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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Telefonica (TEF) reported third-quarter 2009 results with earnings per ADS of US$1.88, comfortably beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of US$1.49. The Spanish telecom giant reported net income of €1.99 billion (US$2.85 billion), down 0.6% year over year, due to lower sales as a result of the beleaguered economy, especially in Spain. Revenue Consolidated revenue fell 5.7% year over year to €14.1 billion (US$20.2 billion). Revenue was impacted by weak contributions from domestic and European markets due to the recession. Latin America contributed 40% of the group revenues followed by Spain at 35% and Europe at 25%. Result by Segments Telefonica Espana The company’s Spanish revenue declined 8.9% to €4.9 billion (US$7 billion), impacted by a reduction in mobile termination rates (inter-operator fees) and the economic downturn. Wireline business revenues fell 9.4% year over year to €2.9 billion (US$4.1 billion) while revenue from wireless ...

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 ...

Newport Digital Technologies Inc., in collaboration with the Information Industry Institute (III) of Taiwan, has become a leading global provider of solutions for WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access). WiMAX is a wireless communications technology (also known as IEEE 802.16) that essentially extends the benefits of wireless broadband beyond WiFi hotspots, which normally only reach 100-300 feet, to wide areas (up to 30 miles for fixed stations, and 3-10 miles for mobile stations). This means that superior connectivity is now available to more people in urban and even rural environments.

WiMAX combines high data rates with greater scalability, lower costs, and reduced network complexity, making it easier to deploy and operate than standard mobile wireless data solutions. It provides a compelling alternative to cable and DSL, opening up an entire range of voice, data, and multimedia applications for business, entertainment, and

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Frontier Communications (FTR) announced third quarter results with adjusted (excluding acquisition and integration costs) earnings per share of 18 cents, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 16 cents. Net income increased 11% year over year to $52.2 million, primarily due to gain on debt repurchases and higher operating income that increased 5% year over year to $172.5 million.   Revenues Remains under Pressure    The company reported revenues of $526.8 million, reflecting a 6% decrease over the year-ago quarter. The year-over-year decline is attributable to lower local, long-distance and switched access revenues coupled with decline in basic access lines. However, this was partially offset by increases in data and Internet service revenues.   Revenues for local services declined 8% year over year to $193.6 million while data and Internet services revenue increased 4% to $160 million. Switched access service revenues declined 8% year over year to $91.2 million

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 29, 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: Qwest Communications (Q), Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ) and Sprint Nextel (S).

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 Wednesday’s AnalystBlog:

Qwest Meets, Boosts Outlook

Qwest Communications (Q) continues to invest in building necessary infrastructure to boost network capacity and availability. The company is devoting a major portion of the overall CapEx in expanding its fiber-to-the-node (FTTN) network capacity to increase broadband network performance. FTTN deployments reached over 3 million homes with

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Qwest Communications (Q) has announced third-quarter 2009 earnings with reported earnings per share (EPS) of 8 cents matching both the Zacks Consensus Estimate and the year-ago quarter EPS. Net income declined 6.2% year over year to $136 million on lower revenues as erosion in legacy landline business continues. Operating revenue declined 9.6% from the prior-year quarter to $3.05 billion, primarily due to lower voice service revenue as consumers continue to disconnect their landline services. Qwest reported healthy growth in Internet revenue in the quarter, driven by respectable broadband customer growth. However, voice service revenue declined due to access line erosion. Results by Segment Business Markets Revenue from the business market segment declined 1% year over year to $1 billion due to declines across legacy voice and data businesses. The segment contributed 33.8% of the group revenue for the quarter. Driven by growth in ...

Qwest Communications (Q) has released its capital expenditure (CapEx) guidance for 2010. The local and long-distance telephone service provider expects its CapEX to remain at par with the estimated 2009 level of $1.7 billion.      Qwest continues to invest in building necessary infrastructure to boost network capacity and availability. Historically, the company has allocated a major portion of the overall CapEx in deploying additional fiber-to-the-node (“FTTN") capacity to increase the performance of its broadband network. Moving forward, Qwest plans to increase spending on deployment of fiber optic cable to support wireless services.   The company recently introduced a new fiber-based Ethernet backhaul wholesale service for wireless operators. The service (called Qwest Mobile Ethernet Backhaul) leverages Qwest’s FTTN network to extend fiber connections to cellular sites. This will enable wireless operators to upgrade their existing copper-based wireless backhaul networks to faster fiber optic connections, which will expand capacity ...

Time Warner Cable Inc (TWC) will launch the 4G WiMAX mobile broadband services in three North Carolina markets from Dec 1. The WiMAX connection will offer wireless data transmission at speeds five times faster than the 3G connections currently provided by the company. Under the brand name of “Road Runner Mobile", this super-fast mobile broadband network will support Internet speed of 6 Mbps with a monthly between $40 and $80 for customers with at least one other Time Warner Cable service.  The “Road Runner Mobile" service will provide its subscribers the convenience of mobility so that the customers can enjoy the WiMAX services on their devices anywhere they go within their service circle. The company also said that it plans to add new mobile services in the future, such as the ability to program a DVR from a mobile device and for customers to take their video ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 14, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights VimpelCom (VIP) as the Bull of the Day and Rite Aid Corporation (RAD) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Elan Pharmaceuticals (ELN) and Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2676

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

We reaffirm our Outperform recommendation for VimpelCom (VIP), Russia's second largest cellular carrier with over 25% market share. Reported earnings in the last quarter outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate, driven by foreign exchange gains.

We continue to be intrigued by VimpelCom's successful sales growth trend and its ability to retain subscribers on a recurring basis, even as overall economic factors remain weak. The company is also progressing

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