CommsUpdate
TeleGeography's free daily email summary of the world’s top telecom news stories.
22 Feb 2013
WIRELESS
Digicel, Islandcom win 700MHz LTE licences, squeeze out LIME
The Turks and Caicos Islands Telecommunications Commission has awarded two 700MHz spectrum mobile frequency licences for 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) services to Digicel (Turks and Caicos) and Islandcom, following... more
ATRA challenges Etisalat’s ‘misleading’ 4G announcement
Sector watchdogs the Afghanistan Telecom Regulatory Authority (ATRA) and the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) have challenged Etisalat’s recent claims regarding an upcoming 4G service. In a press... more
Kiribati telco rolling out LTE and 3G network
Telecom Services Kiribati Ltd (TSKL) is rolling out a 3G W-CDMA and 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile network with a target for launch this year after signing a turnkey... more
Mobile roaming hub creates worldwide trading platform for operators
Telecom North America has commercially launched the ‘multi-IMSI roaming hub’, an international roaming services trading platform which allows mobile network operators (MNOs) and mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) around the... more
Taiwanese operators seeking fair price for 4G spectrum
Taiwanese operators have called on the state to ensure that the pricing for fourth-generation wireless concessions – which are expected to be auctioned off later this year – is reasonable.... more
E-Plus signs deal with ZTE for LTE upgrade
German cellco E-Plus has inked a deal with ZTE under which the Chinese equipment vendor will take a more substantial role in the operator’s forthcoming Long Tem Evolution (LTE) network... more
NSN to deploy LTE base stations for Movistar
Hot on the heels of Chilean cellco Claro announcing it plans to launch Long Term Evolution (LTE) services within the next few weeks, rival operator Movistar has signed up Nokia... more
DoCoMo looks towards LTE-A
Japanese giant NTT DoCoMo has signed agreements with Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and Panasonic under which the vendors will help deploy Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) infrastructure. NSN says that the... more
4G trials reach advanced stage
China Mobile’s trial Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks in Guangzhou and Shenzhen are nearing commercial service level, Hong Kong paper The Standard quoted the cellco as saying, spurring rumours of... more
Vimpelcom to launch 4G in six cities in 2013
Mobile giant Vimpelcom will launch 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) services in six Russian cities this year Dow Jones Newswires writes, citing the head of Vimpelcom’s Russian unit Anton Kudryashov.... more
Osiptel set to standardise coverage reporting
Peruvian regulator Osiptel has proposed new measures to improve wireless coverage and standardise reporting regarding network footprints. The new rules would require companies to provide at least 30% coverage of... more
Fourth mobile licensee this year, says regulator
A spokesperson for the Telecommunications Office of the Slovak Republic (TU SR), Roman Vavro, has confirmed that successful bidders will be issued new mobile licences via the country’s eagerly anticipated... more
Five bidders for 2.5GHz/2.6GHz include China Unicom
Hong Kong regulator OFCA has announced the bidders in its upcoming auction of 2.5GHz/2.6GHz mobile spectrum licences as: China Mobile Hong Kong, China Unicom (Hong Kong), CSL, Genius Brand (an... more
AT&T invested USD325 million in Puerto Rico in three years
AT&T Puerto Rico has announced that it invested more than USD325 million in its Puerto Rican wireless and wireline networks from 2010 through 2012, with a focus on expanding 4G... more
Turkcell signs universal service contract for rural mobile coverage
Turkey’s Turkcell has signed a contract with the country’s Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications to provide mobile network coverage in currently uncovered areas under a universal services obligation... more
BROADBAND
Telefonica (Vivo), Ciena launch Brazil’s first 100G network
One of Brazil’s leading telecoms companies Telefonica (Vivo) has teamed up with Ciena Corporation to deploy the latter’s coherent optical technology to meet the carrier’s future bandwidth growth, as well... more
France to plough EUR20bn into fibre broadband networks
France plans to invest nearly EUR20 billion (USD26.5 billion) of public and private funds in the rollout of high speed broadband networks over the next decade in a bid to... more
Beltelecom to launch ‘Skype-like’ option; expands international gateway
According to online news agency BelTA, Belarusian incumbent Beltelecom plans to launch a ‘Skype-like’ service in 2013, under the banner eSpace, sometime this year. The announcement, made by its director... more
Internet Solutions gets Intracom’s point-to-multipoint system
Greece-based telecoms systems vendor Intracom Telecom has partnered with Communication Solutions (Comsol), a system integrator and distributor of wireless broadband infrastructure in South Africa, to supply South African ISP Internet... more
CRTC finalises wholesale internet rates to benefit independent ISPs
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has finalised rates for wholesale high speed internet access services used by independent service providers including ISPs, which it says will lead to... more
WIRELINE
Tata provides IP voice for Liberty
India’s Tata Communications has entered into an IP voice solutions agreement with UPC Wholesale, the B2B unit of US-based multinational cableco Liberty Global. As reported by Capacity Magazine, under the... more
CORPORATE/FINANCIAL
Domestic operations weigh on Maroc Telecom’s 2012 results
Maroc Telecom has posted revenues of MAD29.9 billion (USD3.6 billion) for 2012, down 3.2% year-on-year as growth from its international operations failed to offset a 7.4% decline in sales domestically.... more
Turkcell’s group revenues up 12%; Astelit’s sales climb 10%
Turkey’s Turkcell has posted a 12% increase in group revenue to TRY10.507 billion (USD5.868 billion) in full-year 2012, up from TRY9.370 billion in 2011, and an 11% rise in EBITDA... more
Telecom lowers FY earnings guidance
Telecom New Zealand has announced its financial results for the six months ended 31 December 2012, reporting adjusted total revenues of NZD2.125 billion (USD1.77 billion), down 8.5% from NZD2.322 billion... more
Deferred taxes and forex gains see Megacable reveal 34% increase in net profit
Mexican cableco Megacable has released its financial results for the three months ended 31 December 2012, reporting a 34% year-on-year increase in net profit on the back of ‘the favorable... more
Acquisitions boost iiNet’s finances in first half of 2012/13
Alternative Australian broadband provider iiNet has announced what it termed ‘another record result’, with the telco posting a 122% year-on-year increase in net profit for the first six months of... more
TNM warns that 2012 net income will fall by around 50%
Telekom Networks Malawi (TNM) has issued a trading statement with respect to the year ending 31 December 2012, in which it warns that its net income for 2012 is expected... more
Eircom reports 8% fall in second-quarter earnings
Ireland’s former monopoly operator Eircom has reported an 8% year-on-year fall in net profits to EUR119 million (USD159.3 million) for its fiscal second-quarter ended 31 December 2012, on revenues that... more
Beltelecom and MTS ‘prolong permission’ to sell state’s stake in MTS Belarus
BelTA reports that Beltelecom and Russian giant Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) have ‘prolonged the permission’ to sell the state’s 51% share in Belarusian mobile carrier MTS Belarus to a third party.... more
SyriaTel announces its consolidated financial results for 9M12
Mobile network operator SyriaTel has announced its consolidated financial results for the fiscal third-quarter and nine months ending 30 September 2012, showing an improvement in the results posted in the... more
Aftel struggling to keep pace with rivals
State-owned operator Afghan Telecom (Aftel) has struggled to compete with its privately owned rivals, Wadsam quotes telecoms minister Amirzai Sangeen as saying. The official noted that at end-December 2012, Aftel... more
10.5% of Rostelecom may be sold to metal man Mikhail
Dow Jones Newswires reports that metals magnate Mikhail Prokhorov's holding company Onexim is considering buying a 10.5% stake in Russian state-controlled telco Rostelecom from Marshall Capital, a fund controlled by... more
Telenor rumoured to be eyeing Tele2 Croatia
Media reports claim that Norwegian telecoms heavyweight Telenor Group, via its Serbian division, is interested in acquiring cellco Tele2 Croatia, and that the latter is currently undergoing due diligence. Rough... more