Ethiopia’s sole mobile operator, The Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC), has launched 3G services in the capital city Addis Ababa.

Only 2.4 per cent of Ethiopia’s 82.5 million inhabitants currently own a mobile phone

The WCDMA network bandwidth supports bi-directional peak data rates of between 144-384 Kbps, with network coverage limited to 49 areas of Addis Ababa.

Ethiopians will have the opportunity to make video calls, browse the Internet, access email and enjoy other data services directly from their mobile phones.

Prices range from 2.7 birrs (US$0.27) per minute for a local video call to 32.16 birrs per minute for an international video call.

In addition to GSM, the operator also provides fixed-line, Internet and data services, and has stated that multimedia messaging service (MMS) and voice mail will be launched shortly in the country of 82.5 million people.

According to the Mobile World database ETC ended the third quarter of 2008 with two million mobile subscribers, representing a penetration rate of 2.4 per cent.

India’s Bharti Airtel will launch 2G and 3G services in Sri Lanka on January 12, having originally acquired the licence in early 2007.

There are currently 9.8 million mobile subscribers in Sri Lanka, representing a penetration rate of 47 per cent

Airtel Lanka, the local arm of the leading Indian operator, missed its planned launch date last month following disputes with incumbent operators over interconnection agreements.

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India’s finance ministry has proposed to double the reserve prices for the country’s highly anticipated 3G auction, while the telecoms regulator has pushed back the start of the process until January 30. The auction had originally been set for January 16, with the base price for nationwide 3G spectrum set at INR20.2 billion (US$412 million).

It is understood the cabinet is reviewing the finance ministry’s proposal, with a decision to be made next week.

However, analysts suggest that if prices are raised, this could add further delays to the process, as well as narrow the pool of bidders who would participate.

The telecoms ministry anticipates receiving up to INR400 billion for the sale of the combined 3G licences, with the auction for WiMAX licences scheduled to commence two days after.

In most of the country’s 22 telecoms circles, four paired blocks of spectrum will be auctioned; however, in the Rajasthan and North East circles, 3G spectrum is not available at all.

Reserve prices for metro and category A circles had been set at INR1.6 billion category B circle at INR800 million; and category C at INR300 million.

Foreign bidders are eligible to participate in the online auction for the 15-year licences, but must have a local partner and can not hold more than a 74 per cent stake in the joint venture. If the foreign partner owns more than 49 per cent, the venture will also require clearance from the country’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

Bidders must already hold a unified access service license (UASL) or cellular licence, or have experience in providing 3G services with the intention to acquire a UASL licence before commencing operations.

Oman’s ministry of finance has cancelled the sale of 25 per cent of Omantel, citing the decline in world financial markets. The sale would have reduced the ministry’s stake from 70 to 45 per cent.  

The ministry received expressions of interest in July 2008 and had planned to complete the process by the fourth quarter of last year.

“Despite the solid progress we have made with the sale process to date, and the continued strong interest shown by the bidders, the unprecedented market volatility and economic conditions that we are seeing globally has led to the government taking the prudent decision to stop the sale process,” stated the ministry’s secretary general, Darwish Esmail Al Balushi.

Saudi Arabia’s STC and the UAE’s Etisalat had both expressed interest in acquiring the strategic stake in the Omani operator. At the time the bids were received in July, 100 per cent of the company was valued at US$4.4 billion, but now the operator is worth considerably less.

Omantel is the sultanate’s incumbent unified operator providing fixed-line and Internet services under the parent company, and mobile services under the brand Oman Mobile. However, the provider began a process of reintegration in February last year, and plans to launch a new brand and unified corporate identity in the first quarter of 2009.

Motorola yesterday reiterated its strategic plan for 2009, stating that the continued interest in broadband technologies would see the company continue Long Term Evolution (LTE) work, as well as the expansion of WiMAX and Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) deployments in line with the projected expansion of broadband in 2009. During the course of 2008 Motorola demonstrated the industry’s first CDMA to LTE network handoff, as well as a number of WiMAX and FTTH deployments and products.

Dan Moloney said the company is looking forward to carrying its commitment in LTE into 2009

Despite the current economic landscape, Motorola believes the demand for media mobility points offer the company a myriad of opportunities for its products and services.

“Motorola is committed to broadband and 4G development and made significant gains in 2008, particularly with LTE to address the mobility demands being driven by consumers looking for personalised media experiences,” said Dan Moloney, president, Motorola’s Home and Networks Mobility business. “We’re looking forward to carrying this commitment into 2009 and leading the market in further development and deployment of LTE technologies.”

With respect to WiMAX, Motorola believes it is well-placed in both the nomadic and fixed versions of the technology. The company reported that it already has 25 contracts for commercial WiMAX systems with customers in 20 countries, and has shipped more than 5,000 multi-sector access points (powering more than 17,000 sectors) and hundreds of thousands of CPEs and PC cards as of Q308. The company’s WiMAX business for contract deployments, trials, and other customer engagements is currently engaged in 49 countries.

Motorola’s global WiMAX gains include a US$165 million contract with Saudi Arabia’s Atheeb. Wateen Telecom in Pakistan placed one of the world’s largest WiMAX device orders in 2008, with 198,000 units.

Despite Motorola’s bullish forecasts for the year ahead, the company continues to face significant challenges in the short-term. Earlier this month it announced additional actions to further reduce costs amid continuing global economic challenges.

As part of the overall cost reduction programme, Motorola is revising its employee compensation and benefit programmes. Effective March 1, 2009, to better align with industry norms, Motorola will permanently freeze its US pension plans, preserving vested benefits accrued by employees and retirees but eliminating future benefit accruals. Motorola intends to continue to provide funding to meet its pension obligations to present and future retirees.

Effective January 1, 2009, Motorola also will temporarily suspend all company matching contributions to the Motorola 401(k) Plan. US employees may continue to contribute to the plan but will not receive matching contributions from Motorola.

The company also announced that employees in many of the markets in which it operates will not receive a salary increase in 2009. In addition, Motorola co-chief executive officers, Greg Brown and Sanjay Jha will voluntarily take a 25 per cent decrease in base salary in 2009.

Greg Brown will voluntarily forgo any 2008 cash bonus earned under the Motorola incentive plan. Sanjay Jha’s employment contract provides for a guaranteed cash bonus for 2008. His bonus will also be voluntarily reduced by an amount equal to Greg Brown’s forfeited bonus and the remainder will be taken in the form of restricted stock units.

These actions are expected to lead to cost savings in addition to the US$800 million that was previously announced on October 30, 2008.