Jamaica sets deadline for telecom infrastructure-sharing rules – Jamaica
Sprint to buy Open Mobile in Puerto Rico – Puerto Rico
Comarch implements operations support system for Telefónica LatAm – Regional
PayPal Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2016 Results – Regional
Microsoft cloud strength highlights second quarter results – Regional

Jamaica sets deadline for telecom infrastructure-sharing rules – Jamaica
Jamaica’s Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) fixed June as the deadline for the development of infrastructure-sharing guidelines for telecom operators, local paper The Gleaner reported.
The move comes almost six years after the government announced its plans to enact such legislation.
According to the newspaper, a notice of the proposed rule-making has been drafted and is currently undergoing an internal review before being released for public consultation.
The urgency to enact the infrastructure-sharing rules stems from a lack of coordination between telcos, which causes higher costs, traffic congestion and disturbances to the public, the office told the paper.
Jamaica’s telecommunications act defines infrastructure sharing as “the provision to licensees of access to tangibles used in connection with a public network or intangibles facilitating the utilization of a public network.” The act enables OUR to impose infrastructure-sharing obligations on all licensees.
Intangibles include agreements, arrangements, leases, licenses and rights of way, while tangibles entail physical assets.
The rules being developed will define the nature and extent of the obligation to be imposed on telecoms to share their networks.

Sprint to buy Open Mobile in Puerto Rico – Puerto Rico
Mobile operator Sprint is reportedly finalizing the acquisition of competitor Open Mobile in Puerto Rico.
The transaction would be cashless, possibly involving a share offering from Sprit. According to local media reports, the deal is expected to close later this month.
Open Mobile has been active in Puerto Rico since 2007, when M/C Venture Partners and Columbia Capital acquired Movistar’s assets for US$160mn after the telco filed for bankruptcy.
Although Open Carrier invested heavily and secured its market position by becoming the first carrier to offer no-contract wireless services, the company has faced a drop in revenues in recent years.
Open Mobile has an eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) certification. This authorizes it to sell to the market that qualifies for Lifeline subsidies, a program that provides a monthly benefit on home or wireless phone and broadband service to low-income households in Puerto Rico.
Sprint is not ETC certified in Puerto Rico, so the acquisition would allow it to add that segment of the population to its client base. In addition, Sprint would strengthen its network by integrating Open Mobile’s code division multiple access and LTE technologies into its operations.
The number of mobile lines has been dropping in Puerto Rico, reaching 3.2mn last November, according to data from the Telecommunication Regulatory Board.

Comarch implements operations support system for Telefónica LatAm – Regional
Pres release
By Comarch
January 31, 2017
Comarch will support Telefónica in the transformation of its transport network in five Latin American countries – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru. The primary objectives of the project are to optimize network investments, and to bring the company real cost savings in the region. Implementation started in the beginning of 2015 and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2017.
In 2015, Telefónica S.A. introduced Comarch as the official provider of Network Planning and Configuration Management in Latin America. Since then, Comarch has been working in the transformation of legacy OSS (Operations Support Systems) in the region under the company´s transformation program, with the aim of helping Telefónica reduce costs in the creation and operation of the transport network, and to shorten the time to market for new resource deployments.
The implementation will bring about the simplification of the OSS map and network planning processes, as the project assumes commonality of implemented solutions and synchronization of completion date for all five countries. Comarch also plays the role of consulting partner, supporting Telefónica in the efficient transformation of the whole organization.
“As part of Telefónica’s strategy, our network and operation support systems play a crucial role as enablers of the services we provide to our clients. Implementing Comarch Next Generation Network Planning is a major step towards improving the efficiency of network planning and optimization processes in our subsidiaries in Latin America. Comarch was chosen as it has already proven to be a trusted partner of the Telefónica Group in Europe, and shown a great degree of flexibility in meeting our needs. The current implementation will provide an integration platform for a best of breed OSS solution, unified and reused across the group”, says José González Díaz, Director of Transformation & OSS, Global CTO at Telefónica S.A.
The implemented solution encompasses four crucial modules: Comarch Next Generation Network Planning, Comarch Network Inventory, Comarch Auto-discovery & Reconciliation, and Comarch Configuration Management.This is not the first cooperation between the two companies. Since 2003, Comarch has been successfully supporting Telefónica Germany in its Transport Network Management and Tactical Planning.
About Telefónica
Telefónica is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world by market capitalization and number of customers, with a comprehensive offering and quality of connectivity that is delivered over world class fixed, mobile and broadband networks. As a growing company, it prides itself on providing a differential experience based both on its corporate values and a public position that defends customer interests.
The company has a significant presence in 21 countries and more than 349 million accesses around the world. Telefónica has a strong presence in Spain, other parts of Europe, and Latin America, where the company focuses an important part of its growth strategy.
Telefónica is a 100% listed company, with more than 1.5 million direct shareholders. Its share capital currently comprises 5,037,804,990 ordinary shares traded on the Spanish Stock Market and on those in London, New York, Lima, and Buenos Aires.

PayPal Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2016 Results – Regional
Press release
By PayPal
January 27, 2017
Global technology platform and digital payments leader PayPal Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq:PYPL) today announced fourth quarter and full year results for the period ended December 31, 2016. Throughout 2016, PayPal deepened engagement on its platform, advanced its commitment to customer choice, gained share, continued its strong momentum in mobile payments, expanded its customer base and delivered innovative products.
Financial highlights for the fourth quarter include:
• Revenue growth of 17% to $2.981 billion, or 19% on a foreign currency neutral (FXneutral)
basis
• GAAP operating margin of 15% with non-GAAP operating margin of 21%
• GAAP earnings per diluted share (EPS) growth of 7% to $0.32, non-GAAP EPS growth
of 17% to $0.42
• Operating cash flow of $923 million, free cash flow of $771 million
Operating highlights for the fourth quarter include:
• Growth of 5.4 million active customer accounts in the quarter
• 1.8 billion payment transactions, up 23%
• $99 billion in total payment volume (TPV), up 22%, or 25% on an FX-neutral basis
Financial highlights for full year 2016 include:
• Revenue growth of 17% to $10.842 billion, or 21% on an FX-neutral pro forma basis
• GAAP operating margin of 15% with non-GAAP operating margin of 20%
• GAAP EPS growth of 15% to $1.15, non-GAAP EPS growth of 17% on a pro forma
basis to $1.50
• Operating cash flow of $3.2 billion, free cash flow of $2.5 billion
Operating highlights for full year 2016 include:
• Active customer accounts of 197 million, up 10% with growth of 18 million active
customer accounts
• 6.1 billion payment transactions, up 24%
• 31 payment transactions per active account on a trailing twelve months basis, up 13%
• $354 billion in TPV, up 26%, or 28% on an FX-neutral basis
“I’m pleased to report that PayPal ended 2016 with another strong quarter of financial results. We extended our industry leadership by generating 18 million active customer accounts, with greater engagement than ever before. We innovated across our merchant and consumer value propositions and extended our lead in mobile payments,” said Dan Schulman, President and CEO of PayPal. “In the past year, we transformed our market opportunity with a series of strategic partnerships with networks, financial institutions, technology companies, and mobile carriers.
We accomplished all of this by putting our customers first, in everything we do. At the end of a landmark year for PayPal, we feel well positioned to deliver sustainable and profitable growth in 2017 and beyond.”
New Strategic Partnerships
In the fourth quarter, PayPal announced partnership agreements with Citi, the largest global credit card issuer, and Fidelity National Information Services (FIS), which represents thousands of financial institutions. The agreements with Citi and FIS further PayPal’s commitment of choice and flexibility for its customers and PayPal plans to roll out new experiences with these partners and others throughout 2017 to drive incremental digital spend.
In January 2017, PayPal announced a strategic agreement with Discover Financial Services, a major issuer of credit products in the U.S., designed to deliver greater choice to customers. The new agreement will make it easier for PayPal customers to find and choose Discover as a funding option within the PayPal wallet, and let eligible customers pay with their Discover Cashback Bonus.
Extending Leadership in Mobile
PayPal processed $99 billion in TPV in the fourth quarter, representing growth of 22%, or 25% on an FX-neutral basis. Merchant Services TPV grew 27%, or 30% on an FX-neutral basis, and represented 84% of overall TPV for the quarter. PayPal processed $31 billion in mobile TPV, up 53%, representing 31% of TPV for the quarter. Venmo, the company’s social payments platform, processed $5.6 billion of TPV, up 126%.
The 2016 holiday season demonstrated how consumers around the world are moving to mobile, as shopping becomes simpler and faster on smaller screens with mobile-optimized experiences. In the five days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, PayPal processed more than $2 billion in mobile payments, and mobile accounted for one-third of overall TPV during this period.
Expanding Value Proposition through Product Innovation
One Touch, PayPal’s fastest mobile checkout experience, continues to experience strong adoption. One Touch offers merchants significantly better conversion rates by making it faster and simpler for their customers to pay online and with mobile devices, in a single click. PayPal ended the year with more than five million active merchant accounts offering One Touch to more than 40 million active consumer accounts in all of PayPal’s markets.
In the fourth quarter, Xoom added Japan to the growing list of countries where people can receive remittances from their loved ones in the United States. In 2016, Xoom continued to grow its global footprint and expanded the list of countries that can receive Xoom payments from 41 to 56.


Microsoft cloud strength highlights second quarter results – Regional
By Microsoft
January 27, 2017
Microsoft Corp. today announced the following results for the quarter ended December 31, 2016:
· Revenue was $24.1 billion GAAP, and $26.1 billion non-GAAP
· Operating income was $6.2 billion GAAP, and $8.2 billion non-GAAP
· Net income was $5.2 billion GAAP, and $6.5 billion non-GAAP
· Diluted earnings per share was $0.66 GAAP, and $0.83 non-GAAP
Microsoft completed the acquisition of LinkedIn Corporation (“LinkedIn”) on December 8, 2016. Financial results from the acquired business are reported in the Productivity and Business Processes segment. For the second quarter of fiscal year 2017, the results of LinkedIn, including amortization of acquired intangible assets, contributed revenue, operating income, net income, and diluted earnings per share of $228 million, $(201) million, $(100) million, and $(0.01), respectively.
“Our customers are seeing greater value and opportunity as we partner with them through their digital transformation,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “Accelerating advancements in AI across our platforms and services will provide further opportunity to drive growth in the Microsoft Cloud.”
The following table reconciles our financial results reported in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) to non-GAAP financial results. Microsoft has provided this non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding the company’s performance. Additional information regarding our non-GAAP definition is provided below. All growth comparisons relate to the corresponding period in the last fiscal year.
For more information click on this link

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