Wireless Services Drive 46% Increase in Bell Canada Profit

Canada’s biggest telephone provider, Bell Canada Enterprises Inc., reported a 46% increase in third-quarter profit yesterday, boosted by the back-to-school cell phone rush.

The company’s net income came in at $440 million, or $0.50/share, compared to $302 million, or $0.36/share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue climbed 2% to $4.49 billion, driven by an 8% jump in wireless revenue.

BCE managed to expand its wireless customer base by 137,000 users, by releasing several advanced new mobile handsets, including Research In Motion’s BlackBerry 8830 email device, which features web and music capability.

“I think it was a very strong quarter for us,” commented Bell Mobility president, Wade Oosterman, president of Bell Mobility, who believes that these results will please the private equity investors who recently agreed to purchase BCE’s operations.

SK Telecom to Continue Funding Helio; EarthLink Accepts Diluted Share

American internet service provider, EarthLink Inc., confirmed on Wednesday that it will not invest any more money in wireless joint venture, Helio, leaving its partner, South Korea Telecom to fund the joint venture for the foreseeable future.

SK Telecom apparently plans to invest up to an additional $270 million in Helio, diluting EarthLink’s 50% share in the startup, but leaving it with a significant minority stake.

“This new agreement enables EarthLink to retain a substantial ownership position in Helio without investing any more cash into the joint venture, and these changes should result in our prior investment having real future value as the joint venture continues to grow,” commented EarthLink president and CEO, Rolla P. Huff.

EarthLink retains the right to make additional investments in Helio if and when its own finances improve. If it chooses not to invest further in the venture, and SK Telecom injects the full $270 million, EarthLink will be left with a stake of about 22%.

EarthLink has agreed to relinquish one Helio board seat as part of the deal, giving SK Telecom effective control of the company.

Sprint Nextel Cancels WiMAX Partnership with Clearwire

American mobile phone carrier, Sprint Nextel, has scrapped plans to partner with wireless broadband startup, Clearwire, on a nationwide WiMAX network.

The partnership was reversed after Sprint decided to dismiss its CEO, Gary Forsee, last month. The collapse of this partnership is being seen as a major blow to Clearwire, whose stock price dropped more than 25% yesterday, to close at $13.49 on the NASDAQ.

Clearwire’s losses have swelled significantly for the past three years, and its third-quarter sales totaled just $41.3 million, or less than one hundredth of Sprint’s.

“The Sprint deal was really good for Clearwire, and it’s bad that they lost that,” commented Jefferies & Co. analyst, Jonathan Schildkraut. “Clearwire will have to shoulder a bigger burden to get broader network coverage.”

50 Wireless Subscriptions per 100 People, Says Informa Report

There are now approximately 3.3 billion active mobile phone connections worldwide, enough to cover half the global population, according to new data from Informa Telecoms and Media.

Wireless subscriptions have increased 18% in the past year, from 2.8 billion in late 2006, as a growing number of people buy handsets in emerging markets like India and China. The Indian market alone is expected to achieve penetration of over 40% within the next few years, up from just 13% at the beginning of 2007.

It took 19 years – from the launch of the first commercial wireless network in 1981 until 2000 – for mobile phone subscriptions to reach 10% penetration worldwide, and just 12 months to grow from 40% to 50%, representing the remarkable growth that has occurred this year.

Informa believes that it will take longer reach further wireless market milestones, however, now that developed cell phone markets in Europe and North America have largely matured. The research firm predicts that 60% global penetration won’t be achieved until 2009, and 66% isn’t likely to happen until 2012.