Thailand 3G Roll Out process finally initiates: DTAC Ready to start services soon

On 09.02.10, In Mobile, By Editor

The 3G process has finally started in Thailand. According to DTAC CEO Tore Johnsen, the 3G process is finally here but the hybrid licensing regime will be expensive and burdensome for operators.

The 3G licensing system has fee that are substantially lower than what we pay today in revenue share, he stated in the keynote at the GSMA’s annual Asian roaming conference. This puts a lot pressure on everyone to change, because one has to adjust to a licensing system, which is common in most countries, but DTAC still have the old system in parallel. While the country’s existing mobile concessions expire between 2013 and 2018 and will be converted to licenses or terminated, Thailand needed to enter into a complete licensing regime.

The Minister of Finance and the Ministry of ICT are both working on it. If that happens, it would make the systems much easier and you could offer even more competitive pricing than with two different systems.

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Safaricom and Huawei to commence LTE test in Kenya within 2 Months

On 09.02.10, In Mobile, By Editor

Kenya’s largest Telecom Operator ‘Safaricom’ will initiate technical trials of 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) technologies across its network within the next two months. The roll out of the LTE will be carried out by Chinese company Huawei Technologies.

The two companies inked a three year partnership under which Safaricom selected Huawei Technologies to supply its core network requirements, and to facilitate the rollout itself. The roll out of the 4G network is worth US$141.2 million.

According to Safaricom’s CEO Michael Joseph,the company is going to do a technical LTE trial on the spectrum to see if it suits the Kenyan market and its commercial viability. This is completely a technical trial and not a commercial trial and the company is going to do the trials within our spectrum in the next two months. Safaricom is keen to overhaul its billing system and core network, at the same time is expanding its 3G network coverage across the country. These upgrades are expected to begin within the next six months and will be completed in two phases.

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VimpelCom Profit plunges 52% – Q2’2010

On 09.02.10, In Mobile, By Editor

Russian telecommunications firm Vimpelcom has accounted its second-quarter net profit fell by 52.5% to US$334.7 million, though its Revenue mounted 23% to US$2.64 billion. The number of mobile subscriptions was up to 89.4 million while broadband subscriptions grew to 2.7 million.­

According to VimpelCom’s Chief Executive Officer, Alexander Izosimov, Revenues increased substantially as a result of both Kyivstar consolidation and strong organic growth across all key segments of the business. The mobile segment in Russia delivered its highest ever quarterly ruble revenues. Quarterly revenue and margin dynamics in Ukraine improved substantially on a like-for-like basis. In Kazakhstan, company’s largest market in the CIS segment, the strong quarterly results also reflect the macroeconomic recovery.

In Russia, the company saw an increase in usage, tied with stable pricing, led to a quarterly increase in ARPU of 7.2%. The company also considerably stepped up investments as the Russian telecom market resumed its growth.

In Ukraine, the company saw improvement in the macroeconomic situation. During the second quarter, VimpelCom observed less competitive pricing pressure in the mobile segment of the Ukrainian telecom market, which partly helped to offset the negative effect from declining mobile termination rates.

In Kazakhstan, over 14% revenue growth in local currency both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter, reflected signs of economic recovery after more than two years of macroeconomic downturn.

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Videocon faces tough competition: Planning to sell 26% of Videocon Telecommunications

On 09.02.10, In Mobile, By Editor

Videocon Industries is busy looking for possible buyers to sell 26% of its telecom arm Videocon Telecommunications that has 1.9 million subscribers and has a market share of 0.31%. The company in the recent past had started discussion with South Korean company SK Telecom, UAE’s Etisalat and Turkey’s Turkcell.  By selling 26% of Videocon Telecom, the main company will raise around INR 15,000 crores which will be employed to improve services and expand operations to improve customer base.

According to a source, Videocon is struggling to keep up with the major players like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, and Vodafone due to fewer offerings to the customer.

The telecom company currently operations in Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, Mumbai, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, UP East, UP West and Himachal Pradesh. Videocon recently announced 1 paise/sec international calling to US and Canada. Such schemes may help the company in fetching new customers, but if the company wants a stand in the market it needs to improve service and infrastructure to handle larger customer base.

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‘Airtel – Zain’ lost 6 million subscribers in Africa since Bharti’s acquisition

On 09.02.10, In Mobile, By Editor

Zain has lost 6 million of its subscriber’s base from the day it tied knot with Bharti Airtel. Although according to Airtel’s spokesperson, the reporting in Kenya was different from that of other markets where a user is not accounted for if a person did not receive a single call for a month. However, most telcos label a user inactive only if the user has been inactive for anywhere between 3 to 6 months.

After announcing first-quarter results previously this month, Bharti Airtel disclosed Bharti Zain’s subscriber base at 36.3 million as touching over 42 million, the figure peddled at the time of the acquisition.

According to the spokesperson for Bharti Airtel, as good governance and to align the definition of customer reporting of Africa to India, the company reported 36.36 million customers. This represents revenue earning customers only. However, he did not specify if the company was seeing a churn in its African operations.

As part of the $10.7-billion deal, Bharti had agreed to acquire the operations of Zain in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The company is scheduled to unveil the Airtel brand in these countries by October.

Though the acquisition of Zain may have been responsible for the decline in profits, if Bharti doesn’t ensure customer satisfaction in the African nation, revenues and profits will continue to slide.

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