Cameroon is set to receive a third mobile operator following the launch of a new network backed by local footballer Samuel Eto’o, the Cameroon Tribune reports. Set’Mobile is scheduled to go live on 21 January 2012, the opening day of the Africa Cup of Nations, joining South Africa’s MTN Cameroon and Orange Cameroun of France in the local wireless market. The network, which is designed to bring cheap mobile voice and data services to the country, was unveiled last month and more than 50,000 SIM cards have already been sold, according to local press.

 Source: TeleGeography.

The Macau government launched a tender to award two new fixed line telephony concessions on 1 January, as the country takes its final step towards full market liberalisation. According to the MacauHub website, sole fixed line incumbent Companhia de Telecomunicacoes de Macau (CTM) – which is co-owned by UK-based Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) and Portuguese incumbent Portugal Telecom (PT) – is also set to have its existing wireline licence renewed following the tender. Although the new concessions are set to change hands in 1H12, the new licensees are not expected to be in a position to inaugurate their networks until 2013 – until which time they will be able to resell services over CTM’s network, and pay the established telco an undetermined fee.

According to majority owner CWC, at the end of 2010 (last available data) CTM had 178,000 fixed line customers, 132,000 broadband clients and 387,000 active mobile subscribers. Elsewhere, the cellco already competes with the likes of China Unicom, Hutchison Whampoa-owned 3 Macau and fellow Hong Kong-based firm SmarTone in the wireless sector. Macau is believed to be home to more than one million mobile subscribers, of which CTM is believed to hold the lion’s share.

Macau is situated on the western side of the Pearl River Delta, adjacent to mainland China, approximately 60km southwest of Hong Kong. It was colonised by the Portuguese in the 16th century, becoming the first European settlement in the Far East in the process, but was handed back on 20 December 1999, and became a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China. The territory’s economy is heavily dependent on gambling and tourism, but also includes some manufacturing.

Source: TeleGeography. 

Source: TeleGeography.

­The government of Guinea Bissau has said that it is laying the groundwork for the eventual privatisation of Guiné Telecom.

The Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Júnior made a statement on the plans during a session to launch the restructuring project of Guiné Telecom and its mobile subsidiary, Guinetel. Both are deemed to be technically bankrupt companies. The government has received US$15.6 million in funding from the African Development Bank (ADB) and the Ecobank to refinance the company.

"The two companies will be part of a single package to be negotiated with potential investors according to international rules and practices," said Carlos Gomes Júnior.

Source: Cellular News

­China is reported to be considering allowing a potential fourth entrant into the country's state-controlled telecoms market, and that the new investor would be predominantly from the private sector.

Although all three telecom's networks have listed subsidiaries, the bulk of their shares are owned by the government, who also shook up the industry a couple of years ago by shuffling around their mobile assets to create three separate networks.

Citing unnamed sourced, the Securities Daily reported that the details are still being worked out - and might still involve one of the state-controlled companies being involved in the new venture.

"Inititally there was only one telecommunications company and then it was divided into several firms. Private capital has already invested in this industry for a long time, and it should be further encouraged," Liu Chunru, the deputy secretary-general of the Electronic Science and Technology Committee at MIIT, told the reporter.

"I know of this plan advising on the development of the telecommunications industry and the opening up of the market. It is beneficial to have a diversified telecommunications market, and although this is just a pilot scheme, at least the MIIT is taking a stand" , Zhu Hongbo, vice president of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications said.

Source: Cellular News

Source: TeleGeography

The total number of mobile phones in Senegal reached 8.34 million at the end of 2010, thanks to net additions of 515,967 in the fourth quarter, according to data published by the regulator, the Agence de Regulation des Telecoms et Postes (ARTP). Orange Senegal added a net 390,000 new subscribers in the last quarter of 2010 for a total of 5.09 million, handing it a market share of around 61%. Second-placed Tigo Senegal’s base dipped to 2.36 million from 2.42 million (or 28.2% of the market), while third player Sudatel Telecom (Expresso) increased its users to 898,113 (10.8% share). The net gains from the incumbents pushed cellular penetration in the country to 68.55%, far eclipsing fixed line teledensity which stood at 2.81%, or 341,857 main lines in service, up from 278,788 at 31 December 2009. The total number of internet subscriptions was 86,964 at end-2010, up 27,219 on the end of 2009, of which 89.2% were on an ADSL connection.

Source: TeleGeography

Iraq hopes to raise around USD2 billion from the auction of the country’s fourth mobile phone operator licence, expected to take place by the end of the year, Gulf Daily News reports, citing Iraq’s communications minister, Mohammed Allawi. Plans for the licence tender received final cabinet approval in May 2010, by which time 15 firms had expressed an interest in entering bids, including US-based Verizon Communications, South Africa's MTN, Turkcell of Turkey and the UAE's Etisalat. The minister has proposed that 40% of the shares in the licence be allocated to a privately-owned operator, while 35% will go to the public and 25% to the Ministry of Communications (MoC).

According to Allawi, Iraq has allocated USD500 million to spend on upgrading outdated and damaged infrastructure after decades of war and economic sanctions. The government also aims to boost fixed line phone penetration and internet reach to 25% within five years. The funds include 37% of last year's unspent budget allocation. Allawi said completing a fibre-optic network to connect Iraq to the rest of the world would be one of the MoC’s main aims for this year.

Source: TeleGeography

­While the number of mobile network operators has grown over the past six years, mobile services continue to be dominated by the largest operators, posing significant long-term challenges to new competitors in their efforts to build market share and sustainable revenue streams, according to a new report from Pyramid Research.

The number of mobile network operators (MNOs) per country has continued to increase from an average 4.0 operators per country in 2004 to 4.9 this year, leading to increased competition at the local level and smaller market share for the top players. When analyzing emerging and developed markets separately, one can discern two separate and distinct trends: In developed regions, the number of operators stayed relatively flat, whereas in emerging markets the number of operators per country increased from an average of 4.0 in 2004 to 5.4 today, notes Emily Smith, Research Associate at Pyramid.

"As mobile markets mature, Pyramid Research has found that the market share for the top operators converges toward an equilibrium point that is roughly the same across all global regions," Smith says. "While the average market share has hardly changed in developed regions, in emerging regions the market share for top operators has decreased by 10 percentage points in the past seven years." "Due to consumers' changing appetite for mobile services over the course of the recent global financial crisis, the speed at which the top operators lost share increased, although now that the global economy is moving into a recovery stage, top operators can expect to experience less share shrinkage than in recent years," Smith adds.

Source: Cellular News

ITP.net is reporting that the Kingdom of Jordan is on track to implement and enforce competition in the fixed telecoms market before the end of 2011. According to the report, Orange Jordan, the country's sole fixed line provider, looks set to lose its monopoly as the government starts to enforce local loop unbundling (LLU), allowing other operators the chance to offer fixed services. ‘We took a decision on LLU, a decision has been taken by the regulator and now we are going into the application of the LLU. I think you will see actual enforcement by the second half of next year,’ said Marwan Juma, Jordan's minister for ICT. Furthermore, Juma insisted that LLU will be implemented and enforced in a way that will ensure greater competition. ‘What is typical with LLU is that the incumbent will resist as much as possible, that is just standard worldwide, but the regulator has sharp teeth now to ensure that it is being applied fairly and that people have access to infrastructure and we hope that will lower the cost,’ he said.

Juma also confirmed that Jordan will gain a second 3G operator next year, with a third operator likely to follow. Orange Jordan, which launched its 3G network in March, is currently the only 3G provider in the country. The company was awarded the 15-year licence in August 2009 for JOD50 million (USD70 million), with twelve month exclusivity period from the launch of its 3G service.

Source: TeleGeography

The Republic of Congo now has a fourth mobile network operator following reports that Equateur Telecom Congo, a subsidiary of Bahrain-based Bintel, has commenced commercial services. According to Cellular News, the cellco will offer services under the ‘Azur Congo’ banner, with coverage initially limited to Brazzaville and Pointe Noire, although it expects to expand to other cities shortly following launch. Commenting on the launch, Stephane Beuvelet, general manager of Azur Congo, said: ‘We have received overwhelming customer response for Azur during the soft launch and trial phase of service, and are pleased to open up full commercial services to all customers in Brazzaville and Point Noire ... In less than nine months since being awarded [its] licence, Azur will be providing full commercial service to customers in record time, through rapid network deployment and including a full commercial infrastructure.’

Azur Congo is also the first of Congo’s cellcos to adopt and implement the new national nine digit numbering scheme, which allows customers to retain their existing numbers with the 01 prefix on the Azur network.

Equateur Telecom Congo was awarded Congo’s fourth mobile concession in December 2009, announcing in March 2010 that it would open pre-registration for its services in July 2010. Those that registered during the promotional period were given the option of choosing their own number, while their accounts were also credited with XAF1,000 (USD1.93) and ten SMS messages. Minister of Telecommunications, Thierry Moungalla, subsequently made the first successful call on the Azur network in July 2010.

Source: TeleGeography

Broadband service provider rankings from TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database show only small changes in rankings of the ten largest broadband service providers over the past twelve months. However, they also reveal a growing chasm between the two largest broadband operators and the remaining providers.

Collectively, the ten largest broadband service providers gained 23.3 million subscribers in the twelve months from Q1 2009 to Q1 2010, ending March 2010 with 191 million total subscribers—39% of the world’s 492 million broadband customers. KT of South Korea, the world’s tenth largest broadband ISP, is the only new member of the top ten ranking, having displaced Telecom Italia, which is now the 11th largest broadband ISP globally.

Just two mammoth broadband service providers, China Telecom and China Unicom, accounted for 20% of global broadband subscribers. Both companies gained approximately nine million subscribers over the past year, equivalent to the entire broadband subscriber base of Verizon. "The gap between the top two operators and the world’s remaining broadband service providers will continue to grow rapidly," commented TeleGeography Research Director Tania Harvey. "Aside from the two Chinese companies, all of the top ten broadband ISPs operate in mature markets, with high levels of broadband penetration and rapidly slowing subscriber growth."

Source: TeleGeography

The total number of registered SIM cards in Brazil climbed to 185.1 million in June this year, up 1.42 million (or 0.8%) from May, according to data published by the national telecoms regulator Anatel. As at 30 June, Vivo Participacoes – the cellco whose ownership is being contested by its equal joint venture partners Telefonica of Spain and Portugal Telecom (PT) – maintained its leading position with a market share of 30.24%, down slightly from 30.25% in May. America Movil’s local unit Telecom Americas (Claro) was second with 25.33% of the market, down from 25.41% in May, and TIM Brasil was in third place with 24.00%, up from 23.84%. Telemar Norte Leste’s Oi unit recorded a share of 20.08%, down from 20.15% the previous month.

In a related but unconfirmed story, Reuters reports that PT could agree to sell its 50% stake in Vivo to Telefonica ‘within days’ after committing to buy into fourth-placed Oi. Spanish financial El Economista cites unnamed financial sources as saying a deal could take place. PT is understood to have signed a pre-agreement with Oi valid until the end of next week to buy a stake once it has sold its part in Brasilcel, the joint venture through which Telefonica and PT control Vivo. Reuters notes that El Economista did not state the size of the Oi stake or give further details of who had agreed to sell it.

Source: TeleGeography

UK-based Gateway Communications, which claims to be the largest provider of carrier and business network solutions on the African continent, has further increased its presence in West Africa through the signing of two separate deals in Guinea – an expansion contract with domestic cellco Intercel Guinea (formerly Telecel Guinea) and a new contract with local ISP and Intercel owner Equipements & Techniques Informatiques (ETI). As a result of the latest contract signings Gateway is now working with two major mobile operators and an ISP in Guinea, a country with a mobile penetration of 35.50% as at 31 December 2009, according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database. At that date the country’s leading mobile operator was MTN Guinea (Areeba) with a market share of 36.49% (1.273 million users), Cellcom Guinea with 22.93% (estimated at 800,000), Societe des Telecoms de Guinee with 20.64% (estimated at 720,000), Orange Guinea with 19.60% (684,000) and niche operator Intercel with 0.34% (estimated at 12,000).

Source: TeleGeography

Nigerian operator Globacom has won a licence to operate in Gambia barely four months after it was awarded one in Senegal. Globacom said in a statement that its latest licence approval was presented to the company in Banjul on 12 July by the country's secretary general, Njogou Bah. Globacom also disclosed that the Gambian licence is the sixth the company so far has won in Africa. It now has operating licences in Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal and Gambia. The company started operations in Nigeria in August 2003 and in Benin in June 2008. It has also concluded plans to roll out services in Ghana. Globacom's executive director for human resources, Adewale Sangowawa, said the licence would enable the operator to stimulate world class services in the country. The licence will also allow Globacom to land its Glo 1 trans-Atlantic submarine cable in Gambia, with opportunities to extend the infrastructure to neighbouring countries. It gives the company the right to carry traffic for major operators, the government and wholesale customers in Gambia. Globacom emphasised that with this development, the people of Gambia have now been positioned to be part of the telecommunications revolution which Globacom is bringing to Africa. Sangowawa stressed the new licence adds impetus to the group's desire to provide the West African sub-region with an excellent communication network and cost-effective voice, data, video and e-commerce services.

Source: TelecomPaper

Residents in the Turks and Caicos Islands now have three choices of mobile telephony provider with the launch earlier this month of Islandcom Wireless, the country’s first 3G network operator. Islandcom’s range of W-CDMA-based pre- and post-paid services includes video calling and high speed internet access with international roaming. In September 2008 the company formed a partnership with Bermuda Digital Communications (BDC), a subsidiary of Atlantic Tele-Network, which provided new investment to begin building an UMTS network in March 2009. 17 3G base stations have been rolled out and by the end of the year will be expanded to 19 sites across the islands, including North Caicos, Middle Caicos, South Caicos and Grand Turk.

Source: TeleGeography

India’s Bharti Airtel has announced that it has finalised the acquisition of the African assets of Kuwait-based Zain Group, with the deal valued at USD10.7 billion, the Economic Times reports. Under the terms of the deal, first announced in March 2010, Bharti will pay USD8.3 billion upfront, followed by a further cash payment of USD700 million after one year, while it will also take over approximately USD1.7 billion of Zain’s debt. Commenting on the closure of the deal, Bharti chairman Sunil Mittal said: ‘We are delighted at the closure of this transformational deal for India and Bharti Airtel. The transaction is the largest ever cross-border deal in an emerging market and will result in combined revenues of about USD13 billion.’

Bharti has taken over Zain’s operations in 15 countries: Burkina Faso, Chad, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The Kuwaiti company’s subsidiaries in Morocco and Sudan were not included in the sale. Zain has also agreed to licence its name and related trademarks to Bharti in all of the new countries for an interim period; the Airtel brand is expected to be introduced across its news units by October 2010.

­Jordan is the Arab World's most competitive cellular market, according to the Arab Advisors Group. Saudi Arabia came in second, followed by Palestine.

The Cellular Competition Intensity Index results for June 2010 revealed that Jordan tops the score -as the most competitive Arab market- with an 80.7% mark followed by Saudi Arabia (75.3%), Palestine (69.3%), Oman (67.1%), Egypt (65.7%), Morocco (64.9%), Iraq (63.4%), Tunisia (62.7%), Yemen (61.1%), Bahrain (59.9%), Algeria (59.5%), Sudan (59.4%), Mauritania (56.8%), Kuwait (49.8%), Qatar (46.4%), UAE (45.4%), Syria (38.0%), Libya (34.3%), and finally Lebanon (31.2%).

The 2010 index results revealed that eight countries ranked higher than their June 2009 index ranks, these are: Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Oman, Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain and Qatar. Meanwhile, a total of eight countries ranked lower compared to June 2009 index, namely: Iraq, Algeria, Sudan, Mauritania, Kuwait, UAE, Libya and Lebanon. The remaining three countries of Egypt, Morocco and Syria maintained their June 2009 ranks.

­The long running process to sell a majority stake in Zambia's state-owned Zambia Telecommunications (Zamtel) has concluded with the winning bid of US$257 million being placed by Libya's Lap Green Networks. The government retains a 25% stake in the company, and may float the stake on the local stock exchange in the future.

The company beat Angola's Unitel and Russia's Altimo to gain control of Zamtel."The government of Zambia has today paved the way for completing the most significant privatization in the history of Zambia," said Situmbeko Musokotwane, minister of finance and national planning.

Lap Green Networks will also invest US$127 million into the company, partly as recapitalisation and partly on network upgrades.The country currently has three mobile network operators with the following market shares; Zain (70%), MTN (20%) and Zamtel (10%) - based on statistics from the Mobile World subscriber database.

Zamtel's new owner could revitalise the company, gaining a 19% share of the mobile market by 2015, up from its current 4% share, according to an Onda Analytics report last November.Although the privatisation will result in the liberalisation of the international call gateway, to the benefit of the other private operators, no new operator license will be offered in the country until Zamtel has returned to economic viability.

Source: Cellular News

Telecom New Zealand has confirmed that it is fully investigating structural separation in order to participate in the government’s Ultra Fast Broadband (UFB) initiative. However, “in making a thorough assessment of structural separation we need to have a detailed understanding of the regulatory environment, and this warrants detailed discussion and analysis with Government before any decisions regarding its viability can be made,” CEO Paul Reynolds said in a statement. Telecom has asked the telecommunications minister to consider a variation on three components of Telecom’s undertakings that will no longer be relevant in a fibre future.

The proposed changes are to:

• Suspend the forced bulk migration of existing broadband customers onto a new copper-based broadband service. However, the company will continue to supply this new broadband service to all new customers;
• Remove the requirement for Telecom to migrate 17,000 customers onto a new VoIP over copper service by the end of this year; and
• Remove the requirement for Telecom to build a new set of wholesale systems that are not consistent with the industry structure implied by UFB.

Source: Telecom Paper

The oft-delayed sale of Indian 3G spectrum has finally been concluded, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has announced, revealing that the auction raised more than double the expected amount for the government. After 34 days of bidding, seven of the nine operators that had successfully applied to take part in the sale process came away with 3G licences, although no single operator was able to lay claim to a pan-India concession, with the most that any cellco managed to win being frequencies in 13 of the country’s 22 telecoms circles.

Three of the participants – Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications (RCOM) and Aircel – acquired 2x5MHz paired spectrum in 13 circles, although due to the manner of the bidding the trio paid significantly different amounts for their respective concessions, with licence prices decided on a circle-by-circle basis. Bharti’s 13 licence areas will cost it INR122.95 billion (USD2.66 billion), the highest paid by any of the seven 3G auction winners, while Aircel will pay just over half of that, INR64.99 billion, for its 13 licences; RCOM meanwhile will be charged INR85.85 billion. Idea Cellular bagged the next highest number of circles – eleven – paying INR57.69 billion, while both Tata Teleservices (TTSL) and Vodafone Essar will be permitted to offer third-generation services in nine circles, paying INR58.64 billion and INR116.18 billion respectively for their concessions. STel, which only launched 2G services in December 2009, rounded out the successful bidders, claiming three circles for a total of INR731 million. The two operators that came away empty-handed were Etisalat and Videocon.

ictQATAR, Qatar’s telecoms regulator has announced that it has issued the country’s second fixed line network operating licence to Vodafone Qatar, allowing the company to provide fixed access services nationwide, effective 29 April 2010. The UK-backed firm, which broke the mobile telephony monopoly of Qatar Telecom last year, was originally announced as the winner of the second national operator (SNO) licence in September 2008. ictQATAR’s statement added that Vodafone Qatar will be able to provide fixed telephony and data services to consumers, businesses and government in Qatar as well as other services such as leased lines, international connectivity and VSAT services. As the holder of fixed and mobile licences, it will also be able to provide converged services involving both mobile and fixed networks such as fixed/mobile data packages. Dr. Hessa Al-Jaber, ictQATAR’s Secretary General, said, ‘The issuing of the second fixed licence concludes the first major phase of liberalisation of the telecommunications sector in Qatar. Consumers and businesses have already seen the benefits of competition, and the choices available in mobile markets, and now they can look forward to this in respect to fixed networks and services. I also expect significant competition with converged fixed and mobile services.’

Vodafone Qatar's concession carries certain obligations to provide services to specific areas, namely to offer full service coverage to the Pearl Development (internet services within three months and voice services within twelve months), the West Bay CBD area (within 30 months) and the rest of the State of Qatar (within 48 months). The licence award remains contingent on the company completing necessary changes to its articles of association within the next three months, a company official confirmed. Once the amendment is approved by shareholders, Vodafone Qatar must pay a licence fee of QAR10 million (USD2.75 million).

Source: TeleGeography

British fixed line incumbent BT Group has at last begun offering triple-play bundles incorporating fixed line voice, high speed internet and IPTV, taking advantage of telecoms regulator Ofcom’s decision in September 2009 to lift restrictions that previously prohibited such packages. To celebrate the new range of offers BT has revealed it will discount its new bundles until 23 March 2010, and commenting on the launch John Petter, managing director of BT’s Consumer Division, said: ‘Over the last twelve months, 3.6 million of our customers have moved to calls packages, where you don’t pay for every call. Offering a bundle of broadband and ‘Anytime’ calls for this knockdown price will launch us into the bundles market as an unrestricted competitor for the first time. There will be many more bundled offers to come and customers can only benefit.’ BT’s initial top-level triple play package will give customers unlimited fixed geographic calls, internet at speeds of up to 20Mbps and its Vision Gold Value IPTV service for GBP48.99 (USD74.16) per month; under the introductory offer it will reduce this cost to GBP35.99 for the first three months.

Source: TeleGeography

Data just released by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) shows that the country was home to a total of 17.642 million fixed and mobile subscriptions at the end of 2009, up from 13.130 million a year earlier, a combined teledensity of 43% (32%, 2008). Of the total subscriptions recorded at end-2009 17.469 million were cellular connections to one of the country’s leading mobile operators. Market leader Vodacom attracted 1.475 million new users last year for a total of 6.883 million, while second-placed Zain (Celtel) signed up a net 1.048 million new users in the period for a total of 4.910 million. Zain, however, failed to reach its own stated goal of six million customers by the end of last year. Third place operator Tigo boosted its base to 4.178 million by the end of 2009, and Zantel Mobile — once the nation's fastest growing cellco — added roughly 300,000 net new customers during the period for a total of 1.378 million. Trailing far behind the big four, the mobile arm of fixed line operator TTCL added just 10,000 subscribers for a total of 115,681, and Benson Informatics Limited (BOL), which lost 300 subscribers in 2008, had 3,101 data-only subscribers, up 101 since the start of the year.

In the fixed line segment, TCRA reported 172,922 fixed lines in service as at 31 December 2009, up from 123,809 at the start of the year, but only marginally higher than the 163,269 counted at 31 December 2007. National PSTN operator Tanzania Telecommunications Company Ltd (TTCL) claimed the lion's share with 157,321 lines at end-2009 (its December 2008 figure was 116,265 after it disconnected a number of active lines), with Zanzibar Telecommunications' (Zantel's) fixed line division taking the remainder.

Source: TeleGeography

­UAE based Etisalat has announced that its subscriber base has exceeded 100 million subscribers across its 18 markets in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. This comes shortly after Etisalat announced it has acquired an additional share equal to 18% in "Atlantic Telecom" thus increasing the shareholding to 100%.

Added to that is its application to the Indian Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), to obtain approval to raise its 45% stake in its Indian subsidiary Etisalat DB to 50% plus one share. Etisalat targets majority stakes in its subsidiaries and associates for more operational and financial synergy.

Recently Etisalat reported annual Net Revenues of AED 30.83 billion and Net Profits of AED 8.836 billion marking a 5% and 16% increase respectively, compared to 2008.

Etisalat has operations and investments in 18 countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa including UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, Pakistan, Tanzania, Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Niger, Togo, Republic of Central Africa, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Afghanistan, India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

Source: Cellular News

The sale of two mobile phone networks in Lebanon which has already been delayed many a times is again delayed till the end of this year. US$7 billion was expected to be raised through this sale for the heavily indebted government, although valuations have fallen since the economic downturn.

10- Year Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) agreement led to the set up of Lebanon’s two operators in June 2001. However, the government controversially cancelled the BOT licenses held by LibanCell and Cellis which were not due to expire until 2004 and invited bidders to manage the networks on its behalf, and the concession was eventually awarded to Zain and Alfa.

Political turmoil in the country had led to the failure of network sales.

Source: Wireless Federation

Mobile operator Moov Togo has resumed the provision of wireless services in the country after the suspension of its operations for four months, African news agency Pana Press reports. In August 2009 Atlantique Telecom, which manages Moov’s operations in Togo and five other countries in Africa, failed to renew its operating licence in the West African country.

The concession expired in June 2008, after which the company was given until 10 August 2009 to pay a CFA20 billion (USD44 million) renewal fee. Negotiations between the cellco and regulator broke down close to the deadline and Moov’s network was shut down, leaving around 600,000 subscribers without a mobile service and sparking protests involving over 2,000 people. Under the terms of the new agreement, Moov will pay CFA25.75 billion over a period of twelve years, instead of the CFA20 billion previously required over a ten-year period. The company has reportedly already made a down payment of CFA11.75 billion, and will pay the remainder over the required time-span.

Source: TeleGeography

­The French telecoms regulator, Arcep has finally awarded the country's fourth 3G license - to the sole bidder in the latest round, Free Mobile, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Iliad group. Free Mobile has also taken numerous commitments, on commercial, contractual and technical levels, with respect to hosting mobile virtual network operators (MVNO). Among other things, it has committed to hosting full MVNOs on its network.Free Mobile has committed to launch its services within two years, and to cover at least 90% of the population with its 3G network within eight years.

This call for applications was a follow-up to those issued in 2000, 2001 and 2007. Three of the four 3G licences were awarded at the outcome of the first two calls for submissions: to SFR and Orange France in 2001 then to Bouygues Telecom in 2002. As the call for applications carried out in 2007 produced no results, a new procedure for awarding a licence for 5 MHz in the 2.1 GHz band was launched by the French government on August 1st 2009.

Arcep will award the frequency licence to Free Mobile in January 2010. The remaining spectrum in the 2.1 GHz band will be allocated through a new call for applications, which will be issued in the first half of 2010 and be open to all players. Finally, with a scheduled launch in the second half of 2010, Arcep is preparing the allocation procedures for the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz-band spectrum which will enable the deployment of LTE and WiMAX networks.

Source: Cellular News

Another new player has announced its entry to the crowded Indian wireless sector, with STel, which is 49%-owned by Bahrain Telecommunication Company (Batelco), launching commercial GSM-based services in the Himachal Pradesh circle. According to the Business Standard, STel plans to expand its areas of operation before the end of the year, and has announced plans to launch in Bihar and Orissa within the next ten days. The cellco also holds licences to offer services in Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir and Assam, and it expects to introduce its services in at least three more circles before the end of the first quarter of 2010.

The Evaluation Committee of Solomon Islands Telecommunication has decided to award a mobile network operating licence to bemobile, a company backed by international fund GEMS in partnership with US-based telecoms investor Trilogy International Partners. bemobile, which already provides services in Papua New Guinea, beat a rival application from Digicel Group to break the monopoly of Our Telekom. The new licence requires the launch of services within six months and the provision of coverage to 81% of the population within 21 months. The Evaluation Committee said it hoped there will be other opportunities for Digicel or other interested parties to enter the Solomon Islands market in the future. Trilogy International Partners also operates mobile networks in Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and New Zealand.

Source: Telegeography

France Telecom and Denmark’s TDC are set to merge their Swiss operations — Orange Switzerland and Sunrise, respectively — in a move that would create a powerful rival to the market leader – Swisscom. France Telecom said it will pay 1.5 billion EUR to TDC to become a 75% shareholder in the combined entity, while TDC will hold the remaining 25%.

The new firm will have approximately 3.4 million mobile and 1.1 million fixed and broadband customers, accounting for a 38% share of the Swiss mobile market and 13% of the fixed broadband connections. At the same time, the merger is expected to generate synergies to the tune of 2.1 billion EUR.

According to France Telecom’s Gervais Pellissier: “The planned merger of Sunrise and Orange Switzerland marks a new significant step in the long-term investment by France Telecom-Orange in Switzerland. Following the UK joint venture between Orange and T-Mobile ,France Telecom completes another major in-market consolidation, consistent with its M&A policy.”

At the moment, Swisscom dominates the Swiss mobile market with an estimated 62% marketshare (5.5 million connections) in Q3 2009. Sunrise holds the second position with 1.9 million users (a 21% market share), while Orange is third with 1.6 million users (18%).

Source: Intomobile via GSMA

­South Africa's MTN Group has announced that it had a shade under 108.5 million subscribers at the end of September. This is a 5% increase for the quarter from 103.2 million subscribers recorded at the end of  June 2009 and a 19.6% increase for the year to date.

The South and East Africa (SEA) region increased its subscriber base by a very modest 0.5% for the quarter. This was primarily due to the disappointing negative movement of the South Africa subscriber base which contributes 64% to the region. South Africa's subscriber base declined from 17.23 million at the end of June 2009 to 16.42 million at the end of September. The main reason for the movement is the significantly lower number of gross connections following the implementation of RICA in August, which requires PrePay SIM cards to be registered with the operators. Given the current market uncertainty following the RICA implementation there are challenges with South Africa achieving its revised target of zero net additions for the full year.

Uganda increased its subscriber base by 11% in the quarter following the continued success of MTN Zone which now constitutes 95% of the total prepaid base.

The West and Central Africa (WECA) region increased its subscriber base by 5% for the quarter driven mainly by Nigeria which accounts for 58% of the region's subscribers. Nigeria recorded a 5% increase in its subscriber base to 28.76 million mainly due to continued network rollout, innovative product offerings and the effectiveness of the distribution channels implemented earlier in 2009. Ghana maintained its market share and increased its subscriber base by 2,6% despite aggressive competitor activity. Both Cameroon and Cote d'Ivoire increased their subscriber bases by 4% and 5% to 4.19 million and 4.21 million, respectively.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region recorded a 9% increase in subscribers for the quarter. This was largely due to continued growth from the Iran operation, which contributes 62% to the region's subscribers and increased its base by 8% to 20.7 million. Iran's growth was attributable mainly to expanded network coverage and continued promotional activity. Syria increased its subscriber base by 13% to 4 million, well above expectations. Afghanistan, although a relatively smaller operation, has been steadily contributing positively to the region's growth and has gained No. 1 position in the market from No 3 at the beginning of 2009.

MTN has revised its subscriber net addition guidance for the year for South Africa to zero and for Syria to 550,000 while other individually disclosed country guidance remains the same. MTN expects to achieve the total group subscriber net addition guidance for 2009 of 22.6 million.

Source: Cellular News

­Bangladesh based mobile network operator, Grameenphone (GP) says that it added almost 1 million new subscriptions in the third quarter of 2009, pushing the total subscription base near to 22 million. However, GP crossed 22 million subscription base mark on 1st October.

Grameenphone CEO Oddvar Hesjedal, expressed his satisfaction with the subscription growth posted for the third quarter, "the market has just crossed the 50 million subscription mark and GP serves the largest share of that market (44%) among the operators. It pleases me that we have been successful in adding a significant amount of the new subscriptions to the market in the last quarter, which indicates that Grameenphone is the preferred service provider."

Average revenue per user (ARPU) increased by 6% compared to same period of last year mainly as a result of a raised tariff floor.

"A rising ARPU is a good indicator for both the industry and a sign of slow economic recovery," said the Grameenphone CEO. "However, reduction or removal of the BDT 800 SIM tax will help the economy recover sooner because internet and telecommunication penetration generates faster economic activity and community development," he added.

EBITDA margin has also improved to 57% compared to the same period of last year of 48.9% due to higher revenue, combined with lower network operation and maintenance costs. Capital expenditure was also lower during this quarter, in accordance with the current traffic demand.

Following the formal approval for Grameenphone's initial public offering (IPO), trading of the Grameenphone shares at the Chittagong and Dhaka stock exchanges is anticipated to commence in November. This is subject to approval from the regulators and stock exchanges.

Source: Cellular News

Millicom International Cellular (MIC), the telecoms group with operations in twelve countries across Africa and Latin America, has posted revenues of USD856.2 million for the third quarter of 2009, a 7% increase year-on-year.

The growth is partly attributable to strong performance at Amnet, the company’s cable and broadband unit, as well as its African subsidiaries. Net income, however, slipped 11.5% to USD142.7 million on the back of higher interest expense and taxes. The results exclude operations in Cambodia, Laos and Sri Lanka, which Millicom agreed to sell earlier this month. The full divestment of all three subsidiaries is expected to take place by the end of 2009, generating approximately USD565 million in cash for the company.

Chief Financial Officer Francois-Xavier Roger said the company was looking at acquisitions and bidding for new licences in Africa and Latin America. ‘We have nothing well advanced at this stage, but we have a few opportunities that we continue to discuss with third parties,’ he stated.

Source: Telegeography

Vodafone is expected to use Vodacom as its vehicle to expand into developing markets in Africa now that it has secured control of the company. Vodacom CEO, Pieter Uys said that the company is looking to take advantage of falling prices to increase its footprint.

"If you look at the world there aren't many growth opportunities around; Africa is one of them," Uys told the Bloomberg news agency. "All markets in Africa offer potential for consolidation." Vodafone "has committed to use us" to enlarge its sub-Saharan business and "support us" on potential acquisitions, he said.

Vodafone has just increased its holding in Vodacom from 50% to 65%, while South African landline operator, Telkom floated its 35% stake onto the local stock market earlier this week.

Vodacom has operations in South Africa, Tanzania, Lesotho, DR Congo and Mozambique. Through its Gateway Communications subsidiary, it offers satellite services in 40 African countries.

For a few days last month Maroc Telecom's parent company Vivendi looked like it might pull off one of the most audacious attempts yet to arrest control of one of the Middle East & Africa's largest mobile operations from the now well-entrenched players. However, Zain, whose Celtel unit was the subject of the interest, could not agree on price with the French company and the chance of a deal - however unlikely most commentators, including your author, thought that to be - now looks to be dead and gone. If a transaction had gone ahead it would most likely have had a significant effect on Maroc Telecom's place in the Vivendi group, with the Moroccan incumbent slotting in as part of a much larger overall portfolio.

Source: Cellular News

Digicel has confirmed it has been awarded a GSM licence in the Pacific island state of Nauru, and will become the country’s first wireless network operator when it launches in August. ‘Digicel's expansion into Nauru further adds to our Pan-Pacific presence as well as achieving the milestone of bringing a GSM network for the first time to Nauru,’ said Digicel Pacific CEO Vanessa Slowey. ‘Nauru can look forward to benefiting from a state-of-the art network, with affordable and accessible telecommunications for everyone.’ Minister for Telecommunications, Sprent Dabwido, said, ‘With no existing mobile operator to serve the 10,000 strong population, Digicel's arrival is a giant step forward for communications in Nauru and will benefit each and every individual in Nauru.’ In addition to offering voice services, Digicel will be launching a GPRS/EDGE-enabled network which will make internet access available to all areas of Nauru for the first time.

Nauru is the sixth market for Digicel in the Pacific, with existing operations in Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, and its 32nd market worldwide.

Source: Telegeography

Etisalat Nigeria has announced reaching the milestone of one million subscribers for its mobile network around seven months after launching in the country. The UAE-owned operator launched commercial GSM services in Nigeria in November 2008 in seven cities, and by the end of the year had just under 400,000 subscribers, boosted by its offer of free network-to-network calls for a six month period.

Source: Telegeography

Some of the world’s largest service providers have beaten the recession blues and out-performed overall market growth, either by being focused on high growth markets or by merger and acquisition activities. China Mobile, Vodafone and America Movil fit into the first camp while China Unicom, Vivendi, China Telecom and Verizon are in the latter. All of these companies reported Q1 2009 revenues that were at least 10% higher than their respective Q1 2008 turnover. In aggregate, the seven recorded 16% revenue growth in the latest quarter (when measured in their local currencies).

Source: TeleGeography.

Pan-Caribbean wireless group Digicel has reported its first net profit since its launch in 2001. Digicel, which comprises mobile phone operations in 31 markets across the Caribbean, Pacific and Latin America, recorded a net profit of USD41 million in the twelve months to 31 March 2009, compared to a loss of USD74 million in the previous year. ‘It is an important landmark for us,’ Digicel’s chief executive Colm Delves told The Irish Times. At a pre-tax level, Digicel posted a profit of USD113 million compared with a loss of USD48 million in the previous period. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) reached USD680 million, a 34% increase year-on-year. Revenues rose by 11% to USD1.73 billion, while its subscriber base was up 34% to 9.2 million. The company’s net debt at the end of March was USD2.7 billion.

Source: TeleGeography.

­Kuwait based Zain is reported to be considering an offer to sell its African mobile networks to an unnamed French company. The sale of the former Celtel assets is estimated to be worth up to US$12 billion, including debt, reports the Dow Jones Newswire, citing the Al Qabas newspaper.

Celtel was founded by Sudanese-born Mo Ibrahim in 1998 and sold to Kuwiat's MTC (now Zain) in April 2005 for US$3.4 billion.

Zain is waiting for reply from the French company this week and if the deal isn't settled Zain will study bids made by other companies, the newspaper added.

No reason was given for why Zain is looking to sell the African division.

Source: Cellular News.

The government of Nigeria has taken back control of the country’s former telecoms monopoly NITEL and its wireless arm M-Tel, citing a lack of investment and unpaid debts in the three years since local firm Transcorp took over the telco. Reuters reports that the National Council of Privatisation has ruled that Transcorp breached its contract, having failed to meet its obligations to invest NGN8.9 billion (USD60.9 million) within 100 days of the takeover, and had an unpaid debt of NGN17 billion. The government will take control of NITEL until a new core investor is found.

According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, the federal government sold it’s 51% stake in NITEL to Transcorp for USD750 million in November 2006, retaining a 49% interest. Since then the telco’s initial 500,000 fixed lines in service have dropped to about 45,000, its workforce has declined from 12,000 to just 2,000 and the company is USD500 million in debt. In February 2009 Transcorp agreed to divest part of its shareholding in the telco and in late March the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) announced it was offering a 51% stake in the fixed line operator and 100% of its mobile unit. Last week Nigeria’s anti-corruption police charged the head of Transcorp and two other employees with fraud for embezzling around USD110 million belonging to NITEL.

Source: TeleGeography.

The UAE's two mobile networks, Du and Etisalat are reported to be in talks that could lead to network infrastructure sharing in an effort to cut operating costs.

“Talks are continuing between Du and Etisalat on sharing infrastructure,” Du's CEO, Osman Sultan in a Bloomberg interview. “The current economic situation is pushing” the companies to share infrastructure, he added.

Du has earmarked a CAPEX of US$545 million this year to expand its mobile network.

Earlier this year, Du signed a marketing partnership with Vodafone. The company is 39.5% owned by the UAE Federal Government, 19.75% by Mubadala Development, 19.5% by Emirates Communications & Technology and the remaining stake by public shareholders.

According to figures from the Mobile World subscriber tracker, du ended Q1 '09 with 2.75 million customers, of which just over a million are using its 3G network.

Source: Cellular News.

AIS is the market leader in Thailand, where penetration looks to have finished Q1 09 at around 95%. The rise in penetration has been accompanied by a decline in growth, with annual growth rates falling in each quarter since Q2 07. Although the full Q1 09 set of results for Thailand is not yet complete, it seems almost certain to be the slowest quarter since Q3 05, when there were net additions of just 0.41m. Both True Move and DTAC saw their lowest gains since that same quarter, with uplifts of 0.25m and 0.26m respectively. AIS only just managed to top these figures with a gain of 0.27m, its lowest result since Q1 06 and the second lowest this century.

Although this is a disappointing result for AIS, the fact that growth has slowed so dramatically for all the major operators in Thailand means that it is unlikely to lose its lead in the foreseeable future, barring any extraordinary developments: at the end of Q1 09, it was 8.6m customers ahead of DTAC with a total of 27.58m. Annual growth stood at 9.9%, down from 19.0% for the prior twelve month period. In real terms, annual net additions fell from just below 4m to 2.49m.

Source: Cellular News.

Bharti Airtel, the Indian mobile operator, has crossed the 100Mn subscribers mark in the country. Bharti has become the world’s third largest in-country operator. The operator had 96.64 million subscribers on 31 March of this year, which means that every fourth mobile user of India is Bharti Airtel subscriber. The operator holds a 25% mobile subscriber share and 30% market share in terms of revenue.

Source: Wireless Federation.

A new report from Arab Advisors Group analyzes and ranks 30 fixed services operators and 50 cellular operators in nineteen Arab countries. STC’s Al Jawwal, Egypt’s Mobinil and Vodafone Egypt are the largest Arab cellular operators in terms of subscribers.

With the advent of new operators and increased competition in 2008, cellular subscribers in 19 examined Arab countries reached 194.533 million. ALJAWAL and MobiNil sustained their top rankings by H1 2008, with 17.800 million and 16.328 million subscribers respectively. Vodafone Egypt ended the first six months of 2008 with 15.202 million subscribers, settling as the third largest mobile operator in the region. UAE recorded the highest cellular penetration rate by H1 2008, which stood at 198.6% followed by Saudi Arabia (123.3%). Both countries report subscribers based on active on the switch method. UAE also had the highest fixed line penetration rate by H1 2008, which stood at 29.4%.

Source: Arab Advisors Group.

The evergrowing competition in the Kenyan mobile market is expected to take down Safaricom’s market share which will drop from its dominant 80% to 65% in another four years. The fall will be driven by the launch of rival operators, says Chief Executive Michael Joseph.

“We will have between 65% and 70% market share by 2011,” says Michael. The closest competitor to Safaricom is Zain, which has started offering all new lowered tariffs and products, which targets the lower segment of market, which was earlier captured by Safaricom.

The state owned Telkom Kenya is speedily building up its GSM ntwork under the brand name Orange. In order to stay in competition, Safaricom has invested more in data services and is building a WiMax network, to complement its broadband service launched in August this year.

“We are diversifying our revenue streams, with a shift from the voice market. Which is becoming increasingly unattractive, due to the low tariffs, to data,” says Michael. He additionally said that the operator with its broad network can fight the agressive competition.

Source: Wireless Federation.

Megafon continues to grow in the Russian mobile market in the month of October by adding 960,894 new subscribers. Megafon, country’s third largest operator, is competing closely with Vimpelcom, which stood at 45.88 million, 31.7% of total net addition. Megafon’s net additions counts to 38.7% share of Russia’s total net additions and totalled its subscriber base to 42.32 million. MTS lagged behind its rivals in terms of new additions, claiming just 19.4% with a subscriber base of 62.36 million in October, causing a threat to its number one position. Russia ended October with just over 182 million mobile subscribers, up from 179.54 million at the end of September.

Source: Wireless Federation.

Operator expands to 15 African markets via launches in Kenya, Uganda and Niger

France Telecom-owned Orange has long had a footprint in the predominantly French-speaking areas of West Africa, but this year has seen the operator push into new African markets and seek to exploit its brand profile in the continent.

Orange entered Kenya - East Africa's largest economy - via its US$390 million acquisition of a 51 percent stake in Telkom Kenya in December 2007. The operator subsequently rebranded the company as 'Orange Kenya' and launched operations last month. Orange is targeting 1.5 million customers within a year and claims to be the first 'integrated' operator in the country by combining mobile, fixed-line and Internet services. It has reportedly invested US$110 million in the subsidiary to date – the majority of investment focused on expanding its GSM network. It is using mobile market-leader Safaricom's network to ensure a nationwide service while it builds-out its own infrastructure but expects to cover the whole country within two years. Orange Kenya is the third mobile operator in the market (after Safaricom and Zain), while a fourth player - Econet Wireless Kenya, a specialist 3G operator - plans to launch in the country soon.

France Telecom (Orange) Africa Mobile Connections: Q2, 2008
Source: Wireless Intelligence, company data 
* Launched 17 September 2008; ** Launched 30 June 2008

Source: Wireless Federation.

The Hungarian telecom regulator, National Communication Authority, launches two mobile licence tenders and a proposal to provide mobile infrastructure development. The two mobile licence will be valid for 15 years. According to Daniel Pataki, President NHH, the following descision has been taken in order to boost mobile market competition in the country. He also adds that though the country has a mobile penetration of 108%, countyry’s 20% population still doesn’t own a mobile phone and the price competition has been stagnant among the existing mobile operator i.e. T-Mobile, Pannon and Vodafone.

Looking at the present financial scenario, Pataki adds ‘We have called the tender now as market conditions could turn even more unfavorable, since nobody can tell when this global financial market turmoil could end’.

Source: Wireless Federation.

Millicom International Cellular (Millicom) has reported its third quarter results along with the analysts’ forcast. But the cellco has admitted that the revenue growth is sluggished due to global economic crisis. It has wireless subsidiaries in 16 emerging markets around the world, said EBITDA for the third quarter rose 25% year-on-year to USD369 million while net profit for the period rose 17% to USD161 milion. Further the firm added that it would reduce investment in the coming year, forecasting a CAPEX figure of ‘less that USD1.5 billion’ in 2008 and a substantially lower figure again for 2009. According to CEO Marc Beuls, the company had decided to put off an early redemption of the USD460 million 10% 2013 Notes, strengthening its balance sheet by reducing short term debt and increasing long-term debt.

Millicom has ended this period with 30.59 million subscribers to its subsidiaries with the addition of 2.1 million new customers in the third quarter of 2008 alone.

Source: Wireless Federation.

­Algeria's state owned telecoms operator, Algérie Télécom is now unlikely to be privatized for at least two to three years as the company implements an improvement program to make it more commercial. The company is the country's dominant landline operator, and owns its second largest mobile network operator, Moblis.

Algeria's government has been planning to partially privatize Algérie Télécom for several years. The sale was expected to be take place by end of 2006, with the government selling 35% of the operator in an Initial Public Offering (IPO). However the procedures have not been finalized and the tender was yet not launched, but expected to take place in 2008.

According to figures from the Mobile World database, the country has three operators with the following market shares, Djezzy (39.7%), Moblis (36.4%) and Nedjma with 21.5%. The country itself ended last year with just under 28.2 million subscribers, representing a population penetration level of 84%.

Source: Cellular News.

­The Kenyan government has announced plans to scrap a law which had required foreign firms to have local partners if investing in the telecoms industry. Under the current system, any investor has to allocate at least twenty percent of the company to a local partner, which has caused legal problems in the past.

The Kenyan market is dominated by Safaricom, which has a market share of 86.6% - followed by Zain and Orange. According to figures from the Mobile World, the country had 36.5 million mobile phone subscribers at the end of the first half of this year - although that still represents a population penetration level of just 39%, leaving plenty of space for a third network to enter the market.

Source: Cellular News.

The first mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in Cameroon has been launched under the brand name, Yemba. At a press conference organised by Providence Technologique, the company behind Yemba, General Manger, Michel Nguetsop said that the company had secured an MVNO agreement with CDMA operator, Camtel.

The MVNO has set itself an ambitious target of two million subscribers by 2010.

Camtel was expected to activate an EV-DO upgrade on its Huawei supplied fixed wireless infrastructure last September - although it is not initially clear if this has happened.

According to the Mobile World database, there are currently two active operators in the country - MTN and Orange. The two operators ended the first quarter of this year with a combined 4.9 million subscribers - representing a population penetration level of 27%.

Source: Cellular News.

APA-Lilongwe (Malawi) A leading mobile service provider in Malawi, Celtel, on Friday celebrated a milestone of having added one millionth customer to its ever expanding mobile network in the country.

Celtel Managing Director Fayaz King told journalists in Lilongwe that the development places the company ahead of other players as an undisputed leader of the telecoms industry in Malawi.

"We are very proud to be associated with the current development which, in turn, should go a long way to assist in the country’s economic growth," he said.

King said since the company has now surpassed the one million customer base, it is now looking forward to reaching two million customers in years to come.

Malawi is ranked Number 12 in Africa in terms of customer base, with Nigeria’s 10 million customers leading the way.

Celtel Malawi, which was established in 1999, is part of a leading Middle East and African telecoms group, Zain Group.

Source: Cellular News.

Communications market research firm Infonetics Research reports that worldwide service provider capex (capital expenditures) totaled $248.8 billion in 2007, a 7% increase from 2006. Infonetics' report projects a spike in worldwide carrier capex in 2008, followed by a plateau in 2010 and a decline in 2011, and emphasizes that the weak US dollar is inflating current growth rates in Brazil, Canada, China, Europe, India, and Japan.

"Our capex analysis indicates we are in the fourth year of an investment phase, and we may be reaching the plateau this year in both North America and Europe, where large service providers' capital intensity (the ratio of capex to revenue) will likely be as low as 12%. Meanwhile, China and India will drive a significant jump in carrier capex in 2008 as a result of network construction projects combined with currency appreciation against the US dollar. Both countries are still posting double-digit revenue growth in their native currencies, which, converted in US dollars creates a big spike in worldwide carrier revenue as well," said Stéphane Téral, principal analyst at Infonetics Research.

Other highlights from the report:

• Telecom service providers earned a combined $1.5 trillion in annual worldwide revenue in 2007, up 10% from 2006, with currency appreciation making up the bulk of the growth, while the rest came from wireless services
• Carriers are increasingly investing in application software (vs. hardware) for media rich applications such as content, storage, and security for broadband based wireline and wireless services
• Current investment drivers for carrier spending: convergence between IT, media, Internet, and telecom, which is adding new competitive pressures to carriers, and the shift from legacy TDM to next generation IP networks
• The world's 10 largest service providers (ranked by 2007 revenue) are AT&T, Verizon, NTT, Deutsche Telekom, France Télécom, Vodafone, Telefónica, China Mobile, BT, and Sprint
• The next largest service providers include Telecom Italia, Comcast, and KDDI, which, according to their most recent growth rates, are poised to join the top 10
• The incumbent share of North American carrier capex jumped from 56% to 63% in 2007; MSOs are expected to increase their share of North American carrier capex by 2011
• The Asia Pacific telecom industry is squeezed between 2 opposite market forces: a saturated market made of Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan characterized by flat to decreasing capex, and a fast growing market driven by China and India, characterized by double digit growth for both capex and revenue
• Caribbean and Latin America (CALA) service provider revenue jumped 29% between 2006 and 2007
• Mobile infrastructure makes up the bulk of total equipment capex in 2007, accounting for about 20%, followed by voice infrastructure, optical equipment, and broadband aggregation equipment
• WiMAX equipment spending by service providers as a portion of total carrier capex has roughly doubled each year since 2004, and will continue to increase its share in the near term, driven by major WiMAX projects in the US, India, and Latin America.

Source: Cellular News.

Source: Cellular News.

Qatar’s monopoly telecoms provider Qatar Telecom (Qtel) has announced that it crossed the 1.4 million subscriber mark early this month, including around 1.2 million GSM mobile subscriptions and over 200,000 fixed lines. The achievement, in a country with a population of less than a million, was driven by positive customer response to recent promotions, particularly its current ‘Hala Line for Free’ campaign, according to a spokesperson. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, wireless penetration in the country passed 100% in 2006, and Qtel signed up its one millionth mobile subscriber in March 2007. A rival GSM network being set up by a consortium led by Vodafone Group is scheduled to end Qtel’s monopoly by the end of this year.

Source: TeleGeography.

Swisscom has announced that in the year ended 31 December 2007 revenues rose 14.9% to CHF11.09 billion (USD10.7 billion), while EBITDA was 18.9% higher at CHF4.5 billion. The increase was primarily attributable to Swisscom’s May 2007 acquisition of Italian ISP Fastweb. On a like-for-like basis net revenue increased by 0.3%; declining revenues from its traditional fixed line business were offset by growth in its outsourcing business and broadband operations. Gains from the sale of subsidiaries Antenna Hungaria and Infonet helped the company report a 29.4% increase in net income for the year, to CHF2.07 billion.

At the end of 2007 Swisscom claimed 5.29 million fixed lines in service, of which 1.6 million were DSL. At the same date the company had 5.01 million wireless customers, a net increase of 375,000.

Source: TeleGeography.

Hong Kong-based mobile operator SmarTone has reported that its fiscal first-half net income rose more than threefold to HKD161 million (USD21 million) after customers increased spending on high speed mobile data services. In the six months to end-December 2007 mobile service revenue increased by 10% year-on-year to HKD1.707 billion and EBITDA registered 26% growth to HKD551 million. The 3.5G operator’s data contribution to total turnover climbed to 22.1% compared to 17.1% in the same period of the previous year. Revenue from multimedia services accounted for two-thirds of total data turnover. Blended ARPU in the six months was up 7% at HKD238, while post-paid ARPU rose 11% to HKD283; the post-paid churn rate improved slightly to 2.1% in December 2007. SmarTone’s customer base reached 1.108 million at the end of December, up from 1.077 million at the end of June, following a dip in the total from 1.093 million at end-December 2006. However the company reported that its 3G/3.5G customer base continues to expand and currently accounts for 40% of post-paid users, up from 30% last June. It added that CAPEX in fiscal 2007/08 is likely to increase by 15% year-on-year to HKD450 million as it focuses on enhancements to its GSM/W-CDMA/HSPA network.

Source: TeleGeography.

The number of registered mobile phones in Ghana topped the seven million-mark by the end of 2007, according to new data published by the regulator, the National Communication Authority (NCA). The watchdog’s figures show that the country recorded quarterly net growth of 8.4% in the last three months of the year, boosting the country total to 7,604,053 by 31 December. Local industry watchers predict, however, that the sector could soon reach saturation levels, leaving the four main cellular operators to slug it out for market share. The NCA reports that MTN Ghana was the market leader by the start of 2008 with 4,016,132 subscribers, ahead of Millicom Ghana (Tigo) with 2,023,091, while GT-OneTouch and Kasapa Telecom took third and fourth place with 1,275,764 and 289,066 subscribers respectively. Tigo topped the list in terms of net subscriber additions in 4Q07, however, signing up a net 426,640 new users compared with 143,743 for MTN and 21,456 for Kasapa Telecom. Meanwhile, Ghana Telecom’s mobile arm OneTouch recorded a net loss of 4,493 users in the last three months of the year, with a proportion of the net decline being attributed to subscribers having their lines cut or deactivated from the network.

Source: Balancing Act.

As mobile telephone subscribers search for cheaper and affordable call tariffs, scores of people in the eastern province of Rwanda have subscribed to Vodacom Tanzania.

The strong signals the company has and the free airtime the telecom company is offering to all its subscribers has lured some Rwandans near the Tanzania border to subscribe to Vodacom, abandoning their MTN lines. Vodacom has also lowered the calling rates to other networks to give its clients more freedom to talk, according to Kabayija, a 'Vodacom agent' in Kayonza district. Rwandans in districts of Nyagatare, Gatsibo, Kayonza and Rwamagana can now call for four minutes freely. Subscribers on pay standard spend Tzs200 (Frw93)-whereas MTN Rwandacell charges Frw100.

Prices of smuggled Vodacom sim packs have also soared from Frw1,000 to Frw5,000. (about Tzs10,000) There are claims that MTN, with the largest coverage in eastern province is affected negativly, as sales of its products have dropped. "I no longer buy MTN airtime vouchers. Sim pack agents say sales have drastically dropped," a resident of Kabarole who was using a Vodacom line claimed." But The New Times was not able get comment from MTN officials as some could not answer their phones. However, a source close to MTN Rwanda management say Vodacom and MTN are about to enter a roaming deal, where subscribers on the two networks will not have to switch sim cards. In Kayonza and Rwamagana towns, dealers of Vodacom products were openly luring more Rwandans to get connected to the Tanzanian network. An official in Rwandatel said his company 'is not worried about the competition.'
(Source: The New Times)

Source: Balancing Act.

Thai communications and media holding group Shin Corp, controlled by Singapore's Temasek, has reported that its net profit in 2007 decreased by 6.3% to THB3.1 billion (USD101 million), on revenues of THB22.8 billion, down by THB142 million year-on-year. The firm’s share of the net results of leading Thai mobile network operator Advanced Info Services (AIS) contributed 30.2% of total revenues. AIS, which has already reported its results separately, finished the year with a total of 24.1 million GSM users, an annual rise of 23%. In Laos, Lao Telecommunications Company (LTC), 49%-owned by Shin’s Shenington Investments unit, saw mobile subscribers increase by 28.7% year-on-year to 700,306 at the end of December, primarily due to expansion following increased marketing activities targeted at low-usage subscribers. LTC’s mobile ARPU increased by 10% whist its number of fixed PSTN subscribers increased by just 0.1% in the year. In Cambodia, Camshin, wholly owned by Shenington Investments, increased its mobile user base by 72.1% in 2007 to 469,514, again driven by marketing aimed at low-end pre-paid customers. Camshin’s mobile ARPU decreased 12.1% on an annual basis, primarily as a result of the introduction of promotional packages following increased competition. Shin Corp also has a stake in Thailand’s largest dial-up ISP, CS Loxinfo, which launched ADSL services in 2006.

Source: TeleGeography.

Reliable sources indicate that Vodacom is close to signing a deal with Libyan-owned Lap Green to take over its recently purchased operations in Rwanda and Uganda. A draft of the agreement clearly indicates that Vodacom would take over a majority stake and have technical control, whilst Lap Green would remain a significant minority shareholder.

If the deal comes off, it would make sense of much that so far has not made much sense. Libya’s Lap Green clearly has not lacked for money but has so far only sent in a small number of its own management personnel. As one person in the ISP sector in Uganda observed:"Not much has happened on the practical side and there’s no sign of change yet." From the Vodacom perspective, it would offer them two new territories after a long period of no new acquisitions.

The mobile market in Uganda is clearly the larger prize with an estimated 4.5 million subscribers. Currently, utl is the smallest player after MTN with 1.25 million subscribers and Celtel with 1.2 million subscribers. The Celtel operation, which used to be in poor shape, is now powering ahead and becoming a serious challenger for market leadership.

The latest entrant Warid seems to have acquired 20-30,000 subscribers in its two week existence but does not yet seem to have set the market alight. MTN introduced a pre-emptive 14% drop in its tariffs and Warid opened with slightly lower tariffs. Competitors acknowledge that it has good network coverage but that it has no particular local insight and only a narrow product range. Prices still seem set to fall further and there is the makings of a price war when the fifth operator HITS finally enters the market. Optimistically, this might be in May of this year.

Meanwhile, Uganda is only the latest country to join the 3G arms race. Both Celtel and MTN are installing 3G, although the latter is only likely to have it in Kampala and around Entebbe Airport. MTN has 65,000 subscribers on a combination of its EDGE upgrade and its Wi-MAX fixed broadband locations in 51 Ugandan towns. Achieved download speeds on both are in the region of 250 kbps. It has found that introducing a 3G network has meant finding new sites to ensure sufficient coverage.

As MTN’s CEO Erik van Veene told us:"We are really doing a couple of laps round the track before the fibre cable arrives." It hopes to be able to offer cheaper local pricing so as to encourage local hosting and content.

Source: Balancing Act.

China Mobile, the world's largest operator by subscriber numbers has announced plans to seek overseas expansion and is considering setting up an MVNO in the saturated European market, along with industry favourite - the emerging markets of Asia and Africa.

Henry Ge, chief representative of China Mobile UK, told the Financial Times that the company would focus on three areas: emerging markets; overseas Chinese customers wanting to keep in touch with home; and "the short-term visiting market", which included travelling business customers and the growing number of Chinese tourists.

Vodafone has built up a 3.3 percent stake in China Mobile over a couple of purchases and has a representative on the company board of directors.

Last year, the China Mobile's unlisted parent company took control of Pakistan based Paktel for US$460 million and announced plans to spend a similar amount on improving the network.

Source: Cellular News.

APA-Maputo (Mozambique) South African-based mobile phone company, Vodacom-Mozambique (VM) has announced a 40 percent share in Mozambique's mobile phone market, five years after entering the market.

The chairman of Mozambique's second cell phone operator, Hermenegildo Gamito, said that by January 2008, VM had reached 1.5 million clients, which is over 40 percent of the estimated 3.3 million cell phone users in the country.

"We now have a market share of 40 percent in Mozambique, that is 3.3 million, and is only 16 percent of the Mozambican population from which we may readily conclude that the penetration of mobile telephony in Mozambique is still regarded as rather weak", he said at a business lunch with Mozambican journalists in Maputo, the country's capital.

"VM is working with government bodies to improve the business environment for mobile telephony, with the aim of allowing greater access to existing services", Gamito added.

Vodacom, a subsidiary of the South African Vodacom Group, was awarded a mobile network license in 2002 to become the second cellular operator in the country after paying U$$15 million for the license to compete with mCel, which is owned by the Mozambican government and a German company Detecon.

India's Reliance Communications has announced acquisition of Uganda based Anupam Global Soft, a company holding Public Infrastructure Provider License (PIPL) and Public Service Provider License (PSPL) issued by Uganda Communications Commission. The company says that following the acquisition - for an unspecified amount - it plans to spend up to US$500 million on building out the telecoms network.

Under the existing Licenses, Reliance Communications targets to offer Mobile, Fixed Line, Internet, National and International Long Distance services, in addition to WiMax and Wi-Fi services in Uganda.

Figures from the Mobile World database note that the population penetration level in Uganda had reached 13.3% at the end of September - compared to the 10% figure reported by Reliance for the end of last March.

Source: Cellular News.

China Mobile, the world's largest operator by subscriber numbers has announced plans to seek overseas expansion and is considering setting up an MVNO in the saturated European market, along with industry favourite - the emerging markets of Asia and Africa.

Source: Cellular News.