Morocco home to 23.5Mn subscribers in H1’09
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Morocco is home to 23.5 million mobile phone subscribers in the first half of 2009, in comparison to 21.4 million a year ago, as per the figures given by the National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ANRT). Maroc Telecom leads the market with a subscriber base of 14.3 million and a market share of 60.71%. Followed to this is Meditel with a market share of 36.69% and a total base of 8.63 million. Wana bags third position with 612,000 subscribers and holds 2.6% market share.
Portugal Telecom, Telefonica to sell 32.2% Meditel stakes (Portugese, Morocco)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Portugal Telecom has agreed to sell its 32.2% stake in Morocco’s No.2 telecoms firm Meditel for $574.4 million to a group of companies from the north African country. Portugal Telecom said Spain’s Telefonica (TEF.MC) also sold its 32.2% stake, in a joint agreement which the Spanish operator later confirmed.
The deal is anticipated to close by the end of this year once regulatory approval has been obtained, Telefonica said. The buyers are Moroccan insurance company RMA Watanya, privately-owned group FinanceCom and Fipar Holding, a unit of CDG fund, which is the government’s financing arm.
Landmark US$ 2.5 Bn Murabaha financing facility for Zain Saudi Arabia
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Zain Saudi Arabia (“Zain KSA”) held the closing for a US$ 2.5 billion Murabaha financing facility. The funds will be used to repay its existing Murabaha, facilitating the mobile telecom operation’s ongoing network expansion and future growth. The term of the facility is two years with options of extending for a further twelve months.
Al Rajhi Capital, Banque Saudi Fransi and Calyon acted as Financial Advisors, with a total of eight regional and international financial institutions participating in what is one of the largest Islamic financings this year. Al Rajhi Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi and Calyon acted as Initial Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners, while National Bank of Kuwait and Arab National Bank acting as Senior Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners. Saudi British Bank (SABB) acted as the Senior Mandated Lead Arranger with Gulf Bank and Standard Bank acting as Mandated Lead Arrangers.
“This is an enormous vote of confidence by the International financial community in Zain KSA’s performance to date and its future expansion plans in the region’s largest economy,” said Dr Saad Al Barrak, CEO of Zain Saudi Arabia and Zain Group. “The growth and success of this mobile operation is critical to Zain Group’s 2011 ambition of being a top ten global mobile telecommunications company. The Murabaha facility, which comes at a vital stage of Zain KSA ‘s business growth cycle, will play an important role in achieving this goal.”
Wana Morocco appoints Huawei as sole supplier of GSM/UMTS network
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Huawei, a leader in providing next-generation telecommunications network solutions worldwide, announced that it has been appointed as the sole supplier of Morocco WANA’s GSM/UMTS network.
The deal will allow WANA’s 2 Million subscribers to enjoy abundant 3G services such as video call, video conference, streaming media and mobile internet.
Under a contract signed by Huawei and WANA, Huawei will provide a GSM/UMTS solution with equipment to WANA exclusively, including GSM/UMTS wireless network, core network and value added services (VAS) network, etc.
Huawei’s accurate frequency planning and various anti-disturbance measures are the key to avoiding disturbance problem in the complicated wireless environment and enhancing the usage of spectrum resources whilst protecting telecom provider’s investment.
Phase one of the project will utilise over 1500 of Huawei’s industry-leading fourth-generation base stations with the All-IP solution set to be completed by December, 2009.
Mr. Fr©d©ric Debord, General Director of WANA, commented “WANA has the target to become a leading operator in Morocco. And we are delighted to cooperate with Huawei to open a new network of good quality and performance for our subscribers, with best solutions and offers.”
Mr. Zuo Defeng, Vice President of West Africa Region, Huawei, said:†This is a significant milestone to Huawei, WANA and WANA’s users. Huawei’s advanced mobile network solution and equipment will help WANA take the lead in mobile telecommunications market in Morocco, and help WANA achieve business success.â€
As a core component of its SingleRAN solution, the fourth-generation BTS supports multi-mode radio access networking (GSM, TD-SCDMA, UMTS, LTE, CDMA and WiMAX), and incorporates green optimisation and All-IP technologies, providing a truly convergent solution for network operators.
Zain posts revenues of $4.014Bn in H1’09 (Kuwait)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: – Year-on-year customer base increase of 37% to 69.5 million
- Company revenues jump 24% to KWD 1.16 billion (US$4.014 billion)
- Net income up 4.4% to KWD 154.5 million (US$533.5 million) translating into earnings per share of US$0.14
Zain, the leading mobile telecommunication operator in the Middle East and Africa with a commercial presence in 24 countries, is pleased to announce its consolidated financial results for the half-year ending 30 June 2009. The results showed significant growth in many key indicators.
For the first half of 2009, Zain Group recorded impressive consolidated revenues of KWD 1.16 billion (US$4.014 billion), an increase of 24.1% compared to H1-2008. The company’s consolidated EBITDA increased by 46.3% for the same period to reach KWD 512.2 million (US$1.77 billion).
Consolidated net income reached KWD 154.5 million (US$533.5 million), an increase of 4.4% on H1-2008. The earnings per share for the six month period were US$0.14. Year-on-year customer growth on the two continents across which Zain operates was 37%, while serving 69.5 million managed active customers as of 30 June 2009. (more…)
Zain, Western Union announce alliance to deliver cross-border mobile money transfer services to Zap subscribers in Africa, Middle East
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Zain, (KW: ZAIN), the leading mobile operator in the Middle East and Africa, and Western Union, (NYSE: WU) a global leader in money transfer, today announced that they will work together to deliver mobile money transfer services in countries in Africa and the Middle East through Zain’s new Zap platform.
The Zap service provides Zain customers access to a full range of transactional services from their mobile phones. Customers can interact with select bank accounts, top-up or transfer airtime, and move money to businesses, friends and family. The service allows customers to pay bills such as electricity, and can even be used to settle grocery bills in the supermarket. Zap has been operational in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda for several months, making mobile banking services available to more than 100 million people in East Africa. Zain has announced plans to introduce Zap in 22 markets.
Western Union has a global agent network of more than 334,000 locations in 200 countries and territories. Once the service is launched with Zain, consumers will be able to send cash money transfers from participating Western Union® locations around the globe in the same way they do today. Zap customers who are enrolled in the service in select countries will be able to choose whether they want to receive their money in cash at a Western Union Agent location or in accounts tied to their mobile phones (their mobile walletsâ€).
Zain Group extends its agreement with Globitel
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…)
Zain Nigeria & Ericsson ink managed service agreement
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mobile Telecommunications Company KSC (Zain) and Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) have entered a five-year strategic managed services agreement under which Ericsson will operate Zain’s nationwide GSM/WCDMA networks in Nigeria.
In the first agreement of its kind on the African continent, Zain, the leading mobile telecom provider in the Middle East and Africa, has teamed up with Ericsson, the world’s leading provider of technology and services to telecom operators. Under the agreement, Ericsson will be responsible for the network operations, field operations including optimization, third-party vendor management for Zain’s GSM/WCDMA networks, and business support systems.
Ericsson will serve more than 4000 sites across Nigeria on behalf of Zain. As part of the agreement, about 450 employees will be transferred, under their existing terms and conditions of service, from Zain to Ericsson, where they will undergo further training in the latest wireless technologies. (more…)
Globitel offers USSD Gateway & roaming solutions to Asiacell (Iraq)
Globitel, the leading provider of Modern Telecom Solutions, recently provided the Iraqi operator Asiacell with their renowned USSD Gateway and a variety of roaming solutions.
Globitel’s USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) Gateway is a cost-effective and user-friendly tool, enabling network operators to provide mobile subscribers with content-rich, interactive services which are easy to use, including: callback, balance inquiry, pre-paid account refill, stock quotes, sports information, interactive games, and others. (more…)
