CommsUpdate
TeleGeography's free daily email summary of the world’s top telecom news stories.
23 May 2013
WIRELESS
Touch launches commercial LTE
Lebanese state-owned mobile operator Touch, managed by Kuwait’s Zain Group, has joined its sole rival Alfa in launching a commercial 4G LTE mobile broadband network with initial coverage extending to... more
MobiNil calls on Ericsson for network modernisation programme
Egyptian mobile network operator MobiNil has selected Swedish vendor Ericsson to modernise its network with a view to better catering for high speed internet services. According to Daily News Egypt,... more
Viettel Group adds Swaziland to list of prospective markets
In an interview with Vietnam Investment Review, Viettel’s deputy general director Duong Van Tinh named Swaziland as a market in which it is keen to secure a mobile licence. South... more
Vodafone to delay 4G switch-on to coincide with iPhone 5S launch?
Vodafone UK will reportedly delay the launch of commercial LTE services until late summer, according to The Daily Telegraph. It is claimed that the decision to postpone the introduction of... more
TRA to release 700MHz, 800MHz band for mobile broadband
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has announced plans to allocate spectrum in the 700MHz and 800MHz bands for mobile broadband services, in a bid to drive down costs in the... more
TeliaSonera chief lobbies President Nazarbayev over LTE licence
Swedish telecoms group TeliaSonera, which controls Kazakhstan's largest mobile phone company K’cell, has taken its request for a 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) licence directly to Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev,... more
Globecomm secures three regional LTE rollout contracts
New York-based vendor Globecomm Systems has announced that it has signed contracts with Chariton Valley, Evolve Broadband and Indigo Wireless to provide them with Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology. Texas-based... more
T-Mobile introduces flat-rate international data rate for 119 countries
T-Mobile US has announced two new international flat-rate data offerings for business customers, with a view to addressing the increased demand for data and the sometimes problematic costs associated with... more
Orange Armenia offers unlimited AMD20 talk plan, ‘With each other’
Orange Armenia, a wholly owned subsidiary of France Telecom-Orange, has launched an unlimited voice calls plan, dubbed ‘With each other’, which enables users to create a ‘community’ with up to... more
Ericsson announces more than a dozen regional US LTE deals
In recent months, multiple regional operators in the United States have selected Ericsson as their Long Term Evolution (LTE) partner of choice, the Swedish telecoms vendor has announced. The list... more
Tigo launches HSPA+ technology under the ‘4H+’ banner
According to various local media reports Oasis Telecom, which operates under the Tigo name, has become the third mobile operator in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to introduce 3.5G... more
TI linked with mobile spin-off by ‘senior political source’
According to Reuters, Telecom Italia (TI) is mulling spinning off its mobile unit along with its fixed line network, in a bid to bring new investors on board. A senior... more
KDDI cautioned on advertised LTE speeds
Japan’s second largest mobile operator in terms of subscriptions KDDI has been ordered by the country’s Consumer Affairs Agency to cease using an advertising campaign that exaggerated the coverage area... more
Orange Moldova expands LTE network
Moldova’s leading mobile operator Orange Moldova has expanded its Long Term Evolution (LTE) network to include ‘the northern capital’ Balti, the second city to benefit from the superfast wireless 4G... more
CSL switches on additional 4G spectrum, claims 95% coverage
Hong Kong cellco CSL has announced that customers of both its main brands, 1O1O and one2free, now have access to enhanced 4G LTE services via the commercial switch-on of an... more
I’ll buy that for (under) a dollar: MNP fee slashed, porting capacity multiplied
The telecom committee of Thailand’s National Broadcasting & Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has approved a reduction in the fee for mobile number portability (MNP) to THB29 (USD0.97) per transaction, down from... more
TOT, CAT join new interconnection rate from 1 July
State-owned Thai telcos CAT Telecom and TOT have confirmed to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) that they will adopt the new network interconnection rate of THB0.45 (USD0.015) per... more
BROADBAND
International data gateway sector liberalised
Gambia has liberalised its international internet bandwidth market by issuing seven international data gateway operating licences to the country’s three private sector mobile network operators – Africell, Comium and QCell... more
NBN Co inks AUD9m deal for TransACT’s Canberra fibre network
NBN Co, the public-private company overseeing the construction and management of Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) has agreed to purchase TransACT’s fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network in Canberra for AUD9 million (USD9.37... more
Jamaica branch of Cuba-Venezuela cable goes live
Cuba has activated the Jamaica branch of its ALBA-1 submarine cable, which connects the island with Venezuela, according to Doug Madory of internet analysis firm Renesys. Madory told The Associated... more
Oi SA picks Aptilo Wi-Fi solution
Brazil’s second largest telecoms operator Oi SA has announced the successful deployment of Aptilo Network’s Service Management Platform (SMP) Wi-Fi solution. The vendor claims the new SMP will provide the... more
FCC stumps up USD485m as part of Connect America Fund
Mignin Clyburn, acting chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has announced that the watchdog is poised to oversee the second release of Phase 1 funding for the Connect America... more
Zappware improves Numericable UI in Luxembourg, Belgium
Numericable has extended the deployment of its Nexx user interface (UI) design to its operations in Belgium and Luxembourg. According to Broadband TV News, Zappware’s Nexx UI design was initially... more
Viti to use DiViCloud to boost capacity
French Polynesian WiMAX provider Viti has selected Israeli firm DiViNetworks to provide additional international data capacity using the latter’s DiViCloud technology. DiViCloud offers ‘virtual capacity’ by increasing the performance of... more
SLT soft-launches VDSL2
Lanka Business Online reports that Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) has soft-launched VDSL2 broadband services following a demonstration of 90Mbps-plus data speeds to Sri Lanka's telecoms minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya at a... more
CORPORATE/FINANCIAL
PT Q1 profit down 52% on Brazil forex impact
Portugal Telecom (PT) has reported operating revenues of EUR1.552 billion (USD2.003 billion) for the three months ended 31 March 2013, a decrease of 9.5% from EUR1.715 billion in the year-ago... more
Axiata’s first quarter profit up on increased data revenues
Malaysian telecoms group Axiata has released its financial results for the first quarter of 2013, revealing increased net profit on the back of higher data revenues. In the three months... more
DoCoMo completes MCV purchase
NTT DoCoMo has announced the completion of its acquisition of MCV Broadband, a supplier of cable television, telephony and high speed internet services in Guam and the Commonwealth of the... more
CWC publishes FY13 financials as it confirms plans to relocate headquarters
Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) has posted a 4% year-on-year decline in revenue from its continuing operations to USD1.942 billion in the twelve months to end-March 2013, while it revealed... more
Etisalat won't buy out Moroccan govt share in Maroc Telecom
UAE-owned telecoms company Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) has crossed out the option of buying the Moroccan government's stake in Morocco’s Maroc Telecom, should the Abu Dhabi-based group be successful in... more
Sunrise books CHF28.5m losses as mobile revenues drop
Swiss telco Sunrise has reported revenues of CHF454.16 million (USD466.65 million) for the three months to 31 March 2013, a drop of 4.9% compared to a year earlier, as greater... more
DoCoMo cuts Robi stake to 8%; Axiata to take 92%
Japan’s NTT DoCoMo has reduced its ownership stake in Bangladeshi cellco Robi Axiata from 30% to 8%, citing an ‘unfriendly’ regulatory environment and business uncertainties. The formal process of diluting... more
Robi’s EBITDA falls 4.2% q-o-q; reaches 89% territorial coverage
Robi Axiata, Bangladesh’s third largest cellco by users, has reported EBITDA of BDT4.104 billion (USD51.9 million) in the first quarter of 2013, 4.2% down from the previous quarter, despite a... more
MISCELLANEOUS
Chunghwa Telecom, Asustek, to build cloud service in Palau
Telecoms operator Chunghwa Telecom is teaming up with fellow Taiwanese company, Asus Cloud Corp, a unit of Asustek Computer, to build a cloud-based healthcare platform in Palau. Asus Cloud Corp... more