MTNL to add 2 million subscribers in two cities (India)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Addition of two million lines each in New Delhi and Mumbai has been planned by Indian state-run telecom company Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd on its global system for mobile communications technology.
Addition of 200 telecom towers in New Delhi and 291 towers in Mumbai has also been planned by the company during the current fiscal year that ends March 31. Equipment to set up 500,000 additional broadband lines in New Delhi and Mumbai would be installed by MTNL.
According to junior Telecommunications Minister, Gurudas Kamat, out of the total two million, one million GSM capacities has already been commissioned in Delhi and Mumbai each, and remaining is under installation. Currently, MTNL has 784,000 broadband users in the two cities.
BSNL’s board decides to scrap GSM deal (India)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A tender worth $6 billion to supply equipment for 93 million mobile phone lines on the global system for mobile communications, or GSM, platform has been decided to be scraped by the board of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
Scarcity of GSM lines have been suffered by the state run Indian telco, in its bid to increase its subscriber’s addition pace to match the bigger rivals Bharti Airtel Ltd., Reliance Communications Ltd. and privately held Vodafone Essar Ltd.
A report submitted to the Indian government by a panel set up for the restructuring of BSNL and led by, adviser to the country’s Prime Minister Sam Pitroda led to this decision. Changes in BSNL’s procurement processes and procedures have been suggested by the panel in consultation with the Central Vigilance Commission, the country’s federal corruption regulator.
It has also been alleged that the cancelling of the whole tender process has also been suggested by the panel.
Controversies hit the much-delayed tender due to various issues including legal and government directives right from the start. First BSNL was dragged to the local court by the telecom equipment maker Nokia Siemens Networks after it was disqualified for the tender, as it didn’t meet “techno-commercial criteria.
L.M. Ericsson Telephone Co., Huawei Technologies Co, Alcatel-Lucent, ZTE Corp. and Nortel Networks Corp included in the list of bidders.
MTN, FIFA launch ‘1Goal: Education for All’
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: ’1Goal: Education for All’, a mobile campaign has been started by South African operator MTN in partnership with FIFA, ahead of 2010 Fifa world Cup to enable millions of mobile users to participate in advancing global education. Under this campaign, MTN and its partners will collect names and support from the public, footballers, and celebrities to petition all governments to meet their Education for All targets by 2015.
The aim behind this campaign has been classified as providing good quality public education to all children and adults by 2015 and prioritizing those who are currently missing out on an education, getting them into school, and making sure that once they’re in school, they get the chance to learn with qualified teachers.
An international communications campaign will also be run by the operator to harness public support for 1Goal, coordinated by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association. The association will enable millions of people to sign up via a host of mobile response mechanisms
BSNL’s GSM tender on hold
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Tender to set up 93 million mobile phone connections based on the global system for mobile communications technology by India’s state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has been put on hold. The matter is under Central Vigilance Commission, a federal corruption watchdog.
The CVC will investigate charges of irregularities in the tender to set up 93 million mobile phone connections. According to H.C. Ahluwalia, general manager, marketing, the telecommunications services provider will touch the 1 million subscriber base mark on its third generation network by March end, as against 600,000 currently.
BSNL puts Zain purchase on hold.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has put its plan to be a part of the consortium looking to buy a stake in Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Co, on hold. The decision was taken as the information sorted by Vavasi Group has still not been received.
Vavasi Group which is not yet listed in India had tied up with Al-Bukhary group of Malaysia to buy a 46% stake in Zain. It was trying to add state-owned Indian telecommunications firm like BSNL and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd., to the consortium. By joining the consortium, BSNL and MTNL seek to widen its horizon beyond India.
Earlier, Gurudas Kamat, India’s junior telecom minister had said that both MTNL and BSNL are not very serious about joining the consortium.
The state owned telecom companies are facing stiff competition from private sector companies. According to BSNL Chairman Kuldeep Goyal, BSNL’s revenue is going to be severely hit by the latest tariff war in the current financial year.
The company is planning to add 20 million working lines to its present 50 million on the global system for mobile communication platform, over the next six months. Besides, it is also planning to spend INR140 billion in the current fiscal year to expand its mobile services.
Egypt to sign 3rd mobile license contract with UAE company-led consortium
The Egyptian government is expected to officially sign on Aug. 21 the third mobile-network license contract with a consortium led by Etisalat, a UAE-based telecom company, the state-run daily Al-Gomhuria reported.
Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif will attend the signing ceremony, said the daily.
The new company led by Etisalat is set to begin providing mobile services by mid-February in 2007 in major Egyptian cities and resorts, such as Cairo, Alexandria, Hurghada and Sharm el- Sheikh, according to Egyptian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Tareq Kamel.
The Etisalat-led consortium has deposited the full amount of the license fees to an designated Egyptian bank account, said Amr Badawi, Chairman of the National Agency for Regulation of Telecommunications.
On July 4, Etisalat beat eight other bidders to win the third mobile phone network license, along with its three other Egyptian partners, namely, the Egypt Post, the National Bank of Egypt and the Commercial International Bank.
The consortium won the bid by offering a staggeringly high price at about 2.9 billion U.S. dollars.
The new service provider will use the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) system and the third-generation (3G) technology for its network.
The current Egyptian mobile service market is shared by Vodafone Egypt and Mobinil, a joint venture between Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Holding and France Telecom.
Vodafone Egypt and Mobinil had a combined subscribers of about 13 million at the end of 2005.
Source- http://english.people.com.cn
Technorati : 3G, Egypt, GSM, Mobinil, Orascom, Vodafone Egypt
Ice Rocket : 3G, Egypt, GSM, Mobinil, Orascom, Vodafone Egypt
