Telenor plans to raise more than $1 billion from Indian lenders to fund its new Indian operations – Uninor. According to Telenor’s Fredrik Baksaas: “The details are being worked out… we are discussing with potential lenders here in India.” He said the funds will be used to expand services to other parts of the country,…
Telenor’s new Indian network Uninor goes live nationwide
After 8 month after acquiring India’s Unitech and effectively getting 74% of the company, Telenor’s new Indian operator, Uninor, started its operations recently calling it “the largest single-day launch” in the country’s history. Services were launched simultaneously across multiple circles, including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh East, Uttar Pradesh West and Bihar…
Spanish cable companies to jointly bid for mobile spectrum
Spain’s four largest cable operators — Ono, Euskaltel, R and Telecable — are considering teaming up to bid for mobile spectrum in the country’s upcoming 2.6GHz auctions, which are set for the first quarter of 2010. Cable companies have traditionally offered mobile services through MVNO arrangements, and this would effectively kill that strategy, which is…
Ukraine cancels 3G license auction
If you remember, Ukraine was planning to auction off a 3G license on November 30th. Those plans are scraped, as the National Communications Regulatory Commission of Ukraine has cancelled the process, due to President’s decision to block the migration of radio spectrum from military use to the mobile phone networks. The regulator had planned to…
Maxis to invest $6 billion in its India’s operations – Aircel
Malaysian mobile group Maxis Communications is preparing to invest billions in its 74%-owned Indian subsidiary, Aircel, over the next few years. The company expects to hit 50 million connections in total this year with Aircel, which is only the seventh-largest mobile operator in India. Large portion of Maxis’ investment will go in infrastructure as Aircel…
New Zealand’s church fined for blocking cellphones
An Auckland, New Zealand church has been fined $1,250 after it used a cell phone jammer to prevent phone calls from interrupting services. In August of this year, the country’s Economic Development Ministry banned the sale and manufacturing of jamming devices, which BTW require a licence to be used. Commenting on the fine issues, the…
Helios Towers Africa formed to build and maintain cell towers across Africa
A new pan-African tower investor has been formed – Helios Towers Africa (HTA), with the idea to build and maintain telecommunications towers and lease space on those towers to service providers across the continent. The new company has initial equity commitment of $350 million, and will work similarly to Helios Towers Nigeria, which was also…
India blocks millions of handsets
Indian operators should start blocking several million mobile phones starting from today, December 1st, as part of the government decision to ban handsets without a valid IMEI. According to earlier estimates, there were as many as 25 million handsets being used without an IMEI number, though that number shrank as the deadline announced by the…
Libya to IPO small stakes of two state-owned mobile networks
Libya has announced plans to sell small stakes in the country’s two mobile networks – Al Madar and Libyana. The IPOs will be organized to raise some cash and to spur the activity on the local stock exchange. On the latter note, the government unveiled details of tax breaks to make trading on the stock…
Mexico unveils 3G spectrum auction details
The Mexican telecom regulator, Cofetel, has unveiled details of the country’s long-awaited 3G mobile spectrum auctions. The regulator plans to offer nine blocks of spectrum in the 1850MHz-1990MHz band in eight of the country’s nine mobile operating regions. In addition, seven blocks of spectrum between 1710MHz and 2170MHz will be offered in all nine operating…