Sprint witnesses massive 3Q loss
Sprint Nextel, nation’s third-largest wireless carrier by customers posted a wider third-quarter loss but added the most customers in four years as the carrier messes up to capitalize on its 4G wireless services.
The company added a net 644,000 new customers, the second-straight quarter of growth. But it continued to lose its most lucrative contract subscribers, largely from the Nextel side of the business.
Wireline revenue decreased 14% to US$1.2 billion in Q3 2010. The company reported total net revenue of US$8.2 billion, an increase of 3%, compared to US$8 billion for the same period last year.
According to the company, the wireless revenue grew 3% to US$7.2 billion, while wire line revenue decreased 14% to US$1.2 billion. For the third quarter ended 30 September 2010, the company made an operating loss of US$213 million, compared to an operating loss of US$254 million last year.
The company also reported a net loss of US$911 million for the third quarter 2010, against a net loss of US$478 million in the year-ago quarter.
According to Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, the company gained postpaid customers for the fourth consecutive quarter, for the second consecutive quarter based on porting data, more customers switched to Sprint from their competitors than switched from Sprint to their competitors.
Zain Ghana chops down call rates, offers free SMS
Mobile operator Zain has made a mark in the telecom industry by chopping down its call rate from 12 Ghana pesewas to 8 Ghana pesewas per minute across all networks with no registration required to enjoy the new rates. The company will also offer eight free SMSs per day from one Zain user to another. The scheme is available for both prepaid and postpaid customers.
The company came with the scheme in less than a week after Vodafone; the rival network reduced its tariffs for the prepaid subscribers.
According to Zain’s Country Manager, Mr. Philip Sowah highlighted that Zain is always looking for new opportunities to enable the Ghanaian public to enjoy the network. Zain is always innovative in its concern for customers. The company does not require the customers to do anything in order to enjoy this offer; it is all about value for money and affordability. With mobile phones being such an integral part of ones day-to-day life, customers deserve to afford making calls whenever they need to.
Zain has certainly set the stage potential tariff war between the telecom operators with subscribers the likely winners.
Wal-Mart introduces postpaid plans with T-Mobile
Wal-Mart Stores , an American public corporation running a chain of large discount department stores and a chain of warehouse stores will launch a family post-paid cell phone plan with T-Mobile USA.
Unlimited calling and texting will cost US$45 per month for the first line and US$25 for each additional line for the family. The service will be offered starting next week in most of its stores across the nation.
The companies look like targeting customers who aren’t willing to pay for marquee devices such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone or Verizon Wireless’ Droid lineup.
According to T-Mobile Chief Operations Officer Jim Alling, the new service offers customers a low-cost alternative for unlimited voice, messaging, web and inexpensive international calling.
Wal-Mart’s family mobile plan includes offerings from Samsung Electronics Co., Motorola Inc. and Nokia. T-Mobile USA is a subsidiary of German phone company Deutsche Telekom AG.
Brazil Mobile Penetration Reached 96%: 1.89 Million New Mobile Subscribes in July’10
Brazil saw a significant growth in its new mobile subscriptions as it grew to 187 million in July, the telecommunications regulator Anatel revealed.
1.89 million new subscriptions were added in the month of July, an increase of 1.02% compared to June. Brazil has recorded 13.06 million new users in 2010.
Brazil now has 96.83 mobile phone users for every 100 population by now. Of the total number of mobile phones, almost 80% are prepaid and the remaining 20% postpaid.
Vivo remained the market leader with 30.25 percent of the total and is closely challenged by Claro 25.42%, TIM 24.05%, Oi 19.93% and others 0.35%.
Zain Kenya cuts its call rates by 50%
Zain Kenya has lessened its calling charges by 50% across all networks. Following this move, the company has become the first mobile company in the country to give the customers the benefit of the lower interconnect charges, forced by the Communication Commission of Kenya.
The mobile operator lowered its call charge to US$ 0.04 across all networks in Kenya on both prepaid and postpaid numbers, eliminating the difference between intra-network and cross-network call costs.
SMS have also been lowered to US$ 0.01 across all networks in Kenya. All customers will automatically get advantage by the new calling charge. The new rates will apply for calls made between 6pm and 6am every day of the week, which do not require any subscription and are not subject to any terms and conditions.
According to the Managing Director, Rene Meza, the new rates will make telecommunication services more affordable to all Kenyans. This is the best value for money available in the market today. Zain’s very competitive rates, coupled with the widest network coverage and superior network quality will make mobile customers in Kenya enjoy the best services with Zain.
France adds 447,400 mobile customers in Q2
There were 49.07 million mobile customers in
France
and its overseas counties and territories at the end of June, 477,400 more than three months earlier, according to French regulator Arcep’s latest mobile market survey. At the end of June 2005, the figure was 45.38 million. The number of postpaid customers rose to 31.69 million from 31.03 million at the end of March and from 28.53 million at the end of June 2005. Prepaid customers rose to 17.38 million from 17.57 million and 16.85 million, respectively. The report breaks down subscriber and revenue figures for metropolitan
France
and overseas territories, French regions, MNO and MVNO, and SMS traffic..
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
