Second operator in Saudi Arabia, Mobily, has pledged to invest at least US$1 billion over the next five years in its effort to become the top operator in the kingdom ahead of STC and Zain. The operator’s CEO Khalid Al-Kaf stated this as the firm celebrated five years of operation since launching in May 2005.

Mobily’s five-year strategy plans to prioritise the enrichment of customer’s lives through the provision of “cutting-edge applications and state-of-the-art data and broadband services”, as well as by providing the best working environment for employees in the region. In addition, it is aiming for a 370 per cent increase in its broadband subscribers.

A press release stated “The multi-facet strategy’s main aim is to keep Mobily the leading telecommunications operator not only in Saudi Arabia, but in the entire Middle East and North Africa region”.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has awarded only one of the four applicants for a mobile TV licence with the right to broadcast the service, after three parties were disqualified for failing to meet tender requirements. The sole broadcaster licensed to provide mobile TV in the country will be e.tv, at least in the near future.

According to ICASA’s Jubie Matlou, “MultiChoice was disqualified on the basis of late submission, Super 5 Media for failing to submit the required number of copies and Mobile TV Consortium was disqualified on the basis that they did not have a broadcasting service license”.

The process for awarding mobile TV licences has been criticised with the tender opening on April 16 giving broadcasters only a three week time frame to prepare their business plans, technical specifications and pay the ZAR 70,000 (US$9,017) application fee.

US telecoms equipment vendor Motorola has launched two cash tender offers to purchase up to US$400 million of its outstanding debt securities, in an effort to lower interest costs.

In the first tender, the Schaumburg-based firm is offering to purchase any and all of its outstanding 5.22 per cent debentures due 2097.

In the second, a Dutch auction offer, the firm is offering to buy some of its US$1.11 billion worth of 6.5 per cent debentures due in 2025 and 2028, and its 6.625 per cent senior notes due in 2037.

J.P. Morgan Securities, Deutsche Bank Securities and HSBC Securities (USA) are operating as lead dealer managers.

Mobile operator Vodafone Qatar is taking legal action against Qatar’s telecoms regulator, ictQATAR, following the entrance of Virgin Mobile on the market effectively as a third operator. Earlier this month Virgin Mobile signed a brand licensing contract with Qtel allowing the British firm to provide prepaid cellular services as a mobile reseller.

Vodafone paid QAR 7.7 billion (US$2.12 billion) for the second mobile licence in 2007 and views the ‘unlicensed’ launch of Virgin Mobile as breaching the conditions of its contract.

“We are taking legal action for the damages this has caused our shareholders,” said Vodafone Qatar chairman Sheikh Abdulrahman Bin Saud al-Thani in a statement.

"We are simply protecting their interests; 82,000 of which are individual Qataris that paid 40 percent of the second mobile licence fee."

Vodafone Qatar reported revenue of QAR 361.5 million for the 2009-2010 financial year ending March 31, and a net loss of QAR 673.4 million. Since launch it has garnered almost 465,000 subscribers.

The deployment of HSPA+ offers significantly reduced CAPEX investment compared to LTE, according to analysis by Aircom International, an independent network planning and optimisation company.

Reduction for a UK operator could be as much as £345 million (US$497 million in 12 months; and as much as $1.19 billion for a US operator.

The company’s analysis highlights why HSPA+ could make short-term commercial sense to a wide range of 3GPP operators contemplating their mobile broadband network migration strategies, return on investment and new pricing models are the key factors. 

HSPA + is viewed as compelling as it is available today, the technology offers up to 21Mbps without any additional antenna infrastructure or second carrier – allowing users to experience mobile broadband around five times faster than the current average of 3.6Mbps. HSPA+ also allows mobile operators to control service provisioning and prioritisation, delivering quality of experience (QoE) and quality of service (QoS) guarantees. 

“There is great pressure on operators to upgrade their networks and improve the level of service they deliver to consumers and enterprise customers. The so-called ‘iPhone effect’ is piling pressure on to existing infrastructure.  There is a real and immediate need for operators to upgrade their networks, but LTE is not the answer – today at least,” said Aircom services director (product management), Fabricio Martinez.

“HSPA+ is able to meet – and exceed – current data demands, delivering a theoretical maximum of 21Mbps and an average experience of around 16Mbps. With average mobile broadband users experiencing around 3.6Mbps, this is a significant increase,” Martinez continued.

Aircom’s analysis concludes that adopting HSPA+ as the next step enables operators to meet customer demands quickly and cost-effectively, using existing infrastructure and spectrum.  And, when the time is right – when expanding HSPA+ capacity is less economical or operationally more challenging than upgrading to LTE – HSPA+ offers a natural evolution path to LTE.