Nigeria grows subscribers to 121m:

Nigeria’s mobile phone subscriber base has grown to 121 million, with internet user numbers up from 45 million two years ago, to 48 million. This is according to President Goodluck Jonathan, whose message was delivered in Bangkok this week at the opening of Nigeria’s Pavilion at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Telecom World 2013.years ago, to 48 million.

The president said the telecoms sector had brought over $25billion to the economy in foreign direct investment (FDI), while operators have displayed commitment to invest another $6 billion in the sector in the future.

The president, who was represented by the Minister of Communications Technology, Omobola Johnson, lamented that while the national economy was growing, “Challenges still persist with poverty reduction,” adding however that income distribution was improving while the “consumer class” is expanding.

“As at September this year, there were over 121 million active SIM (subscriber identity module) cards in the country,” the president said, adding that there is a high occurrence of multiple ownership of SIM cards, estimated at about two to three per subscriber, which he said meant that there were tremendous opportunities for growth in the sector.

“Opportunities also exist in the data and Internet markets. Internet users in Nigeria have risen from 45 million in December 2011, to 48 million in June 2012. That is three million new users in just six months.

“Figures we have from the four major operators (MTN, GLO, Airtel and Etisalat) show that between June 2012 March 2013 an additional 9 million new mobile Internet subscribers; that is equivalent to one million new subscribers per month,” President Jonathan said.

He recalled that at last year’s Telecom World forum in Dubai, Nigeria communicated its commitment to create enabling environment for the ubiquitous roll-out of broadband across its territory.  To achieve this, he said he had just inaugurated a multi-stakeholder committee to develop a roadmap to achieve a five-fold deployment and increase of broadband penetration by 2018.

“Since that time, this Broadband Committee has completed its work and its output, National Broadband Roadmap, is galvanising investment in the ICT sector.  A Broadband Council has also been inaugurated to track the implementation of this Roadmap; and important agreements and collaborations have been established between government at all levels and telecom operators,” the president said.

Rostelecom grows earnings on broadband, TV demand:

Russian telecoms incumbent Rostelecom has flagged growth in revenues and profits on the back of rising demand for broadband and pay-TV services.

The state-controlled operator reported a 12% increase in net profit for the three months ending September, to RUB10.5 billion ($319 million), and a 2% rise in revenues, to RUB78.2 billion, compared with the same period of 2012.

“Efforts taken to strengthen our market positions in key segments and improve on our internal efficiency led to positive results during the quarter,” said Sergey Kalugin, Rostelecom’s (Moscow, Russia) president. “Not only do we continue to grow our broadband and pay-TV subscriber base, but we also increased our net income during the quarter.”

“Furthermore, all the necessary corporate procedures associated with the reogranisation of Rostelecom have been successfully executed, with Svyazinvest and a range of subsidiaries now merged with Rostelecom,” added Kalugin.

Rostelecom completed its reorganization on 1 October 2013, merging Svyazinvest and various other companies it controlled either directly or indirectly with OJSC Rostelecom, the operator’s parent company.

The company said its base of broadband customers grew by 10% between September 2012 and September 2013, to about 9.8 million customers, while the number of pay-TV customer it serves rose by the same percentage, to 7 million customers, over the same period.

Rostelecom also reported a 4% increase in the number of mobile customers it serves, to 14.1 million.

Vodacom Purchase of Neotel Could Face Trade Body Obstruction:

South Africa's Wireless Access Providers' Association (WAPA) says that it would object to any attempt by Vodacom to buy the country's second largest landline operator, Neotel and said it was watching developments carefully before formulating a formal response.

WAPA believes that the acquisition would stifle competition, lead to job cuts, and do little to reduce the digital divide that it believes should be the country's top priority with regard to broadband.

WAPA says that it is seeing an increase in membership exceeding 25% per year, as smaller operators seize the gap created in the broadband market, particularly with respect to last-mile access.

"The growth in smaller operators is good for the customer and good for the country," says Christopher Geerdts, Chairperson of WAPA. "It increases competition, creates jobs and drives rural broadband penetration. Larger operators tend to cut jobs and cherry-pick customers in the most lucrative suburbs and business parks."

WAPA and many of its members have a commercial relationship with Neotel.

"WAPA's concern is that Vodacom's influence will dampen these gains achieved, severely limit open wholesale access and set back rather than increase competition and consumer choice," concludes Geerdts.

Alcatel-Lucent third quarter revenue highlights:

Alcatel-Lucent announcing the third quarter revenue presented a rosy picture about the future about the telecom equipment maker as the company started responding well in line with its new Shift Plan strategy.

TelecomLead.com is presenting Alcatel-Lucent third quarter revenue highlights

Alcatel-Lucent third quarter revenue increased 7 percent year-on-year to Euro 3,668 million. Alcatel-Lucent reported net loss of Euro 200 million for the period.

The Core Networking segment grew 6.0 percent, driven by IP Routing.

In the Access segment, both Wireless and Fixed Networks enjoyed a strong performance, driven by broadband roll-outs partially offset by declines in legacy technologies. This is partially offset by the decrease in revenues from Managed Services.

Vodacom Purchase of Neotel Could Face Trade Body Obstruction:

South Africa's Wireless Access Providers' Association (WAPA) says that it would object to any attempt by Vodacom to buy the country's second largest landline operator, Neotel and said it was watching developments carefully before formulating a formal response.

WAPA believes that the acquisition would stifle competition, lead to job cuts, and do little to reduce the digital divide that it believes should be the country's top priority with regard to broadband.

WAPA says that it is seeing an increase in membership exceeding 25% per year, as smaller operators seize the gap created in the broadband market, particularly with respect to last-mile access.

"The growth in smaller operators is good for the customer and good for the country," says Christopher Geerdts, Chairperson of WAPA. "It increases competition, creates jobs and drives rural broadband penetration. Larger operators tend to cut jobs and cherry-pick customers in the most lucrative suburbs and business parks."

WAPA and many of its members have a commercial relationship with Neotel.

World Mobile Subscription exceeds 6.4bn:

Total number of mobile subscriptions worldwide grew approximately by 8% year-on-year exceeding 6.4 billion for the first quarter of 2013, Ericsson’s Mobility Report released this week has revealed.

The report, which aims to share analysis based on traffic measurements, internal forecasts and other relevant studies, has projected that by the end of 2018, mobile subscriptions will reach 9.1 billion.

“The total number of mobile subscriptions globally will exceed the world population in 2014. We will have more mobile subscriptions in the world than there are people in the world," Ericsson Head of Region, Sub Saharan Africa, Fredrik Jejling, said during the launch of the report in Accra on Wednesday.

Of the 130 million mobile net additions the world saw in the first quarter of the year, Africa contributed 27 million.

The report says mobile broadband subscriptions globally also grew drastically at a rate of 45 per cent year-on-year reaching around 1.7 billion for the same period and are predicted to reach 7.0 billion in 2018.