Telefonica

Telefonica signs massive pan-European comms contract

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:20:42 -0500

With a value of nearly 350 million euros, the deal signed this week between Telefonica and Deutsche Post World Net is Europe's largest mobile and fixed communications contract. The agreement covers 125,000 employees at 2,400 sites in 28 European countries. Only Germany is excluded from the deal.

Telefonica will be providing a complete range of communications solutions including wide area network connectivity, centralised Internet access, local-area network (LAN) services such as wireless LAN, fixed voice, mobile voice and data as well as IT services such as managed security, web conferencing, unified messaging and fixed mobile convergence.

The contract comprises more than 100,000 LAN Ports, more than 60,000 fixed voice devices and 80,000 mobile connections including 24,000 mobile and smartphone devices. The wireless communications aspect of the agreement will be covered by Telefonica O2's operations in the UK, Ireland, Czech Republic and Slovakia.

For more:
- go to Mobile Europe and Mobile News

Related article:
Mobile Internet comes to the Czech Republic

Huawei wins Czech network contract

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:06:38 -0400

Telefonica O2 Czech Republic has chosen Huawei for its UMTS network infrastructure and the modernisation of its 2G network. Currently Telefonica O2 provides UMTS/HSDPA coverage in Prague and Brno offering users download speeds of 3.6Mbs.

By the end of 2009, the operator plans to expand its 3G coverage to include 20 to 30 towns in the Czech Republic, growing this to 70 per cent population coverage within three years.

For more:
- read this article DMEurope

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Facebook's mobile service goes global with Telefonica

Paul Rasmussen — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:43:09 -0400

Mobile social networking has taken a significant step forward following a global agreement that will enable Telefonica cellphone subscribers to access Facebook's mobile services and applications. The deal expands the current UK-only relationship into a worldwide contract.

The agreement calls for a phased roll-out of the new network which will see services firstly deployed in Ireland, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Colombia, with the second deployment including Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Central American countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Every participating country may include a link in the browsing menu of its mobile handsets to Facebook's mobile service, allowing customers to send digital content (photos and videos) through integrated MMS services. Currently, more than 24 million pictures are uploaded to Facebook each day.

Mobile social networking is being hyped by the providers of such services as the next logical extension of their existing PC/laptop-based platform. Operators are keen to forge deals such as the above in anticipation of greater data usage.

For more on this story:
- go to The Unwired

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Telefonica accused of unfair practices, Vodafone sues for €670m

Paul Rasmussen — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:38:22 -0400

The giant Spanish telecoms firm Telefonica faces being fined a record amount if a decision by Spain's Supreme Court is upheld. The ruling follows a complaint by Vodafone that the former state monopoly abused its dominant market position by preventing Airtel -- which Vodafone acquired in 2000, from expanding its business in Spain through unfair competition practices between 1995 and 1999.

Vodafone specifically accuses Telefonica of bullying cell phone retailers into signing exclusivity contracts that prevented Airtel from acquiring new subscribers via a channel that, in the late 1990s, accounted for more than 50 per cent of handset sales.

Vodafone's claims are based on a 2006 Supreme Court ruling that found Telefonica guilty of violating competition rules. However, while some analysts believe there will be an out of court settlement, what seems more likely is that Telefonica will lodge an appeal with a higher court. If this is successful then Vodafone will need to wait two to three years for a decision.

For more on this story:
- go to AFP and Expatica

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Vodafone Spain gains in saturated market

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:01:58 -0400

With penetration reaching over 120 per cent, Vodafone Spain just managed to outperform the market leader, Telefonica, during Q1/08 by recruiting (on a proportionate basis) more users.

Telefonica finished the quarter with just over 23 million customers, having managed an annual growth rate of 5.5 per cent, and recorded a very slight improvement in market share to finish Q1 on 46.5 per cent.

Vodafone Spain finished the quarter with a market share of 29.9 per cent. In real terms, its customer base stood at 14.79 million, up 790,000 year on year. While this is lower than both the previous year's figure of 1.25 million net additions and Telefonica's 1.19 million, in proportionate terms Vodafone grew by 5.6 per cent, the highest growth rate on the market excluding start-up Xfera.

France Telecom's Amena, with a 22.4 per cent share of the market, was the slowest growing by some margin with an annual increase of just 0.2 per cent. Having lost 370,000 customers in Q2/07, Amena rebounded with quarterly net additions of 230,000 and 170,000 in Q3 and Q4, but Q1/08 saw the loss of 7,000, leaving the annual gain at a paltry 26,000.

Most observers believe it is too late for the 3G operator Xfera to penetrate the Spanish market given its lowly 1.1 per cent share with 560,000 subscribers.

For more on this story:
- go to Cellular News

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