Sprint Nextel Terminates Clearwire Deal, Reviews WiMAX Rollout Plans

Sprint Nextel and Clearwire terminated their agreement signed in July 2007 to jointly build a nationwide mobile broadband network using WiMAX technology and to promote the global development of WiMAX-based services. The partnership aimed at reducing the cost of network construction and at accelerating the rollout of a nationwide 4G service. The two companies said they could not resolve complexities associated with the deal and failed to reach final agreement on the terms of the transaction.



Sprint remains fully committed to developing WiMAX services and deploying a WiMAX network. However, the company said it is reviewing its WiMAX business plans and outlook and expects to comment further on these topics early next year.



"We are on track for soft launch late this year in the Chicago and Baltimore/Washington markets and commercial launch in 2008," said Keith Cowan, Sprint's president of Strategic Planning and Corporate Initiatives. "In line with Sprint's mandate of improving the customers experience and simplifying our operations, we look forward to working with Clearwire on opportunities such as roaming and standards."http://www.sprint.com

http://www.clearwire.com

• Under the WiMAX partnership announced in July 2007, Sprint Nextel was to focus its efforts primarily on geographic areas covering approximately 185 million people, including 75 percent of the people located in the 50 largest markets, while Clearwire was to focus on areas covering approximately 115 million people. Initially, the two companies were aiming to build out network coverage to approximately 100 million people by the end of 2008, with seamless roaming enabled between the deployed areas. The arrangement also contemplated the exchange of spectrum between Sprint Nextel and Clearwire to enable each company to build out its portion of the network and to enhance service in its build-out territory, as well as for the exchange of other assets associated with this spectrum. In addition, Clearwire was to be given the ability to utilize certain Sprint Nextel 3G infrastructure.



• In October 2007, Gary Forsee resigned as Sprint Nextel's chairman, president and CEO. A search is underway for a replacement. Sprint Nextel also announced weaker than expected financial results and a net loss of post-paid mobile subscribers during Q3.

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Mformation: Two-thirds of Businesses Would Switch Mobile Operators for MDM

Faced with a growing mobile workforce, a rapidly growing range of feature-phones and smartphones, and an increasing demand for enterprise application mobility, a recent survey of CIOs from top 500 enterprises shows that businesses are looking to their mobile operator partners to provide tools and services to help them control, secure, and manage mobile devices in the same way they manage other IT assets.



The survey, which was conducted by Coleman Parkes and sponsored by Mformation Technologies, found that 45 percent of the CIOs are looking to mobile operators to provide assistance with the management of mobile devices. 62 percent of US CIOs indicate that they would change their mobile operator if they were offered a comprehensive mobile device management (MDM) solution by a competing mobile operator.



Some key research findings:

• 82 percent of US CIOs report that managing mobile devices has become increasingly difficult.



• Almost all CIOs surveyed (95 percent) are currently looking for a solution for managing and securing enterprise mobile devices and applications.



• The vast majority of US companies (88 percent) expect the operator to have a role in enterprise mobile device management, with nearly 60 percent indicating that they would prefer an arrangement with their operator that gives the IT department direct control over their mobile assets.



• Not surprisingly, therefore, 62 percent of US companies indicated they would consider switching to a new mobile operator if they offered MDM as a managed service.

http://www.mformation.com

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Orange Business Awarded Long Distance License in Russia

Orange Business Services is set to win a long distance phone license in Russia. With this new license, Orange Business Services said it will be well positioned to provide large and medium-sized businesses with international and national long-distance services throughout the country, starting early 2008.



Over the past two years, Orange installed its long-distance voice infrastructure in Russia. Over US $200 million (approximately EUR136 million) have been invested to create our next-generation MPLS-based IP backbone network in the country.



The final step to be awarded with this long-distance license was to receive dialling codes 59 and 54. This order was signed by Leonid Reiman, Russian Minister for Information Technology and Communication, on November 7, 2007.

http://www.francetelecom.com

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French Carriers and Banks Launch Mobile Payments Trial

Six major French banks (BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole and LCL, Crédit Mutuel-CIC, Groupe Caisse d'Epargne, La Banque Postale and Société Générale) as well as four mobile operators (Bouygues Telecom, NRJ Mobile, Orange and SFR) are launching a major field trial of mobile contactless payment services. The trial initially involves 1,000 customers and 200 sales outlets located in the cities of Caen and Strasbourg.



The field trial will serve to evaluate users' interest in this new payment solution and to test the interoperability among solutions provided by different suppliers: LG, Motorola and Sagem (mobile phones), Ingenico and Sagem Monetel (payment terminals), Gemalto and Oberthur Card Systems (SIM cards and secured application management), and Inside Contactless (NFC components).

http://www.francetelecom.com/

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Verizon Business Awarded GSA Contract for D.C. Area Services

The U.S. General Services Administration awarded Verizon Business a Washington Interagency Telecommunications System (WITS 3) contract under which Washington D.C.-area federal government agencies can obtain a broad array of local telecommunications services and products.



The WITS 3 contract, which includes a four-year term with four one-year optional extensions, is valued at as much as $1.8 billion if all extension options are exercised. The WITS 3 contract covers local telecommunications services and products for federal agencies in the National Capital Region (NCR), which includes Washington and portions of its Maryland and Virginia suburbs.

Verizon Business holds the existing WITS2001 contract, which it was awarded in 2000 and expires in January 2008.

http://www.verizonbusiness.comEarlier this year, Verizon Business was named a prime contractor under the federal government's Networx Universal and Networx Enterprise contracts, authorizing the company to compete for long distance, Internet, cellular and other communications business from individual government agencies. The Networx program is among the largest federal communication contracts in history.

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Level 3 Awarded GSA Contract for D.C. Area Services

The U. S. General Services Administration (GSA) awarded a Washington Interagency Telecommunications System (WITS 3) contract to provide communications services for all federal agencies and other authorized users in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The Federal contract allows Level 3 to bid on business issued by all Federal government agencies representing approximately 800,000 federal users.



Level 3 said it is one of two companies that were awarded the base four-year contract, with four additional one-year options. This contract gives Level 3 access to a market that up to this point has been available to only a single, incumbent telecommunications provider.

http://www.level3.com

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Telecom Argentina Reaches 11.7 million Mobile (+35%), 677K Broadband Subscribers

Telecom Argentina posted net income of P$614 million for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2007. During the first nine months, consolidated net revenues increased 24% (+P$1,273 million vs. 9M06) to P$6,515 million, mainly fueled by the cellular and broadband businesses.



During 9M07, revenues from broadband grew 22% vs. 9M06 to P$384 million. Moreover, Telecom's ADSL subscribers reached 677,000 (+302,000 or +81% vs. 9M06). Lines with ADSL now account for approximately 16% of Telecom's lines in service.



Telecom Argentina's Cellular Telephony business generated revenues of P$4,095 million in 9M07. As of September 30, 2007, Personal's subscribers reached 10.2 million (+2.5 million or +32% vs. 9M06). Approximately 67% of the overall subscriber base was prepaid and 33% was postpaid. By the end of 9M07, subscribers with GSM technology represented 96% of the total subscriber base. In Paraguay, the subscriber base reached approximately 1.5 million, +58% vs. 9M06. Prepaid and Postpaid customers represented 89% and 11%, respectively, while GSM subscribers represented 85% of the overall subscriber base.



Total voice traffic increased by 33% vs. 9M06 while outgoing SMS traffic increased from an average of 508 million messages per month to an average of 839 million (+65%). Moreover, ARPU remained stable at P$38, when compared to 9M06. Value-Added Services accounted for 27% of ARPU.
http://www.telecom.com.ar

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