Mobile operator strategies - 31/08/06

Belgacom will pay $2.6bn for buying Vodafone's 25% stake in Proximus, its mobile arm.

Orange Slovakia has launched commercial HDSPA services at the end of August.

13 companies have received MVNO licenses in Spain. But local mobile operators are being slow, and are delaying the entrance of MVNOs. The Spanish regulator should be forced to step in.

Vodafone is expected to sell its share in Swisscom Mobile for $3.5bn-3.8bn. It is expected to launch 3G service in Fidji by next year.

SK Telekom (S. Korea) and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China have signed a deal, including a joint center for research in China on TD-SCDMA; SKT planning to deploy a TD-SCDMA network in S. Korea on an experimental basis in 2007.

Nigeria's Glo Mobile says that it is ready to launch its 3G network.

TOT (Thailand) announced it will buy CAT Telecom's 42% stake in Thai Mobile for $35m, and will absorb its $79m debt.