www.WirelessFederation.com/news: SFR, the French mobile operator which had started selling the Apple iPhone after France Telecom’s exclusive deal was suspended, has sold 160,000 iphones as of May 31, the company’s Chief Executive Frank Esser reportedly said. “We are in a very positive dynamic,” Esser said.
SFR had started vending the Apple device on April 8.
On 06.05.09, In Mobile, By Editor
On 05.27.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The state owned telecom operator, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) is seeking bids from consultants to assist it in its move for expansion outside the country. “The company, with a view to establish itself as a global player in the telecom sector, and to achieve inorganic growth, aims to expand its area of operations, by going for acquisitions or mergers or strategic partnerships or acquiring telecom licenses outside India,” a bid document for consultants on the company’s Web site showed.
India’s fourth largest operator ended March with a subscriber base 52.14 million, in comparison to Bharti Airtel, which had 93.92 million subscribers.
June 1 is the deadline for the submission of the bids and they will be opened the day after – June 2, the company said, adding that it will first shortlist the consultants on their technical capabilities followed by their financial bids. The criteria for selection is that the consultants should have handled overseas deals for at least five years and shouldn’t be working with any of BSNL’s competitors.
On 05.12.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has reportedly received four applications for licences in order to deploy 4G services in the country. The deadline to submit applications was 7 May. The new mobile networks will use frequencies in the 2,010 MHz to 2,025MHz range for introducing LTE technology. The applicants are expected to be the major mobile operators NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, Softbank Mobile and Willcom. A decision on the licences is expected this summer.
On 05.12.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Vodafone Essar, the Indian mobile operator, has introduced three new monthly rental plans for its postpaid subscribers based in Kolkata and West Bengal. The first offer dubbed as Budget 500, the subscribers will receive 1000 minutes in a combo of local and STD calls along with 100 local SMS. The Budget 750 plan will offers 1500 minutes in a combo of local and STD calls along with 200 local SMS, and the Budget 1000 plan will give 2050 minutes in a combination of local and STD calls along with 500 local SMSs.
On 05.11.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Vodafone Group, plans to focus on the 3G mobile services in Turkey as the operator allots half of its earnings made this year for re-investment, Chief Executive Officer Vittorio Colao, reportedly said.
Vodafone is “determined” to grow in Turkish mobile market, which grew to $31 billion last year. Vodafone will introduce 3G services in three months time, he said.
The operator has doubled the number of base stations and improved call quality in last two years. “We will set up our 3G technologies on top of this new infrastructure,” Colao said.
On 05.08.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: T-Mobile Austria has posted revenues of EUR 267 million in Q1′09, down by 2.6% since Q1′08, though the operator experienced a 4% rise in its subscriber base from 3.287 million at Q1′08-end to 3.418 million at Q1′09-end.
The service revenues dropped by 3% year-on-year to EUR 256 million in Q1′09. The EBITDA also dipped by 30.3% to EUR 53 million and the share of non-voice grew from 23% in Q1 2008 to 27%.
The postpaid subscriber base rose by 6.1% to 2.3 million, with 35,000 net additions during Q1′09 whereas the prepaid base saw a drop of 0.1% year-on-year to 1.113 million, losing 19,000 subscribers in Q1′09.
The subscriber acquisition costs (SAC) grew 18.5% year-on-year to EUR 109, due to a 26.5% growth in postpaid SAC to EUR 205, while prepaid SAC fell by more than 66% to EUR 2 and subscriber retention costs (SRC) grew by 14.9% to EUR 108.
The operator reported a downfall in ARPU by 7.4% year-on-year to EUR 25, due to a 8.3% drop in postpaid ARPU to EUR 33 and an 11.1% decrease in prepaid ARPU to EUR 8.
On 05.08.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Telefonica O2 Czech republic has inked an agreement with T-Mobile Czech Republic to sort out their disputes over prices for mutual interconnection of telecommunication networks in 2001. As per the terms of agreement, Telefonica O2 will get nearly CZK 900 million (USD 45 million) from rival operator T-Mobile, with all court proceedings terminated. The amount will be booked in Q2.
On 05.08.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Bell Canada is acquiring the rest 50% stake in Virgin Mobile Canada worth CAD 142 million. The telco has also given consent to an exclusive, long-term licence to continue using the Virgin Mobile brand in Canada as well as cooperating with the Virgin Group on sponsoring and media events. The acquisition is anticipated to boost synergies between the Bell mobile activities and Virgin Mobile, from shared network infrastructure, handset acquisition and common distribution with third-party retailers. Virgin Mobile will maintain its branding and shops.