Softbank Plans Big Capex Increase

Softbank of Japan said it plans to boost its capital spending by 54% to 400 billion yen (4.3 billion US dollars) in the year ending March 31, 2011, according to Reuters. The wire service said Softbank plans to double the number of its base stations to 120,000. source: Reuters story

Hutchison's 3 Group Up 5%

Hutchison Whampoa said its 3 Group's revenues increased 5% in local currencies in 2009 to 57.59 billion Hong Kong dollars (7.42 billion US dollars) as its customer base rose by 29% to 26.8 million. The 3 Group’s customer base included 4.5 million mobile broadband (dongle) customers, a 75% increase year-on-year. source: Hutchison Whampoa statement

Unicom Cuts Capex Sharply

After investing heavily in its mobile networks in 2009, China Unicom said that it will cut capex in by almost 35% to 73.5 billion yuan (10.8 billion US dollars) in 2010 with a 61% cut in spending on 2G networks and a 37% cut in 3G network spend. At the end of 2009, China Unicom had almost 148 million mobile subscribers including 2.74 million 3G customers. source: China Unicom presentation

Mobile Data Overtakes Mobile Voice

In December 2009, the global mobile data traffic generated by 400 million mobile broadband connections overtook the global mobile voice traffic of 140,000 terabytes generated by 4.6 billion mobile subscriptions, according to Ericsson, citing measurements from live networks covering all regions of the world. Ericsson said that data traffic globally grew 280% during each of the past two years, and is forecast to double annually over the next five years. Ericsson said that traffic on 3G networks has also now overtaken traffic on 2G networks.

Ericsson said that more than 200 mobile operators in 60 countries are deploying and promoting Facebook mobile products, with over 100 million active users accessing Facebook through their mobile devices. source: Ericsson statement

Capex to Creep up at China Telecom

China Telecom said that its revenues rose almost 13% to 208.22 billion Chinese yuan (30.48 billion US dollars) in 2009 thanks to a 481% rise in mobile services revenue to 35.6 billion yuan following the acquisition of China Unicom's CDMA mobile business in October 2008. During 2009, mobile subscribers more than doubled to 56 million, including more than 4 million 3G connections.

Wireline voice revenues fell almost 19%, but wireline broadband subscribers rose 21% during 2009 to 53.5 million. China Telecom said that its capital spending declined 21% in 2009 to 38.04 billion yuan, but it forecast that capex would rise slightly in 2010 to 39 billion yuan. source: China Telecom presentation

Broadband Bolsters VimpelCom

VimpelCom said that its revenues in Russia in the fourth quarter of 2009 were flat year-on-year at 58.8 billion Russian roubles (2 billion US dollars) despite a 7% increase in mobile subscribers and a 89% surge in broadband revenues to 2.07 billion roubles.

In dollar  terms, VimpelCom cut its capex in Russia 48% to 332 million US dollars year-on-year. source: VimpelCom presentation

Deutsche Telekom Pinpoints Future Growth

Deutsche Telekom said it expects its annual revenue from mobile data traffic to increase from 4 billion euros today to around 6 billion euros by 2012 and around 10 billion euros by 2015. T-Mobile USA expects more than 50% of the phones used in on its network by 2012 will be smartphones.

DT expects to increase revenues from “intelligent networks” serving the energy, healthcare, media, and automotive sectors to around 1 billion euros by 2015. In Germany, the group plans to invest around 10 billion euros between 2010 and 2012 in “fiber optics, new mobile communications technologies, and IT processes”.

DT also plans to expand its own Internet offerings – such as the Scout24 family, Musicload, Videoload, Softwareload and Gamesload – and increase the revenues they generate from 800 million euros today to between 2 billion and 3 billion euros by 2015.

The group also aims to increase revenues from the provision of access to content and services across all screens in the home (including broadband access) from 5 billion euros to around 7 billion euros in 2015. Meanwhile, T-Systems, DT’s services arm, is planning to lift its external revenue by 2 billion euros to around 8 billion euros in 2015. source: Deutsche Telekom statement

Double Digit Growth for China Mobile

China Mobile said its revenue rose almost 10% in 2009 to 452 billion Chinese yuan (66.17 billion US dollars) as its customer base climbed 14% to more than 522 million. Its revenue from providing Internet access to handsets soared 41% to 18.3 billion yuan, while MMS revenue climbed 15% to 3.3 billion yuan. China Mobile said that the number of people using its Fetion instant messaging service rose 68% to more than 62 million.

By the end of 2009, China Mobile had 3.4 million 3G customers and 238 cities had 3G coverage. The operator said it plans to cut capital spending to 123 billion yuan this year from 129 billion yuan in 2009 and then reduce capex to 98 billion yuan in 2011 and 80 billion in 2012. source: China Mobile presentation

Nokia Revises Industry Estimates

Nokia said that it has revised its estimate for global industry mobile device shipments in 2009 to 1.26 billion units, up from its previous estimate of 1.14 billion units. Nokia now estimates that its mobile device volume market share was 34% in 2009, rather than its earlier estimate of 38%.

Nokia said "improved measurement processes and tools" have enabled it to have better visibility of the number of mobile devices sold by "certain new entrants", both legitimate and unlicensed and counterfeit. source: Nokia statement

Telefónica Targets Big Rise in Customers

Telefónica said it expects to have more than 320 million customers in 2012 - 30% of the market in the regions where it operates - compared with 265 million customers in 25 countries today. The Madrid-based company is also aiming for annual revenue growth of between 1% and 4% over the next four years.

Telefónica added: "Global operators are exceptionally well placed in the new value chain because they are best able to formulate new products and services, for which both scale and a global customer base is key." source: Telefónica statement

MTN Aims to add 20 million in 2010

Driven by strong subscriber growth in Iran, Nigeria and Uganda, MTN said that its revenues grew 19% in constant currencies in 2009 to 111.95 billion South African rand (15.1 billion US dollars). Reported capital expenditure rose 11% to 31.25 billion rand in 2009, but MTN expects to cut capex by 24% to 23.6 billion rand in 2010.

Reported data revenues rose by 24% in 2009 to 3.34 billion rand, while SMS revenues also climbed 24% to 5.44 billion rand. MTN also said it has now rolled out mobile money transfer services in South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Benin and Yemen. In Uganda, it now has 680,000 subscribers for its mobile money transfer service.

MTN expects to add 20 million new subscribers in 2010, which would take its total subscriber base to 136 million. source: MTN presentation

Verizon Sees Flat Capex in 2010

Verizon Communications expects its capex in 2010 to be the same as in 2009, according to Dow Jones Newswires. Chief Financial Officer John Killian, speaking at an investor conference on Monday, said he expects full-year capex of 16.8 billion to 17.2 billion US dollars, or roughly flat from 2009, the report said. source:  Total Telecom/Dow Jones

Broadband to Lift PLDT

PLDT of the Philippines expects its service revenues to grow by 3% in 2010 to 150 billion Philippine pesos (3.26 billion US dollars), thanks to "strong growth in broadband, corporate and SME business for the fixed line, and improvements in the BPO business." Service revenues grew 2% in 2009.

However, it warned that cellular growth will be limited by 80% market penetration, the multiple-SIM phenomenon, increasing subscriber preference for unlimited offers and bucket plans, together with competition from social networking/broadband.

PLDT expects its capex for 2010 to be 28.6 billion Philippine pesos, 600 million pesos higher than 2009 as part of a continuing investment in its network to support take-up of broadband and higher voice usage, on top of maintenance capex. source: PLDT presentation

Vivendi's Telecoms Units Up Slightly

Vivendi said that revenues at SFR, its French telecoms unit, rose by 0.3% on a like-for-like basis to 12.43 billion euros in 2009 despite "a market that remains very competitive and substantial tariff cuts resulting from national and European regulations."

The conglomerate also said revenues at Maroc Telecom Group rose 1.3% on a like-for-like basis to 2.69 billion euros. source: Vivendi statement