Radio Spectrum Auction in Mexico faces delays
The appeal by MVS Comunicaciones and Iusacell to delay the planned radio spectrum auction has been accepted by a Mexican court. Both companies had argued that the current bidding rules were unfair. A further hearing is to be held and a decision whether the auction can proceed is expected by mid-week.
MVS Comunicaciones has argued that its existing licenses in the 2.5Ghz bands should be renewed before the government sells off further radio spectrum. If the auction takes place before its existing licenses are renewed, the company faces the risk of buying spectrum it later does not require, or being frozen out of the market if its existing licenses are not renewed and it decides to skip the upcoming auction.
The regulator, Cofetel plans to auction nine blocks of spectrum in eight of the country’s nine regions, including the capital, Mexico City. The second auction will cover all nine regions and could pave the way for a new national network to be launched. Telecommunications services, except broadcasting, will be authorized on bands 1.9 and 1.7 GHz, ideal for 3G services.
A spectrum holding cap of 80MHz per operator is also being imposed on the operators.]
See the MVS Comunicaciones and Iusacell record in EMAT.
Peru to reignite tender for 4th mobile licence
Peru’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MTC) plans to relaunch the project to attract a fourth mobile operator on the local market, reports El Comercio, citing vice-minister of communications Jorge Cuba. According to the government representative, the Agency for Promotion of Private Investment (ProInversion) and MTC have prepared a redefinition of a mobile licence in the 1900 MHz frequency band, also known as the C-band. The new licence will enable the entry of a fourth mobile operator on the local market, currently served by Claro, Movistar and Nextel. ProInversion plans to appoint an investment bank to find leading operators in Europe and Asia, so as to attract around six bidders for the process. The second option is to launch an open tender, which would allow the participation of any operator, including existing operators Movistar, Claro and Nextel. The government plans to launch the tender in March.
America Movil sees 10% growth in subscriber base in 2009
America Movil finished 2009 with 201 million mobile customers, up by 6.6 million from September 2009 – 3.4 percent growth. Compared to end-2008, the customer base grew 10.0 percent.
In the fourth quarter, Brazil led the increase in customer numbers, with net additions of 2.1 million, followed by a gain of 807,000 subscribers in Mexico.
America Movil, which operates under the brand names Claro and Telcel, said it saw a significant increase in postpaid additions compared to a year ago, especially in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Chile. The company said it beat its subscriber growth target for the year thanks to a quicker-than-expected recovery in the South American economies and substantial growth in data services.
Quarterly revenues rose 13.4 percent year-on-year to MXN 107.1 billion. Services revenues increased almost 15 percent, amid a 48.7 percent jump in data revenues and a 9.3 percent rise in voice revenues. EBITDA improved 16.9 percent to MXN 40.8 billion, helping the margin rise to 38.1 percent from 37.0 percent a year earlier. Net profit fell 17.2 percent to MXN 13 billion, mainly due to higher depreciation and amortisation on GSM networks. Going forward depreciation and amortization charges will be closer to 12.5-13.0 percent of revenues, compared to 16.5 percent in the fourth quarter, the company said.
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Telefonica partners with Wikipedia for new Portal
Telefónica has announced a co-branded partnership with Wikipedia to develop mobile versions of the internet based encyclopedia. The service will be deployed in all the countries that Telefonica operates in.
See the Telefónica, S.A. record in EMAT
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Wind Telecom to launch WiMAX network in Dominican Republic
Wind Telecom in Dominican Republic announced last week that it has selected Samsung to deliver a mobile WiMAX network with plans to provide Mobile WiMAX services from the third quarter of 2010.
Initially focusing on Dominican Republics two major cities, Santo Domingo and Santiago, the installation will begin in the second quarter and plans to roll out WiMAX to other cities in the future.
Samsung is providing an end-to-end solution including Mobile WiMAX infrastructure, terminals, training, and engineering. Wind Telecom said it will use WiMAX to complement its existing broadband and TV offering to develop a triple play service.
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Panama completes free WiFi phase 1 rollout
Panama has rolled out the first phase of the Internet for All project. Over 328 Wi-Fi hotspots have already been deployed, with an additional 300 locations to be provided with free Wi-Fi connections by April, according to Panama’s president Ricardo Martinelli. The first phase of the project covers 11 cities across the country, including Penonome, Colon, David, Chitre, Arraijan, Panama, La Chorrera, Santiago, Sona and Pese. Users can access the internet at speeds of up to 512 kbps. Free internet access centres have been deployed at public schools, parks, libraries, community gyms, as well as municipal and government institutions. The Wi-Fi project is expected to benefit around 2.3 million users across Panama.
Carlos Slim seeks to consolidate telecoms businesses
Mexican billionaire, Carlos Slim is looking to consolidate his telecoms assets by merging his Latin American mobile arm, America Movil with the fixed line operator, Telmex Internacional, which operates telephone and cable-TV networks in Brazil, Colombia and five other South American nations.
Technically, America Movil is to launch a share-exchange offer to the shareholders of Carso Global Telecom (“Telecom”). If Telecom’s shareholders tender all their shares, America Movil would beneficially own 59.4% of the outstanding shares of Teléfonos de México (Telmex), and 60.7% of the outstanding shares of Telmex Internacional.
America Movil also announced that it will launch an offer for the exchange or purchase of of the 39.3% of Telmex Internacional that is not already owned by Telecom. Subject to completion, it is intended to delist both Telecom and Telmex Internacional in the various securities markets in which their shares are registered.
Digicel Jamaica Loses Interconnection Legal Action
Digicel Jamaica has lost a long running legal fight over the regulatory control of interconnection rates between mobile network operators. The company had tried to argue that the Office of Utilities regulation (OUR) lacked the authority to regulate the termination rates, but lost an earlier case with the Jamaican Court of Appeal.
An appeal to the UK’s Privy Council, which acts as the highest court for Jamaica has now upheld the earlier ruling.
The Office of Utilities regulation can now step in to settle interconnection rates between the mobile networks.
The ruling agreed that the law required that each operator is obliged to offer interconnection with other telecoms networks, but that the lack of price regulation meant that an operator could de-facto block interconnection by imposing excessive pricing.
See the Digicel Group record in EMAT.
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Telefónica in Argentina selects Optimi
Telefónica de Argentina S.A. has selected a network optimisation platform from Optimi for its GSM and 3G networks. The contract covers the entire Telefónica network in Argentina, and also comprises engineering activities as spectrum re-farming.
See the Telefónica de Argentina S.A. in EMAT.
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Argentina government threatens intervention in local unit
Argentina’s government piled pressure on Telecom Italia on Monday, threatening to nationalize its Telecom Argentina unit and vowing to appeal a court ruling that favored the Italian company.
Argentina’s antitrust commission ordered Telecom Italia to sell its local holdings last year to prevent another European company from controlling the sector, and earlier this month it set an Aug. 25 deadline for it to comply.
See the Telecom Argentina account record in EMAT.
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Costa Rica ends ICE mobile monopoly
Costa Rica has announced details of plans to break the telecoms monopoly held by he state-owned I.C.E. (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad) and introduce competition into the mobile phone market. The telecoms regulator, Sutel aims to launch a tender for a second mobile license in April, with the license to be awarded in the second half of this year.
Companies with an interest in the bidding include America Movil, Telefonica and Digicel Goup.
Costa Rica was obliged to open its telecoms market to competition as a condition of entry into the Central American Free Trade Agreement
See the I.C.E. (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad) account record in EMAT.
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Digicel Coverage Re-established in Haiti
Digicel Haiti has announced that its GSM network is back up and running in Port-Au-Prince following last weeks earthquake.
With coverage in the rest of the country good, Digicel is also ensuring that all of its two million customers in Haiti can stay in contact with friends and family by giving each and every Digicel customer US$5 of free call credit – totalling US$10 million.
Since deploying a team of technicians to Haiti following the earthquake on Tuesday, January 12th, Digicel has been working to restore its network in Haiti to full capacity.
A full assessment of the network has been carried out and the situation is as follows:
- All of Digicel’s three switch sites which serve the country are operational. One is damaged but an interim solution has been put in place until new equipment arrives
- 70% of the network’s cell sites are on air, with work on the remaining 30%
- Roaming is fully operational
- There is still some congestion on the network when making and receiving international calls
- An assessment of what network equipment is required has been completed and new equipment has been ordered and is en route to Haiti
- More teams of technicians have been assembled and are en route to support the existing teams on the ground
See the Digicel Group and Digicel Haiti account in EMAT.
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Claro in Brazil deploys Amdocs
Brazil’s Telecom Americas – operating under the brand Claro – has contracted with Amdocs to deploy a platform supporting customer ordering, sales force automation, e-commerce and web self-service.
See the account Telecom Americas in EMAT.
Digicel aid to Haiti relief fund
Caribbean based Digicel Group is donating US$5 million in cash to support the urgent relief efforts needed following the widespread devastation caused by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti. Digicel’s donation will be made to the NGOs who are spearheading the relief efforts.
Digicel Haiti also confirmed that while its Turgeau building in Port-au-Prince withstood the earthquake and the operator was able to evacuate all 900 employees from the building, two staff members lost their lives.
See the Digicel Group and Digicel Haiti account in EMAT.
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Virgin Islands allocates $1.4 Million for Broadband Mapping
The Virgin Islands has been awarded about $1.4 million for mapping the territory’s existing broadband network and planning expansion of its telecommunications facilities, according to a statement issued 3rd Jan.
The federal stimulus money will allow the territory to begin a process to provide reliable broadband services to the territory’s residents and businesses, Gov. John deJongh Jr. said in the statement.
The funds are funneled through the National Telecommunications Information Administration of the Department of Commerce under its Broadband Technologies Opportunity Program.
In May 2009 deJongh hosted all of the existing telecom and broadband service providers, as well as the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority and the University of the Virgin Islands’ Research and Technology Park, to begin the effort which led to this award.
The meeting outlined the government’s vision in its application to the Broadband Technologies Opportunity Program and got from those stakeholders information about their networks to give to the NTIA as part of a national broadband map. The information will form the basis for developing the plans for expanding the territory’s broadband infrastructure, deJongh said.
Local service providers participating in the meeting included Innovative Communications, Choice Communications, Broadband VI, Clear Signal Network Solutions, ADM Wireless, AT&T Cellular, and Sprint Cellular.
extracts from St. Thomas Source
Movilnet reaches 400 3G base stations!
Venezuela’s Movilnet says that it has commissioned its 400th 3G base station and is aiming to raise that to 582 during the first half of this year.
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Telefonica Moviles Venezuela LTE deployment 2nd half of 2011
Telefónica Móviles Venezuela - operating under the brand Movistar - plans to begin deploying LTE infrastructure in large cities across Venezuela during the second half of 2011. However, Movistar has not yet secured the necessary spectrum.
See the Telefónica Móviles Venezuela record in EMAT.
First LTE network trials in Latin America
Chilean operator Entel PCS has launched LTE network trials. The field tests are being developed in partnership with Ericsson, Carlos Rodriguez, Entel’s products and services manager, said in an interview with TeleSemana.
Entel PCS and Ericsson have already established the first internet connection through LTE technology in a field trial, using a network configuration similar to that of a usual site. According to Entel, this is the first LTE field trial rolled out in Latin America.
Mexican Mobile Operator to Delist from Stock Market
Financially troubled Mexican mobile operator Iusacell said in a statement that the company’s plan to delist from the Mexican stock market was approved in a shareholders’ meeting.
As part of the delisting process, investors in the company owned by magnate Ricardo Salinas Pliego also backed the purchase of outstanding shares, either by the company itself or “some person or persons belonging to the group of controlling shareholders,” the statement added.
A recent study found that Iusacell-Unefon was the only wireless operator in Mexico to suffer a drop in subscribers in the third quarter of 2009, noting that the company was adversely affected by greater competition in 3G services and by its limited variety of phones relative to its competitors.
Mexico’s No. 3 wireless operator, whose shares trade on the Mexican stock exchange under the ticker symbol CEL, had 3.56 million subscribers, a 4.4 percent market share and $204 million in revenue in the third quarter. Mexico’s mobile market is dominated by America Movil unit Telcel, which has a 71.7 percent market share, while Spain’s Telefonica, which operates in Mexico under the Movistar brand, has a 20.2 percent share.
Dear Nicaragua…From Russia with love…
Russia based WiMAX operator, Yota has trials of its WiMAX network in Nicaragua. The initial service will span Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua, before expanding coverage to other major cities including Masaya, Granada and Leon. The commercial launch is expected around the middle of next year.
