UK-based Vodafone Group is set to boost investment in the network of its domestic subsidiary by more than 50%, the Financial Times reports, with the operator expected to spend almost GBP1 billion (USD1.52 billion) in 2013 as it prepares to launch LTE commercially. Further, a portion of the increased investment is set to go towards the integration of the fixed line network assets which Vodafone Group acquired following its April 2012 purchase of Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW). Commenting on the decision to increase capital expenditures, Vodafone UK chief executive officer Guy Laurence was cited as saying: ‘This investment is further evidence of our commitment to deliver our best ever network. We’re bringing together the best of mobile and fixed communications to help our business customers make their communications work for them.’

Source: TeleGeography.

Ethiopia is set to ink deals with Chinese vendors ZTE Corp and Huawei Technologies within the next few weeks with a view to expanding the country’s mobile infrastructure, a move which in turn the state hopes will help boost subscriber numbers to 40 million, according to Reuters. Speaking with regards to the development, Debretsion Gebremichael, Ethiopia’s deputy prime minister and minister of communications and technology, said: ‘We are now poised to start the expansion. We are almost on the final stage on dealing with ZTE and Huawei In a few weeks we will conclude the agreement and we will start the expansion.’ The politician did not, however, reveal a value for the deals with the two vendors, but is understood to have confirmed that ZTE and Huawei will finance the expansion project.

Source: TeleGeography.

Armenian broadband provider UCOM LLC is doubling its internet access speeds, effective 1 June, Arka News reports citing the group’s CEO Hayk Yesayan as saying. From that date the operator, whose current residential user services range from 8Mbps to 24Mbps, will be upping the minimum speed to 16Mbps, while the maximum connection will rise to 48Mbps.

In a related development, the company says it intends to start offering broadband access services in Armenia’s second largest city Gyumri within three months. Mr Yesayan said: ‘We are planning to open our office in Vanadzor by 15 June to 20 June This will be the third city after Yerevan and Abovyan where we provide our services. After that we will start providing our services to the fourth city’s residents. It is likely to be Gyumri.’

According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, UCOM LLC was founded in 2007 to deliver a range of traditional and innovative high quality services in the Armenian telecommunications market. Having partnered with equipment vendor Ericsson, Yerevan-based UCOM has built a fibre-optic network based on Gigabit Passive Optical Network (G-PON) technology and today offers triple-play internet, TV and voice telephony services to residential subscribers through its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network. The company reported signing up its 50,000th customer in February this year, a figure it hopes to double in the short- to medium-term.

Source: TeleGeography.

The World Bank has approved total funding of USD60 million in International Development Association (IDA) credits to support the respective governments of Mauritania and Togo, which are looking to bolster their telecoms connectivity through the implementation of new fibre-based broadband networks, and also to update their regulatory regimes to support and encourage private sector competition in each country. In a press release dated 30 May, the World Bank says each nation will benefit from USD30 million in funding under the IDA to expand broadband access, drive down costs, improve the quality and reliability of voice and data services, and to act as a backbone network to stimulate private sector involvement. It is understood that the project forms part of a wider USD300 million West Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Programme (WARCIP) that is designed to help bridge the connectivity vacuum between 16 West African countries and with the rest of the world.

Source: TeleGeography.

French telecommunications regulator the Autorite de Regulation des Communications Electroniques et des Postes (ARCEP) has published the results of the analysis of the electronic communications market for the first quarter of 2013, announcing 22% growth year-on-year in the number of high speed broadband (>30Mbps) subscriptions to reach 1.7 million users. According to the report, France had a total of 24.2 million broadband subscriptions at the end of the first trimester of 2013, with 665,000 receiving download speeds between 30Mbps and 100Mbps, while over one million of the users had downlinks in excess of 100Mbps, an increase of 46% year-on-year. The number of subscriptions with download speeds less than 30Mbps reached 22.5 million on 31 March 2013, attracting a total of 160,000 net additions in the quarter. According to ARCEP’s report, 98% of these lower speed broadband subscriptions used xDSL technology, while the remainder consisted of access over cable or fixed wireless technologies. Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) subscriptions grew by 50,000 over the quarter and reached 365,000 at 31 March 2013, a reported annual growth of 70%.

Source: TeleGeography.

Belgium’s telecoms regulator the Belgian Institute for Post and Telecommunications (BIPT) has published statistics for the country’s telecoms sector for the year ended 31 December 2012, revealing that combined turnover from fixed and mobile services, both retail and wholesale, fell to EUR7.18 billion (USD9.329 billion)from EUR7.65 billion a year earlier. In the retail sector, the BIPT reported that turnover from all services bar mobile broadband were down year-on-year, with fixed voice revenues declining to EUR1.24 billion in 2012 from EUR1.33 billion in 2011, while turnover from fixed broadband services totalled EUR1.26 billion in 2012, down by 3.1% year-on-year. Meanwhile, while turnover from mobile voice services also declined – falling to EUR1.82 billion from EUR1.94 billion – mobile broadband proved a bright spot, with revenues from such services rising by 70% against 2011 to EUR340 million. Total telecoms investment for the financial year also fell, albeit marginally, with the BIPT reporting sector-wide expenditure of EUR1.25 billion in 2012, down from EUR1.27 billion a year earlier.

Source: TeleGeography.

Tigo Senegal, a unit of Millicom International Cellular (MIC), has confirmed it is looking to launch a 3.5G mobile network in the country based on HSPA+ technology and capable of delivering maximum download speeds of 21Mbps. Agence Ecofin reports that the cellco signed a supply contract with an as yet unnamed vendor in April this year, and that deployment of the new system is already underway. Upon completion, Tigo says HSPA+ services will be available in

177 new areas, covering 14 administrative regions of Senegal, an improvement on its existing footprint, which numbers over 300 cell sites. By October 2013 the carrier hopes to have covered Dakar and its environs, with the area of Touba set to be added in December 2013 – a total of 310 settlements. Tigo has invested more than XOF25 billion (USD49.4 million) in the renovation and expansion of its network.

Source: TeleGeography.

Uruguayan state-owned national telecoms operator Administracion Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Antel) plans to invest around USD140 million in its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network this year, following on from the USD110 million spent on the infrastructure in the two years to end-2012. Local news paper El Pais cites Antel’s president Carolina Cosse as saying that the FTTH project passes around 418,000 households, 111,000 of which are already connected to the network. The company, which holds a monopoly on the provision of fixed line services in Uruguay, expects the network to cover around 25% of homes in the country by the end of this year. Services are marketed under the brand ‘Vera’, with plans for residential users ranging in price from UYU690 (USD33.8) per month for a basic 2Mbps downstream connection to UYU1,590 for the top-end 120Mbps/12Mbps download/upload plan.

TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database states that China’s ZTE was selected in September 2011 to build Antel’s national FTTH network and the first home was connected to the infrastructure one month later. By the end of 2012 the number of connected households had risen to around 240,000, with rollout ongoing in parts of Montevideo, Atlantida, Colonia, Fray Bentos, Pando, Rivera, Rocha, Salta and San Jose, among other towns and cities.

Source: TeleGeography.

IDC expects portable PC sales to be overaken by tablets this year, as tablets grow 58.7 percent to 229.3 million units from 144.5 million units in 2012. Tablet shipments are projected to be higher than the entire PC market (portables and desktops) by 2015.

Global PC shipments are forecast to fall by 7.8 percent this year and by 1.2 percent in 2014 as users increasingly consider alternatives such as tablets and smartphones. The market researcher previously anticipated a decline of 1.3 percent this year, followed by a gradual increase. The update reflects a significant volume drop in the first quarter and transitions in PC designs, with vendors releasing products for Windows 8, including thin, convertible, touch and slate models.

Worldwide desktop PCs are now projected to fall to 134.4 million units this year from 148.3 million in 2012 and to drop to USD 123.9 million units in 2017. Portable PC sales are forecast to decrease to 187.4 million units this year from 200.9 million units in 2012, and to rise to 209.5 million units in 2017.

Source: Telecom Paper.

Source: Telecom Paper.

Source: Telecom Paper.

Brazil was home to more than 100 million fixed and mobile broadband accesses at 30 April 2013, according to Antonio Carlos Valente, CEO of Telefonica Brasil and president of Brazilian telco association Telebrasil, as reported by BNAmericas. In his opening address at the association’s annual conference in Brasilia, Valente told delegates that mobile broadband is proving to be a key driver of take-up in the country, noting that 3G coverage is available in virtually all its main cities – where around 90% of the population lives. Last week, the industry regulator Agencia Nacional de Telecomunicacoes (Anatel) reported that mobile broadband connections topped 70 million by 1 May.

Source: TeleGeography.

Mark Simpson, CEO of SEACOM, has indicated that the privately funded, 75% African-owned submarine cable system company is working towards ‘closing the ring’ around South Africa by building what it is tentatively calling the South African Marine System (SAMS) cable that will link Yzerfontein in the Western Cape with Mtunzini in KwaZulu-Natal, via Port Elizabeth and East London. Simpson believes that subsea cables offer higher performance and lower cost than terrestrial ones, and hopes that the link will provide redundancy into the Eastern Cape while also offering protection for the Johannesburg to Cape Town routes.

Speaking at the Satcom conference in Sandton, South Africa, Simpson told TechCentral: ‘It is about offering resilience and reliability and closing the African ring from east to west. The bottleneck has moved inland. There is no longer a shortage of capacity on cable systems. International supply is abundant and relatively low cost at the beach. The cost, availability and reliability of terrestrial distribution is holding back the benefits that could accrue’.

Source: TeleGeography.

Norway’s Telenor has announced that, amid the increased use of cloud services by local businesses, it will invest NOK4 billion (USD682 million) this year on the development of its fibre-optic broadband services for business users. Speaking on the company’s spending plans, Bjorn Ivar Moen, business market manager at Telenor, said: ‘The need for higher bandwidth in Norwegian businesses is rising. We are currently experiencing a trend where services that were previously on local servers at each individual company are now moving to the internet as cloud-based services We have therefore set in motion a vigorous investment programme into fibre-optic broadband for the business market, both in terms of internet access and virtual private networks.’

Meanwhile, alongside the expenditure on its fibre infrastructure, Telenor has confirmed that it will not neglect its copper network, revealing plans to upgrade the latter in several places in parallel with the fibre developments. ‘In areas where we have broadband on several different technologies, we will consider replacing the copper network with faster technology,’ noted Moen.

Source: TeleGeography.

The Croatian Postal & Electronic Communications Agency (HAKOM) has announced that it has received bids from four companies for grants for the deployment of broadband networks in remote and rural areas, especially in areas of special state concern, including mountainous areas and islands. The four bidders have been named as VIPnet, T-Hrvatski Telekom, Pro-Ping and Optika Kabel TV. The regulator said it expects to reach a decision by 28 June.

Source: TeleGeography.

In a step towards increasing availability of the internet to Cuban citizens, the government will begin offering access to the World Wide Web at 118 outlets around the island next month, reports the official Communist Party newspaper Granma. According to Resolution No. 197/2013 of the Ministry of Communications (MIC) published in the Official Gazette on Monday, internet access will be made available from 4 June at the offices of state-owned telecoms monopoly Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba (ETECSA), and will be expanded to other locations in the future. At CUC4.50 (USD4.50) per hour, however, browsing the web at the new outlets is priced well beyond the reach of the average Cuban.

At present, the internet is only available at select state institutions and to tourists at around 200 hotels around the island, but the recent activation of Cuba’s first submarine cable, which connects the island to Venezuela with a link to Jamaica, has lessened the country’s dependence on expensive and slow satellite connections. ‘Expanding connectivity services in the country is in line with the strategy set by Cuba to further facilitate the population’s access to new technologies, depending on the availability of resources and with an approach that favours its social use,’ the Granma report said, adding that significant investments are still required to upgrade the island’s infrastructure to connect end users.

Source: TeleGeography.

Source: TeleGeography.

Cosmote Romania is aiming to expand its 4G LTE network to over 160 towns and cities next year, according to a report by HotNews which cites the company’s director of services Marius Maritescu. Late last month Cosmote announced the commercial launch of LTE services in Bucharest, Otopeni, Ploiesti, Cluj, Iasi, Sinaia, Busteni and Predeal, enabling subscribers to experience maximum transmission speeds of up to 75Mbps/37.5Mbps (down/uplink). Cosmote also offers DC-HSPA+ speeds of up to 43.2Mbps in 159 cities and over 1,000 localities across Romania, covering over 49.5% of the population. In addition, 21.6Mbps HSPA+ technology is offered in a total of 189 cities, giving Cosmote 3G coverage of 73% of the population.

Source: TeleGeography.

Representatives from FYR Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro will meet in Skopje in July to discuss a potential reduction in roaming fees, Telecompaper writes, citing local press reports. The initiative, spearheaded by Macedonian telecoms watchdog the Agency for Electronic Communications (AEC) and attended by a representative of the European Commission, will see AEC hammer out terms with its Serbian and Montenegrin counterparts – the Republic Agency for Electronic Communications (RATEL) and the Agency for Electronic Communications and Post (EKIP) respectively – for a trilateral programme to reduce roaming fees between the three nations.

Source: TeleGeography.

Australia’s Telstra has announced a milestone in the deployment of its 4G LTE network, revealing that it has switched on it 1,500th base station. Commenting on the development of the telco’s fourth-generation infrastructure, Telstra’s networks executive director Mike Wright noted: ‘The programme is now running at pace and is on target – our technicians are now installing literally dozens of 4G base stations each and every week.’ Despite the achievement, the executive was keen to note that Telstra has committed to rolling out more than 2,000 4G base stations by the end of the financial year (June 2013). As a result of the work carried out so far, Mr Wright reiterated that Telstra aims to reach 66% population coverage for its 4G services by the end of next month, while noting that the network footprint already takes in all state capitals, and more than 100 regional and suburban locations.

Meanwhile, in terms of customer uptake, Mr Wright was cited as saying: ‘We now have over 2.1 million services connected to our 4G network and as the network grows we obviously expect that number to grow with it.’

Source: TeleGeography.

T-Mobile Czech Republic has announced the expansion of its dual-carrier (DC) HSPA+ network to the cities of Hradec Kralove and Plzen, with plans to further extend the footprint to Karlovy Vary and Prague (centre) by the end of the month. As a result of the latest service expansion, the cellco says its DC-HSPA+ infrastructure, which is capable of delivering maximum download speeds of 42Mbps, now covers 20.46% of the population in 42 towns and cities, and comprises 720 base transceiver stations (BTS). In a press release, T-Mobile said that although the percentage coverage figure ‘does not seem high‘, the signal from the cities also covers adjacent sites, boosting HSPA+ availability to another 67 municipalities.

Source: TeleGeography.

Lebanese cellco Alfa has commercially launched its LTE 4G mobile broadband network, with coverage initially in central Beirut, offering data services for USB dongle modems, tablets and Wi-Fi routers for post- and pre-paid users, with support for 4G mobile handsets ‘coming soon’. Alpha built its 4G network in cooperation with European vendors Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks, and according to the operator’s press release, its planned deployment of around 300 active LTE base stations by the end of 2013 will cover roughly 40% of the population, representing approximately 25% of a 1,200 base station network necessary for nationwide coverage. The LTE coverage footprint will be expanded to Jounieh and Kesrouan by November this year, while other cities are scheduled to receive coverage in 2014, including Tripoli, Sidon and Zahle. Alfa, which is state-owned but managed by Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding (OTMT), is offering consumers (post- or pre-paid) several new data packages aimed at 4G usage, including 10GB, 20GB and 40GB bundles (costing USD99, USD119 and USD149) whilst business customers can purchase packages up to 100GB (USD249). Voice call support for 4G handset users (via the 3G/2G network) is expected by the end of June 2013, Alfa has disclosed, whilst it estimates that voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) will be available on the network by the end of 2014.

Users outside of 4G coverage zones will automatically access 3G data services. At the launch, Lebanon’s minister of telecoms, Nicolas Sehnaoui, said that further 3G coverage improvements would also be going ahead to provide comprehensive high speed data services (whilst stating that the 4G launch will take some of the data traffic pressure away from 3G networks). Sehnaoui noted that Alfa and rival cellco Touch would complete respective projects to deepen 3G indoor reception, strengthening their 3G coverage in many locations, ‘between the end of August and the end of this year.’

Source: TeleGeography.

Source: Telecom Paper.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has introduced a program dubbed Agenda Digital Imagina Chile 2013-2020. The project seeks to double internet penetration across the Chile’s population by 2020, Estrategia Online reports.
 
The document consists of 14 lines of action, with 30 different initiatives that seek to facilitate access to telecoms networks and services to all Chilean citizens. Activities linked to ICT services are expected to account for 10 percent of the country's GDP by 2020.
 
The project aims to increase digital inclusion for Chilean citizens from the current 41 percent to 80 percent by 2020. To support this goal, the government will power the deployment of additional Wi-Fi hotspots in public places.

Source: Telecom Paper.

According to a survey conducted by the Saudi Consumer Protection Association (CPA), mobile communications charges in the Kingdom are among the highest in the world, with a rate of SAR0.35 (USD0.093) per minute, compared to an average of seven Saudi halalas (USD0.019) per minute in the rest of the world. The CPA’s survey figures represent ‘costs for all communication services, including the internet.’ The CPA conducted the survey after the announcement of the decision to stop free international roaming calls for subscribers, Zawya reported. In the statement CPA urged communication providers to restructure charges for mobile calls in order to reflect real prices. The association also announced its plans to publish a fair price for calls, by taking into account details such as average income, inflation and the ‘real price’ of communications.

Source: TeleGeography.

Haiti’s largest mobile operator by subscribers Digicel has announced the launch of the first HSPA+ network in the country, with the service available to both pre- and post-paid subscribers. Digicel advertised an average download speed of up to 3Mbps for the service, depending on the location, the device capabilities and the network traffic, whilst theoretical peak HSPA+ speeds reach 21Mbps. The Digicel group markets 3.5G W-CDMA/HSPA+ services under the ‘4G’ banner, in common with many operators in the Americas/Caribbean region. Previously, Digicel Haiti offered 2.5G data services on an EDGE network, whilst its rival Natcom (backed by Vietnam’s Viettel) was the first in the country to launch W-CDMA services and operates a 3.5G HSDPA/HSUPA network. According to Digicel’s Haiti CEO Damian Blackburn, ’with Digicel 4G we have now built the first and most reliable 4G cellular network in the country, giving customers the fastest mobile data speeds – all backed by Digicel’s best service and best value.’

Source: TeleGeography.

Nepal’s minister for information and communications Madhav Prasad Paudel has said the government is committed to improving its fibre-optic links in the country, specifically through the deployment of optical networks along highways and trunk roads. e-Kantipur notes that the state’s backing of the plan comes at a time when its efforts to roll out the district optical fibre project are faltering. Speaking last Friday, Paudel called for an increase in activity concerning fibre-optic networks, saying that ‘the government will arrange the required funds’.

The national regulator, the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), has been aiming to roll out fibre-optic networks along the country’s Mid-Hill Highway for several years, using monies supplied by Nepal’s Rural Telecommunication Development Fund – thought to be worth NPR7 billion (USD80.9 million). However, efforts to connect around 75 administrative districts have so far stalled due to what have been termed ‘procedural’ delays. The minister has called on the domestic telecoms industry to re-galvanise efforts to boost ICT in education, heath, rural development, and in its import and export markets.

Source: TeleGeography.

AfricaOnline has reported ‘overwhelming’ demand for its new ‘NawaSat’ nationwide low-cost satellite internet service in Namibia. Following the nationwide launch – which expanded on an earlier limited launch – the ISP said that it has a long waiting list of customers, which include rural lodges, farms, users in small towns, as well as big corporate clients in larger centres. The base price is NAD500 (USD52) per month, while out-of-bundle top-up rates ‘compare extremely favourably with other products on the market’, according to AfricaOnline’s general manager Marc Gregan, who added that, ‘We explored the product with a view to making internet affordable in small communities, isolated areas and at lodges, but this also competes in urban areas.’ NawaSat is provided in cooperation with satellite service provider SES.

Source: TeleGeography.

Ukraine’s incumbent national PSTN operator Ukrtelecom reports that its number of fixed broadband subscribers increased by a net 43,000 in the first three months of 2013 to reach 1.584 million at the end of March, despite ‘ever increasing’ competition. The telco’s press service also claimed that Ukrtelecom’s ‘OGO’ branded fixed broadband services continued to reap the highest average revenue per user (ARPU) in the market, at UAH70 (USD8.50) per month, due to its ‘transparent tariff policy’.

Source: TeleGeography.

Irish operator Eircom has launched its fibre broadband network, offering the eFibre brand products and bundles for both private and business customers. The new eFibre products start from EUR 40 for consumers (six month promotional offer for new customers) and EUR 24.79 for businesses, and are available to more than 300,000 consumers and businesses from launch. eFibre offers download speeds of up to 70 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 20 Mbps. All eFibre products above the entry level come with unlimited downloads. All qualifying Eircom broadband customers will be able to upgrade for free to eFibre. This includes a free modem, free installation and no connection charge. 

Eircom aims to reach more than 600,000 homes and businesses by end-2013, bringing over 10,000 additional premises online each week. When completed in early 2015, the network will reach 1.2 million homes and businesses across Ireland, representing 60 percent of all homes and businesses in the country. Eircom also plans to increase the speeds available to up to 100 Mbps within the next year as fibre technology evolves.

Source: Telecom Paper.

Source: Telecom Paper.

Thailand's three private mobile operators and the regulator have agreed on an interconnection fee of THB 0.45 per minute. Advanced Info Service (AIS), DTAC and True currently work with an interconnection fee of THB 1 per minute but will soon sign an agreement to adopt the new, lower rate, The Nation writes. The rate will also apply to the operators' subsidiaries that operate 3G services, which already use the new interconnection rate. The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) asked the three operators to negotiate a new agreement on one interconnection rate for all mobile services, rather than using the different rates. The companies agreed to do so while state-owned operators TOT and CAT Telecom have said they need more time to consider this. CAT and the private operators charge each other THB 0.50 per minute in interconnection fees.

Source: Telecom Paper.

Thailand’s third largest cellco True Corp yesterday became the first operator in the country to launch commercial 4G mobile services by switching on its 2100MHz network offering both 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) and 3G W-CDMA/HSPA services. At launch True’s new network is limited in scope, comprising 500 LTE base stations and the same number of cell sites offering 2100MHz 3G services, compared to its existing 3G 850MHz network of 13,000 base stations nationwide. As reported by the Bangkok Post, the 4G network covers densely populated areas including Bangkok’s central business districts of Siam Square, Silom Road and Sathon Road, and will be expanded to 15 major provinces this year including Chon Buri, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Surat Thani and Ayutthaya. True added that by year-end it will increase the number of its 4G and 3G base stations on the 2100MHz spectrum to 2,000 and 5,000, respectively, while its total 3G 850MHz base stations will also rise, by around 1,000 to 14,000 this year. True’s 4G subscription packages start from THB699 (USD23.70) per month for an ‘unlimited’ data service – aimed at users of the handful of LTE-compatible devices currently available in Thailand, whilst the average price per MB (THB1) for its 3G users is half the cost of data access on True’s 2G network. True’s management stated that the operator will spend an additional THB15 billion on network expansion this year, and is aiming for ‘six million 4G subscribers by year-end compared with 3.2 million at present for 3G’.

The launch of True’s 4G/3G 2100MHz network came the day after market leader Advanced Info Service (AIS) officially launched its commercial 2100MHz W-CDMA/HSPA network. AIS soft launched 2100MHz services on 9 April to existing customers with compatible devices, targeting at least 200,000 users in the introductory month, but at the official launch on 7 May it declared that it had exceeded this expectation, reporting that it already had 800,000 3G 2100MHz users.

Thailand’s second largest mobile operator DTAC confirmed yesterday that it will stick to a plan to commercially launch its 2100MHz 3G network in June.

Source: TeleGeography.

Bidder	Spectrum secured		Total price
	700 MHz band*	2.5 GHz band*
Optus Mobile	2×10 MHz (20 MHz in total)	2×20 MHz (40 MHz in total)	$ 649,134,167
Telstra	2×20 MHz (40 MHz in total)	2×40 MHz (80 MHz in total)	$ 1,302,019,234
TPG Internet	Nil	2×10 MHz (20 MHz in total)	$13,500,000
Total spectrum sold	2×30 MHz (60 MHz in total)	2×70 MHz (140 MHz in total)	$ 1,964,653,401
Total spectrum unsold	2×15 MHz (30 MHz in total)	Nil	N/A

FIGURE 1: AUCTION RESULTS

*Under the allocation limits, a single bidder could not acquire more than 2×25 MHz (50 MHz in total) in the 700 MHz band and more than 2×40 MHz (80 MHz in total) in the 2.5 GHz band.

‘The auction process itself ran smoothly and resulted in the allocation of spectrum to the companies that valued it the most,’ said the ACMA’s Chairman, Chris Chapman.

Demand in Clock Round 1 of the auction led to three unsold lots in the 700 MHz band. In the 2.5 GHz band, demand exceeded supply in the first round but reached equilibrium at the end of Clock Round 3, at which point the clock rounds closed. This level of demand during the clock rounds meant prices payable by bidders are only marginally above reserve prices.

‘The auction tested the market and the auction’s conclusion is another important step toward realising Australia’s digital dividend,’ said Mr Chapman.

‘This decades-long process of spectrum reform has already transformed the television industry, delivering greater diversity and better technical quality of television services to viewers. It will be complete when the new licences in the 700 MHz band become operational at the beginning of 2015.’

‘By making spectrum previously required for analog television transmissions available to meet rising demand for high-speed wireless broadband, the digital dividend auction will well position the Australian telecommunications industry to deliver fast, ubiquitous and symmetrical mobile broadband connectivity to consumers and industry,’ Mr Chapman said.

Attached is the aggregate demand in each clock round (Figure 2) and the frequency assignments in each band for each successful bidder (Figure 3).

For further information about the digital dividend auction, please see the backgrounder.

For more information, please contact: Emma Rossi, Media Manager, (02) 9334 7719 and 0434 652 063 or media@acma.gov.au.

Source: ACMA.

The Mobile Infrastructure Project (MIP), which aims to enable mobile services in rural areas where there is no commercial business case to deploy these services, has taken a step forward today. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has announced today that Arqiva, the communications infrastructure and media services company, has won the Government tender to deliver the project.

Up to 60,000 premises and sections of road will be covered using the £150 million funding allocated to the project.

MIP is a vital part of the Government’s policy to reinforce the UK’s position as a leading digital economy. It will help connect rural communities, create local jobs and contribute to the national growth. The project sits alongside other initiatives including the £530 million Rural Broadband project and the £150 million ‘super-connected cities’ programme.

Arqiva will be responsible for a full scale mobile network roll out. The scope includes network planning, site acquisition as well as the deployment of site infrastructure and installation of equipment. It is expected that an announcement will be made on which locations will benefit from improved mobile coverage in the summer.

Nicolas Ott, Managing Director of Government, Mobile and Enterprise of Arqiva said: “We’re excited to be working with the Government and Mobile Operators on this important initiative. By investing in mobile infrastructure, the Government can help bridge the social and technological divides created in areas where commercial service is not economical, and we’re proud to be part of this process. MIP perfectly fits within our strategy of creating a range of platforms – cellular, WiFi and small cells – that provide mobile connectivity to all and support a thriving digital economy in the UK.”

Ed Vaizey, Culture Minister said: “Arqiva’s appointment today is great news for rural communities throughout the UK, who stand to benefit enormously from this £150m project to improve mobile phone coverage. Good mobile connectivity is becomingly increasingly important and it is crucial that businesses and individuals are not left struggling with poor and intermittent coverage.”

Source: Arqiva.

Source: Telecom Paper.

MTN connects over 195 million customers in 22 countries, but its home operation of South Africa experienced a 1.9% decline to 24.950 million subscribers from 25.421 million in Q4 2012.
 
Despite the fall in absolute numbers, MTN managed to maintain market share in South Africa, according to MTN Group President and CEO – Sifiso Dabengwa.
 
MTN South Africa: Average price per minute (PPM) declined 5.5% compared to the same period a year earlier affecting revenue growth capability. Blended ARPU declined a huge 8.1% to R110.62 as a result of promotional activities and a decline in effective tariffs.
 
MTN claims that towards the end of the quarter, there had been some signs of improvement in both subscriber and revenue trends. Data revenue is a key focus area for MTN, and active data subscribers stood at 13.3 million, data revenue, including MTN Business and mobile data, increased approximately 15.7 percent Year-on-Year.
 
MTN Nigeria: Net Additions went up by 3.9 Mn, and increase of 8.1 percent QoQ. Market share rebounded to 49.7 percent. Data subscribers reached 22.8 Mn and Data revenue went up by 63.5 percent YoY.
 
Network roll-out progressed rapidly too, with 450 new 2G sites during the quarter compared to 211 in the same period last year, and 259 new co-located 3G sites, bringing the total number of 3G sites to 3,508.
 
MTN in other countries:
 
MTN Ghana: Subscribers went up by 2.5% QoQ, adding 290,000 subscribers. Data subscribers reached 4.1 million and data revenue increased 67.3% YoY.
 
MTN Irancell: Subscribers went up by 2.6% QoQ. Data subscribers remained stable at 10.1 million at the end of the quarter and data revenue increased 58.6% YoY.
 
MTN Cameroon: Subscribers went up by by 2.6% QoQ, adding 192,000 subscribers in the period. Data subscribers reached 600,000 at the end of the quarter and data
revenue increased 42.9%  YoY.
 
MTN Ivory Coast: Subscribers went up by 5.8% QoQ, adding 354,000 subscribers, while data subscribers reached 900,000 at the end of the quarter and data revenue increased 41.1% YoY.
 
MTN Uganda: Subscribers went up by 3.2% QoQ adding 248,000 subscribers. Data subscribers reached 1.2 million at the end of the quarter and data revenue increased 53.6% in YoY.
 
MTN Syria: Business faces challenging security and other issues. There were net disconnections of 364,000, a 6% decrease QoQ, with both revenue and margins coming under pressure. This is expected to continue unfortunately, according to MTN.

Source: Wireless Federation.

A price war is in progress in the Czech mobile market. The line up of cheaper flat-rate mobile tariffs is likely to have further repercussions going forward. A recent line-up of flat-rate calling plans in the recent weeks by T-mobile, O2 and Vodafone will mean that higher ARPU customers in the Czech mobile market stand to benefit.

O2 cut its full flat-rate call plan from 1,900 K? per month until mid-april, to 749 K? “Free CZ” plan for customers signing up for two years.

T-Mobile and Vodafone responded with similar price cuts, and Vodafone has since doubled to 1.2 gigabytes the amount of data offered free to customers of its 691 K?-per-month flat calling plan. It is reported that almost 300,000 people have taken up these offers!

Unlimited call plans

• T-Mobile : 1.5GB for 749 K?
• Telefónica O2 : 1.0 GB for 749 K?
• Vodafone: 1.2 GB for 691 K?

Consumers get a cheaper price, and the operators may see an increase in ARPU. Margins may be lower on these deals, but ARPU could go up. Depending on the profile of users in the country, this could be good or bad news for the operators.
 
There is a downside to these deals as well, and that of possible cannibalisation of revenue from erstwhile high ARPU users, now migrating to these plans to take advantage of these offers. If price elasticity favours the operators, and there is a broad acceptance of these offers, then this will take the ARPU higher.

Smartphone penetration in the Czech market is still at very low levels (approximately 16%) compared to other markets in Europe this is almost 1/3rd that of markets like Denmark. It is possible that there will be a very strong growth in Feature phone to Smart phone penetration with the introduction of entry level smartphones.

Smartphones with a non-data oriented feature set, like that of the Lumia 520 and other entry level smart phones will greatly help boost smart phone penetration over the next 12-18 months.

Local news agencies in Czech market are reported to have said that Telefonica believes that the interest in these plans is “Phenomenal”, according to Hany Farghali of Telefonica Czech.

The Czech market is likely to see a fourth entrant in the market. The Czech Telecommunication Office is running an auction to award mobile spectrum frequencies for 4G/LTE.

It turns out that a recent MVNO launch, BLESKMobil and other possible MVNO launches may have triggered this price drop, according to some sources. This seems unlikely as longer duration and unlimited plans are not the domain of MVNOs like BLESKMobil, until they plan to go the “Free Mobile” route of the french operator, who came in and single handedly shook the french mobile market.

Source: Wireless Federation.

CTIA released figures showing mobile internet data traffic in the US rose 69.3 percent in 2012 as compared to a year ago. Mobile internet traffic rose from 866.6 Billion MB in 2011 to 1.468 Trillion MB in 2012. There is a sharp drop in terms of rate of growth compared to a year ago. In 2011 the growth rate was 123 percent compared to 2012, which has now shrunk to 69.3 percent in 2012 from 2011.
 
CTIA also highlighted that the annual network investments mobile operators in the US grew by 19 percent from $25.3 Billion in 2011 to $30.1 Billion in 2012. This translates to an investment of US$ 94 per subscriber in the US compared to US$ 16 per subscriber for the rest of the world!
 
“The U.S. wireless industry’s record-setting level of network investment is clear proof of its continued commitment to providing Americans with superior 4G coverage. The wireless industry invested billions of dollars to improve their networks and their customers’ coverage in 2012, fueling the ‘virtuous cycle’ of innovation,” said Steve Largent, president and CEO of CTIA. “The numbers clearly prove our members are key drivers of the U.S. economy, which will be enhanced by making more spectrum available for commercial use.”
 
Some key statistics from the 2012 year end survey are as below:

• Wireless subscriber connections: 326.4 million (102 percent penetration); 2011: 315.9 million (3.3 percent increase).
• Total prepaid / pay-as-you-go subscribers: 76.4 million (23.4 percent of subscribers); 2011: 71.7 million (6.6 percent increase).
• Wireless network data traffic: 1.468 trillion megabytes; 2011: 866.8 billion (69.3 percent increase).
• Active smartphones and wireless-enabled PDAs: 152.1 million; 2011: 111.5 million (36.4 percent increase).
• Wireless-enabled tablets, laptops and modems: 22.3 million; 2011: 20.2 million (10.2 percent increase).
• Minutes of Use (MOU): 2.2999 trillion; 2011: 2.2955 trillion (4.4 billion minute increase or .2 percent).
• SMS sent and received: 2.19 trillion; 2011: 2.3 trillion (4.9 percent decrease).
• MMS sent and received: 74.5 billion; 2011: 52.8 billion (41 percent increase).

Source: Wireless Federation.

Virgin Mobile announced a new price plan called “1,2,Free”, offering subscribers every third minute, SMS, or megabyte of data free.

Two “1, 2, Free” price plans have been announced: one focused on voice, and the other on SMS and data:

• Free Talk: every third minute is free every day.
• Free Surf and Text: every third SMS and every third Megabyte is free every day.

Call rates are 99c per minute, billed on a per second basis, while an SMS/MMS costs 50c each, and data is billed at 99c per mb.
 
CEO of Virgin Mobile, Jonathan Marchbank, explained that the “Free Talk” plan will be Virgin Mobile’s default pre-paid price plan, but that customers can change to “Free Surf & Text” by dialling *110*6# from their handset.
 
Subscribers can change price plans for free every 30 days.
 
“We have been waiting for the price wars to play out before announcing 1,2,Free just to see how low they would go – and then we launched a much simpler and transparent set of offers,” Marchbank said.
 
Marchbank said – “It’s not a promotion, it’s a core offer”.
 
Asked why they didn’t bundle the free minutes, texts, and data all together in one plan, Marchbank said that “the economics wouldn’t work” for them.

Further questioned about why they didn’t just cut their prices by a third, Marchbank said that it’s to encourage people to use.
 
“If you start selling at 66c I’m starting a price war I don’t particularly want to,” Marchbank said, adding that he doesn’t want to win customers only on price, but on brand.
 
Marchbank explained that if someone switches to Virgin because of the price, they’re easy to lose again.
 
Wireless Federation refers to these users as “Headless Chickens”. These types of users are more expensive to have on your network and it is better to lose them as their SAC is much higher and retention even more expensive!

Source: Wireless Federation.

A report by Wireless Federation highlights that 2013 will be the year when a majority of Mobile Operators will start treating Big Data as a strategic priority, for both internal as well as external use.

Internal use will be to boost ARPU,reduce CHURN, curb Fraud among other key use cases. External use will be to generate revenue from Big Data by selling insights to various verticals like Verizon sell insights like Verizon (Precision Market Insights) and Telefonica (Smart Steps).

AT&T labs has also been studying various uses of anonymous mobile usage data or Call Data Records (CDRs) since 2009.  One of them being the ability for city planners to get a better idea of where people work, live etc aiding better planning in the city to help curb traffic jams, plan major events, better public transport systems, provide better security etc.

As far back as 2011, researchers from AT&T labs gathered CDRs from over a million customers, and these CDRs ran into Billions.Users were from LA, SF and NY city primarily. Privacy was of utmost importance and as such antenna locations were used rather than specific phone locations, and the data was made completely anonymous. Findings revealed that residents of Los Angeles travel longer distances than San Francisco, and SF residents travel more than those of Manhattan, BUT the longest trips of Manhattan residents are longer than those of LA residents.

In another study it was revealed that more residents of the North & West parts of Morristown, N.J. attended the St.Patricks day parade in March 2011, compared to the South & East parts. This could potentially help make better traffic arrangements potentially in the future.

This information was earlier available through expensive surveys and infrequent census data. With high mobile penetration rates, it is possible to collect intelligence from Big Data easily now.

The potential of Big Data for Mobile operators holds a key to the falling ARPUs and lower return on Mobile Internet related investments. Operators who don’t leverage this soon, stand to lose out on this large pportunity. Market leaders and first movers will stand to gain more significantly than others.

Source: Wireless Federation.

Kyrgyzstan’s incumbent fixed line operator Kyrgyztelecom (KT) has reported revenue of KGS2.251 billion (USD46.7 million) for the year ended 31 December 2012, down from KGS2.474 billion twelve months earlier and KGS2.445 billion in 2010. Service revenues stood at KGS2.082 billion, 34% of which was accounted for by international and long-distance telephony (down from a share of 47% a year earlier) and 19% by local telephony sales (up slightly from 18% in 2011). Internet and data transmission services, meanwhile, are accounting for a rising proportion of total service revenue (31%, up from 20% the previous year) and television and radio comprised 15% of total sales (an increase of one percentage point year-on-year). The majority state-owned company said that EBITDA totalled KGS665.6 million in 2012, compared to KGS899 million the previous year, while net profit slipped from KGS352.6 million to KGS204.9 million over the same period. As at 31 December 2012 the number of KT’s fixed telephony lines had declined to 438,664 from 443,731 a year earlier.

Source: TeleGeography.

The Agency for Electronic Communications (AEC) has published its latest observatory of Macedonia’s telecoms markets for the period ended 31 December 2012, showing that the total number of main lines in service (PSTN and ISDN) reached 408,318 at that date, up from 407,896 three months earlier, but down 3.25% on the 422,053 lines reported at end-2011. Meanwhile the number of residential fixed line subscribers dropped by 3.44% in the year under review to 364,598 and business lines dipped 1.70% to 43,720. The total number of internet connections was 312,272, compared to 302,257 at end-September 2012 and 282,370 at the start of the year. The total number of TV subscribers reached 278,140, compared to 251,584 at the start of the year, of which 66,541 were IPTV subscribers (+65.82%).

In the mobile segment, the AEC reported a total of 2.235 million active mobile subscribers, down 2.80% from 2.299 million in September 2012, but higher than the 2.213 million figure reported at end-2011. Of these, the number of mobile broadband (2G/3G) users stood at 505,596, up 35.44% from 373,288 a year earlier; 2G narrowband users topped 260,926 (+64.73%).

Source: TeleGeography.

Cosmote Romania has announced the launch of commercial Long Term Evolution (LTE) services in Bucharest, Otopeni, Ploiesti, Cluj, Iasi, Sinaia, Busteni and Predeal. Initially the cellco’s LTE network is accessible via two USB dongles, each priced at RON99 (USD29.5) and the Samsung Galaxy Note LTE 10.1 tablet, costing RON1,369. The 4G launch allows end users to experience transmission speeds of up to 75Mbps/37.5Mbps (down/uplink). Lampros Iskos, chief technical officer for Cosmote Romania, commented: ‘The gradual development of our 4G network and product portfolio is ongoing, in alignment to our broadband development strategy which is the main pillar in our investment plans’.

Cosmote currently offers DC-HSPA+ speeds of up to 43.2Mbps in 159 cities and over 1,000 localities across Romania, covering over 49.5% of the population. In addition, 21.6Mbps HSPA+ technology is offered in a total of 189 cities, giving Cosmote 3G coverage of 73% of the population.

Source: TeleGeography.

MIC Tanzania (Tigo), a 100% owned subsidiary of Luxembourg’s Millicom International Cellular (MIC), has extended its GSM network with the switching on of a new cell site in Kakola Kahama in the north western region of the country. In a statement, Tigo public relations officer Elias Bandeke said that the latest service expansion forms part of ongoing efforts to improve its coverage, and will soon see launches in Mwanza, Tabora, Mara and Kagara. Tigo Tanzania recently switched on a new tower in the remote area of Kasulu-Kigoma, he added.

TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database notes that Tigo Tanzania had a total of 6.043 million mobile subscribers at the end of 2012, including an estimated 70,000 3G users, giving it a market share of 22.8%. The other layers in the market are Vodacom Tanzania, Airtel (formerly Zain), Zanzibar Telecommunication (Zantel) and the mobile arm of national PTO Tanzania Telecommunication Company Limited (TTCL).

Source: TeleGeography.

According to Macau’s Bureau of Telecommunications Regulation (DSRT), the territory’s total mobile subscriber base shrank marginally to 1.551 million at the end of March 2013, down by a net 2,000 users in a month. Nearly all subscribers are now 3G customers, with just 0.3% using 2G-only services. Macau’s active fixed voice lines also decreased in March 2013, by 500 in a month to 160,637, while the number of fixed broadband internet subscribers rose by 650 to 145,993.

Source: TeleGeography.

Source: TeleGeography.

According to the Prime Business News Agency, the Russian government has authorised the use of monies from the Universal Service Fund (USF) to bankroll the creation of a national mobile number portability (MNP) database. The introduction of MNP is currently scheduled for 1 December 2013. The USF, which is generally used to compensate operators who roll out telephone or data access services in remote areas, is supported by all domestic telcos, each of which channels 1.2% of its annual revenues into the pot.

Soruce: TeleGeography.

New data from TeleGeography’s Global Bandwidth Research Service reveal that demand for international bandwidth grew 39% in 2012, and at a compounded annual rate of 53% between 2007 and 2012.

International bandwidth demand growth has been robust on all five of the world’s major submarine cable routes, but has been particularly rapid on key routes to emerging markets in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. While bandwidth demand on the trans-Atlantic route – which has long been the world’s highest-capacity route – increased at a healthy rate of 36% annually between 2007 and 2012, demand for bandwidth from the US to Latin America grew 70% per year over the same period, and demand for capacity on the Europe-Asia route via Egypt grew a staggering 87% per year.

Telcos have kept up with increasing bandwidth demand by building new cables and upgrading existing systems, deploying a total of 54Tbps of new capacity between 2007 and 2012. Carriers’ new capacity deployments reflect the changing patterns of international bandwidth demand. Between 1997 and 2002, the amount of new capacity deployed across the Atlantic was greater than the amount deployed on the trans-Pacific, US-Latin America, Intra-Asia, and Europe-Asia routes, combined. Similarly, between 2002 and 2007, nearly half of all new capacity was deployed on the trans-Atlantic route. Over the past five years, however, new capacity deployments have become remarkably balanced, with each of the world’s major routes gaining between 10Tbps and 12Tbps.

‘While the total amount of lit bandwidth on routes to developing markets remains smaller than on routes between mature markets, demand on emerging market routes is growing much faster,’ said TeleGeography analyst Paul Brodsky. ‘Consequently, as telcos upgrade submarine cable networks to meet bandwidth demand, new capacity deployments are being distributed ever more evenly around the world.’

Source: TeleGeography.

Source: TeleGeography.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is set to finally launch mobile number portability (MNP) for the country’s GSM subscribers today, writes local newspaper THISDAY. The NCC’s director of public affairs Tony Ojobo says that MNP will lead to improved quality service and increased competition among operators. MNP is free for subscribers, who are permitted to port their numbers once in a 90-day period. The regulator will now work towards implementing the service for Nigeria’s roughly three million CDMA mobile customers. TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database notes that the introduction of MNP in Nigeria has encountered numerous delays since it was first announced by the NCC in 2006. Further deadlines of 2009, December 2012, 25 March 2013 and 1 April 2013 came and went, and at the start of the month operators told the NCC that they required three additional weeks to enable them to complete their preparations.

Source: TeleGeography.

Source: TeleGeography.

Source: Telecom Paper.

Source: Telecom Paper.

Orange Espana has announced the launch of commercial fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) services in the area around the La Vaguada shopping centre, at the same time unveiling a new portfolio of tariffs for its fibre-based services. In terms of its new offering, customers can sign up for a connection providing 100Mbps downlink speeds, unlimited national fixed line voice calls, 1,000 minutes per month for calls to national mobile numbers and 300 minutes for calls to 60 international destinations; the package will cost EUR25.95 (USD33.94) per month. In addition, Orange has confirmed it will offer a tariff offering the same call allowances, though with a lower downlink speed of 25Mbps, for EUR15.95 per month. Following the expansion of its FTTH network to La Vaguada, Orange has said that around 40,000 homes in Madrid now have access to its fibre services, while noting that a further 58,000 premises in Catalonia and Asturias are also within its fibre footprint.

As previously reported by CommsUpdate, last month Orange Espana and Vodafone Spain unveiled plans to invest up to EUR1 billion on the construction of a joint fibre-optic network. Under the terms of the agreement, the two operators will each deploy street-level fibre in complementary geographies, and while the fibre will be owned independently it will share the same technical specifications to ensure compatibility as a single network, with each partner having guaranteed access to the whole infrastructure. Commercial services over the new infrastructure are expected to be introduced from January 2014, and some 800,000 premises are expected to be able to connect to the network by March 2014, with that figure rising to three million and six million by September 2015 and 2017, respectively. In total, the fibre-optic network will cover 50 of Spain’s major cities when complete.

Source: TeleGeography.

Venezuela’s dominant broadband operator CANTV has announced that starting Monday 15 April it will upgrade its DSL internet access speeds, doubling its standard 512kbps (download) package limit to 1Mbps, while a faster premium speed of 4Mbps will be offered in a new consumer/small business plan, ‘Aba Mega Productivo’, twice the speed of the existing 2Mbps ‘Aba Super Productivo’. The 4Mbps package is priced at VEF500 (USD79) a month including VAT compared to VEF400 for the 2Mbps connection. The move comes seven months after CANTV doubled its entry-level DSL package speed from 256kbps to 512kbps, as reported by CommsUpdate in September 2012. Venezuelan newspaper El Mundo reports that CANTV’s latest DSL upgrade programme will take around three months to complete, while the company has also announced a current investment budget of VEF514 million for fixed broadband infrastructure; the Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation says that in the past six years CANTV’s internet infrastructure investment totals VEF1.9 billion.

CANTV reportedly has a total of 1.9 million fixed internet subscribers, up from 1.8 million at the end of December 2012, according to data from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. The state-owned telco is focused on expanding broadband coverage to the farthest corners of the country, and backs up this claim with the statistics that in 2012 the number of subscribers grew by more than 500% in remote areas such as the Amazon region, while the user bases in more populous regions Miranda and Distrito Capital increased by 80% and 90%, respectively.

Source: TeleGeography.

Armenian operator ArmenTel, which offers fixed telephony, broadband internet and mobile services under the banner Beeline, has trimmed the cost for connection to its fixed telecoms network and for other one-off charges. In a press release, ArmenTel says it is cutting the costs of a fixed line installation from AMD12,000 to AMD2,400 (USD33.09 to USD6.62), while the charge for a temporary installation of a core line (i.e. for less than one month) has been cut to AMD1,800 from AMD9,600. The new rates for residential and business users took effect from 1 April 2013, with ArmenTel acting CEO Karen Shahnazaryan, saying that the telco is able to cut the prices thanks to its investment in ‘innovative technologies’.

Source: TeleGeography.

According to Tuoi Tre News, Vietnamese cellcos MobiFone and Vinaphone have increased the cost of their respective unlimited 3G data plans to VND50,000 (USD2.4) per month, up from VND40,000. The operators say that the higher price is necessary to offset declining revenues as a result of subscribers using smartphone apps to make free calls and send free messages. The cellcos also say that they are forced to strictly adhere to government regulations, whereas apps such as Viber, Wala, Zalo, Line, WeChat and WhatsApp are managed by foreign companies and are not subject to the same conditions.

Source: TeleGeography.

Myanmar authorities will begin selling low-cost Sim cards from 24 April. Some 350,000 Sim cards will be allocated monthly across Myanmar and sold by regional governments, not by Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), Eleven Media reports citing MPT chief engineer mobile Htay Win. The CDMA 800 MHz Sim cards will be sold for MMK 1,500 each, and customers have to use at least MMK 2,500 per month to keep the account active. If customers do not recharge within fifteen days of running the balance down to zero, the service may be terminated. The fees for outgoing calls remains the same at MMK 50 per minute. MPT has been selling CDMA Sim cards for MMK 500,000 in recent years.

Source: Telecom Paper.

The head of Ukrainian competition watchdog AMKU, Rafael Kuzmin, has stated that cellcos Kyivstar and MTS Ukraine have agreed to reduce intra-national and roaming rates by 20%-25%, according to a report by BizLigaNet, cited by Telecompaper. The news follows pressure from AMKU, which has asked the operators to fulfil rate obligations within the next ten days, and to implement the recommendations on roaming rates within 30 days, having threatened them with a maximum fine of 10% of annual revenues.

Source: TeleGeography.

Spain’s antitrust authority has reportedly fined the country’s three largest mobile network operators a total of EUR120 million (USD159 million) for charging too much for SMS messages. The Comision Nacional de la Competencia (CNC) levied the penalty after ruling that Movistar, Vodafone Spain and Orange Espana abused their dominant position in the wholesale markets for access and origination and for termination of short messages in their respective networks. With all three operators cited as having ‘a monopoly position in SMS and MMS termination services in their respective networks’, the CNC noted that the market for SMS termination services was unregulated between 2000 and 2009 (the period investigated by the watchdog). As such, the CNC claims, the trio were freely able to price the termination of SMS at very high levels, which in turn allowed them to pass these costs to consumers in the shape of higher retail prices for SMS and MMS services.

No new regulatory measures are to be introduced however, with the CNC noting that it did not consider such action appropriate as there was only evidence of overpricing in the period to 2009 and not more recently. Further, it argued that telecoms regulator the Comision del Mercado de las Telecomunicacinoes (CMT) ‘is better positioned to design the ex-ante regulation of these markets’.

As per the antitrust agency’s ruling, Movistar faces the largest fine – EUR46.490 million – while Vodafone Spain and Orange Espana will be required to pay EUR43.525 million and EUR29.950 million respectively. All three operators are expected to appeal the ruling.

Source: TeleGeography.

Over half of UK homes and businesses can now access fibre broadband as the Openreach rollout has passed more than 15 million premises. That means we’re on target to reach 19 million by the end of spring 2014, about 18 months ahead of the original rollout schedule.

Openreach chief executive Liv Garfield said: “This is a significant milestone and one that our engineers can be proud of. They have worked through many months of appalling weather to bring the benefits of fibre to cities, towns and villages and this is making a genuine difference to how people live their lives.

“Fibre broadband can play an important part in stimulating and supporting an economic recovery. Our investment, together with that of our partners, is helping to generate thousands of jobs and give small businesses the speeds that were previously the preserve of larger ones based in cities.”
 
The run-up to Easter saw the project team working flat-out as we hit our biggest ever week; a whopping 324,000 premises passed. By the end of spring 2014, we’ll have completed one of the most ambitious programmes we’ve ever taken on, with two-thirds of the UK enjoying one of the most extensive fibre networks in the world. 
 
But we won’t stop there. As well as deploying fibre as part of a £2.5bn investment, we’re working with councils and devolved authorities to take fibre even further afield. We’ve signed 18 BDUK contracts so far, from Hampshire to Cumbria, and Rutland to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and there are plenty more to come.

Source: Openreach.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Bahrain (TRA) has released the latest update of the retail price benchmarking study of telecommunications services in Arab countries. The study was commissioned by the TRA on behalf of AREGNET (the Arab Regulators Group). It was undertaken by Teligen, an independent consulting firm specializing in tariff comparisons. The main insights of the study are:

• Mobile tariffs: Mobile prices in Bahrain have fallen by up to 30% between 2011 and 2012, and by up to 41% since 2008 when TRA decided to allow a third mobile operator to enter Bahrain. Mobile prices in Bahrain have been deregulated since 2010. They compare well with GCC and Arab averages but mobile prices in Bahrain remain consistently above the OECD average.
• Fixed broadband: The entry of Wimax-based operators following TRA’s award of new fixed-wireless licences in 2007 has significantly enhanced the competitiveness of fixed broadband services in Bahrain. Fixed broadband prices in Bahrain have fallen by up to 53% between 2011 and 2012, and by up to 71% since 2008. For the low speed and mid speed baskets, Bahrain is now one of the cheapest GCC and Arabcountries. The picture is somewhat different for the high speed basket (>15 Mb/s), where despite price reductions in 2012, fixed broadband in Bahrain remains relatively expensive compared to other GCC countries (particularly residential prices). The OECD average is significantly lower than the fixed broadband prices in Bahrain, the GCC averages and Arab averages, particularly for the high speed basket.
• Mobile broadband: Mobile broadband pricesare set freely by each of the three mobile operators since 2010. They have also come down significantly as a result of an increasingly competitive market. Mobile broadband prices in Bahrain declined by up to 63% between 2011 and 2012, and Bahrain has amongst the lowest prices for mobile broadband in GCC and Arab countries. Bahrain also compared well with the OECD. TRA expects faster and new services from the auction of additional spectrum planned in April 2013.
• Fixed voice tariffs: Bahrain is one of the cheapest Arab countries. Although Bahrain compares well with other Arab and OECD countries (low baskets) in terms of the cost of a basket of fixed voice services, calling revenues still represents a significant portion of the fixed line cost, suggesting that retail rates are not rebalanced. Fixed voice tariffs in Bahrain have been static in nominal terms for all users in the last five updates.
• Leased line tariffs: As is the case in most of the GCC countries, the prices for leased lines in Bahrain have not changed in nominal terms since the first Arab Price Benchmarking Study in 2008. Leased line prices in Bahrain are similar to prices in the Arab region, although by OECD standards, leased lines tariffs in Bahrain remain high. The finding that prices have not changed over the last four years indicates that competitive pressures in the leased line market have been less intense than in other telecommunications markets within Bahrain. TRA has sought to address this during 2012 through the introduction of better retail prices for a new type of leased lines and through the introduction a new regulated wholesale local access service, which should enable other operators to compete more effectively in the supply of retail leased line services to end users.

Source: Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Bahrain (TRA).

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said that the long-delayed launch of mobile number portability (MNP) will take place on 25 March 2013, writes PM News. The regulator’s head of Media and Public Relations, Reuben Muoka, reportedly told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that during the initial phase, only subscribers of the country’s GSM mobile networks will be able to transfer their numbers to another operator. ‘As soon as the GSM takes off, it will not be long before CDMA also begins its operation on MNP,’ the NCC official was quoted as saying. He added that the introduction of MNP in Nigeria is expected to increase competition in the mobile market, in which South Africa-owned MTN is the largest operator by subscribers by far, with a market share of 42.1% at the end of 2012 (corresponding to 47.44 million customers).

TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database notes that the introduction of MNP was first considered by the NCC in the third quarter of 2007, but the commission has been waiting for the conclusion of SIM registration before it officially launches the service. The NCC announced in October 2011 that it had selected a consortium of three companies – Interconnect Clearinghouse Nigeria, Saab Grintek and Telcordia – to set up and implement number portability for the first five years, and having already pushed back the expected launch date on various occasions, in December 2012 the regulator said it was set to begin testing the system in order to address any problems ahead of a planned launch in the first quarter of 2013.

Source: TeleGeography.

Uruguay's telecoms regulator Ursec has awarded spectrum to mobile operators Claro and Movistar for a total of USD 64.2 million, El Pais reports. The licenses cover the next 20 years. Claro and Movistar will use the spectrum to provide 4G services across Uruguay.
 
Movistar won four spectrum blocks in the 1900MHz frequency band, and Claro received two blocks in the 1900MHz band and two blocks in the 1700/2100MHz band.

State-owned operator Antel did not participate in the bidding process but will have to pay USD 38 million for reserved spectrum. Antel will receive one spectrum block in the 900MHz frequency band and four blocks in the 1700/2100MHz band.

Source: Telecom Paper.

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries (RIL) is said to have finalized Samsung as a partner to source the Korean conglomerate's long-term evolution (LTE) technology platform for its much-talked about bundled data & voice services over high speed 4G networks across the country.

The game-changer deal that is set to shake up the Indian telecommunications market is not just restricted to Samsung's technology but goes far beyond as Samsung has agreed to offer entry-level 4G smartphones at a little over $100 (about Rs 5,500) for use with RIL's voice and high-speed internet services, said a source close to the deal. A 3G-enabled Samsung phone can be bought for around the same price today. The entry-level smartphones are likely to be sold with data packages starting at as low as Rs 100, said the source, adding that even high-end smartphones will be made available at minimum down-payments and the equated monthly installments (EMIs) will be incorporated in subsequent bills at a 0% interest rate.

Source: The Time of India.

(04/03/2013) Commission President José Manuel Barroso today called on Europe's digital businesses, governments, training and education sectors to join a Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs to address up to 900 000 job vacancies expected to exist in Europe in Information and Communication technologies (ICT) by 2015. Despite the current levels of unemployment, the number of digital jobs is growing by more than 100 000 per year. Yet the number of fresh ICT graduates and skilled ICT workers is not keeping up.

Source: European Commission.

Vodafone New Zealand has commercially launched LTE services. The service is live now in parts of Auckland, and Vodafone will expand it to more suburbs every week. LTE services will go live in parts of Christchurch in May, and parts of Wellington in August or September. To get the LTE service, customers pay an extra NZD 10 on top of their existing plan while on higher value plans the upgrade is included.

The LTE network uses equipment from Nokia Siemens Networks in the 1800MHz band. NSN supplied its Single RAN and Flexi Multiradio Base Station, as well as upgraded 2G, 3G and 4G networks with its Mobile Switching Center Server and Multimedia Gateway. In addition, the company provided its Circuit Switched FallBack voice system that enables the LTE network to transfer customers to 2G and 3G networks in order to make and receive voice calls on 4G smartphones.

Source: Telecom Paper.

Facebook announces discounting data access to messaging on mobile.

"Today we’re announcing partnerships with mobile operators to provide free or discounted data access to Facebook messaging for their subscribers.

Through this promotion, free or discounted data access will be available in the coming months on Messenger for Android, Messenger for iOS and Facebook for Every Phone, which is now optimized for chat.

This promotion will be available from more than 18 operators in 14 countries. Operators committed to special pricing for Facebook messaging include TMN in Portugal, Three in Ireland, Airtel and Reliance in India, Vivacom in Bulgaria, Backcell in Azerbaydzhan, Indosat, Smartfren, AXIS and XL Axiata in Indonesia, SMART in Philippines, DiGi in Malaysia, DTAC in Thailand, Viva in Bahrain, STC in Saudi Arabia, Oi in Brazil, Etisalat in Egypt, and Tre in Italy.

Messaging on Facebook lets people connect with friends and contacts on the go, regardless of what device they are using. Three out of every four people on Facebook send a message on the platform each month, making messaging one of the most popular activities on Facebook. Today, Facebook messaging and chat can be accessed from more than 6,000 mobile phones via Facebook Messenger, Facebook for iOS and Android, Facebook for Every Phone, m.facebook.com and across other devices with Facebook integration."

Source: Facebook Mobile.

• Five winning bidders to deliver future mobile competition in the UK
• 4G services from a range of operators expected within six months
• Research measuring 4G speeds to be conducted at the end of 2013

Ofcom has today announced the winners of the 4G mobile spectrum auction.

After more than 50 rounds of bidding, Everything Everywhere Ltd, Hutchison 3G UK Ltd, Niche Spectrum Ventures Ltd (a subsidiary of BT Group plc), Telefónica UK Ltd and Vodafone Ltd have all won spectrum. This is suitable for rolling out new superfast mobile broadband services to consumers and to small and large businesses across the UK¹.

The auction has achieved Ofcom’s purpose of promoting strong competition in the 4G mobile market. This is expected to lead to faster mobile broadband speeds, lower prices, greater innovation, new investment and better coverage. Almost the whole UK population will be able to receive 4G mobile services by the end of 2017 at the latest.

A total of 250 MHz of spectrum was auctioned in two separate bands – 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz. This is equivalent to two-thirds of the radio frequencies currently used by wireless devices such as tablets, smartphones and laptops.

The lower-frequency 800 MHz band is part of the ‘digital dividend’ freed up when analogue terrestrial TV was switched off, and is ideal for widespread mobile coverage. The higher-frequency 2.6 GHz band is ideal for delivering the capacity needed for faster speeds. The availability of the two will allow 4G networks to achieve widespread coverage as well as offering capacity to cope with significant demand in urban centres.

Ed Richards, Ofcom Chief Executive, said: “This is a positive outcome for competition in the UK, which will lead to faster and more widespread mobile broadband, and substantial benefits for consumers and businesses across the country. We are confident that the UK will be among the most competitive markets in the world for 4G services.

“4G coverage will extend far beyond that of existing 3G services, covering 98% of the UK population indoors – and even more when outdoors – which is good news for parts of the country currently underserved by mobile broadband.

“We also want consumers to be well informed about 4G, so we will be conducting research at the end of this year to show who is deploying services, in which areas and at what speeds. This will help consumers and businesses to choose their most suitable provider.”

Widespread 4G coverage

Ofcom has attached a coverage obligation to one of the 800 MHz lots of spectrum. The winner of this lot is Telefónica UK Ltd. This operator is obliged to provide a mobile broadband service for indoor reception to at least 98% of the UK population (expected to cover at least 99% when outdoors) and at least 95% of the population of each of the UK nations – England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – by the end of 2017 at the latest.

Source: Ofcom.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is inviting proposals from domestic companies or partnerships between domestic and foreign companies for a 3G licence in the country. The regulator will auction off four 2.1 GHZ licences and assign one licence to state-owned mobile operator Teletalk. One licence in the auction will be awarded to a new entrant but it will not be reserved for them. A total of 40 MHz is available in blocks of 5 MHz with bidders limited to two blocks, or 10 MHz, and one licensee will be eligible for three blocks if any block is left over after the auction. The base price for the auction has been set at USD 20 million per MHz. Licensees will also be allowed to use the spectrum for 4G/LTE services. Applications must be in before 12 May and the BTRC is planning to hold the auction on 24 June this year.

Source: Telecom Paper.

Global mobile data traffic is forecast to increase by 66 percent CAGR or 13-fold by 2017, reaching 11.2 exabytes (1 quintillion bytes) per month, or 134 exabytes a year, according to Cisco. The company expects 46 percent of all cellular traffic to be off-loaded from fixed or Wi-Fi by 2017 (9.6 exabytes a month), compared with 33 percent (428 petabytes a month) in 2012. LTE is likely to support nearly 10 percent of all mobile connections by 2017.
 
Continued strong growth in mobile internet connections through both personal devices and M2M applications will exceed the UN’s world population estimated of 7.6 billion in 2017. Cisco explains that 134 exabytes is the equivalent of 3 trillion video clips, or one clip daily from each person on Earth over one year.

Mobile data is being driven by an increase in mobile users (5.2 bln by 2017 vs 4.3 bln in 2012), rise in mobile connections (10 bln, including 1.7 bln M2M by 2017 vs 7 bln in total in 2012), faster mobile speeds (3.9 Mbps vs 0.5Mbps), and more mobile video, expected to account for 66 percent of all mobile data traffic by 2017, versus 51 percent in 2012. Cisco expects M2M traffic, including car GPS, asset tracking, medical applications, etc, to account for 5 percent of global mobile data traffic in 2017.

The MEA region is expected to 77 percent CAGR mobile data growth between 2012-2017, Asia-Pacific 76 percent, Latin America 67 percent, Central and Eastern Europe 66 percent, North America 56 percent and Western Europe 50 percent.

Source: Telecom Paper.

BT has introduced Totally Unlimited Broadband on all but its entry level broadband offering. It is now offering broadband without any usage limits and free from traffic management from GBP 16 per month for 16 Mbps copper broadband, GBP 23 for 38 Mbps Infinity or GBP 26 for 76 Mbps Infinity. Previously, the cheapest unlimited broadband option was GBP 26 per month. New customers are being offered the first six months free. This offers end on 06 June and applies to new BT Broadband customers signing a minimum 18-month contract and paying line rental.

BT is also announcing a new online storage service called BT Cloud, offering a free allowance for all consumer broadband customers. Infinity 76 Mbps and top tier copper customers receive a 50 GB allowance. The service allows BT’s consumer broadband customers to safely and securely back up and share their photographs, documents and videos wherever they are. All backed up documents can be accessed from smartphones, tablets and computers. Customers can stream their content direct to their mobile device and share it friends via e-mail, Facebook and Twitter.

BT will continue to sell its basic broadband, which costs GBP 13 a month, although this product will not be unlimited, along with Infinity 1, which costs GBP 18. Totally Unlimited Broadband will be available from 01 February. The 16 Mbps copper broadband options both come with the first six months free, while customers can get Infinity for GBP 9 per month for the first three months. Existing customers will be able to switch to Totally Unlimited Broadband by signing a new contract.

Source: Telecom Paper.

Microsoft, in collaboration with Kenya's ICT ministry and Indigo Telecom, announced the launch of a pilot project to deliver low-cost wireless broadband to previously unserved locations near Nanyuki and Kalema, Kenya. The network uses TV white spaces and solar-powered base stations to deliver broadband access.

This pilot is part of Microsoft's broader 4Afrika Initiative to help improve the continent's global competitiveness. A core goal of the 4Afrika Initiative is to facilitate access to technology for the masses and to empower African students, entrepreneurs, developers and others to become active global citizens. The project is the first deployment of TV white space technology in Africa targeted at communities without access to broadband or electricity and is a result of a memorandum of understanding on a framework of cooperation between Microsoft, the Kenyan ICT ministry and Indigo Telecom. 

The initial installation near Nanyuki includes five customer locations: the Burguret Dispensary (healthcare clinic), Male Primary School, Male Secondary School, Gakawa Secondary School and Laikipia District Community Library. The installation in Kalema will begin with a base station that connects to a government of Kenya agricultural extension office. Fourteen more locations on the network will be added in the coming months. The network will also feature white space radios manufactured by Adaptrum.

Source: Telecom Paper.

According to data published by Brazil’s telecoms regulator Asociacion Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Anatel), the country’s pay-TV sector totalled 16.2 million subscribers at 31 December 2012, thanks to net additions of 3.44 million new users in the year. Brazil’s enthusiasm for pay-TV continues unabated: the total for end-August 2012 was 15.1 million subscribers – up 319,500 in a month, and 30% higher than at the same point in 2011.

In terms of access platforms, the most popular technology being used is DTH, which accounted for 60.80% of the total subscriber base, while cable-based connections were taken by 38.29% of customers (a small decrease compared to November 2012). Meanwhile, multichannel multipoint distribution service (MMDS), or wireless cable as it is also known, is rapidly declining as a preferred technology option, and by end-December 2012 had only 142,113 subscribers nationwide. At the same date, Anatel reports that Net Servicos/Embratel had a total of 8.495 million pay-TV customers, up 1.497 million year-on-year, ahead of Sky (DirecTV) in second place with 5.039 million (+1.242 million). Oi SA took third spot with 748,758 subscribers – a net gain of 397,575 in one year – while Telefonica (Vivo) and Global Village Telecom (GVT) took the minor rankings with 594,907 and 425,635 pay-TV subscribers respectively.

Source: TeleGeography.

According to the latest figures from the Communications Authority of Maldives, the island nation ended December 2012 with a total of 560,547 mobile subscribers, the majority of which (87.3%, or 489,084) were pre-paid customers. The regulator said that fixed broadband subscribers reached 18,059 at the end of 2012, while mobile broadband customers totalled 69,641. The number of fixed telephony lines (including payphones) stood at 24,153.

Source: TeleGeography.

Kenya's largest mobile operator Safaricom on Friday increased the cost of moving funds through M-Pesa following a new tax on transaction fee earned from mobile money transfer.

Safaricom said customers transferring more than Ksh101 ($1.2) will have to pay 10 per cent more on account of a government decision to introduce a similar tax on earnings from the service.

The telco is opposed to the new tax arguing that it would add more costs to customers and therefore negatively affect the sector.

“As Kenya’s largest taxpayer, we appreciate the need to support government as it seeks to reach its financial obligations. However, we maintain our position that a tax on mobile money is at that this time premature and is likely to have a negative impact on the country’s financial deepening agenda by creating an unnecessary barrier for wananchi who are most in need of basic financial services, “Bob Collymore, the company CEO said.

The government on Friday gazetted amendments to the Finance Act of 2012, introducing a 10 per cent excise duty tax on transaction fees for financial as well money transfer services as it seeks to raise cash to fund its growing recurrent expenditure.

Analysts say the new tax law could have an even bigger impact on banks given the size of their transactions.

“Banks will even be worse because the 10 per cent duty is a huge portion of their revenues. Most players will pass on costs within the next few weeks,” explained Eric Musau an analyst with the Standard Investment Bank.

Source: The East African.

Ukrainian cellular market leader Kyivstar has made increases to a wide range of its tariffs. Effective from the first week of February, 16 post-paid tariff plans will increase their monthly fee by 15%-30% while certain prices for services under 29 pre-paid tariff plans will be affected, writes newspaper Kommersant. For example, for tariff plans without a regular fee, such as ‘One price’ and ‘Better with us’, February will see a 15%-25% increase in the cost of on-net calls, while in a number of tariff plans the minimum cost of purchasing a block of SMS messages will increase by 50% (although the number of SMS included will increase accordingly). Kyivstar’s director of corporate communications, Jeanne Parkhomenko, pointed out that price rises applied only to ‘old’ tariff plans, while users on newer tariffs were experiencing price reductions. She went on to say that from the first week of February the cellco was also reducing the cost of sending SMS and MMS by 50% for ‘80% of the subscriber base’, and claimed that ‘around three million customers’ will be transferred to the company’s ‘economic’ tariff plan and incur charges only for services used. Mrs Parkhomenko also indicated that the selected price increases were part of a company strategy to offset losses stemming from certain tariff reductions implemented following sustained pressure from Ukraine’s anti-monopoly agency. The LigaBusinessInform news agency adds that Mrs Parkhomenko will be leaving next week to take up a post in Kazakhstan.

Source: TeleGeography.