Press Clippings: September 2006

Major Industry items you might have missed

Saturday, September 30, 2006

BT & T-Mobile: no convergence.

Source: Light Reading.

T-Mobile USA has denied reports that it will enter into a partnership with BT Global Services to offer fixed/mobile services in the U.S.
Reports out of the U.K. this week claimed BT and T-Mobile USA would partner to launch a converged service in the U.S. enterprise market.
“Information about T-Mobile and BT has been inaccurately reported,” a spokesperson for T-Mobile tells Unstrung. “The only agreement we have with BT is a roaming agreement for hotspot users.”

Posted by Judith — 4:39 AM


BenQ in Germany goes bust.

Source: BWCS.

BenQ Mobile, the company formerly known as Siemens Mobile, is to file for insolvency. The shock move comes as its Taiwanese parent decided to pull out of the loss-making business.

Posted by Judith — 4:04 AM


Yahoo allows outsiders to innovate on Yahoo e-mail.

Source: Reuters.

Yahoo Inc. is set to allow outsiders to create new services using the world’s most popular consumer e-mail program, in the broadest move the Web has yet seen to enlist independent programmers to build a company’s products for it.

Posted by Judith — 3:28 AM

Friday, September 29, 2006

Jajah goes mobile.

Source: BWCS.

VoIP service provider Jajah has begun offering its services to mobile phone users. While the new offering is still in its infancy, the company is promising users a seamless experience, providing they have certain Symbian-based mobile handsets. Those without Symbian phones can use a Java-based version.

Posted by Judith — 11:58 AM


T-Mobile dumps VoIP restrictions.

Source: The Register.

T-Mobile will allow VoIP calls over its Web ‘n’ Walk-branded 3G network for the first time when it launches a set of new data tariffs next week.
Until now, customers who used the operator’s data services to make VoIP calls were ordered to stop breaching their customer agreements. VoIP and instant messaging services were prohibited in a bid to protect voice revenues.

Posted by Judith — 11:40 AM


Mobile ESPN drops MVNO ball.

Source: RCR Wireless.

After a mere eight months on the market, Mobile ESPN has decided to get out of the mobile virtual network operator business.
The brand’s entrance into the wireless space was eagerly anticipated, scrutinized and praised for its innovative user interface, but handset problems and a lack of consumer interest drew clouds over the business.

Posted by Judith — 10:52 AM

Thursday, September 28, 2006

DT rejects Vivendi’s PTC bid.

Source: Telecoms.com.

German incumbent Deutsche Telekom has rejected the offer from Vivendi to buy DT’s 49 per cent stake in Polish mobile operator Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa (PTC).

Posted by Judith — 5:12 AM


Wi-Fi service breaches ISP conditions.

Source: The Register.

A router designed to share broadband internet connections with third parties appears to break the terms and conditions of seven of the top 10 UK internet service providers.
Fon.com offers Wi-Fi routers for as little as €5 and encourages connection sharing in a bid to build a Wi-Fi community, but its policies could put users at odds with their providers.

Posted by Judith — 4:46 AM


Verizon to pump US$18Bn into FiOS by 2010.

Source: Light Reading.

In demonstrating renewed confidence in its FiOS fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) initiative, Verizon Communications Inc. says its fiber-based service will become profitable after four years — and the carrier vows to boost its investment in the market to US$18 bn by the year 2010, at which point it expects to have 7 million customers using FiOS for Internet access.

Posted by Judith — 4:41 AM


New telecoms bill will allow network access.

Source: TeleGeography.com.

According to the Minister for Commerce Adi Sivia Qoro, companies wishing to enter Fiji’s soon-to-be liberalised telecoms market will be able to gain access to the networks of the country’s incumbent operators under the proposed Commerce Amendment Bill.

Posted by Judith — 3:56 AM


New MVNO to focus on Chinese-Americans.

Source: RCR Wireless.

A new mobile virtual network operator targeting Chinese-Americans officially launched today, offering cheap international calls to Asia and a Razr phone with menus in Chinese.

Posted by Judith — 2:49 AM


BT and Packard Bell in Major joint marketing deal.

Source: btplc.com.

BT Today announced a major deal with consumer giant Packard Bell for joint marketing of BT Total Broadband, BT’s range of broadband packages. Under the deal, BT Total Broadband will be preloaded on all Packard Bell desktops and notebooks in the UK. BT Total Broadband and other BT consumer products will be promoted on Packard Bell’s website and through other promotional channels.

Posted by Judith — 2:28 AM


NTL launches quadruple-play deal.

Source: bbc.co.uk

NTL has unveiled a package which bundles together TV, high-speed internet, and fixed-line and mobile phone services.
Customers will pay £40 a month for the package - NTL’s first to incorporate mobile phones after the acquisition of Virgin Mobile.
NTL plans to rebrand itself under the Virgin name in 2007.
It hopes this will attract new users in what is becoming an increasingly competitive market.

Posted by Judith — 2:05 AM


Nokia wins with Taiwan Mobile.

Source: TeleGeography.com.

Taiwan Mobile has awarded Nokia a contract to expand its W-CDMA networks and upgrade them with 3.5G technology.

Posted by Judith — 1:53 AM

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

A new use for T-Mobile’s hotspots .

Source: BWCS.

T-Mobile, the fourth largest mobile operator in the US, is planning to use its strong WiFi hotspot presence and its recently acquired extra wireless spectrum to launch new mobile VoIP services.
T-Mobile boasts a network of some 7,000 US-based WiFi hotspots at cafes, airports and hotels across the country and hopes to begin shipping a new series of WiFi-enabled cell-phones as early as next month.
In launching mobile VoIP services, T-Mobile is, to some extent, playing catch-up with its larger rivals, Sprint and Verizon, who both already have WiFi phones on the market, but it believes that its superior hotspot network will give it the edge in promoting these services.

Posted by Judith — 5:43 AM


Minister pleased by TIM news.

Source: TeleGeography.

Italy’s deputy communications minister says he has welcomed Telecom Italia’s confirmation that it is not putting its cellular division TIM up for sale.
Yesterday Telecom Italia chairman Guido Rossi met with representatives of the Italian stock market watchdog Consob to outline details of its restructuring plans. He told them that the telco is to separate its wireline and wireless units, but that it has made no moves to appoint advisers for a possible sale of TIM.

Posted by Judith — 5:40 AM


Vivendi makes EUR2.5bn. bid for PTC.

Source: Telecoms.com.

French media and telecommunications group Vivendi, on Tuesday said it had made a EUR2.5bn bid for Deutsche Telekom’s 49% stake in Polish mobile-phone operator Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa (PTC).
DT and Vivendi have battled over PTC for several years, often in court and the bid is aimed at ending uncertainty over the future of the Polish firm.

Posted by Judith — 4:07 AM


BT pay phones now 40p a call.

Source: Telecoms.com.

Nowadays they are iconic, a symbol of a time passed and used only in emergencies - such as when the batteries on your mobile run out.
However, starting in November, making a call from a BT pay phone will cost a minimum of 40p, BT announced today.
The hike is an effort, BT said, to help maintain the pay phone network: Only 23,000 of BT’s 63,500 pay phones are profitable.

Posted by Judith — 4:01 AM


BT rethinks 21CN core strategy.

Source: Light Reading.

BT Group plc is reconsidering its 21CN technology deployment plans, and may add a controversial new Ethernet approach to its IP/MPLS strategy.
Speaking at the Carrier Ethernet World Congress in Madrid, Tim Hubbard, head of 21CN solutions strategy at BT, said the carrier is planning to use Provider Backbone Transport (PBT), a new flavor of Ethernet being heavily promoted by BT in league with Nortel Networks Ltd.

Posted by Judith — 4:00 AM


Amena joins FreeMove.

Source: Telecoms.com.

France Telecom’s Spanish unit Amena, announced plans to join the FreeMove Alliance on Monday.
The Alliance already includes founding members Telecom Italia Mobile, T-Mobile and Orange, with Nordic operator TeliaSonera joining earlier this year.
Telefonica was forced to quit FreeMove when the European Commission expressed concern over a conflict of interest when the Spanish operator acquired O2 in March.
O2 is a member of rival mobile group, the Starmap Alliance, which is also working on the development of international alliance member services and roaming benefits.

Posted by Judith — 3:56 AM

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

SingTel expresses interest in China Telecom stake.

Source: TeleGeography.

Southeast Asian telecoms company SingTel is said to be one of five telcos in the hunt for a stake in China Telecom, according to reports from Channel NewsAsia. Other groups said to be interested in China’s largest fixed line operator include Japan’s NTT DoCoMo, France Telecom, Deutsche Telekom and Verizon Communications of the US. China Telecom is reportedly looking for strategic investors to help it enter the mobile market.

Posted by Judith — 5:33 AM


Qualcomm seals deal with HFCL for CDMA handsets.

Source: TeleGeography.

Indian equipment vendor and telecoms operator Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd (HFCL) has signed a technology licence agreement with Qualcomm to manufacture and sell CDMA-based mobile and fixed-wireless phones and data cards worldwide.
The fast growing Indian market is the site of intense competition between CDMA and GSM-based operators, and Qualcomm hopes the agreement with HFCL will tip the balance in CDMA’s favour.

Posted by Judith — 5:05 AM


Circuit City gets Amp’d.

Source: TeleGeography.

US MVNO Amp’d Mobile has signed a distribution deal with the Circuit City chain of consumer electronics stores. The 600 Circuit City outlets across the US will be selling Amp’d Mobile’s pre-paid handset packages.

Posted by Judith — 4:41 AM


Smart announces sweeping job cuts, seeks funding.

Source: TeleGeography.

Beleaguered Irish alternative operator Smart Telecom, which two weeks ago confirmed it had run out of money, has laid off two-thirds of its workforce and placed its pay-telephone and calling card businesses up for sale. The company confirmed the measures in a statement to the London Stock Exchange, where its share price has plummeted 80% since the news broke. Smart Telecom went on to say that, following its urgent internal review, it is pinning its hopes on the success of its broadband operation.

Posted by Judith — 4:23 AM


Mobile web shake-up gets started.

Source: BBC.

The mobile web is about to receive the biggest shake-up in years with the start of open registration for mobile phone-specific website addresses.
The general public can now register websites ending with .mobi as the backers of the mobile net hope to overturn consumer apathy.
Only one in 10 mobile owners use their phones to surf the net due to concerns over cost, speed and poor content.
Sites ending dotmobi are designed for phones and must meet agreed standards.

Posted by Judith — 3:45 AM


Regulators approve Nokia’s acquisition of Loudeye.

Source: Reuters.

Plans by Nokia Inc. to acquire U.S. based digital music distributor Loudeye Corp. for US$60m. have been approved by regulators.
The companies said they have received early termination of the waiting period from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice as well as clearance from authorities in Germany and Italy.

Posted by Judith — 3:33 AM


Jajah’s mobile ambitions.

Source: BusinessWeekOnline.

The company hopes to become the Skype of the cell-phone world, and has introduced a service allowing users to call overseas on the cheap.
Jajah is funded by Sequoia Capital, the same venture capitalists that invested in YouTube and Apple (AAPL).
The startup has just introduced Jajah Mobile, a service that allows users to make calls via Jajah without entering data into a Web site. It’s free if you’re calling another registered member in one of dozens of countries, including the U.S. and Canada. For some other countries, there’s a small fee. The company says it will support all cell-phone models by yearend.
The offering could alter the international calling market. By drastically cutting international rates to as little as 2 cents a minute, Jajah could spur international calling via cell phones.

Posted by Judith — 3:12 AM


Motorola buys Vertasent.

Source: Light Reading.

Continuing on its year-long acquisition binge, Motorola Inc. has bought switched digital video specialist Vertasent LLC for an undisclosed amount.
The purchase of Vertasent gives Motorola the rights to the software firm’s edge resource management platform. An emerging element in the evolving cable HFC network, the ERM product enables cable operators to manage bandwidth and content for both switched digital and video-on-demand applications at the same time.

Posted by Judith — 3:11 AM

Monday, September 25, 2006

BT allies with T-Mobile in US.

Source: TeleGeography.

BT is forming a partnership with T-Mobile USA under which the pair will combine to provide a converged fixed-mobile service for multinational corporations. The British telco has already signed deals in Europe with mobile operators Vodafone and KPN, allowing it to add mobile services to its wireline portfolio. The latest deal with T-Mobile in the US is an important step to it achieving worldwide coverage, something which is seen as key to attracting multinational users.

Posted by Judith — 5:53 AM


Orange joins the ‘home zone’ trend with Unik offering.

Source: Independent Online.

Orange will unveil details today of its long-awaited “home-zone” service combining the convenience of a mobile phone with fixed-line pricing. The service will be branded Unik and will be launched in the UK before Christmas.

Posted by Judith — 4:26 AM


DoCoMo to offer broadcast mobile TV.

Source: TeleGeography.

Japan’s leading mobile operator by subscribers NTT DoCoMo is reportedly to launch mobile TV services in partnership with Nippon Television Network Corp.
The two companies forged a partnership in February and have invested JPY500m. (US$4.3m.) to create new drama and animated programmes for the service, which is scheduled to go live in October. The broadcasts will be distributed to DoCoMo handsets, with the commercials removed, shortly after they are aired by Nippon TV. DoCoMo is reported to be considering taking an equity stake in Nippon TV.

Posted by Judith — 4:22 AM


Investors to seek Hellas sale for nearly four times initial investment.

Source: BWCS.

Barely a year after forking out EUR1.1bn. for 81% of the shares in TIM Hellas, venture capitalist groups Texas Pacific and Apax Partners are trying to sell the Greek mobile operator for around EUR4bn. (£2.7bn.)
Texas and Apax paid a further EUR263.5m. for the remaining 19% of the equity in November 2005.
The sell off is being viewed by stock markets as the first indication of the returns that private equity companies can expect from their recent spate of acquisitions in the telecoms sector. TIM Hellas, which has 2.3m. mobile customers, is likely to attract interest from other private equity companies as well as larger mobile operators.

Posted by Judith — 4:15 AM


3 gets green light to test mobile TV.

Source: TeleGeography.

Ireland’s telecoms regulator has issued Hutchison 3G Ireland with a temporary permit to begin testing DVB-H (digital video broadcast over handheld) services.The licence takes effect immediately and runs for one year, and will allow Hutchison to explore the possibility of broadcasting TV services direct to mobile phones.

Posted by Judith — 4:08 AM

Saturday, September 23, 2006

neuf Cegetel agrees US$365m. deal for AOL France.

Source: TeleGeography.

French alternative operator neuf Cegetel has agreed a US$365m. cash deal with US-based Time Warner to acquire the latter’s French internet access business AOL France. Under the terms of the deal, neuf Cegetel will get control of AOL France’s access business, including its 500,000 ADSL customers, lifting neuf Cegete’s broadband subscriber total to over two million - well ahead of its end-year target for achieving this goal. It will also acquire its ASME operation, which manages AOL France’s customer service operations.

Posted by Judith — 4:39 AM


WiMAX players to form roaming alliance.

Source: Telecoms.com.

At an inaugural meeting in Paris on Thursday, a handful of WiMAX licensees from around the world launched the WiMAX Spectrum Owners Alliance (WiSOA). The organisation is the first of its kind, composed exclusively of companies that own spectrum and operate services in the WiMAX bands, with a target of connecting a billion users to a worldwide WiMAX broadband network.
The founding members of the group are Unwired Australia, Network Plus Mauritius, UK Broadband, Irish Broadband, Austar Australia/Liberty Group, Telecom New Zealand, WiMAX Telecom Group, Enertel, and Woosh Telecom.

Posted by Judith — 4:33 AM


State exit prompts KPN sale speculation.

Source: Telecoms.com.

The Dutch government sold its remaining 8 per cent stake in former state owned incumbent carrier KPN on Friday.
KPN has entered into an agreement to repurchase the shares from the State for a total consideration of approximately Eur800m further fuelling speculation that KPN is ripe for takeover.

Posted by Judith — 4:30 AM


Microsoft joins Yahoo! in Nokia search.

Source: BWCS.

Following the news earlier this month that Nokia had signed a deal with Yahoo! Search to integrate it into its mobile phone search system, the Finnish vendor has inked a similar contract with Microsoft. Under the terms of the Microsoft deal, Nokia will integrate the US company’s Live Search capabilities into its Mobile Search platform. This will be available to consumers and business users who purchase Nokia N-series smart phones and other compatible Nokia S60 devices.

Posted by Judith — 4:05 AM

Friday, September 22, 2006

Carphone to start small in America.

Source: TimesOnline.

Carphone Warehouse, Europe’s biggest mobile retailer, is to expand internationally with a move into America.
The group is preparing to open a handful of trial stores in New York. It is expected to form a partnership with Best Buy, the American electronics retail giant, and will initially use the Best Buy brand.
The US business will offer impartial advice on all the main mobile brands, just as Carphone does in the UK.
The US, which has four big mobile players, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Cingular and Sprint, with more than 184m. customers, has nothing similar to an independent middleman such as Carphone. Instead, the big carriers focus on their own standalone stores.

Posted by Judith — 4:06 AM


Senate telecom bill still short of votes.

Source: Reuters.

U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens said on Thursday he was still unable to muster enough votes for his telecommunications bill, which could die if Republicans lose power in the November elections.
The bill would make it easier for telephone companies like AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications to get licenses to offer television service to compete with cable companies. It also would address a myriad of other issues but consumer groups oppose it because it does not guarantee “Net neutrality.”

Posted by Judith — 3:56 AM


German mobile workers fear for jobs.

Source: Telecoms.com.

Germany’s mobile phone job market is facing a shake up with cuts confirmed at mobile operator E-Plus and expected at handset manufacturer BenQ Siemens.
E-Plus will eliminate a complete management layer, cutting management positions by almost 40 per cent, or 300 heads.
Meanwhile, speculation is also rising over job cuts at mobile handset manufacturer BenQ Mobile. The struggling mobile phone maker is closing production plants in Mexico and Taiwan and this week has had to ward off speculation that it could also outsource the work of its last remaining production plant in Germany.
Taiwan’s BenQ acquired Siemens’ handset unit in June 2005. The German manufacturer effectively paid BenQ Eur50m to take the ailing division off its hands.

Posted by Judith — 3:53 AM


Orange pulls out of bidding for AOL UK.

Source: Reuters.

France Telecom’s Orange unit has pulled out of the bidding for the UK Internet connection business of Time Warner Inc.’s AOL, an industry source close to the matter said on Thursday.
Satellite TV operator BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse are now left in the running,

Posted by Judith — 3:35 AM


Mobile phone industry aims to reduce pollution.

Source: Reuters.

Nokia said on Thursday it and other mobile industry players have agreed on measures to reduce pollution from the manufacture and disposal of mobile phones.
The group has agreed to reduce energy consumption, stop using some hazardous materials, improve the amount of phones collected through take-back schemes and recycled, and give consumers more environmental information about products.
The voluntary group also includes companies and brands such as Motorola, Matsushita, Panasonic, France Telecom, TeliaSonera and Intel.

Posted by Judith — 3:30 AM

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Two U.S. software firms lobby EU on Microsoft.

Source: Reuters.

Two U.S. software firms are asking the European Commission to take action against Microsoft’s new Vista operating system, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
It stated that Adobe Systems has told EU regulators that Microsoft should be banned from incorporating free competing software for reading and creating electronic documents with Vista.
Anti-virus software maker Symantec are expected to send officials to Brussels next week to brief journalists about features of Vista that it has told EU regulators will undercut rival makers of computer security software.

Posted by Judith — 5:01 AM


3G BlackBerry comes to Japan.

Source: Telecoms.com.

Research In Motion announced two firsts on Tuesday. Leading Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo will make the first ever BlackBerry available in Japan on September 26 and the device, the BlackBerry 8707h, will also be RIM’s first WCDMA 3G offering.
The BlackBerry 8707h operates on both WCDMA and GSM/GPRS networks and can be used overseas for both voice and packet data communications.
Although a number of BlackBerry devices are already classed as 3G devices due to EDGE capabilities, the 8707h is the first to support full WCDMA throughput speeds.

Posted by Judith — 3:57 AM


AOL revamps divisions, seeks international growth.

Source: Reuters.

AOL will reorganize its business divisions to simplify its structure as it focuses on boosting Internet advertising sales globally, according to a memorandum sent to employees on Wednesday.
The online division of Time Warner Inc., which in August sketched out a strategy to give away most of its services for free and cease marketing its dial-up Internet access business, plans to eliminate its four business units and create smaller product categories instead.

Posted by Judith — 3:41 AM


US Broadband finally passes dial-up.

Source: InformationWeek.

Driven largely by the bundling of services, high-speed broadband has finally overtaken dial-up in Internet access, accounting for a 56 percent share of residential ISP customers, according to a report by J. D. Power and Associates.
For high-speed access, the preference study listed WideOpenWest (WOW!) with the most satisfied customers followed by Bright House Network’s Road Runner and, in third place, BellSouth.

Posted by Judith — 3:35 AM

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Vodafone and Ericsson expand HSDPA network.

Source: TeleGeography.

Mobile operator Vodafone UK has expanded its HSDPA wireless coverage using equipment supplied by Ericsson. Vodafone launched its first HSDPA services under the banner 3G Broadband in June. So far Vodafone offers HSDPA in Greater London, Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Reading, Sheffield, Southampton, St Albans, Swindon, Thatcham and Tyneside. A nationwide rollout covering its entire W-CDMA footprint is scheduled for completion by summer 2007.

Posted by Judith — 4:22 AM


Motorola’s Vertical Leap.

Source: Light Reading.

Enterprise users are watching with growing anticipation to see what benefits the combination of Motorola Inc’s broad cellphone offerings and advanced networking efforts with Symbol Technologies Inc.’s strong position in scanners, RFID readers, and ruggedized mobile computers might bring.
The deal, which is expected to close at the end of the year pending SEC and shareholder approval, would also give Motorola a direct line into the enterprise sector, where it’s had mixed results.

Posted by Judith — 4:19 AM


Forum launches to free UK bandwidth.

Source: BWCS.

The UK has moved a step closer to releasing large chunks of radio spectrum currently reserved for military use into the commercial sector following the formation of the Bandsharing Forum earlier this week. This new organisation consists of representatives from the private and public sector and is dedicated to investigating how MoD restricted radio frequencies can be opened up for other users. The Forum will also look at freeing up bandwidth currently reserved for maritime and aviation use.

Posted by Judith — 4:15 AM


Vodafone provides helpful roaming services update.

Source: TeleGeography.

UK-based mobile giant Vodafone Group says that ten million of its customers have signed up for Vodafone Passport since it launched the service in May 2005. Passport allows customers to pay a premium to use their domestic price plan when roaming on other networks abroad.
Vodafone also recently struck an agreement with other European operators to reduce all wholesale roaming prices to EUR.45 per minute or less on a reciprocal basis, following concerns from the European Commission that customers were paying too much for international roaming services.

Posted by Judith — 4:10 AM


3 Ireland’s coverage reaches 80% mark.

Source: TeleGeography.

Hutchison 3G Ireland’s UMTS network now covers over 80% of the population, according to reports. 3 Ireland began its network rollout in early 2004, in partnership with Nokia, NEC and Siemens Mobile, and has since deployed and integrated over 540 radio sites. It launched commercial services under the 3 brand name in July 2005 and augments its 3G network by offering 2.5G services in the rest of the country via a network roaming deal with Vodafone, extending its reach to 99.5% of the population. 3 says it is now well ahead of schedule to beat the regulatory requirement of 85% population coverage by the end of 2007 as stipulated by ComReg in its 3G licence agreement.

Posted by Judith — 4:02 AM

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Airwaves sale grosses US$13.9bn.

Source: Reuters.

The U.S. sale of airwaves for advanced wireless services grossed a record US$13.9bn (£7.4bn.) when it ended on Monday, and spectrum-hungry wireless carrier T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and a group of cable companies were the highest bidders.
The winning companies are expected to use the airwaves to expand and improve existing voice services as well as expand their high-speed Internet and video services. There are about 219 million wireless subscribers in the United States.
The traditional wireless carriers faced tough competition in the auction from television providers, including the top U.S. cable and satellite companies like Comcast Corp. and DirecTV Group Inc.

Posted by Judith — 3:56 AM


Youngsters ‘reliant on mobiles’.

Source: BBC.

More than nine out of 10 12-year-olds in the UK now have a mobile phone, a survey has suggested.
Almost 80% of the young people who took part in the research said they felt safer having a mobile and that they had a better social life as a result.
On average, they send or receive up to 10 text messages a day - three times more than their parents.
The survey found that most parents (71%) believed mobiles were a useful way to keep track of their offspring.
However, only a third of 13 to 16-year-olds thought it was reasonable for parents to use mobiles for this reason.

Posted by Judith — 3:51 AM


KPN agrees EUR255m. deal for Tiscali’s Dutch operation.

Source: TeleGeography.

The Netherlands’ largest telecoms company KPN said on Friday it had agreed a EUR255m. (US$323m.) deal to purchase Tiscali’s Dutch internet access business. Amsterdam-based KPN said the deal includes the Italian-owned unit’s 276,000 broadband customers and 126,000 internet accounts, as well as its networks in the Netherlands.

Posted by Judith — 3:45 AM


PingPong acquires VoIP rival Vonar.

Source: TeleGeography.

US-based VoIP telephony provider PingPong Telecom has purchased Brazilian IP telephony provider Vonar.
São Paulo-based Vonar provides VoIP service for residential users and small and medium-sized businesses, while PingPong Telecom provides international and domestic termination for wholesale and retail carriers, call centres, corporations, pre-paid cards and IP phone providers.

Posted by Judith — 3:42 AM


LBS in Europe to grow at 34% pa.

Source: BWCS.

The European market for location based services on mobile phones will be worth EUR622m. (US$788m.) annually, within four years, claims a new report from Swedish research group Berg Insight. According to the report, the market for location based services is currently accelerating, following the launch of several successful personal navigation services and location based billing plans across Europe.
For example, Nokia’s recent acquisition of Gate5 proves the importance vendors and operators are now attaching to LBS. Berg believes that GPS-enabled handsets with pre-installed navigation software will become available from the leading brands on the European market very soon. The company forecasts that navigation will account for 48% of mobile LBS revenues in 2010.

Posted by Judith — 3:32 AM

Monday, September 18, 2006

Telecom Italia buys AOL’s German unit.

Source: NYT.

Telecom Italia has acquired AOL’s broadband Internet access business in Germany for EUR675m. (US$855m.) the companies announced yesterday.
Telecom Italia, Italy’s biggest telecommunications operator by market value, said on Sept. 11 that it planned to split its mobile and fixed-line assets into separate entities.
Riccardo Ruggiero, chief executive of Telecom Italia, said in a statement, ‘This acquisition marks a further step in Telecom Italia’s strategy of focusing on broadband services and content delivery at an international level.’

Posted by Judith — 4:36 AM


Ericsson to reorganise, hires 500 engineers.

Source: Telecoms.com.

The world’s leading maker of mobile phone networks, Ericsson said on Friday that it is reorganising itself into three units and will recruit 500 engineers to accelerate its research and development in “growth areas”.
The Swedish giant said in a statement that the three new units will include networks, global services and multimedia and will be running by Jan 1, 2007.
The firm said its new engineers will focus on developing products for “next generation IP-networks and multimedia”.

Posted by Judith — 4:28 AM


A chip that can transfer data using laser light.

Source: NYT.

Researchers at Intel and the University of California plan to announce on Monday that they have created a silicon-based chip that can produce laser beams. The advance will make it possible to use laser light rather than wires to send data between chips, removing the most significant bottleneck in computer design.
As a result, chip makers may be able to put the high-speed data communications industry on the same curve of increased processing speed and diminishing costs — the phenomenon known as Moore’s law — that has driven the computer industry for the last four decades.

Posted by Judith — 4:15 AM

Saturday, September 16, 2006

BT plans further global push.

Source: Light Reading.

BT Group plcset out its international stall for analysts and the press at a London briefing Thursday, announcing revenue targets and hinting at further expansion through acquisitions.
The carrier says its Global Services division, which provides network and IT services to large corporate customers in sectors such as finance, IT, retail, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and telecoms, is gaining market share from its chief rivals: AT&T Global Network Services , France Telecom SA’s Orange Business Services, Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Systems Inc. , and Verizon Business — and has signed up about 1,000 new customers in the past 15 months.
Now the carrier says it aims to boost revenues in some specific high growth markets and says it will double the revenues from the U.S., China, India, and Japan during the next three years.

Posted by Judith — 2:38 AM

Friday, September 15, 2006

Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, others form initiative for 4G standards.

Source: RCR Wireless

Seven of the wireless industry’s leading carriers have joined forces to “develop a common vision” for the future of mobile networks technology.
Members of the Next Generation Mobile Networks initiative include China Mobile, KPN, NTT DoCoMo Inc., Orange, Sprint Nextel Corp., T-Mobile and Vodafone. The group said it has created a set of requirements “for a future wide area mobile broadband network designed to offer enhanced customer benefits by delivering competitive broadband performance alongside high levels of interoperability.” In plainer terms, the NGMN appears to be devising a roadmap for interoperable 4G networks.

Posted by Judith — 12:01 PM


Ericsson revamps.

Source: Light Reading.

Ericsson AB is reorganizing itself into three new divisions to more closely align itself with the way its carrier customers do business, the vendor’s president and CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg announced this morning.
“It’s time to build leadership in converging IP networks and in multimedia” and “establish a market defining role in the integration of communications and media,” proclaimed Svanberg.

Posted by Judith — 11:45 AM


BT Cashes In on 21CN.

Source: Light Reading.

BT Group plc (NYSE: BT - message board; London: BTA) has created a team to provide next-generation network consultancy services to other carriers, capitalizing on its experiences in planning, testing, and rolling out its £10 billion (US$18.9 billion) all-IP 21st Century Network (21CN).
BT is still at the early stages of building the new network — it will start migrating customers to its new network in South Wales later this year and plans to complete the nationwide process in 2010.
But the carrier believes it has gained so much experience since it announced its plans in 2004 that it can sell its know-how to other carriers planning to migrate from their current PSTNs to next-gen infrastructures.

Posted by Judith — 11:24 AM


Intel, Siemens partner in VoIP unified communications.

Source: Information Week.

Intel Corp. and Siemens Communications said Thursday they have agreed to work together on products for unified communications based on Voice over Internet protocol.
The technology partnership also includes collaborative research on secure wireless networks, and VoIP products for specific vertical industries, such as telecommunications service providers, financial services and digital healthcare.

Posted by Judith — 11:12 AM


Fastweb, Vodafone clinch commercial deal in Italy.

Source: Reuters.

Italian broadband company Fastweb and the Italian unit of mobile phone giant Vodafone announced on Friday a commercial agreement to jointly offer parts of each other’s services, the companies said.
Vodafone clients would be able to use their mobile phones from home at fixed-line rates and use a high-speed ADSL modem to access Fastweb’s broadband network, the companies said.

Posted by Judith — 11:12 AM


AT&T decision over MobiTV means Modeo will go it alone.

Source: The Register.

Modeo, the subsidiary of Crown Castle that is building out its own DVB-H mobile TV network in the US, has decided to go it alone, and launch the service anyway with, or most likely without, the endorsement of a major US cellular operator. It will now launch the service in October.
As Cingular Wireless has put the finishing touches to its plans for acombination of TV delivered over wired and wireless broadband internet lines, the writing was on the wall for Modeo and it had to take a key decision about its future. Sources close to Modeo said the company has now made a firm choice to go it alone.

Posted by Judith — 10:52 AM


Mobile phone proliferates, a hallmark of New India.

Source: NYT.

India has become the fastest-growing cellular market in the world, adding a net 5.9 million cellular subscribers in August, the Cellular Operators Association of India said this week. The gain outstripped China’s increase of 5.19 million subscribers.
Large areas of India remain too poor or remote to have cellphone service, even though the middle class is growing in many cities.
As poverty slowly eases, the explosive growth in cellphone use is expected to continue in this nation of 1.1 billion people. Factors like low calling charges and cheap handsets are also behind the subscriber gains.

Posted by Judith — 10:27 AM

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Yahoo and Acer in display deal.

Source: FT.com.

Yahoo has joined the race among the internet search giants to grab a more prominent position in front of computer users, sealing a deal with Acer, the world’s fourth-biggest PC maker, to have its services displayed.
The move echoes a ground-breaking deal between Google and Dell that will put the most widely-used search engine prominently in front of anyone buying a new Dell machine.
The scramble for a visible place in front of consumers has been prompted in part by the imminent arrival of Microsoft’s next internet browser, known as IE7.

Posted by Judith — 5:25 AM


China Telecom eyes European corporate customers.

Source: TeleGeography.com.

China Telecom has launched value added internet and ICT services for multinational corporations in the UK and Europe. The Chinese giant is expanding its reach outside of its domestic market and is keen to construct a new ‘Information Silk Road’ offering seamless IT services between Europe, China, Asia, and America. The first products from China Telecom Europe include CTExcelink and CTExcelbiz, which provide secure, high speed and competitive packages for large and small businesses.

Posted by Judith — 5:18 AM


DoCoMo buys into fuel cell technology.

Source: TeleGeography.com.

Japan’s leading mobile operator by subscribers NTT DoCoMo is buying a 36.5% stake in Aquafairy Co, a company which is developing fuel cell technology for the industry. DoCoMo hopes the investment will result in it being able to sell handsets with longer-lasting hydrogen-powered batteries. The pair are working together on the development of a micro fuel cell recharger for the operator’s latest range of handsets.

Posted by Judith — 5:15 AM


AOL lifted by free e-mail addresses.

Source: FT.com.

AOL’s new strategy of giving e-mail addresses for free to its 18m. dial-up customers is so far leading to a stronger than expected take-up and has given the group confidence that its new plan could lead to a growing online audience this year.
The internet group, owned by Time Warner, is trying to switch its business from one reliant on declining demand for dial-up connections to a key online destination which can capture a slice of the fast-growing web advertising market.

Posted by Judith — 5:14 AM


BT extends Fusion to corporate customers.

Source: The Register.

Continuing their march towards a grand vision of an IMS future where everything is routed over IP connections, BT have announced that their Fusion product will now be available to corporate customers. Fusion combines GSM and Wireless LAN connectivity for voice calls, with calls using Voice over IP when on a data network, such as Wi-Fi, then switching to GSM when out of range.

Posted by Judith — 5:02 AM


Telecom Italia to split company into 3 units.

Source: Digital Media Europe.

Telecom Italia, the incumbent Italian telco and Europe’s fifth-largest phone company, will split the company into three units: a fixed-line network business, a retail business for both the fixed-client base and the content division and a mobile business.
Telecom Italia says that no decision has yet been taken regarding the financial structure of the new fixed and mobile companies. The telco also stresses that it has not given any mandate for the sale of its mobile business and that it has not received any offers.

Posted by Judith — 5:02 AM


Regulator opens DT’s VDSL network to rivals.

Source: Digital Media Europe.

Deutsche Telekom has three months to open its VDSL network to competitors, says the Federal Network Agency, the German communications regulator.
The incumbent telco must offer its rivals access to its network at a price agreed on with regulators. DT’s new network is capable of operating the phone, internet and TV simultaneously and is available in 10 German cities.
DT argues that competition should be limited so that it can make up the costs of its investment.

Posted by Judith — 4:50 AM

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

AT&T launches America’s first internet TV service.

Source: Telecoms.com.

America’s largest telecoms company, AT&T, will today launch an internet TV service that will stream content to viewers over their wireless or fixed-line broadband connections.
The telecommunications giant said the service is being offered in the US in partnership with TV content provider, MobiTV.
AT&T Broadband TV, the first service of its kind in the US, will initially offer 20 channels of cable and TV specifically made for broadband. The firm said new channels and other content will be added regularly.

Posted by Judith — 4:09 AM


Satellite link to improve internet access on trains.

Source: Independent.

Commuters hoping to log on to the internet on trains can look forward to vastly improved services after the telecoms regulator Ofcom unveiled plans to license new satellite services to deliver mobile broadband.
Ofcom plans to license spectrum that will pipe high-speed broadband services into trains via a satellite link. Train companies could thus install hotspots on trains that could then transmit faster and more reliable broadband access to laptops and portable computers onboard. The transmitters could also potentially support VoIP phones.

Posted by Judith — 4:03 AM


Lucent moves on Mobilitec.

Source: Light Reading.

Lucent Technologies Inc. said on Tuesday it plans to acquire the mobile content company Mobilitec Inc. for an undisclosed cash amount.
San Mateo, Calif.-based Mobilitec sells content management software to wireless service providers, who in turn use the technology to sell mobile content like ring tones, games, music and videos to subscribers.
Lucent says it plans to integrate the Mobilitec technology as an applications server component in its IMS and 3G wireless product portfolios. Lucent plans to use the platform to push content to both mobile and wireline broadband subscribers.

Posted by Judith — 4:01 AM


Apple targets TV and film market.

Source: BBC.

Computer firm Apple has announced plans it hopes will put it at the heart of consumers’ home entertainment systems.
The company has unveiled a device which will stream music and video wirelessly between televisions and computers.
The plug-in hardware is due to be released early next year and has been given the temporary name of iTV.

Posted by Judith — 3:58 AM


Smart Telecom’s well runs dry.

Source: TeleGeography.com.

Irish alternative operator Smart Telecom has confirmed that it has run out of money, and its future contingent on it finding funding from a major shareholder.
Smart Telecom told shareholders at the meeting that the numbers of residential broadband users by this date were well below expectations of around 32,000 - a fact it has blamed on eircom, for the slow pace of LLU. To compound the altnet’s problems, Smart is still awaiting the outcome of its bid to secure the country’s fourth 3G licence. It was originally awarded the licence by the regulator ComReg, but the watchdog later revoked the concession following a dispute over the telco’s performance bonds. The case has been referred to the courts and a decision is expected next month.

Posted by Judith — 3:42 AM


Nokia signs EUR2bn. deal with China.

Source: Telecoms.com.

The world’s leading mobile phone manufacturer, Nokia, on Tuesday signed agreements with its customers China Mobile and PTAC in a deal worth more than EUR2bn. for the full year 2006.
The agreement with China Mobile relates to the purchase of GSM/GPRS network equipment from Nokia worth around EUR580m. The agreement with the Chinese national mobile phone distributor PTAC relates to the purchase of mobile devices from Nokia worth at least EUR1.5bn.

Posted by Judith — 3:40 AM

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

T-Mobile and EMI trial free video service.

Source: Telecoms.com.

Mobile operator T-Mobile has partnered with EMI to trial an advertising supported mobile video service for UK customers.
The trials will give selected customers access to free video content embedded with television-style advertising.
The pair will offer news, entertainment and sports, according to a statement.

Posted by Judith — 4:25 AM


Euro debut for iTunes challenger.

Source: BBC.

The world’s biggest online retailer of independent music has opened a European store offering unrestricted downloads.
EMusic is the second most successful download site in the US after Apple’s iTunes Music Store, and will sell tracks from 8,500 independent labels.
The subscription-based site will offer MP3 recordings that work on all digital music players, including Apple’s iPod.

Posted by Judith — 4:20 AM


Intel hands off to Cortina.

Source: Light Reading.

Intel Corp. has made the long-awaited move to shed some of its communications business.
Privately held Cortina Systems Inc. , which has dabbled in various types of Ethernet and Sonet chips, purchased part of the Intel optical networking business for US$115m. in a deal that closed on Friday.
Cortina will pick up Intel facilities in Folsom, Calif.; Raleigh, N.C.; and Asia.

Posted by Judith — 4:19 AM


Telecom giants diverge on best way to converge.

Source: Independent.

Two of the European telecoms sector’s biggest hitters have unveiled radical plans to tap growth from so-called “converged” services outside the mobile sector.
Telecom Italia is set to follow BT’s lead by splitting its mobile operations from its fixed-line network to carve a strong position in the media sector. Meanwhile Vodafone, the darling of the mobile industry during the 1990s, has linked arms with BT to target fixed-line and broadband growth.
The plans will cause many observers to reassess what the overused industry term convergence actually means. Vodafone has made clear its intention to target broadband access as an area in which it can flex its muscles since the start of the year but Telecom Italia’s U-turn has rocked the market.

Posted by Judith — 4:05 AM

Monday, September 11, 2006

Sprint-Cable Group leads in Wireless bids.

Source: Light Reading.

A coalition of four top cable operators and Sprint Nextel Corp. appears close to capturing a hefty chunk of public wireless spectrum for cellular phone, fixed and mobile broadband, and other advanced services.
Known as SpectrumCo LLC, the Sprint/MSO consortium - which encompasses Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. Cox Communications Inc., and Bright House Networks - has placed the leading bids for 137 metro market licenses through the first 97 rounds of the federal government’s ongoing AWS auction. The lineup of markets includes most of the nation’s biggest urban areas, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington/Baltimore, Atlanta, Detroit, Miami, Dallas/Fort Worth, and San Francisco/Oakland.

Posted by Judith — 4:55 AM


Vodafone to enter fixed-line broadband market.

Source: Reuters.

Mobile phone operator Vodafone Group Plc confirmed on Monday its plan to enter the cut-throat fixed-line broadband Internet market via a deal with the wholesale arm of telecoms firm BT Group Plc.
Vodafone, which said in May it planned to enter adjacent telecoms markets such as broadband Internet, said it expected to launch the new Vodafone-branded service by the end of this year.

Posted by Judith — 4:50 AM


Nokia, Motorola to cooperate on mobile TV.

Source: Reuters.

The world’s top mobile phone maker Nokia said on Monday it will cooperate with Motorola on mobile television interoperability and expects more than 50 million DVB-H devices to be sold globally by 2010.
The goal is to achieve interoperability among the companies’ DVB-H (digital video broadcast - handheld) enabled mobile devices and network services.

Posted by Judith — 4:49 AM


Telus earmarks US$790m. for broadband development.

Source: TeleGeography.

Canada’s Telus Corp has released plans to invest nearly US$800m. over the next three years to expand its broadband network and launch a wide range of new services, including high-definition digital television. It has earmarked US$190m. in 2006 for network upgrades in 38 communities in British Columbia, Alberta and eastern Quebec, and announced on Friday a US$600m. spending plan taking it up to 2009.

Posted by Judith — 4:45 AM


Nokia to offer free WiFi in New York.

Source: BWCS.

Finnish manufacturer Nokia is to provide free WiFi hotspots in New York City parks as a way of drawing attention to its new flagship store in downtown NY. The move comes as the Finns gear up to take on Apple, which has large retail outlet only yards away from the new Nokia shop.
The mobile handset and equipment supplier said that it has partnered with local network company WiFi Salon, to provide free WiFi access in ten municipal parks across the Big Apple. These include Central Park, Battery Park, Corona and Flushing Meadows.

Posted by Judith — 4:41 AM


Carlyle and Apax circle Telecom Italia arm.

Source: TimesOnline.

Carlyle and Apax Partners, the private equity firms, are circling TIM, the €35bn. (£24bn.) mobile arm of Telecom Italia, which will be put up for sale today in a surprise move by the Italian communications giant.
Telecom Italia will announce at a special board meeting today that it is to overhaul the entire group, splitting its mobile, fixed-line and infrastructure businesses into three separate businesses.

Posted by Judith — 4:13 AM


2.5bn. mobile connections worldwide.

Source: Telecoms.com.

There are now more than 2.5bn. active mobile connections around the world according to estimates from Wireless Intelligence.
The analyst firm says 10 countries are largely responsible for the surge in numbers that has seen 500m. additions to the 2bn. subscribers recorded in 2005. They include China, India, Russia, America, Pakistan, Ukraine, Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria and Bangladesh.

Posted by Judith — 3:59 AM


Mobile advertising worth US$11.35bn. by 2011.

Source: Telecoms.com.

Spending on mobile advertising is about to take a sharp upturn, according to a report by Telecoms and Media.
In its latest study the analyst predicts that worldwide spend on mobile advertising will be worth US$11.35bn. (£6.05bn.) within five years. The report suggests that consumers will learn to live with adverts on their phones, lured by the offer of free content.

Posted by Judith — 3:54 AM

Saturday, September 9, 2006

Vivendi challenges DT’s acquisition of PTC.

Source: DMeurope.com.

Vivendi ‘strongly challenges’ German telco Deutsche Telekom’s acquisition of a 48 per cent stake in Polish mobile operator Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa (PTC), saying that the acquisition is in violation of Polish court rulings.

Posted by Judith — 4:20 AM


Alltel to sell operations in rural Minnesota as part of Midwest purchase.

Source: RCR Wireless

The Justice Department said Alltel Corp. agreed to sell wireless assets in several rural Minnesota markets as a condition to antitrust approval of its US$1bn purchase of regional operator Midwest Wireless.
“The department’s action ensures that wireless telephone consumers will continue to obtain the benefits of competition—lower prices and higher quality,” said Thomas Barnett, chief of the department’s antitrust division. “The required divestitures preserve competition in rural areas where consumers often have fewer choices for wireless telephone services.”

Posted by Judith — 4:16 AM


Neuf Cegetel to float on Euronext.

Source: FT.com.

The owners of Neuf Cegetel, the French telecoms operator, plan to sell about 20 per cent of the company through an initial public offering scheduled for this autumn.
The nine-year-old company, which sells broadband internet access as well as fixed and mobile telephone services, on Friday released a “document de base” in a preliminary step before a planned flotation on Euronext.
Neuf Cegetel is currently 41 per cent owned by SFR, the number two mobile telephone operator in France, which is in turn owned by France’s Vivendi and Britain’s Vodafone.

Posted by Judith — 3:59 AM


VOIP wholesaler iBasis ups ante for call quality.

Source: eWEEK.com

Wholesale voice-over-IP carrier iBasis on Sept. 11 will do its part to improve the quality of consumers’ international VOIP calls when it introduces its new DirectVoIP Transcoding capability at the VON conference in Boston.
iBasis, the fast growing VOIP network wholesaler to carriers such as AT&T, Skype, Verizon and Yahoo Broadband, introduced into its network the ability to perform real-time media translation for codecs that are incompatible.

Posted by Judith — 3:29 AM


Kenya aims for own internet cable.

Source: BBC News.

Kenya has said it will seek funding to finance its own undersea internet cable after an African joint venture was delayed by disagreements.
The fibre optic cable, expected to cost US$110mn, would run from Mombasa to Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman.
The president’s office said the cable would also serve other countries in East Africa and the Horn of Africa.
Officials said Kenya was keen to market itself as a centre for business outsourcing, as India has done.

Posted by Judith — 3:08 AM

Friday, September 8, 2006

Verizon asks FCC to undo unbundling.

Source: Light Reading.

Verizon Communications Inc. late on Wednesday asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to excuse it from sharing its DS1 and DS3 loop and transport facilities with competing voice providers, especially cable companies.
Verizon wants relief from its “dominant carrier” responsibilities in six major metro areas. These include Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Virginia Beach, and Providence, R.I.
Verizon says it’s facing “facilities-based” competition from cable, wireless, “over-the-top VOIP,” and wholesale voice providers.

Posted by Judith — 6:02 AM


Pipex in £12m Cable and Wireless deal.

Source: Telecoms.com.

The UK’s Pipex Group has paid £12mn (US$22.5mn) to boost its broadband customer base, by buying 118,000 residential and small business customers from Cable and Wireless’ Bulldog arm.
Separately, Pipex has signed up to use Cable and Wireless’ unbundled local loop (LLU) access network, which will cover 800 exchanges. Pipex uses a hybrid network - a mixture of its own Local Loop Unbundling footprint and wholesale.

Posted by Judith — 5:54 AM


Investors say oui to Alcatel/Lucent.

Source: Light Reading.

Alcatel and Lucent Technologies Inc. investors have voted in favor of the duo’s merger at their respective meetings in Paris and Wilmington, Del.
About one hour after the meeting began, and only a matter of minutes after voting closed, Lucent told its investors that votes representing about 2.3 billion, or 51.97 percent, of outstanding shares have voted in favor of the transatlantic marriage.
Lucent needed only a majority in favor of the deal to have the merger resolution passed.
Then, just minutes later, Alcatel’s shareholders voted in favor of all the necessary resolutions in Paris.

Posted by Judith — 5:17 AM


UK outfit offers mobile Voip hook-up.

Source: The Register.

UK-based ROK Mobile Communications has developed a VoIP application that uses your mobile telephone like a Bluetooth headset to connect to the company’s network.
Once downloaded onto a Windows computer, the ROK Viper client also installs onto a compatible phone handset and, when run, copies the contact list from the phone to display it on the PC screen. It also displays presence information, indicating if that contact is currently logged onto the ROK network. Clicking on the name dials the contact, with the call being routed over Bluetooth to the handset.

Posted by Judith — 5:09 AM


Advice to court hits mobile operators.

Source: TimesOnline.

Britain’s leading mobile operators were dealt a blow yesterday after Europe’s highest court was advised that they should not be able to claw back £3.3 billion of tax rebates on third-generation mobile phone licences.
In a boost for the British Government, an advocate- general to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) advised that Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, O2 and Hutchison, the owner of 3, should not be allowed to recover VAT on the £22.5 billion they spent on licences at the height of the dot-com boom.

Posted by Judith — 4:44 AM


Major TV broadcasters go mobile.

Source: BBC News.

BBC One, ITV1 and Channel 4 are to be broadcast to mobile phones as part of a mobile TV service launched by BT.
BT Movio will offer BBC One, ITV1 and E4 live - but with some films, sport and US shows removed from the line-ups.
Channel 4 will broadcast a slimmed-down version of its schedule at first. BT Movio will initially be available through Virgin Mobile from 1 October.
The service will be the first to be broadcast via the DAB digital radio network instead of the 3G phone system.

Posted by Judith — 4:29 AM

Thursday, September 7, 2006

Ericsson wins Taiwan 3G order.

Source: Reuters.

Ericsson said on Thursday it had won a contract from Taiwan’s FarEasTone to upgrade its 3G network and provide technology for multimedia offerings such as music and video on phones.

Posted by Judith — 6:04 AM


Carriers inspect IPTV more closely.

Source: Light Reading.

In part because of the continuing popularity of peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, telcos are looking closely at deep packet inspection (DPI) technology to help give video packets priority in their networks.
That’s one of the findings of a new Light Reading Insider report called Deep Packet Inspection: Taming the P2P Traffic Beast.
The report points out, employing various studies, that the P2P file sharing phenomenon is not going away — both the legal and the illegal kind. Some of the studies cited say P2P traffic still eats up more than 60 percent of bandwidth capacity in access networks.
So carriers are taking an interest in DPI, which looks deep into packets and can differentiate between a P2P packet and a video packet.

Posted by Judith — 5:07 AM


Telecom tax restrictions seen hurting local govts.

Source: Reuters.

U.S. state and local governments could lose $8 billion a year in revenue if Congress further restricts their ability to tax telecommunications services, the National League of Cities said on Wednesday.

Posted by Judith — 5:05 AM


Lanka Bell reaches CDMA target nearly two years ahead of schedule.

Source: TeleGeography.

Sri Lankan WiLL operator Lanka Bell sold its 225,000th CDMA line earlier this week, 21 months ahead of the three-year deadline set by the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.

Posted by Judith — 4:16 AM


Cloud considers T-Mobile complaint.

Source: Independent Online.

The wi-fi operator The Cloud may lodge a formal complaint with the German regulator against T-Mobile, the mobile telecoms division of Deutsche Telekom. The two companies compete in the mobile broadband market and the fast-growing British company believes T-Mobile is using its economic muscle to stifle competition.

Posted by Judith — 3:26 AM

Wednesday, September 6, 2006

BT to move Cardiff into the 21st century from November, rest of UK to follow in January 2008.

Source: TeleGeography.

UK fixed line incumbent BT Group has confirmed that Cardiff, Wales will be the first city to have its PSTN upgraded to an all-IP network, with commercial services to be rolled out across the city in phases from November. The company’s 21st century network (21CN) programme aims to deliver a suite of services including high speed internet access, TV-style broadcasting, VoIP, and handsets that work on fixed and mobile networks, anywhere, on any device, and all at broadband speed, in what is being hailed as an ambitious attempt to set a new ‘de facto world standard’.

Posted by Judith — 6:00 AM


Silicon Valley to receive free Wi-Fi

Source: NYT.

A consortium of technology companies, including I.B.M. and Cisco Systems, announced plans Tuesday for a vast wireless network that would provide free Internet access to big portions of Silicon Valley and the surrounding region as early as next year.
The project is the largest of a new breed of wireless networks being built across the country. They are taking advantage of the falling cost of providing high-speed Internet access over radio waves as opposed to cable or telephone lines.
The project will cover 1,500 square miles in 38 cities in San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda and Santa Cruz Counties, an area of 2.4 million residents.

Posted by Judith — 5:53 AM


China to usurp US as biggest broadband market.

Source: Telecoms.com.

In less than twelve months, China will overtake the US to become the world’s biggest broadband market, According to analyst firm Ovum.
Compared with slow growth in the fixed telephony market, China’s broadband market has taken off dramatically since 2002. After experiencing considerable annual subscriber growth of 71 per cent and 114 per cent in 2003 and 2004 respectively.
China’s broadband sector maintained its strong momentum in 2005, at a growth rate of 57 per cent, adding another 14 million subscribers.

Posted by Judith — 5:09 AM


Four for two in Romania.

Source: BWCS

The remaining 3G licences in Romania have attracted four bidders, twice the number of licences on offer. According to reports in the local press, the four companies lining up to buy the franchises are: Cosmote, Telemobil, the National Radio-communications Group (SNR) and the RCS&RDS Group.

Posted by Judith — 4:35 AM


Vodacom Tanzania awards backhaul contract to Cambridge Broadband.

Source: TeleGeography.

Mobile operator Vodacom Tanzania has awarded Cambridge Broadband a radio transmission equipment contract to backhaul traffic from both mobile and data networks, including GSM, 3G and WiMAX sites. The UK-based vendor has already begun deploying its VectaStar wireless transmission equipment for Vodacom, with commercial operations scheduled to begin before the end of 2006.

Posted by Judith — 4:01 AM

Tuesday, September 5, 2006

LLU taking off, but lift off slower than hoped.

Source: The Register.

The UK now has 735,000 unbundled phone lines in BT’s local exchanges, but “planned quality levels” have not been met for Business As Usual lines (individual lines rather than bulk migrations), according to the Office of the Telecoms Adjudicator’s monthly report.
More worryingly, the delivery of backhaul in exchanges has deteriorated recently - so all those super-fast ADSL connections may find themselves with a super-fast connection to the shack at the end of their road with the exchange in it, and no further.

Posted by Judith — 5:32 AM


India’s Spice plans US$300mn IPO.

Source: Light Reading.

Indian mobile operator Spice Telecom is looking at a $300 million IPO before the year is out, as part of a $2 billion expansion plan.
Spice is one of several regional carriers looking to build a national network to tap into the country’s rapid mobile subscriber growth, and is awaiting approval from India’s Department of Telecom for its license applications.

Posted by Judith — 4:08 AM

Monday, September 4, 2006

T-Mobile shells out US$4.2bn on radio frequency licenses.

Source: InformationWeek.

T-Mobile spent US$4.2bn bidding on wireless spectrum the past three weeks to expand the geography of its cellular network as it tries to climb up from the No. 4 rung on the U.S. wireless carrier ladder. Though the FCC set up the spectrum auction—one of its largest in 12 years—to give advantages to smaller telecom companies, the big vendors still dominated, filling holes in their national coverage.
T-Mobile bought 116 radio frequency spectrum licenses in the first 18 days of bidding, as it tries to catch up to Cingular, Sprint Nextel, and Verizon Wireless in terms of coverage.

Posted by Judith — 6:27 AM


Analysts: Alcatel got a bargain.

Source: Light Reading.

Alcatel appears to have struck itself a bargain in paying just US$320mn for Nortel Networks Ltd. UMTS access business.
Analysts following the deal in the past month or so had valued Nortel’s assets much higher. Inder Singh at Prudential Equity Group LLC said in a research note issued today that the agreed US$320mn price tag puts the sale at between 1.5 and 1.6 times 2005 sales but had expected Nortel to achieve “up to US$500mn” for the business.

Posted by Judith — 5:47 AM


Hello? Oh hi darling, I’m on the ship.

Source: FT.com.

Taking a cruise used to be one of the few ways for travellers to “get away from it all”, blissfully out of telephonic reach - except in an emergency - until the ship docked in port. Not so today.
Cingular Wireless, the biggest US mobile carrier, is busy wiring many of the world’s biggest cruise ships with the equipment needed to make and receive mobile phone calls, send text messages or check e-mail using passengers’ own handsets.

Posted by Judith — 4:24 AM

Friday, September 1, 2006

Few calls for EU telecoms regulator.

Source: TimesOnline.

The prospect of a pan-European telecoms regulator receded last night after research commissioned by Brussels itself condemned the idea.
A study conducted for the European Commission by Analysys, a telecoms consultancy, found that most companies were opposed to a transnational regulator.
The research, which will put pressure on the Commission to scrap the proposal, found that a super-regulator would be too distanced from the markets it regulated to understand the specific issues in each country.

Posted by Judith — 4:42 AM


Vodafone to challenge rivals with new tariff.

Source: Independent Online.

Vodafone will launch a flexible tariff structure today aimed at fighting back in the competitive UK market. The mobile phone giant will back the new price plans with a marketing campaign worth more than £10mn (US$19mn) to compete with aggressive competition from its rivals.

Posted by Judith — 3:51 AM


Mobile number portability to begin 24 October; operators set fees.

Source: TeleGeography.

Vodafone KK has announced that it will charge its customers JPY2,100 (USD18) to cancel their contracts when transferring their phone number to a different cellco after mobile number portability begins on 24 October. The declaration comes after rival operators NTT DoCoMo and KDDI also set their cancellation fee at JPY2,100.

In separate but related news, Vodafone KK will legally change its name to Softbank Mobile Corp on 1 October, but will retain the Vodafone brand name.

Posted by Judith — 2:58 AM


Telenor completes Mobi 063 acquisition.

Source: TeleGeography.

Telenor has formally taken over Serbian cellco Mobi 063 after making the EUR1.5bn (US$1.9bn) payment to the government.

Posted by Judith — 2:46 AM

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