MBC Launches Arabic Drama Channel, Inks Exclusive Multi-Platform Deal With MTVNI

MBC, the leading pan-Arab free-to-air satellite broadcasting company, expects its new Arabic language TV Drama channel to attract millions of viewers. The channel, targeted to family, will start broadcasting on Saturday and will air series from Egypt, GCC and the Levant. The launch of MBC Drama marks the 10^th channel and the 20^th anniversary of MBC group according to Mazen Hayek, the official spokesman and group director of PR and commercial at the company.

In addition, MBC Group has also signed an exclusive multi-platform deal with MTV Network International, a division of Viacom. Under the agreement, MTVNI will grant the exclusive rights to develop consumer product programmes around hit Nickelodeon properties, Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob SquarePants and Go, Diego, Go! in the Middle East. The key categories include home furnishing, stationery, apparel, toys, publishing, personal care and fashion accessories and product is expected to roll out from early 2011, according to the company statement.

GVT to offer triple-play service in Brazil

GVT will launch its Pay TV service in mid 2011. The service will consist of a hybrid offer with satellite and video on demand over IP including HD channels. Alcides Troller Pinto, VP of Marketing and Sales of GVT, said that agreements with content companies are in discussions and the service would be available to GVT subscribers where they have access to fixed telephony and broadband. The company will use a Set-top box with a Wi-Fi connection for the IP service, the aim is to offer a user friendly interface to focus on average user.

Being a triple play provider is important for GVT, and concerning quadruple play and the possibility to offer a mobile service, Troller said it should happen in mid or long term. A tender for a frequency is ruled out.

Tunisiana Sold To Qtel, Princesse Holding For $1.2 Billion

Orascom Telecom has sold the other half of Tunisiana to Wataniya, Qatar Telecom’s Kuwaiti unit; for a price of $1.2 billion. Wataniya, which already owned 50% of Tunisiana, bought the remaining stake in a consortium led by Princesse Holding of Tunisia, Qtel said in a statement on Monday: “The acquisition is in line with the Qtel Group’s vision … and with our strategy of active portfolio development, through which we may seek to increase our ownership in well performing assets, with further growth potential… We are confident that with the support and active participation of Princesse Holding, we will be able to take Tunisiana to the next stage of its development”, Qtel’s Chairman Sheikh Abdullah al-Thani said in the statement.

Wataniya expects to close the deal in early January 2011 and will finance its portion through a mixture of cash and debt.

Vivendi eyes 100% stake in SFR in 2011

Vivendi aims to acquire the remaining 44% stake in SFR, held by Vodafone. Jean-Bernard Levy, Chairman of Vivendi, expects to start discussions next year with the balance of the sale of NBC Universal. The exit from NBC Universal is closed to finalization, it should be completed before the end of the year.

Vodafone already sold its stake in China Mobile in September, recovering $6 billion and intended to restructure other businesses in SFR, Verizon, Polkomtel or Bharti.

Cox launches Mobile service

Cox Communications, the third cable company in the United States, has launched its cellular network. At first, the service will only be available in Orange County (Calif.), Omaha (Neb.) and Hampton Roads (Va.) and all areas where Cox is the local provider, which represents 1.5 million population. A further expansion of the network is planned.

Cox uses its own cell towers like mobile phone companies and does not need to have a parternship to offer mobile service, like some competitors. The company can now offer their bundle, including mobile service. In the areas where Cox does not have network, subscribers will use “roaming” on Sprint’s network with no additional fees.

India: Aircel Chooses Ericsson For 3G/HSPA Network Roll Out

Aircel, India’s leading mobile operator, part of Maxis Communications Berhad, Malaysia, has selected Ericsson to roll out its 3G/HSPA network across six out of thirteen geographic market areas. The new network will serve more than 100 million customers and will offer different services such as video telephony, mobile broadband, mobile TV, video on demand and others including music downloads, video tones, instant messaging and online gaming.

Gurdeep Singh, COO of Aircel says: “For many people in India connected for the first time, 3G mobile broadband will bring completely new types of services and benefits. We are confident that with this partnership, we will benefit from Ericsson’s global expertise of 3G deployments, and will be able to offer our customers a world-class 3G experience”.

The six Aircel circles in which Ericsson will provide are: Tamil Nadu Bihar; Orissa; Jammu Kashmir; North East; and Assam.

Iliad results driven by Free for Q310

Iliad group published its results for the third quarter of 2010 and reported a 5% growth in revenue. This growth is driven by the Free brand, as Alice continue to struggle. Iliad signed 108.000 broadband subscribers since September 2009 (+250.000 for Free and -142.000 for Alice). Iliad acquired Alice from Telecom Italia in 2008.

Iliad suffered from the competition of Quadruple play offers of Orange, Bouygues Telecom and SFR. These competitors registered more new subcribers than Iliad (Bouygues Telecom : +120.000, Orange : +97.000, SFR : +91.000). Iliad was awarded the fourth mobile licence, but the commercial launch is set for 2012, so the company will focus on a major innovation, not yet announced.

Viasat Partners with LG for On-Demand Content

Modern Time Group, the broadcasting group which owned Viasat, announced a strategic partnership with LG Electronics to provide Viasat OnDemand on all LG TV sets with NetCast feature. This functionality allows interactive connected services. Viasat OnDemand is available in the Nordic Region. Viasat OnDemand includes live sports, tv shows, movies and catch up tv from Nordic channels.

Hans-Holger Albrecht,President and CEO of MTG, said : “The cooperation with LG is a key step in broadening the availability of our Viasat OnDemand service, which is already accessible through Viasat’s OnDemand set-top box, our online portal, on mobile phones and now also directly via broadband-enabled TV sets. Our ‘Entertainment at your command’ service is all about making our unrivalled range of premium sports, movies and TV content available to viewers on a platform, network and device agnostic basis.”

Zamtel To Increase Its Internet Services

Zamtel has invested 600 billion kwacha in an effort to expand its reach and increase its internet services. Mr. Amon Jere, CEO, said his company would like to see more Zambians have access to internet at affordable prices and in order to achieve this goal, Zamtel will lay over a fibre optic cable across Zambia in the next two years in order to upgrade the network. In addition, Zamtel has also signed an agreement with Botswana Telecommunications Corp to connect Zambia within four months to a fibre optic cable already linked to an undersea cable, Mr. Jere said.

Zamtel has revealed that its subscriber base has increased by 30% since the take over of the operator by Lap Green.

STC Expresses Interest For Syria’s Third Mobile Licence

Saudi Telecom (STC) announced on the Saudi bourse website its interest in bidding for the third mobile licence in Syria. Syria tendered the licence back in September and sat Nov 14^th as the deadline for submitting a prequalification application. Among other interested parties is Turkey’s Turkcell and Kuwait’s Zain.

STC is facing increasing competition from Mobily and Zain in its home market which is the biggest Arab economy. However, an industry source has told Reuters that STC could be among the strongest contenders, especially after ties between the Damascus government and Riyadh improved last year.

Syria is one of the few countries in the Middle East with low mobile penetration with a population of more than 20 million people and about 9 million mobile phone users according to Dataxis Intelligence.