(To regular readers, if you want to really understand the Moto situation, you might want to go get a cup of coffee with this entry. This is one of the long postings, even by my standards ha-ha) So we have…

Norwegian telecoms group Telenor is looking at the possibility of a merger with Swedish rival TeliaSonera, and is using the services of Nordea and JP Morgan to analyse a potential deal, reports the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper, citing ‘people with insight into the process.’ According to the report, dialogue between the two multinational telcos on various merger possibilities commenced a year ago, whilst France Telecom’s recent expression of interest in TeliaSonera has forced Telenor to take a position on the deal. A possible driver for the deal would be to maximise growth of both groups’ existing operations in eastern Europe and Asia.

Gambian incumbent telco Gamtel and its counterpart in Senegal, Sonatel, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to increase Gambia’s international network capacity and go ahead with other moves to increase connectivity and reduce mobile roaming charges between the two countries, reports Gambian newspaper The Point, quoting a press release from the country’s Department of State for Communications, Information and Information Technology (DOSCIT). Under the MoU, Sonatel has agreed to increase Gambia’s internet capacity from 34Mbps to 68Mbps by the end of this month and to double the bandwidth to STM-1 capacity by the end of the year. The cost of the bandwidth has also been negotiated, with a discount of 28% given to Gamtel. In addition, plans were laid down for a new microwave link to be installed within three months time to connect Banjul and Kaolack, and a fibre-optic cable extension to Dakar for enhancement of Gamtel’s network, which would also serve as a back-up to the South Bank fibre-optic network. Gamtel and Sonatel also agreed to reduce the charges for mobile roaming by 50% between their respective GSM networks, Gamcel and Orange Senegal.

Motorola has reported that Thai cellco AIS successfully carried out trials over the US vendor’s WiMAX Access Point-400 (WAP-400) platform in Bangkok and Lamlukka during the first quarter of 2008. The operator is studying performance of real-life applications over the mobile WiMAX network, and customer usage models in metropolitan, suburban and rural areas, in anticipation of the delayed licensing of commercial WiMAX operations in Thailand. During the trials, WiMAX technology was tested with various applications such as substitution of fixed phone lines, content delivery platforms and high speed internet connections. AIS says it considers WiMAX an effective replacement for ADSL in providing broadband and various telecoms services in cities and suburban areas.

Thailand’s National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has formally given its permission for Advanced Info Service (AIS) to carry out a plan to launch commercial 3G mobile services in the 900MHz spectrum band in Chiang Mai on 6 May. AIS has also been granted permission to import 3.5G HSPA equipment. Suranant Wongwittayakumchorn, secretary-general of the NTC, confirmed that AIS could launch a commercial rather than a trial service, and that the upgrades to its 900MHz infrastructure with W-CDMA/HSDPA technology did not require a new licence, likening the process to the previous 3G EV-DO upgrades to CDMA2000 1x networks carried out in the country by Hutchison CAT Wireless Multimedia and CAT CDMA. Shin Corp-owned AIS, Thailand’s largest cellco by subscribers, had sought permission, in conjunction with state-run telco TOT, to upgrade 30 base stations in Chiang Mai to HSPA technology, Suranant said, but added that it needs to ask the NTC for further permission to expand 3G coverage. AIS hopes to expand commercial 3G services to Bangkok in mid-June, where it hopes to upgrade 100 base stations initially. GSM rival DTAC is planning to follow a similar 3G launch strategy using re-farmed 800MHz/850MHz frequencies, ahead of the long-delayed issuing of 2100MHz UMTS licences, now expected in the second half of this year. AIS president Wichan Mektrakarn said that initial 3G services in the lower frequencies would be limited in scope, because they would still be provided under the existing build-transfer-operate (BTO) concessions (AIS with TOT as network host, DTAC with CAT Telecom), which involve all network assets and a large proportion of revenues being transferred to the state-owned companies.

Rogers Communications has announced that its first quarter net profit more than doubled year-on-year from CAD170 million (USD168 million) to CAD344 million, on revenues that rose 14% to CAD2.61 billion. GSM mobile turnover in the three months ended 31 March 2008 climbed 16% year-on-year to CAD1.43 billion, with operating income up 21% to CAD705 million, and mobile data service revenues up 47%. Rogers added 68,000 net new mobile subscribers in the quarter (broken down into 97,000 new contract users and a 29,000 reduction in pre-paid customers) to take its total to 7.406 million (81% post-paid), whilst it gained 41,000 cable modem broadband internet users in the period for a total of 1.51 million.

Rogers also announced it had struck a deal with Apple to launch the iPhone in Canada, although it said further details would be revealed later this year.

Orange Slovensko, Slovakia’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, has won a 20-year nationwide concession to use frequencies in the bands 872MHz-876MHz and 917MHz-921MHz. The France Telecom subsidiary won the spectrum with a bid of SKK40 million (USD1.94 million), beating an offer from Telefonica O2 Slovakia, in an auction launched by the Telecommunications Office of the Slovak Republic (TU SR), which said the award would broaden the penetration of mobile broadband internet services. The licence had a SKK30 million minimum price. Orange Slovensko operates a nationwide GSM/GPRS/EDGE/W-CDMA/HSDPA network and also entered the fixed broadband market in September 2007 with the commercial launch of triple-play fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) services under the ‘Fibernet’ brand, says TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database.

Telenor has reported first quarter core earnings that were below forecasts, but stuck to its guidance for the full year. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the three months ended 31 March 2008 rose to NOK7.12 billion (USD1.49 billion) from NOK7.04 billion a year earlier, below an average forecast of NOK7.34 billion. ‘In the first quarter of 2008 we saw continued underlying revenue growth combined with a stable EBITDA margin,’ Chief Executive Jon Fredrik Baksaas said in a statement. ‘The appreciation of the Norwegian crown puts pressure on our reported revenue growth,’ he added. Revenues for the first quarter rose from NOK25.27 billion in 2007 to NOK26.29 billion, while net profit jumped from NOK3.19 billion to NOK4.57 billion. Across the group’s operations the company claimed 147 million wireless subscribers at the end of March.

Chilean telco Entel is expecting to have 100,000-150,000 subscribers to its WiMAX network by the end of 2008, writes BNamericas quoting Richard Buchi, Entel’s corporate general manager. The company expects the figure to reach a million by 2010.

In a separate but related announcement Entel reported a 5% rise in net profit in the first quarter of 2008, on the back of growth in mobile subscribers and value added services. Net profit for the three months ended 31 March 2008 was CLP33.3 billion (USD73 million) compared to CLP31.7 billion a year ago. Revenues were up 7% year-on-year to CLP238 billion from CLP222 billion in 1Q 2007. EBITDA rose 5% to CLP94.5 billion from CLP89.7 billion. The company ended the quarter with 5.77 million active mobile lines, up 12% and giving it a 41% market share. Wireless revenues rose 11% to CLP185.2 billion while wireless EBITDA rose 4% to CLP77.2 billion.

French-American telecoms equipment group Alcatel-Lucent has lowered its forecast for sales in 2008, saying it expects the market to flat-line this year, resulting in a 2% to 5% drop in revenues for the company. In February the equipment maker forecast full-year sales to be flat to slightly up in fiscal 2008, but has revised its forecasts in light of poor Q1 financial results. Alca-Lu posted a net loss of EUR181 million (USD281.9 million) in the three months ended 31 March, compared with a loss of EUR8 million in the same period of 2007. The group said that excluding the impact of purchase price allocation costs of EUR86 million related to its acquisition of Lucent, its group net loss was EUR95 million, compared with a profit of EUR199 million in 2007. Analysts had expected net losses of EUR159 million based on a poll of eleven analysts compiled by Reuters Estimates.

The Turkish mobile operator Turkcell has reportedly agreed to buy an 80% stake in Belarusian mobile operator Belarusian Telecommunications Network (BeST), according to an unconfirmed report from Prime-TASS citing a source close to the Republican government. The paper says the transaction has been approved at the highest political level and will see Turkcell paying for the shares – thought to be worth around USD500 million - in three tranches, the last tranche maturity date coinciding with the first profit received by BeST. Prime-TASS says the decision to sell to the Turkish firm is a blow to Russian mobile group Vimpelcom which had been hoping to enter the Belarusian mobile market. The operator, which trades under the Beeline banner, had long been considered in the front seat to acquire BeST having tracked the cellco since its inception in 2004.

If confirmed, the state’s decision to sell BeST marks a dramatic U-turn. At the end of last year the country’s Minister for Information Technologies and Communications Nikolai Pantelei said there were no plans to sell off any of its 75% stake in BeST – held through state-owned Automation Means Institute AGAT. At the time the minister said that while the company needed additional investments in order to grow, the government did not envisage any moves to bring in additional investors at this time. BeST has been providing cellular communication services since 21 December 2005. At the end of 2007 the cellco had approximately 180,000 subscribers, a market share of around 2.5%. Its other shareholder is national PTO Beltelecom, which owns 25% of the company.

NTR and Kilsaran Concrete have sold their Irish Broadband business to the communications group Imagine in a deal thought to be worth EUR47 million (USD73.3 million). The new owner says the deal will create an enlarged entity with revenues of more than EUR100 million per annum. As part of the deal, NTR and Kilsaran Concrete will take a 25% stake in Imagine, which will not assume any further debt as a result of the deal, and which has promised to invest EUR7 million in the merged venture. Imagine Communications is the brainchild of the telecoms entrepreneur Sean Bolger. It provides fixed line, broadband and other telecoms services in the Republic via its Imagine, Gaelic Telecom, Access and Cinergi brandings. It also has offices in the Netherlands and the US. Bolger hopes to utilise Irish Broadband’s network and spectrum assets to roll out WiMAX technology across the country.

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has inked a deal with Oman Mobile to upgrade 90% of the cellco’s network. The contract, worth between USD80 million and USD100 million, will see 90% of the company’s base stations and core connectivity replaced, and take 18 months to complete. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms databae Oman Mobile had 1.48 million subscribers at the end of 2007, equivalent to a 59.7% market share. In 2008 it hopes to add an average 100,000 subscribers per month.

 Click here for the full feature.
The 2008 Fierce 15 winners are…

Blue Pulse
Carrier IQ
Celltrust
Cequint
ChaCha
DeviceAnywhere
Firetide
Loopt
mFoundry
Pelago
Sequans Communications
SkyCross
Ubiquisys
uLocate
vLingo

Congrats to the winners.
Disclaimer: Cequint is a client of ours.

I am starting to lose count of how many events I have done related to the Mobile Advertising book but each one of them has been fun as I meet new friends and colleagues and get to visit with the old ones.
Had a pretty tight iten in sunny CA last week. Warm weather of bay […]