Interest of Saudi Telecom and Turk Cell in the auction of 3G and LTE licence in Pakistan

The chances of new international telecom operators in the auction for 3G/4G spectrum are going high after Turk Cell, Saudi Telecom Company (STC) have also arrived to study its business case and to assess market condition, it is learnt. Well-placed sources told Business Recorder that a two-member delegation of STC has reached the country and met Chairman Pakistan Telecomm-unication Authority (PTA) Syed Ismail Shah where queries about market, broadband services and opportunities for new entrants were made.

Chairman PTA briefed the delegation about the revised Information Memorandum (IM) for 3G/4G auction. Sources said the delegation is currently in the country and would meet State Minister for Information Technology (IT) Anusha Rehman and other high-ups next week and would file a report to their Board of Directors. A delegation of Turkish mobile phone operator Turk Cell also visited the country last week to study its business case regarding the spectrum auction.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has approved the final policy directive on Monday last and the PTA has published revised IM according to which interested operators can submit their application and sealed bid for participation along with pre-bid deposits by April 14, 2014. The auction would be held on April 23, 2014 to mobilise over $1.5 billion non-tax revenue. There are three 3G (in 2100 MHz) and two 4G (in 1800 MHz) licenses to be auctioned through two-stage bidding. One 15 MHz spectrum from 850 MHz band will be allotted if any new operator gets the license.

According to the policy directives, the base prices are set as (i) $295 million for 10MHz paired spectrum in 1.9/2.1GHz frequency band (ii) $210 million for 10MHz paired spectrum in 1800 MHz frequency band (iii) $291 million for 7.38MHz paired spectrum in 850MHz frequency band. The inclusion of 1800MHz band was exclusively done to catalyse the deployment of 4G in Pakistan. Spectrum in 850MHz will give incentive for new entrants in Pakistan and will certainly foster competition.

Nokia may give charge to Indian-origin Rajeev Suri as CEO

Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia Corp. is planning to appoint Rajeev Suri as its next chief executive, Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported on its website citing unnamed Finnish and foreign sources.

Nokia's board will announce Mr. Suri's appointment in the coming weeks after it has closed the sale of its mobile device business to Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Helsingin Sanomat reported.

Suri was the strongest candidate to succeed Stephen Elop who is due to move to Microsoft once the 5.4 billion euro ($7.5 billion) handset deal is closed.

Mr. Suri, who joined Nokia in 1995, currently heads the firm's network arm Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN). He is credited for playing a pivotal role in the successful restructuring of NSN, which was mired in losses for several years.

Nokia declined to comment on the matter to the newspaper.

Huawei is targeting USD 2 billion revenues from India operations by 2017

Chinese equipment maker Huawei is targeting USD 2 billion revenues from India operations by 2017-end saying that the sentiment is improving for the telecom sector and the coming years will be good for business.

"The sentiment is improving. We have confidence that following years will be better. Our business plan for three to five years is that we must reach up to USD 2 billion in India," Huawei Telecommunications (India) CEO Cai Liqun told PTI during the Mobile World Congress here.

The company had revenue of around USD 800 million from India last year. Globally, its revenues were USD 39 billion.

He added however that the target will be achieved if everything goes well on the policy front.

Asked about the 4G ecosystem, Liqun said it will improve this year as there will be availability of more LTE handsets as all the three operators in China have got a TDD-LTE licence.

Moreover, there will be around 900 million 4G users in China by the end of this year, which will in turn improve the 4G ecosystem in India as well, he said.

"This activity will help the industry and the ecosystem of 4G will grow very fast, and by the end of this year, there will be a USD 100 LTE smartphone available in the market," he added.

Huawei has provided 4G equipment to Bharti Airtel for Bangalore and Delhi circles.

Globally, the company has also started work on developing 5G technology, which is likely to be available for use by 2020 and it will be spending USD 600 million on research and development of 5G.

A 5G network can provide speed of 10 Gbps, which is 100 times faster than the mobile technology used currently.

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Searching for a number of experienced Business Consultants as well as a Technical Manager to work on a high level Telco project in Cairo.

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Monthly rates are flexible dependant on experience so if interested send me a resume for an immediate interview.

Start Date ASAP.

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Job Vacancy for Packet Core Optimisation Engineer || Ericsson || Bahrain

Tangent are urgently searching for a Packet Core Optimisation Engineer for a position based in Bahrain for a global managed service provider, 
The role is for a 12 month rolling contract and is paying very good monthly rates in USD, 

Please see the below information, 
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