France to sell of remaining 3G frequencies
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The two remaining frequencies left to be allocated for the fourth 3G wireless license will be sold by France at a price of EUR120 million (USD168 million). The same amount was paid by Iliad recently for Free Mobile’s 3G operating license. However, price will actually be determined by the regulator Arcep, and not the government.
There are three operating blocks in the fourth 3G license, out of which, one is for a new market entrant (Iliad), and the other two are open for any of the incumbent cellcos Orange France, SFR and Bouygues Telecom.
Arcep will take the decision on the 3G spectrum in H1 2010 which would be followed by 4G auctions.
3G network to be launched by Orange Dominicana by next month
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 3G services will finally be introduced by Dominican mobile network operator Orange Dominicana at an expenditure of USD25 million in the beginning of February 2010. This will help the users to connect to the ‘Orange Net 3G+’, which will offer download speeds of up to 7.2Mbps.
Initially, the network will only be available in Santo Domingo, Santiago and Bavaro but the service will be extended to the other areas within 12 months. The announcement has been officially made by Orange after a number of rumors in the Dominican press that Orange had been testing 3G networks.
1.2 million Mobile users at year-end 2009: Telkom Kenya
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With the addition of 428,000 net new customers in just three months, Telkom Kenya ended December 2009 with 1.2 million mobile subscribers. However, the operator still fell short of its target of two million registered users by year-end despite of an impressive growth in the latter part of the year.
Meanwhile, ‘Orange fixed-plus’ fixed-wireless CDMA-450 network ended 2009 with 250,000 customers, up from 236,700 a year earlier.
According to CEO Mickael Ghossein, the company invested around KES18 billion (USD225.3 million) on network expansions and upgrades in both 2008 and 2009 and plans to spend between KES10 billion and KES16 billion in 2010, with the introduction of a mobile banking product and possible entry into the country’s 3G market on the firm’s agenda.
Blyk Media raked in by Orange to power Orange Shots
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With the roll out of Orange Shots on February 1, the brand will get a chance to target 100,000 opted in customers, initially Orange’s Pay As You Go Monkey customer base. Blyk Media, the original pioneer of the ad-funded mobile model, will power the mobile advertising service that enables brands to engage and interact directly with targeted segments of Orange’s customer base
The service will offer free music and texts to users when they top up their mobile. With the passage of time, the Orange Shots service will be offered to entire (opted in) mobile customer base.
SMS and MMS mobile platforms are used by Orange Shots to encourage customers to message back and give views and opinions. A number of other benefits like news and gossip, content, film and games previews, and sports information are also available.
HSDPA network overhauled by Orange France
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: An upgraded HSDPA network from 7.2 Mbps to 14.4 Mbps in Paris and its La Defense business district has been launched by Orange France. The network will be extended to Gernoble, Lens, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Nice, Strasbourg, Toulon and Toulouse in the first and second half of the year.
A 5 MB file will now take 3 seconds to download, compared to 7.5 seconds previously while an e-mail with a 1 MB attachment will take less than 1 second as a result of this up gradation.
Besides, two ranges of Business Everywhere plans has also been launched by Orange Business Services, automatically adjusting the price on the basis of four usage thresholds, starting at EUR 11 per month for 15 MB per line on a two-year contract. Unlimited mobile broadband connection for EUR 39 per month is offered by second plan. Both the offers come with unlimited Wi-Fi connection at Orange hotspots in France.
71.1 mln mobile phone users predicted in France by 2014
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: According to a latest prediction by a Canadian research company, France may have 71.1 million mobile phone subscribers in 2014 and Orange will surpass its competitors, SFR and Bouygues Telecom over the next five years in the EBITDA margins.
29 million mobile subscribers could be added by Orange in 2014 with a fall of almost 2% in the market share. A fall from 34.1 percent to 32.9 percent in market share is expected for SFR while Bouygues’ will stay within the 16-17 percent range.
7% rise can be seen in the MVNOs with an increase in the MVNO market share of SFR to 3.3%. Monthly ARPU is projected to slip to EUR 32.60 from EUR 33.30 for Orange, EUR 32.84 from EUR 34.99 for SFR and approximately EUR 41.50 for Bouygues between 2010-2014.
DWDM backbone launched by Orange Business
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 3,500km dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) backbone network will be launched by Orange Business Services to provide services to Orange corporate customers. The network will stretch 8,500km, extending the Moscow-Samara-Yekaterinburg DWDM network, which also connects Ryazan, Penza, Tambov, Ulyanovsk, Ufa and Chelyabinsk.
The operator has also launched a local access Metro Ethernet network with more than 20 communication nodes in Rostov-on-Don, and an inter-city coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM) network supporting transmission speeds of up to 10Gbps.
Shanghai Expo to be broadcasted by Orange in Europe
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A deal has been signed between France Telecom’s Orange and Shanghai Media Group to broadcast content from this year’s World Expo in Shanghai on phones across Europe. Orange will work with BesTV, Shanghai broadcaster’s new media unit to develop Internet Protocol Television, or IPTV.
It is a technology that allows content to be watched on television, computers and mobile phones. According to France Telecom’s chairman and CEO Didier Lombard, new internet and digital technologies have opened an extremely large field of possibilities. The most spectacular allows customers to see the same images on three screens.
The six-month World Expo scheduled in China, this year, will give an opportunity to showcase the IPTV technology around the world.
Fibre co-investment to be tested by Orange France & SFR
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Test of the co-investment in fibre deployment in two towns in the Paris area will be done by Orange France and SFR, together. By rolling out fibre to sharing points in the municipalities of Bondy and Palaiseau, 100 to 1,000 homes will be served.
Palaiseau will be covered by Orange and Bondy will be taken care by SFR. The companies will share the investment and the operators are also thinking of forming a company that would be open to any operators who wish to join it. Fibre investment in moderately, densely populated areas, to be addressed in a speech by the Prime Minister on January 18 is related in the agreement.
A tender, with public subsidies as an incentive will be organized for a tender, with public subsidies as an incentive.
Dispute between H3G and other telcos opened for consultation by Ofcom
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A consultation on a draft determination has been published by UK’s telecoms regulator Ofcom to resolve disputes between the country’s smallest mobile network operator Hutchison 3G UK (H3G) and each of its four major rivals O2 UK, Vodafone UK, Orange UK and T-Mobile UK.
The mobile termination rates (MTRs) for calls to ported numbers is the reason behind the disputes between H3G and the other telcos. H3G applied to the regulator in March 2008, to examine the four spate cases to be resolved.
It has already been concluded by Ofcom that a switch to alternative charging arrangements could be appropriate. However, it has also noted that the other operators acted reasonably in rejecting previous proposals from H3G regarding changes to the existing arrangements. The calculation will close on February 12.
