Telenor

Telenor sees potential in Pakistan

On 03.17.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: It has been announced by telecom operator Telenor that the operators are not generating enough profit per phone user to have five mobile groups in Pakistan. The operators would have to consider mergers or acquisitions to see significant growth.

Telenor made its entry into Pakistan exactly five years ago and currently it is the second largest cellular phone operator after Mobilink, a subsidiary of Egypt’s Orascom Telecom.Pakistan’s. The other mobile operators include Ufone, Warid Telecom and Zong.

Telenor is considering a broader expansion in Pakistan along with India, Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh. 26 per cent of revenues in 2008 by the company were generated in Asia. The rest of the income came from eastern and central Europe and the Nordic region.

Telenor’s has been concentrating its attention on its 67.3 per cent investment in Unitech Wireless of India but big potential is also seen in Pakistan, which has seen a phenomenal increase in the number of mobile phone users over the past decade.

Unitech to stretch its wings in India

On 03.05.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Half of the Indian market will be covered by Unitech Wireless, an Indian subsidiary of Telenor, by the end of this year. The company has expressed its desire to position itself in the mid-end to high-end segment besides making it clear that it is not expecting any decrease in the mobile prices.

Sigve Brekke, head of Telenor’s operations in Asia, denied Unitech’s participation in the 3G auction as it sees no immediate demand for it in India.

According to the executive, Unitech will use telecoms towers of existing players rather than its own, and that on a wider note Telenor has no plans to buy companies in Pakistan or Africa.

Unitech commercially launched its service in India in December 2009 under the brand name Uninor. 67.25% stake in Unitech is currently held by Telenor and it is expected to rise to 74% by the end of this month.

Tagged with: 3G • Africa • ASIA • Auction • India • Telenor • Unitech

Telenor Denmark contracts Huawei for mobile backhaul

On 02.24.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Telenor Denmark has signed a contract with Chinese telecoms equipment vendor Huawei Technologies for the rollout of a mobile backhaul commercial network. Telenor would be able to smoothly modernize the network to Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology after the deployment of the IEEE 1588v2 standard.

According to Lars Rude Andersen, CTO of Telenor Denmark, the company is glad to work with Huawei in the Mobile Backhaul field and it is confident that Huawei’s advanced PTN solution will enable the customer to enjoy faster and higher quality mobile services from Telenor.

Telenor entered the Danish market with the acquisition of a 53.5% stake in Sonofon in 2000, purchasing the remaining shares from US-based BellSouth in December 2003.

Tagged with: Denmark • Acquisition • Europe • Huawei • Huawei Technologies • Long Term Evolution • Sonofon • Telenor • Telenor Denmark

Pannon selects Alac-Lu for IP upgrade (Hungary)

On 02.24.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Alcatel-Lucent’s all-IP solution has been selected by Hungarian mobile operator Pannon, part of the Telenor Group, to unify its mobile core network and its existing IP/MPLS-based mobile backhaul infrastructure.

Pannon will lay the foundation for the future introduction of Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, besides catering to the anticipated surge in demand in mobile traffic after this IP upgrade. Currently, 3.6 million customers are served and 33% of the domestic mobile market is controlled by Pannon.

According to Kenneth Fredriksen, general manager for ZTE’s Telenor Global Business Unit, LTE will enable mobile users to experience high speed mobile broadband and exciting new services and with this commercial trial, ZTE aims to demonstrate the superior performance of the LTE solutions to Pannon and the Telenor group.

Tagged with: Alcatel-Lucent • Europe • Hungary • Long Term Evolution • LTE Solution • operator • Pannon • Telenor • ZTE

Telenor’s landline talks with Serbian operator deadlocked

On 02.23.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The talk over the leasing of landline infrastructure between Norwegian telecoms group Telenor and Serbian fixed line incumbent Telekom Srbija has come under deadlock. Without this deal, Telenor cannot operate.

According to Ana Davico, a Belgrade-based Telenor spokeswoman, the company has placed a standard offer, usual for other European countries, but Telekom Srbija wants more favourable terms and that is unacceptable.

Telenor was awarded nation’s second landline phone license by Serbia’s telecom regulator Ratel for EUR1.05 million (USD1.42 million) in January. The Norwegian company pledged to lease Telekom Srbija’s infrastructure before developing its own fibre-optic network.

Tagged with: Belgrade • Europe • LG • Oman • operator • Telekom Srbija • Telenor

Telenor launches Wimp, a music streaming service (Norway)

On 02.22.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Wimp, a music streaming service for Norwegians has been launched by Telenor Norway along with Aspiro Music and Norwegian multimedia store Platekompaniet.

It’s a subscription-based music service that enables users to gain full, legal access to an online music library through the internet from their PC or mobile phone. New music could be searched and discovered by the users besides creating playlists, favorites, and recommendations.

The company has signed a deal with 20 content providers for over 6.5 million songs, including four major record companies and a number of smaller independent partners. An editorial crew to categorize music, publish playlists and recommending new and old releases with a special focus on Norwegian music is also established.

Tagged with: Europe • Launch • Music Streaming Service • Norway • Telenor • Telenor Norway • Wimp

Huawei E398 modem to be first launched by Tele2, Telenor Sweden

On 02.18.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Triple-mode Huawei E398 modem, the first LTE wireless modem compatible with LTE, W-CDMA/HSPA and GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks will be launched over Net4Mobility, a joint infrastructure venture between Tele2 and Telenor Sweden.

The modem is based on Qualcomm’s MDM9200 chipset and it will support multiple LTE frequency bands.

Chinese technology provider has been selected by the Swedish network operator to develop its nationwide LTE network, including the supply of infrastructure and terminal solutions.

Tagged with: CDMA • Europe • GPRS • GSM • GSM/GPRS • Huawei • Launch • operator • Qualcomm • Sweden • Tele2 • Telenor • Telenor Sweden • W-CDMA

Mobile operators join force on global apps platform

On 02.16.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: An open international applications platform has been launched by a joint force of the world’s largest mobile operators. This marks the largest unified move to date by the operator community into the mobile apps space.

A combination of 24 of the world’s largest mobile carriers, the so called ‘Wholesale Applications Community’ includes America Movil, AT&T, Bharti Airtel, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, KT, mobilkom Austria, MTN Group, NTT Docomo, Orange, Orascom Telecom, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Telenor, TeliaSonera, SingTel, SK Telecom, Sprint, VimpelCom and WIND.

Vodafone, China Mobile, SoftBank and Verizon Wireless in the Joint Innovation Lab (JIL) mobile apps initiative are also included in the group. The move has been backed by GSMA, an industry association. The aim of the alliance is to create a wholesale platform for mobile apps providing a single point-of-entry for developers. Operators are also eyeing the revenue-generating potential of getting into the apps business.

The new operator-led initiative has also got the support from the handset vendors including LG, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

Tagged with: Airtel • alliance • Austria • China • China Mobile • China Unicom • Deutsche Telekom • Ericsson • GSM • GSMA • Launch • LG • Mobilkom • MTN • NTT DoCoMo • operator • Orange • Orascom • Samsung • SingTel • SK Telecom • Sony • Sprint • Telecom Italia • Telefonica • Telenor • TeliaSonera • Verizon Wireless • VimpelCom • Wholesale Applications Community

Indian unit of Telenor hunt for bigger rival

On 02.12.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With an aim to reflect the expanded ambitions for India, the Indian unit of Norway’s Telenor is considering buying a bigger rival. The step will herald the arrival of consolidation in the jam-packed mobile phone market.

The company is taking several steps to materialize this idea. Bankers are appointed by Uninor to advise it on the likely acquisition of a mid-sized operator besides equipping itself with an internal report on consolidation in the mobile space.

According to Telenor spokeswoman Glenn Mandelid, Telenor has previously stated the group is currently not planning any major acquisitions and Uninor has just launched with the focus on establishing the brand as a preferred provider of mobile services in India.

Tagged with: Acquisition • ASIA • Europe • India • Norway • operator • Telenor • Uninor

Telenor profit powered by Asian subscriber growth

On 02.11.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Telenor’s Q4 profit grew 25% year-on-year despite quarterly and annual declines in revenue because of increasing subscriber numbers in Asia. Net profit hit 2.5 billion kroner (€308 million) from 1.9 billion kroner even after sales fell from 29 billion kroner to 26 billion year-on-year.

The quarterly and annual growth of the operator is contributed by growing number of subscribers at Telenor’s operations in Pakistan which added 842,000, Thailand which added 386,000 users, and Bangladesh which added 1.2 million subscribers, thus ending 2009 with a total of 174 million subscribers.

According to CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas, 2009 results reflect the firm’s focus on geographical presence and reorganization of its activities and he also predicted single digit growth in organic revenues for 2010, and EBITDA margin of 27%-28%, excluding other income and expenses.

Tagged with: ASIA • Bangladesh • EBITDA • EBITDA margin • Net Profit • operator • Pakistan • Telenor • Thailand