More corporate action to trigger the telco sector

Continuing on this post, I dug up some more ongoing business dealings.

Operators for sale:

• Alltel
• Pipex (and C&W?) in the UK; possibly Lycos Germany, Jazztel (Spain), and PT's PT Multimedia unit
• FastWeb (Italy) could attract a counterbid (next to Swisscom's).
• Telefonica not only has Endemol up for sale (late March), but Airwave (UK) as well.
• Deutsche Telekom is shopping Ya.com (Spain) and Club Internet (France) around.
• TDC's owners are looking for buyers for HTCC (Hungary), sunrise (Switzerland) and Talkline (Germany).
• Both Lebanon and Libya are selling two state-owned mobile operators.
• Stakes in state-owned PTT's may change hand: OTE, TI, DT, PT, TeliaSonera, as well as the operators of Bulgaria, Uganda, Botswana and Algeria.

IPOs:

• Infamous Versatel (Germany) and Flag Telecom may re-enter.
• Several wireless operators: MetroPCS, Colombia Movil, GrameenPhone, Safaricom and Spice Telecom.

Licenses:

• Fixed line, SNO: Saudi Arabia and Kenya.
• Wireless (2G and/or 3G): Iceland, Germany (2008), France (2008), Canada (2008), Russia (2007 and 2008), Vietnam, Norway (2007), Sweden (2007)
• WiMAX: Ireland (2007), Italy (2007), Portugal (2007), Sweden (2007), UK (2007).

Product/service launches:

• DT will launch a secondary brand in Germany, aimed at the youth market (summer 2007).
• Handsets: Apple's iPhone (June) and perhaps news around the 'Google Phone'
• FTTN may come to Australia.
• FTTH in Paris will be launched by Neuf and Iliad.
• MVNOs from KPN and BT may come to Spain.
• Wireless VoIP tests at Vodafone (Starfish) and StarHub (pfingo) may have some impact.
• Breaking down the wireless walled garden at Hutchison 3G (X-Series) will be followed by Amp'd Mobile's launch of the MOTO Q (with Sling and Orb).

Regulation:

• EC on international roaming (June)
• EC v. Germany regarding DT's FTTN/VDSL network (any day?)
• OPTA on KPN's All-IP network (June)

StarHub trials pfingo, a WiFi service

TeleGeography reports StarHub, the #2 telco and #3 mobile operator in Singapore, is trialing a new platform, dubbed pfingo, among 30 users for 3 months.

Pfingo is open to subs from SingTel and MobileOne as well and works on any handset. Users receive a new number and for a fixed monthly fee are allowed unlimited on-net voice minutes (pfingoTALK), as well as pfingoACTIVE (not sure what that is) and pfingoMAIL.

Pfingo uses WiFi connectivity.

Comment: Given the size of the nation and the state's broadband targets, it looks like pfingo's WiFi network will have full coverage. At a decent pricepoint, it will not only cannibalize StarHub's own voice revenues, but possibly those of its competitors as well. It could signal a new round of pricing pressure. Of course it remains to be seen how well it works and how it deals with full mobility (handover). I wonder how it is supposed to work on any handset. It looks like the service's purpose is to offload data traffic and free-up some capacity for StarHub's voice services.

Update (March 23): Check out this post. StarHub is taking Vodafone's 'Starfish' quite a few steps further.