Vodafone Revenue Falls Across Europe, Grows in India and Africa

Vodafone Group's Q2 revenue increased by 9.3% overall thanks to the positive impact of exchange rates (8.6% of the gain) and growth in India, South Africa and Italy, but its organic service revenue declined by 2.1% due to weakness across most of Europe and Central Europe due to economic conditions. The declines were primarily driven by reductions in voice revenue resulting from continued pricing pressure and slower usage growth in the current economic climate, as well as lower visitor and roaming revenue as people traveled less. These declines were partially offset by growth in data, fixed line and wholesale revenue. The organic service revenue growth rate was similar to the previous quarter after taking into account mobile termination rate cuts, seasonality and the impact of a new accounting standard for loyalty programs.

A few other highlights from the quarterly report.

• The total number of mobile customers the Group now reaches has surpassed 315 million (proportionate to the investment held in various operators).



• Organic data revenue growth was 19.4%, slightly lower than the previous quarter due to the impact of lower data roaming and lower enterprise activity.



• In fixed broadband the Group generated over 200,000 additions in Europe and fixed line revenue grew at constant exchange rates by 18.5% in Italy and 15.4% in Spain. Europe's enterprise revenue declined reflecting the economic pressure on business customers.



• Capital expenditure of GBP1.2 billion was at a similar level to the same quarter last year after adjusting for foreign exchange, reflecting continued investment in Europe to support network quality and data growth and in India to drive revenue through footprint expansion.



• In India, Service revenue grew by 23.0% at constant exchange rates including a 7.0 percentage point benefit from the revenue stream generated by the network sharing joint venture Indus Towers. The average customer base increased by 56.0% reflecting the launch of services in seven new circles in the previous financial year. Usage per customer
  slowed as a higher number of customers utilized SIMs from more than one operator, in particular in the new circles.

http://www.vodafone.com

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Nokia to Acquire Cellity for Mobile Software Development

Nokia has agreed to acquire cellity, a start-up based in Hamburg, Germany, for an undisclosed sum.


cellity currently offers a solution to collect and securely store users' contacts in one place. The service is an easy way to connect people on the mobile and the web.


Nokia said it will acquire the cellity team to strengthen its competencies in the area of social networking. cellity's current service will not transfer to Nokia and the service will be discontinued.


After closing, cellity's 14 employees will become part of Nokia's Services unit.
http://www.nokia.com
http://www.cellity.com

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Social Security Administration Chooses Verizon, AT&T

The U.S. Social Security Administration selected Verizon Business to serve as primary IP and data services provider, under a new Networx Universal task order. Under the agreement, valued at $140 million through 2017 if all options are exercised, Verizon Business will continue to advance and manage the SSA's wide-area network, known as the Enterprise-Wide Network Infrastructure (SSANet). In addition, Verizon Business will transition to an MPLS platform for the portion of the SSANet used for connecting to external business partners. Verizon Business previously implemented a similar transition for the SSA's internal network.


The SSA also named AT&T Government Solutions as secondary data network provider. This contract was valued at approximately $80 million. The agency leveraged the $20 billion U.S. General Services Administration Networx Universal contract to make the award. AT&T noted that it has served the voice and data network needs of SSA for several years. AT&T currently provides MPLS services to support approximately 1,000 SSA locations throughout the United States, including the U.S. Virgin Islands, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Alaska.
http://www.verizon.com
http://www.att.com

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Aircell's Chairman and CEO Swap Positions

Aircell announced the transition of Ron LeMay from Chairman of the Board to President and CEO of the company. Jack Blumenstein, current President and CEO, will assume the position of Chairman of the Board.


Aircell said it has experienced dramatic growth over the past few years since winning its exclusive FCC frequency license in 2006. Mr. Blumenstein has overseen the development of the Aircell Network and Gogo Inflight Internet service, as well as Aircell's airline partnerships, which represent the majority of the U.S. commercial aviation market.


LeMay is a 38-year veteran of the communications industry, having served as an officer at Southwestern Bell, AT&T and Sprint. His Sprint career spanned 18 years and included starting up Sprint PCS as its first employee and serving as its CEO.


"It is time for us to take Aircell to the next level and become the multibillion dollar company we know it can be," said Jack Blumenstein, Chairman of the Board, Aircell. "Ron brings a tremendous depth of operational experience from his days at Sprint and Sprint PCS and has worked closely with me over the past few years to guide the company through its rapid growth. I look forward to continuing to work with Ron and writing one of the great business success stories."http://www.aircell.com

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Extreme Appoints Vish Nandlall as CTO

Extreme Networks has appointed Vish Nandlall to the position of Chief Technology Officer Nandlall previously served as CTO for Nortel's Carrier Networks division, overseeing the technology vision for the company's successful Wireless and in Carrier VoIP Applications businesses. In addition to his role as CTO for Carrier Networks at Nortel, Nandlall has served in various technical leadership roles, as the chief architect for Nortel's CDMA technologies and lead architect for Metro DWDM. He is also a key figure in networking standards bodies that drive next-generation networking and communications, including, the IETF, 3GPP, 3GPP2 and as a board member for ATIS.


Nandlall holds a BSC Engineering, First Division, Electrical Engineering, from the University of New Brunswick.
http://www.extremenetworks.com

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Verizon Wireless Adds Record 1.1 Million in Q2, Earnings Out Today

Verizon Wireless added 1,1 million net customers in Q2 2009. This gives the company a total base of 87.7 million customers, including 85.2 million retail customers, which are those it directly serves and manages, and who choose the Verizon Wireless brand.


Verizon Communications is expected to release further operational data along with its quarterly financial results on July 27. http://www.verizonwireless.com

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Verizon Wireless Adds Record 1.1 Million in Q2, Earnings Out Today

Verizon Wireless added 1,1 million net customers in Q2 2009. This gives the company a total base of 87.7 million customers, including 85.2 million retail customers, which are those it directly serves and manages, and who choose the Verizon Wireless brand.


Verizon Communications is expected to release further operational data along with its quarterly financial results on July 27. http://www.verizonwireless.com

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Nokia Siemens Networks Underscores Wireless in North America

Following the news that Ericsson had prevailed in the auction to acquire Nortel's key wireless assets, Nokia Siemens issued a statement confirming its commitment to the global wireless infrastructure industry and highlighting its recent momentum in the North American market.


"Our final offer for Nortel's assets represented a fair price, and we did not enter this process with a win-at-any-cost mindset," said Bosco Novak, Chief Markets Operations Officer, Nokia Siemens Networks. "Ours was an opportunistic bid aimed at supporting the great progress we've made in North America in the past 18 months, and we are very confident that momentum will continue to grow." http://www.nsn.com

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US. Senate Confirms Mignon Clyburn and Meredith Attwell Baker as FCC Commissioners

The U.S. Senate confirmed Mignon Clyburn and Meredith Attwell Baker as FCC Commissioners. This brings the FCC back to having a full set of five commissioners.


Since 1998, Mignon Clyburn has been a member of South Carolina's Public Service Commission, which regulates the state's investor owned public utilities, including providers of telecommunications services. The South Carolina General Assembly elected Clyburn as a Commissioner representing the Sixth Congressional District in May of 1998, and she has been re-elected three times. She chaired the Commission from 2002 to 2004. Clyburn is a past chair of the Southeastern Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. She is presently the chair of the Washington Action Committee of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC).


Meredith Attwell Baker most recently served as Acting Assistant Secretary of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration from 2007 to January 2009. She was previously Vice President at the firm of Williams Mullen Strategies, where she focused on telecommunications, intellectual property, and international trade issues. Earlier, she held the position of Senior Counsel at Covad Communications from 2000 to 2002, and Director of Congressional Affairs at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) from 1998 to 2000.
http://www.fcc.gov

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