www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Spain has lost 54,141 mobile lines in the month of June, taking the total number to 51.68 million, up 4.2% since June’08, reports telecoms regulator, CMT. The drop in lines has been driven by an adjustment of nearly 161,000 lines made by Orange in the prepaid segment. Over the last three months, MVNOs won 50.60% of the total new additions, Vodafone covered 28.70%, Yoigo accounted for 19.41% and Movistar for 7.18%, while Orange lost 5.89% in the period. Mobile penetration reached 112 lines per 100 inhabitants, versus 107.4 in June’08.
384,838 mobile phone numbers were ported in June, up by 19.3% versus the same period last year. Yoigo and the MVNOs saw a positive balance in portability, while Movistar, Vodafone and Orange registered a negative balance. Yoigo won 23,671 users and the MVNOs added 15,023 ported customers.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The Spanish telecoms regulator CMT has given approval to a cut in mobile termination rates by 40-50% which will be implemented gradually over two and a half years from October.
The regulator reportedly said that in the case of dominant operator Telefonica, Vodafone and Orange the cut will be 40%, while the reduction will be 50% for Yoigo.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The Telecommunications Market Commission (CMT), telecoms regulator of Spain has released its proposals for the continued reduction of mobile termination rates (MTRs), media reports. The CMT is proposing that MTRs for all four network operators, including relatively new entrant Xfera Moviles (Yoigo), will be slashed to EUR0.04 (USD0.06) by October 2011.
The regulator has said that the rate will be reduced gradually over a two-year period, with the first reduction expected in October 2009; Telefonica Moviles Espana (Movistar), Vodafone Spain and Orange Espana will initially drop their rates by EUR0.0075 while Yoigo would face a reduction of between EUR0.015 and EUR0.012.
CMT Chairman Reinaldo Rodriguez, has stated though that he believes there is still room to lower prices in the coming years. The operators have been given opportunity to have their say on the proposals before the final ruling is made by the regulator.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Yoigo, the Spanish mobile operator, has seen a SEK 340 million EBITDA loss, down from SEK 388 in Q1′08. The EBITDA loss grew as compared to Q4′08, driven by more gross additions and a higher intake of postpaid subscribers. Yoigo ended the Q1 with net sales of SEK 843 million, up by 152% from SEK 335 in March 2008.
Yoigo doubled its subscriber base from 541,000 to 1.1 million, even though the operator eliminated nearly 100,000 subscriptions during Q1′09.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: CMT, the Spanish telecoms regulator, has lowered the mobile termination fee to a common price of EUR 0.07 per minute for Telefonica Moviles Spain (Movistar), Vodafone Spain and Orange Spain effective from 16 April. The same price is also applicable to MVNOs using the networks of these operators. CMT’s ruling, for the recent entrant Yoigo is that it will stick to its current mobile termination fees of EUR 0.10, as it started operations when the Spanish mobile market had already matured. The mobile termination fees quoted by CMT will be valid until 16 October, after which the fees is likely to fall further.
Spanish consumer association Facua reports that in May, mobile operator Ono will increase the price per minute for voice calls to other operators’ networks by 5.9 percent. Calls to Movistar, Vodafone and Orange mobile lines will be charged 20.88 cents per minute, up from the current price of 19.72 cents (VAT included). This is the third telecommunications company to increase its service prices this yea. Vodafone announced it will increase voice call prices from 14 April, while Yoigo will apply new tariffs starting 7 May. Yoigo will increase the call set-up fee by 25 percent for 0 tariff plan subscribers, from 13.92 cents to 17.40 cents. Vodafone will increase per minute prices for 60×1 packages by 5 percent for contract customers and by 9 percent for prepay users. Thus postpaid customers will be charged 23.08 cents, up from 22.04 cents, while prepay users will pay 44.08 cents, up from 40.6 percent per minute. Vodafone will also modify its Manana (Morning) and Tarde (Afternoon) postpaid tariff prices. Prices for calls on the operator’s network, as well as for calls to fixed lines will drop 17 percent from 6.96 cents to 5.8 cents per minute. However, prices for calls to other mobile operators’ networks will rise by 25 percent, from 13.92 cents to 17.4 cents per minute.
For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Yoigo, the Spanish incumbent, has announced the availability of ZTE 188 and ZTE F233 low-cost mobile handset in the Spanish mobile market. Both handsets carry the 3G technology and features like camera, MP3 player and MPEG4 video support.
The ZTE F188 model features a USB interface, Bluetooth, built-in browser and support for SMS, MMS, e-mail, 60 MB included memory and a microSD card slot. On the other hand, ZTE F233 clamshell phone has support for USB 2.0, Bluetooth, and multimedia capabilities. It has 45 MB internal memory expandable through a microSD card.
Yoigo, the Spanish incumbent, introduces a promotion for its postpaid subscribers. According to the new promotion, the customers subscribed to an 18-month data services contract receive a Nokia 5800 mobile phone free of charge.
A monthly fee of EUR 25 provides service like, 1 GB for internet traffic per month at speeds of up to 3.2 Mbps and additional traffic to be charged at EUR 0.015/MB.
The national calls cost EUR 0.08/minute plus with the call set up fee of EUR 0.15, while SMS sent to national and international networks are also charged EUR 0.08/SMS.
TeliaSonera is reportedly holding talks with UK-based private equity company Doughty Hanson to sell part of its stake in its Spanish mobile network subsidiary Yoigo. Currently, TeliaSonera holds a 76.6% stake in Yoigo, while Spanish group ACS holds 17%, subsequently FCC with 3.4% and the rest 3% is with Telvent.
TeliaSonera’s CEO Lars Nyberg earlier confirmed that the group was holding talks with other companies for the sale of a stake in Yoigo, but refused to name the interested parties or the state of these negotiations. TeliaSonera is intending to lower its stake to less than 50%. The Yoigo sale is a result of TeliaSonera’s internal disputes over investments in Yoigo and the fact that – despite positive results in the fourth quarter of 2008 – the Spanish subsidiary has passed the EUR 1 billion losses limit set by the Swedish operator, according to a report.