Lenovo Puts CNY100mn in Mobile Operations

Lenovo Group Limited, a leading personal computer maker, today holds a meeting for mobile Internet developers in Beijing, announcing strategies for its online application shop. Meanwhile, the company reveals the setup of an investment fund supporting developers.

Since its promotion in May 2010, the online application shop has accumulated more than 2,000 applications, 2,774 individual and team developers, 542 corporate developers and download of over 2 million times, representing a daily download of more than 20,000 times since October.

Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing iterates that his company will not save money in the input of mobile operations. The investment fund has an initial size of CNY 100 million and is operated and managed by professional investment team under the aegis of Legend Holdings Ltd.

The investment fund will focus on angel investment in startups engaged in providing mobile Internet applications and service. It will not only inject capitals into them, but also support their promotion and marketing, R&D, upstream and downstream cooperation and value-added service. Its first investment target is Guangzhou Hua Yue Digital Technology Co., Ltd.

Telecom Italia fires mobile head: Reports

If reports are to be believed, Fabrizio Bona, the head of the consumer domestic market of Telecom Italia S.p.A’s mobile operations, has been fired following continued poor performance in that division.

A former Wind S.p.A director, Bona was appointed in July 2009 to revamp the consumer client division of the company’s mobile operations.

Poorer results in the Italian mobile division weighed on Telecom Italia’s nine-month results, released Thursday, prompting the company to admit the reversal of a negative trend in its domestic mobile business will take longer than anticipated.

America Movil to combine fixed, mobile operations under Claro brand (Argentina)

Mexican telecoms operator America Movil will join its fixed and mobile operations in Argentina under the Claro moniker from 20 October 2010.

According to reports, the move will make Claro the first operator in the country to offer telephone and internet services under a single brand, on the same bill and using its own infrastructure.

America Movil began the incorporation of its fixed line subsidiary Telmex Argentina with its local mobile unit Claro in August, after America Movil took control of Telmex’s parent Telmex International the previous month.

In the coming months, the sale of products and services will be combined in retail outlets and customer service centres, with a diverse focus on the mobile market.

According to the company, it also plans to obtain a license to provide pay TV services, which the operator will require investment in Telmex’s fibre network to reach customers’ homes directly.

Q1 2010 – Zain revenue up 11% & subscribers up 28%.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Zain announces today its consolidated financial results for the quarter ended 31 March, 2010. The results showed healthy growth in several key performance indicators:
Q1, 2010 Key Performance Indicators (in Kuwaiti Dinars)
Total Managed Active Customers
31.4 million up 28% on Q1, 2009
Consolidated Revenues
KWD 329.7 million  (US$1.146 billion)
EBITDA
KWD 139.2 million  (US$ 483.7 million)
EBIT
KWD 99.4 million    (US$ 345.6 million)
Net Income
KWD 51.5 million    (US$ 179.1 million)
EPS
KWD  0.013              (US$ 0.05)
For the first quarter of 2010, the Zain Group recorded consolidated revenues of KWD 329.7 million (US$ 1.146 billion), an increase of 11% compared to same period in Q1-2009. The Company’s consolidated EBITDA reached KWD 139.2 million (US$ 483.7 million), EBIT of KWD 99.4 million (US$345.6 million) and net income reaching KWD 51.55 (US$ 179.1 million).The earnings per share reached 13 fils (US$0.05).
Commenting on the results, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zain, Mr Asaad Al Banwan said: These results reflecting the Middle East operations are in line with adopted International Accounting Standards, which necessitates excluding all of Zain Africa’s 15 mobile operations, except for net profit, as the company entered into a definitive sale agreement with Bharti Airtel on March 30, 2010.”

Mr Al Banwan added, Despite the economic crisis and the competitive markets in which we operate, we are extremely pleased with the 11% revenue increase which is in line with our expectations.”

He further stated, The organic growth of the EBITDA and Net Income results is all the more impressive when one takes into account that in the same period last year (Q1-2009) we had several reversals of provisions including a favorable ruling resulting in an extraordinary gain of KWD33 million (US$116 million). This is an indication that EBITDA and Net Income growth in Q1, 2010 would have been much higher than stated, as without such provision reversals, the company would have had a respective growth of 14% in EBITDA and 24% in Net Income.”

Mr Al Banwan also revealed that the quarter witnessed an increase in total shareholders’ equity of approximately 10 percent, reaching US$ 8.72 billion, compared with US$ 7.95 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2009.
Also commenting on the results, Zain Group CEO Mr Nabeel Bin Salamah said: “With the sale of the Zain Africa assets about to be concluded, the company will reengineer itself while at the same time focusing its resources on further increasing market leadership in the Middle East, offering customers the latest technologies and quality mobile services.”

Mr Bin Salamah further added, These healthy results are a sign of better things yet to come as we diligently strive to maximise shareholders’ value in this new era. We will consider all options before us with extreme flexibility.”
In recent years, Zain has invested heavily in network expansion in the region especially in vast countries such as Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Sudan as well as technology upgrades in Bahrain and Kuwait, all resulting in robust customer acquisition and healthy revenues, a strategy that Bin Salamah was keen to emphasize. We expect to reap further financial rewards of these strategic and capital intensive investments in the years ahead,”he said.

Rwanda receives its third mobile network service

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: African telecom company Millicom officially launched its mobile operations in Rwanda after receiving the license in December 2008, thus becoming the third operator in the country.  The service will cover almost 50% of the population while there are plans to extend the service in the next three years.

The 3G infrastructure of the firm has been deployed in Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda including other key urban centers.
According to Mikael Grahne, President and CEO of Millicom, Rwanda has emerged as a highly lucrative market with the population of 10 million, less than 20% mobile penetration and the country’s status as a highly developing economy.

With its strengths in distribution and innovation, the company feels that it can provide Rwanda’s mass market with mobile voice and value-added services.

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.

Telecom Italia says no takeover offers for mobile operations

Telecom Italia has issued a statement saying it has no plans for selling its Italian or Brazilian mobile operations and has also received no offers for the activities. Press speculation has suggested the company may sell the mobile activities to reduce debt and focus on broadband and media operations, with Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom and private equity groups named as possible bidders. Leaving the door open for a possible future sale, the company repeated that it will examine any “opportunities for value enhancement” which may present themselves, for both its fixed and mobile networks. The Italian company also noted that while it plans to hive off its fixed and mobile networks into separate companies, no decision has been taken yet on the financial structure for the new companies.

Source- http://www.telecompaper.com/

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