Editor’s Note: Wireless operators are a busy bunch, and as such RCR Wireless News will attempt to gather some of the important announcements that may slip through the cracks from the world’s largest carriers in a weekly wrap-up. Enjoy!
The past week was again littered with quarterly financial releases, merger and acquisition intrigue and regulatory uncertainty, or basically just another week for the wireless industry.
On the earnings front, Leap Wireless continued to show its efforts in turning around its operations, and Clearwire posted results that remain muted by its uncertain future.
As for M&A activity, Sprint Nextel received permission from Softbank to conduct more in-depth talks with Dish Networks regarding Dish’s attempt to purchase Sprint Nextel out from under Softbank.
Also, Verizon Communications is reportedly looking at putting together a deal valued at more than $100 billion to purchase Vodafone Group’s 45% stake in Verizon Wireless.
And finally, President Obama officially offered up telecom industry veteran Tom Wheeler as his nominee to replace Julius Genachowski as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Genachowski noted that he will be leaving the position by mid-May.
And now for some other news:
–NEP Wireless is set to become the first carrier to gain approval from the Federal Communications Commission to receive an initial disbursement of mobility funds tied to the Auction 901 for Mobile Fund Phase I support conducted last September. NEP had successfully bid on seven “census tracts” during the auction, committing to build out LTE services in unserved portions of Wayne and Susquehanna Counties in Pennsylvania. The initial payment from the FCC is expected to be around $2 million, or one-third of NEP’s total winning bid amount of nearly $6.2 million.
–Norway’s Telenor said it has acquired Bulgaria’s second largest mobile operator Globul for approximately $937 million. Globul currently serves 4.5 million customers in Bulgaria, with 36% market share. The move bolsters Telenor’s presence in Central and Eastern Europe, where the telecom giant has operations in Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro.
Analysts seemed a bit mystified on the deal, noting a lack of strategic fit for Telenor’s current operations.
“Telenor’s acquisition of Globul … represents a continuation of the group’s policy of seizing opportunities without too much concern for geographical or strategic fit,” explained Jeremy Green, principal analyst in Ovum’s Telco Strategy Practice. “There’s no obvious logic to the acquisition, other than the fact that Bulgaria sits next to Serbia, another Telenor territory. The Telenor operator in the latter is delivering a decent margin compared to Telenor’s overall footprint, but most of the group’s growth is coming from the Indian subcontinent.
“Bulgaria is a largely saturated market (141% penetration) with little prospects for revenue growth. It is possible that Telenor will be able to shape and improve Globul’s market share and position, but there is no guarantee of this, and these sort of gains are hard to sustain in most markets. The largest competitor, Mtel, is also owned by a European operator group (Mobilkom Austria), so growth at its expense will not be easy.”
–T-Mobile USA, which recently bolstered its operations through the completed merger with MetroPCS, expanded its offering to enterprise customers by offering its Simple Choice rate plans to small business customers and the release of its “Business Extras” bundles.
The Simple Choice for Business plan allows customers to select rate plans based on the number of lines and amount of data required. Unlimited talk, text and Web with up to 500 megabytes of “high-speed” data is $50 per month for the first line. Customers can add a second phone line for $30 per month, and each additional line is $10 per month. They can also add up to 2 gigabytes of high-speed data for $10 per month more per line. The “Unlimited 4G” data option is $20 more per month per line.
For enterprise customers that sign up for a new line of service or renew an existing line before Sept. 30, T-Mobile USA is offering one year of access to its “Business Extras” bundle that provides access to “business-focused capabilities or solutions,” including 24/7 remote IT support and paper-to-mobile form conversions for free. The offering is typically priced at $25 per month with a $99 activation fee.
–Telefonica announced plans to sell 40% of its assets in El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama to Corporacion Multi Inversiones for $500 million. Telefonica said the move was part of its “policy of proactive management of its asset portfolio and the initiatives to increase the company’s financial flexibility.” CMI is a family-owned multi-national corporation operating in 19 countries.
Telefonica explained that the deal will allow the operations to tap into CMI’s local knowledge in addition to Telefonica’s global scale.
–Great Call, which offers mobile services targeting mature demographics, said it was set to open a new call center in Reno, Nev., that will add approximately 75 new jobs within the next six months and up to 400 new positions over the next five years. Great Call, which offers a number of mobile services including Jitterbug, currently employs more than 500 people.
Great Call said it has invested more than $1 million in the 20,000-square foot call center that will open in June. The center features new equipment, new back-end systems, SAS 70 Type II certified infrastructure for emergency response, an employee training center and space for call stations. The center will support Great Call’s mobile health and safety offerings, including emergency response, live operator assistance and 24/7 U.S.-based customer service.
–U.S. Cellular said it was set to begin offering postpaid services in 47 Sam’s Club locations across 14 states beginning May 7. Those states include Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Maine, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
The carrier noted that it will offer eight devices through the big-box retailer, and that purchases made through the locations will come with all the benefits of purchases made through U.S. Cellular’s company-owned stores.
Additional carrier news can be found on the RCR Wireless News “Carriers” page.
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