www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With an annual growth of approximately 98% on a like-for-like basis, 6.3 million customers has been added by Hong Kong based Hutchison Telecom, taking its customer base to approximately 12.8 million. The relaunch of the operators business in Vietnam and ongoing expansion of the network coverage in Indonesia paved the way for this massive expansion in the subscribers’ numbers.

Larger Indonesia operation and the revenue generated by the newly launched GSM services in Vietnam led to the rise in the revenue by 2.7% year-on-year to US$239 million. With the disposal of the Group’s entire indirect stake in Israel’s Partner Communications, ¬the net profit for the year increased from US$239 million to US$817 million.

According to Dennis Lui, Chief Executive Officer of Hutchison Telecom, 2009 saw the Group unlock significant shareholder value again and the company has created, maximized and delivered value for its shareholders over the five years since listing – an achievement that has been based on pursuing carefully chosen opportunities with a measured approach. Mr. Lui also revealed that Hutchison will continue to work on building out its principal growth markets to a fully competitive state.

Hutchison Whampoa, a majority shareholder in the company is currently in the process of being taken off the stock market.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Hutchison Whampoa, a majority shareholder in Hutchison Telecommunications International (HTIL) has approached the company regarding a possible general offer to shareholders. However, the details of the offer are yet not released.

Trading of the shares was halted by HTIL due to the delay in the release of an announcement by Hutchison Whampoa. The company has been selling assets recently, including its holdings in India and Israel. The home market Hong Kong of HTIL has been spun off into a separate company, recently.

Hutchison Whampoa could access to its significant cash reserves by taking the company private. Besides, it could result in a merger with Hutchison’s other telecom activities, the 3 mobile networks in Europe.

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www.WirelessFederation.com/news: MTN, the South African mobile operator intends to finalise the merger talks with Indian giant Bharti Airtel as soon as possible, a media report suggests. MTN Chief Executive Officer Phutuma Nhleko reportedly said that they wanted to finalise the talks with Bharti Airtel as quickly as possible in order to remove shareholder uncertainty.
According to Nhleko, the aim of the two operators is to benefit from “economies of scale” that might come from the merger. MTN, the South African mobile operator intends to finalise the merger talks with Indian giant Bharti Airtel as soon as possible, a media report suggests. MTN Chief Executive Officer Phutuma Nhleko reportedly said that they wanted to finalise the talks with Bharti Airtel as quickly as possible in order to remove shareholder uncertainty.
According to Nhleko, the aim of the two operators is to benefit from “economies of scale” that might come from the merger.

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www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Bharti Airtel, the Indian mobile operator, has reportedly secured $5 billion in funding from a consortium of international and local banks, taking it closer to a merger with MTN South Africa. The media reports suggest that deal could be inked by early September.
Bharti has lined a $1.5bn Indian rupee equivalent and a $3.5 billion portion that will be used to help fund the purchase of shares.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (TCIL), the state – run firm, is likely to sell its 30% stake in India’s leading mobile operator, Bharti Airtel.
TCIL would invite bids from global firms for the stake in Bharti Hexacom through a two-stage bidding process and would appoint advisers shortly, the government said in a statement.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Bharti Airtel, India’s leading mobile operator, has reportedly announced the launch of its m-Commerce service ‘mChek on Airtel’, enabling its susbcribers to pay their Airtel mobile and fixed-line bills on the voice platform. The service will also enable subscribers to recharge Airtel mobile pre-paid and DTH accounts through Interactive Voice Response (IVR). The subscribers will have to call 543219 to access the service, which is toll free, and this service ensures seamless and secure use of voice (IVR) for m-Commerce transactions for all Airtel mobile customers, Airtel said in a statement.
“There is a tremendous potential for voice enabled m- Commerce services in India and we are giving a huge thrust in this area. We believe that m-Commerce has the power to facilitate a paradigm shift in the way mobile users do commercial transactions and business in future,” Bharti Airtel President (Mobile Services) Atul Bindal said.
To avail the service the subscribers will have to call the number and create their own six-digit mChekPIN and link their VISA/Mastercard credit card and for later transactions, the subscriber needs to enter the PIN on their registered mobile number to authorise the transaction.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Bharti Airtel, the India’s leading mobile operator, has reportedly introduced a matrimony service dubbed as ‘MShaadi’ for their mobile subscribers. The interested subscribers will have to dial *321*11#, which is a toll free number. Upon subscription of the services, subscribers will receive alerts of prospective brides or grooms as per their desired criteria. The services will be charged Rs. 5 for five days.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The negotiations between the Indian biggie Bharti Airtel and South African giant MTN are likely to continue further as both operators extend the deadline to 30 September. Despite the fresh delay, Sunil Mittal, the Bharti Group’s chairman and managing director, has said that he remains positive that a deal can be reached, while also refuting claims that Bharti was under pressure to sweeten the deal. Commenting on the development Mittal noted: ‘We are not really looking at sweetening the deal… There are no contentious issues over the deal structure. During discussions, there will be adjustments to what was announced earlier, but that is not the area of focus. We are looking at administrative issues, the process of seeking permissions and working towards a scheme of arrangement acceptable to all.”

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Bharti Airtel Ltd. is not looking to sweeten its deal to take control of South African telecom company MTN Group Ltd., Bharti Chairman Sunil Mittal’s reportedly said.
“We are not looking at sweetening the deal. There are no contentious issues over the deal structure. During discussions, there will be adjustments to what was announced earlier, but that is not the area of focus,” he said.
The merger has been extended for the second time to 30th Sept.
“We are looking at administrative issues, the process of seeking permissions and working towards a scheme of arrangement that is acceptable to all,” Mittal added.

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www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Alcatel-Lucent and Bharti Airtel Limited, Asia’s leading integrated telecom services provider today announced the appointment of Arnaud Soubelet as the CEO of their joint venture Alcatel-Lucent Network Management Services India Ltd (ALNMSI).
The joint venture will manage Bharti Airtel’s pan India wireline broadband and telephone services. It will also support their transition to next generation networks (NGN) to offer advanced services like high-speed internet, triple play, media-rich value-added services, MPLS, virtual private networks (VPN) for both retail and business customers of Airtel. The new entity which began pan India operations on August 1 st with 4,000 employees, is headquartered in NCR (National Capital Region). (more…)