Telecompaper Africa/Asia articles from August 2006

Telecompaper Africa/Asia archives from August 2006

Afghanistan - Areeba attracts 60,000 subscribers in 6 weeks in Afghanistan.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Mobile operator Areeba has attracted almost 60,000 customers in its first six weeks of operations in Afghanistan. Launched in late July, the Investcom-owned operator received funding of USD 45 million from...

Africa - MTN Group subscriber base up 9.4% in H1 to 24.5 million.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) African operator MTN Group reported a 9.4 percent rise in the number of susbcribers over the first half of the year, to 24.5 million at the end of June. Operations acquired during 2005 added nearly 2...

Angola - Unitel signs USD 150 million deal with Ericsson.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Angolan mobile phone operator Unitel has signed a USD 150 million contract with Ericsson for the supply and installation of equipment and services, reports the Angola Press Agency. The deal forms part of...

Algeria - ZTE wins ATM Mobilis contract for optical network equipment.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) ZTE, global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, has been awarded a contract to supply optical network equipment to ATM Mobilis, Algeria-based mobile operator. Under the...

Australia - Telstra sells superannuation admin business for AUD 215 mln.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Telstra has sold Australian Administration Services (AAS), the superannuation administration business of its subsidiary KAZ Group, to Link Market Services for AUD 215 million, recognising a profit on the...

Australia - Optus, Elders to provide broadband services in Australia.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Optus and Australia-based rural services provider Elders have reached a multi-faceted agreement to jointly bring increased choice and service levels to rural and regional telecommunications users through...

Asia - China and Korea cooperate on DNS services.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) and National Internet Development Agency of Korea (NIDA) have signed a contract on mutual-hosting DNS servers. The two organisations are authoritative...

Australia - Telstra, Alcatel in EUR 270 mln IP network programme.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Telstra and Alcatel announced a works programme for Telstra's fixed network transformation in 2006/07, with an expected value of EUR 270 million (AUD 460 million). This technology upgrade is unrelated to...

Australia - Telstra selects Syndesis for data integrity management.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Telstra has selected the TrueSource data integrity management platform from convergent service delivery management software vendor Syndesis as part of its IT transformation project. The multi-million...

Australia - Powertel sees AUD 0.6 mln net profit in H1.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Powertel had AUD 0.6 million net profit in H1 2006, vs a AUD 9.4 million loss in the year-earlier period. Revenue was AUD 98.6 million, up 3.9 percent from AUD 94.9 million. Gross profit was AUD 47.8...

Bahrain - Bahrain plans to auction fixed wireless licences in December.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Bahrain's telecommunications regulator, the TRA, has published an information memorandum on its planned auction of two, 15-year national fixed wireless services licences in the 3.5 GHz frequency band. The...

Botswana - MTN Botswana tops half million subscribers.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Mobile operator MTN Botswana reported 531,000 subscribers at the end of June, making it number one in the market with a share of 67 percent. The company posted EBITDA of ZAR 72 million for the first half,...

Australia - Australia's Communications Alliance begins operations.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The Australian communications industry has seen the launch of a new representative body: the Communications Alliance. The Communications Alliance begins operating from 1 September after members of the...

Cameroon - MTN Cameroon subscriber base up 22% in H1 to 1.53 million.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Mobile operator MTN Cameroon increased subscriber base 22 percent over the first half of the year to a total 1.528 million at the end of June. Its market share rose to 56 percent from 54 percent at the end...

Australia - Freshtel makes AUD 6.15 mln net loss in fiscal year.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Australian internet telephony company Freshtel made a AUD 6.15 million net loss on a AUD 1.96 million revenue from ordinary activities in its fiscal year to the end of June, compared to a AUD 726,000 net...

China - Telstra buys majority stake in Chinese real-estate portal.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Telstra acquired 51 percent in SouFun Holdings, a Chinese real-estate, home furnishing and improvement website, for a total cash consideration of USD 254 million. SouFun's primary revenue is generated by...

China - China releases homegrown digital terrestrial TV standard.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The Chinese government has released a homegrown digital terrestrial transmission standard, the China Daily reports. The Standardization Administration of China has approved the new standard as the national...

China - Mobile exports in China rise 30.5 percent.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Exports of mobile handsets went up 30.5 percent to reach 14.87 million units. The top 100 electronics companies sold 30.36 million handsets in total, up 0.8 percent year-on-year, Interfax writes citing...

China - China Telecom's revenues, net profit up slightly.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) China Telecom saw its revenues and net profit rise slightly in the first half ended 30 June. Revenues totalled CNY 84.44 billion, up 4.7 percent from CNY 80.62 billion in H1 2005. EBITDA rose to CNY 44.22...

Cote d'Ivoire - MTN reports slowing subscriber growth in Cote d'Ivoire.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Mobile operator MTN reported slowing subscriber growth in the first half at its operations in Cote d'Ivoire. Over the first half, numbers rose just 3 percent to 1.108 million customers at the end of June....

Ghana - Areeba Ghana tops 2 million subscribers.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Mobile operator Areeba Ghana reported 2.018 million subscribers at the end of June, up 11 percent from 1.820 million at the end of 2005. revenues rose 33 percent from the year-earlier period to USD 188...

India - MTNL expects IPTV to boost broadband user base.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Mahanagar Telecom Nigam (MTNL) is aiming for major growth in its broadband customers by launching IPTV, the Business Standard reports. The company has set a target of 500,000 broadband users by the end of...

India - OnMobile unveils FAME Cinema mobile ticketing service.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) OnMobile, specialist in telecoms value-added services, is managing FAME Cinema, a voice based ticketing service for mobile phone users, in India. With the service, users can book movie tickets from anywhere...

India - Reliance Infocomm deploys Venturi optimisation solution.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Venturi Wireless, provider of mobile services optimisation solutions, has announced that Reliance Infocomm, India-based CDMA operator, has deployed the Venturi optimisation solution to enable its newly...

India - DoT launches USOF tender for mobile infrastructure.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The Indian Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has launched an infrastructure tender for the Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF). The Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF) intends to launch a...

Iran - MTN targets 1 million subscribers in Iran by year-end.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Mobile operator MTN targets 1 million subscribers by the end of this year for its recently launched Iranian operation, IranCell. The company was soft launched on 28 August with 5,000 tests users, with a...

Israel - Israel's Xfone secures ISP licence.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Israel-based Xfone has been issued a license to operate in Israel as an ISP by the ministry of communications. Xfone's subsidiary Xfone 018 will launch internet access services, e-mail and EDI (electronic...

Japan - IIJ to upgrade IIJ Managed VPN Pro service in Japan.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ), Japan-based internet access and network solutions provider, will introduce major feature enhancements to its IIJ Managed VPN Pro service on 04 September, including a new...

Japan - Japan-based Sumitomo chooses Ikanos CO, CPE chipsets.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Ikanos Communications, developer and provider of Fiber Fast broadband products, has announced that Sumitomo Electric Networks (SEN), Japan-based communications equipment manufacturer, has selected Ikanos'...

Japan - Regulator extends consultation on NTT interconnection tariffs.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The Japanese ministry of internal affairs and communications (MIC) has extended a consultation on changes in interconnection tariffs filed by NTT East and NTT West. The earlier deadline of 21 August has...

Japan - MIC publishes report on countering illegal information.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Since 1 August 2005, the Japanese ministry of internal affairs and communications (MIC) has been holding a 'Study Group on Countermeasures against Illegal/Harmful Information on the Internet' which...

Malaysia - TMNet to up bandwidth to 4 Mbps.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Malaysian internet services provider TMNet plans to upgrade its bandwidth to 4 Mbps by the end of this year, news agency Bernama writes quoting general manager Fadhlullah Suhaimi Abdul Malek. Currently...

Morocco - Maroc Telecom picks Huawei to expand IPTV project.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Moroccon operator Maroc Telecom has selected Huawei as the exclusive supplier for the second phase of its IPTV project to expand the existing capacity of its IPTV infrastructure. Maroc Telecom has...

Nepal - Nepal Telecom cuts tariffs.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Nepal Telecom has slashed the existing tariff in landline (basic) as well as post-paid and pre-paid mobile telephone service. According to the new provisions, calls made within all the districts of a zone...

Nigeria - Glo Mobile finishes successful 3G test.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Glo Mobile has announced it is ready to launch its 3G network, following a successful test-run of the platform on the Glo network by Alcatel. The company is waiting for clearance by the Nigerian...

Nigeria - MTN Nigeria grows user base 15% in H1, ARPU under pressure.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Mobile operator MTN Nigeria increased its subscriber base by 15 percent over the first half of the year to 9.636 million at the end of June. The company's market share dipped slightly to 45 percent from 47...

Pakistan - Ufone launches handset phonebook backup service.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Ufone has launched a new value added service called 'Phonebook Saver' to allow subscribers to retrieve all their important contact numbers if accidentally deleted or lost. Users with sync-enabled GPRS...

China - China Telecom in talks to sell stake to foreign operator.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) China Telecom is in talks to sell a minority take in the company to a foreign operator, the Financial Times reports. While talks are underway with five potential candidates, CEO Wang Xiaochu said the group...

China - Chinese mobile phone production to exceed 400 mln units.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The Chinese mobile handset production is anticipated to exceed 400 million units, about 50 percent of the total global mobile handset output, the China People's Daily writes citing Wang Bingke, deputy...

China - China GrenTech, Huawei in base station RF products deal.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) China GrenTech, China-based provider of mobile coverage products and services, has been formally selected to become an official supplier of base station RF products to Huawei Technologies, global...

Pakistan - Mobilink opens network operations centre in Lahore.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Mobilink, Pakistan-based cellular services firm, has inaugurated a state-of-the-art and scalable advanced network operations centre in Lahore, Pakistan, designed to monitor nationwide cell sites and raise...

Rwanda - MTN Rwanda passes 300,000 customers.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Mobile operator MTN Rwanda had 311,000 subscribers at the end of June, with a 100 percent market share as the sole operator in the country. A second operator has been licensed but has not yet started...

Singapore - Movies Online to stay out of ReelTime Singapore TV service.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Australian internet TV company ReelTime has informed the Australian Stock Exchange that its shareholder, Movies Online, has agreed to relinquish any rights in the Singapore broadband TV service ReelTime...

Singapore - SingTel picks ZTE's Colour Ring Back Tone system.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) ZTE and Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) have entered into a supply-agreement for the supply, installation, test, commission and maintenance of ZTEs Colour Ring Back Tone (CRBT) system. Financial...

South Africa - MTN South Africa targets quicker subscriber growth in H2.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Mobile operator MTN South Africa targets accelerating subscriber growth in the second half of the year, after reporting customer numbers up just 2 percent over the first six months of the year, to a total...

Syria - Areeba Syria grows subscriber base 19% in H1.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Mobile operator Areeba Syria increased its subscriber base by 19 percent over the first six months of the year, to 1.743 million from 1.465 million at the end of 2005. The company's revenues for the first...

Thailand - True ties up with supermarket chain for e-commerce website.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Thai operator True will promote supermarket chain Villa Market's products on its shopping website and mobile channels, the Nation reports citing Villa Market's CEO Pisit Poosanakhom. Internet users can...

Thailand - TOT and CAT do not reach agreement on Thai Mobile sale.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Thai operators TOT and CAT Telecom did not reach an agreement on the sale of CAT's stake in their joint venture Thai Mobile, the Nation writes citing a communications ministry official. The companies did...

Sudan - Areeba doubles subscriber numbers in Sudan.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Mobile operator Areeba more than doubled the number of subscribers in Sudan in the first half, increasing the number to 591,000 from 269,000 at the end of 2005. Parent company Investcom recently increased...

Thailand - Asia Wireless Communication launches WE PCT DS400i handset.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Thailand-based Asia Wireless Communication (AWC), True's subsidiary company that oversees the WE PCT operations, has collaborated with new business partner Dee Supreme to offer more phone models as well as...

Yemen - Spacetel subscriber base up 24% in H1.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Yemen mobile operator Spacetel increased the number of customers 24 percent over the first half of the year to a total 1.023 million at the end of June. Average revenue per use was stable versus the second...

Uganda - MTN Uganda boosts subscriber numbers with price cuts.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Mobile operator MTN Uganda boosted its subscriber base and market share in the first half, helped by price cuts. The company took an estimated 80 percent of net new connections in the period, growing its...

Zambia - MTN Zambia posts small net profit in H1.
August 31, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) MTN Zambia recorded a net profit of ZAR 3 million for the first half of the year on revenues of ZAR 83 million. The company's subscriber base rose 23 percent from the end of December to 119,000 at the end...

Armenia - ArmenTel sees revenues, income rise.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) ArmenTel saw its revenues and income go up in the second quarter ended 30 June. ArmenTel's revenues for the second quarter amounted to EUR 36.2 million, compared with EUR 28.6 million in the second quarter...

Asia - VSNL Singapore to set up submarine cable system in Asia.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) VSNL Singapore, international unit of Videsh Sanchar Nigam, plans to build a new multi-terabit submarine cable system linking Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. The new intra-Asia cable will enable VSNL...

Australia - Harvey Norman, Destra launch music download service.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Retailer Harvey Norman has started up a new music download service in alliance with digital music service provider Destra, reports The Australian. ChannelGo.com.au, the new website, operates on systems...

Australia - Netspace warns over Telstra premium in Australia.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Netspace, ISP based in Tasmania state, Australia, has given warning that it is unable to continue swallowing the premium levied on it by Telstra for using its Bass Strait cable, reports The Australian. The...

Australia - BigPond to migrate customers to billing platform by Xmas.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) BigPond, internet division of Telstra, aims to have all of its customers on its new e-mail, billing and customer service platform by Christmas 2006, with AUD 130 million investment, reports The Australian....

Australia - PacNet Australia outsources NSW network to GlobalSwitch.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) ISP Pacific Internet (PacNet) Australia has outsourced its New South Wales (NSW) network operations to Australia-based data-centre provider GlobalSwitch, as PacNet moves to expand its software hosting...

Australia - Vodafone, Service Stream in call centre deal in Australia.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Vodafone has expanded its deal with call centre operator Service Stream (STR), signing a new three-year deal worth as much as AUD 100 million, reports The Australian. The new deal will offer a revenue boost...

Bangladesh - GP launches privilege memberships for high-volume customers.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Bangladeshi mobile operator GrameenPhone has launched a new privilege membership service "Thankyou Crown". The service includes three types of membership-- Platinum, Gold and Silver. Based upon the...

Australia - Jumbuck sales up 59.3% in year to June.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Australia-based mobile content provider Jumbuck Entertainment generated a revenue up 59.3 percent to AUD 11.25 million in its fiscal year to the end of June, compared to AUD 7.06 million a year earlier....

China - Silent Communications raises USD 1 mln for Chinese venture.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Israeli mobile call completion product developer Silent Communications has raised USD 1 million from China's Shenzen Junao Technology to establish a sales joint venture in China. The unit will sell...

Cambodia - Huawei signs contract for fibre network in Cambodia.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Huawei has signed a contract with Telecommunication Cambodia to build an optical network across Cambodia to link it with neighbouring countries, Chinese news agency Xinhua reports. The network is expected...

Australia - Regulator publishes pricing protocol for Telstra.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has published an information paper on the pricing of Telstra's key wholesale services and dependent retail services. The paper comprises a 'retail...

China - China telecom sector grows 10.7% in H1.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) China's telecom industry showed annual growth of 10.7 percent in the first half of the year, rising to a value of CNY 313.89 billion, according to figures from the ministry of information industry cited by...

India - Tulip IT Services secures national long distance licence.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Indian networking solutions provider Tulip IT Services has received a National Long Distance (NLD) licence from the country's Department of Telecom (DoT). The company had received a Letter of Intent for...

China - Psion, Flextronics in logic board deal in China.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Psion, mobile computing products company, has signed an agreement with electronics manufacturing services provider Flextronics. Under the arrangement, production of the main logic board of the 7535 handheld...

India - Bangalore aims for WiMAX coverage within 12 months.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The government of Karnataka, India, aims to cover the city of Banlgaore with WiMAX-based wireless internet connectivity within twelve months, according to the Principal Secretary to Government, IT and BT,...

China - SK Telecom to work on Chinese 3G standard.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) South Korean operator SK Telecom has agreed to work with the Chinese government on developing 3G technology using China's local mobile standard TD-SCDMA, the Korea Times reports. As part of the agreement,...

Indonesia - Indosat grows subscriber base, profits drop.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Indonesian operator Indosat reported a sharp rise in its mobile subscriber base in the first half, but profits were down on rising costs. Total revenues fell 0.2 percent from a year ago to IDR 5.767...

Japan - IIJ to distribute Mozilla Thunderbird product in Japan.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ), Japan-based internet access and network solutions provider, will begin free distribution of the Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail client with the world's first XML-based policy...

New Zealand - Telecom New Zealand, Kiwibank trial mobile banking.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Kiwibank and Telecom New Zealand are trialling a service which allows customers to pay bills and transfer money via their Telecom mobile phone. The new mobile banking service uses a JAVA application,...

Egypt - R&M completes Mobinil facilities cabling project.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Swiss structured cabling specialist Reichle & De-Massari (R&M) has completed a cabling infrastructure project at the new offices and data centre of Egyptian mobile operator Mobinil at the Nile City Towers...

Nigeria - Celtel to invest at least USD 700 mln in Vmobile.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) MTC-owned Celtel expects to invest at least USD 700 million in the next two years in network expansion for Nigerian mobile operator Vmobile, in which it is buying a 65 percent stake for USD 1.5 billion,...

Pakistan - Telenor Pakistan expands GSM network to 613 locations.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Telenor Pakistan now covers 613 locations with its GSM network, within less than eighteen months of the company's launch. The company also launched EDGE services on 23 August. Telenor Pakistan is in the...

Saudi Arabia - Saudi Telecom launches CNN news alerts, WAP portal.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Saudi Telecom's Al Jawwal mobile phone service has added CNN Breaking News alerts via SMS and MMS in English and Arabic. The operator also offers an online WAP portal with World, Middle East, Sports and...

Sudan - MTC to invest EUR 110 mln in Sudanese unit Mobitel.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) MTC Sudan Mobitel plans to invest EUR 110 million in a network expansion programme aimed at boosting its customer base to 7 million by 2008, ITWeb reports, quoting the company's general manager, Khaled Al...

Taiwan - VIBO Telecom extends Convergys outsourcing contract.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Taiwanese 3G mobile operator VIBO Telecom has awarded a five year outsourcing contract extension to billing, customer care and human resources service provider Convergys to manage its back office...

Yemen - Yemen Mobile share sale attracts women investors.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Government-owned Yemen Mobile sold over 10 million shares by 10 August in an IPO launched on 29 July, reports the Yemen Observer. Company CEO Mohammed al-Zahabani said that 40 percent of all subscribers to...

Singapore - VSNL Singapore upgrades submarine cable network to 1-Tbit.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) VSNL Singapore, international unit of Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL), has upgraded its high capacity trans-Pacific submarine cable network to a 1-Tbit capacity to serve increased customer demand between Asia...

New Zealand - TelstraClear wins Kathmandu comms contract in New Zealand.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Outdoor clothing provider Kathmandu has chosen TelstraClear to provide the whole of its business telecommunications services in New Zealand in a three-year trans-Tasman deal worth over NZD 1 million....

China - China TieTong closes 1,300 internet cafes.
August 30, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Chinese fixed-line operator China TieTong Telecommunications has closed its 1,300 internet cafes in six provinces due to high interconnection costs, Interfax reports. The high costs charged by China...

Australia - One.Tel liquidator trying to sell 3G licences.
August 29, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) One.Tel has relaunched a promotion campaign for its 3G spectrum, the Australian writes. The liquidator of the collapsed company is becoming increasingly desperate to sell the spectrum, which is valued at...