Headlines for: 9 May 2008

United Telecom Georgia reports that it has connected its network with that of Azerbaijani company Delta Telecom. The operator – which also connected its network to Turk Telekom's through a fibre-optic cable in March 2008 – will gain additional internet ca...

Brazilian telecoms operator Brasil Telecom (BrT) plans to begin pre-commercial field trials of a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based Wi-Fi version of its fixed-mobile hybrid phone service Unico, writes BNamericas citing BrT fixed line product marketin...

Japan’s third largest cellular operator by subscribers Softbank Mobile reported more net new additions than either of its larger rivals NTT DoCoMo and KDDI in April – its twelfth consecutive monthly win – while second-placed cellco KDDI reported its first...

Romanian telecoms regulator ANRCTI, said on Thursday that the country’s mobile phone penetration rate had risen to 106.2% at the end of 2007. This represents a steady increase from a figure of around 80% at the end of 2006. Telegeography’s GlobalComms dat...

On Wednesday Nokia Seimens Networks (NSN) and mobilkom Austria demonstrated the world's fastest data call on a mobile device using the vendor's Internet High Speed Packet Access (I-HSPA) technology. The downlink speed reached a maximum of 10.1Mbps during ...

The Turkish Telecommunications Board (TK) confirmed yesterday that it is bringing forward the introduction of mobile number portability (MNP) from the planned date of the end of November. TK’s Deputy Chairman Galip Zerey said customers will now be able to...

Italian telco Tiscali said yesterday that it has now extended its IPTV service to a further six Italian cities, including Turin, bringing the total number of cities reached to nine. The operator initially launched the service in Milan, Rome and Cagliari i...

German cellco and internet provider Freenet has reported a 75% fall year-on-year in first-quarter net income to EUR12.3 million (USD18.9 million) following an accounting change and lower sales. Revenue slipped to EUR442.3 million from EUR452.4 million. Th...

United Internet has posted a year-on-year 19.3% increase in revenue for the first quarter of 2008 to EUR402 million (USD618 million) on the back of increased subscriber numbers. EBITDA grew 31.2% to EUR83.2 million while net income soared 46% to EUR45.1 m...

Telecom Argentina has reported that it more than doubled first quarter net income year-on-year, reaching ARS272 million (USD86 million), following a 21% hike in consolidated revenues to ARS2.5 billion. EBITDA rose 28% to ARS879 million. Fixed telephony pr...

Transcorp, the majority shareholder in Nitel, has denied reports that it will sell 41% out of its 51% stake in the wireline operator, but did admit that it was seeking a new investor for a smaller share. 'Transcorp would cede 27% of its current holding,' ...

One of Brazil’s leading online media portal and internet companies, Universo Online (UOL), reported net income of BRL35.0 million (USD20.7 million) in the three months ended 31 March 2008, up 11% on the same period of 2007, with advertising and other reve...

Indonesian telecoms group PT Indosat is reportedly seeking a syndicated loan of USD200 million, reports Antara News citing the company’s deputy president Kaizad B. Beerjee. The paper writes that Indosat has commissioned the services of ING Bank (ING) and ...

The privatisation committee overseeing the planned sale of a government-owned stake in Greek incumbent OTE has approved a draft agreement between the state and Deutsche Telekom (DT), and the deal is expected to receive final approval by the Cabinet next w...

Moroccan former monopoly telco Maroc Telecom has posted a 9.1% year-on-year rise in first-quarter operating profit to MAD3.1 billion (USD417 million), on revenues which reached MAD6.97 billion, up 13.9%. The operating margin in the three months ended 31 M...

Swedish cableco Com Hem has reported that its EBITDA reached SEK410 million (USD68 million) in the first quarter of 2008, up from SEK356 million in Q1 2007, on revenues that grew by 12% year-on-year to SEK944 million. The operator’s total subscribers reac...

Telus Corporation has reported its financial results for the quarter ended 31 March 2008, including net income of CAD291 million (USD290 million), up 49% year-on-year, and a 6.6% rise in revenues to CAD2.35 billion compared to a year ago. Net income decre...

T-Hrvatski Telekom (T-HT), the Croatian incumbent telco controlled by Deutsche Telekom, has reported a 3.8% year-on-year drop in net income to HRK548 million (USD116 million) in the first three months of 2008, whilst EBITDA of HRK927 million was 5.5% lowe...

Macquarie Media Group says it has obtained all the necessary Taiwanese regulatory approvals for the sale of its 60% interest in Taiwan Broadband Communications (TBC) to Macquarie Korea Opportunities Fund. The divestment of MMG's interest in TBC is expecte...

US entertainment and telecoms company Cablevision Systems has reported that its net loss increased to US31.6 million in the three months to 31 March 2008 from USD26.3 million in the first quarter of 2007. Revenues for the quarter grew 10.1% year-on-year t...

T-Mobile USA reported Q1 2008 net income of USD462 million, up from USD315 million a year ago. Operating revenues increased 14% to USD4.57 billion from USD3.99 billion in the first quarter of 2007. The operator passed the 30 million subscriber mark during...

US VoIP provider Vonage reported a first quarter net loss of USD9 million, compared to a loss of USD72 million a year ago. Revenue grew to USD225 million in the three months ended 31 March 2008, up 15% from USD196 million in the first quarter of 2007. Exc...

State-owned Sierra Leone Telecommunications (Sierratel) will launch a CDMA fixed-wireless network by September 2008, according to the country's deputy minister for information and communication, Mohamed Koroma. The minister also responded to critics who s...

The Romanian telecoms regulator ANRCTI has announced that AccessNet International, Rartel, National Radiocommunications Company and Vodafone Romania have won the tender for the installation of telecentres in 172 rural localities of Romania that currently ...