UN sanctions prohibit sale of state-owned telco (Niger)
The government of Niger has acknowledged that it is on the lookout for a new buyer for Sonitel, the state-owned company in the wake of UN sanctions prohibiting a deal that was struck earlier with the Libyan company LAP Green.
According to Communications Minister Salifou Labo Bouche, they are going to launch an international tender invitation. In addition, they are going to make sure that the buyer this time is a real professional.
Currently, there are four mobile networks while the new company who stands to acquire Sonitel could be a new entrant or a company that is already operating in the Nigerien market.
As per sources, the country boasts of 14.4 million mobile phone subscribers, representing a 23% population penetration level.
A portion of Vecima Networks’ radio spectrum sold to Canadian service provider (Canada)
Vecima Networks announced that a portion of its wireless spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band has been sold to an unspecified Canadian mobile network operator. In essence, the sale agreement has been reached between Vecima Networks’ subsidiary YourLink and the buyer.
Two phases will conclude the deal between the companies. The purchase of 16 licenses primarily in Alberta and Ontario at the cost of $8 million will constitute the first phase while the next phase will follow in the form of the purchaser paying for the purchase of an additional 20 spectrum licenses for $11 million till 31 December, 2011.
Under the terms of the agreement, the purchaser is provided with a right of first refusal for approximately $1 million on additional spectrum licenses, in addition to those subject to the first two phases of the transaction.
The transaction is subject to customary conditions including the receipt of all requisite regulatory approvals.
The licenses sold in both phases together represent approximately 58% of YourLink’s current sub-10GHz spectrum asset holdings measured on a MHz-POP basis.
Telenet Tecteo Bidco joins the group of 3G licensees (Belgium)
Earlier, a 3G license for Telenet Tecteo Bidco was announced by BIPT, the telecom regulator in Belgium. The company has finally, been awarded the 3G license in the wake of the conditions to have been accepted by the licensee on 29 July.
To start with, the telco had offered BIPT $874,296 per month for the total spectrum available which was 1950.1-1964.9 MHz /2140.1-2154.9 MHz. In addition, Telenet Tecteo Bidco had chosen to pay the amount bid in annual installments over a total period from July 2011 to March 2021.
At this point, the conditions of the licence have been accepted by Telenet Tecteo Bidco, in addition to the payment to have been paid by the telco for 2011.
Eventually, Telenet Tecteo Bidco has joined the group of 3G licensees, the other constituents being Belgacom, Mobistar and KPN Group Belgium. The new entrant into the 3G space is bound to roll out related services in no later than 18 months from the date of when the licence was granted, i.e. 15 July 2011.
Paradoxically, Telenet Tecteo Bidco is yet to formally confirm its first step into the 3G space but the telco has expressed its ambitions with regard to the prospective acquisition of the reserved spectrum in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands, and wanting to deploy services on the back of these spectrums for the first time on 27 November 2015.
4G licenses in the 2.6 GHz band are expected to be auctioned in the autumn. As on 1 June, 2011, the announcement has already been published while 14 October, 2011 has been set as the deadline for candidates to apply.
Vodafone and Telecom NZ patch up with regard to rural subsidy lawsuits (New Zealand)
Vodafone and Telecom NZ happen to be the biggest telcos operating in New Zealand. The two companies have arrived at a resolution with regard to a long running dispute over the fees paid under the previous Telecommunications Service Obligation (TSO) regime. Earlier, Vodafone had deemed the fees it had obliged to pay to Telecom NZ as required by the TSO – the body that provides subsidized telecoms services in rural areas – too high.
However, the terms agreed upon by the two telcos as part of the settlement have not been revealed; stands to close the dispute in the attendance of both the Supreme Court and the High Court by way of a full and final settlement of all claims between Telecom NZ and Vodafone with regard to TSO related issues.
According to Telecom group general counsel Tristan Gilbertson, this settlement draws a line under a long-running, protracted legal process. In addition, the TSO funding regime has been replaced with a new arrangement for the funding of rural telecommunications services, and Telecom and Vodafone have recently embarked on a joint programme to greatly enhance broadband delivery across rural New Zealand.
The Commerce Commission and Supreme Court have been apprised of the settlement between Telecom NZ and Vodafone.
A flat annual revenue levy to be effectuated on telecom networks (India)
The Telecom Commission of India has acknowledged approval of procedures that will alter the current annual levy on the mobile networks from a variable rate to a flat rate for all telecom operators.
At the moment, the operators are known to pay between 6-10 percent of their annual revenues as a license fee. This arrangement is to be made consistent and the flat rate set at 8.5 percent. However, TRAI which is the industry regulator campaigned for a lower rate bordering around 6 percent.
The networks plying their respective trades across the major cities are being seen to benefit from this move while other national operators are not expected to see much difference because the rate cut in cities stands to be nullified by the increase in the rate to be paid for rural zones.
Additionally, Internet Service Providers and Long Distance landline networks stand to have to pay more, given that they pay only 6 percent for their revenues to the government.
Court orders Rwandatel liquidation; telco to hold meeting with creditors (Rwanda)
Rwandatel is a telco based in Rwanda. The company stated that it is bracing up for holding meeting with its creditors, in the wake of an ordered liquidation by a local court so as to be able to repay debts.
The telco’s debt is estimated at close to $89 million while the company’s assets are valued at just $50 million. In addition, Rwandatel was ordered to close down its GSM network early this year, in view of claims by the regulator that the telco had failed to abide by the license obligations.
Sources have quoted Rwandatel’s Administrator, Richard Mugisha saying that according to the provisions by means of the law, the company is mandated to meet with its creditors to agree on resolutions and approve a managerial team to oversee the company during the process.
Adding that when the company’s assets are successfully sold off, they shall discuss with the different institutions and individuals whom they owe, when and how the payment process will be implemented.
LAP Green, the Libyan investment group owns 80% stake in the telecom company while the Social Security Fund of Rwanda (SSFR) 20 percent.
AT&T to push for data speeds; fuels iPhone 5 launch rumors (US)
AT&T has stated that it is bracing up for throttling the mobile broadband download speeds of its heaviest data users; come the start of October. Apparently, the timing of the announcement stands to fuel speculation in relation to the anticipated release of Apple’s iPhone 5 that supposedly stands to put more pressure on the already strained network capacity.
The company has stated that one of the new measures it will take with a view to meet its intended end, is to reduce data throughput speed experienced by a very small minority of smartphone customers who are on unlimited plans; users whose extraordinary level of data usage puts them in the top 5 percent of the heaviest data users in a billing period.
AT&T also, revealed that the same users use 12 times more than the average of all other smartphone data customers. However, this measure is not be applied to the 15 million smartphone customers on a tiered data plan or the vast majority of smartphone customers who still have unlimited data plans.
Smartphone customers availing of unlimited data plans may have be dealt with lowered speeds as on October 1 once their data usage reaches a threshold that puts them among the top 5 percent of heaviest data users for that billing cycle. However, with the start of the next billing cycle, these customers will still be able to use unlimited data at initial speeds.
Wi-Fi usage has been discounted from this measure taken by AT&T while encouraging heavy data users to take to Wi-Fi hotspots wherever possible.
Continued subscriber growth fuels 17% rise in Zain profits (Kuwait)
Zain posted a 2% increase in its revenues for the first half to record $2.38 billion, discounting cash inflow and capital gain in the wake of the sale of the Zain Africa assets, closed in June 2010.
The company’s net profit also rose by 17% to $506.5 million, in comparison to the figures from last year for the same period.
Zain also recorded a 16% year-on-year growth in subscriber base across its all operations, and as on 30 June, 2011, the telco boasted of 39.6 million active subscribers. In the same vein, there were 5.4 million new adopters of the Zain Group in the last twelve months; Saudi Arabia contributing the highest with 32% growth, and accounting for 9.1 million customers in total while Sudan witnessing a 24% growth, taking the tally of customers to 11.4 million. In addition, the subscriber base for Zain Kuwait rose by 7%, propelling the number of customers to 2 million while Jordan with 5.5% increase and Iraq 5.2% saw their customer base reach 2.7 million and 12.3 million respectively.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zain, Mr Asaad Al Banwan stated that although consolidated revenues increased a moderate 2%, it gratifies the company that it attained an impressive 17% net income growth and EBIT and EBITDA growth of both 6% respectively. In addition, these results augur well, especially when one considers that the net profit for the half year was adversely affected by currency fluctuations of an amount of $ 75 million.
While Zain Group CEO Mr Nabeel Bin Salamah noted that Zain has emerged as the market leader in terms of customer numbers across five of its seven operations. He also stated that the telco is all set to concluding an outsourcing agreement with an unnamed vendor.
Fifth mobile operator license finally granted (Israel)
Golan Telecom has finally been awarded the fifth new mobile operator license in Israel. The announcement came following Golan Telecom’s depositing the necessary bank guarantees to secure the license.
Incidentally, Golan Telecom had only emerged third in the recent license auction. The two higher bidders being 018 Xfone Communications and Select Communications which were eventually disqualified as they failed to deposit required bank guarantees within the stipulated timeframe.
$105 million worth of deposit has been submitted by Golan Telecom, which was a much lesser bid than the two disqualified companies.
Korea Telecom no longer to offer unlimited data tariffs (South Korea)
Korea Telecom is a mobile network operator based in South Korea. The company has stated that they will no longer be offering unlimited data tariffs as far as new customers, subscribing to their 4G network based on WiBro are concerned. Mitigating network congestion has been cited by the company as the driver of this move.
According to a KT official, as quoted by sources, they have found by way of research that 0.002 percent of their users use up to 700 gigabytes of data each month, creating network problems for most other average users; adding that 99.8 of the customers consume less than 50GB per month.
While KT Chairman Lee Suk-chae believes that unlimited data plans need to be phased out, in view of a minority of customers creating problems for average users.
Unlimited data tariffs on the 3G network also stand to be stopped, according to analysts.
