Telkom may acquire stake in troubled Bakrie Telecom (Indonesia)

On 12.04.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), Indonesia’s dominant telecommunication group plans to acquire a stake in rival telco Bakrie Telecom.

In order to settle debts of more than USD1.2 billion, Indonesian family-run business group Bakrie & Brothers announced in October 2008 that it was looking to sell stakes in several of its major subsidiaries. Telkom’s announcement confirmed the speculations regarding the ownership of the company and its financial trouble for more than a year.

However, according to a report by CommsUpdate, the group’s Esia brand of wireless communication products and services is planning to merge with or buy other rival telecom companies in 2010. The company has taken this move to deal with competition in the market which the company describes as an intense one.

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France Telecom merges with Sunrise in 1.5 billion euros deal

On 12.04.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 1.5 billion euros will be paid by France Telecom to merge its Swiss Mobile Units with Sunrise, owned by TDC of Copenhagen. The move was taken to challenge Swisscom, the state-run market leader.

Sunrise and its own operator, Orange Switzerland will combine with France Telecom forming a new entity with 38 percent market share and 3.4 million customers. 75% of the joint venture will be owned by France Telecom while 25% will be retained by TDC.

According to Orange executive vice president Olaf Swantee, who is also in charge of France Telecom’s mobile businesses, the merger will provide the company the critical mass they need in the Swiss market.

Earlier, France telecom entered into a 50- 50 partnership of its British operator, Orange U.K. with T-Mobile U.K., both operators struggling in UK telecom market.

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MTNL joins per second billing system club (India)

On 12.03.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The 2G and 3G customers of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) in Delhi and Mumbai circles can now enjoy per second billing scheme. The announcement was made after the launch of per second billing systems by other telecom majors like Tata Teleservices, Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel.

As per the plan, any call made within the same network across the country will cost half paise per second and the calls made to other networks will cost one paise per second. Even video calls through 3G network will cost one paise per second.

The cost of text messages has also been reduced with 25 paise for local messages Re 1 for national messages while international messages will cost Rs.2.50.

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No Chinese equipment for border areas- Indian Govt to BSNL.

On 12.03.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: India’s government run telecom company, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) will not be able to procure Chinese telecom equipment as proposed by the Indian Government.

These equipments will not be bought in the border areas considered to be sensitive. Indian states bordering Pakistan, China, Bangladesh and Myanmar have been declared as sensitive by communications ministry in the Parliament.

The lawmakers were told that that the telecom companies are expressing concern over the plan which is still under consideration.

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Zain Malawi gets 3G Licence.

On 11.13.09, In Mobile, By Editor

MACRA has awarded a 3G licence to Zain Malawi, which is expected to enhance high-speed wireless internet access.

Zain marketing director, Enwell Kadango confirmed that discussions that started between the company and MACRA since 2006 has finally borne fruit as its licence conditions have now been changed.
“3G is the telecommunication hardware standard and general technology for the mobile networking superseding 2.5G system which will now allow speed in data processing,” said Kadango who added that Malawi is taking after most developing countries that are using this technology.
Currently Zain Malawi is about to finish its equipment installation across the country which will be compatible with the new system which offers fast downloading speeds of between 2-8mbps.
Malawi’s Zain CEO Fayaz King said 3G would also allow users to watch television besides connecting to the internet and make video calls.
TNM Limited Zain’s competitor in the market got the licence sometime back but it is only now that the company has been testing it.

Zain marketing director, Enwell Kadango confirmed that discussions that started between the company and MACRA since 2006 has finally borne fruit as its licence conditions have now been changed.

“3G is the telecommunication hardware standard and general technology for the mobile networking superseding 2.5G system which will now allow speed in data processing,” said Kadango who added that Malawi is taking after most developing countries that are using this technology.

Currently Zain Malawi is about to finish its equipment installation across the country which will be compatible with the new system which offers fast downloading speeds of between 2-8mbps.

Malawi’s Zain CEO Fayaz King said 3G would also allow users to watch television besides connecting to the internet and make video calls.

TNM Limited, Zain’s competitor in the market got the licence sometime back but it is only now that the company has been testing it.

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CAT gets nod to purchase Hutchison-CAT’s cellular businesses.

On 10.14.09, In Mobile, By Editor

The board of CAT Telecom has given the green light to sign a memorandum of understanding with Hutchison Telecom on CAT’s plan to buy four Thai cellular and related businesses from the Hong Kong telecom operator. Hutchison-CAT is a 75:25 joint venture of Hutchison Telecom and CAT.

The board has assigned CAT CEO, Jirayuth Rungsrithong to sign the MOU before the end of this week.

CAT will buy BFKT, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Telecom. CAT also plans to buy assets of Hutchison Telecom in the joint venture – its call centre and content businesses.

The CAT board also approved the plan to hire Allen & Overy for legal advisory services, Bualuang Securities for financial advisory services and Chulalongkorn University’s Chula Unisearch for HR advisory services.
CAT will transfer under itself a combined 1,000 employees of the four businesses it plans to buy.

Hutchison Telecom had invested about Bt30 billion in the CDMA business since Hutchison-CAT’s service debut in 2003.

Interestingly also, Krisda said CAT was concerned about a clause in the draft law governing the creation of the new broadcasting and telecom regulator in Thailand. The clause mandates that if CAT were to list shares in the stock exchange, it will have to either pay half of its revenue to the state or return to the state the spectrum it granted to private concessions.

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MTN Uganda raises USD 100 Mn for network expansion

On 10.13.09, In Mobile, By Editor

MTN in Uganda has raised USD 100 Million for network expansion with Absa Capital as the lead arranger.

Stanbic Bank, Standard Chartered, Kenya Commercial Bank, Barclays, DFCU and Orient bank participated to raise the amount.  Isaac Nsereko, chief marketing officer of MTN Uganda confirmed the development to Reuters.

Uganda has a total of 6 telecom players: Uganda Telecom (UTL), Zain, Orange, Warid, I-Telecom and MTN. MTN is the largest with 60% market share and just under 5 million subscribers, according to Isaac Nsereko.

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Bharti Airtel considering bid for Millicom SL

On 10.07.09, In Mobile, By Editor

Bharti Airtel CEO, Manoj Kohli told reporters in India that Airtel may bid for Millicom’s Sri Lankan operation. Bharti already operates in SL.

Wireless Federation had earlier reported that Millicom/Tigo Laos has been sold to Russia’s Vimpelcom.

Bharti is actively considering acquisitions in Africa and the world over after the talks with MTN collapsed.

Bharti group CEO Sunil Mittal has said that the company won’t engage in dialogue with MTN for a third time, after inconclusive talks twice.

Nasdaq-listed Millicom provides prepaid cellular telephony services to over 30 million customers in 16 emerging markets in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Asked if Bharti Airtel was also interested in Kuwait’s Zain Telecom,  Kohli said they will continue to explore international acquisitions. (Airtel-Zain, See Here)

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MTN and Bharti now rivals in a bid for Zain.

On 10.07.09, In Mobile, By Editor

What was to be a merger is now likely to turn into a battle to acquire Zain.  Reliable sources have revealed that a dialogue between Airtel and Zain has now been initiated via intermediaries. With this Bharti will now take on MTN in a bid to acquire Zain.

Last month, MTN CEO Phutuma Nhleko had stated that it would consider buying the African assets of Zain Telecom if the deal with Bharti did not go through.

Bharti Airtel is trying its hardest best to get a foothold in Africa, which is where the growth story is playing out as well.

Zain is considered a valuable asset because it has over 69 million customers and operations in 24 countries across West Asia and Africa, and a market capitalisation in excess of $19 billion. In Africa alone, it has 41 million customers and is the number one mobile operator in 12 of the 16 countries it operates in. As a comparison, MTN has over 103 million customers and operates in 21 countries.

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Hutchison 3G Austria modernizes its network for HSPA+ and LTE

On 10.02.09, In Mobile, By Editor

Hutchison 3G Austria is modernizing its radio access network to be ready for HSPA+ and the next generation of mobile broadband, or LTE. At the same time this step will allow the operator to halve the energy consumption of its base stations. Nokia Siemens Networks will undertake this upgrade starting in autumn 2009.

“The demand for increased mobile broadband capacity and throughput in Austria is reflected in the increasing usage of data cards and mobile services like Mobile TV, video download or video sharing,” said Berthold Thoma, CEO of Hutchison 3G Austria. “Mobile broadband is also one of the most pragmatic solutions to bridging the digital gap between cities and rural areas. For rural areas, mobile broadband coverage is simply less expensive and faster to deploy than “fiber to the home” solutions. We hope that with our nationwide coverage we will contribute significantly to this end.” (more…)

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