Etisalat drops $122 mn bid for Syrian mobile license (UAE)
Middle East Economic Digest (MEED) has stated that Etisalat has dropped its plans to bid for Syria’s third mobile licence, in the latest blow to the firm’s drive to expand its Middle East footprint.
According to MEED, the UAE Company is not happy with the 25% revenue share demanded by Syria. Etisalat was not immediately available for comment. The bid would have been worth a minimum of $122 million.
The Syrian government has stated that five bidders – Etisalat, France Telecom, Qatar Telecom, Turkcell and Saudi Telecom — have qualified for the license auction. Bids are due April 12.
Syria has been crippled by growing political unrest recently in which more than 60 people have been killed so far.
This deal would have given Etisalat a presence in Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon and Sudan.
The former monopoly already operates in 18 countries, including Saudi Arabia, India and Egypt.
STC offers broadband at half price (Saudi Arabia)
Saudi Telecom (STC) is offering home broadband packages at a special rate of half price for half a year.
According to the company, the packages cover M Band Jood, Broadband Jood and X Band Jood, three of its fastest connections. The offer enables customers to surf real and safe Internet at home and includes free installation and delivery.
Other features are free round-the-clock local and national phone calls across the Kingdom, the use various Internet services, the ability to run all current and future applications, and receiving group games and others with high quality and efficiency.
As per STC, the introduction of half price home broadband packages is in response to customer expectations and their aspirations to receive the best real internet services at the lowest prices in the Saudi market.
The company added that home broadband packages are unique by having free telephone and Internet installation for new customers, in addition to current landline customers who want to receive internet services by subscribing to the one of the packages available in the offer. These packages also include free technical support round-the-clock seven days a week.
The offer gives customers the choice to select one of the three available home broadband packages according to their specific needs, allowing them to browse the Internet at speeds reaching 20MBs.
In addition to allowing customers to enjoy unlimited free calls across Saudi Arabia 24 hours a day, the packages offer low cost international calls at US$0.21 per minute.
Saudi Telecom Selects JDSU for IPTV Monitoring Solution
After evaluating a number of competitive bids, Saudi Telecom (STC) has selected JDSU (NASDAQ: JDSU) (TSX: JDU) to provide a comprehensive IPTV end-to-end service assurance solution. The solution will give STC the visibility to proactively detect and resolve IPTV service and network quality issues which will help speed repair times and ensure higher Quality-of-Service (QoS) for subscribers.
The JDSU IPTV solution was also selected by STC for its ability to effectively reduce the complexity involved in assuring IPTV service end-to-end. The solution consolidates all troubleshooting software and hardware elements and offers an easy to access, efficient view of key performance indicators (KPIs) to identify service-affecting issues throughout the entire IPTV network.
“As we face high expectations for delivering quality IPTV services, we saw the need for a much more comprehensive test and measurement solution to help keep customer satisfaction high while also reducing operational costs,” said Eng. Maziad Al-Harbi, STC general manager, Network Services Solutions. “JDSU’s IPTV solution was a winning combination — including JDSU’s successful IPTV installations, flexibility, intimate knowledge of video MPEG protocol, strong OSS experience and consultancy expertise.”
“With more consumers switching to IP-based television and video on demand, expectations for quality are higher than ever,” said Tom Smith, senior vice president in JDSU’s Communications Test and Measurement business segment. “JDSU is proud to provide an IPTV solution that combines effective scalability and exceptional quality of service to STC at this exciting stage of their IPTV service launch.”
The solution for STC is comprised of several products/services:
• JDSU NetComplete® Home Performance Management (PM) – enables multi-play service providers to extend their service assurance capabilities into the home providing full Quality-of-Service (QoS) and Quality-of-Experience (QoE) reporting independent of access technologies used. NetComplete Home PM uses a standards-based methodology which enables flexibility, scalability and manageability of the solution.
• JDSU MVP-200 – monitors all programs simultaneously, without scanning, and allows engineers to perform detailed troubleshooting of a selected stream or program without any interruption to monitoring.
• The Observer RPM 400 (by Volicon) – eliminates manual, visual channel inspections, which are typically an expensive and time-consuming task. Observer RPM provides QoE analysis by automatically scanning all channels via post-set top box (STB) monitoring, logging and troubleshooting.
JDSU will also provide integration and customization of third party products as well as consulting, project management, product maintenance and training services.
By implementing the newest and most advanced technologies, STC is able to continuously upgrade its systems and introduce new and innovative services that fulfill the aspirations and expectations of its customers.
About Saudi Telecom
STC (Saudi Telecom) is the leading national telecommunications services provider in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. STC provides four key services: Home services which include PSTN, broadband DSL, Personal services which include mobile telephone services and value added services, Enterprise services which provide advanced business data solutions to enterprises and Wholesale services that provide network services to other local operators. In the recent years STC grew beyond its local borders and went global forming a network of business and investments in various Gulf countries, Asia, and Africa. The company is present in Kuwait, Bahrain, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, and South Africa enabling it to provide services to a bigger customer base and increasing its total number of customers externally by studying and evaluating investment opportunities. For more information, visit STC on the Internet:http://www.stc.com.sa/
About JDSU
JDSU (NASDAQ: JDSU) (TSX: JDU) innovates and markets diverse technologies that enhance the way people experience the world every day. We enable fast, high-quality communications, secure financial transactions, reliable consumer electronics, green energy, differentiated brands and a host of other solutions. We provide these solutions through three business segments: Communications Test and Measurement, Communications and Commercial Optical Products, and Advanced Optical Technologies. To learn more about JDSU, please visit www.jdsu.com andwww.jdsu.tv and follow us on Twitter.
Google introduces Gmail-to-SMS in Saudi Arabia
Google has launched Gmail-to-SMS in Saudi Arabia, making it the first PC chat to cell text service in the country.
Google has launched this service in collaboration with Saudi TeleCom (STC). The service allows Gmail users in Saudi Arabia to send a text message from their desktops directly to a mobile phone via SMS. The phone user can then reply to the message which will be sent to the Gmail users interface.
Using the service, users must type the phone number of the person they are trying to contact into the new SMS box in Gmail and press send. Numbers can also be stored in the Gmail address book.
According to Google, the service will support all cellular networks in the country and charges will apply for any communication between a phone and PC, SMS Gmail chat is free from PC to phone.
Saudi Telecom increases stake in Indonesian subsidiary ‘Axis’
Saudi Arabia based Saudi Telecom has announced that it has increased its stake in the Indonesian mobile network, Axis to 80.1% from 51% percent. The company brought the stake from fellow shareholder, Malaysia’s Maxis Communications, who have reduced their holding to 14.9%.
STC will manage and operate Axis and appoint all the members of the board of directors.
STC will also offer a US$81 million loan and is committed to offer another US$290 million when necessary as part of the mobile network’s five-year plan. Maxis will cancel its loans to Axis totaling US$412 million.
Saudi Telecom partner with Level 3 for international IP and content distribution services
Saudi Telecom (STC) has announced that it has formed a long term partnership agreement with Level 3 to facilitate international IP and content distribution services in Saudi Arabia. This service will also be available across the Middle East.
To provide significantly enhanced connectivity and breadth of services to customers connecting to the Middle East, the agreement leverages the respective strengths of each company. Content customers in the Middle East will have the ability to distribute their content across both STC’s and Level 3′s international networks. Both US and European CDN customers will have access to a new broadband market in the Middle East.
With multiple submarine cable systems and a terrestrial cable system, Saudi Telecom is the only Middle East operator to have the international connectivity.
According to James Heard, President of European markets at Level 3, leveraging STC’s terrestrial connectivity in eight Middle Eastern countries, combined with the broad reach of Level 3′s international IP and CDN networks, they are able to expand their offerings to new and existing customers around the world. They have worked hard over the years to build out their international connectivity, and this agreement with STC is an important next step in expanding that connectivity.
At various points of presence (PoPs) across Europe, Level 3 is also providing STC with increased IP connectivity in the form of multiple 10 Gigabits per second (GBPS) ports. The company has a strong history of commitment to Middle East service providers. Level 3 allows for greater connectivity to the Middle East and Africa through its existing PoP site in Marseille as well as more than 300 other PoP locations across Europe.
Aegis inks a $2 bn deal with Saudi Telecom
Aegis, a part of the Essar Group has signed a $2 billion deal with Saudi Telecom Company, in which the global outsourcing services company will manage the customer care operations of the largest telecom operator in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The joint venture, Contact Centre Company, will be near-equally owned by the two arms, with 50% plus one share being held by STC and the rest under Aegis, which will have operational control and responsibilities.
The company’s job will include taking care of telecom customers’ billing, collection, verification and answering to their directory enquiries.
According to Saud Al Daweesh, Group CEO of STC, they are happy to have found an able partner in Aegis, who, they are confident, will provide a great deal of satisfaction to their valued customers, given their vast experience in managing customer experience across multiple geographies.
In the first phase, the Saudi Telecom will transfer 550 agents across two centres, providing directory assistance to the joint venture and gradually in the next two years, Aegis family will absorb the remaining 4,500 STC agents.
According to Aparup Sengupta, MD and global CEO of Aegis, they have the aspirations of making this the largest BPO operations in the region. Aegis is looking at consolidating its stake in the JV.
Syria sets minimum bid price for 3rd mobile operator license
Syria’s Deputy Minister of Telecommunications, Mohammad Al-Jallali, has stated that the country’s upcoming auction for the country’s third mobile network license is set to have a minimum reserve price of US$122 million. Etisalat, France Telecom, Qtel, Turkcell, Saudi Telecom have been pre-qualified for the license auction.
The country is also expected to announce the establishment of an independent telecoms regulator before the license auction starts.
According to reports, the country is estimated to have had just over 9.1 million mobile phone subscribers at the end of March 2010, which represents a population penetration level of 44%.
The two current operators will have to buy out their current BOT agreements and convert to a conventional license agreement. The buyout price has been previously reported as being around US$500 million.
IMEWE broadband submarine cable begins operations, links the Middle East to India and Europe
France Telecom-Orange announced that the new India Middle East Western Europe (IMEWE) submarine cable was officially lit on December 10. The submarine cable network serves eight countries: India, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Italy and France. The link, mapped below, comprises 13,000 km of fiber-optic cable.
France Telecom-Orange group said it brought together several major partners in an international consortium for the project, including Bharti, Etisalat, Ogero, Pakistan Telecom, Saudi Telecom, Telecom Egypt, Telecom Italia Sparkle, and Tata Communications.
Besides providing high-speed connections between Europe, the Middle East, and India, IMEWE offers an alternate route to secure the broadband telecommunications carried by the Sea-Me-We 4 cable linking Southeast Asia to Western Europe.
IMEWE has a potential capacity of 3.84 Tbps. The system was designed to migrate towards new 40-Gbps technology.
The construction of the IMEWE cable represented a total investment of around $480 million, about $60 million of which came from France Telecom-Orange.
Syrian 3rd Mobile License to be auctioned in April
Syria’s third mobile license will reportedly be awarded by next April, with an action on April 11th. According to Imad Sabouni, the Syrian communications and technology minister, Syria will also announce the establishment of an independent telecoms regulator before the license auction starts.
Last month it was announced that Etisalat, France Telecom, Qtel, Turkcell, Saudi Telecom were pre-qualified for the license auction.
The two incumbent operators will have to buy out their current BOT agreements and convert to a conventional license agreement. The buyout price has been previously reported as being around US$500 million.
