WCA January 2007

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Telecom News
22 Wire & Cable ASIA – January/February 2007
Through Sagem, Motorola could pick
up market share in India, Indonesia,
and other developing markets. A stock
analyst told the Tribune that Sagem
has made inroads in those countries
with low-priced, low-end phones.
Another stock analyst observed that
Sagem also could help Motorola gain
market share in Europe, particularly
through its higher-end phones.
Motorola is second to Nokia in Europe,
but it is further behind the Finnish
phone giant there than it is globally.
Nokia’s Western European share in the
second quarter was 35%, Motorola’s
17%, according to IDC. Sagem’s share
was 5%.
Short takes . . .
The government of Macau on
24 th October awarded 3G (third-
generation) mobile telephony
licenses to Hutchison Telephone
Macau; China Unicom local
subsidiary Macau Unicom; and
local operator Companhia de
Telecomunicacoes de Macau.
The Hutchison unit is owned by
Hong Kong’s Hutchison Tele-
communications International.
The winning bids superseded
those of Hong Kong’s SmarTone-
Vodafone and Macau’s Kong
Seng Paging.
Italy’s biggest phone company
Telecom Italia SpA has confirmed
that it will shift its fixed-line access
network into a separate unit. A plan
to split off the domestic wireless
business may have been shelved,
analysts said. Chiara Remondini,
of Bloomberg News, reported
on 25th October that the Milan-
based company did not mention
the separation of Telecom Italia
Mobile SpA, which was part of the
reorganisation plan announced on
11th September. That plan marked
a shift in strategy after Telecom
Italia spent $26 billion to buy back
its wireless unit in 2005.
A healthier Portugal Telecom was
likely to be successful in repelling
a hostile takeover by Sonaecom
SA, a unit of the largest private
employer in Portugal. The per-
ceived risk of owning Lisbon-based
Portugal Telecom’s $4.1 billion in
bonds had declined to the lowest
in three months on 26 th October, an
indication that an acquisition was
not in the works. An unsuccessful
takeover would mean that Portugal
Telecom keeps its investment
grade rating as designated by
Standard & Poor’s.
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The $1.9 billion purchase of a
controlling stake in Thailand’s
dominant telecommunications
conglomerate early this year by
a group led by the Singapore
government’s investment arm,
Temasek Holdings, has led
to problems that could have a
dampening effect on foreign
investment. The purchase of
the company, Shin, provoked
nationalist outrage in Thailand.
And buying it from the family of an
unpopular prime minister sparked
off extensive street protests that
culminated on 19th September in
the military ousting of Thai leader,
Thaksin Shinawatra. The coup
attracted wide notice to Temasek,
which is conducting an ambitious
overseas investment campaign that
exceeded $13 billion in its latest
fiscal year. Temasek has materially
helped Singapore in its effort to
stay up with its competitors China
and India.
Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe’s
biggest phone company, plans
to spend $2.7 billion over three
years to build a high-speed mobile
network in the US. By adding
services, the German company’s
cellular phone unit T-Mobile,
fourth-largest in the US, plans to
boost its customer count by least
50% to 35-40 million subscribers
by 2015. In September, T-Mobile
USA spent $4.2 billion on wireless
licenses. Deutsche Telekom
bought the company, formerly
known as VoiceStream Wireless
Corp, for $35 billion in 2001.
President Jacques Chirac of
France on 27th October called
for closer ties with China in
telecommunications and other
fields. Mr Chirac flew from Beijing
to the central city of Wuhan to
place the symbolic last brick in a
new factory being built by Paris-
based auto maker PSA Peugeot-
Citroen SA. The French president
took the opportunity to broaden
the scope of his expectations,
noting that France ‘is ready for the
most ambitious cooperation’ with
Beijing in other sectors, such as
telecom.
Telecom carrier Global Crossing
Ltd (Hamilton, Bermuda) said it
will buy Impsat Fiber Networks
Inc for about $95 million and the
assumption of about $241 million
of debt. Global Crossing, which
operates an Internet Protocol-
based system of networks, said
it will pay cash for the Buenos
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Aires, Argentina-based company.
Impsat operates a private
telecommunications network and
provides Internet services in Latin
America. According to Business
Week (26th October), the deal
is expected to close in the first
quarter of 2007.
Impsat’s cash balance as of June
2006 was $23 million. Separately,
Global Crossing said it has
obtained a financing commitment
for about $95 million to pay for its
acquisition of UK-based Fibernet
Group PLC.
3G licensing in Russia has come
a step nearer, now that the State
Radio Frequency Commission
has announced frequency
allocations for next-generation
services. The commission will
offer an unspecified number of
concessions in the 1.935GHz-
1.980GHz, 2.010GHz-2.025GHz,
and 2.125GHz-2.170GHz bands.
Prime Tass reports that three
licenses are expected to be
auctioned. The country’s two
largest cellular operators, MTS
and Vimpelcom, confirmed to
the news agency that they intend
to bid for 3G licenses. The third-
largest operator, MegaFon , did not
disclose any plans. Fuller details of
the auction process were expected
to be announced in December.
KDDI Europe, a wholly owned
subsidiary of Japan’s second-
largest integrated telecom operator
KDDI Corp, has contracted with
Juniper Networks, of the US,
to supply it with appliances for
launching a managed service to
provide secure remote network
access in Europe.
In a press release Juniper said
its Secure Access solution would
enable the European company to
deliver network-based SSL VPN
services to multiple enterprises of
any size from a single appliance
and/or cluster. As reported by
TeleGeography (24th October), the
new service will also utilise the
vendor’s integrated platforms to
protect the network infrastructure
in KDDI’s London data centre.
This facility is provided by
KDDI Europe’s sister company
Telehouse Europe. The new
service is being made available
initially in the UK but will then be
extended across Europe.
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