Andrews to sell off its Satellite Business

In announcing its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2007 earlier this week, Andrew Corporation let it be known that it is planning to sell its satellite communications equipment business, as it now considers that business to be non-core to its future activities. The company refused to be drawn on when the sale would go through, nor would it say how much it expected to raise from the sale or which companies were likely to buy it. Nevertheless, Andrew has confirmed that it has received "several expressions of interest" for the unit, which accounts for around 6% of annual revenues.

The announcement came as Andrew reported a net loss of approximately US$2.0 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2007; this compares with a net profit of US$3.6 million reported for the same period in 2006. The company has attributed the loss to a slowdown in orders from two of its largest customers which have recently merged and which are now rationalising their purchasing plans.

The customers were not formally identified, but Andrew's annual report for the period ended September 30, 2006 as well as its Form 10-Q documents for the subsequent two quarters have named Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia Group, Siemens AG, and Sprint Nextel Corporation as each having accounted for more than 5% of sales. Alcatel-Lucent and Sprint Nextel are both continuing to undertake corporate restructuring programmes as a result of their recent mergers, while Nokia and Siemens formed the equally-owned Nokia Siemens Networks joint venture in April this year, to pool their networking and carrier equipment businesses.

The Rest @ ITi Newsreport.com

List of World Wide Satellite Companies

Source: Wikipedia

Argentina
LatinSat
Nahuelsat

Australia
Optus

Brazil
Star One
INPE
Loral Skynet do Brazil

Canada
Mobile Satellite Ventures
Telesat

China
APT Telecomunications
AsiaSat
Chinasat
Sinosat

Egypt
Nilesat

France
France Télécom
Stellat
Télédiffusion de France

Germany
Deutsche Telekom
OHB System

Greece
Hellas-Sat

India
Agrani
ISRO

Indonesia
PT Datakom
PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara
PT Telkom

International
EuropeStar
Eutelsat
Inmarsat
Intelsat
RASCOM
Worldstar

Israel
Spacecom

Japan
Broadcasting Satellite Corp.
JCSat
MBC
NTT_DoCoMo
Superbird
Kazakhstan
JSC KazSat

Luxembourg
SES Astra

Malaysia
Binariang Sdn. Bhd. (MEASAT)

Mexico
Satmex

Netherlands
New Skies

Nigeria
NASRDA

Norway
Telenor

Pakistan
Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO)

Philippines
Mabuhay

Russia
NPO Kosmicheskaya Sviaz
Gazkom
Global Information Systems
Intersputnik
Media Most (Bonum)

Saudi Arabia
Arabsat

Singapore
Singapore Telecommunications

South Korea
Korea Telecom

Spain
Hisdesat
Hispasat

Sweden
Nordiska Satellitaktiebolaget

Taiwan
Chunghwa Telecom

Thailand
Shin Satellite

Tonga
TONGASAT

Turkey
Eurasiasat SAM
Turksat

United Arab Emirates
Thuraya

United Kingdom
ICO Satellite Management

United States
AirTV
Astrolink
DirecTV
EchoStar
Globalstar
Hughes Network Systems (Spaceway)
Iridium
Loral Skynet
Orbcomm
PanAmSat
Spacenet
SES Americom
Sirius Satellite Radio
Teledesic
TerreStar
WildBlue
XM Satellite Radio
XTAR

Vietnam
VINASAT

4 Senior MTN Officials on the Kenya Plane Down in Cameroon

Douala, Cameroon (PANA) - Four officials of the Cameroonian mobile phone company, Mobile Telephone Network (MTN) including the managing director, South African Utton Campbell, are among the 115 passengers of the Kenya Airways Boeing 737-800 that crashed in Cameroon, reliable sources told PANA here.
In addition to the managing director, there were also the administrative and financial director, the legal director as well as another staff member and MTN leader whose post was not yet disclosed.

It is even reported in MTN Cameroon that some of these leaders were travelling with members of their families on board the Kenya Airways aircraft.

MTN Cameroon, a telecommunication company, was set up on 15 February 2000 following the take-over of the Camtel Mobile phone operating licence by the South Africa group M-Cell which later became MTN international.

The Rest @ Panaress

30B$ Raised for Middle East and African Telecom Projects

• 2006 was a record year with 14B$ raised for African and Middle East Projects
• 2007 will raise 30B$ more, according to this report from TMC NET

To sort all this out, Telecom financiers will gather at the TelecomFinance Middle East, Africa and India conference in the Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai on May 23 and May 24 to discuss further financing and M&A opportunities in the region. The programme will feature more than 30 speakers including:

• Prakash Bajpai, President, Enterprise Business, Reliance Communications;
• Amer Al Rawas, CEO Oman Mobile;
• Salim Bitar, CFO, Motorola MEA;
• Dr Fahad Mushayt, Head of Strategic Investment Unit, Saudi Telecom Company;
• Mohamed Naguib Al Mallah, Corporate Accounting Officer, Orascom Telecom Holding;
• George Kikvadze, Head of M&A, Investments, Sistema Telecom;
• Ananda Bose, VP, CPM, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du);
• Jeremy Sell, Senior VP Business Development, Qatar Telecom;
• Terry Vileski, Chairman, Aircom;
• Bertrand Guiot, Head of Market Development, Europe, BT Global Services;
• Julian McIntyre, President and Treasurer, Gateway Communications;
• David Nataf, Head of M&A/ECM, Middle East & Africa, ABN AMRO;
• Robin Jowitt, Global Head of Telecoms, Transaction Advisory Services, Ernst & Young;
• Tim Schwarz, Partner, Global Head of TMT, Linklaters;
• Ghassan Hasbani, Principal, Booz Allen Hamilton;
• Erik Arveschoug MD, Head TMT, CEEMA, Citigroup;
• Albert Momdjian, MD, Head of Middle East and Africa Investment Banking, Calyon;
• Walid Zein, Executive Director, Goldman Sachs;
• Dr Thomas Tschentscher, TMT Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer;
• Torsten Thiele, Head of Telecoms Project and Infrastructure Finance, Investec Bank;
• Darragh Stokes Managing Partner Hardiman Telecommunications Ltd;
• Marc Chaya, Global Telecom Markets Leader, Ernst & Young;
• Natasha Good, TMT Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer;
• Mark Gregory, Global Head of Advisory Services, Ernst & Young; Adil Chikhi, VP Media & Telecoms, MENA Region, BNP Paribas.

Issues under discussion at the event will include:

• Expansion strategies for the Middle East, Africa and India;
• Accessing local and international capital markets: How to finance growth beyond the Gulf;
• Broadband provision for growth markets: Wireless versus fixed convergence strategies;
• Building a regional platform in the Middle East;
• Greenfield opportunities in Africa and India: and capturing market share in new growth markets.
• Sponsors for the event are Ernst & Young, Linklaters, Booz Allen Hamilton, Investec, Capital MS&L and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
• The official media sponsor for the event is AME. The event is researched and produced by BroadGroup and Telecom Finance.

Here is the Conference Web Site.

Neotel vs. Telkom SA: Deregulation at a Snails Pace

Duncan Mcelod of the Financial Mail has written an excellent piece at Mybroadband .
it describes the problems of Neotel, The first competitor in South Africa competing against TelKom, which though technically not a monopoly, is still dominating the market. Let me summarize:

• Neoteol intially had problems in licensing stemming from being underfunded
• Telcom is tieing up large businesses with multi year contracts
• Telkom bought significant billboard space adjacent to the Neotel offices before the lease was closed.
• Neotel sells wholesale bandwidth to ISPs based on its concession to stay afloat
• Neotel is laying its own fiber networks, but is 18 Months to two years away from completion
• During this time Telkom has hiked consumer prices try to get its profits now

Neotel's Strategy, based on to Mcleod's interview with Ajay Pandey, is to move from populations centers outward.

"Its consumer-focused network, linked to the main network wirelessly, will initially be built in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, Bloemfontein, Nelspruit, Witbank and other key towns. Those in more outlying areas will have to wait a few years for Neotel's wireless services."

Neotel is also experimenting with new technologies. Neotel is getting read to do a pilot in the city of Gauteng where it is constructing a network of base stations using a wireless system using CDMA2000. The pilot will kick soon have about 20 base stations.

However: Neotel does NOT want to start a price war, ( I'm sure it needs to get profits back to its own investors)

Landey also alludes to the emerging belief that bundling services is the long term answer.

The results to date: It still takes six months to get a phone. Consumers are still waiting.

MTC Shows Slowest Profit Growth in 2 Years

Shares of Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Co. (MTC) reversed early losses on Wednesday after reporting its slowest profit growth in almost two years in the first quarter.

By 0822 GMT, the stock of the second-largest Arab telecom company by market value, was up 0.54% at 3.720 dinars ($12.87) after having fallen 1.1% earlier.

The Rest @ ArabianBusiness.com

Notes of Interest from the SES Satellite Quarterly Report

2nd, May 2007

• SES has reported strong results for the first quarter of 2007. The results for the period include the contribution until 30 March 2007 of the assets transferred to GE as part of the split-off transaction announced on 14 February 2007.
• Romain Bausch, President and CEO of SES, commented:"The year has begun extremely well, with the conclusion of a significant agreement with Canal+ for the transmission of its French pay-TV offer on ASTRA and the completion of the transaction with GE.
• GE took assets in exchange for canceled shares in SES
• SES acquired businesses NEW SKIES and ND SatCom.
• NSS-8 launch failed
• The AAP-1 satellite (28 transponders) was renamed NSS-11.
• The AMC-12/ASTRA 4A capacity (72 transponders) was transferred from SES AMERICOM and SES ASTRA respectively, and renamed NSS-10.
• SES NEW SKIES also assumed responsibility for the commercialisation of the ASTRA 2B steerable beam from SES ASTRA, currently comprising eight transponders.
• SES ASTRAThe major development in the period was the agreement with Canal+ to transmit its full pay-TV programming offer for the French market from a single orbital position on the ASTRA satellite platform at 19.2 degrees East.
• The ASTRA satellite system grew to over 109 million TV households in the 35 countries surveyed in Europe and North Africa
• ASTRA2Connect, a service offering high-speed internet connectivity via satellite, commenced service from the 23.5 degrees East orbital position, delivering broadband services via satellite to consumers not served by terrestrial means.
• SES ASTRA's utilisation rate at the period end was 88%,
• SES AMERICOM'S uccessful launch of AMC-18 led to commercial service in February 2007 after extensive in-orbit testing.
• Government Services extended its contract with NASA for a multi-year period to provide capacity for television feeds and broadcasting activities.
• NewCom joined with SES AMERICOM to add REDiSat to its Emergency Communications Portfolio. SES AMERICOM's utilisation rate at the period end was 73%,
• January 30 the NSS-8 satellite launch resulted in failure when the rocket exploded on the launch platform. The impact of the failure is that there will be a slowing of the growth profile expected in the coming months, however this represents a delay rather than a disappearance of the revenue
• New contracts in the period included a two-transponder, multi-year contract to provide internet trunking to French Polynesia, and a contract to broadcast two new free-to-air DTH channels with STV of Cameroon in West Africa.
• AMC-12 and AAP-1 satellites were transferred into the SES NEW SKIES fleet, and are now designated NSS-10 and NSS-11.
• The ASTRA 1L satellite is due for launch from the European Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, on 3 May 2007.
• Other launches scheduled:
• SIRIUS-4 in Q3
• AMC-14 in Q4.

Weblinks: http://www.ses.com