Tag Archives: EMAT

Iusacell and Telefonica Agree to Share Network Infrastructure

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Mexican mobile network, Iusacell and Telefonica’s local subsidiary have jointly announced an agreement to share their network infrastructure in the country.

The combined network will also start LTE trials later this year in anticipation of a commercial launch in 2013.

Under the terms of the agreement, which is slated to last for at least five years, Iusacell will gain access to Telefonica’s rural network, while Telefonica should be able to improve coverage in the cities, where Iusacell is stronger.

The network sharing deal is limited to their towers and fibre-optic networks. Where one network has coverage that the other lacks, roaming between the networks will be possible.

The companies declined to detail any commercial aspects of the deal, which still needs clearance from the regulator.

The move may help the two companies cut costs and compete with America Movil, which dominates the Mexican market with a market share of around 70%..

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Claro, Vivo, Oi and TIM win 4G licences in Brazil

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Vivo, Claro, TIM Brasil and Oi have been chosen to provide the 4G mobile internet service in Brazil. The companies submitted bids of BRL 1.05 billion, BRL 630.191 million, BRL 340 million and BRL 330.851 million respectively, winning the spectrum auction held on 12 June by the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel)

Frequencies in the 450 MHz band for rural mobile telephony were auctioned, too, and as there were no bids, the four operators that won the 4G auction will also be required to invest in that segment.

In the 4G auction notice, Anatel did not define what internet speeds operators must offer for the 2.5 GHz band service. For the 450 MHz band, the download speed must be at least 256 Kbps and the upload speed, 128 Kbps. In addition to the national and rural telephony lots, Anatel is also auctioning 268 lots of frequency bands for regional operations, and Sky Brasil won at least ten lots.

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6 Companies Apply for 4G Auction in Brazil

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Six groups have applied to participate in Brazil’s 4G auction of spectrum in the 2.5GHz band. Regulator Anatel said it received bid proposals from Claro Brasil, TIM Brasil, Oi, Vivo, Sky Brasil and Sunrise Telecomunicacoes.

The opening of the bids is scheduled for 12 June, at Anatel’s headquarters in Brasilia. The winners will be those that offer the highest price for each frequency block. If all lots offered are sold, Anatel expects to raise at least BRL 3.85 billion, based on reserve prices. As for the 450 MHz band, which will serve to expand the coverage of telephone and internet services in rural areas, the winner will be the one offering the lowest price to the consumer. According to the licence requirements, all municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants will have 4G coverage by 31 December 2016.

Colombia Begins 4G Spectrum Tender

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Colombia’s ICT Ministry and the Agencia Nacional del Espectro (ANE) have announced they will soon launch a spectrum tender for provision of 4G services.

According to the tender schedule, published on the ANE website, interested parties will be invited to submit their bids starting 4 July. The spectrum is expected to be awarded in September. The tender will include 225 MHz of spectrum in the 1850-1990 MHz, 1710-1755 MHz, 2110-2155 MHz and 2500-2690 MHz frequency bands.
Additionally, Oscar Leon, head of ANE, announced that Colombia will increase the spectrum caps. Thus the amount of frequencies to be assigned to one operator will now be limited to 85 MHz for high frequency bands and 30 MHz for low frequency bands.

Turmoil in the SMS Market in Brazil

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TIM and Claro filed a complaint against Vivo before the Brazilian regulator ANATEL, arguing that the promotion “Receive More SMS” (in Spanish: Reciba más SMS) created a parallel market for SMS.

The promotion launched by VIVO in 2011 and extended until the end of May 2012 encourages subscribers for every SMS received, the subscriber gets $ 0.0247 USD credit per SMS.

According to Marketing Director at TIM, Roger Solé, “this type of promotion encourages fraudulent use of SMS”.

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C&W Worldwide reports full-year EBITDA of GBP 378 million

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Cable & Wireless Worldwide – operating in the Caribbean and Latin America as LIME -has reported trading in line with expectations for the year ending 31 March with trading cash flow of GBP 99 million, compared to GBP 116 million a year earlier.

It has implemented the first phase of a performance improvement plan, including refinancing, new operating model and additional hosting capacity, and expects market conditions to remain challenging during 2012/2013. EBITDA was GBP 378 million for FY 2011/2012, down from GBP 442 million a year earlier.

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