www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Alfa Group Consortium, a Russian financial-industrial conglomerate, has reportedly said that it is not interested in acquiring Telenor’s stake in Russian operator Vimpelcom.
It was earlier rumoured that Alfa Group and Telenor intend to ink an asset swap agreement. Under the terms of transaction, Telenor had planned to vend its 12% voting shares in Vimpelcom. In exchange of which Alfa was selling off all its 43.5% stake in Kvyistar, the Ukrainian mobile operator. The transaction also involved a transfer of approximately 5% stake in Telenor owned by the Norwegian government to Alfa Group.
On 06.15.09, In Mobile, By Editor
On 06.05.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Turkcell, the Turkish mobile operator is likely to launch a new system dubbed as Mobile Wallet, which offers credit cards, toll and transit functions on one mobile smart cards, before 2010-end.
Altug Acar, Turkcell’s head of Business Development, said that the company expects to offer their customers another “distinguished” service, making their lives easier to a great extent. “We are currently working on a new system that will transfer the functions of credit cards along with an integrated municipal toll and transit application,” he said. Acar said the transit application will be as easy as sending a text message.
The people who will use this new system will not have to carry their wallets as Turkcell will allow them to make their transactions using their mobile phones. Acar further added that the system will have high security features as the users will be at no risk than a normal credit card. “If a user loses their smart card or if it is stolen, then they will easily be able to cancel their accounts and open a new one via our call centers,” he added.
On 05.25.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Bharti Airtel, India’s leading mobile operator has renewed its effort to acquire 49% stake in MTN, the South African giant and the two telcos have again agreed to discuss the potential transaction by 31 July 2009.
If the transaction materialises, the combined entity will have revenues over $20 billion and a subscriber base of over 200 million.
“Bharti Airtel Ltd is pleased to announce that it has renewed its effort for a significant partnership with MTN Group. Bharti would acquire a 49% shareholding in MTN and, in turn, MTN and its shareholders would acquire an approximate 36% economic interest in Bharti, of which 25% would be held by MTN with the remainder held directly by MTN shareholders,” Bharti said in a statement.
Bharti CMD Sunil Bharti Mittal said: “We are delighted at the prospect of developing a partnership with MTN to create an emerging market telecom powerhouse. Both companies would stand to gain significant benefits from sharing each other’s best practices in addition to savings emanating from enhanced scale.”
On 04.08.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Oi’s credit card service has now expanded to 21 new towns, where the telco experienced a gap between the market, left by traditional credit cards, especially in the small and medium-sized enterprises segment. The Oi Paggo chip card is available to the shop owners for free of cost during the time of the campaign for the expansion of its retail network. The key advantage of the retail trade is that the transactions are made by sending SMS via mobile handsets, which makes the charges for transaction cheaper than the market average and subscribers don’t have to pay any annual fees for subscription. All they need to pay is BRL 2.99 fee for the issuing of the bill each month when the card is used.