The company has apparently already hired investment bankers to look at options to get as much money as possible for the mobile network. To sweeten the deal, one of the advisors, Deutsche Bank, said it will offer credit lines of up to $1 billion if necessary to the prospective buyer. Partner Communications’ stake is worth around $590 million, though there seem to be an option to bid for the publicly quotes shares as well.

The company had previously tried to sell a minority stake in Orange Israel, but it failed to find interested buyer. We’ll see whether they’ll succeed this time…

[Via: CellularNews]

As part of the deal, Hutchison will sell frequencies, base station sites, the mobile phone operator Yesss! Telekommunikation along with certain intellectual property rights to Telekom Austria Group, immediately after the acquisition is completed.

As usual, the transaction is a subject to the approval by regulatory and anti-trust authorities, with completion expected to take place in mid 2012.

Orange Austria had estimated 2011 revenues of about 500 million EUR and a total customer base of 2.3 million at the end of last year. The company employs almost 800 people…

[Via: CellularNews]

This new partnership will be gradually launched throughout 2012 across 20 African and Middle Eastern countries, with the first markets launching early in the year. The initiative is part of the Wikimedia Foundation’s mobile strategy that aims to reach the billions of people around the world who access the internet solely through mobile devices.

Any customer with an Orange SIM and mobile internet enabled phone will be able to access the Wikipedia site either through their browser or an Orange widget. Everything is free as long as users stay within Wikipedia’s pages…

Although we’ve no idea how much each carrier will ask for the Sony Xperia S, it’s safe to bet all of ‘em will give away the device, while requiring users’ signature on a two-year 30+ GBP per month contract.

As a reminder, the new Sony smartphone sports a 4.3-inch 720p (1280×720 pixels) Reality Display, 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, 12-megapixel camera on the back, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, HSPA+ and Wi-Fi connectivity, 1GB of RAM and 32GB of built-in memory. Android 2.3 Gingerbread will initially run the show with Ice Cream Sandwich update launching soon afterwards…

[Via: Unwired View]

Previous rumors indicated some other potential buyers, including private equity firms EQT and Providence, as well as a bid from Xavier Niel (the French telecoms entrepreneur, who had teamed with Goldman Sachs), and Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris.

Apax Partners doesn’t want to stop there and is eyeing merger with other Swiss mobile operator Sunrise, in a deal that will likely face close regulatory scrutiny. As a matter of fact, such a merger has already been blocked in 2010 on competition grounds and I’m not sure things have changed that much since then.

France Telecom on its end plans to use the new cash to focus on fast-growing emerging markets in the Middle East and Africa.

Orange Switzerland is the country’s third-largest mobile operator with 16% of the market. Swisscom is the market leader (62%) and is followed by Sunrise (22%).

[Via: MobileBusinessBriefing]

The transaction is still a subject to the approval of the Swiss authorities and will be submitted to the France Telecom’s Board of Directors for approval during the week commencing on January 9, 2012.

Orange Switzerland was established in 1999 and has posted revenue of 1.3 billion CHF (1.1 billion EUR) in 2010. It had 1.6 million customers at the end of September 2011, and employs some 1,200 people.

Now I expect that 2012 be an even bigger year for mobile market consolidation in Europe with smaller players being acquired by their bigger rivals all around the continent. Needless to say, we’ll be there to cover it all…

[Via: CellularNews]

Aside from a different color, there won’t be any other changes included. In that sense, expect the same 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera on the back, HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, GPS, Bluetooth while Android 2.3 Gingerbread will run the show.

As for the price, something tells us it will remain the same (as the black version) — Orange will offer San Francisco II in white for free on a two-year 10.50 GBP/month contract or for 99 GBP on PAYG.

We’ll be looking at this and let you know as soon the device starts selling. And considering it’s sort of a festive-colored device we’re talking about here, I would expect that to happen sooner rather than later. Stay tuned…

[Via: somobile]

At the moment, Orange has 2.2 million connections and Three – 1.3 million. The new company would stand a chance to compete with the two leading carriers in the country, Telekom Austria’s A1 (5.2 million connections) and T-Mobile (3.9 million).

If everything goes as planned, Hutchison will sell excess base stations, spectrum as well as Orange’s prepaid “Yesss” brand to A1.

Contrary to popular belief, France Telecom isn’t the majority owner of Orange Austria – it holds 35% of the company while the rest is owned by private-equity firm Mid Europa Partners. Austria is one of several European markets where France Telecom is reviewing the possible disposal of assets seen as “non-core.”

[Via: MobileBusinessBriefing]

Anyway, the new San Francisco phone will come with the same (as its predecessor) 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen, faster processor clocking at 800MHz, 5-megapixel camera on the back, Orange HD Voice capability (this is new, too), while Android 2.3 Gingerbread will run the show out of box. Orange will sell it on both PAYG and pay monthly plans. The former option will cost you 99 GBP and you’ll also have to buy a compulsory 10 GBP top-up.

Finally the release date is said to be November 21st, though again we don’t have that officially confirmed by Orange…

[Via: EuroDroid]

Specs wise, this affordable device will sport a 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen (the same as the original San Francisco), 800MHz processor, 5-megapixel camera on the back, HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, microSD memory card slot, while Android 2.3 Gingerbread will run the show.

I can’t tell we’re super eager to try out the new San Francisco model, but we’re pretty confident Orange will repeat the success it had with the original device, moving few million units during the course of 2012. After all, San Francisco II will too be an affordable smartphone and as such it will be a cheap ticket to the “Android world.”

[Via: somobile]

Specs wise, the Liquid Express comes with a 3.5-inch HVGA touchscreen, 800MHz processor, HSPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, Bluetooth, GPS, memory card slot, while Android 2.3 Gingerbread is running the show…

[Via: Unwired View]