: World’s first TD-LTE data call using a prototype end-user device has been conducted by Samsung and Nokia Siemens Networks and the trial was done Nokia Siemens Networks’ R&D Center in Hangzhou, China. Samsung provided the interoperability between them and the network.
According to Byung-Duck Cho, executive vice president of Samsung Electronics’ R&D Center, as the evolutionary path for China Mobile’s 3G TD-SCDMA networks, as well as an option for other operators around the world who have available unpaired spectrum, TD-LTE is one of the important global standards and the demonstration ensures the cohesive development of our devices for the roll-out of TD-LTE technology at a quicker pace.
Marc Rouanne, head of Nokia Siemens Networks’ Network Systems business unit on the other had opined the trial as an important milestone in building the TD-LTE ecosystem and shows their global commercial readiness for deployments of TD-LTE, expected in the second half of 2010.
Telstra MD leaves to join Bharti
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Drew Kelton, the managing director of telecom operator Telstra International is leaving the company to take a senior post at Indian telco Bharti Airtel. Kelton’s departure was announced by the company earlier this week.
After the exit of former digital media Chief Justin Milne, Kelton exit is the second senior resignation from Telstra within a month.
Kelton has been a member of Telstra since 2002 and looked after the company’s offshore capacity and managed services businesses. Telstra International appointed Robbiati as group managing director last December overseeing Telstra’s investments in CSL and Reach and China search and advertising businesses.
Airtel launches mobile radio service in India
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A mobile radio streaming service has been launched by Bharti Airtel on its network in co-operation with FM radio station Radio Mirchi. Through this service, users will be allowed to listen to Mirchi radio stations from anywhere in India via their phones.
Payment of $0.23 per week will have to be made by the customers for 100 minutes of listening time each week. The service will be initially launched in Mumbai and Delhi followed by a national launch shortly.
According to Airtel marketing director Shireesh Joshi, Airtel is committed to continue delivering innovative offerings that enhance its customer’s experience on their mobile phones. Local vendor Spice Digital has provided mobile streaming technology to Mirchi Mobile. Sprint Digital is mainly known for its music-on-demand portfolio.
3G auctions in India to close in 2 days
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Indian telecoms minister Andimuthu Raja has announced that the much hyped 3G auction currently going on in the country will get over in “one or two” days.
On the sixteenth day of the auction, bids for one set of nationwide 3G mobile spectrum licenses reached 89.14 billion rupees ($2 billion).The amount is over 2-½ times the base price.
Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, RCom and Tatas along with five other telcos are in the fray to bag the spectrum but it has still not been disclosed who all are in the final round of bids being conducted online.
QTel aims 50,000 mobile broadband subscribers by next week
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A milestone of 50,000 mobile broadband subscribers on its 3.5G network within the next week is aimed to be achieved by Qatar Telecom (Qtel).
Qtel launched 3G W-CDMA services in July 2006 and a 3.5G HSDPA upgrade in December 2007. Mobile broadband internet packages for laptop/PC users were not launched by the company as late as 2008. This was followed by HSUPA upload in the first quarter of 2009.
According to the company, the popularity of the service took off significantly when it launched a pre-paid mobile broadband option in December 2009 and claims that users can expect to receive actual internet speeds ranging from 1Mbps to 3Mbps, depending on their proximity to a Qtel 3G tower.
Spanish telco Jazztel Q1 revenue rises 35%
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 35% rise in the first-quarter revenues has been announced by alternative Spanish operator Jazztel in the three-months ended March 31, 2010. 56% and 47% rise in the retail revenue from its voice and internet services respectively has also been recorded.
Total revenues of EUR136.9 million (USD180.5 million) has been posted by Jazztel for the three-month period and EBITDA leapt up by 166% compared to the same period a year earlier, EUR15.7 million.
The net losses of the company narrowed as a result of impressive performance and it posted a loss of EUR3.5 million compared with EUR16.2 million in 1Q09. ADSL retail subscriber base has also risen 680,804, up by 58% compared to its end-March 2009 figure at the end of March 2010.
