Swisscom wins appeal in federal administrative court
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The main elements of Swisscom appeal over a ruling by the competition commission Weko regarding allegedly illegal mobile termination fees has been upheld by the Swiss federal administrative court. The court has overruled the fine of CHF 333 million.
It was ruled by Weko in February 2009 that mobile termination market is dominated by Swisscom besides violating its position as defined under the Swiss Cartel Act. The ruling followed an investigation launched in 2002 into possible abuse of dominant market position by Switzerland’s three mobile operators.
It was found by Weko that Swisscom was market dominant and had violated its position by charging unreasonably high fees between April 1, 2004 and May 31, 2005. An appeal was filed by Swisscom against the ruling in the Federal Administrative Court.
Weko’s conclusion that the operator abused that position to charge higher mobile termination fees was rejected by the court but it also found that Swisscom has a dominant market position. The verdict is open for appeal at the Swiss Federal Court.
The reasons behind the ruling point by point would be reviewed by Swisscom and Weko over the coming weeks and they will decide on next steps. Swisscom has not set aside any provision to cover this fine, which proved to be the right decision based on this ruling.
Nexus One early termination fee follows FCC enquiry
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: $150 equipment recovery fee will have to be paid by customers who cancel their Nexus One accounts within 120 days of purchase. The step by Google has raised controversies as Google and T-Mobile currently charge users, separate early termination fees if they drop their Nexus One in less than four months.
Consumers originally would have had to pay up to $550 for breaking their contracts early with T-Mobile charging early termination fee of $200 and Google charging $350.
After Verizon doubled its standard early termination fee from $175 to $350 last November, the practice of charging early termination fees has come under fire. AT&T, Google, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon have received letter from FCC to gather facts and data on the consumer experience with early termination fees.
2.5% drop recorded in German mobile revenue
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 2.5% drop has been recorded in the German mobile telecommunications services market in the third quarter of 2009. With EUR 5.0 billion revenues, the loss is 2.8 percent from the previous quarter and 2.5 percent compared to the same period last year.
Although the in non-voice (messaging and data) revenues increased to reach EUR 142 million in the last 12 months, it was unable to compensate for the continued pressure on voice service revenues from cuts to mobile termination fees and fierce competition.
1.4 percent loss points was contributed by Vodafone Germany’s weak performance but T-Mobile Germany was able to increase its leadership position with 0.8 percent to over 36 percent market share.
E-Plus and O2 Germany’s prepaid growth helped them to compensate for their drop in postpaid and slightly increase their share of total service revenues by 0.4 and 0.3 percent points respectively.
1.0 million or 1.0 percent more customers were added to the German market in the three months to September 2009. More than 2.2 million new subscribers to a total 108 million, mainly due to postpaid growth have been added to the mobile industry during the last 12 months.
Maxis group revenues grow on Aircel acquisition
Malaysia’s Maxis Communications group saw its revenues and net income grow in the first half of the year. Group revenues totalled MYR 3.62 billion, up from MYR 3.1 billion in the first half of 2005. Net income rose 16 percent to MYR 960 million, from MYR 831 million in H1 2005. EBITDA rose 6 percent to MYR 1.84 billion but the EBITDA margin dropped 5.1 percent to 50.9 percent due to start-up costs of Natrindo Telepon Seluler in Indonesia, lower mobile termination fees as well as higher sales and marketing costs. Growth was driven by performance in the Malaysian market, as well as the contribution from newly acquired Aircel, a mobile operator in India. Aircel contributed MYR 234 million to revenues and added 3.2 million subscribers to the group’s total of 11.7 million mobile customers. Maxis Communications set a gross dividend of MYR 0.1042 per share.
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
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