Egypt mobile phone ownership surpasses 80%
The latest figures by Egyptian officials reveals that more than 80% of Egyptians will start 2011 with mobile phones, it also showed that cell phone subscriptions grew by nearly a quarter during the year.
According to state website, subscriptions as of October were 65.488 million, a rise of more than 12.5 million, or 23.6% from a year earlier. Egypt is Arab world’s most populous country, with about 79 million people.
In October 2009, Egypt’s three mobile operators — Etisalat Egypt, Mobinil EMOB.CA and Vodafone Egypt — had 52.978 million subscribers.
According to the head of the telecoms regulator’s previous statements, Egypt was looking into options for a fourth mobile licence, including a virtual network.
Nextel Brazil gives $714 million for nationwide 3G license
NII Holdings has announced that its subsidiary, Nextel Brazil was the winning bidder for 20 MHz licenses in the 1.9-2.1GHz frequency band (H band) auctioned by Brazil’s telecoms regulator, Anatel.
Nextel Brazil was the successful bidder for 11 of the 13 lots included in the H Band auction. The regional licenses won by Nextel Brazil cover approximately 182.4 million people in the country, or 97% of the Brazilian population, and 97% of the areas that generate the GDP in Brazil. These licenses cover all major metropolitan areas in Brazil including Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia.
According to Nextel Brazil, it plans to utilize this spectrum to invest, build and deploy a 3G network across Brazil.
This 3G network will complement the company’s existing iDEN network, and it expects to launch commercial services on this network in certain markets in the next 12 to 18 months.
Nextel Brazil’s winning bids for the spectrum totaled US$714.4 million for the 20MHz in eleven of the thirteen lots included in the H band auction.
According to Steven Dussek, Chief Executive Officer of NII Holdings, this is an exciting time for NII and Nextel Brazil. Winning 3G spectrum in Brazil is an important milestone for the company, and it will allow them to invest, build and deploy a 3G network across the country, expanding their coverage and enabling them to provide a wider range of high-value wireless services to their current and future customers in the country.
Peru begins Disconnecting Unregistered SIM Cards
Peru’s telecoms regulator, Osiptel has warned that almost one million phone customers would have had their phones discontinue overnight as a SIM registration deadline passed. The cut-off subscribers have until next March to register their details with the networks to reinstate their service. After that date, the SIM cards will be permanently disabled.
As with most other countries that have mandated the registration of user details, the regulator cited the impact on reducing crime, and specifically kidnapping in the country.
Hong Kong mulls charging for Radio Spectrum usage
Hong Kong’s telecoms regulator has called for opinions on the proposed implementation of a charging scheme in respect of spectrum utilization fee (SUF) for spectrum assigned administratively.
As per the proposal, SUF will be imposed on spectrum in frequency bands that are currently congested and are anticipated to be more congested in future. Accordingly, eight frequency bands used as fixed links, electronic news gathering/outside broadcast links and certain satellite links would be subject to SUF, and their levels would be based on the estimates of the opportunity cost of the concerned frequency bands.
According to the Government spokesperson, radio spectrum is a scarce public resource. The proposed SUF charging scheme would serve as a price signal to encourage users of spectrum in congested bands to deploy spectrum assigned to them in a more efficient manner and, where applicable, return the surplus spectrum to the Government for subsequent assignment to other more needy users. This will be to the benefit of the other spectrum users and the community as a whole.
There will be a transitional period of five years before the charging scheme is fully in force. The Government also proposes to review the bands that are subject to SUF as well as the level of SUF every five years.
The spokesperson stated that conducting regular reviews will help ensure that the system of SUF is up to date and compatible with the changing trends of spectrum utilization and technological landscape.
French court rejects claims against 3G mobile license
As per the telecoms regulator Arcep, France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d’Etat, has rejected all claims to cancel the attribution of the country’s fourth 3G mobile license to Iliad SA’s mobile subsidiary, Free.
Iliad’s competitors France Telecom, Vivendi SA’s SFR unit and the telecom division of Bouygues SA, Bouygues Telecom, had filed complaints with different courts to confront the way the French government attributed the license to Iliad.
The companies complained that the US$335.13 million price tag for the license is lower than the US$864.37 million they paid for licenses in 2001 and 2002.
The frequencies comprising the fourth 3G license represent around a third of the frequencies the three companies were previously allocated.
The court found that the US$335.13 million price for the license was neither under-valued nor biased in comparison with the prices paid in 2001 and 2002.
TRAI to launch online customer redressal mechanism in India
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The dissatisfied customers all over India can now have a platform through which they can put forward their complaints. The online customer redressal mechanism set up by the telecoms regulator will empower India’s 500 million plus mobile users to log on to this web-based system and register complaints, violations or any other grievance against their mobile operator.
The regulator is also trying to expand the scope of the platform to include SMS-based complaints keeping in mind that a fourth of the country’s mobile subscribers had access to the internet. The process will begin next month after the regulator has consultations with the stakeholders.
Meanwhile, the service providers have demanded that they should be allowed to charge subscribers for calls made to customer care outlets which at present is free of charge.
