Rumour mill: Telefónica Spain to select Alca-Lu for LTE network

www.lteworld.gr Telefónica Spain is expected to announce that Alcatel-Lucent is to provide the company with a nationwide LTE network, according to a Bloomberg report. Sources close to the negotiations say that Alca-Lu is ahead of rival LTE infrastructure suppliers, with a formal decision anticipated when Telefónica unveils details of its future network strategy at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain. The companies didn't comment to Bloomberg. Rumours of the deal, speculated to be worth around €300 million to provide LTE coverage to 65 per cent of the Spanish population, boosted Alca-Lu's share price €0.085 to €1.85 in Paris, valuing the company at €4.3 billion. Commenting on the suggested contract award, Robin Bienenstock, an analyst at Sanford C Bernstein in London, noted that Telefónica needs to deploy LTE in an effort to regain subscribers that have been lost to fixed and mobile operators providing faster broadband services. "LTE will be important, especially in rural areas" where download speeds may be limited to about 2 Mbps, Bienenstock said. "In the absence of significant cable coverage, Telefónica's wireline customers are threatened by faster speeds available through LTE, hence the company has to build LTE to prevent further revenue declines in these areas." Last September, Telefónica announced that Alca-Lu had been selected to help the telco test LTE services for business users in Madrid and Barcelona. Huawei has been providing LTE dongle modems for use in the trial. Data compiled by the market research firm Dell'Oro Group has Alca-Lu holding 30 per cent of the LTE market as of September 2011, trailing Ericsson's estimated 44 per cent market share. www.lteworld.gr

To πρώτο LTE book στα Ελληνικά (http://www.lteworld.gr)

To πρώτο πλήρες  βιβλίο για LTE   στα Ελληνικά : http://www.lteworld.gr

Vodafone on the verge of buying Wind Hellas

Should be a done deal by Xmas assuming the NRA allows it. This should create an equivalent competitor to Greek Cosmote who controls about  48 percent of the market. Wind has had its share of troubles, bankrupt almost twice where shareholders via their representatives were forced to take control and salvage the company.

The issue will be network and administrative rationalization with over 1000 layoffs. This will also result in rationalizations on the supply side (infrastructure and service vendors) as well as collateral industries and government representative associations.This will also mark the end of an era since Telestet (Stet hellas-TIM-Wind) was the first to offer mobile services at premium prices in Greece.

The move will control with Cosmote most of the mobile market, for the time being.

The move is expected to also bring some sort of price stabilization, since prices have been in free fall since 2008.