KPN Q1 results progressing in line with 2012 outlook (Netherlands)
KPN, the leading telecommunications and ICT service provider in The Netherlands, revealed its financial results for Q1 2012, with results progressing in line with the expected results for the transitional year of 2012.
As per the company report, the operator claimed that financial results were according to plan in first quarter of transition year and the EBITDA and FCF were impacted by phasing and accelerated investments in The Netherlands. Revenue growth was good with a good EBITDA margin in Germany, while operations in Belgium showed strong underlying growth.
KPN CEO, Eelco Blok said that the overall performance of the KPN Group in the first quarter of the 2012 transition year was according to plan. The implementation of the accelerated investment strategy for The Netherlands is on track, and they have made several key management appointments that will help them achieve their strategic ambitions.
In Consumer Mobile, they have made substantial improvements to their propositions and have expanded their distribution footprint. In Consumer Residential, their TV market share increased further and the implementation of the regionalization approach is starting. Results in Germany reflected revenue growth at a good EBITDA margin, while Belgium showed another strong quarter. They continued to invest in the high speed data network roll-out in Germany and Belgium and in new propositions to support growth. The roll-out of the high speed data network in Germany is on track to reach the target of 80 percent population coverage by the end of this year.
On the cost side, they continued to make progress with their FTE reduction program in The Netherlands of 4,000-5,000 FTE which they now intend to complete by the end of 2013, two years earlier than originally planned. Included in this, KPN has set a tough but achievable target for Group headquarters to reduce costs by 30-40 percent by 2013.
The current financial performance of the company is not in line with their medium to longer term ambition. The accelerated investment strategy in this transition year, combined with a focus on quality and simplification to drive customer satisfaction and reputation, will support a sustainable level of profit for The Netherlands from end-2012. Group profits and cash flow are planned to improve in the second half of 2012, driven by a better performance in their Dutch businesses. Therefore, he confirmed the 2012 outlook.
Belgium’s 4G spectrum auction valued at US$ 103.7 million (Belgium)
Belgian regulatory body BIPT (Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications) has reportedly said that it has sold 4G licences to four bidders at a value of US$ 103.7 million. According to reports, the 2,575-2,620 MHz frequency block (TDD spectrum) along with 6 frequency blocks in the 2,500-2,570 MHz and 2,620-2,690 MHz frequency bands (FDD spectrum) were put up for the auction.
As per sources, the operators who were successful in the 4G spectrum auction include Belgacom at US$ 26.9 million, BUCD BVBA at US$ 29.9 million, KPN Group Belgium at US$ 20.04 million and Mobistar at US$ 26.7 million. Mobile operator Craig Wireless Belgium also bid for the 4G licence spectrum but was not successful.
Telefonica signs network sharing agreement with China Unicom (Spain, China)
Spanish telecom operator Telefonica has reportedly entered into a strategic partnership with China Unicom, wherein both operators will use each other’s networks to expand their coverage. According to reports, the deal will provide Telefonica access to China Unicom’s network in the regions of Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Australia, France and Sweden.
In return, China Unicom can reportedly increase its presence through Telefonica’s network in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, USA, Puerto Rico, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria Denmark, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland.
Reports suggest that Telefonica believes this agreement will help both operators expand their capabilities to provide telecom services to various customers in different geographic areas.
Vodafone may be in talks to acquire KPN’s Spanish unit (Europe)
Telecom giant Vodafone may reportedly be in talks to buy the Simyo mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Spanish business from Dutch telecom company, KPN. According to reports, KPN has been looking for prospective buyers, including Vodafone, for the sale of its Spanish operations.
As per sources, Elco Blok, CEO, KPN had said earlier in the year that they were looking to refocus KPN’s international mobile division, including expanding Ortel, its mobile phone business which targets immigrants, and would cut inefficient operations outside the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
Simyo is a low-budget, pre-paid mobile phone service, offered by KPN which is only obtainable online in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Spain, while Ortel is available in all the countries where KPN operates. Reports suggest that there are around 800,000 mobile customers using pre-paid services offered by KPN’s Spain and France units.
Nokia, RIM lead mobile market, Apple lags behind (India)
While Apple iPhone’s have become quite the rage across the world, India, the world’s second largest mobile phone market, receives fewer handsets than most of the smaller markets, as per recent reports. Nokia and Research In Motion have been the most successful in India’s mobile market with 602 million subscribers.
Analysts suggest that one of the reasons for Apple’s lower market share in India is the inability of Indian wireless carriers to offer fast services that use the iPhone features to the fullest. As per reports, the 3G network in India isn’t at par with the services offered in regions like Western Europe and Northern America. Further, as Apple only sells its products through licensed resellers, accessibility to the product can also become an issue.
As per the World Bank estimates, about 900 million people live on less than $2 a day in India. With the cheapest iPhone 4 selling for $705 and the cheapest iPad 2 costing about $603, affordability is also a cause for concern for users in the nation. In contrast, Apple’s U.S. online store offers its users the iPhone 4 at $199 with an AT&T Inc. contract and the iPad at $499. Sources claim that while only 62,043 iPhones were shipped to India during the last quarter, lesser than those send to Norway, Belgium or Israel, the number of iPads shipped was as low as 21,150 accounting for only 0.2 percent of its global total.
As per sources, Nokia accounted for 46 percent of India’s smartphone shipments in the quarter ended June 30, followed by Samsung Electronics at 21 percent, RIM at 15 percent while Apple accounted for only 2.6 percent. Further, reports suggest that Nokia and Research In Motion Ltd. sell more devices in India, where smartphone shipments are forecast to grow almost 70 percent a year until 2015.
Analysts claim that RIM got the right product, the right timing and the right app. RIM’s BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) instant-messaging service gained popularity because it was one of the first, and it functions well on 2G speeds as well. As per reports, Krishnadeep Baruah, Director of Marketing for Waterloo, Canada-based RIM in India said that RIM, which entered India in 2004, plans to extend its lead over Apple after expanding distribution to 80 cities from 15 starting last year.
As per industry estimates, smartphone shipments in India are expected to grow at an average of 68 percent a year, to 81.5 million units by 2015.
Mobistar to upgrade its network with LTE equipment from Huawei (Belgium)
Mobistar, Belgium’s second largest mobile network provider has reportedly said that it plans to replace its entire 2G Nortel equipment with the new Long Term Evolution ready (LTE ready) equipment from Huawei.
The company plans to upgrade its entire network by 2013 citing that the new Huawei base stations would cut the company’s carbon-dioxide by around 50 per cent. As per the contract, nearly 500 cellular antennas will be replaced this year, with the remaining network upgrade spread across the next year, following project completion by 2013.
The new 3G equipment obtained through the $49 million project is expected to increase the firm’s transmission capacity and in-building penetration capabilities.
Telenet Tecteo Bidco joins the group of 3G licensees (Belgium)
Earlier, a 3G license for Telenet Tecteo Bidco was announced by BIPT, the telecom regulator in Belgium. The company has finally, been awarded the 3G license in the wake of the conditions to have been accepted by the licensee on 29 July.
To start with, the telco had offered BIPT $874,296 per month for the total spectrum available which was 1950.1-1964.9 MHz /2140.1-2154.9 MHz. In addition, Telenet Tecteo Bidco had chosen to pay the amount bid in annual installments over a total period from July 2011 to March 2021.
At this point, the conditions of the licence have been accepted by Telenet Tecteo Bidco, in addition to the payment to have been paid by the telco for 2011.
Eventually, Telenet Tecteo Bidco has joined the group of 3G licensees, the other constituents being Belgacom, Mobistar and KPN Group Belgium. The new entrant into the 3G space is bound to roll out related services in no later than 18 months from the date of when the licence was granted, i.e. 15 July 2011.
Paradoxically, Telenet Tecteo Bidco is yet to formally confirm its first step into the 3G space but the telco has expressed its ambitions with regard to the prospective acquisition of the reserved spectrum in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands, and wanting to deploy services on the back of these spectrums for the first time on 27 November 2015.
4G licenses in the 2.6 GHz band are expected to be auctioned in the autumn. As on 1 June, 2011, the announcement has already been published while 14 October, 2011 has been set as the deadline for candidates to apply.
BBC unveils iPad app in Europe for its TV shows
BBC, the UK based broadcaster has announced the unveiling of an app for Apple’s iPad. The app makes it possible for reviewing the BBC television shows by way of the iPad’s inbuilt iPlayer app.
It is going to be an on-demand subscription service. Western Europe will witness the app’s launch in 11 markets, ahead of subsequent launches elsewhere. Services will be offered at $10.04 per month or $71.86 annually in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Republic of Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland, in the app’s initial launch.
Subscribers will be able to both stream and download shows for offline viewing – the major highlight of the BBC app.
EU member states served notice to expedite implementation of new telecom regulations
25th May 2011 was the deadline set by the European Parliament and the EU’s Council of Ministers for the member states of the European Commission for full implementation of the new EU telecoms rules as part of their national law. Twenty of the EU member states have been sent information requests as to why they have not yet reverted with regard to the stipulated implementation of the telecoms rules.
Under the EU infringement procedures, the information requests are equivalent to letters of formal notice.
Under the ambit of the new EU telecoms rules, phones, mobile services and internet are taken into account with regard to rights of the consumers and businesses. The highlights of these rights comprise of customers being empowered to switch telecoms operators in just one day without changing their phone number, more transparency regarding the services customers are offered, in addition to securing their personal data online.
So far only seven Member States namely Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Malta, Sweden and the UK have confirmed the Commission of full implementation of the rules; a majority of the EU member states having notified the Commission of implementation to certain extents while the legislative processes are continuing.
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain constitute the twenty other Member States that are yet to respond to the letters of formal notice within two months, failing which or even not being convincing, the Commission stands to issue the concerned Member States, a formal request to implement the legislation. The second request will be the form of a ‘reasoned opinion’ under EU infringement procedures. Eventually, the matter will be referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Vodafone looks to improve customer experience while roaming with latest roaming offers (Malta)
Vodafone announces new call and internet usage rates while roaming. The new offerings lets consumers pay at local rates outside of the local zone.
At the cost of $1.39, customers will now be able to take advantage of a 10 minute call while roaming as well as use 30 MB of data per day for $4.17. Vodafone is looking to bring to customers an enhanced experience at competitive rates.
Vodafone’s latest offerings are applicable in Vodafone networks across Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and United Kingdom, in addition to roaming in Austria on Mobilkom, Belgium on Belgacom, France on SFR and Switzerland on Swisscom.
According to Daniel Grech, Business Marketing Manager at Vodafone Malta, Vodafone’s initiatives with regard to roaming are part of the bigger effort to provide customers the most competitive roaming rates as well as roaming service.
