GrameenPhone IPO finally going ahead

AFP reports that Bangladesh's largest cellco by subscribers Grameenphone has received permission from the country's Securities and Exchange Commission to list on the domestic stock exchange, following months of delays. The announcement comes almost one year after the Telenor subsidiary first revealed plans for an initial public offering (IPO). The operator said 10% of its share capital would be raised in IPO and pre-IPO sales, up from the 8.95% previously planned, adding that it would be a ‘fast process’, although it did not specify a timescale. The IPO was first announced in late July 2008, but in October the company said it had been delayed because of the global economic downturn. GrameenPhone's Norwegian parent currently owns 62% of the company, with the other 38% held by Grameen Telecom, itself wholly owned by Grameen Bank of Bangladesh.

PTCL inks three deals with Universal Service Fund Pakistan’s Universal Service Fund (USF) and incumbent fixed line and broadband provider Pakistan Te

Pakistan’s Universal Service Fund (USF) and incumbent fixed line and broadband provider Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) have signed three broadband contracts, Trading Markets reports. Under the terms of the agreements PTCL will provide broadband services in the unserved urban regions of southern Punjab and Lower Sindh. It has also agreed to bring fibre-optic connectivity to all tehsils (administrative divisions) in southern Balochistan, and will install around 1,166km of fibre-optic cable in the region. As a result of the projects approximately 63,000 new broadband connections are expected to be established in southern Punjab, and PTCL will also set up educational broadband centres (EBCs) in 206 high schools, colleges and libraries, as well as 58 community broadband centres (CBCs). In Sindh around 23,500 new connections are expected, alongside 82 EBCs and 43 CBCs. The USF will give PTCL PKR1.16 billion (USD14.3 million) for the developments in Punjab, PKR550 million for Sindh and PKR1.2 billion for the fibre rollout in Balochistan

Packet One to extend WiMAX to Sarawak in early 2010

Malaysian WiMAX provider Packet One Networks (P1) has revealed plans to extend its wireless broadband service to Sarawak early next year, Bernama is reporting. Citing comments from P1’s CEO, Michael Lai, the operator is understood to have targeted the state as a key market due to solid growth of broadband uptake in the region. ‘Sarawak grew its household broadband penetration from 9.7% in 2007 to 13.6% at the end of last year and aims to increase this further to 50% by 2010’, Mr Lai said. The executive also reiterated previous claims that P1 is on track to meet its target of covering 35% of the Malaysian population by the end of 2009, and said that it had begun offering its service in Ipoh, Kuantan and Kuala Terengganu.

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Axiata optimistic for future

Axiata Group says that its earnings growth may accelerate in 2010 on the back of regional economies emerging from the global credit crunch and capital expenditure cuts, reports Bloomberg. Speaking in an interview CEO Jamaludin Ibrahim stated that EBITDA could increase by between 6% and 9% in 2010, up from between 4% and 6% in 2009. Revenues meanwhile are expected to grow by more than 10% while capital expenditure will be brought below MYR4 billion (USD1.1 billion) compared with MYR4.3 billion this year. The executive also revealed that the company is giving itself five years to achieve a significant increase in the value of its Indian business, otherwise it will exit the country.

HSBB details released

According to the Malaysian Insider, residents of Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Bangsar, Subang Jaya and Shah Alam will be able to take advantage of broadband connection speeds of more than 10Mbps within the next two years under the country’s High Speed Broadband (HSBB) project. Klang Valley and Iskandar Malaysia residents will receive similar speeds next, followed by as many as 1.3 million households in 2012. HSBB is a public-private partnership between Telekom Malaysia (contributing MYR8.9 billion [USD2.5 billion]) and the government (contributing MYR2.4 billion).

TM in talks with operators for HSBB wholesale capacity Malaysia’s fixed line and broadband incumbent Telekom Malaysia (TM) is currently in negotiatio

Malaysia’s fixed line and broadband incumbent Telekom Malaysia (TM) is currently in negotiations with 13 operators regarding the sale of wholesale broadband capacity on its forthcoming high speed broadband (HSBB) network. Commenting on the talks TM group CEO, Datuk Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa, said: ‘For the wholesale service, we have to engage and understand their (access seekers) business requirements. The service delivered to them is customised and peculiar to their needs. It takes time to do this.’ TM has not revealed the name of any parties it is in discussion with.

The news follows reports earlier this week that TM had begun the physical work for the laying of the HSBB access infrastructure in 22 exchange areas; the operator is expected to roll out services in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Bangsar, Subang Jaya and Shah Alam by the end of 2009.

Vodafone Essar bags NLD, ILD licences; granted permission to hive off tower business India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has given the

India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has given the nod to mobile operator Vodafone Essar’s applications for national long-distance (NLD) and international long-distance (ILD) licences, the Economic Times reports. The FIPB has also granted the operator a national internet service provider (ISP) licence; previously Vodafone held an ISP licence for the Gujarat circle only. In making its application for the licences Vodafone had said it hoped the NLD licence would enable it to reduce operating costs for carrying subscriber trunk dialling (STD) traffic as it would no longer rely on renting capacity on other operator’s networks.

It was also reported that the FIPB had given permission for Vodafone to divest its mobile towers and other related infrastructure to a separate arm, Ortus Infratel; it had previously deferred Vodafone plans to create Ortus Infratel twice on the back of concerns raised by the Department of International Taxation. Under the plans Ortus Infratel and Holdings will hold Vodafone Essar’s 42% stake in Indus Towers, a three-way joint venture between Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular that manages towers in 16 telecom circles.

TTSL begins commercial GSM services in Chennai and Tamil Nadu Tata TeleServices (TTSL) has launched GSM-based commercial services in Chennai and Tami

Tata TeleServices (TTSL) has launched GSM-based commercial services in Chennai and Tamil Nadu, the Business Standard reports. The new service will be offered under the Tata DoCoMo brand, to reflect the investment from new stakeholder NTT DoCoMo which picked up a 26% stake in the Indian cellco in March 2009. At launch the service in the Tamil Nadu circle will be available in 775 towns and 4,370 villages, and initially only pre-paid services will be offered, although the cellco expects to launch post-paid tariffs by next week.

TTSL has reiterated plans to spend around USD2 billion on the rollout of its nationwide GSM network, having acquired a licence to operate GSM-based services in 19 of the country’s telecom circles. It has already been allocated spectrum for 18 circles; it has yet to receive spectrum for Delhi. The company has set its sights on becoming one of the top three GSM operators within the next two to three years.

Zong set to spend USD500 million on base station expansion plans Pakistani mobile operator CMPak (Zong) plans to spend approximately USD500 million o

Pakistani mobile operator CMPak (Zong) plans to spend approximately USD500 million on increasing the number of base stations it has in operation to approximately 9,000 by the end of 2009, according to The Daily Times. The reports claims that Zong plans to double the number of cell sites it has in certain areas of the country, and claims that the project is one of the largest undertaken in Pakistan. Zong’s parent company, China Mobile, has already invested around USD1.66 billion in its Pakistan unit to date, USD600 billion of which was spent in the second half of the 2008-2009 fiscal year alone. As well as the infrastructure expansion, Zong is expected to increase the number of sale and service centres nationwide; at present it has an estimated 45,000 such centres.

According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, at the end of March 2009 Zong had 5.5 million subscribers, more than double the 2.14 million it had a year earlier. Despite the impressive growth however it remains fifth-placed in the country’s wireless sector in terms of market share, with 6.08% at that date.

BSNL signs GPON deal with Sterlite According to Sify.com, BSNL has inked a deal worth INR2.5 billion (USD51.6 million) with Sterlite Technologies for

BSNL signs GPON deal with Sterlite

According to Sify.com, BSNL has inked a deal worth INR2.5 billion (USD51.6 million) with Sterlite Technologies for the provision of next generation Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network (GPON) technology. Sterlite, which is backed by Chinese vendor Huawei, secured the contract in the face of competition from Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), ZTE and Indian Telephone Industries (ITI). The upgrade will allow the company to offer IPTV, video on demand and other high bandwidth services.

Government sets 3G price, aims to raise over USD6.6bn The Indian government today announced a final reserve price of INR40.4 billion (USD834 million)

The Indian government today announced a final reserve price of INR40.4 billion (USD834 million) for nationwide 3G mobile spectrum, paving the way for a licence auction expected by September this year. Up to six private 3G operators will initially be allowed per regional telecoms zone ('circle'), whilst state-owned telcos BSNL and MTNL have already been separately reserved 3G spectrum and must match private cellcos' payments, meaning that the government is aiming to earn at least INR323.2 billion (USD6.67 billion) from the auction, based on all available slots being filled. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) previously proposed a minimum price for nationwide frequencies of INR20.2 billion but the price was doubled based on a decision by the Ministry of Finance. Both BSNL and MTNL launched their first 3G services in February 2009.

1.16 million subscribers added in May According to statistics released by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), wireless operators added 1.

According to statistics released by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), wireless operators added 1.16 million subscribers during May 2009, bringing the country’s total base to 93.1 million. Mobilink achieved the highest net additions with 431,000, maintaining its position as market leader, followed by Telenor (374,000). Warid, Ufone and Zong all added between 135,000 and 141,000. Local analysts have ascribed the strong growth to a plethora of free minutes subscription plans and SMS offers.