Thread: Talking about mobile phone providers in Namibia

It seems like this war will never end

If it means lower prices and better service for us consumers then I'm all for this particular war. I think there remains room for improvement, and all theservice providers are making handsome money. Of course the market is small and capital expenditures are high, but lowering prices also opens up the possibility of growing the market.

and the Sale goes from MTN to afar...Story sourced from the Namibian website:

Marketplace News
30.08.2010
Russians eyeing majority stake in Orascom
CAIRO – Egyptian telecoms mogul Naguib Sawiris is in talks to sell a majority stake in mobile firm Orascom Telecom, the sole shareholder of Leo Namibia, to Russian telecoms group Vimpelcom, Reuters reported yesterday, quoting banking sources.
On Thursday, Russian business daily Vedomosti similarly reported that the Vimpelcom board of directors discussed the possibility of purchasing shares in the company at a meeting in Amsterdam.
Vimpelcom has been in talks with Sawiris since mid-August to buy 51 per cent of Orascom.
Orascom said in May it would enter talks to sell its lucrative Djezzy unit to the Algerian goverment after authorities blocked it from selling the unit to South Africa’s MTN, but little progress appears to have been made.
Sawiris has made several attempts recently to sell some or all of his assets, which include markets as far flung as North Korea, Canada and Bangladesh. Below is a timeline of his attempts to sell his telecoms empire:
April 23: MTN says it is in talks about a potential deal to buy Orascom assets.
April 27: A source says talks to sell Orascom assets to MTN include Djezzy, its Telecel Globe-branded sub-Saharan assets and its 50 per cent stake in a Tunisian operator.
April 28: Algeria says it will block any sale of Djezzy after the companies confirm talks are under way.
May 27: Bowing to pressure, Orascom says it will enter talks to sell Djezzy to the Algerian government.
June 2: Sawiris tells Reuters that MTN offered to pay US$7,8 billion for Djezzy before Algeria halted the deal.
June 9: MTN and Orascom Telecom say sale talks end without a deal.
July 1: Sawiris’s cash-strapped Greek operator Wind Hellas invites bids for the company, which is restructuring its debt for the second time in a year.
August 12: A newspaper report, confirmed by two banking sources to Reuters, says Sawiris is in talks with telecoms group Vimpelcom to sell Wind Italy and a majority stake in Orascom.
August 17: An Italian newspaper says Vimpelcom and Sawiris are near to signing a non-binding term sheet for the sale of Sawiris’s investment vehicle Weather Investments. – Nampa-Reuters


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the Namibian: Russians eyeing majority stake in Orascom

aaaanyway, keeping an eye on the competitive advantages of MTC and leo, it seem the target market likes the aweh product, the hola product and the blackberry craze...this means 2 for leo and 1 for MTC in terms of popular and cutting edge products and services.....hence leo seem to be the market leader as usual....oh and the latest dual handy by leo ...make that 3 for leo and 1 for MTC

The dual phone is realy cool and work nice

The mobile operators are now fully engulfed in a gadget war. The latest talk of the town being i-phone4 and Blackberry (especially Torch).....MTC finally launched their Blackberry service, of course their prices are slightly priced below the leo prices which is just common sense if you follow the lead of the market innovator.....interesting, let's see how this competition finally benefits the consumer through the lowered cost of communications in general in Namibia!!

Belmark wyer oop

Belmark wyer oop
DANKSY ingryping deur Namibië se waghond vir die telekommunikasiesektor moet selfoonoperateurs vanaf 1 Maart alle “straffooie” afskaf wat bellers ontmoedig om oproepe na mededingers se netwerke te maak.

Sodra oorblywende regsprosesse voltooi is, sal diensvers******s verplig wees om dieselfde prys vir oproepe op hul eie netwerke as vir klingels na ander selfnetwerke en landlyne te vra.

Volgens mnr. Joël Kaapanda, Minister van Inligting en Kommunikasietegnologie, staan die beskerming van verbruikers en die aanmoediging van gesonde kompetisie sentraal in die revolusie.

“Verbruikers gaan groot baat,” het die Minister benadruk. “Ons probeer die telkombedryf ontwikkel.

“Maatskappye kan nie net groot winste maak en van die verbruiker vergeet nie,” het mnr. Kaapanda gewaarsku.

Hi Milton, Good addition indeed. By "straffooie" we referring to the interconnect costs?

Thats right. Its should cost the same no matter which network you are on.

The next fight is for number portablility.

It actually would be cool if Leo could fund some of our consumer activities. <sigh> They are benefiting the most from my pushing the communications commission.