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 ...

AT&T Inc’s (T) much anticipated acquisition of regional wireless and wireline service provider Centennial Communications Corp (CYCL), has progressed a step further as the US wireless giant has reportedly received a conditional approval of the US Department of Justice (“DOJ").  The acquisition is now subject to the approval of the US telecom regulator Federal Communications Commission. The US antitrust approval is based on fulfillment of specific conditions which requires AT&T to divest certain Centennial assets in eight markets across Louisiana (central and southern) and southwestern Mississippi .  This is due to the fact that the acquisition may potentially hurt consumer interest in these regions. As part of this requirement, AT&T has already committed to sell wireless assets in five of the eight markets to its rival operator Verizon (VZ) for $240 million. AT&T announced its acquisition of Centennial for approximately $2.8 billion (including net debt) ...

German telecom carrier Deutsche Telekom (DT) and France Telecom (FTE) are merging their UK operations in a 50-50 joint venture. The companies have initiated negotiations and an agreement is likely to be signed by the end of October 2009. If and when the deal is finalized, Deutsche Telekom’s British subsidiary T-Mobile UK will combine with France Telecom’s Orange UK in a historic merger. In the proposed deal, Deutsche Telekom will contribute T-Mobile UK, including the unit’s 50% stake in the 3G wireless joint venture with Hutchison, while France Telecom will add its UK broadband Internet business along with the wireless operation. The companies are likely to retain the Orange and T-Mobile brands for now to prevent customer defection. A new brand, however, is expected within two years. The British mobile market is one of the most fiercely competitive markets in Europe. Currently, Spanish telecom ...

German telecom carrier Deutsche Telekom (DT) and France Telecom (FTE) are finally merging their UK operations in a 50-50 joint venture. The companies reportedly initiated negotiations yesterday and an agreement is likely to be signed by the end of October. If the deal is finalized, Deutsche Telekom’s British subsidiary T-mobile UK will combine with France Telecom’s Orange UK in a historic merger.

In the proposed deal, Deutsche Telekom will contribute T-mobile UK, including the unit’s 50% stake in the 3G wireless joint venture with Hutchison, while France Telecom will add its UK broadband Internet business along with the wireless operation. The companies are likely to retain the Orange and T-mobile brands for now to prevent customer defection. A new brand, however, is expected within two years.

The British mobile market is one of the fiercely competitive markets in Europe. Currently, Spanish telecom giant Telefonica’s (TEF) UK

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Yesterday, VimpelCom (VIP) posted second-quarter profit of 69 cents per ADR (based on an average exchange rate 32.21 RUR/US$) that outpaced both the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 42 cents and the year-ago earnings of 46 cents.

The company reported quarterly net income of RUR22.6 billion ($701.5 million), more than double the net income of RUR11.1 ($345 million) reported in the year-ago period. This significant year-over-year growth was largely attributable to the RUR10.6 billion ($329 million) in foreign exchange gains from a strong ruble versus the US dollar.

VimpelCom’s net operating revenue in the quarter was RUR69.0 billion ($2.1 billion), reflecting 12% and 3.3% increase over the year-ago and the previous quarter, respectively. While sales from its wireless operation came in at RUR58.2 billion ($1.8 billion), the fixed-line business generated revenue of RUR14.6 billion ($453 million). The reported OIBDA of RUR35 billion ($1.1 billion) reflects a year-over-year growth of

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Qwest Communications (Q) announced yesterday the discountinuation of its wireless operation (Qwest Wireless) effective October 31, 2009. The Denver-based telecom operator has reportedly started to circulate a 60-day notice to its susbsribers to migrate to alternative service providers. Customers can switch networks without paying any contract termination fees while retaining there existing contact numbers. Since 2004, Qwest has been marketing Sprint Nextel’s (S) products and services under its own brand by operating as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) on Sprint’s CDMA wireless network and recognized revenue on gross basis.   However, the company ended its partnership with Sprint (effective February 2009) and entered into a five-year agreement with Verizon (VZ) in May 2008. Under this new arrangement, Qwest started reselling Verizon Wireless’s products and services (under the Verizon brand) from the third-quarter 2008 and books revenue on net basis. The company is currently ...

Spanish telecom giant Telefonica (TEF) is reportedly expanding the broadband offering to wholesale customers across Germany. The company’s subsidiary Telefonica O2 Germany is providing faster Internet access starting from October 2009 through the launch of SHDSL.bis standard based broadband network.    

SHDSL.bis enables higher bandwidth data transmission and will initially provide increased upload and download speeds of up to 5.7 megabit per second (Mbps). The company will further enhance throughput in 2010 to offer network speeds of up to 22.8 Mbps. This will effectively address the rapidly increasing demand for higher data transmission speeds in the wholesale broadband market.

Telefonica O2 Germany offers its fixed telephony and DSL broadband services to the end-users directly and through its wholesale partners such as United Internet, Hansenet and Freenet. Total number of unbundled broadband connections distributed by the company and its wholesale partners reached 1.5 million at the end of the most recent quarter, reflecting

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 31, 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: Telefonica (TEF), Vodafone (VOD), Deutsche Telecom (DT), Palm, Inc. (PALM) and China Unicom (CHU).

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 Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Telefonica Outpaces Forecast

Telefonica (TEF) continues to experience declines across its domestic and European markets due to recession and intense competition which offset growth in Latin America. The company’s Spanish revenue declined 6.9% to €4.8 billion ($6.6 billion) in the second quarter while revenue from Europe decreased by

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Telefonica (TEF) reported its second quarter 2009 results today with net income of €1.93 billion ($2.6 billion), down 6.1% year over year while exceeding market consensus. The Spanish telecom giant reported earnings per share of €0.42 ($1.73) for the quarter, beating the Zacks consensus estimate of $1.62. The company reported second quarter revenue of €13.9 billion ($18.9 billion), down 2.6% year over year, which was below Zacks' expectation. Revenue and profitability for the quarter was impacted by weak contributions from European markets due to deteriorating economic conditions. Latin America contributed 40% of the group revenues followed by Spain with 35% and Europe with 24%. Operating income declined 2.8% year over year to €5.6 billion ($7.6 billion). At the end of the June quarter, total customer access points reached approximately 264 million, up 7.6% year over year, with a net addition of 2.6 million. Subscriber accretion ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 13, 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: Sprint Nextel (S), Ericsson AB (ERIC), Verizon (VZ), AT&T (T) and Infosys (INFY).

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 Friday’s Analyst Blog:

Sprint Outsourcing to Ericsson

The third largest US wireless carrier Sprint Nextel (S) is outsourcing its networks to Sweden-based Ericsson AB (ERIC) under a seven-year agreement worth $4.5 billion to $5 billion (almost equivalent to the cash available on Sprint’s balance sheet), representing one of the largest network

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