Mobile operator strategies - 7/12/05

Bouygues Telecom and some other European mobile operators have brought Freemove roaming alliance (FT, DT, TI and Telefonica) to the European Commission for anti competitive behavior.

America Movil could launch 3G service in 2007 in LATAM. It said it is not in a hurry to launch 3G given penetration rates are still low, it has overcapacity for current applications, and high levels of 3G handset prices today.

Cell C (S. Africa) has launched an EDGE upgrade to its GSM network.

Cingular Wireless is launching Push-To-Talk phone service. The service will be powered by Kodiak Networks. It goes high speed with the announced launch of HSDPA BroadbandConnect service in 16 markets in the USA.

Telesp Celular Participacoes (Brazil) will merge with Tele Centro Oeste Celular, Tele Sudeste Celular, Tele Leste Celular and Celular CRT in Brazil. All five mobile operators were already part of VIVO, a joint venture of Spain's Telefonica Moviles and Portugal Telecom, and will form Vivo Participacoes S.A.

Vodafone' shareholders are unhappy with the strategic direction being taken by Arun Sarin in Japan and the US. They asked Vodafone to sell Vodafone KK in Japan and 45% stake in Verizon Wireless.
Vodafone will launch this month its global Mobile TV channels.

Spain' Xfera will finally launch its mobile operations in June 06. Besides Teliasonera, Xfera tries to sell a controlling stake to Hutchison.

Telsim (Turkey) has received seven bids, including Vodafone, Orascom Telecom; Sistema (Russia); MTC (Kuwaiti); Etisalat (U.A.E); Endeks Telecom (Germany); and International Investments and Telecommunications (U.A.E.). The winner of the Telsim assets will be announced on 13 December 2005.

Malaysia' s mobile operator Celcom plans to launch Chinese-language 3G content offerings in a bid to boost its W-CDMA subscriber base. Celcom targets 26% of Malaysia's population that is ethnic Chinese.

Portugal Telecom and South African MTN have submitted a joint bid for a 34% stake in Namibia Mobile Telecom.

German discount retailer Aldi is launching MVNO discount service in Germany using E-Plus network.

Kyivstar and UMC, both mobile operators in Ukraine, protested against Ukrtelekon's 3G license award (without tender or auction).

Telstra and Hutchison are again in talks for 3G network sharing, but this time for the planned 850-MHz 3G network (after 2.1-GHz network). Telstra announced last month that it will shut its existing CDMA network and launch a new 850-MHz WCDMA 3G network built by Ericsson.