Russia’s ER-Telecom Sells 10% to Major Private Equity Firm

Leading private equity firm in Russia and in the CIS countries Baring Vostok Capital Partners will buy 10% stake in Russian cable TV and Internet provider ER-Telecom, in a $ 80 million transaction.

Founded in 2001, ER-Telecom plans to reach 20% market share in Russia’s Cable industry. Hence, the company needs to raise $ 500 million.

Today, the major shareholder of ER-Telecom is the Perm Financial and Industrial Group (LLC).

Since 1994, Baring Vostok Capital Partners has invested over $ 1.3 billion in 54 projects in financial services, in the oil and gas industry, as well as in telecommunications and media. The company currently manages assets of $ 2 billion.

AOL and Private Equity firms to bid for Yahoo Inc.

According to Wall Street Journal, AOL Inc and several private equity firms are planning to bid for Yahoo Inc. Among the private equity firms, Silver Lake Partners and Blackstone Group have given interest for Yahoo by taking it private on their own or teaming with AOL.

AOL spun off from Time Warner in 2009, so its market capitalization is smaller than Yahoo’s, which makes the scenario for the deal more complex. China’s Alibaba Group would buy back Yahoo’s 40% stake in Alibaba, Yahoo would also sell off their other assets to Media and Technology companies interested, and so the remaining company would be at an affordable valuation for private equity firms. Another scenario is a merger of Yahoo and AOL, Yahoo could buy AOL, or AOL and some private equity companies could buy Yahoo. The result would combine two big internet brands, AOL and Yahoo to compete with Google Inc.

BT passes 15 million broadband milestone

BT announced in a press release that the group reached 15 million broadband milestone, including households and small businesses. This milestone was passed in August, but in June 2010, BT finished the quarter with 14.918 million broadband lines, near this milestone. Considering that BT had 2.000 broadband subscribers in August 2002, the company added 14.8 million subscribers in 8 years which represents more than 5.000 new customers a day.

Olivia Garfiel, BT strategy director, declared : “Broadband Britain has been a success story with widespread availability, low prices and high take up. People were sceptical when BT backed broadband in 2002 but the figures speak for themselves with the vast majority of new customers choosing broadband over BT’s network rather than alternative ones where prices are far higher. The story doesn’t end here as BT is now investing a further £2.5 billion to roll out fibre broadband to two thirds of the UK. This will help the UK climb the league tables for speeds, one of the few areas in which we don’t lead the world”.

BT Group Broadband Quarterly Evolution in June 2010 (in 000s)

Source : Dataxis Intelligence

ZTE wins mobile network contract in Hungary

ZTE, the leading Chinese telecoms equipment maker, has won a 254 million dollar contract to build a mobile network in Hungary. Under the agreement, ZTE, which made a breakthrough in Europe this year according to Chief Executive Shi Lirong, will build a mobile network for as many as 4.5 million customers of Norway based telecom services provider Telenor in Hungary, a newspaper report said on Sunday. In addition, ZTE expects more contracts from European operators to come through over the next few months: “Virtually all European operators have shortlisted us now…. That has happened over the course of this year,” Shi said.

The deal comes after ZTE rolled out WiMaX network for Telefonica in Spain and built and upgraded mobile networks for KPN and other Telenor affiliates.

ZTE has recently reported results for its first half ended June 30, 2010. during the period, net profits increased by 12.02% to $129.143 million, operating revenues increased by 10.89% y-o-y to $4.524 billion and ZTE’s international revenue rose 19.58% y-o-y to 2.246 billion accounting for 49.65% of its total operating revenue.

Harbinger Capital grants NSN a $7 billion LTE network contract

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) won an eight-year contract worth more than $7 billion in the United States to build, operate and maintain 4G-LTE (Long Term Evolution) network for LightSquared, a new  venture backed by New York-based hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners. This ambitious project will see NSN install 40,000 base stations over eight years, to cover 92 percent of the country’s 300 million people by 2015.

Nokia Siemens will deliver equipment to LightSquared this year so it can test network services in Baltimore, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Denver in the first half of 2011. The new services will start in the second half of 2011, according to Frank Boulben, LightSquared’s Marketing Chief.

The huge deal comes a day after NSN said it would buy Motorola’s telecom network equipment business for $1.2 billion. These two new acquisitions would boost NSN in the North American market where so far it has struggled.

Nawras launches residential fixed line services in Oman

Nawras, Oman’s second operator, is set to launch its fixed-line voice and broadband services for consumers, using a combination of fiber and WiMAX technology, on July 20. The new Home Broadband & Voice service gives the consumer the possibility to surf the internet at a high speed using the WiMAX technology. Nawras said that a fixed telephone connection is provided free with every broadband Internet connection, allowing customers to benefit from cheaper international calls.  Customers can also benefit from Nawras Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, giving further discounts to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

Acoording to Nawras, 54% of households have coverage through the first WiMAX technology network in Oman, and this will grow quickly to reach over 80% of households during 2011.

Nawras offers a number of flexible options and price plans to choose from, including postpaid and prepaid plans, weekly and monthly plans. Postpaid packages start from 39$ a month, which includes a 6 GB data allowance with speeds of up to 1 Mbps. For 13 $ a week, prepaid customers can enjoy a 2 GB data allowance with speeds of up to 1 Mb.

.

Vodacom to complement its wireless broadband offerings with consumer ADSL service

Vodacom, the currently largest mobile network operator and broadband provider in South Africa is set to launch a consumer ADSL service as a complement to its mobile broadband offerings.

It is understood that the MNO is already present in the fixed broadband market through its own business ADSL offerings that were developed as a result of the company’s plans to launch similar services back in 2007 as a reseller, with of course the idea to build-up gradually a network for own bandwidth usage.

Though until now Vodacom is still to unveil details about ADSL plans it has stated that: “The launch of a residential ADSL service would be a logical response to Telkom’s entrance into the mobile business”

In fact, by this new move, Vodacom may be anticipating the incumbent telco entrance in the cellular market as recently Telkom’s CEO announced the launch of their mobile services this year and emphasize on their ability to offer  bundled fixed-mobile services.

France: Wibox to offer Satellite Broadband services in partnership with SES Astra

Wibox, a subsidiary of the French telecoms operator Altitude Infrastructure, operating Wimax services in rural regions has reportedly entered in a partnership with SES Astra to deliver satellite broadband services to end-users through the ASTRA2Connect solutions as a complement to its current offerings.

Commenting on the deal, Norbert Willems, Managing Director of ASTRA Broadband Services said: “Wibox is the first WIMAX operator to use our successful satellite broadband technology.”

On his part, David El Fassy CEO of Wibox declares: “With the ASTRA2Connect solution, our subscribers will have access to a universal service, including those who are not connected to terrestrial networks.”

Eventually, it would be recalled that ASTRA2Connect is distributed via wholesalers and internet service providers to the residential, industrial and maritime markets across the EMEA region.

America Movil increases stake in Telmex to 93.56%

America Movil, Latin America’s top mobile phone provider, has acquired an additional 32.86% stake in Telmex Internacional, the leading provider of integrated telecom solutions, in a cash and stock transaction valued at around $1.923 million. Simultaneously, America Movil has acquired a 99.44% stake in Carso Global Telecom, an investment holding company operating in the telecommunication industry. All three companies are controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim.

The acquisition will enforce Slim’s plans to integrate the three companies to create a provider with fixed line telephone, mobile and internet services across Latin America to better compete against growing rivals.

With this transaction, America Movil now holds 93.56% stake in Telemx.

Tunisie Telecom acquires TopNet

Tunisie Telecom, Tunisia’s incumbent telecommunications operator, has officially acquired TopNet, Tunisia’s number 1 internet services provider.  Under the agreement signed on Monday between Mr. Montasser Ouaili, CEO of Tunisie Telecom, and Mr. Mehdi Khemiri, the CEO of TopNet, the company becomes a subsidiary of Tunisie Telecom but the amount of the transaction was not released.

According to Mr. Ouaili, the acquisition is an important milestone that will help Tunisie Telecom strengthen its leadership in the country and contribute more effectively to the development of the internet as well as provide better quality and services to customers.