Italian carrier Telecom Italia could introduce a fixed mobile convergence (FMC) service as early as the end of the month, a report in Italian newspaper La Repubblica claims today.

The company’s chief executive Riccardo Ruggiero, was quoted as saying that the operator is still working on pricing for the service and may include some flat rate tariffs.

The service sounds very much like British Telecom’s Fusion service, which uses access points set up in the user’s home and office to allow fixed line rates when a handset is within range of the access point and GSM calling over a cellular network when out of range. At present, BT Fusion only offers Bluetooth connectivity, but with wifi enabled dual mode handsets due out from Motorola and Nokia within coming months, FMC packages are set to be based on wifi and cellular, rather than Bluetooth.

Italian carrier Telecom Italia recorded a 13.4 per cent year on year increase in consolidated net profit for the first quarter to reach Eur744m (ВЈ511m). On the back of strong growth in Brazil and the broadband sector, revenues also increased 6.5 per cent year on year to Eur7.48bn.

The wireline division delivered first quarter revenues of Eur4.47bn, up 2.6 per cent on 2005, with Telecoms Italia’s broadband lines in Italy topping 6.1 million at the end of April. Considering 1.5 million broadband lines in France, Germany and Holland, and increase of 202,000 from the end of 2005, Telecom Italia’s total portfolio of broadband lines in Europe stood at over 7.6 million at the end of March.

The operator’s mobile subscriber base increased to 50.7 million during the quarter, with the operator topping 30 million connections in Italy.

Revenues at TIM Brasil increased 15.9 per cent year on year to Real2.2bn (ВЈ574m), while TIM’s GSM subscriber base reached 17.8 million.

Cesar Bachelet, analyst with Ovum, said that within its domestic market, “Telecom Italia keeps running harder to stand still…and is therefore increasingly dependent upon its overseas ventures, notably its Brazilian mobile operations, for growth.”

But, “as its main source of growth is highly vulnerable, the group’s focus in the years ahead will have to be the successful integration of its domestic fixed and mobile units. Capitalising on the resulting synergies and savings will be key to restoring the bottom line,” the analyst said.

Telecom Egypt (TE) is expected to join hands with Telecom Italia to bid for a license to operate Egyp’s third-generation (3G) mobile network, state media reported on Thursday.

TE has reached an agreement with Telecom Italia to work together to tender for the third Egyptian mobile phone license, a TE official was quoted by the official MENA news agency as saying.

According to the agreement, a new firm would be set up, with majority stake owned by TE, if the two companies succeeded in winning the bid, said the official.

He said that TE is a major player in Egyptian telecommunications market while Telecom Italia has expertise and experience in 3G services in international market. The partnership was a natural outcome of previous agreements and cooperation between the two companies, the official added. Telecom Italia reached a deal with TE in 2004 that enabled the Egyptian company to offer Internet protocol services to its clients.

A total of 21 companies, which formed 10 major alliances, have applied to bid for the 3G license by the Thursday’s deadline, according to Amr Badawi, Chairman of the National Communications Organizing Authority, the watchdog of the Egyptian telecom market. The offer is expected to hit 50 billion Egyptian pounds (8.71 billion U.S. dollars), Badawi was quoted by Egyptian Gazette assaying.

The third telecom company is likely to be in operation six months after winning the bid, he added.

The Egyptian mobile phone service is currently dominated by two companies — MobiNil, a joint venture set up by Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Holding and France Telecom, and the U.K.-based Vodafone Group.