Operationally, Telephone and Data Systems continues to be stuck in neutral.
After announcing its deal with Apple to sell the iPhone, the firm lowered its 2013 outlook for revenue and earnings.Verizon Wireless' recent spectrum acquisition could prompt AT&T to follow suit and try to aggressively acquire more frequency bandwidth. USM says they have sufficient spectrum for its
Africa has become increasingly competitive, and between Bharti Airtel entering Ghana and Millicom's network issues in Senegal, subscriber growth has slowed.Regulators have tightened the screws in many of the firm's key markets of late. Termination rates are falling in Guatemala, Honduras, and
DISH's bid adds options for Sprint, but we view the Softbank transaction as better.
Launching new integrated devices such as the iPhone has hindered the firm's near-term profitability because of the handset subsidies necessary to drive sales.Despite good Internet traction, the wireline segment is no longer growing. With about half of the firm's revenue still coming from this
KDDI plans to maintain its WiMAX network even as it rolls out an LTE network. This will add to costs and could create confusion among its subscribers.KDDI's WiMAX business is actually owned by UQ Communications. KDDI only owns about 32% of the business and must share control and profits with its
Oi's broadband service is slower and more expensive than the offerings from GVT and NET. The firm's network is still largely copper-based, and it needs to bring fiber close to the end users.Nearly 70% of the firm's revenue comes from a wire-line business that is in a secular decline due to
Data growth and network integration put MTS at the forefront of the Russian telecom sector.
We're increasing our uncertainty rating on KT due to the difficulty of estimating its new divisions
Altimo's preferred share conversion will dilute the firm's shares by nearly 5%. It also presents more uncertainty around the firm's dividend policy, which was based on a now-outdated share count.Due in part to its focus on global expansion, VimpelCom has fallen to third place, behind MegaFon, in