MTN Injects ZAR7.1 Billion In World Cup

South African cellco MTN has announced that it invested in excess of ZAR7.1 billion (USD928.9 million) in the expansion of its mobile data networks as it prepares for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, MyBroadband.co.za reports, citing company CTO Sameer Dave. In 2009 496 2G sites were activated, together with 659 3G sites, providing around 50% of the population with third generation network coverage. Part of the investment has also seen MTN complete the coverage upgrades at all of the FIFA 2010 stadiums around the country. The network upgrades have already passed an early test as mobile data traffic jumped by an unprecedented 75% between 25 December 2009 and 1 January 2010, compared to the same period a year earlier.

MTN stated: ‘MTN SA added 540 HSPA sites in 2009. This additional capacity led to enhanced subscriber experience with respect to data speeds during the period of extraordinary expansion.’ Dave added: ‘As we move into our final implementation stages for the 2010 World Cup, it is encouraging to note that, having handled the increase in traffic over the festive season, the network is ready to process the huge volume increase in both voice and data traffic that we are anticipating during the event. Our investment in the upgrading of our network is finally paying off.’

MTN also revealed that its fibre deployments are progressing well, claiming that the national long-distance fibre network between Johannesburg and Durban has 217km trenched, while the development of two fibre rings in Gauteng is nearing completion with a commercial launch scheduled for May 2010.

Etisalat Hits 100 Million Mark

UAE-based telecoms operator Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) has revealed that its subscriber base has exceeded 100 million customers across 18 markets in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, covering two billion people. The announcement follows Etisalat’s acquisition of the remaining 18% of its West African venture Atlantique Telecom (AT) it did not already own for USD75 million earlier this month.

Etisalat operates AT as part of a ten-year management contract ending in 2015; the company holds majority stakes in seven operators in Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Niger, Togo, and Central Africa Republic. At the same time, the UAE incumbent revealed it had filed an application with the Indian Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in December 2009 to obtain approval to raise its 45% stake in its Indian subsidiary Etisalat DB to 50% plus one share. The company has said it is targeting majority stakes in its subsidiaries and associates for greater operational and financial synergy.

Unicom Denies It's Involved In NITEL Bid

China Unicom has denied that it or its state-run parent Unicom Group has any involvement in a USD2.5 billion bid for struggling incumbent telco Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL), Reuters reports. ‘There is no involvement of this project from the parent company, the listed company or any subsidiary of the company,’ Unicom spokeswoman Sophia Tso said in a statement.

Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) announced on 16 February that New Generation Telecommunications, a consortium involving China Unicom, had become the preferred buyer for a minimum 75% stake in NITEL after beating four other firms with a bid of USD2.5 billion. Other companies with an interest in New Generation were named by the BPE as Dubai-based Minerva Group and local company GiCell Wireless. The reserve bidder was announced as Omen International (BVI), which offered USD956 million.

China Unicom Consortium Wins Nitel Bid

Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has announced that New Generation Telecommunications, a consortium involving China Unicom, has become the preferred buyer for indebted incumbent fixed line operator Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL), after beating four other firms with a bid of USD2.5 billion. Other companies with an interest in New Generation have been named by the BPE as Dubai-based Minerva Group and local company GiCell Wireless.

After the bid is approved by the privatisation council, the group will have ten days to pay 30% of the purchase price and a further 50 days to pay the remaining sum. The reserve bidder has been announced as Omen International (BVI), which offered USD956 million.

Financial bids for the privatisation of NITEL opened on 16 February 2010, but only six of the 14 pre-qualified consortia met the 5 February deadline for the submission of technical and financial proposals: Brymedia; AF21/Spectrum consortium; MTN Nigeria; Globacom Nigeria; Omen International; and New Generation Telecommunications.

The federal government began seeking a buyer for a minimum 75% of NITEL and 100% of its mobile unit M-Tel in July 2009 after previous majority shareholder Transcorp divested its stake earlier in the year. Prospective investors were invited to acquire either at least 75% equity in the entire NITEL conglomerate or a stake in one or several of its components, including M-Tel, submarine fibre-optic cable division SAT-3, the company’s domestic fixed line infrastructure, its national fibre-optic transmission backbone, and its CDMA network.

South Africa's MTN was among the bidders, but only for a stake in the SAT-3 underwater cable, for which it offered USD25 million. According to local daily Leadership, Globacom was disqualified from the process as it already holds a licence as Nigeria’s second national carrier.

Mobinil Reports USD 1.9 Billion Revenues

Egyptian cellco MobiNil has posted revenues of EGP10.8 billion (USD1.9 billion) for 2009, up 8% year-on-year, on the back of strong subscriber growth. EBITDA grew by 9% during the period to EGP5.1 billion while net income came in at EGP2 billion, up 3%.

At 31 December the active subscriber base stood at 24.1 million, up from 19.2 million twelve months previously. Average monthly ARPU across the year fell from EGP46 in 2008 to EGP39 in 2009 in light of fierce competition between MobiNil and rival cellcos Vodafone Egypt and Etisalat Misr (Nile Telecom).

Orange Partners With Alca-Lu In Multimedia Deal

Alcatel-Lucent has announced that Mauritius Telecom (MT), an Orange/FT Group partner, has deployed interactive mobile multimedia services (IMMS) powered by the Alcatel-Lucent Mobile Interactive TV (MiTV). MiTV will allow Orange to establish mobile multimedia services throughout East Africa and Indian Ocean, enabling each affiliate to quickly launch its own dedicated content offering and commercial bouquets while sharing the same software platform.

Alcatel-Lucent offers a complete turnkey mobile multimedia package, which provides Mauritius Telecom's customers with a large range of customised services. In total, end-users are able to access 20 live channels, eight near-live channels and eight playlists. With this solution customers can also access program information via an intuitive graphical user interface and can watch TV whenever and wherever they want.

‘With the Alcatel-Lucent mobile interactive TV, Mauritius Telecom has the opportunity to establish a dominant position in the Mauritius mobile TV market and create a new growing revenue stream from their investment in high capacity networks,’ said Amr El Leithy, head of Alcatel-Lucent's activities in Africa and the Middle East. ‘It is the first deployment of the MiTV Compact platform in an emerging country – highlighting this solution's ability to deliver quick market entry at a low cost.’

EASSy Arrives At Kwa-Zulu Natal

South African mobile group MTN has confirmed that the East African Submarine System (EASSy) landed at Mtunzini on the north coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa this weekend. MTN Group's Trevor Martins, who is also the EASSy management committee chairman, said the completion of EASSy will boost broadband capacity and facilitate ongoing efforts to provide its customers with more affordable access to broadband.

Martins added: ‘Over the past years MTN has been a pioneer in pursuing opportunities by investing in technologies, businesses and licences which enhance our delivery of services in data and internet protocol connectivity.

As part of a larger strategic portfolio, EASSy is one of such investments and we are excited about the cable landing in Mtunzini. The increased bandwidth that will be available as a result of our investments in these submarine networks will capacitate both ISPs and our mobile operations in markets largely serviced by costly satellite bandwidth, thus enabling MTN to open up large-scale access to international broadband to our valued customers.’ The network is scheduled for a commercial launch in the second quarter of 2010.

Court Delays Ruling On Mobinil Case

An Egyptian court has pushed back the date for a decision on the shareholding dispute between Orascom Telecom and France Telecom (FT) related to mobile network operator Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (MobiNil), Reuters reports. The court has set a date of 6 March for the next hearing in the matter, after lawyers for the two sides put forward their cases on the back of a ruling by the same court earlier this month that rejected a bid from FT for the shares in MobiNil it does not currently hold.

In separate but related news, Bloomberg reports that an Egyptian judiciary committee, in a recommendation to the court, has said that the original verdict preventing the French company from acquiring the shares at the price put forward should be upheld. In line with previous criticisms of this, and other earlier offers, the committee argued that the EGP245 (USD44.65) per share offered by FT in December 2009 was too low and was ‘unfair’ to minority shareholders. In addition, the committee’s report claimed that the Egyptian Financial Services Authority (EFSA), the country’s financial regulator, did not provide ‘sufficient reasons for agreeing to France Telecom’s per-share offer of EGP245 per share.’

Glo Launch Date In Ghana Not Certain

Ghana’s Minister of Communications Haruna Iddrisu says the government is doing all it can to ensure mobile newcomer Globacom can launch commercial operations on 6 March 2010, the nation’s Independence Day.

Iddrisu said he had taken it upon himself to order the telecoms regulator, the National Communications Authority (NCA), the National Bureau of Communications and Globacom’s appointed equipment supplier, ZTE Corporation of China, to ensure that everything was in place to allow Globacom to use the necessary 800MHz spectrum within 14 days.

However, sources close to the start-up suggest the firm is not looking to start operations next month. A report in ghanabusinessnews.com quotes an unnamed person familiar with the situation as saying only that the company was planning to launch its services this year.

Gamtel Awards Alca-Lu Fibre-Optic deal

Gambia’s incumbent PSTN operator Gamtel has awarded a contract to Alcatel-Lucent to roll out a terrestrial fibre-optic transmission network under its 'Cross Gambia Project', reports Afrique en Ligue.

A release from the telco’s Banjul office said the joint venture project with Senegalese counterpart Sonatel will extend fibre links from Dakar through Kaolack, Karang, Barra, Banjul, Serrekunda, Yundum, Brikama to Seleti in Casamance to terminate on Sonatel’s fibre network.

The new infrastructure will provide an alternative route to the fibre link between Basse in Gambia and Velingara in Senegal, which was implemented in 1996. As well as eliminating the serious problem of disruption to bilateral international traffic whenever the older fibre is cut, the rollout will also increase Gamtel’s international internet bandwidth. The telco said it spent EUR1.2 million (USD1.65 million) on the initial stage of the Cross Gambia Project in 2009.

Zambia Plans To Transfer Fibre Lines From Zesco to Zamtel

AllAfrica.com reports that the Zambian government is planning to put a number of fibre pairs currently controlled by state-owned power company Zesco in to the hands of Zambia Telecommunications Company (Zamtel). It is understood that the move is part of the state’s plans to make the telco more attractive to potential buyers, as the privatisation process of the operator moves forward.

Under the proposals the government will transfer seven of twelve fibre pairs that Zesco has; of the remaining five, two are used by Zesco to manage its power network, one is used by South Africa-based MTN, which owns a mobile operator in Zambia, while the last two are not currently in use.

Local ISPs have voiced their concerns about the proposals however, with one unnamed market operator stating: ‘All the ISPs don't want this to happen. We have a good relationship with Zesco and we put a lot of capacity through their link. If it happens, I'll have to lay fibre routes and that's not my business. We're looking at VoIP offerings because the current prices of international calling are still USD1.10-USD1.50 a minute.’

At present Chinese vendor Huawei is in the process of rolling out a fibre backbone for Zamtel, but it remains incomplete and by comparison to Zesco’s existing infrastructure is significantly less expansive. Zesco’s fibre network spans the economically active central part of the country from Lumwana and Solwezi in the north to Sesheke in the south.

The Zambian government first announced plans to divest a portion of its stake in Zamtel in December 2008. In September 2009 it revealed it would sell 75% of the struggling operator, and one year after initially unveiling its intention to sell, the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA), which is handling the process, announced the shortlist of bidders: India's Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, Unitel of Angola and Libya's LAP Green Networks. Russia’s Altimo was subsequently added to the list, despite submitting its bid after deadline.

MTN To Cut Investment in Rwanda By 55% in 2010

MTN Rwanda has announced that it will cut total annual investment in 2010 by 55% to USD45 million, Rwandan daily The New Times reports.

‘There is no need to invest heavily in building capacity and coverage every year. What we did in 2009 can serve in 2010 and what is required now is to maintain what we built last year,’ noted the MTN Rwanda’s CEO, Khaled Mikkawi. Instead the company will focus on attracting more subscribers through the introduction of new promotions to fully utilise MTN’s network capacity.

In 2009 the cellco invested around USD100 million in the expansion of network coverage and increased capacity to serve three million customers.

‘Currently we have close to two million subscribers and this year we are targeting an extra million subscribers hopefully to make up the three million our capacity can handle,’ Mikkawi added.

South Africa’s MTN Group increased its interest in MTN Rwanda from 40% to 55% for USD40.5 million in March 2008, leaving Tristar Investments with a 35% stake. The remaining 10% is owned by the Rwandan government.

Kasapa's MD Resigns

The managing director of Ghanaian mobile operator Kasapa Telecom, Bob Palitz, is stepping down from the role after nine years in office. In an interview with local press agency Joy Online, Mr Palitz said he believed he had contributed his quota to the company and that it is time to move on. The resignation comes approximately 18 months after Kasapa was acquired by Dubai-based Expresso Telecoms.

‘I’m getting on…and looking for new challenges and I know that the incredible team of Ghanaian managers and staff, some of whom were already there, some of whom joined us after I came [to] Kasapa, know the meaning of operating with integrity and transparently and professionally and I have every confidence they would continue to do that regardless of what happens after I have gone,’ Palitz said.

The announcement was made less than a week after Palitz’s firm reported success in the long-running Kludjeson court appeal. On 4 February Kasapa issued a press release noting that the Court of Appeal had reversed, by a unanimous decision, the 25 April 2007 ruling of the Accra Fast Track High Court, in the case of Kludjeson International Limited versus Robert N. Palitz, Lung Hien Ching (Kasapa’s former CFO), Trustee Services Limited (Kasapa’s former company secretary) and the Attorney General. The court awarded costs to each of the first three defendants.

Google To Build Fibre Optic Network

Google has announced plans to build a number of trial fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks in communities across the US, claiming that it will provide broadband at downlink speeds of up to 1Gbps. James Kelly, project manager on Google's infrastructure team, said: ‘We are doing this because we want to experiment with new ways to make the web better and faster for everyone, allowing new applications that aren't possible today. We are going to try out new ways to build and operate fibre networks and share what we learn with the world.’

Between now and 26 March 2010, interested states, cities, towns and communities can file a ‘Request for Information’ in the hope of being selected by Google as a trial community. Google revealed that the trial FTTH networks will be open for use by other service providers, and will each serve between 50,000 and 500,000 users.

David Fish, spokesman for incumbent fibre operator Verizon, revealed that his company would be interested in the results of the trials, saying: ‘The internet ecosystem is dynamic and competitive, and it’s delivering great benefits to consumers. Google’s expansion of its networks to enter the access market is another new paragraph in this exciting story.’

FCC chairman Julius Genachowski also welcomed the move, noting: ‘Big broadband creates big opportunities. This significant trial will provide an American testbed for the next generation of innovative, high speed internet applications, devices, and services.’

Mobile Streams To Supply MTN in South Africa

­Mobile content distributor, Mobile Streams has secured a contract to supply content to South Africa based MTN's operations in 21 countries. The service is being provided via IMImobile.

The agreement between the two companies will give IMImobile access to Mobile Streams' extensive content library which can be powered through its DaVinci Storefront solution to customers in Africa and the Middle East.

Arnd Aschentrup, Chief Operating Officer at Mobile Streams commented: "Mobile usage amongst subscribers in these emerging markets continues to rise and that provides us with a great opportunity to increase the revenues and fan bases of our content partners."

Mobile Streams currently has a global footprint within the UK, Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific.

Kenya Could Reduce 3G Licence Cost

Kenya's government has hinted that it might lower the cost of 3G licenses, as has been called for by the mobile networks. Currently, only Safaricom holds a 3G license after paying Sh1.9 billion (US$25 million) in 2007.

Information Permanent Secretary Dr Bitange Ndemo told Capital FM, "We will do everything possible to ensure that we have created the necessary competitive environment, even if it means that we revise the cost to reasonable levels,". He added that the decision should be made in the next three weeks.

The remaining operators have argued in the past that this fee is too high and campaigned for a reduction - which was opposed by Safaricom unless it receives a refund of the difference.

"If we decide that we are lowering, we would have some mechanisms to ensure that [Safaricom does not lose its money]," he assured.

Of the remaining operators, only Zain has currently applied for a license, and is planning a network launch in the first half of this year. Based on figures from the Mobile World analysts, Safaricom had 13.8 million subscribers at the end of June, compared to 2.4 million for Zain.