Telecom Inventory

France Telecom SA (FTE) will seek approval from Egyptian regulators to buy out the remaining publicly traded shares in its local wireless venture with billionaire Naguib Sawiris in a 1.5-billion-euro ($2 billion) transaction.

France’s biggest phone company agreed on the final terms of the deal with Egyptian partner Orascom Telecom Media & Technology Holding SAE (OTMT), including a 202.5 Egyptian pound-a-share ($33.56) offer to acquire Cairo-listed Egyptian Company for Mobile Services, the companies said today. They reached a preliminary agreement in February on Mobinil, as the operator is known.

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Telecom Lead Middle East: Qtel has become the first telecom operator in the world to offer new Cisco router for intelligent home broadband networking.

“One of the benefits of the new Cisco router is that as our customers upgrade their home broadband experience, their Wi-Fi router’s capabilities will grow with them, and they’ll find themselves able to access more and more content at ever-faster speeds,” said Waleed Al Sayed, chief operating officer, Qtel Qatar.

The router is able to move content around the home at up to 1Gbps through its Gigabit Ethernet ports and through its high speed dual band wireless capabilities. Large transfers to other computers and networked devices within a home (not just the Internet) can be done in a fraction of the time.

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Total Telecom: Cash generated would be invested in next generation network.

Telecom Italia SpA is mulling a spinoff of its access network, the former monopoly’s main asset, Il Sole 24 ore reports Wednesday, citing a private document circulated by the company’s management.

The business daily reports that the document outlines three possible ways to raise at least EUR4 billion by selling a stake in the network, which is worth EUR15 billion.

The funds would be used to invest in a new-generation network offering faster Internet access to Telecom Italia’s domestic clients, the paper said.

Saudi Telecom Company (STC) says a target to boost foreign operations to half of its total business is still realistic, despite the operator’s failed bid to enter the Syrian market.

The company last year reported revenue of 56 billion Saudi riyals (Dh54.8bn), with about 32 per cent of that coming from outside Saudi Arabia.

It had aimed to expand the overseas contribution to 50 per cent by the end of next year but has faced difficulty because of scant acquisition targets and few telecommunications licences being offered.

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France Telecom SA (FTE) Chief Executive Officer Stephane Richard is opposing a proposal by workers to cut the 2011 dividend, saying that shareholders deserve an unchanged payout of 1.40 euros ($1.83) a share.

“I see no logical reason, whether economic or political, why we should deprive our shareholders of this return,” Richard said in an interview in Paris. “Our results in 2011 have given us the financial ability to pay 1.40 euros per share.” The company, which operates the Orange mobile-phone service, paid the same dividend a year earlier.

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The following companies’ shares may have unusual moves in European (SXXP) trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses and prices are from the most recent close.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.1 percent to 259.07 on April 5. The Stoxx 50 Index (SX5P) decreased less than 0.1 percent to 2,427.31. The Euro Stoxx 50 Index (SX5E), a benchmark measure for nations using the euro, declined 0.3 percent to 2,392.54.

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Recently, Orange Jordan signed an agreement with Ericsson for an overhaul and expansion of their 3G Network. The modernization of the broadband network and introduction of 3G services to help improve penetration rates in the country cost $114 million in investments. This move was necessary to meet the increasing demand of their growing subscriber rates. Orange Jordan’s partnership with the Swedish telecommunications and data company is expected to drive economic growth in the kingdom.

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(RTTNews) - Italian telecom company Telecom Italia Group (TI: News ,TIAOF.PK: News ) on Thursday reported a loss for fiscal 2011, reflecting a goodwill writedown of 7.3 billion euros, or $9.75 billion, at its struggling domestic operations.

The company attributed the writedown to the deterioration of the macro economic outlook and the condition of the financial markets. Franco Bernabè, Telecom Italia Chief Executive, said in a statement, “The goodwill write-down caused by the Olivetti/Telecom Italia deals and the purchase of the TIM minorities was made necessary by the deterioration of the macro economic outlook and of the financial markets condition.” However, Bernabe added that the writedown had no financial consequences and have no impact on the group’s debt reduction plans.

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