Orascom interested in Telekom Srbija privatization
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Orascom Telecom Holding has expressed its interest in the privatization of Telekom Srbija. Belgrade confirmed the plan in March to auction a 40% stake in the telco in September 2010.
Government plan to list 15% of the company on the local bourse with a further 5% going to current and past employees has also been revealed.
A tender to select an adviser for the sale had been announced by Serbia’s finance ministry in April. As a criteria it opined that the adviser must be an investment bank (or a consortium comprising an investment bank) which has handled the sale of a telecoms company from Europe, the Middle East or the Commonwealth of Independent States in the last three years worth at least EUR500 million.
In the tender that closed on the May 10, 2010 Citigroup was reportedly the sole bidder. According to the Serbian government, it believes its 80% stake to be worth around EUR2.5 billion, which if correct would mean that it is expecting to raise around EUR1.25 billion when the sale takes place.
Orange plans to launch low cost Android phone in Europe
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: LG-made low-cost Android smartphone is planned to be launched by Orange in Europe later this year. Operator’s affordable smartphone strategy has been emerging this week and it includes a range of devices made by Chinese vendors including Huawei, ZTE and Gigabyte.
According to Patrick Remy, Orange’s vice president of devices, at the beginning of 2010, 15% of Orange portfolio was smartphones and this will rise to 30% by the end of the year, and will be 50% by 2013 while with the plethora of white label devices in the pipeline, Orange’s low-cost smartphone portfolio will also include handsets designed by “A-brand” phone makers. The company LG is on the first A-brand product in its affordable smartphone range.
No specific information about the launch timetable and likely cost of the device has been revealed yet. The handset includes the entire standard features like a touchscreen interface, WiFi, GPS, full Web-browsing, and a five megapixel camera and the Android-powered smartphone will launching soon in Spain, Austria, Slovakia and Romania.
The company has explained its objective as- to make low-cost smartphones available for free even on low-cost tariffs and it is in discussions that could see it offer cheap smartphones to prepay customers, with devices that are priced around €120. Orange’s aim of doubling revenues from mobile multimedia services between now and 2012 will get a push from these cheap smartphones.
The operator is putting extra focus on highlighting services like mobile social networking, instant messaging, location-based services and content, taking lesson from the fact that at the beginning of 2009 only one in 10 Orange customers was using mobile multimedia services.
Remy also opined that 25% of Orange’s customers are now using mobile multimedia, which is significant and tremendous growth, but it still means 75% of its customer base are not multimedia users and Orange’s affordable smartphone range will further lower the barrier to mobile multimedia uptake.
Telefonica to indulge in hostile bidding for Portugal Telecom
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: If Spanish telecom company, Telefonica fails to persuade the Portugal Telecom to sell out its Brazilian mobile phone joint venture, it is ready to engage into hostile takeover bid of the Portuguese company. Pressure has also been build up by Telefonica finance director Santiago Fernandez Valbuena on Portugal Telecom’s shareholders by announcing that it might block the Portuguese company’s access to dividends from the joint venture.
Telefonica is Portugal Telecom’s largest shareholder, with a 10 per cent stake and the two companies are said to be entangled by an unhappy marriage in Brazil with Telefonica looking for exclusive control of Brazil’s largest mobile operator Vivo.
An investor roadshow in Europe and the US will be started by Valbuena with a hope that some Portugal Telecom shareholders will back Telefonica €5.7bn ($7bn) offer to buy the Portuguese company out of Vivo, their joint venture. He also insisted that Telefonica would not raise its offer.
Telefonica Brazilian fixed-line phone business, Telesp is also underperforming amid increased competition and the telco wants to improve its position by merging Vivo and Telesp so that it can secure €2.8bn of cost savings. Due to Portugal Telecom’s skepticism about the merger, Telefonica had to make an offer to buy the Portuguese company out of Vivo.
Two Portugal Telecom shareholders have backed the board’s rejection of the €5.7bn offer, but Valbuena claimed other investors were interested. Telefonica and Portugal Telecom jointly own Brasilcel, a holding company with a controlling stake in Vivo. In case the offer fails, Portugal Telecom’s ability to secure Vivo dividend payments via Brasilcel might be blocked by Telefonica.
Depending upon the performance by Vivo in 2009, Brasilcel is due to pay a dividend of €111m each to Telefonica and Portugal Telecom this year. According to Valbuena, it would be crazy for Telefonica to pursue a takeover of Telecom Italia if the Spanish group’s offer to buy Portugal Telecom out of Vivo fails.
Orange launches Mobile Money service in Madagascar
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The mobile payment service of Orange has been launched by the company under the brand name Orange Money in Madagascar in early May. Banque Malgache de l’Ocean Indien (BMOI) and post office Paositra Malagasy (PAOMA) are the two partners of the telco in this project.
Mobile customers will be allowed to deposit, withdraw and transfer money, to easily buy call credit, to pay for goods at certain retail partners and to pay bills, through this service. Orange Money has been introduced by the telco to two West African countries in the last few weeks, Senegal and Mali after studying customer needs in each market, with the intention of developing additional, more advanced mobile payment services such as international money transfers.
Local banks with which the telco has signed a partnership deal will be responsible for issuing and guaranteeing the electronic money.
AT&T, LG to unveil new mobile TV device on June 6 (USA)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: LG Vu Plus, AT&T’s latest Mobile TV-enabled device has been announced to be launched on June 6 by AT&T and LG Electronics. Access to full-length live and time-shifted content from FLO TV for $9.99 per month has been promised by the operator.
Vu Plus is compatible with AT&T’s HSPA 7.2 Mbps technology.
Some of the features of the handset are- a touchscreen with four-line QWERTY keyboard, enhanced user interface and the AT&T Social Net social networking aggregator application.
AT&T Navigator turn-by-turn service can also be signed up by subscribers for $9.99 per month and the devise will be available at AT&T for $149.99 after $50 mail-in rebate.
Arcep receives three bids for 3G spectrum (France)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Three bids one each from France Telecom (FT), Vivendi’s SFR and Iliad (Free) has been received by the French telecom regulator Arcep. The bid has been invited for the final two allocations of ultra-high speed wireless frequencies.
The winner of the spectrum will be chosen by the regulator by end- may. The spectrum comprises 2 x 5MHz of spectrum for 3G wireless services.
EUR120 million (USD152 million) has been reserved by Arcep on each block of frequency. No further information has been provided for the actual bids being tabled and till now three firms have been divulged. However, Bouygues Telecom has not submitted a bid for the frequencies.
Serbia to be advised by Citi consortium on Telekom sale
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Serbia has got a consortium led by Citigroup as the sole bidder to advise it on the sale of a 40% stake in Telekom Srbija. Two week time has been left with the tender commission to consider the financial offer by the consortium and decide whether to accept it.
Plan to sell of half the 80% stake in Telekom Srbija has been announced by Belgrade in March along with the investment of the money in infrastructure projects.
Government called a tender for a financial advisor as a part of the sales procedure to determine the value of shares and advise the best sale procedure. According to Deutsche Telekom, it is mulling an offer for the stake; it already has an interest via Greek operator OTE which owns the remaining 20% of the Serbia Company.
Mobilicity gets CRTC approval to launch in Canada
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has given green signal to -Mobilicity (DAVE Wireless) to operate as a telecommunications carrier. Mobilicity has announced its launch in Toronto this week and Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa will witness the roll out subsequently.
According to Mobilicity Chairman John Bitove, the company has been given the approval to offer Canadians truly competitive wireless services and the company wants to thank the CRTC for its insightful handling of its application and let consumers know that Mobilicity will be bringing simplicity and value to Canadian wireless customers very soon.
License handed over to Mobilicity gives it the permission to cover more than half of Canada’s population in 10 of the 13 largest markets including Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa.
Maroc Telecom revenues rises 4.3% (Morocco)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Consolidated revenues of MAD7.437 billion (USD858 million) has been reported by Moroccan telecoms group Maroc Telecom in the first quarter of 2010, reflecting an increase of 4.3% compared to the same period in 2009.
The total customer base of the group stood at 22.4 million, up by 14% year-on-year, across divisions in Morocco, Mauritania (Mauritel), Burkina Faso (Onatel), Gabon (Gabon Telecom), Mali (Sotelma) and Belgium (Mobisud Belgium).
EBITDA reached MAD4.282 billion, up 1.5% y-o-y and consolidated operating income rose 0.5% year-on-year to MAD3.205 billion. Fixed, mobile and broadband operations of the company in Morocco garnered MAD6.095 million, down 0.7% year-on-year. Financial impact of marketing and communications efforts has been attributed the reason behind the gain.
