Telcoflash: Telecom Market News

Nortel expects 2007 revenues to be flat, due to the same of its UMTS business to ALU. BenQ reports its 5th consecutive quaterly loss, worth $238m, on revenues down 48% to $1bn. For the year, BenQ reported a record net loss of $832m.

Rumor: French Iliad (Free) may go out of traditional fixed telephony, selling its OneTel unit and its 220k subscribers. Their strategy should be to focus on Internet (broadband access ADSL and FTTx) and mobility (FMC and perhaps 3G). EU plans to roll...

The EU Commission has launched probe into SFR' s bid on Tele2 fixed assets in France. The Commisison believes that the deal could shrink competition in the French Pay-TV market. Telefonica will trial a FTTH network in Brazil with about 4,000 households...

KPN is considering launching MVNO business in Spain. Belgian mobile operators will launch m-payment from their mobile devices. Nigeria plans to grant four 3G licenses and bring one new player in the market. Winners are Alheri Engineering, Celtel Nigeria,...

China Unicom has added 1.46m new users in February. O2 Germany currently has 35k DSL connections and target 250k by year-end. India: there were over 200m fixed and mobile telephony users in India at the end of Februrary. Teledensity was just 18%.

The mobile market is shifting to developing countries, with nine emerging markets in the top 10 mobile markets. In terms of net adds, India ranks first, followed by China, Pakistan, Russia, and the USA. Among emerging markets, the top 10 ranking gives...

Nortel filed 4Q06 and 2006 results. 4Q06 revenues were $3.3bn, up 10%, and net loss of $80m. FY revenues were $11.4bn, up 9%, while net earnings were ^$28m. 2006 cash balance was $3.5bn. In 4Q06, sales breakdown was $1.67bn in Mobility and Converged Core...

The EU telecom ministers agreed to cut mobile phone roaming fees. It is a big victory for the EU Commissioner Viviane Reding. The agreement could pave the way for a law on maximum roaming charges to be passed in early June. A price cap of €0.50 per minute...

According to Infonetics Research, if demand for radio access network equipment increased in unit by 8% in 2006, related revenues were down 2% to $41.6bn, due to a 14% drop in the massive GSM equipment market in 2006, and competitive pressure on prices....

Telecom Italia will have an opportunity in 2009 to take control of both Telecom Argentina and Telecom Personal (both in Argentina) if it exercices call option rights for control of Sofora Telecom, the holding company that controls Telecom Argentina and...