Satnews Publishers: Daily Satellite News

Satnews Daily

August 10^th, 2009

digiGO! — The Digital (R)Evolution™

GLO Mobile, the Nigerian mobile operator, has launched international multimedia messaging service (MMS), the first of its kind in Nigeria. The service allows subscribers to exchange MMS with their loved ones in 10 nations across the globe at the cost of N100 only. The international MMS destinations already covered by the service include Norway, U.K., Saudi Arabia, China, Pakistan, Oman, Switzerland, Portugal, Hungary, and Liechtenstein. The Company’s gateway division director, Ibrahim Fadipe, stated the telecom giant plans to extend the international MMS destinations aggressively in the coming months.

Malaysia’s biggest mobile phone operator, Maxis Communications, plans to raise $2 billion in a public offering later this year, underscoring the revival of Asian IPO’s as equity markets rebound. The offering, which could be the biggest in Malaysia since 1995, comes just two years after Maxis was taken private by its reclusive billionaire owner, Malaysian tycoon Ananda Krishnan, who owns telecom assets in India and Indonesia. Two sources told Reuters that Maxis has selected Goldman Sachs (GS.N), Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) and CIMB (BUCM.KL) to advise it on a listing in Kuala Lumpur. Under Bursa Malaysia rules, a company needs to sell a minimum 25 percent stake to list on the stock exchange. The move comes after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak last month asked Maxis Communications Bhd to re-list on Bursa Malaysia to boost liquidity and draw in investors to Southeast Asia’s most laggard stock market so far this year. Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and CIMB declined to comment on the share sale plans. The sources declined to be identified as details of the deal are not public.

New research from Media Partners Asia (MPA) reveals that Asia’s top 40 pay-TV operators added 5.8 million net new subscribers between them during the six months to end-June 2009, demonstrating that demand for pay-TV remains robust in Asia, despite concerns that the global economic downturn is encouraging consumers to cut back on pay-TV. The new subscriptions take the combined customer base of Asia’s top 40 operators to 65.3 million, around a third of the region’s installed pay-TV base. MPA forecasts indicate that these leading operators will end the year with 70.7 million customers, implying annual net additions of 11.3 million and close to 20 percent annual growth. Regional gains have been driven by significant subscriber growth in China and India, low-ARPU markets where cable and DTH have led the way. Excluding China and India, pay-TV subscribers for the leading operators in the region are expected to grow at less than 8 percent this year. Subscriber and ARPU growth has softened in Singapore and Hong Kong while churn has risen in Indonesia, but customer additions remain solid for the most part in Thailand, Malaysia, and Australia. The growth of fibre-based IPTV services, meanwhile, is providing a boost to the saturated Japan market.

From Russia, with GSM — Megafon, the Russian mobile operator, has reportedly won the licence to deploy its GSM network in Iran. The Russian telco reportedly has been given a licence to open a branch in Tehran. Earlier, MegaFon’s General Director Sergei Soldatenkov had said the firm was ready to invest $4.65 billion in the construction of a network in Iran — if it got the license. Money talks...

The Oman based mobile operator, Omantel, has apparently unveiled five mobile internet packages for its postpaid Mada subscribers. Mada post paid subscribers can select from several different packages: two, hourly based packages; 10 hour packaged priced at RO5 with unlimited download, and the 30 hour package priced at RO10 with unlimited usage. There are also three data based packages: 1GB for RO19 with unlimited usage, 15GB for RO34 with unlimited usage, and the 30GB package for RO59 with unlimited usage.

Orange and Research In Motion have launched the BlackBerry® Bold™ smartphone in Jordan. The BlackBerry Bold smartphone supports tri-band HSDPA high-speed networks around the world and comes with integrated GPS and Wi-Fi®, as well as multimedia capabilities. Featuring a black exterior, satin chrome finished frame and leatherette backplate, the BlackBerry Bold offers a sophisticated user interface and newly designed full-QWERTY keyboard.