Mobile operator strategies -13/10/06

Telstra has opened its 3G-HSDPA network, covering almost 100% of the Aussie population and about 25% of the country.

Vodafone Egypt has bought majority stake in Egyptian ISP Raya Telecom for $43m.

Vodafone New Zealand has bought service provider ihug (New Zealand)for $26m.

Vodafone Spain plans to launch W-CDMA/HSDPA modem next week.

Vodafone has signed a deal with Phones 4u, making it the only high street seller of Vodafone phones on contract terms in the UK.

America Movil is continuing with the purchase of CANT (Venezuela) from Verizon (28.5%) and other shareholders. The acquisition is part of a more significant deal to buy Verizon Dominicana and a 52% stake in Telecomunicaciones de Puerto Rico from Verizon for about $3.7bn.

Orange will launch in Nov. mobile TV HD services on its 3G network, providing a better video quality as it is not dependent upon the number of connected subscribers. Orange said quality will be about the same as with DVB-H standard.

Sprint Nextel is conducting trials of Qualcomm' s MediaFLO mobile TV service. It markets the service under the Vue brand. Verizon is already testing the technology and could soon announced commercial launch.

T-Mobile USA plans to to introduce cellular/WiFi phones by the end of this year.

Xfera (Spain) has completed the first call using its UMTS network.

Millicom completed the full control of Colombian mobile operator Ola,

LG Telecom (South Korea) plans to introduce CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A services during 1H07.