Cellular-News for Friday 24th March 2006

Cellular-News -

[[ Financial ]]

Telefonica Moviles To Rule On Telefonica Merger March 29

Spanish mobile phone operator Telefonica Moviles, Thursday said it has postponed the board meeting to decide on parent Telefonica's merger proposal to March 29. ...

Bear Stearns valuation of Ola sparks dust-up

Colombian press was wrong to treat as gospel a US$600mn-800mn price estimate of mobile operator Colombia Mvil (Ola) in a recent newsletter published by US investment bank Bear Stearns, numerous industry players told BNamericas. ...

Vodafone Japan Facing Debt Downgrade

The debt ratings agency, Moody's has downgraded the debt held by Vodafone KK, the company's Japanese operations pending the sale of the company to Softbank. Moody's said the rating affirmations reflected its view that the disposal of Vodafone KK and ...

[[ Handsets ]]

NEC unit expects 13-14% rev growth in 2006

The Brazilian division of Japanese hardware firm NEC Corporation expects to post 13-14% revenue growth in 2006 compared to 2005, NEC do Brasil president Paulo Castelo Branco told BNamericas. ...

GSM LatAm sets agenda to develop low cost terminals

GSM Latin America, a trade association dedicated to promoting the adoption of the GSM mobile telephony standard, has settled on an agenda to develop an "Emerging Market Handset," GSM Latin America said in a statement. ...

PRESS: Russia's Euroset plans IPO of 10-15% in late 2006

Russia's largest mobile handset retailer Euroset plans to make an initial public offering (IPO) of 10%-15% of its shares in late 2006, the company's Financial Director Ruslan Gareyev said, Biznes business daily reported Thursday. ...

[[ Legal ]]

3 UK Wins Legal Battle Against O2 Over Advertising

3 UK, the mobile phone company owned by Hutchison Whampoa, Thursday said it has won its legal battle with rival operator O2, owned by Telefonica, over 3's advertising. ... [[ Mobile Content ]]

Brazil Banco do Brasil Widens Mobile Phone Credit Service

Brazil's government-controlled Banco do Brasil, the nation's largest retail bank, on Thursday announced plans to introduce its mobile phone credit service to millions of customers, including in those in Japan. ...

[[ MVNO ]]

CDMA2000 Operators Enable Wireless' Next Big Opportunity

The CDMA Development Group (CDG) has announced that the CDMA2000 industry in the USA is playing a key role in wireless' next big opportunity: the US$10 billion mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) market. This type of service provider targets speci...

[[ Network Operators ]]

Russia's Sibirtelecom to introduce single mobile brand in 2007

Russian regional telecommunications operator Sibirtelecom plans to launch a single brand for its mobile subsidiaries in early 2007, Vladimir Shibanov, the company's public relations director, said Thursday. ...

Belarus' Operator Completes Customer Migration to CDMA 450

Belarusian mobile telecommunications operator BelCel has closed its activity in the NMT-450 standard and moved all its users to the IMT-MC-450 standard, the company said Thursday. ...

CDMA Coverage Improved in Alaska

nAlaska Communications has announced the expansion of its CDMA network to include a site at the Alaska National Guard Headquarters in Anchorage. "We are very proud of our relationship with the military as we provide to them the best telecommunications...

[[ Regulatory ]]

EU Court Advisor:Belgium Mobile Number Portability Legal

The top adviser to the European Court of Justice Thursday said Belgium's system of fixing the price for consumers to retain their telephone numbers when they switch mobile phone operators was legal. ...

Russian Telecoms Min Backs Telenor Move To End Alfa Row

Russia's Telecommunications Minister, Leonid Reiman, Thursday said he supports Telenor's latest attempt to end a dispute with financial holding Alfa Group Russia over their joint control of wireless operator Vimpel Communications. ...

Canadian Telecoms Review Calls for Fundamental Reform

A policy review document for the future of Canada's telecommunications services has been published and handed to the Canadian government. The Panel was established in April 2005 to review Canadians policy framework government telecommunications, and ...

[[ Reports ]]

End of the Australian Boom for Mobiles?

According to a report from the Australian research group, Market Clarity, the local mobile market, which has grown by 120.6% since

2000, will only show a further 17.1% growth from 2005 to 2010. This is bad news for Australia's 3G sector, which has to... [[ Technology ]]

Wireless Carriers to Continue Spending Spree on Backhaul Technologies

Wireless network operators of all types are increasing their spending on technology to improve the backhaul connections that link their base stations to their core networks -- and this trend is likely to continue for the foreseeable future, according...

Adaptive WiMAX antenna Shown Off

One of the world's first 'WiMAX-ready' adaptive antenna systems will be unveiled by wireless solutions group, Radio Frequency Systems (RFS), at the CTIA Wireless 2006 exhibition. Designed to meet the needs of emerging IEEE 802.16 worldwide interopera...