Idea Cellular cuts 3G tariffs by 70 percent (India)
Indian telecom operator Idea Cellular seems to be following Bharti Airtel’s footsteps by announcing a reduction of 70 percent in its 3G tariff plans. As per a company statement, Idea decided to cut 3G tariffs to widen the new-age offering by making it accessible to one and all.
The company said that under the new plan, Idea’s pre-paid and post-paid customers will pay $0.0005 for 10 kb of data, a reduction of 70 per cent from the earlier levels of $0.0018. Further, Idea said that 3G services are offered in 3,207 towns across the country and it has 2.7 million active users with an average usage of 330 MB per month.
Idea also said that it has introduced various packs such as sachet packs, regular packs and unlimited packs, priced in a way to accommodate users from different segments. The lowest of the sachets will be sold for $0.18 and offer 30 minutes of high speed internet surfing on 3G enabled handsets.
SingTel Group’s mobile customer base reaches 445 million (Singapore)
Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) announced that the Group posted another quarter of strong growth in customer acquisitions. As at 31 March 2012, the Group had a total mobile customer base of 445 million, an increase of 11 per cent or 42.9 million from a year ago.
Airtel’s total mobile customer base reached 241 million as at 31 March 2012, an increase of 29.2 million or 14 per cent from a year ago. In India, Airtel’s mobile customer base grew by 19.1 million or 12 per cent to 181 million. During the quarter, Airtel introduced ‘Airtel Money’, India’s first telco-led mobile wallet service on a nationwide basis.
In Africa, Airtel had a total mobile customer base of 53.1 million, an increase of 8.9 million or 20 per cent. In the quarter, Airtel expanded the rollout of its 3G services to five more countries in Africa: Ghana, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania.
Telkomsel’s total mobile customer base stood at 110 million, up 10.5 million or 11 per cent. Its market share was at approximately 43.3 per cent as at 31 March 2012, up 0.4 percentage point from a quarter ago.
Optus continued its postpaid customer growth momentum with net additions of 82,000 this quarter which included a one-off reduction of 33,000 to a wholesale service provider’s customer base. Excluding this adjustment, postpaid customer net additions this quarter were 115,000.
Prepaid customers were stable at 4.29 million. Net additions for the full year were 421,000, bringing Optus’ total mobile customer base to 9.49 million, up 5 per cent from a year ago. Postpaid customers comprised 55 per cent of the total base, up 2 percentage points from a year ago.
The number of 3G customers increased to 6.63 million, a 6 per cent increase from a quarter ago. This included a base of 1.58 million wireless broadband customers, an increase of 23 per cent from a year ago.
In Singapore, SingTel further grew its market leadership to 45.9 per cent. Its total mobile customer base grew by 273,000 customers or 8.3 per cent from a year ago to 3.58 million as at 31 March 2012.
Full year net additions in the postpaid segment were 171,000 customers, lifting total postpaid customer base by 9.6 per cent to 1.95 million. The growth was driven by increasing demand for smartphones and data SIMs from integrated mobile broadband bundles.
In the prepaid segment, SingTel’s customer base grew by 102,000 customers or 6.7 per cent to 1.63 million, led by strong demand for 3G offerings such as 3G SIM, data and Blackberry value added services. SingTel continues to drive data usage among prepaid customers, empowering them with faster Internet access at lower costs with the introduction of ‘Opera Mini Browser’.
Umniah begins preperation for 3G launch (Jordan)
Umniah, the leading telecom operator in Jordan and a subsidiary of Bahrain’s Batelco Group, has announced that it was gearing up for the rollout of 3G services across the kingdom in the coming months, according to a report by TradeArabia.
As per ther report, Umniah said preparations were underway for the completion of the newest 3G network in the Kingdom. The company confirmed that it is in the process of finalizing the network in order to meet the growing demands for high-speed Internet in the Jordanian market.
The operator announced that it had signed key agreements with Huawei and ZTE to assist in the technical requirements related to the building of the 3G network for Umniah’s corporate and individual subscribers.
Umniah CEO Ihab Hinnawi said that they are expecting to launch their 3G services in the coming few months. Further, the market has shown a number of indications that signify its readiness for 3G services as they have seen an increased demand for broadband Internet services, an increase in smartphone penetration rates, an improvement in purchasing power as well as a rise in content and applications that are suited to our community and lifestyle.
Hinnawi said Umniah had invested $70.4 million in January for a 3G licence and dedicated additional amounts towards infrastructure and network expenses.
As per the report, the telecom group had also acquired 2.1 GHz of spectrum from the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC), preparing it to move forward with the rollout of the advanced 3.75G services to its growing customer base, he stated.
Umniah currently serves more than 2.3 million customers in the Kingdom, giving it a 31 per cent market share, he added.
Orange Jordan to invest $114 million for 3G launch (Jordan)
Telecom operator Orange Jordan has reportedly invested $ 114 million to launch 3G services in the region and offer users’ better mobile broadband services. In order to provide seamless mobile services to the consumers, Orange has partnered with Ericsson to manage and expand its network.
As per reports, Sami Smeirat, vice-president of Jordan Telecom Group for Business Services and CEO of Jordan Data Communications, said that they have invested around $700 million on building infrastructure in the last 10 years as an enabler, and they are the first to introduce 3G in the country.
Smeirat added that they cover around 95 per cent of the country with their broadband network. Further, they have 5,000km of fiber optic cable to businesses and are increasing it by 2-3km per day. 85 percent of the phones used in the country are smartphones and the remainder are conventional models.
He said that the developed network increased their international business, where 30 per cent of the revenues are from wholesale services. They have witnessed a shift in customer behaviour, largely as a result of proliferation of smartphones and other types of internet-enabled phones.
MTN launches 3G services in Ivory Coast (Africa)
MTN plans to offer its customers 3G services as soon as possible following the receipt of 3G licences in Benin and Ivory Coast. According to reports, Christian de Faria, MTN Group Chief Commercial Officer, said that this is exciting news for their customers, as they will now enjoy the benefits of world-class connectivity. They are grateful to the governments of Cote d’Ivoire and Benin for enabling MTN to further enhance the experience of mobile telephony for their customers.
Wim Vanhelleputte, the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), announced that West African Cable System (WACS), a submarine cable stretching 14,000 kilometers between Portugal and South Africa, will upgrade connectivity for Ivoirians to international standards.
Vanhelleputte said that this is a dream come true for many Ivoirians whose internet access has been held back for a very long time. The cable will allow more Ivoirians to enjoy fast access to the internet. They have already identified about 30 per cent of subscribers who will be the first to experience and enjoy the 3G service.
Regarding the licence offered in Benin, Eric Tronel, Chief Executive Officer for MTN Benin, said that MTN is the first and only operator in Benin with a license which allows the use of new generation technologies, such as 3G, 4G, LTE and Wimax. This presents a great opportunity to improve business communication solutions and other services to customers, both in the consumer and corporate sectors. Customers are already eagerly waiting for the launch of new services using the new technology, and MTN Benin is working hard to ensure that customers are not disappointed.
Vodafone rolls out 3G services in Uttar Pradesh (India)
Vodafone has launched its 3G services across large parts of Uttar Pradesh.
According to Vodafone East UP chief operations officer Ravi Santhanam, the Vodafone 3G services will give its customers a faster, smarter and better mobile experience with internet access at speeds up to 21.1 Mbps.
He added that the new service will empower Vodafone customers with exclusive access to retransmission of live matches of the cricket World Cup and streaming of entertainment and other content on their compatible mobile devices.
The launch of the 3G Services is supported by an extensive multi-media advertising campaign that will bring alive the benefits of this exciting and fascinating world of 3G.
He further stated that currently, customers in east Uttar Pradesh will have access to Vodafone 3G services at no additional cost.
Presently, Vodafone 3G services will be available in Lucknow and Kanpur. It will be extended to Allahabad and Varanasi over the next two months and subsequently in the remaining cities.
True vows no lay off at Hutchison (Thailand)
Thai communications True has announced that it will retain the employees at the Hutchison mobile service when the company takes over the business.
True’s Chief Executive Suphachai Chearavanont vowed that none of the 1,000 people working for Hutchison’s Thailand business will lose their jobs. True, through two subsidiaries, has acquired the business in January from Hutchison.
According to Suphachai, the initial focus would be on maintaining the existing 800,000 Hutch subscribers, and on migrating them to 3G services on a HSPA platform.
Reliance Communications to launch 3G services in Rajasthan (India)
Reliance Communications has announced that it will be launching 3G services in 12 cities of Rajasthan, including Jaipur within a month.
According to Vinay Chandok, Hub Head– Gujarat and Rajasthan, Reliance, Communications, demonstration of 3G capabilities at Jaipur is an integral part of their vision 2015 of creating a Wirefree India, built upon the affordable 3G for all platforms.
He added that the 3G services will be launched within a month in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Bikaner, Ajmer, Udaipur, Sri Ganganagar, Bhiwadi, Alwar, Pilani, Pali and Bhilwara. The range of services to be offered includes video calling, mobile TV, video streaming.
All the applications will be accessed at superfast speeds ubiquitously on a variety of mobile and personal computing devices, for which the company will make available different customized plans for different users.
