The severe economic recession and maturity of the Japanese telecom market have compelled Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (NTT) to look at other geographies. Industry sources say the company has started negotiations with Patni Computer Systems, the sixth largest software services exporter of India , to acquire 66% stake in the latter. Entry into India will unlock the $60 billion IT and ITES (IT enabled services) market to Nippon. In the last reported quarter, Patni generated approximately $166.75 million in revenue and around $33.7 million of net profit.  Nippon, the largest telecom operator in Japan is facing strong competition in the Japanese wireless market and from the potential impact of low-cost, fixed-line services, such as “voice-over-Internet protocol" (VoIP). In order to maintain its leadership position, the company has taken various measures in the domestic telecom market and also decided to capture selected international opportunities to drive long-term ...

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 ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 3, 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: CIT Group Inc. (CIT), Dean Foods (DF), Frontier Communications (FTR), Verizon Communications (VZ) and Time Warner Cable (TWC).

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 Monday’s AnalystBlog:

CIT Group Files Chapter 11

CIT Group Inc. (CIT) has filed for Chapter 11 protection on Sunday. The company struggled for months to avoid collapse since the recession elicited billions of dollars in loan losses, and the financial crisis made it incapable of funding itself from

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Frontier Communications (FTR), a leading telecom operator in rural and suburban areas in the US, has reportedly received approvals from the Public Utilities Commissions of the states of California and Neveda and Public Service Commission of South Carolina for its impending acquisition of the rural fixed-line business of Verizon Communications (VZ). Moreover, the acquisition was recently approved by the shareholders of Frontier. The transaction is now subject to approval by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and other closing conditions and is expected to close during the second quarter of 2010. Verizon is divesting its rural fixed-line business (involving approximately 4.8 million access lines) in 14 states to Frontier under an agreement valued at approximately $8.6 billion. Under the deal terms, Verizon’s shareholders will receive approximately $5.25 billion in common stock of Frontier, equating to around 68% stake in the company. Moreover, Verizon will also ...

T-Mobile USA, the US subsidiary of German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom (DT), has reportedly introduced a new unlimited wireless service plan that comes without any annual service contract. This move represents the company’s latest initiative to counter strong competition from its larger peers in the domestic wireless market.  Under the new service plan, customers can enjoy unlimited voice, text and Web access services for $79.99 per month without entering into any long-term contract. This represents a $20 discount on the company’s standard $99.99 unlimited monthly rate plan for a two-year service contract. Subscribers to the $79.99 monthly plan, however, have to pay more for their cellphone handsets than the regular contract-bound customers.  T-Mobile USA is the fourth largest US wireless carrier with 33.5 million subscribers. However, the company is contending in an increasingly consolidating industry. Verizon (VZ) has emerged as the largest wireless provider in ...

Regional telecom operator Centennial Communications (CYCL) reported results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2010 with earnings per share (EPS) of 17 cents exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 15 cents and the year-ago EPS of 7 cents. The company reported net income of $19.5 million for the quarter compared to $7.5 million reported in the year-ago quarter driven by 8% year over year decline in operating expenses. Consolidated adjusted operating income increased 6% year over year to $107.2 million.  Revenue for the quarter, however, dipped 2% year over year to $258.9 million which reflects signs of slowdown across its US and Puerto Rican wireless operations, partly offset by growth in the Puerto Rican broadband business. Service revenue accounted for 95% of the consolidated sales with equipment representing the rest.    Centennial exited the quarter with 1,078,200 total mobile subscribers (overall retail penetration ...

Spain’s incumbent telecom carrier Telefonica SA (TEF) has reportedly made an all-cash bid to acquire Brazilian telecom operator GVT Holding SA in an effort to expand its presence in the lucrative Brazilian telecom market. The Spanish operator’s Brazilian fixed-line subsidiary Telecomunicacoes de Sao Paulo (Telesp) has offered BRL48 (US$27.2) per share of GVT to acquire atleast 51% of the company, equating to a total investment of €2.55 billion (US$3.75 billion). This offer, which is subject to regulatory and shareholders approvals, has outbid the BRL42 (US$23.8) per share offer made by France-based media company Vivendi SA in September 2009. Telefonica targets to eventually acquire 100% stake in GVT. Large telecom carriers across the US and Europe are increasingly focused on expanding their foothold in under-penetrated markets given the limited growth prospects in their matured domestic markets. With its vast population and relatively low wireless and broadband penetration, ...

The BREW (Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless) technology platform is getting increasing acceptance among global broadband service providers. BREW is a proprietary technology solution developed by Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM). This is a mobile handset platform supporting both high-end feature-rich smart-phones as well as low-end ordinary mobile phones that are intended to drive several wireless data applications. BREW technology enables mobile service providers to generate revenues from different value-added services. BREW solutions will help customers to access 3D mobile games, social networking, ring-tones and other productivity tools.   As of now, BREW has been commercially deployed by more than 60 carriers in over 25 countries. Qualcomm claims that the platform generated more than $2 billion revenues for the application developers as of March 2009. Verizon Wireless (VZ) is so far the largest telecom operator that deployed BREW mobile platform. Last July, the carrier renewed its BREW contract with ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – September 16, 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: Hewlett Packard Co. (HPQ), Dell Inc. (DELL), Sasol Ltd. (SSL), AT&T (T) and Centennial Communications (CYCL).

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:

HP: Notebook Follows Printers

Hewlett Packard Co. (HPQ) has now taken up the task of enhancing its notebook product line. The company has come up with new advanced gadgets in this segment.

Technology research firm IDC projects that the light-weight notebook market is expected to grow in

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NTT DoCoMo (DCM) has decided to focus strongly on mobile content offerings, a new avenue to increase revenue. In order to become a powerful mobile content delivery player internationally, the company has decided to acquire German wireless value-added services specialist Net Mobile AG for a consideration of approximately $60.8 million. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of this month. DoCoMo will start implementing LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks in Japan from 2010. The main purpose of deploying the LTE network is to offer mobile content services in Japan and then systematically in the international markets.  Net Mobile is a leading mobile content specialist in Europe offering mobile content distribution and mobile payments services to more than 500 telecom operator and corporate clients. Its major customers include Coca-Cola (KO), RTL2, Vodafone Group Plc (VOD), E-Plus Mobilfunk GmbH, Telefonica O2 Europe Plc, and ...