Canada govt allows Wind telecom to start operations; overturns regulator’s decision
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Communications regulator CRTC’s decision has been overturned by the Canadian Government which has allowed Ezyptian based mobile newcomer Globalive Wireless Management, backed by Orascom
telecom, to launch its services in Canada.
Globalive, which operates under the name Wind Mobile, acquired spectrum rights for CDN 442 million in August 2008. At present, the company has built most of its network and would launch service in Toronto and Calgary this month.
CRTC announced in October that the company was operating against telecom law requiring a minimum level of Canadian ownership. Orascom owns slightly more than 65 percent of the equity in Globalive and nearly all of its debt, which the regulator felt gave the foreign investors too much control over the company’s daily operations.
While overturning the CRTC’s decision, Industry Canada, the government ministry said that 80 percent of Globalive’s voting shares are held by Canadians. Besides, the company is based in Toronto and should be considered Canadian and allowed to start services in order to stimulate competition on the mobile market.
The decision has been welcomed by Wind but rival mobile operator Telus which said that this will give an “unique advantage†to Wind, after other companies were told they could not bid with foreign investors in the spectrum auction.
US$800 million to be raised by Orascom from shareholders
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In a move to strengthen the balance sheet and ensure liquidity including financing needs, Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH) has announced to plan a Rights Issue to raise around US$800 million from its shareholders.
The proposed Rights Issue is subject to shareholders’ approval at the EGM to be held on December 27, 2009. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas, Citigroup Global Markets Limited, Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Limited and EFG-Hermes has been appointed by OTH to advise on the Rights Issue.
Weather Investments owning approximately 50.6% of the outstanding shares of the company has expressed its commitment to subscribe for a minimum of its existing pro rata share in the Rights Issue.
According to Naguib Sawiris, Executive Chairman of OTH, the transaction will enable the company to strengthen its balance sheet to benefit fully while the conditions improve across their core markets.
In the meantime the company will work towards the optimal resolution of the tax dispute in Algeria. The Rights Issue has been chosen at par as per common practice in the Egyptian Capital Markets.
France telecom to acquire Ezypt’s Mobinil
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: France Telecom got a green signal from Egypt’s regulator to acquire the assets of Egypt’s largest mobile carrier Mobinil. The decision puts an end to the dispute between France Telecom and Orascom
Telecom, other major shareholder in Mobinil.
Three offers ranging from EGP187/share, EGP237/share, and EGP230/share were made by France Telecom to buy Mobinil shares. The final offer that was accepted was 245 Egyptian pounds per share (€30.15).
Orascom Telecom is now left with two options, either to respond to the decision by selling all its shares of Mobinil and the holding company to France Telecom or objecting to the offer and challenging it through court or another arbitration round.
Meanwhile, the French Competition Authority fined France Telecom with €63 million, along with its Caribbean subsidiary, Orange Caraibe, following a complaint from Bouygues Telecom’s Caribbean subsidiary. In the complain, the telco is accused of thwarting competition in the mobile and landline markets in the French overseas territories of Guadeloupe, Martinique and Guyana.
In other complaints it is also accused of offering fixed to mobile tariffs to corporate clients at rates that were below reasonable costs.
CCK receives petition from Telkom-Kenya to lower 3G prices
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK) got petition from Telkom-Kenya to bring down the fee required to be paid by telecommunications companies to get a third generation (3G) license. It is the
second petition received by CCK in a month from any operator. Currently, the industry regulator is charging $25 million (Sh1.9 billion) from the telecom operators as a 3G license fees.
The operator feel that the amount is unreasonable and might frustrate the industry’s efforts to avail affordable communication services. According to Mickael Ghossein, chief executive Telkom-Kenya, any positive response from CCK will be welcomed as such a huge amount is involved in this project.
Earlier, Zain-Kenya said the operators will take long time to recoup investments due to low returns while they have to pay high costs for acquiring the license in a competitive environment.
Alacatel-Lucent to provide BSS solution to Morocco’s Maroc Telecom
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Maroc Telecom, a global fixed, mobile and internet telecommunication operator in the Kingdom of Morocco, has chosen Alcatel-Lucent as its billing and customer care system integrator. As per the deal, Alcatel-Lucent will evolve Maroc’s mobile billing platforms towards a new fully converged and integrated version.
Alacatel-Lucent’s solution that combines customer care, rating and billing and network integration services will help Maroc to offer flexible, high-quality, value-added services to its mobile customers. Through this contract, Alcatel-Lucent has confirmed its leadership in business support system (BSS) solutions, including software and integration services.
According to Abdel Mounim Ghetreff, Head of Alcatel-Lucent’s business in Morocco, the deal establish relationship between Alcatel-Lucent and Maroc Telecom and will enable Maroc Telecom to propose more personalized billing and support services to its customers. It will also improve revenue collection and leakage prevention.
Sasatel sign up for Seacom cable
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Sasatel became one of the few telecom companies in Tanzania to sign up for connection to the Seacom cable. The move is aimed to deliver superior service, speed and reliability to its Internet customers.
According to Sasatel Chief Technical Officer, Jonas Edgren, due to the passage of Sasatel Internet traffic through the Seacom cable, Sasatel customers can now avail the facility of efficient and high quality internet connectivity.
Sasatel also provides affordable internet connection to homes and individuals including small, medium and large businesses through its CDMA network via EVDO WiFi Routers, the EVDO Modem and the Fixed Wireless phone.
Etisalat may get Libyan license by the year end
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: UAE-based telco Etisalat hopes to receive Libya’s third GSM license by the end of the year 2009. The company is also interested in expanding its service to the Lebanese market.
According to Jamal al-Jarwan, head of Etisalat’s international investments, the company is waiting for privatization in Lebanon and would like to take a majority stake in one of the existing two operators there.
The license tender was launched by Libya’s General Telecommunication Authority on February 16, 2009. The result was supposed to be announced in following June, however, interest in the concession only gathered pace in July.
RIM and Alcatel-Lucent joins Alfa to provide BlackBerry solution in Lebanon
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Lebanese mobile operator Alfa, managed by Orascom Telecom’s launched the BlackBerry solution for Alfa customers in Lebanon along with Alcatel-Lucent and Research in Motion.
BlackBerry® smartphones like the BlackBerry® Boldâ„¢ 9000 smartphone and the BlackBerry® Curveâ„¢ 8900 smartphone; along with unlimited1 MB for BlackBerry® Service local usage is offered by Alfa to its customers.
Users of the Alfa mobiles can enjoy various features like easy, wireless access to email, phone, calendar, web, multimedia and a range of other business and leisure applications. Subscribers also get an added incentive from Alfa which is offering one month’s free subscription with BlackBerry Internet Service to the first buyers of any BlackBerry® smartphone.
According to Samer Salameh, CEO of Alfa, the joint effort of the company with Alcatel-Lucent and RIM is focused on providing exceptional service to the customers. The strong local presence of Alcatel-Lucent and RIM will provide an edge to Alfa to implement, launch, deliver and support services for the BlackBerry solution in the Lebanese market.
Telkom Kenya (Orange) to conduct 3G trials
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In order to enter Kenya’s fast-growing mobile data market, a series of 3G trials will be conducted by Telkom Kenya (Orange) across its mobile network.
The number of customers of the telecom operator rose from 697,000 a year ago to 772,000, this year. The company now intends to build on this growth by investing in the budding data market and 3G presents the opportunity to achieve fast growth. Submarine cable systems like SEACOM and TEAMS, has also boosted network capacity and bandwidth availability, leading to the growth in demand for data services in Kenya.
Telkom’s rival Safaricom was first to roll out 3G services, to obtain a licence in October 2007 and to launch W CDMA-based services in 2008. Safaricom also announced an increase by 93.6% over the year that ended 30 September 2009, with internet representing 17.7% of its revenues.
Zain Kenya followed suit in October 2009 and purchased its own USD25 million 3G concession in preparation for a network rollout.
Etisalat mulling over Iraq’s telecom option, to decide by year en
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The second-largest Arab telecom operator by market value, Emirates Telecommunications Corp, or Etisalat said that it will decide whether to bid for a licence or buy a stake in a local player in Iraq, by the end of 2009.
The company is holding talks with Korek Telecom of Iraq, to acquire 51% stake in the company. Etisalat is also planning to bid for fourth mobile telecom license in Iraq after the government announced plans earlier this year to launch a new auction.
Etisalat is waiting to hear from the Libyan authorities about the company’s bid for a license in the region besides, bidding for third mobile license to be launched by the Syrian government.
The company is also keeping a close eye on Iran’s situation where the Abu Dhabi-based company along with a consortium won an international tender for Iran’s third mobile phone license in 2009. However, the deal later fell through.
