South Africa’s smallest mobile network operator, Cell C reported its subscriber base rose by 12 per cent over the past year to end-June to reach 8.2 million customers, boosted by prepaid subscriber growth.

The rise in the customer base was reflected in Cell C’s market share, which increased to 15.4 per cent, while customer churn decreased by 14 per cent year-on-year.

Between August 2010 and June 2011, Cell C grew its data subscriber base to 120 000 customers.

Full-year revenue also increased by five per cent year-on-year to ZAR10.2 billion (US$1.42 billion), while EBITDA remained unchanged at ZAR1.4 billion, due largely to costs relating to the increased infrastructure and rebranding activities. As an unlisted company, it does not issue a net loss figure.

“As the board, we are pleased with the performance and progress that Cell C has made over the last year,” said non-executive chairman and acting CEO of Cell C, Simon Duffy.

In the past 12 months to end-June, Cell C acquired a US$360 million facility from China Development Bank to finance 100 per cent of ZTE’s network rollout.

The cellco also agreed to American Tower Corporation acquiring 1,365 existing sites (of which 1,288 have already been transferred), for which Cell C will receive US$200 million with an option to transfer up to 1,800 more sites. 

Cell C is 100 per cent owned by 3C Telecommunications, which is 60 per cent owned by Oger Telecom South Africa, a division of Saudi Oger; which is in part owned by Saudi Telecom.

China’s ZTE has announced that it shipped 60 million terminal products including 35 million handsets in the first half of 2011. This represents an increase of approximately 30 per cent year-on-year in handsets shipped and resulted in the firm experiencing a 400 per cent increase in smartphone sales and 300 per cent increase in USA market growth.

ZTE added that it’s Blade has also became one of the world’s top-selling smartphones. Through partnerships with approximately 80 operators globally, ZTE’s Blade is now available in nearly 50 countries and regions. The Blade’s daily sales in China are the nation’s highest for Android smartphones, averaging 16,000 units per day. ZTE has now sold 2.5 million Blade handsets globally and expects to break the five million mark this year.

The manufacturer also aims to ship 12 million smart terminals in the second half of the year, and has grown in market share in four major markets: China, North America, Europe and Latin America.

In Europe, ZTE has partnered with over 65 operators on smartphones, with its handset sales increasing over 30 per cent in the region in the same time period. In Latin America, ZTE’s share of the Brazilian market rose 46 per cent and the company secured investment for a high-tech industrial park, which is slated to become the country’s biggest telecommunications research, production and training centre.

Nigerian CDMA network operator, Visafone Communications has agreed to sell and lease-back 459 towers to infrastructure operator IHS Nigeria for an undisclosed amount. The agreement follows shortly after IHS’ US$200 million equity and debt financing by IFC, Investec Asset Management, FMO and Standard Bank.

The investment deal, which closed in July, will allow IHS to further grow its portfolio of towers in the coming months. Upon signing this agreement with Visafone, its second sale and lease back transaction, IHS CEO Issam Darwish, confirmed the company’s vision for further growth.

“We aim to become one of the leading pan-African telecom infrastructure solutions providers, and following this successful agreement we plan to further increase our Nigerian tower base to over 1,000 sites by the end of the year,” he said.

IHS is also the largest managed services provider in sub-Saharan Africa, with more than 3,500 sites under management.

Listed on the Nigerian bourse since 2008, IHS is seeking to expand into other markets in Africa and the Middle East.

Alcatel-Lucent reported that second quarter revenue increased 2.4 per cent year-over-year and 4.4 per cent sequentially to €3.903 billion (US$5.56 billion). At constant currency exchange rates and perimeter, revenue increased 10.4 per cent year-over-year and increased 7.6 per cent sequentially.

Following a year-over-year growth of 22 per cent in the first quarter 2011, Networks continued to see strong double-digit year-over-year increase in revenue in the second quarter to end-June, with all divisions growing.

IP revenue growth accelerated and recorded 35 per cent year-over-year progression while optics division maintained a healthy momentum with an increase close to six per cent. In access, 3G & 4G technologies drove the strong growth of the wireless division and in wireline, IP DSLAM and PON technologies more than offset the decline of legacy products.

Adjusted operating income for the quarter came in at of €108 million, up from €28 million a year earlier. Reported net profit for the period came in at €43 million, from a loss of €45 million a year earlier. Gross margin amounted to 35.8%, down lightly from the 36.2% in Q1.

“We are on track for the year. In the second quarter, our next-generation product sales increased sharply, delivering market share gains in IP and optics, driven by the need for capacity and all-IP network transformation,” commented Ben Verwaayen, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent.

“We are reaffirming our full-year outlook to grow faster than our addressable market with an adjusted operating margin above five per cent of our 2011 sales.”

UAE telco Du has announced a Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network (GPON) deal with Ericsson, consisting of Ericsson’s EDA 1500 GPON solution, passive optical components and related services. The network is future-proof for open access, which means that in the coming years, Du can implement new business models in which deployment and operations costs are split among different entities. Through the newly implemented system, Du is able to better meet existing subscriber demand for advanced broadband services, while transforming its network into a ready-to-use platform for a new era of communications.

“The tie-up with Ericsson for GPON complements our state-of-the-art fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network, which we were the first to deploy in the UAE. This new solution will allow us to offer innovations, such as the fastest broadband (real broadband) and Du TV to our customers, commented Hatem Bamatraf, senior VP for network development at Du.