BTL board blows whistle on bleeding by British Bank

Latin America based telecoms operator, Belize Telemedia says that it has learned that the British Caribbean Bank is seeking to wind up the company, accusing it of neglecting to pay US$25.172 million dollars. Belize Telemedia has responded saying that it considers the loan, taken out by the previous board of directors of Telemedia, to be unlawful and therefore void.

In August 2009 the company was nationalized by the Government of Belize, who bought over up to 94% of its shares from British Caribbean Bank (formerly Belize Bank), which is controlled by a company chaired by the UK’s Lord Ashcroft.

Belize Telemedia’s Chairman, Nestor Vasquez held a press conference to explain the situation.

In July 2007, Belize Telemedia took out a loan from Belize Bank for US$22.5 million at an unsustainable interest rate of 12% with repayments over just four years. The company claims that the former directors of the company should not have agreed to such a loan as the firm wasn’t generating profits at the level necessary to support the terms. The bank is now seeking an additional US$2.25 million in fees.

Belize Telemedia’s new directors say that they have since discovered that the loan was used by the company to buy its own shares – which they say would have been illegal. The shares were then distributed, and companies controlled by Lord Ashcroft received 94% of the allocation.

As the shares were brought back by the company, they shouldn’t have received any dividend payments. However, in 2008, although the company made a profit of $37 million, it paid out $70 million in dividends. Belize Telemedia says that this $70 million was given to Belize Bank who then gave shareholders loan notes instead of cash.

Vasquez concluded by saying that in their opinion, the previous owners had been “bleeding the company for years”. He also attacked the unreasonably low prices charged to its rival company, SpeedNet for access to infrastructure. Lord Ashcroft also has interests in the parent company of SpeedNet.

See the Belize Telemedia account in EMAT

WiMAX Network Planned for Mexico

Mexico’s MVS Comunicaciones is reported to have secured an agreement with US based Clearwire to deploy a WiMAX network covering 23 Mexican cities. The roll out is expected to start in the second half of next year, with a launch some time in the fourth-quarter.

Clearwire is a minority shareholder in MVS, and the project is separate from the US network deployment. The Mexican firm is now seeking to raise around US$700 million to fund its infrastructure rollout.

See the MVS Comunicaciones record in EMAT

Movistar Venezuela upgrades HSPDA

Telefónica Móviles Venezuela (operating under the brand Movistar) has upgraded its existing mobile data download service (HSDPA) to improve the upload link as well (HSUPA). The upgrade covers the main cities.

See the Telefónica Móviles Venezuela record in EMAT

America Movil to Launch Mobile Advertising Service ­

America Movil has agreed to deploy a full-screen mobile advertising platform developed by MyScreen Mobile. Together, MyScreen and America Movil will deliver ads to the mobile network operator’s users who voluntarily subscribe to the service.

America Movil has already begun to integrate MyScreen’s platform and initiate plans to roll out the service in the region.

“Mobile advertising has tremendous potential, as the penetration and individuality of the cellular phone allows us to reach a significant and highly segmented public. MyScreen’s solution joins other mobile advertising solutions already offered by America Movil,” said Marco Quatorze, director of value-added services for America Movil. “This launch reflects our commitment to stay in the forefront of the mobile communications industry, offering our subscribers and shareholders greater value.”

MyScreen ads are delivered at the end of every call, creating much better visibility than SMS texts and banner ads. Banner ads are only visible to consumers when they are browsing the Internet.

America Movil record in EMAT

Marco Quatorze record in EMAT

 

Mexico launches mobile spectrum auction

Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Commission (Cofetel) has launched the licence tender for additional 120 MHz spectrum in the 1.7 and 1.9 GHz frequency bands. Both frequency bands can be used for provision of any telecommunications service, especially 3G including voice, data and video. The tender aims to boost competition by promoting the entry of new competitors on the market, without inhibiting the growth of established operators.

Digicel Group Added Nearly 100,000 Subscribers in Q3 2009

­Digicel Group, which has operations in the Caribbean and Central American has reported a 10% increase in its half year EBITDA to US$364 million on revenues of US$857 million. Digicel has grown its subscriber base by 7% in the past 12 months to 7.3 million, and in its most recent quarter to September 30th 2009, it added 98,000 subscribers.

Colm Delves, Digicel Group CEO, comments: “These results demonstrate a strong start to the financial year with Digicel increasing profits and subscribers even in a tough economic climate. Despite increased competition, Digicel is winning market share as customers continue to prefer the better value offered by Digicel’s Bigger, Better Network.”

Digicel’s revenues for the six months to September 30th were US$857 million – growing 3% in constant currency terms. The company does not publish a net income figure.

See the Digicel Group record in EMAT

See the Colm Delves record in EMAT

Wyclef to help Voila overcome increased competition in Haiti

Haiti based wireless network, Communication Cellulaire d’Haiti, S.A. (ComCEL) under the brand name “Voila” has engaged a new advertising agency to revamp its marketing in face of increased competition in the market. The new campaign features a television spot with Haitian-born musician Wyclef Jean.

See the Communication Cellulaire d’Haiti, S.A. (ComCEL) account record in EMAT

 

Digicel Jamaica seeks settlement with LIME

­Digicel Jamaica has filed an Arbitration claim with the International Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”) in Paris against Cable &Wireless in relation to allegations of significant unpaid interconnection fees. Cable &Wireless recently rebranded its Caribean mobile networks with the “Lime” brandname.

Digicel says that since July 2009, Lime has been underpaying for its interconnection by approximately US$650,000 per month. Digicel is seeking various declarations and orders from the ICC Arbitration Panel as well as interest on the amounts due and owing together with legal costs.

This claim by Digicel follows the decision of the Jamaica High Court to stay Lime’s US$43 million claim against Digicel earlier this year. While Lime vigorously opposed Digicel’s application to have those proceedings stayed by the Jamaican Courts, Justice McDonald-Bishop ruled in favour of Digicel.

Richard Fraser, Digicel Jamaica’s Head of Legal and Regulatory Affairs, comments; “The fact that Lime vigorously opposed this reference to Arbitration before the Jamaican Courts – and that it did not even bother to show up to Court today – leads us to seriously question whether it has as any belief at all in the merits of its own claims. “We want this issue resolved quickly and effectively.

Lime has launched numerous spurious legal and PR offensives in recent months – all cynically and misguidedly calculated to detract from the fact that its business is limping along and it wants to walk away from a contract that it freely entered into in 2001. “

Digicel Jamaica record in EMAT

Cable & Wireless Jamaica, Ltd record in EMAT

 

VIVO reports record Profit and Subscriber Growth

Brazilian mobile network operator, Vivo Participacoes saw its 3rd quarter net profit jump by 154% to R$ 340 million (US$197 million), largely due to lower borrowing costs. Revenues were up by 4% to R$ 3.79 billion (US$2.2 billion).

 In 3Q09, Vivo managed to attracted just over 2 million new customers. In September, Vivo’s customer base reached 48.85 million customers, increasing its general market share to 29.4% and post-paid market share to 31.4%. The GSM/WCDMA operation recorded more than 39.4 million subscribers, representing 80.7% of the total customer base.

The customer base grew 15.5% in the quarter when compared to the same period of last year. Vivo originated from the merger of several Brazilian mobile phone operations under a joint-venture owned equally by Portugal Telecom and Spain’s Telefónica.

Vivo Participações (VIVO) account record in EMAT.

Telefonica bids hard for Brazils GVT

Telefonica has raised its unsolicited offer for Brazilian broadband operator GVT by 5.2 percent to BRL 50.50 per share. The bid increase aims to “ensure the success of the offer and reinforce Telesp’s intention” to buy GVT, the company said. Telefonica’s previous offer of BRL 48 per share was already higher than an earlier bid of BRL 42 per share from Vivendi. GVT’s shareholders have called for a minimum offer of BRL 48 cash. At the new price, Telefonica’s offer values the Brazilian operator at EUR 2.7 billion.

Global Village Telecom (GVT) account record in EMAT.

Telecomunicações de São Paulo S.A. account record in EMAT.