Digicel acquires rival business in Haiti (Jamaica)
The Caribbean mobile phone company Digicel Group says it’s acquired a rival business in Haiti, as reported by the Brsibane Times. The Jamaica-based private group said in a press release that it’s purchased Voila from its parent company, U.S.-based Trilogy International Partners, for an undisclosed amount.
Under the deal, the two companies will continue to run separately. Digicel opened its Haiti branch in 2005. It’s since become the country’s biggest employer and has 3.5 million customers. Its lone competitor is now Natcom, a joint venture created last year between Vietnam’s Viettel and the Haitian government to replace the state-run Teleco.
Vietnam Ministry to limit the number of simcards per person (Vietnam)
The Ministry of Information and Communications will permit each person to register a maximum of 18 simcards from mobile network operators, according to a report by VNS.
As per the report, the draft of a circular on managing pre-paid mobile phone subscribers reveals that if one person wants to have more than three simcards, he/she must register with another mobile phone network operator. So, one person would register a maximum of 18 simcards from six mobile network operators.
The six operators are Viettel, VinaPhone, MobiFone, S-Fone, Vietnamobile and Beeline. The development is considered a tough measure to closely manage pre-paid mobile phone subscribers.
Nguyen Dinh Chien, deputy general director, MobiFone, the third largest mobile network operator, said that mobile simcards were used in many devices such as USBs of 3G generation, notebook computers and mobile phones. Therefore, the State should increase the maximum numbers of simcards owned by each person to five units.
Nguyen Viet Dung, deputy general director of Viettel Telecom, agreed and said the demand was surely more than three simcards for each person.
The report reveals that the draft of the circular will permit one enterprise to register a maximum of 100 simcards. The regulation is expected to restrict enterprises from registering too many simcards to sell on the market. At present, there is a service provided by individuals that a normal subscriber can change to be a student subscriber even if they are not students to get cheaper mobile phone service charges.
Natcom launches mobile services (Haiti)
Haiti based network operator Natcom, a joint venture between Vietnam’s Viettel and the Haitian government, has officially opened its services to the public. According to reports, Natcom claims to have already signed up 250,000 mobile subscribers in a one-month trial offer ahead of its commercial launch. Further, sources claim that the arrival of Natcom in the telecom market has caused a reduction of 20% in mobile tariffs.
As per reports, Nguyen Manh Hung , Viettel’s deputy CEO said at a launch ceremony that Natcom’s next goal is to expand the fibre network to every area of Haiti, whilst Haitian president, Michel Martelly declared that the 3,000km cable that Natcom developed will contribute to a revolution in the telecommunications sector in this country.
Natcom mobile network completes first international voice call (Haiti)
Vietnamese telco Viettel has revealed that its subsidiary in Haiti, National Telecom (Natcom) successfully completed its first international voice calls over its new Haitian mobile network so far with five active base stations with ‘international standard quality’ connectivity demonstrated in a link-up with Vietnam in late December 2010.
The news came less than four months after work began on launching a GSM/3G cellular network from scratch, whilst Natcom is also replacing and expanding the ruined fixed line network of the former Teleco to provide national services including DSL broadband access.
In its announcement the company added that Natcom had also made successful domestic test calls over both its new fixed fibre-optic and mobile networks. Natcom, which has yet to interconnect its new networks with Haiti’s other telecoms operators, expects to launch commercial mobile services over a network of 1,000 base stations later in 2011.
Third mobile license to be awarded by November
If reports are to be believed, the Mozambican government has confirmed that it will finish examining bids in the international public tender for the country’s third mobile phone license this week.
Transport and Communications Minister Paulo Zucula has declared that the winner of the tender will be announced by the first week of November. The bidders’ particular technical proposals have now been evaluated by the National Communications Institute, a process in which the bidders themselves participated.
Three out of 22 interested parties have been shortlisted for the license: TMN (the cellular unit of Portugal Telecom), UNI-Telecom (a joint venture between Angolan cellco Unitel and Mozambique’s Energy Capital) and a Vietnam-backed bidder named Movitel, which is rumoured to be spearheaded by military-run GSM operator Viettel.
As at June 2010 the country was home to 5.57 million mobile phone customers, of which mCel boasted the lion’s share: four million subscribers, or 71.9% of the market.
Viettel & IFC to invest in Haiti’s telecom sector
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Vietnam’s largest mobile network operator, Viettel and World Bank’s IFC have signed a public-private partnership under which the operator will upgrade Haiti’s fixed line network in the country’s largest foreign direct investment after the earthquake.
US$59 million will be invested initially and upgrade services offered by fixed line operator T©l©communications d’Haiti (Teleco) and later an investment of an additional US$40 million over four years. A new company will be created for this purpose in which Viettel will hold a 60 percent stake and Banque de la R©publique d’Haiti (BRH), Teleco and their affiliates will control the remaining 40 percent.
Haitian government had IFC as an advisor while structuring the international bidding process for the partnership since June 2007. According to Lars Thunell, IFC Executive Vice President and CEO, agreement reflects the extraordinary commitment of the Government of Haiti and Viettel to ensuring a safer and more sustainable future for the Haitian people and Economic growth is easier to achieve when people have the basic tools they need to communicate and connect with the world.
Vietnam prepares ground for 4G
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Inputs have been seeked from the country’s telecom providers by Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) to design a plan for a 4G frequency band. Department of Wireless Frequency and Telecommunications has been assigned the responsibility for the task.
MIC will design the plan after it has collected the input by the end of this year. After this, telecoms operators of Vietnam will be allowed to choose whether to adopt WiMAX or Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology.
WiMax trial has already been carried out by a number of operators. State-owned Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications (VNPT) launched the first pilots in the mountainous Lao Cai region in October 2006. This was followed by military-owned Viettel’s trial in Hanoi in December 2006.
FPT Telecom, EVN Telecom, Viettel, Saigon Postel and VNPT’s wholly-owned subsidiary Vietnam Data Communications Company (VDC) were granted the license by MIC in March 2008 for a year-long trial of mobile WiMAX. Temporary spectrum allocations in the 2.3GHz-2.4GHz range FPT, EVN and Viettel. VDC was given a block in the 2.5GHz band.
Viettel becomes third 3G operator in Vietnam
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Vietnamese military-owned telecoms operator Viettel became the third 3G network operator in the country with the official launch of its third-generation mobile services. The other two 3G operators are Vinaphone and MobiFone.
According to Tong Viet Trung, deputy general director of Viettel, after the deployment of 8,000 base transceiver stations (BTSs), operator’s 3G networks covers 63 provinces and cities nationwide. Viettel hopes to raise the number to 20,000 by the end of this year. Video calling and mobile broadband at download speeds of up to 14.4Mbps along with several other services are offered over its 3G network.
The company has also begun to offer Apple’s iPhone 3G and 3GS for the first time. Viettel started the trial of its 3G networks last year in 20 provinces and it has already reached the subscribers mark of one million.
Viettel was awarded a license to operate 3G services by the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) in April 2009, along with Vinaphone, MobiFone and a consortium between EVN Telecom and Hanoi Telecom
Viettel aims to become third 3G W-CDMA provider of Vietnem
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Viettel, the military-owned telecoms company of Vietnam has expressed its plan to become the third 3G W-CDMA provider of the country by March, 2009. According to the director of Viettel’s HCMC branch, Tran Minh Huy, next generation services will be launched commercially once trials in more than 20 provinces have been concluded.
100,000 3G base stations during 2010 will be established by the firm in this regard.
Earlier, CDMA-based services in October and December 2009 had been launched by rival mobile operators Vinaphone and Mobifone respectively.
Viettel to invest in Haiti investment despite earthquake
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Emphasizing its commitment towards the disaster hit Haiti, Vietnam’s largest cellular network operator by subscribers, Viettel has announced to continue the planned investment amidst catastrophic damage due to earthquake. Viettel will invest USD60 million to supplement Teleco’s USD40 million investment in the project.
According to deputy general director of Viettel, Nguyen Manh Quan, earlier this year, the company inked a deal to partner Haitian incumbent fixed line operator Teleco in a project installing a 2,000km terrestrial fibre-optic cable network which would bring broadband internet access to remote parts of the island nation.
Just before the lethal earthquake struck the country, Viettel has been on the verge of completing a deal to acquire a majority stake in Haiti’s cash-strapped PSTN provider in January.
