http://www.telecompaper.com/ Business information about the telecom industry, an extensive overview of telecom-related articles http://www.telecompaper.com/images/logos/logotph40w225.gif http://www.telecompaper.com/ http://www.telecompaper.com/news/turkcell-to-file-claim-against-mtn-over-irancell-licence (Telecompaper) South Africa-based MTN said Turkish operator Turkcell has informed it that it will be filing a claim in a US court concerning Irancell, in which MTN has a 49 percent stake. The state-owned Iran Electronic Development Company owns the other 51 percent. Turkcell submitted a bid for Iran's second mobile network licence in 2005 but lost out to Irancell. MTN said it "understands" that Turkcell's claim will allege that MTN sought to induce the Iranian government to award the second GSM licence to MTN rather than to Turkcell by making "improper payments" to an Iranian and a South African government official. It will also allege that MTN encouraged the South African government to take a favourable position towards Iran's civil nuclear power development programme at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in November 2005, and that MTN enlisted South African government support for the provision of military equipment to Iran, the MTN statement said. MTN said it has established a committee consisting of non-executive directors to consider the allegations, chaired by Lord Leonard Hoffmann, an internationally renowned jurist. MTN chairman Cyril Ramaphosa promised a "measured and authoritative" response. MTN warned that Turkcell has intimated a range of putative claim amounts, the nominal value of which would be material if they were formally asserted. However, it added that no claim has been filed and no papers served yet. 853530 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:20:00 +0100 http://www.telecompaper.com/news/3-austria-buys-orange-austria-for-eur-13-billion (Telecompaper) France Telecom-Orange has entered into a binding agreement with its partner Mid Europa Partners for the sale of Orange Austria to Hutchison Whampoa's 3 Austria. France Telecom-Orange holds 35 percent in Orange Austria and MEP the remaining 65 percent. As part of the transaction, Hutchison will sell frequencies, base station sites, Orange's mobile discount brand Yesss! as well as certain intellectual property rights to Telekom Austria group, immediately after the acquisition of Orange Austria. The agreement implies an enterprise value of approximately EUR 1.3 billion for Orange Austria and is expected to provide France Telecom-Orange with cash proceeds of around EUR 70 million for its equity stake. Telekom Austria will pay EUR 390 million for the aforementioned assets, leaving a net price for 3 Austria of EUR 900 million for its rival Orange. Hutchison said this corresponds to an enterprise value of 6.9 times estimated 2011 EBITDA, excluding anticipated synergies of at least EUR 500 million from the combination. 3 Austria has also agreed to pay an integration-related, performance-based consideration of up to EUR 70 million to MEP two years after closing of the transaction. Subject to regulatory approval, the transaction is expected to close in mid-2012. Orange Austria had estimated revenues of EUR 500 million and a total customer base of 2.3 million at the end of 2011. The company employs almost 800 people. The combination of Austria's third and fourth largest mobile operators creates a company with a pro forma 2.8 million customers, market share of 22 percent and combined revenues of more than EUR 700 million in 2011. 853542 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:31:00 +0100 http://www.telecompaper.com/news/america-movil-picks-alcatel-lucent-for-lte-deployment (Telecompaper) America Movil has selected Alcatel-Lucent provide infrastructure for its LTE/4G network rollout in Latin America. The deployment will start with America Movil's Claro unit commercially launching high-speed mobile broadband services to subscribers in Puerto Rico in the coming weeks. Claro's service offering will use Alcatel-Lucent's LTE equipment, including its lightRadio product portfolio. 853507 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:18:00 +0100 http://www.telecompaper.com/news/ericsson-qualcomm-show-lte-to-wcdma-call-handover (Telecompaper) Ericsson and Qualcomm said they have completed the first successful handover of a voice call between LTE and WCDMA networks. LTE networks to date have been focused on handling data traffic only, while equipment makers work on a system to handle voice and SMS over LTE. In addition, equipment is needed to ensure calls can continue when customers move outside LTE coverage areas. The Ericsson platform is based on the 3GPP-standardized Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (SRVCC) protocol, which automatically hands over to WCDMA or GSM networks during the call. The test was successfully completed last December using Ericsson end-to-end network infrastructure and an LTE/3G multimode smartphone chipset from Qualcomm. The handover mechanism is supported on Ericsson's LTE/WCDMA/GSM RAN, Evolved Packet Core, MSC and IMS equipment. The first operators are expected to begin deploying SRVCC during 2012, followed by more global commercial launches in 2013. 853464 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:14:00 +0100 http://www.telecompaper.com/news/indian-supreme-court-cancels-122-gsm-licences (Telecompaper) India's Supreme Court has cancelled 122 GSM licences issued in 2008, putting at risk the business of some of the newest entrants on the market such as Telenor joint venture Uninor and Etisalat DB as well as established operators such as Tata Teleservices and Idea Cellular. The licences have been the subject of a corruption investigation for the past year and a half, which has landed the country's former telecoms minister in jail. The faulty award process allegedly cost the state billions in missed revenue. The court said in its ruling that the award of the licences by the previous government was "totally arbitrary and unconstitutional", the Financial Times reports. The court asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to prepare an auction to redistribute the spectrum. The existing licences will remain valid for four months, after which it's unclear whether operators will be forced to halt services. 853301 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:11:00 +0100 http://www.telecompaper.com/news/teliasonera-q4-sales-up-1-sees-modest-growth-in-2012 (Telecompaper) TeliaSonera reported fourth-quarter sales up 1.0 percent to SEK 27.12 billion, while sales excluding currency effects and acquisitions increased 2.1 percent. For the full year, organic sales were up 2.6 percent, just short of its outlook for an increase of around 3 percent. Adjusted EBITDA was up 3.2 percent on an organic basis and 2.1 percent on a reported basis to SEK 9.19 billion in Q4, and the margin rose to 33.9 percent from 33.5. Net profit still fell 6.3 percent to SEK 4.97 billion, and EPS dropped to SEK 1.15 from 1.18 a year earlier. The company added a net 2.4 million new subscribers at consolidated companies and 3.3 million new lines at associated companies in the quarter, for a total base of 170.0 million at year-end. Despite a drop in annual net profit and free cash flow, TeliaSonera increased its dividend to SEK 2.85 per share from SEK 2.75 a year ago. Free cash flow fell to SEK 9.63 billion from SEK 12.90 billion in 2010 due to higher capex for network expansion and licences and lower dividends from associate companies such as Turkcell. The company said it expects organic revenues and profits to continue to grow in 2012, despite economic and industrial challenges. The outlook is for a 1-2 rise in organic sales, unchanged adjusted EBITDA margin and capex again at 13-14 percent of sales, excluding licence and spectrum fees. TeliaSonera said it will also looks for acquisition opportunities in or around its existing footprint. 853278 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:20:00 +0100 http://www.telecompaper.com/news/facebook-files-for-ipo (Telecompaper) Facebook has filed for an initial public offering of shares in the US, aiming to raise USD 5 billion. The filing with the SEC reveals details on the continued growth at the world's largest social network. The number of active users reached 845 million in December 2011, up 39 percent from a year earlier. Active daily users numbered 483 million in December, up 48 percent from a year earlier, and Facebook said over 425 million users were accessing the network from their mobile phone in December. The company generated revenues of USD 3.71 billion in 2011, up from USD 1.97 billion in 2010, and its net profit improved to USD 1.00 billion from USD 606 million. It had accumulated cash of over USD 3.9 billion by the end of 2011. Facebook said it did not have a specific use in mind for the proceeds of the IPO. The offering is expected to open a public market for fund-raising and may provide funds for settling tax coming due and possible acquisitions. The SEC filing shows that Facebook executives and directors control 70 percent of the company's shares, including a 28.2 percent stake for CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg and voting agreements to give him majority control. Other major shareholders include Accel Partners with 11.4 percent, DST with 5.5 percent and Dustin Moskovitz with 7.6 percent. It was not announced which shareholders would be selling stock in the IPO or if Facebook would issue new shares. The company will list on the Nasdaq or NYSE markets. One of the largest IPOs of an internet company ever, Facebook's IPO was expected this year, as the growing number of shareholders in the company would require it to start filing public accounts under US law. 853273 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:02:00 +0100 http://www.telecompaper.com/news/qualcomm-raises-outlook-again-after-strong-q4 (Telecompaper) Qualcomm reported record revenues for its fiscal first quarter to 25 December of USD 4.68 billion, up 40 percent from the year-earlier period thanks to strong demand for its chips in smartphones. Operating profit rose 24 percent to USD 1.55 billion, net profit was up 20 percent to USD 1.40 billion, and EPS improved 14 percent to USD 0.81. The company shipped 156 million MSM in the quarter, equal to growth of 32 percent year-on-year and 23 percent sequentially. Qualcomm finished the quarter with USD 22 billion in cash. For fiscal Q2, the company forecast sales up 19-29 percent from a year earlier to USD 4.6-5.0 billion and a more than doubling in EPS to USD 1.20-1.26. MSM shipments are expected to grow 24-31 percent to 146-154 million. Qualcomm also increased its guidance for the full year. It now expects sales of USD 18.7-19.7 billion, versus its previous outlook of USD 18.0-18.7 billion, and the EPS forecast rises to USD 3.36-3.56 from USD 2.80-3.00. The market outlook was increased to an estimated 875-945 million 3G/4G devices shipped in calendar 2012 and an average selling price of USD 204-216 per device in Qualcomm's fiscal year. 853286 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:35:00 +0100 http://www.telecompaper.com/news/eu-parliament-proposes-steeper-cuts-in-roaming-prices (Telecompaper) The EU Parliament is pushing for much steeper reductions in roaming fees than those proposed last year by European Commissioner Neelie Kroes. According to a draft proposal seen by Reuters, the parliament is aiming for a rate of EUR 0.15 per minute, compared with Kroes's plan for a one-third cut to EUR 0.24. Mobile data would be capped at EUR 0.20 per MB, rather than EUR 0.50 under the European Commission's proposal. Angelika Niebler, a German politician steering the proposed regulation through parliament, said mobile operators should not charge customers differently depending on where they are. "There should really be no roaming (fees) at a time when we are supposed to have a single market," Niebler said in an interview. The two sides are set to debate the measures in the coming months with the aim of arriving at a compromise law that would be phased in over three years. Under the parliament's proposal, the caps proposed by Kroes would come into force in July 2012, with its steeper cuts implemented in 2013 and 2014. Niebler's draft proposal would lower the cost of incoming calls to 5 cents per minute by 2014, half the rate proposed by Kroes, and cut the price of a text message by 50 percent to EUR 0.05. The current caps are EUR 0.35 per minute for outgoing calls and EUR 0.11 for incoming calls. 852993 Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:12:00 +0100 http://www.telecompaper.com/news/sony-names-playstation-head-hirai-as-new-ceo (Telecompaper) Sony announced the appointment of Kazuo Hirai as its new president and CEO, effective 01 April. He replaces Howard Stringer, who will continue as chairman of the company and take over as board chair from June, when Yotaro Kobayashi retires. Hirai is currently executive deputy president of Sony, in charge of consumer products and services, and chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment, the division for Sony's Playstation gaming activities. Before working on Playstation he spent several years at Sony Music. Sony also promoted Tadashi Saito to chief strategy officer and executive VP, also from April. He is currently president of the semiconductors division and the Professional, Device and Solutions group. Hiroshi Yoshioka was also moved from executive deputy president for the professional division to executive responsible for the medical equipment business. 852969 Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:12:00 +0100