China Mobile (CHL), the world’s largest wireless carrier by subscriber, has revealed its plan to commence the trial run of its 4G network during World Expo 2010 to be held in Shanghai from May 1 to Oct 31, 2010. The company’s 4G service is based on the TD-LTE (Time Division Duplex Long Term Evolution) mobile broadband technology. Roughly 200 participants and 70 million visitors are expected to assemble at the Expo.   China Mobile has recently selected Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) for the responsibilities of design, construction, installation and integration of communication infrastructure to facilitate the 4G network trial. The TD-LTE network will provide advanced wireless services (including high-definition TV and ultra-fast broadband Internet access) to the visitors at the exposition.   The three major Chinese telecom operators China Mobile, China Unicom (CHU) and China Telecom (CHA) are investing heavily in Shanghai to improve the city’s network

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Mobile TeleSystems (MBT), Eastern Europe’s largest cellular operator, announced results for third-quarter 2009 with earnings per ADS of $1.31 exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.17. Net income, however, dipped 4.1% year over year to $494.4 million on lower revenue and higher interest expenses on US dollar denominated debt.  Revenue, ARPU & Churn  Consolidated revenue declined 19.4% year over year to $2.27 billion, affected by the macroeconomic volatily across key markets and unfavorable exchange rate (rouble versus dollar) movements which hurt the company’s dollar-denominated revenues. On a geographic basis, revenue increased in Russia (7.2% year over year) and Turkmenistan (113.2%) while declining in Ukraine (1.7%), Uzbekistan (1.9%)and Armenia (3.1%).   In Russia , churn (customer switch) increased sequentially and year over year while ARPU (average revenue per user) increased from the previous quarter but declined year over year. Churn at Ukraine declined year over year while increasing ...

Vodafone Group Plc (VOD), the largest wireless carrier in the world by revenue, has announced interim results for fiscal year 2010 with adjusted net income of £4.58 billion (US$7.3 billion) increasing 15% year over year from £3.99 billion (US$6.4 billion) reported a year ago, driven by favorable exchange rate movements and reduced tax. Adjusted earnings exclude one-time items such as impairment losses. Group Revenue & EBITDA The telecom giant reported consolidated revenues of £21.8 billion (US$34.8 billion) for the period, representing a 9.3% year over year growth. Favorable exchange rate (euro-sterling) swings and net impact of merger and acquisition initiatives contributed to this growth. Excluding these impacts (organic basis), revenue declined 3% year over year. Group service revenue declined 2.6% year over year on an organic basis to £20.5 billion (US$32.7 billion), primarily due to weaker contributions from European markets as recessionary conditions curbed demand ...

Telephone and Data Systems (TDS) announced third-quarter 2009 earnings per share of 33 cents, which fell behind the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 47 cents and the year-ago quarter EPS of 87 cents. Net income (attributable to TDS) tumbled 65% year over year to $35.6 million as profit dipped at the company's wireless subsidiary U.S. Cellular (USM).

The Chicago-based company reported operating revenue of $1,258.7 million, reflecting a 4% year over year drop as a result of declines across its wireless and wireline businesses.

U.S. Cellular (Wireless)

Net income sank 60% year over year to $35.6 million, due to lower revenue and increased operating expenses. Operating revenue declined 3% over the prior-year quarter to $1,058 million as a result of a 3% year over year decline in service revenues that registered $984.9 million in the quarter. The unit continues to experience lower roaming revenue, offset by healthy data revenue growth (up

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America Movil (AMX) reported results for third-quarter 2009 with earnings per ADS of 86 cents edging past the Zacks Consensus Estimates of 85 cents while increasing 22.6% from the year-ago earnings per ADS of 70 cents. Net profit surged 50.6% year over year to 18.7 billion pesos (US$1.4 billion) or 0.57 pesos per share. This healthy growth was fuelled by higher revenue and lower financing costs which fell 82.5% year over year due to gains stemming from favorable exchange rate swings.  Revenue & EBITDA Latin America’s largest wireless carrier continues to register a double-digit revenue growth as evident from the 16.9% year over year increase in consolidated revenue in the quarter to 99.8 billion pesos (US$7.5 billion), driven by 19.5% growth in service revenue. Revenue growth was supported by healthy business momentum across 3G wireless and broadband Internet businesses.  Consolidated EBITDA for the quarter was 40.4 ...

Russia’s incumbent telecom carrier Mobile TeleSystems (MBT) released its 2009 outlook yesterday. The company has lifted its capital expenditure (CapEx) guidance to $1.8 billion from $1.5 billion as per the previous guidance.   This increase is primarily due to the expected growth in capital spending in Central Asian markets and appreciation of the ruble against the US dollar. While the revised CapEx for 2009 is lower than $2.2 billion spent in 2008, as a percentage of sales it still remains at 22%. In contrast, the company’s archrival VimpelCom (VIP) is expected to spend 12%-15% of sales in 2009.   Mobile TeleSystems plans to invest approximately $450 million in 2009 in 3G network infrastructure and expansion of its proprietary distribution network. Moreover, the company has earmarked $350 million for the maintenance of its existing network. To fund its investments in 3G network, the company has secured a loan ...

Chinese wireless giant China Mobile (CHL) is reportedly planning to spend more on 3G terminal subsidies in 2010. The company has tripled the amount of subsidies from the current year level and is expected to spend up to RMB30 billion (US$4.4 billion) next year. This move will enable the company to better compete with its Chinese peers in the domestic 3G space. China Mobile remains the leading player in the Chinese wireless market with 70% market share and more than 500 million subscribers. However, the company’s share of the new subscribers has dropped recently due to stiff competition from China Unicom (CHU) and the relatively new wireless player China Telecom (CHA) as they both operate internationally acclaimed 3G standard based networks. Leveraging its home-grown TD-SCDMA 3G standard, China Mobile launched its 3G network in early 2009, already covering 38 Chinese cities. The company currently ...

China Telecom (CHA), the largest Chinese fixed-line operator, has successfully tested Alcatel-Lucent’s (ALU) multi-carrier EV-DO (a 3G technology) wireless network based on the Revision B (Rev B) standard. The Chinese operator’s subsidiary Shanghai Telecom has reportedly installed the multi-carrier EV-DO solution, which significantly enhances network throughput and reduces data latency (using multiple carriers) to meet increasing customer demand for high-bandwidth applications.   The multi-carrier EV-DO Rev B network, which represents an upgrade from EV-DO Rev A, has demonstrated highly encouraging throughput levels in the lab test with peak download speeds reaching up to 9.3 megabits per second (Mbps). This will effectively enhance customer experience who subscribe to high-bandwidth wireless services including Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP), high definition video streaming and other multimedia applications.    Leveraging Alcatel-Lucent’s network infrastructure support, Shanghai Telecom became the first Chinese carrier to commercially launch a CDMA EV-DO network in China in March ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 7, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM), NTT DoCoMo (DCM), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Verizon Wireless (VZ) and Nokia Corp. (NOK).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

LTE Leading the Next Generation

Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology is ahead in the race to be the most sought-after next-generation (4G) wireless network standard in the market. The 4G wireless networks are aiming to cope with substantial demand for high-speed wireless data services and mobile video.

The growing acceptance

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Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology is ahead in the race to be the most sought-after next-generation (4G) wireless network standard in the market. The 4G wireless networks are aiming to cope with substantial demand for high-speed wireless data services and mobile video. The growing acceptance of LTE technology has prompted the mobile handset makers to develop phones that will be compatible with this network. Qualcomm Inc (QCOM), one of the key developers of OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) based chipsets has decided to introduce the trial version of LTE-compatible chipsets during the fourth quarter of 2009. Industry sources predicted that the first LTE handsets may arrive on the market in the second half of 2010, but these next-generation smart-phones may to go mass market by early 2012. NTT DoCoMo (DCM) will launch LTE handsets in 2011 compatible with its current 3G network, enabling the customers ...