Orange, a key brand of France Telecom, is reportedly planning to launch three phones which will give users direct access to social networking site, Facebook, in Europe and Africa, inclusive of free Facebook data in the package. According to reports, the new phones will have a Facebook button, and will be focused primarily on Romania and Poland in Europe along with Tunisia and Egypt in North Africa.

As per sources, Patrick Remy, Vice President (Devices), Orange has said that Orange Romania will sell the 3G version of the Facebook phone, an Android device made by TCL Communication in Shenzhen, China, for approximately US$ 135.  He added that the package will include 60 minutes of voice, a bit of data and unlimited access to Facebook.

Remy also said that the phone has 3G at up to 7.2 megabits a second download, and the non-Facebook data limit will be 60 megabytes a month before extra charges start. Further, the other two models, also made by TCL, are 2G only and will mainly be aimed at emerging markets.

Remy has also reportedly said that 10-15 percent of the terminals in use on Orange networks have the Orange brand and the company hopes to push that to 20 percent in 2012.

 

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wataniya

The Kuwaiti telco witnesses a robust growth in revenue on the back of strong domestic and Algeria operations.

Wataniya Telecom also, known as National Mobile Telecommunications Co. based in Kuwait stated that its net profit for the second quarter rose by 18.7% to $85.4 million from $71.9 million the preceding year for the same period; Tunisian operations have been significantly attributed by the jump in revenue.

Earlier, analysts had predicted a figure in the tune of $83.68 million while one other source forecast $74.87 million; the telecom’s results have exceeded them all.

There was an increase of 35.2% in revenue for the quarter to $669.11 million as compared to $494.76 million in the same quarter the preceding year.

The telco also witnessed a rise in its customer base by 6.8% to hit 16.9 million by the end of the second quarter, as compared to 15.8 million for the same period the preceding year.

According to Sheikh Abdullah Bin Saud Al Thani, Chairman of Wataniya Telecom, Year on Year revenue increase of 15.4% in Kuwait and 30.6% in Algeria shows that investments of previous periods are starting to pay off and that they are capable of driving progress in competitive markets. On the other hand, Tunisiana’s robust performance demonstrates the ability to overcome challenges and produce solid results.

Qatar Telecom or Qtel which is the Gulf Arab state’s largest telecom operator, in partnership with Tunisian investment firm Princesse Holding asserted on November 22 that they would pay Orascom Telecom $1.2 billion for its 50% stake in its Tunisian unit, Tunisiana. Eventually, Qtel completed the acquisition through Wataniya Telecom whose majority stakes it owns. In addition, Qtel had raised its stake in Tunisiana to 75% earlier this year.

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Orange Tunisia in partnership with local company YouVas has launched an App store featuring over 20 locally developed applications as well as intenational ones such as Roland Garros 2011, Jardins de Versailles and Coach Forme.

It offers a 70% revenue share to developers and gives them 50 percent of the ad space to promote their products.

Several of the first apps that went live were developed by Tunisian students under the Orange DevCenter initiative to support end-of-studies projects. These include Orange Viewer, Citations, Orange Services and Orange Info Plus.

 

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Orange Tunisia will be offering its subscribers one-click access to hundreds of local and international apps for a broad range of smartphones using the major operating systems (Android, Blackberry, Java, Symbian and Windows Mobile)on 31 May.

Orange has been working with local talent on developing Tunisian apps since October 2010 and opened a mobile software development centre in Tunis in December.

The new app store is intended to enable developers to reap the fruits of their labour, with a revenue share of 70/30 in their favour. The operator informs the developer community that anyone with an app to offer can register at http://developpeur.orange.tn/ and that both free and pay apps will be made available.

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A recent report by Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) has revealed that around 208 operators are now investing in LTE, which is 98 operators more than in June 2010.

According to the report, the number of countries and territories where LTE systems are deployed or planned has increased by 32 in the same period.

The report confirms 154 firm LTE network deployments are in progress or planned in 60 countries, including 20 networks which have commercially launched. A further 54 operators in 20 more countries are engaged in LTE technology pilot trials or tests.

Taken together, it means that 208 operators in 80 countries are now investing in LTE. The report covers both LTE FDD and LTE TDD systems. The 60 countries and territories having firm LTE network commitments are Andorra, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong S.A.R., Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore , South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tunisia, UAE, UK, Uruguay, USA, and Uzbekistan.

LTE networks are launched in 14 countries, namely Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Lithuania, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Sweden, USA, and Uzbekistan. GSA forecasts that at least 81 LTE networks will be in commercial service by end-2012.

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Tunisie Telecom has started offering its fixed and mobile customers bonus credit between based on daily or weekly consumption between 3 May and 5 June.

There is no charge to activate either the daily or weekly promotion, done by sending an SMS to short codes *112# and *113#, respectively.

For every Tunisian Dinar (TDT) of calls or text messaging consumed each day, people on the Ahla, Ahla Hbaybet and Sigounda prepaid services will get a free TDT of credit to be used the same night between 22:00 and 06:00. The limit is set at US$14.59 a day.

Customers on Elissa-branded service can get US$21.88 of bonus credit each week. This offer gives them a 30 percent bonus on any call or SMS consumption over US$2.18, Monday to Friday.

The bonus can be used between midnight on Saturday and midnight on Sunday.

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Tunisiana has picked French QoS and network performance monitoring services provider Astellia to optimise data network through data service and QoE audit.

The data service and QoE audit involved placing Astellia’s probes on strategic points of Tunisiana’s network both on the access and the core parts.

The analysis was performed in three stages. The first step consisted in getting an assessment of network performance and service quality as perceived by subscribers. These metrics were then benchmarked versus regional reference KPIs.

Finally, the implementation of Astellia’s recommendations enabled Tunisiana to improve customer experience. Amongst others, access time to data services was reduced by more than 30 percent by identifying delays due to packet loss at GGSN level.

The push-mail application efficiency was improved by reconfiguring core network equipment and service continuity was enabled for subscribers moving from mobile to mobile.

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Orange Tunisia has introduced the “Music Play” service to enable customers on its prepaid Club, Zen and Play plans to personalise their phone’s ring back tones, heard by callers instead of a standard dial tone.

The operator offers a broad range of music from the Universal, Arabica Music and Founoun Jazeera labels, including Tunisian songs, Bollywood music, hip hop, rap, jazz, religious chants, TV theme tunes and classical music.

Music Play allows subscribers to have up to 10 ring back tones on their playlist, which can be assigned to specific callers’ numbers or played randomly. Until the end of May, Orange Tunisia is offering the first month subscription for free and a reduced IVR browsing fee of US$0.1 per minute.

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Tunisie Telecom has launched Serenity Pro, a postpaid mobile service with plans ranging from 5 to 30 hours of calls per month to all national destinations.

Serenity Pro customers benefit from a 100 percent bonus every month on calls to Tunsise Telecom fixed and mobile and Elissa mobile numbers, and a 500 SMS welcome package.

Customer scan also sign up for the Passport Option, offering an up to 50 percent discount on international calls. The operator has launched a Serenity Pro bundle with a BlackBerry Gemini 8520 smartphone, 30 hours of calls to all national numbers and unlimited calls to Tunisie Telecom numbers.

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France Telecom quarterly revenues down

France Telecom-Orange has reported that its first-quarter revenues dropped by 1.4% to US$16.65 billion as regulatory changes hit the company.

The first quarter results are in line with the Group’s guidance for 2011. Group customers totaled 215.9 million at 31 March 2011, a 7% year-on-year increase on a comparable basis, led by 25% mobile growth in Africa and the Middle East.

Restated EBITDA was down slightly at US$5.5 billion. The EBITDA margin was 33.3%, down 1.3 percentage points versus the first quarter of 2010, notably due to the unfavorable impact of sales tax changes in France.

According to Chairman and CEO of France Telecom-Orange, Stephane Richard, the Group’s operating and financial performance for the first quarter is strong, despite intensified competition in France and exceptional political conditions in certain emerging countries. In France, the Group successfully overcame increased market turbulence and regulatory changes – most notably following the increase in VAT – with
significant gains in the ADSL market thanks to the success of the Open quadruple play offer. The Group was also able to address difficult conditions in Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire and Tunisia. The Group performed very well in Spain, with revenues growing 4%, as well as in the continually improving Enterprise
market.

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