Wireless Federation

Spanish competition watchdog inspecting SMS, MMS wholesale pricing

On 01.20.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Spain’s three largest mobile network operators Telefonica Moviles Espana (Movistar), Vodafone Spain and Orange Espana are reportedly under investigation for allegedly charging rivals excessive amounts to rent space on their networks for messaging services.

It has been claimed that the trio set wholesale charges for both SMS and MMS a too high a rate, negatively impacting the country’s mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), as well as other rival operators that also take advantage of such services, such as Jazz Telecom.

It is understood that Spain’s competition authority, the National Competition Commission (CNC), expects to issue a ruling on the matter within 18 months.

Spanish govt may issue mobile licences to cablecos

On 01.05.11, In Mobile, By Editor

The Spanish government could reportedly offer the country’s major cablecos their own mobile voice concessions as early as sometime this year.

It is understood that under a draft verdict operators such as Euskaltel, R and Telecable could be offered the opportunity to acquire as much as 15MHz of spectrum in the 2600MHz band in their respective areas of operation, while Grupo Corporativo ONO, the country’s largest cableco by subscribers, may also be allowed to bid for mobile frequencies in a number of regions, including Valencia, Catalonia, Murcia, Andalusia, Castilla Leon, Castilla La Mancha and the Balearic Islands.

In addition, the draft verdict also details plans by the government to take back spectrum in the 900MHz band from the country’s existing mobile network operators; Movistar will be required to hand back two 2.2MHz blocks it currently holds, while Vodafone Spain and Orange Espana will be asked to return two blocks of 2MHz and two blocks of 1MHz respectively.

The recovered frequencies will then be offered via auction, with both Movistar and Vodafone barred from taking part in the sales process. The wireless market’s three major players, it has been proposed, will also be required to hand back spectrum totaling 5MHz in the 1800MHz band, which will then be reallocated via tender. With a view to preventing any imbalances in spectrum allocation the government has set restrictions of 20MHz per operator for frequencies in the low bands, while a limit of 55MHz will be in place for high-band spectrum.

The state is also considering action it can take in the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) arena, to which end the decree states that major network operators holding more than 10MHz of 900MHz spectrum namely Movistar, Vodafone and Orange will be required to provide wholesale access in that band.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Andalusia • Balearic Islands • Castilla La Mancha • Castilla Leon • Catalonia • Euskaltel • Grupo Corporativo ONO • Mobile • Murcia • MVNO • Orange Espana • R • Spain • Spanish government • Telecable • Valencia • Vodafone Spain

Vodacom SA seeks for new MD

On 01.05.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Vodacom has started the process of searching a replacement for Shameel Joosub, who will leave Vodacom SA at the end of March.

Vodacom SA has started the process of searching for a new MD, a task it must complete within the next three months, as Shameel Joosub will take over the reins at Vodafone Spain at the beginning of April.

Vodacom SA is the largest subsidiary in the Vodacom group and is also SA’s biggest cellular network, with 23.8 million subscribers at the end of September last year, giving it a market share of 49%.

Joosub, an Executive Director of the Vodacom group and MD of Vodacom SA, will move to Vodafone, Vodacom’s single largest shareholder, to take up the post as CEO of Vodafone Spain, one of Vodafone’s largest operating companies.

The move, which Vodacom describes as a promotion, will see Joosub leave the board and relinquish his post as Vodacom SA MD at the end of March.

Richard Boorman, executive head of corporate communications, states a process to replace Joosub has been initiated, but he cannot provide any additional details yet.

Joosub has been with Vodacom since its inception in 1994 and has been described by the company as a key architect in growing the business. He joined the company as an accounting clerk and was promoted to head up the commercial arm of Vodacom SA in 2000, after holding several positions within the telco.

From 2000 to 2005, Joosub was responsible for increasing Vodacom’s South African subscriber base from 2.5 million to almost nine million. After being promoted to MD of Vodacom SA in 2005, Joosub oversaw the growth of the business to 24 million subscribers.

Joosub was the third head of a telecoms company to announce his resignation in 2010, as both Telkom CEO, Reuben September, and MTN CEO and president, Phuthuma Nhleko, announced their resignations.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Executive Director of the Vodacom group • executive head of corporate communications • MD • Mobile • MTN CEO and president • Phuthuma Nhleko • Reuben September • Richard Boorman • Shameel Joosub • South Africa • Spain • Telkom CEO • Vodacom group • Vodacom SA • Vodafone Spain

Mobile ARPU Declining Across Europe and USA: TRS

On 09.22.10, In Mobile, By Editor

Mobile broadband service has become one of the most demanded and increasingly competitive services in the recent days. At the same time, mobile data traffic is also growing drastically and has reached over 25% of total ARPU for many operators. Some operators are actually considering data share of total ARPU at over 30%.

The Strategy Analytics Tariff and Revenue Strategies (TRS) Insight, examined the impact of these trends in six countries, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK and USA, identifying key factors that drive the decline in ARPU.

Between 2006 and 2010, for selected mobile operators, overall ARPU is going down because although data traffic is growing, voice ARPU is declining by 23% to 60%. Although total voice minutes have generally not declined, revenue per minute has dropped significantly due in part to lower mobile termination rates.

According to Sue Rudd, Director TRS, in the US, data ARPU has increased approximately 65%. By contrast data ARPU in Europe has increased only 10% to 43%. And new entrants in some markets – O2 Germany and Vodafone Spain – have actually stimulated lower data ARPU to gain market share. Despite the general increase, actual data prices per month are between one quarter and two thirds the value of voice service. As a result the rapid growth in data traffic has contributed significantly to the decline in total ARPU. The change from voice and messaging to data and Internet access has significantly diluted the monthly price per user. Marginal subscriber penetration and trading down during the recession have further accelerated the decline in overall ARPU.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: ARPU • France • Germany • Italy • Mobile • Mobile Broadband Service • mobile data traffic • O2 Germany • Spain • TRS • UK • USA • Vodafone Spain

Vodafone Spain launches femtocell service commercially

On 06.04.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: By unveiling its commercial femtocell services in the country, Vodafone Spain has claimed to be the first mobile network operator to do that. The telco launched the service in partnership with Chinese vendor Huawei. The service has been launched under the brand name of Voz y Datos Premium Oficina Vodafone’ and aims at corporate customers.

According to the telco, the 25,000 companies which are currently utilizing its Oficina Vodafone services will be able to take advantage of the new product. Femtocells will be sold by Vodafone for EUR15 (USD18.33) per month, and the device will support a total of 32 devices, with four able to connect to it simultaneously.

In order to utilize the service, the customers will also be required to have, or sign up for, Vodafone’s business ADSL service.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: ASIA • China • Europe • femtocell • Huawei • Mobile • operator • Spain • Vodafone • Vodafone Spain

Vodafone joins group demanding Google Tax

On 04.30.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The idea of Google tax has got one more supporter in the form of leading mobile operator Vodafone which decided to submit a document to the European Union (EU) asking it to “facilitate bilateral agreements between telecoms operators and online content providers like Google.”

Like all the other operators, Vodafone has also made it clear that it wants to charge online content providers a range of fees depending upon the network quality traffic speed the ISPs require for the different services they provide to end users.

According to Francisco Roman, the president of Vodafone Spain, along with Vodafone many other mobile players are spending huge sums on improving and extending network infrastructure and that search engine companies must be made to pay for their use of the network based on the amount of traffic they generate across it or else end-users themselves will have to pay the additional costs.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Europe • European Union • Google • Google Tax • Oman • operator • Spain • Vodafone • Vodafone Spain

Vodafone Spain tests HSPA as a DSL alternative

On 02.22.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With a view to assess HSPA as an alternative to DSL, Vodafone Spain has been conducting tests in the town of San Quirze del Valles, near Barcelona.

Exploding usage of broadband connections has made the operator to conduct this test which otherwise ran fixed and mobile services over a single cellular network. However, additional spectrum is required by WiMAX along with huge investments while the carrier is already struggling to see real ROI from 3G.

Vodafone is now hopeful that the latest upgrades to HSPA will make it more viable as a fixed technology and will be used as the backhaul for a Wi-Fi router. 100 households will be provided with HSPA modems and Wi-Fi access points, in a six-month pilot.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: 3G • Barcelona • DSL • Europe • HSPA • operator • Spain • USA • Vodafone • Vodafone Spain • WiMAX

Vodafone Spain conducts HSPA trials

On 02.19.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Six months trial of HSPA-based broadband services as a fixed broadband has been conducted by Spanish mobile network operator Vodafone Spain as a fixed broadband substitute in the town of San Quirze del Valles, near Barcelona.

HSPA 3G modems and Wi-Fi base stations will be provided to more than 100 households under this pilot scheme in order to use them instead of traditional ADSL-based high speed internet services.

Ascertaining the level of customer satisfaction with mobile broadband compared to traditional fixed line services, as well as studying both downlink and uplink speeds and download volumes are the two main aim of this project. Studying the level of service and capacity its mobile network may need in order to offer such services in a medium-sized city is also the reason behind these tests.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: 3G • ADSL • ASIA • Barcelona • HSPA • operator • Spain • Vodafone • Vodafone Spain

Vodafone Spain launches UC package

On 02.09.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A unified communications (UC) package has been launched by Vodafone Spain for business customers. Microsoft Online Services and Vodafone Office tools are the two products of the package.

Different forms of communications into an integrated, comprehensive and secure communications solution has been combined in the Microsoft Online Services web-based business applications. Calendar functions, work areas and IM features online can also be accessed by the users besides taking part taking in web and video conferences.

Voice and data services from Vodafone are also included in the UC pack , everything at a price of EUR 18 per month.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Europe • Microsoft • Spain • Vodafone • Vodafone Spain • Voice and Data Services

Malaga and Seville receive Vodafone HSPA+

On 12.23.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Vodafone Spain’s subscribers in Seville and Malaga can now experience the download speeds of up to 14.4Mbps and real speeds of around 10.8Mbps. Spanish mobile network operator has expanded its HSPA+ mobile broadband network to both the countries.

Higher speeds, up to 21.6Mbps theoretical (16.2Mbps real) in specific areas in the two capitals has also been enabled by Vodafone. These specific areas include El Palo and the industrial estates of San Luis and Guadalorce in Malaga, and the areas of Viapol, Nervion and Bami in Seville.

By end-March 2010, the target of the telco is to expand its HSPA+ to cover 75% of the population in Seville, and 20% of Malaga’s population.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: an Luis • Bami • El Palo • Europe • Guadalorce • HSPA • Malaga • Nervion • Seville • Spain • Viapol • Vodafone Spain