| Today's Top Stories
1. Nokia Siemens abandons talks to sell stake to private equity firms
2. Bouygues Telecom looks to gain scale with Telefónica partnership
3. Operators lobby EU for ability to charge for content delivery
4. Europe's 'big five' operators to design common NFC logo
5. Sawiris signals Wind's Italian M&A intentions Also Noted: Spotlight On... Europeans prefer triple play, but complain about QoS
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Today's Top News 1. Nokia Siemens abandons talks to sell stake to private equity firms
Nokia Siemens Networks abandoned talks with private equity firms to sell a stake in the infrastructure vendor. Nokia and Siemens, the owners of the joint venture, said that they were in the best position to further enhance the value of the company.  | | Suri | With few details as to how this might be achieved, NSN said in a statement that, "along with ongoing efforts to generate cost savings, the company plans to strengthen its capabilities in mobile broadband, services and customer experience management to drive and support customer roadmaps." A report in the Wall Street Journal in late June said talks with a consortium that included Gores Group and Platinum Equity were unlikely to go anywhere. While both co-owners declared their ongoing commitment to NSN, no mention was made as to whether the support extends to making additional cash investments to keep the company alive. Adding to the statement, NSN CEO Rajeev Suri, said: "With us, they [Nokia and Siemens] share the common goal of ensuring that Nokia Siemens Networks will be a sustainable and powerful leader in the industry, benefitting from its strength in innovation." Industry analyst, Tero Kuittinen, a partner with equity research firm MKM, told Reuters: "The timing for selling the unit could hardly have been worse; there are clear signs from companies like LG and ASML of the European handset market descending into a slump, and selling a mobile network company on the eve of a handset market downturn is a tough challenge." NSN owners have been holding talks about the sale of NSN for over a year, and this failure to find a purchaser has impacted Nokia's share price, driving it down below €4 to its lowest point since January 1998. For more:
- see this NSN release
- see this Reuters article Related Articles:
Report: Nokia, Siemens abandon private equity push for NSN
Analysts urge investors to buy Nokia options on hopes of rebound
Report: Nokia, Siemens abandon private equity push for NSN
Nokia labeled complacent as NSN buyers withdraw interest
NSN closes Motorola deal, priced dropped to $975m Read more about: Private Equity, Nokia, Wireless Broadband, Nokia Siemens Networks
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2. Bouygues Telecom looks to gain scale with Telefónica partnership
Bouygues Telecom, France's third largest operator, is joining the Partners Programme run by Telefónica, the giant Spanish telecoms provider. The companies said the agreement will benefit Bouygues by providing it access to Telefónica's scale, and the two will co-operate on business and technical topics. The deal, which Telefónica aims to offer to a selected number of operators, includes collaboration on roaming services, devices and providing services to multinational customers. Of note, Bouygues will also have access to the Spanish operator's global procurement agreement. "Given our complementarity and affinity, as well as Bouygues Telecom excellent track record, we are positive that our enhanced business cooperation will be quite fruitful and will create value to both companies," Mario Martin, Telefónica's director of strategic alliances, said in a statement. Telefónica also mentioned that the commercial agreement with Bouygues Telecom did not rule out further areas where the two firms might co-operate.
France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom recently signed a deal that included joint procurement, with TeliaSonera agreeing to join the European giants on cross-border M2M co-operation, and equipment standards and sourcing. For more:
- see this release
- see this Telecom Paper article (sub. req.) Related Articles:
KPN and Telefónica to jointly target multinationals
SFR, Orange, Bouygues and NRJ Mobile prep nationwide NFC launch
DT, France Telecom combine equipment purchasing activities across Europe
TeliaSonera provides muscle to M2M, joins FT Orange and DT alliance Read more about: Telefonica, Roaming Services, bouygues telecom, Joint Procurement
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3. Operators lobby EU for ability to charge for content delivery
A report from European mobile industry heavyweights will ask the EU to allow operators to charge content providers for delivery of the content. The aim of the report, drawn up by Alcatel-Lucent, Deutsche Telekom and Vivendi, is to alert the EU to the huge investment needed to meet the ambitious broadband targets likely to be imposed by the European body. The key message within the report, albeit probably disguised, will back calls to charge content providers for the delivery of high-quality--but bandwidth-hungry--video material to consumers. European operators say there is a need for them to establish new revenue streams to justify building fibre optic broadband networks to support services such as HD mobile video. McKinsey, the consulting firm, has estimated an EU-wide network to support this could cost €300 billion. What is also expected to be included within the report is support for new operator business models that lift restrictions on the development and deployment of new business models. However, the study is also likely to support keeping the current "best efforts" for delivering content to users unwilling to pay extra for a higher quality of service. This effort by Alcatel-Lucent, Deutsche Telekom and Vivendi was triggered following a meeting in March called by Neelie Kroes, the European commissioner responsible for telecoms, and leading executives from about 40 companies. Kroes called for "concrete proposals" on how Europe could accelerate the construction of high speed broadband networks to hit the target of around 50 per cent of all European homes having access to 100Mbps by 2020. For more:
- see this Financial Times article
- see the New York Times article Related Articles:
Net Neutrality comes to Netherlands
Vodafone CEO Colao rejects 'light-touch' Internet regulations
Net neutrality doesn't work for mobile operators
Mallinson: Network neutrality dysfunctionality Read more about: Vivendi, Deutsche Telekom, broadband networks, Content Providers
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4. Europe's 'big five' operators to design common NFC logo
The NFC bandwagon has taken a lurch forward with Europe's leading operators agreeing to design a common logo that is clearly understood by consumers. Telefónica O2, Vodafone, Deutsche Telecom, Telecom Italia and France Telecom Orange want the new symbol to be able to alert subscribers with NFC-enabled handsets where they can use the technology for mobile commence services. This move comes after the NFC Forum, the industry group responsible for the technology's standardisation and promotion, proposed that mobile operators use its newly-created N-Mark logo. However, the operators rejected the symbol and said it lacked adequate impact for general use. "This is something we all think is necessary. It's very much in the discussion stage at the moment, but we all agree it's something we should have," Telefónica O2's Nick Wilkin told NFC World. "Whether we use the three waves you see on contactless credit cards today, or make a new design, the point is to make sure it's as easy as possible for customers to see whether they can use their phone at a checkout." The aim, as reported by NFC News, is for the new logo to appear on POS terminals, ticketing booths and in other retail locations, indicating where NFC is accepted, said Daniel Gurrola, vice president of strategy for Orange. Given that the Quick Tap service from Orange UK is the only European commercial NFC deployment today, this effort by the five operators would seem timely with announcements by many other service providers to launch m-commerce services this year. For more:
- see this NFC World article
- see this NFC News article Related Articles:
O2 UK exec: M-wallet JV to go live within months
Everything Everywhere, O2, Vodafone forge JV to fast-track m-commerce
Telenor and MasterCard try again with m-payments pilot
Visa challenges operators for NFC leadership in France Read more about: Telecom Italia, Vodafone, France Telecom, Nfc
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5. Sawiris signals Wind's Italian M&A intentions
Wind Mobile, Italy's third largest mobile operator, has indicated its interest in merging with or acquiring other Italian fixed or mobile operators. According to the Egyptian tycoon, Naguib Sawiris, who sold Wind to Vimeplcom earlier this year, said the company is open to integrating with companies such as 3 Italia, Fastweb or Tiscali. "We have (an) appetite to grow our business," Sawiris said at a news conference earlier this week, according to Reuters. "We believe there (are) synergies but until there is something concrete we cannot say anything more than that. There is nothing concrete right now." Wind, which is aggressively expanding its branded service in Canada, has undergone a recovery in its fortunes in Italy after boosting network coverage together with a focus on higher value subscribers. The firm indicated its intentions to grow within its home market by floating the idea last year that it would be interested in acquiring rival BT Italia. Nothing more came of this idea after BT Italia rejected the suggestion. Sawiris, who has a reputation of generating market speculation, was until recently the majority shareholder in Wind through his Orascom Telecom company. However, Orascom was sold earlier this year to Vimplecom for $6 billion with Sawiris remaining as a key shareholder in the Russian-based operator. For more:
- see this Reuters article
- see this Dow Jones Newswires article (sub. req.)
- see this Telecom Paper article (sub. req.) Related Articles:
Vimpelcom and Wind complete $6bn deal
Vimpelcom becomes global player through $20bn Wind merger
Italy's top operators launch joint m-payment platform
Report: North/South European mobile revenue split persists Read more about: Network Coverage, Mobile Operator, Naguib Sawiris, Fastweb
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Also Noted SPOTLIGHT ON... Europeans prefer triple play, but complain about QoS A comprehensive survey of European consumers indicates that 40 per cent opt to purchase their Internet, phone and TV services as a bundle. The European Union Eurobarometer study, however, also indicates that one in four of those surveyed believes their Internet download/upload speeds do not match the conditions of the contract they agreed to, while a third say they have experienced disconnection problems. The report also notes that Slovenians, the Dutch, Greeks, the Spanish, Romanians and Austrians are increasingly worried about the cost of mobile calls, with Greek and Spanish consumers limiting their calls due to charges. With mobile Internet usage, those least concerned about the costs were residents from the Netherlands and Estonia, while people living in Belgium, Spain and Bulgaria are starting to keep usage to a minimum. Article (PDF)
> Helferich Patent Licensing, a US patent holding firm, has issued a lawsuit against Nokia claiming the company has infringed seven messaging patents. Article > Transport for London has agreed that it will enable NFC phones to be used for ticketing from 2012. Article > Android edged past Symbian in Spain, according to the latest data from from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.. Article > Nokia is reportedly planning to spend £80 million to promote its shift to Windows Phone smartphones. Article > Microsoft CEO Steve Steve Ballmer admitted that Windows Phone has had little impact in smartphone arena so far. Article
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