Golden Telecom Continues to Expand Its CIS Partner Network
Golden Telecom, Inc. (“Golden Telecom” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: GLDN), a leading facilities-based provider of integrated telecommunications and Internet services in major population centers throughout Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (“CIS”), announces that it signed recently Interconnection Agreements with two more national carriers, “Telecom Georgia” and “Tajiktelecom.”
Golden Telecom continues its expansion strategy development in the CIS and Baltic Region. “Golden Telecom has long standing partnership relations with more than 130 of the largest national and cellular operators in these regions. Recently, we signed Interconnection Agreements with BITE LT (Lithuania), Telecom Georgia (Georgia) and TajikTelecom (Tajikistan). The agreements give us an opportunity to optimize traffic and guarantee high quality and competitive pricing in both Russian and International wholesale markets,” says Andrey Patoka, Vice-President for the Company’s International and Regional Business unit.
Golden Telecom has partnership agreements with all national and many leading mobile carriers in the CIS and Baltic States. There is a high demand for transit services to the CIS destinations which Golden Telecom can meet through its partnership strategy.
Apart from voice traffic transit, Golden Telecom provides partners in the CIS and Baltic Region with other services such as IP-transit, data services based on Frame Relay and MPLS technology and leased capacity. This approach allows us to build long-term partnerships and implement joint large investment projects.
At the moment Golden Telecom has signed agreements with the following national carriers: Armentel (Armenia), Aztelecom (Azerbaijan), Beltelecom (Belarus), Elion (Estonia), Moldtelecom (Moldova), Kazakhtelecom (Kazakhstan), Kyrgyztelecom (Kyrgyzstan), Lattelecom (Latvia), EO (Lithuania), Ukrtelecom (Ukraine), Uzbektelecom (Uzbekistan), and several cellular operators, which are leaders in their home markets, such as KievStrar (Ukraine), UMC (Ukraine), Ukrainian Radio System (Beeline Ukraine), Sky-Mobile (Kyrgyzstan), Babilon-M (Tajikistan) and Magti GSM (Georgia).
About Golden Telecom
Golden Telecom, Inc. (NASDAQ: GLDN) is a leading facilities-based provider of integrated telecommunications and Internet services in major population centers throughout Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (“CIS”). The Company offers voice, data and Internet services to corporations, operators and consumers using its overlay network in major cities including Moscow, Kiev, St. Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Samara, Kaliningrad, Krasnoyarsk, Alma-Ata, and Tashkent, as well as leased channels and fiber-optic and satellite-based networks, including approximately 293 combined access points in Russia and other countries of the CIS. The Company offers cellular communication services in Kiev and Odessa.
Statements contained herein are forward-looking and are made in compliance with safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include those concerning partnership between Golden Telecom, Telecom Georgia and TajikTelecom, operational issues related to the Interconnection Agreements signed and our continued expansion policy.
The results or events predicted in these statements may differ materially from actual results or events. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the possibility that the details of the agreement will change, or that we are not able to continue our regional development strategy as we anticipate. Additional information concerning factors that could cause results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained in the Company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company’s quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, periodic reports on Form 8-K filed 2007, and the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006.
CATEL to expand coverage
Telegeography writes…Azerbaijan operator CATEL is to enlarge its CDMA network to cover the northern and southern regions by the end of the year, according to local news source Today.Az. CATEL launched its 800MHz CDMA2000 1x wireless-in-the-local loop (WiLL) network in 2003, and started offering mobile services over it in January 2006 following receipt of a cellular operating licence in December 2005. It presently provides coverage of Baku, Sumgait and the Apsheron peninsula, but the announced expansion will give it 80% geographical coverage of the country.
Azercell’s 2006 expansion targets met
Telegeography writes…Azerbaijani cellco Azercell, which according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database had 2.15 million subscribers at the end of September 2006 and a 79% market share, has said that its plans to extend its network coverage last year had been achieved. The operator installed 30 base transmitter stations (BTS) during December, taking the total for the year to 328. The Azercell network at the start of 2007 consisted of two home location registers, 13 BTS controllers, 16 switching centres and 1,078 BTSs.
Azercell to invest USD130 million
Azerbaijan’s leading cellco Azercell has announced it will be investing USD130 million in the course of 2007. Azercell, which had achieved two million subscribers by the end of September 2006, is 35.7% owned by the Azeri government. In June 2006 the government said it wished to sell its stake by the end of the year, but no further announcements have been made.
GSM Marginalises Alternative Technologies in Russia & Central Asia
Such is the dominance of GSM technology in Russia & Central Asia that we have to publish two charts, below, to illustrate the range of standards in use by the the region’s operators. The first of the charts shows GSM customers against all others using non-GSM technology. In fact, whilst it is difficult to see from the chart, GSM’s dominance has increased over the time period shown, from 97.8% of the total customer market at the end of September 2004, through 98.9% at the end of September 2005, to 99.2% at the end of September 2006. At the end of the most recent quarter, 162.4m of the region’s 163.7m customers had GSM connections, with just 1.33m using alternative technologies, down from 1.38m a year earlier.
The absolute decline in non-GSM customer numbers is down to the demise of Russia’s AMPS/TDMA networks, whose customers are mostly migrating onto more modern GSM networks as coverage improves. Russia’s CDMA-450 networks are upgrading some of the migrating NMT-450 users, whilst also capturing new customers, but not at a rate sufficient enough to keep the overall “others” line moving in an upwards direction. Unsurprisingly, CDMA customers grew in number more quickly than their GSM counterparts, with a 55% growth rate in the year to 30th September 2006, ahead of GSM with 33%. W-CDMA was the fastest growing standard by customers, with an increase of more than 600% from an estimated 4k customers at the end of Q3 2005 to 29k at the end of Q3 2006. However, this statistic does not tell us much: there are only three operational W-CDMA networks in the region, which are all in Tajikistan, and are all less than two years old.
As the old analogue networks subside even further, we are likely to see positive growth from non-GSM technologies in the RCA region, driven by CDMA. There are CDMA2000 networks in Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, and a licensed but as yet inoperational business in the form of Catel in Azerbaijan. CDMA technologies are often suited to the coverage of remote areas, of which Russia & Central Asia undoubtedly has its fair share, and there is no question that there is a future for the technology in the region. However, with the GSM standard so dominant, we cannot see that this future will be anything other than that of a niche standard, good for some roamers from the USA, but making little impression on the 79.8% (and change) of world mobile customers using the global standard technology.
TeliaSonera reorganises into 4 divisions
TeliaSonera plans to reorganise the company into four divisions, effective from 1 January 2007. The move is expected to better address the market shift to mobile and data services as well as enterprise managed services and the high growth in the operator’s Eurasian markets. As part of the change in focus, TeliaSonera set a target of SEK 100 billion in sales within two years.The four divisions include mobility services, headed by Kenneth Karlberg, currently president of TeliaSonera Norway, Denmark, the Baltic countries and Spain. Mobility will handle mobile voice and data services for consumers and businesses in the countries of Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Spain. In total the business area has 13 million customers, sales of approximately SEK 40 billion and 7,000 employees.
The business area broadband services will focus on mass market communications services for connecting homes and offices, including triple-play offers. The division, headed by TeliaSonera Sweden chief Anders Bruse, comprises operations in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania and the international carrier operations as well as the associated company in Latvia. The division has 10 million customers, sales of approximately SEK 39 billion and 16,000 employees.
The integrated enterprise services division will cover managed IT and telecom services for businesses in the Nordic and Baltic regions. In an attempt to become market leader for the region, TeliaSonera plans acquisitions in this area to increase its scale and boost growth. It currently has hundreds of managed services customers, sales of approximately SEK 9 billion and 2,000 employees. Juho Lipsanen, currently President of TeliaSonera Finland, will head the division.
Finally the operator’s activities in Eurasia will be grouped into one division. This includes the Fintur (74%) operations in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova. The business area also is responsible for developing TeliaSonera’s holdings in Russian MegaFon (44%) and Turkish Turkcell (37%). In total these operations have 70 million customers with sales of SEK 8 billion. Erdal Durukan will remain president of the Eurasian operations.
Source- telecompaper Wireless Mobile Telecom
TeliaSonera, KPN Report Higher Earnings on Mobile Units Abroad
TeliaSonera AB, the biggest Nordic phone company, and Royal KPN NV, the largest Dutch phone company, reported higher third-quarter earnings on increased subscribers at mobile units outside their home markets.
TeliaSonera’s net income jumped 34 percent to 5.05 billion Swedish kronor ($695 million) from 3.76 billion kronor a year earlier, the Stockholm-based company said today. KPN, based in The Hague, said profit climbed 5.2 percent to 346 million euros ($439.9 million) from 329 million euros a year earlier.
The former monopolies expanded outside their domestic markets to make up for slower mobile growth and a slump in fixed- line phone revenue. TeliaSonera, the result of a merger between the Swedish and Finnish incumbents, made its push in regions in the former Soviet Union, while KPN entered the German wireless market. They have also invested in new networks to cut costs.
“Growth will have to come from mobile, broadband and other new services such as digital TV,” said Joost de Graaf, a fund manager at Kempen Capital Management in Amsterdam, which oversees about $313 million, including TeliaSonera shares. “Meanwhile you’ll have to build a low-cost 21st century network to compete with cable companies. Both KPN and TeliaSonera are doing a good job on that.”
Shares of TeliaSonera rose as much as 4.8 percent to 55 kronor, and traded at 53.5 kronor as of 10:42 a.m. in Stockholm. KPN shares fell as much as 2.2 percent to 10.45 euros, and traded at 10.56 euros as of 10:43 a.m. in Amsterdam. Before today, TeliaSonera shares had gained 23 percent this year, while KPN had risen 26 percent, both outperforming the 25-member Bloomberg Europe Telecommunication Services Index, which rose 8.2 percent.
Rising Revenue
TeliaSonera sales climbed to 23.2 billion kronor from 22.2 billion kronor. Analysts had anticipated profit would rise to 4.46 billion kronor on sales of 23.04 billion kronor, the average estimates of 18 analysts in an SME Direkt survey.
Chief Executive Officer Anders Igel expanded TeliaSonera’s mobile services to include markets such as Kazakhstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Moldavia to make up for slower growth at home. Revenue fell in the company’s saturated Nordic market, where TeliaSonera faces price pressure due to competition from rivals such as Telenor ASA, Tele2 AB, Elisa Oyj and TDC A/S.
The Swedish company also said today it plans to double its 2006 special dividend to 20 billion kronor, on top of the regular payout for this year at the top end of a range of 30 percent to 50 percent of net income. The special dividend had earlier been proposed to be 10 billion kronor.
KPN in Germany
Sales at KPN rose 3.8 percent to 3.04 billion euros. Added subscribers in Germany helped push mobile sales above fixed-line revenue for the first time. KPN had been expected to report net income of 378 million euros on sales of 3 billion euros, the median estimates of 11 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
Fixed-line sales fell 3.8 percent to 1.63 billion euros, less than the 4.8 percent drop analysts had predicted. Mobile unit sales rose 17 percent to 1.69 billion euros.
On a conference call with reporters, Chief Executive Officer Ad Scheepbouwer, 62, declined to say whether mobile revenue will consistently be bigger than for the fixed-line division.
KPN raised its full-year earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization forecast to a “mid single-digit increase” from a previous “low single digit increase.” Revenue is still seen posting a “low single digit” gain in 2006.
“KPN is performing well,” said Petercam analyst Thijs Berkelder, who rates KPN “add.” “It’s key for KPN that mobile grows and in the third quarter they were able to add customers in Belgium and Germany while keeping cost growth under control.”
Profit at E-Plus, KPN’s German mobile unit, rose in the quarter as it gained market share and cut handset subsidies. KPN counts on mobile and Internet calls and services such as digital TV to make up for client defections to competitors such as Tele2.
Nordic Restructuring
To head off slowing growth in Sweden and Finland, TeliaSonera last year said it would cut costs by as much as 6 billion kronor over three years. Of the costs TeliaSonera wants to slash, 4 billion kronor to 5 billion kronor will come from the Swedish unit and the rest from the Finnish division.
Igel, 55, is also moving the company’s network to one that is based on Internet Protocol, or IP, to eventually reduce costs as such systems require less manpower to operate.
TeliaSonera holds 74 percent of Fintur Holdings, which offers mobile services in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldavia. The company also owns 37 percent of Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS, Turkey’s biggest mobile-phone company, and 44 percent of OAO MegaFon, Russia’s third-largest wireless operator.
The company said mobile sales in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldavia rose 27 percent. The earnings contribution from MegFon in Russia rose to 761 million kronor from 390 million kronor a year earlier. The depreciation of the Turkish lira caused the contribution from Turkcell to fall to 420 million kronor from 672 million kronor a year earlier.
TeliaSonera was formed in December 2002 when former phone monopoly Telia AB acquired its Finnish counterpart Sonera Oyj for 89.5 billion kronor in stock and debt. The Finnish state owns 13.7 percent of the company.
Source- http://www.bloomberg.com
TeliaSonera, KPN Profits May Rise on Wireless Growth, Job Cuts
TeliaSonera AB, the Nordic region’s largest phone company, and Royal KPN NV of the Netherlands may say third-quarter earnings rose because of job reductions and growth at wireless divisions overseas.
Stockholm-based TeliaSonera may say third-quarter net income gained 18 percent to 4.46 billion Swedish kronor ($616 million) on sales of 23 billion kronor, the median estimates of 18 analysts in an SME Direkt survey. KPN, based in The Hague, may report net income rose 15 percent to 378 million euros ($482 million), a survey of 11 analysts shows.
The former state monopolies expanded abroad because of competition and slower growth in their home markets. TeliaSonera now operates in countries from Turkey to Azerbaijan, while KPN’s E-Plus unit, Germany’s third-largest mobile operator, probably bolstered third-quarter profit at the Dutch company. The companies have shed thousands of jobs to spur earnings growth.
“Both TeliaSonera and KPN have adapted to increased competition and lower market shares” at home, said Bruno Lippens, who helps manage $12 billion at Robeco Group in Rotterdam, including shares of TeliaSonera, KPN and Sweden’s Tele2 AB. “Those changes have forced them to change strategies, look for new growth opportunities.”
TeliaSonera last year shed 3,000 jobs in Sweden. KPN, which employs about 29,000 people, last year announced plans to reduce its workforce by 1,500 to 1,750 a year through 2007.
Stock Performance
TeliaSonera is scheduled to report earnings on Oct. 31, followed by a press meeting and analyst conference call with Chief Executive Officer Anders Igel. KPN reports on the same day before the start of trading. Tele2, Sweden’s second-biggest phone company, releases earnings on Nov. 1.
Shares of TeliaSonera and KPN are among the 10 best performers in the Bloomberg Europe Telecommunication Services Index of 24 members in the past three months, with TeliaSonera up 25 percent in the period and KPN up 23 percent. The index has gained 11 percent in the period.
Of the 32 analysts covering KPN in the last six months, 15 rate the Dutch company “buy” and four advise selling the stock, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. TeliaSonera has 10 “buy” recommendations and nine sells among 32 analyst ratings.
Telenor ASA, Norway’s largest phone company, last week said profit surged 72 percent as more clients signed up in the Ukraine and Bangladesh. Elisa Oyj, the second-biggest phone company in Finland, said Oct. 20 that third-quarter profit more than doubled on cost savings from an acquisition and faster Internet services.
Russian Ambitions
“Numbers from Telenor and Elisa were encouraging so I expect Telia to also show decent domestic numbers,” said Lippens at Robeco. “Growth from Russia and the Baltics may provide a nice extra.”
TeliaSonera is expanding in faster-growing markets such as Russia. The company, formed in 2002 when Sweden’s Telia AB bought Finland’s Sonera Oyj, said in July it will book a third-quarter gain of about 600 million kronor from selling a stake in MTN Uganda.
TeliaSonera faces competition in its home markets of Sweden and Finland, where revenue probably fell in the third quarter, the SME poll showed.
The company’s biggest investors are still the Swedish and the Finnish governments. The Dutch government cut its ties with KPN in September when it sold its remaining 8 percent stake in the company to raise cash and repay debt.
E-Plus Growth
KPN will likely report a third-quarter profit gain as earnings at its mobile unit rose, aided by spending reductions and sales of wireless services with lower discounts on handsets. Sales probably rose 2.4 percent to 3 billion euros.
Chief Executive Officer Ad Scheepbouwer, 62, has invested in television and Web calls and the German mobile unit E-Plus to make up for lower sales from traditional phone services.
“E-Plus has turned into the main growth driver and value creator within” the Dutch company, Luis Prota, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, wrote in an Oct. 23 note to investors. He rates KPN shares “equal-weight.”
Sales at the mobile unit probably rose 14 percent to 1.65 billion euros, surpassing the fixed-line division, which is expected to report a 4.8 percent decline in sales to 1.61 billion euros, based on nine analyst estimates.
Tele2 probably lost 3.93 billion kronor after a profit of 927 million kronor a year earlier, according to an SME survey. The company on Oct. 3 said it would book a loss of 1 billion kronor from the sale of its French fixed-line telephone and broadband unit to Vivendi SA’s SFR.
Stockholm-based Tele2 will also write down 3 billion kronor to 3.5 billion kronor of goodwill in the third quarter.
Sales probably rose 10 percent to 13.6 billion kronor, the survey found. Tele2 operates in Portugal, Russia, Austria and Latvia. Last year, it closed units in Finland, the U.K. and Ireland.
Moody’s Investors Service rates KPN Baa2, two steps above non-investment grade and one step below Standard & Poor’s rating of KPN. TeliaSonera is rated A2 at Moody’s and A- at Standard & Poor’s, which are higher ratings than those of KPN.
Source- http://www.bloomberg.com
Azercell Concludes G?RS/MMS Agreements with Operators in Hong Kong and Bulgaria
Azercell Telecom, a mobile operator, has concluded GPRS/MMS agreement with Sunday???, Hong Kong, and Mobitel???, Bulgaria, operators, Trend reports.
This is the third GPRS/MMS roaming agreement with Hong Kong and the second one with Bulgaria, which Azercell Telecom??? concluded. Therefore, the subscribers of Azerbaijan’s mobile communication leader could already use GPRS roaming services of Hong Kong CSL Limited and Smartone-Vodafone??? and Bulgarian Globul???.
So far Azercell has signed G?RS/MMS roaming agreement with 58 operators in 29 countries.
Source- http://www.trend.az
