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Bangladesh: Orascom to Pay Government US$ 17.9 million |
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Thursday, 11 October 2007 |
Banglalink, the Bangladesh subsidiary of Orascom Telecom (OT), will pay US$ 17.9 million to the government of Bangladesh in compensation for revenues lost through the use of VoIP.
Banglalink will pay the Government after an investigation by the regulatory authority revealed that some Banglalink customers had used the service for VoIP business. VoIP usage violates Bangladesh’s telecommunications regulations because VoIP calls deprive BTTB, the monopoly operator, of revenue. OT said that Banglalink was not aware of the VoIP activities and that the company would follow the regulator’s guidelines.
Source: Reuters - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News.
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Russia: SkyLink bidding for GSM licenses in Siberia |
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Wednesday, 10 October 2007 |
The CDMA 450 operator SkyLink is bidding for eleven GSM licenses in Siberia.
The Tender Committee at the Federal Supervisory Service on Communication, Mass Media and Culture Protection (FSS) say that 41 companies are participating in two tenders for GSM licenses in Siberia. On October 18, eleven 1800 MHz spectrum blocks will be auctioned for Irkutsk, Tomsk and Chita Regions, Ust-Ordynsk, Buryat and Aginsk Autonomous Areas. Two 900 MHz blocks will be auctioned for the Ust-Ordynsky Area. Frequency distribution in Siberia is part of a program for 2007 to distribute regional GSM spectrum.
The major mobile operators in Russia are all participating in the tender. MegaFon is bidding for eight blocks. VimpelCom and MTS submitted three bids each. The other tender participants are three Svyazinvest subsidiaries – Volgatelecom, Dalsvyaz, Sibirtelecom – the Novosibirsk subsidiary of Tele2, SMARTS, Vladivostok New Telephone Company, Strimton, FirmaGeocom and Summa Telecom.
SkyLink’s participation in the tender was unexpected, as the company operates a CDMA network.
“We consider GSM licenses as one of the possibilities to build up a multi-range two-standard cellular network, which will enable our subscribers to make use of various technologies advantages…” Gulnara Khasianova, SkyLink Director General said.
Source: C News - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News.
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Ghana: Six Bidders Short-Listed for Ghana Telecom |
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Friday, 05 October 2007 |
Six companies, including Portugal Telecom, France Telecom and Telkom South Africa have been short-listed for a 51% stake in Ghana Telecom (GT).
Twenty foreign investors expressed interest in GT when the Government announced in early 2007 that 51% of the company would be sold to a strategic investor. The remainder of the shares are to be sold on the Ghana Stock Exchange. A source close to the Information Ministry said that the short-listed bidders would soon submit their bids.
Ecobank Development Corporation and Societe Generale are the Government’s transaction advisors for the privatization. It is believed that the transaction would be completed by the end of this year. The two companies will advise the Government on the valuation of GT’s assets leading to a subsequent pricing of its shares.
Source: Ghanaian Chronicle - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News. |
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Indonesia: At Least Forty Operators Interested in Universal Service Project |
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Wednesday, 03 October 2007 |
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At least 40 operators have expressed interest in the rural telephony tender through the universal service obligation (USO) program. Over twenty of those expressing interest have said they want to bid for all regions to be served by the current round of tenders.
Gatot S. Dewa Broto, a representative of the Directorate General of Post and Telecommunication said that the government was accepting USO pre-qualification registration until October 3. According to Broto, the government would allow one operator to work in several USO regions or possibly in all regions – which would encompass 38,471 villages – as long as they were able to meet the bidding requirements.
Some of the companies that have expressed their interests in working on all USO regions are Telkom, Indosat, Excelcomindo, Bakrie Telecom, and Telkomsel. There is some concern from the House of Representatives that the victory of Telkom would hold back the progress of competition in the telecommunications sector. Source: Bisnis Indonesia - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News. |
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Armenia: ArmenTel loses monopoly |
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Monday, 01 October 2007 |
ArmenTel’s monopoly ended effective October 1, 2007. The end of the monopoly comes as a result of an August decision of the Commission for Regulating Public Services (CRPS). ArmenTel was initially granted a monopoly in 1997 which was to be effective until 2013. Sector liberalisation will apply to all types of services, including local service, domestic and international long distance, mobile, data and leased lines.
According to CRPS member Samvel Arabajyan, the CRPS is satisfied that new providers will soon enter the market. A new mobile operator will not be allowed to enter the market until January 1, 2009. In conjunction with liberalising the sector, the licensing process in Armenia has also been simplified. Companies are now to be granted licenses within five days of submitting applications.
ArmenTel representative Hasmik Chutilyan said that the company is prepared for competition. Armentel is owned by Russian operator Vimpelcom.
Source: A1plus.am - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News.
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Colombia: Operators Sue Anti-Trust Regulator |
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Friday, 28 September 2007 |
The telephony division of Colombia’s public utility Empresas Publicas de Medellin SA (EPM) is suing the anti-trust regulator for US$ 2.38 billion for failing to stop price collusion between mobile operators between 1998 and 2005.
According to a filing with the securities regulator from EPM, the company, along with other fixed-line operators, is seeking compensation for losses incurred after Colombia’s two largest mobile operators agreed to charge similar fees for calls made from fixed-lines to mobile phones. EPM is seeking compensation for market opportunitites the fixed line companies failed to exploit, as well as damages.
Last month, the anti-trust regulator fined the Colombian units of America Movil and Telefonica after finding that the two operators had agreed to fix prices between 1998 and 2005. The regulator imposed a fine of US$ 862,000 on Comcel, the Colombian unit of America Movil, and a fine of US$ 287,000 on Telefonica.
Comcel and Telefonica had agreed to charge higher fees for calls made from fixed-lines to mobiles than for calls made from mobiles to fixed-lines to boost mobile usage, the regulator said. Despite being illegal, the price agreement lasted seven years between 1998 and 2005, when the telecommunications regulator limited fixed-to-mobile interconnection fees.
The two companies have appealed their fines and deny any wrongdoing, said Hernando Ruiz, who led the investigation on behalf of the anti-trust regulator. EPM also appealed the fines, arguing they are too low, Ruiz said.
Source: Dow Jones - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News. |
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Peru: New quality standards could lead to increased mobile prices |
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Wednesday, 26 September 2007 |
Osiptel, Peru's telecommunications regulator, has proposed changes to quality of service measurement for the mobile sector which could lead to increased mobile prices.
Mobile operator Claro's general manager Humberto Chavez said that to meet the minimum requirements proposed by Osiptel, operators would have to significantly expand their networks. The costs of expansion would be transferred to consumers, Chavez said.
Osiptel proposed new quality standards, including measuring dropped calls and uncompleted calls by taking measurements at base stations every hour. The regulator also proposed measuring the time required to connect a call, the time it takes for an SMS to reach its destination, as well as setting a minimum acceptable level of reception a customer should experience within a concession area. Operators failing to meet the new requirements could face sanctions. A 30-day public consultation period was initiated by Osiptel when the proposed new standards were released earlier in September.
Source: Business News Americas - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News. |
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India: USO fund and rural broadband |
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Tuesday, 25 September 2007 |
India’s Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund will hold a tender in October for the provision of broadband services in rural and remote areas.
The tender would be designed to enable the country to meet the government’s target of 20 million broadband connections by 2010. Fixed and mobile operator BSNL wants to have 18 million broadband subscribers by the end of 2010. As of the end of August, there were 2.56 million broadband subscribers in India. From April to August, India added 220,000 broadband connections.
Recently, Department of Telecommunications secretary DS Mathur wrote a letter to a number of large telecom providers to say that the government would provide back-haul capacity to help service providers offer broadband connectivity in rural areas. The idea is to connect the district headquarters and block headquarters by providing back-haul capacity between them. To accomplish this objective, the USO Fund is working with Telecom Consultants India (a PSU under the Ministry of Communications) to conduct a study and collect information from all service providers on fibre optic networks in rural and remote areas.
Source: Diligent Media - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News. |
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Rwanda: Government receives six bids for Rwandatel |
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Thursday, 20 September 2007 |
There are six bidders for Rwandatel, Rwanda's state-owned fixed and mobile operator. In August, the government offered to sell up to a 70% stake in the firm.
The six bidders are Vodacom, Celtel, V-Tel Holdings of Jordan, Bit Map from Singapore, Uganda's LapGreen Network and Rwanda's R-Com.
"We are looking for a strategic investor with capacity to develop the sector by improving the quality of services and meeting the ever increasing expectations of telecommunications market in Rwanda," Rwandatel said.
Rwanda’s telecommunications sector is dominated by South African firm MTN. MTN Rwanda's chief operating officer said the company’s subscriber figures have doubled to 500,000 in the last year.
Source: Reuters - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News. |
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Benin: MTN agrees to new license fee |
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Tuesday, 18 September 2007 |
MTN has agreed to pay a license fee of US $60 million to have its Benin network reconnected. The settlement was negotiated by South African President Thabo Mbeki and Benin's President Thomas Boni Yayi.
MTN's network was disconnected on July 12 after Benin’s telecommunications regulator ruled that all four of the country’s mobile operators must pay US$ 52 million in fees after it retroactively raised the price of a license by 500%. MTN refused to pay the new fee.
"The MTN group has accepted the conditions laid out in the new fees structure," the vice-president of Benin’s regulator, Victor Tokpanou said.
MTN has agreed to pay the new fee for its 10 year license. The company’s Benin network does business as Spacetel, and was inherited by MTN through its US$ 5.5 billion acquisition of Investcom. MTN said negotiations with Benin's government were ongoing since the network was shut down in July.
The agreement will see Spacetel accept a new licensing framework. Of the US$ 60 million in fees due from the operator, US$ 30 million is payable within 30 days of signing the agreement, while the remainder is payable in annual instalments of US$ 4.2 million over seven years. In return, the government pledged to issue a new license to Spacetel for 10 additional years, grant the company a three-year tax holiday, exempt it from customs duties for five years and reduce various annual license fees from 6% to 3%.
The government will extend Spacetel's license for a further five years if it meets developmental targets still to be agreed. The government also promised to attempt to facilitate an extension of the tax holiday for more than three years.
Mbeki's direct approach to Benin's president resulted in a deal far more beneficial for MTN than the company could have negotiated alone. The initial regulatory decision was for MTN to pay the US$ 52 million difference between the old license fee and the new license fee for the right to continue operating. That decision involved no extended license period and no tax concessions.
MTN's network in Benin has about 569,000 users, for a 39% market share. Only around 19% of Benin's population are mobile users, so there is good growth potential.
Source: Lesley Stones (Business Day South Africa) - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News. |
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