France raises US$ 3.45 billion in 4G mobile licence auction (Europe)
Mobile operators Bouygues Telecom, Orange France and SFR were successful in winning 4G mobile licences in the 800 MHz band. According to reports, the Government of France was able to raise US$ 3.45 billion through this second round of auction.
The country’s telecommunications regulatory authority, ARCEP, is hopeful that these licences will help improve the competition in the wireless industry. Sources claim that both Orange and Bouyges Telecom were awarded one frequency block each for US$ 1.16 billion and 890.3 million respectively. SFR was the only operator successful in acquiring two frequency blocks for US$ 1.4 billion.
Telecom operator Free Mobile was unable to acquire a licence, but reports reveal that the operator will be able to offer services on SFR’s network under certain conditions.
KPN to decide between retention and sale of French unit (Europe)
Leading Dutch telecommunications and ICT service provider, Royal KPN is expected to take a decision regarding its French business in the next six months. According to reports, amidst increasing competition in the French wireless market, the company will decide if it would sell its business in France or work towards strengthening its presence in the market.
KPN currently operates as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) under the brand ‘Simyo’ via the networks of Orange and Bouygues Telecom. Further, sources claim that competition is expected to intensify even more with the addition of mobile operator Iliad SA to the wireless market which currently includes Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom.
Ortel Mobile ties up with Orange for MVNO services (France)
KPN owned virtual operator Ortel Mobile has reportedly tied up with Orange to use its network for new customers. According to reports, a spokesperson for KPN has said that they’ve added Orange as a network operator in an effort to reduce dependence on a single supplier – Bouygues Telecom. However, Orange has reportedly claimed that the move comes in an effort to improve the quality of the service offered.
As per sources, all the new SIM cards will be issued on the Orange network; however, there will be no change for the existing customers who will continue with Bouygues Telecom. Further, Ortel Mobile has been using Bouygues Telecom’s network since it launched services in France in early 2010. The SIM cards issued to the old customers are locked to the Bouygues network which is not expected to be switched to Orange.
Bouygues Telecom picks Alcatel-Lucent for broadband network transformation (France)
Bouygues Telecom, a French mobile phone and Internet service provider company, has reportedly selected Alcatel-Lucent to transform its broadband network into a single IP-based infrastructure capable of supporting voice services along with video and high-speed internet.
According to reports, the operator is looking to deploy an IP-based model in the core area of the network connecting it with other service providers along with the access part of the network that connects with the subscribers.
As per sources, the new IP network will improve the overall quality of service for voice and data, and will also help the operator to offer services to many devices, such as smartphones and its BBox residential gateway.
Bouygues Telecom appoints Casas as new company secretary (France)
French operator Bouygues Telecom has appointed Didier Casas as the new company secretary. He has held the same position at bank Dexia Credit Local since January 2008.
Casas is a judicial officer in administrative law and has worked as a state prosecutor specializing in public economic law and as former parliamentary assistant of the deputy mayor of Grenoble.
He has served as legal counsel to several public organizations including France’s energy regulator and the Louvre museum, as well as several years as lecturer at Poitiers University, Science Po and ENA.
ARCEP releases accuracy audit of GSM coverage maps (France)
French telecommunications regulator ARCEP has released the results of its 2010 audits to verify the accuracy of GSM coverage maps published by mobile network operators Orange France, SFR and Bouygues Telecom.
Field surveys have been used each year since operators began publishing coverage maps in 2007. Arcep found a 98% level of accuracy in last year’s maps and explained that 100% accuracy is very difficult to achieve, notably due to uncontrollable variations in radio propagation. Last year the figure was 96%.
The tests require an at least 95% success rate in making and maintaining a call from a fixed position with a standard handset for 1 minute.
The regulator found that although the reliability of the maps is generally good at the national level, it still needs to be improved in certain municipalities, and has reminded operators of the need to correct the published maps. Audits to be performed in by the end of October will include 286 new municipalities.
Bouygues Telecom posts full-year 2010 results (France)
French fixed line, broadband and mobile services provider Bouygues Telecom has announced that its sales rose 5% year-on-year to US$7.786 billion in 2010 and sales from network services increased by 4% at US$7.01 billion.
The telco added that excluding the impact of the cut in voice and SMS call termination rates, sales from network services would have climbed by 14% year-on-year.
According to Bouygues, in 2010, it successfully offset the effect of reduced call termination rate differentials and higher taxes, with EBITDA rising 2% y-o-y to US$1.88 billion, although net profit fell 6% to US$615.29 million, reflecting higher amortization charges mainly linked to commercial success in the fixed broadband segment.
Bouygues Telecom added 842,000 net new mobile contract customers in 2010, representing 23% of net market growth for the segment. The telco had a total of 11.084 million mobile customers as at 31 December 2010, 79% of them on a monthly call plan, increased by 2.5 percentage points over the year.
In addition, strong growth continued in the fixed broadband business, with 154,000 new customers signing up in the fourth quarter of 2010, and 494,000 over the year as a whole, giving the operator a total of 808,000 fixed broadband customers at the year end.
IBM introduces new services for communications service providers to build high quality multi-play networks
IBM today announced new services for mobile operators, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), communication service providers and cable companies transforming their network infrastructures to address exploding data demands while launching their next generation voice, video, data and mobile services.
With a crowded marketplace and increased price volatility, subscribers expect their providers to offer the latest cutting edge services — and furthermore, they expect superior quality of service, security and reliability. To compete, communications service providers need data and application aware networks that support new innovative consumer services and the ability to support advanced analytics in their network to ensure high quality and reduced costs.
IBM’s Communications Service Provider Network Infrastructure Services tackles the challenges in building advanced networks by enabling providers to develop new revenue generating services while controlling costs. More specifically, IBM’s services provide the professional services for solution planning, migration, architecture, detailed design, project planning, deployment, and end-to-end multi-vendor infrastructures.
Major French communication service provider, Bouygues Telecom, worked with IBM to consolidate its multiple networks — voice, data, TV and mobile — into one high end multi-vendor backbone with advanced policy control features to support quadruple play. This solution gives Bouygues Telecom the agility needed for their daily operations and provides to their consumers a higher level of quality and availability with dynamic network backup.
IBM delivered Bouygues Telecom an end to end network solution by providing services from high level design to daily maintenance,†said Jean Paul Arzel, Network Director, Bouygues Telecom. They worked with us to integrate solutions from third-parties such as BootEdge from ActivNetworks to compress and optimize data traffic over 3G to save bandwidth. Their understanding of our constantly evolving industry and the unique challenges we face has been key to the success of the project.â€
We have built worldwide expertise based on nearly a decade of helping clients build next generation network infrastructures and new services,†said Laurence, Guihard-Joly, VP, Integrated Communications & Security Services, IBM. This portfolio is the result of that experience and our ongoing investments in new solution capabilities such as mobile broadband, video distribution, cloud and the service assurance monitoring infrastructure that is the foundation for deploying the advanced analytics required by our clients.â€
IBM works with the top 1,000 communications service providers worldwide, including all 20 of the largest global providers.
Orange, Bouygues, SFR set up online payment venture (France)
France Telecom SA’s Orange unit, Bouygues Telecom, Vivendi SA’s SFR unit and Atos Origin SA have reportedly created a company to provide online payment services.
According to reports citing Buyster Chief Executive Officer Eric Gontier, the company, called Buyster, aims to compete with PayPal Inc., Google Inc. and Apple Inc. in providing payment systems in France for users of mobile phones, tablets and computers. The company will be operational from this summer.
Bouygues Telecom won’t transfer VAT Tax hike to customers (France)
French fixed, broadband and mobile operator Bouygues Telecom has claimed that it is absorbing the cost of a government-imposed tax hike which took effect on 1 January and will not pass on the rise to its customers. However it has also claimed that its DSL broadband users are set to see a small rise in their monthly connection fee.
According to reports, France has increased value added tax (VAT) to 19.6% from 5.5% on combined internet, TV and telephony packages, scrapping a reduced rate applied to the TV portion of triple-play bundles.
As per earlier reports by Bouygues’ rivals SFR and Numericable, tariff increases to partially compensate for a VAT rise on triple-play services. SFR will raise retail broadband prices by US$2.66 for most monthly packages and by US$1.33 for its entry-level option and many of its mobile tariffs on 1 February 2011, whilst cableco Numericable’s prices will rise by 3% on average as of August 2011.
France Telecom has stated that it will increase monthly tariffs by between US$1.33 and US$4 as of February 2011, although a company spokesperson has stated that the tax increase will still cost it around US$93.35 million a year.
Earlier this month Bouygues indicated it would pass on at least some of the tax hike to customers, but in its latest release says mobile phone customers and people with a fibre-optic connection will see their monthly fees unchanged, while customers with an ADSL connection will see a US$2.50 monthly increase on their bill.
