Vimpelcom building a solid South East Asian Cluster – Boris Nemsic, CEO Vimpelcom.
VimpelCom will pay about $66 million for Millicom’s 78 percent stake in Millicom Lao Co. Ltd. The remaining 22% of Millicom Lao Co., Ltd. is owned by the Government of the Lao PDR.
VimpelCom’s CEO Boris Nemsic describes the deal as, “the next logical step in our international expansion strategy” and one that “fits perfectly into our strategy of building a solid Southeast Asian cluster.”
VimpelCom already has mobile operations in Vietnam and Cambodia, having launched services in both markets in July 2008. It holds a 40 percent stake in a JV established with state-owned GTEL in Vietnam. In Cambodia, it owns 90 percent of Sotelco.
Laos has a population of 6.5 million people and low mobile penetration estimated at around 23%, thus making it attractive for Vimpelcom and an obvious choice for acquisition.
Millicom to exit Asia totally by Q1 of 2010. Sells Laos share to Vimpelcom for $66 Million.
Millicom has agreed to sell its GSM business in Laos to Russia’s VimpelCom and has bidders lining up for its Sri Lankan operations, the sale of which will end Millicom’s activities in Asia. VimpelCom will pay about $66 million for Millicom’s 78 percent stake in Millicom Lao Co. Ltd.
Last month Millicom agreed to sell its 58.4 percent share in CamGSM, Royal Telecam International, and Cambodia Broadcasting to its Cambodian partner, The Royal Group, for $346 million in cash.
That leaves just Sri Lanka from Milicom’s Asian portfolio, and its operations there are also up for grabs. Millicom is the sole owner of Celltel Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. It was the first mobile operator in Sri Lanka. Mobitel and Tigo both claim to be the second largest. Dialog GSM is the country’s largest operator.
Indian State owned, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL), UAE’s Etisalat, Malaysia’s Axiata Group and India’s Bharti are also said to be bidding to acquire Tigo Lanka.
Axiata’s Dialog and Airtel already operate in Sri Lanka. Airtel winning the bid might sit better with the regulator since Axiata winning it would give Dialog an overwhelming position in the market.
Millicom expects to exit Asia Q1 of 2010. At the end of the first quarter, Millicom had a total of just over 4.5 million subscribers in Asia. Millicom’s Asian Revenues for 2008 are at $262 million with an EBDITA of $101.5 million. This is a year-on-year increases of 24.4 percent and 27.5 percent respectively.VimpelCom will pay approx $66 million for Millicom’s 78 percent stake in Millicom Lao Co. Ltd.
Star Telecom intends to roll-out 3G service (Laos)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A mobile communication provider of Laos, Star Telecom has promised to roll-out third generation (3G) system in the country in the coming time, media reports. The company is now studying the market before deciding when to introduce the 3G service to local customers, said Saeng Alounboulana, Head of the Lao Star Telecom Administration.
Saeng said the move had been made possible with cooperation with Viettel, one of the leading mobile communications providers of Vietnam.
Once the 3G service is launched, Star Telecom will provide high level audio and visual communication and internet access services to local mobile users nationwide, added Saeng.
He further said the company had completed installation of 700 base transceivers in Laos and planned to complete 1,200 phone signal stations around the country at the end of 2009.
Currently, Starcom is home to more than 200,000 subscribers.
Millicom likely to sell Sri Lankan, Cambodian units to Axiata (Sri Lanka)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Millicom is considering to sell Sri Lankan, Cambodian units to Axiata, the Malaysian owned mobile group formerly known as TM International. Axiata is deeming to offer a total of USD700 million. According to a report, in Sri Lanka, the group’s Tigo-branded GSM network operating unit could receive a takeover bid worth USD200 million from Axiata, which already owns the island’s cellular market leader by subscribers, Dialog Telekom.
In another report, sources revealed that the deal as saying that Millicom’s market-leading Cambodian subsidiary CamGSM (Mobitel, offering pre-paid services as Cellcard) may be offered USD500 million by Axiata, which owns the country’s fourth-placed cellco Telekom Malaysia International Cambodia.
Millicom Chief Financial Officer Francois-Xavier Roger said that the group is considering selling Sri Lankan operations separately or together with the business in Cambodia and potentially Laos.
Axiata said, ‘in-country consolidation is of strategic importance in some of our markets.’
Millicom sees interested bidders for Asian operations
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Millicom, the mobile operator, has reportedly revealed that several parties have shown interest in acquisition of its Asian operation. The company appointed Goldman Sachs to look at strategic options for the activities, including a possible sale. The Asian operations, which include operators in Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Laos, generated revenues of $68 million and net profit of $4 million in Q1’09.
Lao Telecom launches 3G service in capital (Laos)
Lao Telecommunication, Thailand, launches it’s 3G services in Vientiane, the capital of Laos.
The telco also plans further expansion across the country in 2009. Lao Telecom is country’s first mobile operator to launch 3G service and expects a 3G subscriber base of 30,000 by year end and 10,000 by 2009 end, targetting the young and the businessmen.
SkyTelecom picks Aperto’s PacketMax for WiMAX service
Southeast Asian operator SkyTelecom has selected Aperto Networks’ PacketMax system for the launch of a commercial WiMAX service in Indochina. The initial deployment will take place in the city of Vientiane, Laos and will provide broadband wireless voice and data services to both businesses and consumers. SkyTelecom’s deployment of PacketMAX will take place in September and will be followed in October by a commercial trial. The initial deployment will test PacketMax 3000, Aperto’s single sector base station, and PacketMax 100, Aperto’s outdoor subscriber unit. Both products are WiMAX Forum Certified and will be supported by WaveCenter PRO EMS, Aperto’s GUI-based element management system.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
NTT DoCoMo establishes office in Vietnam (Vietnam)
Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo has established an office in Hanoi, Vietnam. DoCoMo will use the Hanoi office to explore business opportunities, and strengthen relationships with government officials and corporate executives in the Vietnamese market. The office, operated by a staff of four, will also have oversight for Laos and Cambodia. This is the company’s fourth overseas office, joining existing facilities in Beijing, Shanghai and Singapore.
Cosmote milestone
Cosmote Romania has passed the one million-subscriber mark, just over a year after its relaunch, reports Dow Jones. Cosmote of Greece acquired a 70% stake in struggling Romanian cellco CosmoRom in July 2005 and opted to relaunch with new branding towards the end of the year. Company CEO Nikolaos Tsolas says the fact that it has signed a million customers in twelve months ‘is a clear indicator of the increasing market responsiveness, the growing consumers’ preference, as well as confidence in our company and our brand name’.
