www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) agreements have been signed between British mobile network operator Orange UK and its three new partners- Unicom, Catalyst and Axis Telecom. The three companies have been secured on the Orange Partner Platform via Transatel, Orange’s mobile virtual network aggregator (MVNA).

The initial target of 80,000 existing customers with its new wireless services has been expected from fixed line provider Unicom. Mobile voice offerings are expected from Catalyst through partners targeting specific demographics including students, ethnic minorities and SMEs.

The deal will be used by Axis Telecom to offer mobile voice to its 14,000 residential and business customers. The three MVNOs are expected to launch commercially by the mid-2010.

According to Marc Overton, Vice President of Wholesale, Business Development & Partnerships at Orange UK, Orange has very ambitious plans to become the network partner of choice for new and existing MVNOs and with the deal, it is on its way to achieve this but the ambition is to have twenty new MVNOs on the Orange network by the end of the year which again clearly demonstrates that there are untapped opportunities for telecoms services across business and consumer sectors.

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www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Alfa, the mobile operator managed by Orascom Telecom, will be organizing its second public auction on 25 new platinum mobile numbers on Thursday 3rd of September, 2009. The auction will be held under the high patronage of Telecommunications’ Minister, Engineer Gebran Bassil, and upon his request, and will take place in “Dubai Hall” at the Metropolitan Hotel, at 9 pm.

To participate in the auction, one has to visit Alfa’s headquarters at Furn El Chebbak, Beirut in order to submit the 100 USD registration fees (VAT included) starting the 27th of August 2009, up until the 3rd of September 2009, from 8 am until 2 pm and on the 3rd of September at Metropolitan Hotel from 8 am until 9 pm just right before the bidding operation starts. (more…)

Mobilis launches new pack (Algeria)

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: ATM Mobilis, the first mobile operator in Algeria, is launching a new pack (Phone + SIM).
As of 12 August 2009, Mobilis, markets across all its offices and sales GSM Algeria, a new pack called “The Pack Summer”, consisting of a Nokia 1662 and a SIM “Gosto”, which allows you to configure:

- Mobilis 03 favorite numbers for calls to 2.99 DA/30 Sec
- 01 Number favorite for international calls to 6 DA/30 Sec

Credit bonus weekly DA 150 will be offered in eight (08) weeks, 1200 DA credit bonus available to all networks. The purchase price of the pack was Mobilis is 3990 DA / TTC.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Wataniya, the Kuwaiti mobile operator, is eagerly looking for foriegn acquisitions and intends to expand its operation in North Africa.
“We already have two operations in North Africa, in Algeria and Tunisia, so North Africa is definitely a place that we want to be,” Scott Gegenheimer, Chief Executive Wataniya, reportedly said.
“If there are other opportunities available we will be definitely looking at that.”
According to a local media report Wataniya aims to acquire the Moroccan mobile operator.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Wataniya, Kuwait’s Red Carpet Co., has selected Openet, the leading provider of Transactional Intelligence for the world’s largest and most innovative network service providers, for its Fair Usage solution through the deployment of Openet’s FusionWorks(TM) Convergent Charging and Policy Manager products.

This integrated solution approach will ensure profitability from Wataniya’s data services by enforcing limits on subscriber usage volume, while allowing subscribers to purchase additional volume upon reaching limits. Wataniya will also deploy products to correlate and track data across all networks, implementing policies to monetize services and content.

With the growing consumption of rich, bandwidth-heavy content and services and the increase in peer-to-peer traffic, operators across the Middle East are struggling to control network capacity while continuing to ensure that all subscribers are provided the network performance they pay for. By deploying Openet’s Fair Usage solution on top of its Policy Manager and Convergent Charging products, Wataniya is taking the first step to ensure that excessive bandwidth usage generates incremental revenue. (more…)

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Nedjma, the Algerian mobile operator, has introduced two mobile plans for SMEs under its Nedjma Entreprises brand. Nedjma Pro plan offers free calls to other Nedjma number between 08:00 and 18:00, and at DZD 2/minute at other times, with calls to other networks at DZD 4/minute. SMSs will cost DZD 2 to any national network and GPRS data use costs DZD 0.80/KB.
The second plan, “Nedjma Pro Controle”, comes with a DZD 200 set-up charge and offers 500 minutes of calls per month for DZD 1,000. Alternatively, subscribers can pay DZD 2,000/month for free calls between company phones from 08:00 to18:00 and a flat rate of DZD 6/minute for calls to all other national mobile and fixed numbers.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Orascom Telecom, the Middle Eastern mobile operator, plans to concentrate on cost cutting and investment in 2009 in new networks in Africa, Canada and North Korea, CFO Aldo Mareuse reportedly said. He said competition with bullish government-backed operators from the Gulf had pushed Orascom to be more alert and disciplined.
The operator has been largely not represented itself in the multibillion-dollar acquisition spree of regional operators in recent years, focusing instead on building up operations in Algeria, Egypt, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Mareuse said the high prices paid for licences in recent years reflect the partially sovereign nature of the Gulf’s biggest telecoms players such as Etisalat and Saudi Telecom. Following a more disciplined financial approach the operator has already cut its capital expenditure in Pakistan and Bangladesh, where drop in currencies and social instability have hit profitability. It aims to cut overall operational spending across the group by 10% in 2009.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Alfa, the mobile operator, announced a new offer on Alfa Active prepaid lines, whereby 60 local free SMS will be granted to every Alfa Active user who has bought a prepaid line from the 1st until the 28th of April, 2009.
Starting the first of May 2009, Alfa will be sending a short message (SMS) informing the winners about the availability of their 60 free local SMS. In addition, the winners will be receiving sequentially other short messages from Alfa informing them about their remaining credit of free local SMS.

About Alfa

Alfa is the brand name of one of the two Lebanese mobile networks owned by the Republic of Lebanon. Alfa is managed by Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH) starting February 1, 2009.

About Orascom Telecom

Orascom Telecom is a leading international telecommunications company operating GSM networks in high growth markets in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, having a total population under license of approximately 453 million with an average mobile telephony penetration of approximately 46% as of September 30th, 2008. Orascom Telecom operates GSM networks in Algeria (“OTA”), Pakistan (“Mobilink”), Egypt (“Mobinil”), Tunisia (“Tunisiana”), Bangladesh (“banglalink”), Zimbabwe (“Telecel Zimbabwe”), and North Korea (“Koryolink”). Through its subsidiary Telecel Globe, OTH also operates in Burundi, the Central African Republic and Namibia. Orascom Telecom had over 79 million subscribers as of September 30th, 2008.
Orascom Telecom is traded on the Cairo & Alexandria Stock Exchange under the symbol (ORTE.CA, ORAT EY), and on the London Stock Exchange its GDR is traded under the symbol.

Telcel Globe acquires Cell One Namibia

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Telecel Globe, a subsidiary of Orascom Telecom Holding S.A.E., announced today that it has acquired the mobile telecommunications operator Cell One in Namibia.

Namibia is amongst the wealthiest countries in sub-Saharan Africa with a GDP/capita of US$ 5,200 (at PPP). It has a population of approximately 2.1 million and a mobile penetration of close to 50% at the end of 2008. Cell One operates a GSM 900/1800 network and has 198,000 active subscribers and over 20% market share.

The total consideration is approximately US$59 million in cash, of which US$32 million already paid and the balance due in January 2010. The debt assumed as part of this transaction is non-recourse on Telecel Globe. (more…)

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Djezzy, the Algerian mobile operator has introduced two discount offers for its Djezzy Carte prepaid subscribers.
Liberty 1 day, priced at DZD 99, enables subscribers to make free calls between 00:00 and 18:00 to all Djezzy and Allo OTA numbers and at a charge of DZD 3.49/30 seconds to other fixed and mobile networks.
The same conditions are applicable to the Liberty 7 day offer, which costs DZD 599.