www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The joint venture between Saigon Postel and SK Telecom, S-Fone, has reportedly appeared to be on rocks. S-Fone’s managing director, Ho Hong Son,reportedly said that the terms of cooperation between Saigon Postel and SK Telecom must change. The two sides are still discussing a new contract, but have not reached an agreement. Son also confirmed that S-Fone’s operations are stable.
After six years in operation, S-Fone (mobile numbers beginning 095) is facing challenges in terms of technology, investment, legal status and operating system. Saigon Postel has reportedly grown unhappy with a business cooperation contract that has limited its rights to basic information in business and development strategies.
Son says that S-Fone needs new motivation to develop, especially a fresh form of cooperation between Saigon Postel and SK Telecom. The two sides are negotiating to find a more suitable model under the guidance of the Government, Son adds.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Essar Group, the Indian firm, is looking for possibilities to make an investment in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Dhabi Group’s telecom business in Africa. Dhabi Group chairman Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al-Nahyan and Essar Group chief executive Prashant Ruia inked an agreement to start the talks for the same.
The deal will include an equity infusion into the business as growth capital and will be the basis of a partnership to create a significant presence in Africa, a joint statement unveiled.
“Today’s agreement seeks to tap the huge potentials of the African market and create more job opportunities,” Sheikh Nahyan reportedly said. He added that the agreement will boost ties between India and the UAE.
Ruia said the details of the deal will be revealed after three to four months.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: MTS, the Russian mobile operator, is seeking a 8.5 year syndicated loan of up to $1 billion at LIBOR plus 35 basis points.
The banking sources reveal that MTS had mandated Calyon, ING, Raiffeisen and Nordic Investment Bank (NIB). A spokeswoman for MTS said the mandate has been issued by declined to give any detail. She said the loan agreeement may be signed in the autumn.
The sources further unveil that MTS also intended to use the funds to buy telecoms equipment from Swedish Ericsson and the loan will be guaranteed by Sweden’s Export Agency.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Sprint is breaking away from competitors today with a unique wireless and wireline network services agreement with global leader Ericsson.
The seven-year agreement, matching Sprint’s telecommunications leadership with Ericsson, enables Sprint and its millions of customers to enjoy a network services model that is proven successful worldwide and praised by business experts and communications analysts, as an operational best practice for network operators.
Sprint’s Steve Elfman, President of Network Operations and Wholesale, believes the historic deal, titled “Network Advantage,” catapults the company to elite status in wireless and wireline network effectiveness.
“No other U.S.-based carrier has followed through on the business-enhancing vision inherent in Network Advantage. Our best-ever network performance will become even better by leveraging Ericsson’s world-class leadership in network services, their proprietary tools, and the knowledge of more than 30,000 dedicated and highly-specialized service professionals to power Sprint’s Now Network,” said Elfman.
The move delivers operational efficiencies for Sprint while further expanding Ericsson’s network services business in North America. The agreement, with an option for renewal, will result in payments for services valued at between $4.5 billion and $5 billion (USD) over the seven-year term of the contract. The transaction calls for about 6,000 Sprint employees to begin performing their network functions as Ericsson employees sometime in the 3rd quarter. (more…)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: TelstraClear and Vodafone in New Zealand have inked a 3 year agreement, under which Telstra will offer 3G services over Vodafone network in New Zealand in Q4′09.
TelstraClear’s head of business Brenda Stonestreet reportedly said that Telecom’s inability to offer TelstraClear “complete and timely access” to the new XT network was a stumbling block for continuing TelstraClear’s relationship with Telecom.
TelstraClear, will continue to sell and service to the subscribers on Telecom’s CDMA network and wouldn’t be closing down access to that network when it launched on Vodafone, Ms Stonestreet said.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Warid Telecom has inked seperate deals with three International Gateway (IGW) operators – Mir Telecom, Bangla Trac Communications Limited and NovoTel for routing international calls to and from Warid network.
The agreements were signed complying to the ILDTS (International Long Distance Telecommunications Services) policy 2007 & directives of BTRC, which makes it mandatory for all mobile operators to establish a physical and logical interconnection with IGW operators for routing both international outgoing & incoming calls.
Muneer Farooqui, CEO Warid Telecom said, “These agreements will create a win-win situation for both Warid Telecom and the IGW operators as these agreements will facilitate the companies to share revenues among them as per BTRC’s ILDTS policy & directives.”
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Orange Spain has reportedly announced that it will sell the HTC Hero across the nation at a price starting at €99 (with a contract agreement and a monthly plan of €29).
The new Android smartphone will be available in Spain starting next week, and currently is being offered for pre-order online, with a €10 discount – for only €89.
HTC Hero features include: 3.2 inch fingerprint-resistant touchscreen display with 320 x 480 pixels, Wi-Fi, GPS, 3.5mm headset jack, 5MP camera, and the brand new HTC Sense User Interface that runs on top of Android 1.5 OS.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Globitel announced today that Zain Group has officially extended its relationship to provide an advanced set of Roaming Solutions to all Zain Group mobile operations in Middle East, GCC and Africa.
Zain’s Group relationship with Globitel started a few years ago with the signing of agreements for Zain Group subsidiaries in Jordan, Bahrain and Sudan.
After demonstrating its commitment to products and service quality, in addition to the unmatched flexibility and swiftness in implementation, Zain Group has decided to extend its agreement with Globitel to include all remaining subsidiaries in the Middle East & Africa.
“We were impressed with the experience we had with Globitel in the past years,” said Mohammed Rafi, Group CIO. “The initial decision we made has been sustained and boosted by the ability of delivery” (more…)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Vodafone Hutchison Australia has inked an agreement with Apple to launch iPhone 3G S with 3 Australia. 3 Australia had also been in talks with Apple for the rights to sell the original iPhone but the talks failed. The iPhone 3G S is now available for pre-order with 3 Australia. The operator is yet to announce the pricing details for the Apple device.