Etisalat moves towards winding up Etisalat DB (UAE, India)
UAE’s leading telecom operator Etisalat has said that it has started winding up its Indian venture and hopes to end it in a proper and orderly manner. The move follows the order by the Indian Supreme Court which cancelled 122 2G licences acquired by telecom operators in the 2008 licence auction. Etisalat DB held 15 of the cancelled licences.
As per a statement made by the company, Etisalat has issued proceedings for the winding up of Etisalat DB Telecom Pvt. Ltd. The step was taken to ensure a proper and orderly end to the business supervised by the Indian courts. The company added that it will stop providing mobile services in India on March 31.
The company also said that Etisalat was completely unaware of any issues or risks associated with the licenses, which were already owned by Swan when it made its investment. Etisalat has sued Indian partners Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka and Majestic Infracon for fraud and misrepresentation associated with soliciting Etisalat’s investment in Swan.
Further, the statement said that the Indian company is also unable to meet the funding requirements of the Indian venture.
DoT has no plans to withdraw 2G spectrum
As per the Department of telecom (DoT) secretary and telecom commission chairman R Chandrasekhar, there was no plan to withdraw 2G spectrum allotted in 2008 from any of the players.
According to India’s chief auditor, CAG, many of the licenses given to five of the nine telecom companies were illegal. Swan (now Etisalat), Datacom (Videocon), Unitech (which ceded majority control to Norways Telenor), Sistema-Shyam and Essar Group-owned Loop Telecom were given pan-India licenses and airwaves for a mere 1,651 crore each.
Apart from these five companies, Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices were also given GSM and CDMA licenses, at prices fixed in 2001. Similarly, auction of 3G airwaves early this year fetched the government US$15077.50 million
According to Mr Chandrasekhar, at this moment, there is no proposal before the department to take back any of the spectrum from any of the players.
France Telecom increases stake in Orange Botswana
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Stake of France Telecom in Orange Botswana has been increased by the company to 69%. The deal has also seen a consortium of local investors sell around a 20% stake in the cellco to the French telecoms group.
According to Satar Dada, one of the investors in Mosokelatsebeng Cellular, a consortium of Batswana investors, the company offloaded 20% of the company’s share and now it is left with 26% in Orange and the transaction was effected in December 2009, although he did not disclose the value of the deal.
The aim of the deal is also at pre-empting a takeover offer from an unnamed South African mobile operator seeking to enter the market in Botswana. Orange Botswana launched mobile services as Vista Cellular in June 1998 and rebranded under the Orange banner in March 2003.
Etisalat DB to enter Indian market as Cheers Mobile
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: GSM service of Etisalat DB will be soon launched in India under the brand Cheers Mobile Service. The website of the company has already gone live providing information on various tariff and customer care numbers. Etisalat DB is one of the pre-qualified bidders for 3G spectrum in India, the auction if which is expected to begin on April 9, 2010
The GSM Mobile Network of Telecom Talk has already gone live in Tamil Nadu and Kerala but it is still to come to Delhi. The commercial service of the operators is also expected soon in Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh and other circles. On launching its service in April, the operator will become the fourth telco to launch GSM services in the last 5 months and second this year.
Etisalat DB is a joint venture between Etisalat and Dynamix Balwas Group after Etisalat bought 45 percent share for $900 million in Swan Telecom.
UASL license has been granted to Etisalat DB to operate 2G services in 15 circles including Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai), Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West), Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.
ED initiates probes on DoT officials (India)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: According to the Enforcement Case Information Report, a criminal case has been registered against some unknown DoT officials with other unknown companies for committing an offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
As per the official sources, the investigation would bring under the scanner nine companies which were awarded licenses in January 2008 along with some DoT officers who were alleged to have connived with some private telecom firms for causing pecuniary loss of an estimated Rs 22,000 crore to the exchequer.
Companies like Swan, Unitech, Venugopal Dhoot-promoted Videocon and many others were provided licenses bundled with start-up spectrum for Rs 1,651 crore for pan-India operations.
CBI has started its investigation and has also registered an FIR in this regard.
Swan partners Telefonica O2 to start network service
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Slovak alternative operator Swan entered into partnership with Telefonica O2 Slovakia to start prepaid mobile services under its own brand. Any call made to the O2 network and all Slovak fixed networks will cost EUR 0.06 per minute and to any other network will cost EUR 0.12 per minute. Per second billing will be applicable only after first minute.
Fixed wireless, Wimax and an optical backbone network with IP MPLS will be used to provide existing data and voice services provided by Swan. SMS, MMS and data services are also included in the offer.
Free CLIP, CLIR, call holding and blockage, and information on missed calls by SMS or MMS free of charge along with access to internet or bulk SMS, MMS and international calls are also in the offer.
The service will be available by the end of year and more widely from January 2010 and the SIM will cost EUR 6, including credit of EUR 5. A Christmas offer has been given according to which, if the customers activate electronic invoicing they will get a SIM card for the new Swan Mobile service free of charge.
