Outremer Telecom has been awarded 3G license to operate in Mayotte. On the other side, Outremer Telecom deploys 3G networks in the French West Indies, French Guiana and Reunion.
Till this point, Moyotte has been the only French department without 3G mobile telephony network.
As per the company, it already has a signed agreement in place with ZTE so as to build the 3G network infrastructure.
Mayotte is situated in the northern Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean and that it is an archipelago.
Alvarion Ltd. (NASDAQ: ALVR), the world’s leading provider of 4G networks in the Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) market, today announced that Foris Telecom, a mobile broadband Internet and applications service provider, has successfully launched its 4G network in Mozambique and Kampala, Uganda. The network, operating in the 2.5 GHz frequency range, is the first 4G deployment in Uganda and Mozambique.
“Alvarion’s best-of-breed solution allows us to meet the specific demands of the African market”
“Alvarion’s best-of-breed solution allows us to meet the specific demands of the African market,” said Dov Slook, CEO and Chairman of Foris Telecom. “Given the countries’ struggle to connect to the Maritime cable, Alvarion’s cost-effective solutions enable us to offer our existing and new customers 4G broadband services at very competitive rates.”
The network will provide broadband connectivity to residential and business users as well as local municipalities. This deployment will contribute to the economic growth of the region and help bridge the digital divide.
“We are pleased to join forces with Foris Telecom to provide 4G wireless broadband services in Uganda and Mozambique,” said Eran Gorev, president and CEO of Alvarion. “With more than 70 commercial 4G deployments across Africa, we have strong experience enabling broadband services in the region. We are committed to supporting Foris Telecom in building a future-proof network that will deliver high speed data services to the market.”
About Foris Telecom Group Ltd.
Foris Telecom, a global applications provider over its own wireless mobile broadband network, provides broadband access at dramatically reduced prices, bringing the benefits of high-speed internet services and applications to mass populations in its target markets. Partnering with global players such as banks, surveillance companies, content companies (TV content) in emerging markets to foster their transition to information societies and knowledge economies, Foris Telecom is a leader in promoting digital inclusion in these regions.
About Alvarion
Alvarion (NASDAQ:ALVR) is a global 4G communications leader with the industry’s most extensive customer base, including hundreds of commercial 4G deployments. Alvarion’s industry leading network solutions for broadband wireless technologies WiMAX, TD-LTE and WiFi, enable broadband applications for service providers and enterprises covering a variety of industries such as mobile broadband, residential and business broadband, utilities, municipalities and public safety agencies. Through an open network strategy, superior IP and OFDMA know-how, and ability to deploy large scale end-to-end turnkey networks, Alvarion is delivering the true 4G broadband experience today (www.alvarion.com)
Mcel has stated that it expects that its 2011 profits to reach USD 4 million and to increase its customer base from 4.5 million to 6.5 million this year.
According to Mcel delegate administrator Mamudo Ibraimo, the company intends to improve the quality of service and reduce prices in order to reach the target profit. The operator had made a loss last year.
Mcel, which competes with Vodacom Mozambique, was launched in 1997.
Vodacom Mozambique has appointed Rui Fonseca as the company’s new Chairperson of the board of directors.
Fonseca was chosen for the post by Whatana Investments, a company headed by Mozambique’s former first lady, Graca Machel, and which holds 5% of the shares in Vodacom Mozambique.
Fonseca is a former head of Mozambique’s publicly-owned port and rail company, CFM. He replaces Salimo Abdula, who was appointed by another of the minority shareholders, Intelec. It has been the practice for the chairmanship of the board to rotate on an annual basis between the three minority shareholders.
Vodacom Mozambique has announced an overhaul in its image, to bring it into line with the image of its major shareholder Vodafone.
All Vodacom advertising which were on a background of blue has now been dropped, replaced by Vodafone’s bright red. The Vodacom and Vodafone logo now look much the same.
According to Vodacom-Mozambique CEO Jose dos Santos, this is not happening just in Mozambique, but throughout the Vodacom Group. He pointed out that Vodafone holds 66% of the shares in the Vodacom Group.
In addition to Mozambique and South Africa, Vodacom has operations in Lesotho, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Vodacom Tanzania has shifted its corporate colour to ‘red’- that of the parent company Vodafone and has dropped its previous blue branding.
UK-based Vodafone Group had acquired 65% stake in 2009 to control Vodacom’s operations in South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique, Lesotho and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Tanzania operator has also adopted the Vodafone logo as part of its branding. Earlier, Vodacom South Africa announced a similar move.
Movitel is planning to invest up to US$465 million in its network over the next five years. The company is also planning to invest some US$120 million of the total investment in the first year to get the network launched.
Movitel is a consortium made up of Vietnamese company Viettel Telecom (70%) and Mozambique’s SPI (30%), a company that is linked to the government.
Although Movitel was not the highest bidder for the license, when it offered US$28 million, the regulator stated that it came highest in the technical assessment. The license was granted last November.
According to reports, the country ended June 2010 with around 6.77 million subscribers, representing a population penetration level of 32.7%. mCel is the dominant operator, with a market share of 65% – compared to 35% for rival, Vodacom. Plans by the government to sell a small stake in Mo§ambique Celular (mCel) have been discussed in the past, but no progress has been made so far.
Brightstar Corp., a multi-billion dollar global services company providing solutions to manufacturers, operators, retailers, and enterprises in the telecommunications industry, today announced an expansion of its distribution agreement with Research In Motion (RIM) into Africa.
Brightstar will leverage and expand its presence in Africa and begin distributing BlackBerry® products to seven countries in the Sub Sahara Africa region, including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Cote D’Ivoire, Uganda, Tanzania and Mozambique.
Through its distribution centers and staff in Africa, Brightstar will initially distribute the BlackBerry® Curveâ„¢ 8520 and BlackBerry® Boldâ„¢ 9700 smartphones, in addition to BlackBerry software and accessories. The BlackBerry smartphones will be available from various network operators and retail outlets throughout Sub Sahara Africa.
“This expanded agreement underscores the strategic nature of our alliance with RIM and our growing global presence within the industry,” said Arturo Osorio, President Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa at Brightstar. “We look forward to taking our customized channel solutions and insights and working together to bring a larger portfolio of BlackBerry smartphones into this new market.”
“We are pleased to further our relationship with Brightstar in order to expand our reach in the market. We look forward to working with Brightstar to bring more BlackBerry smartphones to more countries in Africa,” said Deon Liebenberg, Regional Director for Sub Sahara Africa at RIM.
For more than five years, RIM and Brightstar have enjoyed a strong and growing global relationship and, with today’s announcement, the companies have now expanded their collaboration to 67 countries and regions. In addition to Africa, Brightstar currently distributes BlackBerry products to network operators, retailers and Value-Added Resellers (VARs) in the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean.
About Brightstar Corp.
Brightstar is a multi-billion dollar global services company providing solutions to Manufacturers, Operators, Retailers, and Enterprises serving the telecommunications industry. With sales and distribution facilities on six continents, Brightstar offers its customers the largest global reach, enabling the right product to be in the right place, at the right time. For more information on Brightstar, please visit http://www.brightstarcorp.com.
About Research In Motion (RIM)
Research In Motion, a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999. Today, BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. RIM is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.
If reports are to be believed, Mozambique’s government has awarded the license for a third mobile phone provider to Movitel, a division of Vietnam’s Viettel Telecom.
According to Radio Mocambique, Movitel, which also includes some Mozambican investors, will pay US$28 million for the license and invest US$400 million over the next five years to develop the business.
By awarding a third license the government of the impoverished south-east African country hopes to extend mobile phone coverage to 85% of the population of 20.3 million.
Movitel was in competition with Uni-Telecom, a joint venture between Angola’s Unitel SA and Mozambique’s Energy Capital SA and TMM, a unit of Portugal Telecom.
Mozambique’s around 7 million mobile phone users currently use either the state-owned Mcel or South Africa’s Vodacom.
Ceragon Networks has won a turnkey backhaul contract from Mozambique’s Mobile Cellular (mcel). Ceragon’s solutions will form a microwave backbone link that joins the central part of Mozambique to the southern part, from the city of Beira to the capital city of Maputo. The Ceragon microwave network will span 1000 km when completed.
According to Mr. Arlindo Mondlane, mcel CTO, delivering reliable mobile service to customers is extremely important to mcel. The company has selected Ceragon’s products because they are technologically superior, use spectrum efficiently, and are highly reliable. Through careful network planning, mcel will be able to provide high-quality mobile service to their customers as cost-efficiently and as quickly as possible.
According to Ira Palti, President and CEO of Ceragon, Ceragon’s microwave systems are practical and economical alternatives to fiber optic lines and are highly reliable point-to-point backbone transmission systems. Ceragon solutions are ideal for fast-growing mobile networks such as mcel’s, scaling to meet future needs, and offering high reliability to customers in developing countries.
