T-Mobile USA wins U.S. mobile licenses for $4.2 billion

By Editor on September 19, 2006 · Leave a Comment

LONDON (MarketWatch) — T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG (DT), has won 120 mobile licenses in the U.S. with a bid of $4.2 billion, in a move that will help the company expand its presence in the important U.S. market.

T-Mobile acquired the spectrum in an auction of licenses by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, which was completed Monday in the U.S. The licenses are for regions across the United States and in Hawaii, Puerto Rico/U.S. Virgin Islands, Alaska and cities including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

The company can use the spectrum to offer either second-generation basic telephony and messaging services or third generation services, including music, TV and video. The rights to the spectrum can also be traded.

The price was largely in line with expectations and will enable T-Mobile to catch up with its U.S. competitor Verizon Wireless, said a trader.

The trader added that Deutsche Telekom had long been seen as most aggressive participant in the auction.

At 0908 GMT, shares in Deutsche Telekom were up EUR0.06, or 0.5%, at EUR11.75.

T-Mobile USA is currently the smallest of four national operators in the U.S. and has only half the spectrum allocation of its closest peer, said analyst Jochen Lins at BHF Bank in Frankfurt.

“Investors had already priced in the cost of the spectrum, the focus now will be on rollout costs,” said Lins who estimates a total price tag for both spectrum and a 3G network of around $6.7 billion.

He also noted that owning spectrum bolsters the overall value of an operator.

“Winning those airwaves was crucial”, said analyst Stefan Borscheid at WestLB in a note. “Unlike its three bigger competitors, T-Mobile does not yet operate a 3G network in the US.”

But BHF Bank’s Lins said T-Mobile USA may not necessarily launch 3G services in the short term as there is currently no 3G application that is a ‘must have’ for subscribers. The spectrum win “gets T-Mobile into position for the future market,” said Lins.

The FCC raised almost $13.9 billion in total from the 28 day license auction. Verizon Wireless agreed to pay $2.8 billion for 13 licenses. A consortium that includes cable giants Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) and Time Warner Inc. (TWX), along with Sprint Nextel Corp. (S), agreed to pay almost $2.4 billion for 137 licenses.

A total of 1,122 licenses were offered and 104 bidders won 1,087 of these. The unsold licenses will be offered again in the future, the FCC said in a statement.

Source- http://www.marketwatch.com

Technorati : Deutsche Telekom, Mobile, T-Mobile, USA
Ice Rocket : Deutsche Telekom, Mobile, T-Mobile, USA

Filed under Mobile · Tagged with Mobile Licenses, Puerto Rico, USA, Virgin Islands, WestLB

MoviStar Puerto Rico Chooses Comptel Mediation for its CDMA Mobile Network

By Editor on September 19, 2006 · Leave a Comment

HELSINKI, Finland, September 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Comptel Corporation (OMX Helsinki: CTL1V), a leading OSS software vendor for convergent mediation, charging, provisioning and network inventory, announced today that MoviStar Puerto Rico, a mobile operator in which Telefonica Moviles has an equity participation, has selected Comptel EventLink® mediation solution for its CDMA network. Comptel EventLink® will collect and process MoviStar’s usage information required to bill for its voice, SMS, and advanced data services.

As demand for mobile services grows, MoviStar Puerto Rico realised that its existing in-house mediation solution would not cope with the increasing complexity in the mediation layer. Furthermore, as MoviStar rolls out new data services, it required a convergent solution that could cope with the variety of event types used to charge customers for these services.

Carlos Ortiz, MoviStar Information System Director, says: “After a thorough investigation of the mediation market, we came to the conclusion that Comptel’s mediation solution offered the best combination of functionality, performance, reliability, flexibility and cost to adapt to our evolving needs. Comptel’s solution is proven as it has already been successfully deployed at so many operators. For an operator like us, such a track record is always a key deciding factor.”

Comptel EventLink® manages the collection and transformation of network events to billable records. It provides a consolidated mediation platform for reducing the costs of usage-based charging. Comptel EventLink® will handle voice and data events from MoviStar’s CDMA network and forward them to billing, interconnection and a data warehouse system. It will also be processing roaming records from partner networks.

Reed Sandridge, Comptel Vice President in charge the Americas region, concludes: “MoviStar Puerto Rico joins our growing list of customers in the Americas. Puerto Rico is a very competitive market for mobile services, so efficiency and ease of quickly introducing new services is fundamental to the success of an operator here.”

About MoviStar:

MoviStar Puerto Rico, is a wireless communication carrier leader in developing new services and a pioneer in the wireless market. For more information about our products and services, contact us at 787-530-6684 or visit our website www.movistarpr.com

About Comptel Corporation:

Comptel is a world leading OSS software product vendor for convergent mediation, charging, provisioning and network inventory solutions. Comptel is listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange (CTL1V) in Finland. For more information, visit www.comptel.com.

Source- http://biz.yahoo.com

Technorati : CDMA, Mobile, Movister
Ice Rocket : CDMA, Mobile, Movister