www.WirelessFederation.com/news: SFR, the French mobile operator which had started selling the Apple iPhone after France Telecom’s exclusive deal was suspended, has sold 160,000 iphones as of May 31, the company’s Chief Executive Frank Esser reportedly said. “We are in a very positive dynamic,” Esser said.
SFR had started vending the Apple device on April 8.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has reportedly received four applications for licences in order to deploy 4G services in the country. The deadline to submit applications was 7 May. The new mobile networks will use frequencies in the 2,010 MHz to 2,025MHz range for introducing LTE technology. The applicants are expected to be the major mobile operators NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, Softbank Mobile and Willcom. A decision on the licences is expected this summer.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Vodafone Essar, the Indian mobile operator, has introduced three new monthly rental plans for its postpaid subscribers based in Kolkata and West Bengal. The first offer dubbed as Budget 500, the subscribers will receive 1000 minutes in a combo of local and STD calls along with 100 local SMS. The Budget 750 plan will offers 1500 minutes in a combo of local and STD calls along with 200 local SMS, and the Budget 1000 plan will give 2050 minutes in a combination of local and STD calls along with 500 local SMSs.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Vodafone Group, plans to focus on the 3G mobile services in Turkey as the operator allots half of its earnings made this year for re-investment, Chief Executive Officer Vittorio Colao, reportedly said.
Vodafone is “determined” to grow in Turkish mobile market, which grew to $31 billion last year. Vodafone will introduce 3G services in three months time, he said.
The operator has doubled the number of base stations and improved call quality in last two years. “We will set up our 3G technologies on top of this new infrastructure,” Colao said.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: T-Mobile Austria has posted revenues of EUR 267 million in Q1′09, down by 2.6% since Q1′08, though the operator experienced a 4% rise in its subscriber base from 3.287 million at Q1′08-end to 3.418 million at Q1′09-end.
The service revenues dropped by 3% year-on-year to EUR 256 million in Q1′09. The EBITDA also dipped by 30.3% to EUR 53 million and the share of non-voice grew from 23% in Q1 2008 to 27%.
The postpaid subscriber base rose by 6.1% to 2.3 million, with 35,000 net additions during Q1′09 whereas the prepaid base saw a drop of 0.1% year-on-year to 1.113 million, losing 19,000 subscribers in Q1′09.
The subscriber acquisition costs (SAC) grew 18.5% year-on-year to EUR 109, due to a 26.5% growth in postpaid SAC to EUR 205, while prepaid SAC fell by more than 66% to EUR 2 and subscriber retention costs (SRC) grew by 14.9% to EUR 108.
The operator reported a downfall in ARPU by 7.4% year-on-year to EUR 25, due to a 8.3% drop in postpaid ARPU to EUR 33 and an 11.1% decrease in prepaid ARPU to EUR 8.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Telefonica O2 Czech republic has inked an agreement with T-Mobile Czech Republic to sort out their disputes over prices for mutual interconnection of telecommunication networks in 2001. As per the terms of agreement, Telefonica O2 will get nearly CZK 900 million (USD 45 million) from rival operator T-Mobile, with all court proceedings terminated. The amount will be booked in Q2.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Azercell, the Azerbaijani mobile operator, has inked international roaming agreement with Magticom of Georgia, TeliaSonera of Finland, Bite of Latvia and Mobinil Mobile Telecommunication Company of Egypt.
Currently, Azercell offers MMS roaming service in 38 countries with 50 mobile operators.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: M:tel the Bosnian mobile operator, has inked contracts with telecoms equipment vendors Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks to deliver and install 3G network equipment.
The new network will enable M:tel to introduce a range of new services, guarantee high-speed and quality of voice and data transfer, as well as improve capacity and signal coverage in the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
