BlueSkys for Samoa

eLandia Group - BlueSky & Government close SamoaTel sale

From today, the 2 Samoa's will be served by the same MNO parent company, namely BlueSky. The deal sees BlueSky take a 75% state in the previously 100% state owned SamoaTel.

"We are happy to have completed this transaction, successfully closing the privatization process, and fulfilling the Government of Samoa's vision. We look forward to carry on with this vision by realizing improvements to SamoaTel's services for the people of Samoa. This is our sole focus now." commented BlueSky Communications CEO, Adolfo Montenegro.

PLDT to maintain Sun Cellular unli services

PLDT to maintain Sun Cellular unli services

Sun Cellular will continue to offer unli voice and text services even after PLDT completes its investment in Digitel Inc., Sun's parent company, PLDT President and CEO Napoleon L. Nazareno said yesterday.

NTT DOCOMO to Increase Investment in Tata Teleservices of India | Press Center | NTT DOCOMO Global

NTT DOCOMO to Increase Investment in Tata Teleservices of India

The additional investment is part of DOCOMO’s ongoing strategy to expand its business presence and revenue sources in India’s rapidly growing mobile market.

DOCOMO plans to newly invest approximately 8 billion Indian rupees, or about 14.6 billion yen (1 rupee = 1.83 yen as of Feb. 28, 2011) based on its current 26% stake in TTSL. Payment of one portion of the funds has been made so far, and the rest of the investment is scheduled to be completed in May.

Maxis launches first for Malaysia ... multi-play

Maxis launches first for Malaysia ... multi-play

Maxis Berhad ('Maxis'), Malaysia's leading integrated communications service provider, today officially launched the first multiple-play service in Malaysia with its Maxis Home Services. The service is available to customers in fibre connected areas nationwide. For the first time in Malaysia, customers get to experience multiple-play service where they have the freedom to choose the rich content and services that they want, in the formats of their choice and be able to view these through multiple screens, be it their computers, tablets or mobile phones, at a time and place convenient to them.

The historic launch of Maxis Home services was graced by Dato' Joseph Salang, Deputy Minister of Information Communications and Culture. Dato' Joseph Salang in his speech congratulated Maxis on its achievement and said, "The Government certainly looks forward to new and exciting developments that Maxis will bring in the area of the Home, a new digital frontier still largely unexplored in Malaysia. Maxis is a homegrown Malaysian company that does not just belong to our nation but strongly believes in its potential. We hope to see more such companies step forward to be a partner in the nation's progress, to assist the Government in bridging the digital divide."

Speaking at the launch, Sandip Das, Chief Executive Officer, Maxis, explained, "Today's launch of Maxis Home Services means customers get to enrich their lives with another horizon of digital experience. Leveraging on the Government's National Broadband Initiative (NBI), we signed a landmark agreement with TM for their HSBB Access service last December. With that, we are able to expand our broadband footprint and fast track our delivery of Maxis Home Services to you. Customers in fibre connected areas, including those built out by TM and Maxis' own Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) built out areas, will be able to benefit from Maxis Home Services which offers High Speed Internet packages that bundles many of our existing services and complements the multitude of services made possible with fibre technology."

MTS India shares go to Russian state

MTS India shares go to Russian state

Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL) today announced the allotment of shares to the Russian Federation. The company issued 54,73,12,918 equity shares to the Federal Agency for State Property Management of the Russian Federation ("Rosimushchestvo") against the funds equivalent of INR 26,988 million (i.e. US$ 600 million approx) received in December 2010.

According to Vsevolod Rozanov, President and CEO, Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd “We at SSTL are delighted to have received an over whelming response from all our existing shareholders to the rights issue. Additionally, with formalities relating to the allotment of equity shares to the Russian federation also getting completed, it truly represents a major milestone. Both these developments are a testament to the faith reposed by all the shareholders in our company, which now has over 10 million customers. Going forward, the challenge is to further accelerate the proliferation of our telecom services nationally, in sync with our data centric, voice enabled strategy.”

Optus appoints new Strategy and Marketing Director Optus Wholesale

Optus appoints new Strategy and Marketing Director Optus Wholesale

Optus announced today a key executive appointment within its Wholesale division with the appointment of Ben White as Director of Marketing and Strategy.

Ben White joined Optus in 2006 as the Director of Strategy and Corporate Development for Optus. In this role he was responsible for managing Optus' overall strategy as well as major business development opportunities including mergers, acquisitions and key strategic partnerships. His work included leading the development of Optus’ plans to contribute to and capitalise on the emerging Australian digital economy.

Mr White has played a key role in Optus’ focus on the mobile business and integral to the company’s work related to the National Broadband Network, including leading Optus’ response to the Federal Government’s Request for Proposals on the NBN and its subsequent advocacy regarding the establishment of NBN Co.

Vicki Brady, Managing Director of Optus Wholesale and Satellite said, “I am delighted to welcome Ben as part of the senior leadership team for Optus Wholesale and Satellite."

PLDT to invest in DIGITEL

PLDT to invest in DIGITEL

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (“PLDT”) (NYSE: PLDT) (PSE: TEL) and JG Summit Holdings, Inc (“JGS”) (PSE:JGS) announced that at meetings held earlier today, their respective Boards of Directors approved the acquisition by PLDT of JGS’s and certain other parties’ ownership interest in Digital Telecommunications Philippines, Inc. (“Digitel”) (PSE:DGTL), comprising (i) 3,277,135,882 common shares in Digitel, representing a 51.55% equity stake; (ii) zero-coupon convertible bonds issued by Digitel and its subsidiaries to the JGS Group which are assumed to be convertible into approximately 18.6 billion shares of Digitel by 30 June 2011; and (iii) intercompany advances of P34.1 billion made by the JGS Group and certain of such parties to Digitel and its subsidiaries (the “Assets”). Digitel is the 100% owner of Digitel Mobile Philippines, Inc., which owns the brand Sun Cellular.

Cancellation of Treasury Stock, NTT DOCOMO Global

Cancellation of Treasury Stock, NTT DOCOMO Global

NTT DOCOMO, INC. announced today that its board of directors has approved a cancellation of treasury stock pursuant to article 178 of the Corporation Law.

Class of shares to be cancelled
Common stock

Number of shares to be cancelled
140,000 shares (about 0.32% of issued shares before the cancellation)

Date of cancellation
March 31, 2011"

SingTel and VMware launch on-demand enterprise hybrid cloud solution

SingTel and VMware launch on-demand enterprise hybrid cloud solution

Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) and VMware today announced the launch of SingTel PowerON Compute enabled by VMware vCloud® Datacenter Services.

This enterprise hybrid cloud computing solution enables enterprises to upgrade their IT resources without the heavy cost and complexities of purchasing and managing additional servers and systems, thereby reducing operating costs by up to 73 per cent. Companies will be able to expand the resources of their private cloud infrastructure seamlessly into PowerON Compute’s secure public cloud without the hassles of re-installing and re-configuring their software applications. This means customers can fully utilise current IT infrastructure investments while benefitting from on-demand, pay-as-you-use, public cloud computing resources.

Mr Bill Chang, SingTel’s Executive Vice President of Business Group, said: “By working with VMware, PowerON Compute will allow enterprises in the region to turn on computing resources just like they turn on water from a tap. PowerON Compute will enable enterprises to move their operations to their hybrid cloud, without compromising security, control or performance, while allowing them to pay only for IT resources consumed.”

Mr Paul Maritz, VMware Chief Executive Officer, said: “SingTel’s new PowerON Compute solution delivers on VMware’s promise to provide customers with hybrid cloud resources that enable IT as a service for their users. Hybrid clouds provide customers with freedom of choice that will eventually give rise to applications that can be ‘dragged and dropped’ between clouds and delivered securely to any device, anywhere, at any time.”