Press Clippings: February 2008
Major Industry items you might have missed
Friday, February 29, 2008
BT expands operations in Austria.
Source: BT plc.
Following the official opening of its Austrian headquarters in Vienna, BT has launched the direct distribution of its products and services in the Austrian market. BT’s focus is on multinational companies with extensive requirements for their communications infrastructure and IT systems.
Posted by Judith — 10:56 AM
Ofcom set to ban ‘unfair’ charges.
Source: BBC.
UK telecom and internet firms will soon have to stop levying extra charges that the regulator Ofcom says are unfair.
The regulator is responding to complaints about additional charges for paying bills by cheque or cash, ending contracts early or paying bills late.
Posted by Judith — 10:28 AM
NZ Telecom Corp’s separation plans need more work.
Source: TeleGeography.
The New Zealand government has stated that Telecom Corp must provide a revised separation plan by 25 March 2008. In October the company announced a NZ$1.4bn. (US$1.1bn.) plan to split into separate wholesale, retail and network divisions, but this has been rejected for not going far enough. The company must proceed with local loop unbundling, set a clear limit on group based incentives for wholesale customers and clarify some additional technical issues before approval could be given.
Posted by Judith — 10:20 AM
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Nortel cuts 2,100 jobs.
Source: Telecoms.com.
Canadian kit vendor Nortel Networks is to cut a further 2,100 jobs as its fourth quarter loss increased.
The company said it will also move approximately 1,000 other jobs to higher growth and lower cost geographies.
Posted by Judith — 5:05 AM
Round one to Nokia in Qualcomm battle.
Source: BWCS.
The legal battle between handset maker Nokia and US chip maker Qualcomm Inc, took a new twist yesterday when a US trade panel upheld a ruling in the Finnish giant’s favour.
Posted by Judith — 3:30 AM
EU clears way for Acer-Packard Bell deal.
Source: NYT.
The EC has given the go-ahead for the takeover of Dutch computer maker Packard Bell by Acer of Taiwan, after a one-month examination of the deal.
The move is seen as defensive, to prevent Chinese computer maker Lenovo from buying Packard Bell to gain a foothold in the European market. Acer commands a strong position in Europe, especially in the laptop market.
Posted by Judith — 3:04 AM
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
EU fines Microsoft record US$1.35bn.
Source: Reuters.
The European Commission has fined Microsoft a record EUR899m. (US$1.35bn.) for defying sanctions imposed on the software giant for antitrust violations, far exceeding the original penalty.
The Commission, executive arm of the European Union, has now fined Microsoft EUR1.68bn. (US$2.49bn.) for its original violation and for failing to comply with sanctions.
Posted by Judith — 5:22 AM
N.Y. Attorney General subpoenas Comcast on broadband.
Source: NYT.
The New York attorney general’s office has requested information from Comcast Corp. on the company’s handling of Internet traffic.
Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company, is the subject of several complaints to the FCC and has been sued by customers over its throttling of file-sharing traffic on its cable-modem service.
Posted by Judith — 3:33 AM
O2 UK in trouble over 3G rollout.
Source: Telecoms.com.
UK communications regulator Ofcom has issued O2 UK with a warning after the mobile operator was found to be behind in its obligations to roll out 3G.
Ofcom said it has issued O2 with a notice under the procedure in the Wireless Telegraphy Act for licence breaches, after O2 failed to enable the provision of 3G services to at least 80% of the population by the end of December.
The other four 3G licensees have complied, but O2 only covered 75.69% of the population - a shortfall equivalent to approximately 2.5m. people.
Posted by Judith — 3:15 AM
Japan launches experimental internet satellite.
Source: Telecoms.com.
An experimental satellite launched by Japan at the weekend has reached orbit and is preparing to embark upon trials to deliver broadband internet connectivity to the most remote parts of Asia.
Posted by Judith — 3:14 AM
Row over “refarming” re-opens.
Source: BWCS.
Arcep, the French telecoms regulator has reportedly granted permission for mobile operators Orange and FSR to re-use GSM 900MHz frequencies for their UMTS services. The move follows a controversial plan recently aired by Ofcom in the UK to effectively take back some of the 900MHz spectrum in the UK from mobile operators and re-auction it for UMTS use.
Posted by Judith — 3:06 AM
Andrew wins Beijing Metro wireless deal.
Source: BWCS.
Beijing Metro has awarded Andrew Wireless Solutions the contract to supply and install wireless networking systems along six rail lines in and around the Chinese capital. The move follows several other deals that the US-owned company has signed in mainland China where it has is involved in nearly 30 metro rail projects in Shanghai, Guangzhou and other major Chinese cities.
Posted by Judith — 3:00 AM
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Ofcom awards ten new licences.
Source: BWCS.
The UK telecoms and broadcast watchdog Ofcom has awarded licences to ten different organisations to operate wireless services in the frequency bands of 10 GHz to 40 GHz. The licences, which were awarded following the fourth auction of UK radio spectrum, will allow the companies to offer high-capacity wireless services.
The winning bidders were: Arqiva, BT, Digiweb, Faultbasic, MLL, Orange, Red-M, T-Mobile, Transfinite and UK Broadband.
Posted by Judith — 4:48 AM
Siemens to cut 40% of jobs at SEN telecoms unit.
Source: Globe and Mail.
Siemens has announced that it will cut 6,800 jobs at its corporate telecoms unit — two-fifths of the unit’s work force — to reshape the business into a software provider as it seeks to divest the division.
The German industrial conglomerate said in a statement it planned to cut 3,800 jobs worldwide, including 2,000 in Germany. It also expects to reduce staff by another 3,000, including 1,200 in Germany, through outsourcing and partnerships.
Siemens said the job cuts are intended to accelerate the company’s transformation from a hardware supplier to a software and solutions provider to fit changed market conditions.
Posted by Judith — 4:43 AM
New Japanese contender ready to shake up market.
Source: BWCS.
KDDI founder, Sachio Semmoto, has announced his latest venture with the coming launch of a new mobile service, Emobile, in Japan. The company is set to be the first new entrant in the already saturated Japanese mobile market for many years. Emobile has the backing of Goldman Sachs and Temasek.
Posted by Judith — 3:51 AM
Google, SingTel and others to build submarine cable.
Source: Reuters.
Google has agreed to build an undersea cable with five telecoms operators that will link the United States to Japan, and provide the capacity to sustain a surge in Internet traffic between the continents.
Google’s partners in the consortium, dubbed Unity, comprises Bharti Airtel, Global Transit, KDDI Corp, Pacnet, and Singapore Telecommunications.
Posted by Judith — 2:32 AM
Monday, February 25, 2008
Vodacom (SA) plans ZAR2.5bn. move into business market.
Source: TeleGeography.
South Africa’s largest cellular operator by subscribers, Vodacom, has announced plans to invest ZAR2.5bn. (US$323.5m.) to expand its fixed line operations via the creation of a new unit which will target corporate customers.
Vodacom is a joint venture between Vodafone of the UK and South Africa’s dominant wireline operator,Telkom.
Posted by Judith — 5:54 AM
Japan’s eAccess plans new move in cellphone war.
Source: Reuters.
Japan’s eAccess Ltd aims to quadruple its wireless services subscribers over the next year with its mobile phones, as growth slows in its ADSL broadband business.
Granted a new wireless license in 2005, eAccess plans to eliminate monthly basic fees on its first mobile phones as it eyes revenue from Internet surfing and downloads on the move.
Posted by Judith — 4:39 AM
Motorola acquires digital cable set-top box manufacturer in China.
Source: Converge.
Motorola has acquired the assets related to digital cable set-top products of Zhejiang Dahua Digital Technology and Hangzhou Image Silicon (collectively, Dahua Digital).
Dahua Digital is a privately held, developer, manufacturer, and marketer of cable set-tops and related low cost integrated circuits for the emerging Chinese cable business.
Posted by Judith — 3:36 AM
Saturday, February 23, 2008
BlackBerry rebranding aims to shed image of City banker’s tool.
Source: TimesOnline.
The manufacturers of the BlackBerry are seeking to shed its reputation as the tool of the City banker and remodel it as a mass-market mobile after a tie-up with Vodafone.
Analysts hailed the move by RIM to work with Vodafone on “broader adoption in the consumer segment”, as a significant shift in strategy.
Posted by Judith — 5:07 AM
U.S. Telecom growth seen as slower than global industry.
Source: NYT.
The Telecommunications Industry Association has announced that the U.S. telecommunications industry will grow at a slower rate than the global industry in the coming years as the wireless and wired markets mature.
According to a study commissioned by the TIA, the U.S. telecom industry will grow at an average annual rate of 7.2 % in the period 2008-2011, reaching US$1.3tn. in 2011, compared with an average rate of 10%, reaching US$3.6tn, for the rest of the world.
Posted by Judith — 4:06 AM
Friday, February 22, 2008
Microsoft opens key software details to rivals.
Source: Reuters.
Microsoft, faced with regulatory concerns in Europe and customers struggling with complex computer systems, has announced that it will publish critical information so rival programs can work better with Windows, Office and other major products.
Posted by Judith — 5:39 AM
Britain threatens legislation over Internet piracy.
Source: Reuters.
The British government will impose legislation on ISPs by April 2009 if they do not work with the music and film industries to curb illegal downloading.
The government released a strategy paper to address the problem of illegal file sharing after the two sides failed to come to a voluntary agreement over how best to tackle the issue.
Posted by Judith — 4:13 AM
T-Mobile to trial landline service.
Source: NYT.
Cell-phone carrier T-Mobile USA is going to try its hand at being a landline phone company. It is about to start offering wired phone service to its wireless subscribers in the Seattle and Dallas-Fort Worth areas.
The service will provide unlimited local and domestic long distance calls. It will piggyback on the customer’s high-speed Internet connection, in much the same way VoIP providers sell phone service.
Posted by Judith — 4:01 AM
Chinese restructure to be confirmed next month.
Source: TeleGeography.
Chinese state controlled radio has announced that the government will confirm plans to halve the number of mainland telecoms players from six to three before the National People’s Congress meeting in March.
Posted by Judith — 3:35 AM
Thursday, February 21, 2008
3Com takeover in limbo.
Source: Light Reading.
3Com Corp. saw its share price dive by nearly 20% after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) failed to rubber stamp the vendor’s acquisition by Bain Capital and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.
3Com, Bain, and Huawei issued a statement noting that their joint filing to the CFIUS, which scrutinizes mergers and acquisitions that involve U.S firms and overseas companies, had been withdrawn.
Posted by Judith — 4:58 AM
French firms form home networking venture.
Source: Telecoms.com.
FT’s mobile division, Orange, has joined forces with French manufacturers Thomson and Sagem to create a joint venture, which will focus on facilitating the interoperability of digital equipment in the home.
The Soft At Home venture will develop new features and applications in the home networking arena and will coordinate a network of developers.
Posted by Judith — 4:43 AM
Yipes becomes Reliance Globalcom.
Source: TeleGeography.
Yipes Enterprise services, a US-based Ethernet services company, which was acquired by India’s Reliance Communications last December, will become Reliance Globalcom. The name change is part of the strategy to consolidate the global communications businesses of Reliance Communications into a single business group.
Posted by Judith — 4:31 AM
O2 ousts Vodafone UK.
Source: Telecoms.com.
UK mobile operator O2 has announced that it has ousted rival Vodafone, from what it calls a “coveted” corporate contract with Network Rail, which owns and operates Britain’s rail infrastructure.
The deal, which is O2’s largest corporate customer win, will see the Telefonica-owned carrier providing voice, BlackBerry and other mobile data services on the UK rail network.
Posted by Judith — 4:14 AM
Weather balloons can lift rural broadband service to a new level.
Source: TimesOnline.
Weather balloons hovering at the outer limits of the Earth’s atmosphere could be used to provide mobile phone and broadband services to rural Britain.
Space Data, an American company, has enjoyed early success with a revolutionary service in which it attaches small phone masts to balloons to provide remote and rural areas with wireless internet access.
Posted by Judith — 4:09 AM
Jazztel confirms MVNO agreement.
Source: TeleGeography.
Spanish telco Jazztel has confirmed that it has finalised an agreement with France Telecom Espana (Orange) to launch its own MVNO over Orange’s network.
Posted by Judith — 3:03 AM
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
AT&T and T-Mobile join flat-rate war.
Source: TeleGeography.
AT&T and T-Mobile USA have joined Verizon Wireless in introducing flat-rate unlimited calling plans for cellular subscribers. The three companies, which between them account for more than 65% of all wireless customers in the US, are planning to go head-to-head with smaller firms such as Leap Wireless and MetroPCS which have been using the flat-rate business model for some time.
The deals are also likely to bring increased competition for the country’s wireline operators, with more customers being tempted to cut their landline usage or close their accounts altogether
Posted by Judith — 7:32 AM
C&W receives Indian DLD, ILD licences.
Source: TeleGeography.
India’s Department of Telecommunications has awarded licences for domestic and international long-distance telephony to UK-owned Cable & Wireless, which applied for the concessions last August. Cable & Wireless Networks India, a joint venture of C&W and India’s TTK Group, plans to roll out an NGN to directly provide corporate customers in India with managed IP services.
Posted by Judith — 5:34 AM
Vodafone, Orange step up site sharing initiative.
Source: Telecoms.com.
UK operators Orange and Vodafone have revealed the next steps in the network sharing partnership announced this time last year.
The first stage of implementation will see Orange UK and Vodafone UK share existing 2G and 3G mast sites, with one site housing the equipment of both companies.
The two will not actually share any infrastructure, even though the original deal was to share their 3G Radio Access Networks.
Posted by Judith — 5:10 AM
Zayo doubles fiber assets.
Source: Light Reading.
Zayo Bandwidth Inc. has just announced the acquisition of Citynet Fiber Network (CFN), for an undisclosed sum.
CFN’s network has 8,500 route miles of fiber in 10 states. The acquisition now doubles Zayo’s network to over 17,000 route miles including 1,400 on-net buildings in 12 states.
Posted by Judith — 3:24 AM
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
BlackBerry maker and Motorola duel in lawsuits.
Source: Reuters.
BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion and rival Motorola have sued each other over what they say are patent infringements for technology used in their mobile phones.
RIM alleges that Motorola is infringing on the Canadian company’s patents and demanding “exorbitant” licensing fees.
At the same time, Motorola is refusing to acknowledge or pay royalties for certain patents held by RIM.
Posted by Judith — 3:44 AM
Sitronics acquires additional stake in Kvazar-Micro.
Source: Digital Media Europe.
Russian telecoms operator Sitronics has started the process of consolidation of a 100% stake in Kvazar-Micro Corporation.
Founded in 1990, Kvazar-Micro is Sitronics’ information technology solutions division. Sitronics currently owns a 51% stake in Kvazar-Micro.
Posted by Judith — 3:28 AM
Intel may invest to seal Sprint-Clearwire deal.
Source: TeleGeography.
Reports from the US suggest that chip manufacturer Intel is set to invest up to US$2bn. to help resurrect a WiMAX joint venture between Sprint Nextel and Clearwire. The two firms announced a partnership to share their WiMAX networks in July last year, but only a few months later the deal was called off when they realised that the financial costs of setting up the venture would outweigh the likely benefits.
Posted by Judith — 3:14 AM
Monday, February 18, 2008
Ericsson to quit enterprise PBX space.
Source: Telecoms.com.
Swedish vendor Ericsson has announced that it is to offload its enterprise PBX division to Canadian enterprise communications specialist Aastra for SEK650m.(US$102m).
The sale, which is expected to close in April this year, will involve the transfer of some 630 staff to Aastra, half of which are based in Sweden.
Posted by Judith — 4:55 AM
Unlocked iPhones flood China.
Source: BWCS.
China Mobile has reported recently, that at the end of last year, it estimates it had some 0.4m. customers connecting to its networks using iPhones and not a single one of these was locked to its network.
The figure equates to 10% of the global market for the phones and helps to explain the disparity between the figures released by western operators for the number of new iPhone subscribers they have and the total number of handsets that Apple says it has shipped.
Posted by Judith — 4:18 AM
Zain scheme to take over Iraq.
Source: BWCS.
Kuwaiti telecoms company Zain has said it plans to coverage to the whole of Iraq by the end of this year. The announcement follows its earlier purchase of the Iraqi unit of Egypt’s Orascom Telecom. Since then Zain has been steadily building up its network coverage in the country.
Posted by Judith — 4:15 AM
Friday, February 15, 2008
Motorola reports minority stake in Clearwire in SEC filing.
Source: TeleGeography.
Motorola has disclosed owning a 12.5% ‘passive’ stake in wireless internet access provider Clearwire Corp in a filing with the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission. It is reported that Motorola beneficially owns about 16.7m. Clearwire shares, representing a 12.5% stake in the firm.
Posted by Judith — 5:02 AM
Parts of UK to be freed from EU telecom regulations.
Source: TeleGeography.
EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media, Vivane Reding, has said that parts of the UK will be exempt from EU regulations on the telecoms market because of sufficiently high competition. The wholesale broadband market would be deregulated in parts of the UK covering around 65% of all homes and businesses.
Posted by Judith — 4:08 AM
AT&T targets India’s booming mobile sector.
Source: FT.com.
AT&T is targeting India as it seeks to expand its consumer mobile phone operations outside America for the first time since consolidating its grip on the domestic market.
AT&T has applied for a mobile licence in India in partnership with Mahindra Telecommunications, a local telecoms company, and the company is hoping to acquire spectrum for its wireless service.
Posted by Judith — 3:54 AM
Vodafone tries to break into homes.
Source: BWCS.
UK-based global mobile operator Vodafone has announced it will undertake technical trials of 3G home-based, femtocell, base stations. The company said it wants to see how effectively the technology can deliver high-speed wireless data and voice services inside homes and businesses.
The Vodafone announcement followed last week’s news that O2 is to conduct a similar set of femtocell trials in the UK.
Posted by Judith — 3:10 AM
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Yahoo! and News Corp explore tie-up.
Source: TimesOnline
News Corporation is in talks with Yahoo! over plans to merge their online assets in a move to fend off Microsoft’s US$45bn. (GBP23bn.) hostile takeover offer for the online search engine.
Talks between News Corp and Yahoo! have taken place over the past few days and are understood to be preliminary.
Any deal would include News Corp merging MySpace, the social networking business, and other online assets into Yahoo! and then taking a 20% stake in the group.
Posted by Judith — 4:30 AM
Orange and Nokia sign MoU on mobile VAS.
Source: TeleGeography.
France-based mobile operator Orange and Nokia of Finland have signed an MoU to partner on value added services (VAS) such as location-based services, maps, mobile advertising and gaming.The two firms have stated that they intend to follow the announcement with a strategic partnership by mid-2008. By combining Orange’s marketing, customer and service knowledge with Nokia’s manufacturing capabilities, the two companies hope to extend the way customers use their mobile handsets.
Posted by Judith — 4:20 AM
Google triggers handset battle over Gphone.
Source: TimesOnline.
Google has fired the starting gun in the race to produce what would undoubtedly be the most important mobile phone released this year.
The emergence of prototypes running the search giant’s new operating system for mobiles has laid down the gauntlet for the likes of Motorola and Samsung to make a handset on which the internet really works.
Posted by Judith — 3:46 AM
VSNL rebrands as Tata Communications.
Source: Light Reading.
India’s Tata Group plans to invest US$2bn. during the next three years in its newly combined Tata Communications Ltd. business, which includes global services giant VSNL.
It has pulled VSNL, VSNL International Pte. Ltd., Teleglobe, Tata Indicom Enterprise Business, and Cipris under one umbrella to take advantage of the Tata brand.
Posted by Judith — 3:27 AM
BT, Carphone and Virgin Media agree ad exchange.
Source: Reuters.
Three of Britain’s largest Internet Service Providers have signed up to use a new advertising platform that will give them a slice of the growing online targeted ad market.
BT, Virgin Media and Carphone Warehouse’s TalkTalk have signed up to use a system created by Phorm that connects advertisers, Web sites and the ISPs to produce more targeted advertising based on a user’s anonymous browsing trends.
Posted by Judith — 3:27 AM
T-Mobile USA to roll out 3G by the summer.
Source: TeleGeography.
T-Mobile USA has announced that it will launch commercial 3G services this summer. T-Mobile invested US$4.2bn. in 2006 to more than double its spectrum holding in the top 100 US cities in which it is active.
Posted by Judith — 3:17 AM
India unveils ‘people’s phone’ for GBP10.
Source: TimesOnline.
The mobile handset, developed by Spice, an Indian conglomerate, is angled at the lowest end of the market. This means that it has jettisoned all “non-essential” features — such as a screen.
Mobile phones priced at less than GBP20 account for about a fifth of the global market. However, with half the world’s population yet to make a phone call and developing markets becoming saturated, manufacturers see massive potential in budget phones.
Posted by Judith — 3:13 AM
Nokia, Qualcomm seek common ground in legal fights.
Source: Reuters.
Nokia and Qualcomm have agreed to look for ways in which a U.S. court in Delaware could solve some wider, international issues in the major legal battle between the two technology heavyweights.
The companies’ intention would be that the same interpretation would apply to Qualcomm products using Nokia patents and to Nokia products if they are deemed to use Qualcomm patents.
Posted by Judith — 2:57 AM
China Mobile to join LTE FDD/TDD trials with Verizon Wireless and Vodafone.
Source: Converge.
China Mobile is set to join LTE (Long Term Evolution) trials already being carried out by Vodafone and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone.
The three carriers said their trials are designed to explore the performance of LTE with different spectrum types as a potential next generation mobile technology.
Posted by Judith — 2:26 AM
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Senate passes spy bill, phone immunity.
Source: InformationWeek.
U.S. phone companies that took part in President Bush’s warrantless domestic spying program would receive retroactive immunity from lawsuits under a bill passed overwhelmingly by the Democratic-led Senate.
However, it was unclear if the Democratic-led House would also approve the measure to shield firms from potentially billions of dollars in civil damages.
About 40 civil lawsuits have been filed accusing AT&T, Verizon Communications and Sprint Nextel of violating Americans’ privacy rights in helping the government’s warrantless domestic spying program started shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Posted by Judith — 4:44 AM
T-Mobile dumps Google for Yahoo in Europe.
Source: Reuters.
Yahoo has ousted Google as T-Mobile’s top Internet partner in Europe as it unveiled a service to squeeze social Web connections on to cell phone screens.
The deal puts Yahoo on a strong footing with carriers in Europe, building on deals it has closed with operators in the Americas and Asia, as it seeks to make up in mobile the ground it has lost to Google in computer-based Web search.
Posted by Judith — 4:35 AM
EU regulators raid Intel offices.
Source: FT.com.
Competition regulators have raided the offices of Intel and top European electrical goods retailers, in a sign that the antitrust probe against the world’s largest chipmaker is expanding.
European Commission officials visited Intel’s Munich offices, as well as Europe’s biggest electronic chain, Media Markt, DSG International, operator of PC World, and French retailer PPR.
Posted by Judith — 4:18 AM
Yahoo acquires ad technology company.
Source: NYT.
Yahoo has announced that it has paid US$160m. to acquire Maven Networks, an Internet company that sells a system for managing advertisements in online videos.
Traditional media outlets like Fox News, CBS Sports, Hearst, The Financial Times and Gannett use Maven’s technology to show and distribute videos.
Yahoo, which is trying to position itself as a seller and distributor of all types of online ads, said the acquisition would help it sell and deliver video ads not only on its own site but on other sites across the Web.
Posted by Judith — 4:09 AM
Vodafone to trial HSPA+.
Source: TeleGeography.
Vodafone will trial an updated version of the mobile broadband technology HSPA, known as HSPA+ or HSPA Evolution, to test whether it can deliver higher data rates through an upgrade of its existing network equipment. In a statement Vodafone said it would work with Ericsson, Huawei and Qualcomm to trial the technology. The initiative will help to establish whether HSPA+ is capable of delivering data throughput rates of up to 28.8Mbps compared to the 14.4Mbps maximum offered by today’s HSPA networks.
Posted by Judith — 3:03 AM
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
AT&T pre-empts auction and buys large spectrum holding.
Source: BWCS.
Reports from the US indicate that AT&T has won the right to buy a block of much sought-after 700MHz spectrum in a US$2.5bn. deal. The FCC has apparently approved the giant operator’s purchase of Aloha Partners and its spectrum holdings.
AT&T is already the largest mobile player in the US and the purchase will add new spectrum covering 196 million people in a total of 281 domestic markets. The FCC noted that the Aloha block of spectrum sits right next to the blocks of airwaves that the Commission itself is currently auctioning.
Posted by Judith — 4:06 AM
UK Internet users could be banned over illegal downloads.
Source: TimesOnline.
People who illegally download films and music will be cut off from the internet under new legislative proposals to be unveiled next week. ISP’s will be legally required to take action against users who access pirated material.
Posted by Judith — 3:50 AM
Microsoft to acquire Danger for mobile devices.
Source: Converge.
Microsoft has agreed to acquire Danger Inc., a start-up offering mobile devices and software for the consumer market, for an undisclosed sum.
Danger is best known for its Sidekick device, which is marketed by T-Mobile.
Posted by Judith — 3:38 AM
AT&T joins Starbucks to provide store Wi-Fi.
Source: NYT.
Starbucks and AT&T have announced that theywill start offering a mix of free and paid wireless Internet service in most of Starbucks’s American shops, beginning this spring. The move ends a six-year partnership with T-Mobile.
Nearly all of AT&T’s broadband Internet customers, about 12 million people, will automatically have unlimited free Wi-Fi access at Starbucks. The deal will increase the number of AT&T hot spots in the United States to 17,000.
Posted by Judith — 3:01 AM
T-Mobile and Orange to test 100-channel mobile TV.
Source: TeleGeography.
T-Mobile and Orange are reported to be forming a partnership to run a commercial trial of a new mobile TV technology in west London which could allow handset users to tune in to up to 100 channels. The technology, TDTV, has been developed by US-based NextWave Wireless at its British unit in Chippenham, and could provide a cheaper and more efficient way to get broadcast TV on to mobile phones.
Posted by Judith — 3:00 AM
Monday, February 11, 2008
Yahoo! sparks US$45bn. bid fight with Microsoft.
Source: TimesOnline.
Yahoo! has formally rejected Microsoft’s hostile US$45bn. (GBP23bn.) bid, claiming that despite the 62% premium offered by the software giant, the bid “substantially undervalues” the world’s No 2 search engine.
Posted by Judith — 11:02 AM
Analogue shut-down begins this week.
Source: TeleGeography.
The FCC in the US has told wireless operators that they no longer need to continue offering analogue cellular services. Operators such as AT&T Inc, Verizon Wireless and US Cellular are now planning to phase out the outdated networks, offering customers free handsets to entice them onto digital networks.
Posted by Judith — 8:04 AM
EU pressures operators to lower data roaming rates.
Source: Reuters.
After forcing Europe’s mobile operators to cut rates for making and receiving phone calls abroad, the European Union’s top telecoms regulator has set her sights on prices for downloading and surfing the Web wirelessly.
Posted by Judith — 4:50 AM
Orange and T-Mobile to roll out TDtv in UK.
Source: Telecoms.com.
Carriers Orange and T-Mobile are poised to announce the rollout of a broadcast mobile TV service in the UK that will use existing cellular spectrum, rather than having to wait until additional wireless spectrum is freed up with the completion of analogue switch-off in 2012.
The TDtv technology developed by embedded-software-systems provider NextWave Wireless will pool spare capacity in both operators’ UMTS networks to deliver a multicast service to handsets equipped with special chipsets.
Posted by Judith — 3:59 AM
Mobile calls to be routed via broadband.
Source: TimesOnline.
O2 is to begin the first trials of a technology which will route mobile calls over broadband as a way of easing pressure on the network.
The technology, which is similar to that which allows computers to connect wirelessly onto the internet via wi-fi, is being trialled because of the increasing strain that is placed on the regular network as more and more people access the web on their phones.
Posted by Judith — 3:13 AM
Nortel and Motorola to Form J-V?
Source: BWCS.
Motorola and Nortel Networks are said to be locked in talks to combine their wireless infrastructure divisions into a single joint venture. According to reports, the two North American companies are keen on the move which would increase their competitive position against the bigger players that dominate the market for mobile network kit, such as Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks.
Posted by Judith — 3:06 AM
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Verizon sues Charter over VOIP patents.
Source: Light Reading.
Verizon has sued yet another service provider for patent infringement related to the intellectual property behind the transmission of VOIP calls. This time the victim is Charter Communications Inc.
Verizon has already successfully sued Vonage for patent infringement and recently filed suit against Cox Communications. Just as in the Cox suit, Verizon is claiming that Charter infringed upon eight different patents — four of which were tried in the Vonage case, with the court ruling in favor of Verizon on three of them.
Posted by Judith — 4:19 AM
Friday, February 8, 2008
Facebook links up with Vodafone on mobile platform.
Source: NYT.
Facebook has taken a new step into the mobile realm, launching a platform for operators designed to make its social networking application work better on portable devices.
Vodafone is the first operator to use the Facebook for Mobile Operators platform and has started services in the U.K. and Germany. Vodafone will soon expand the program to Greece, Italy, Spain, Ireland and Portugal.
Posted by Judith — 4:33 AM
Major vendors join OpenID Board.
Source: NYT.
IBM, Google, Microsoft, Verisign and Yahoo have joined the corporate board of the OpenID Foundation, giving a boost to the group’s efforts to simplify the process of signing into Web sites.
The OpenID framework allows people to use a single user name and password to sign into sites that support it.
Posted by Judith — 4:07 AM
KKR to Invest US$250m. in India’s Bharti Infratel.
Source: Converge.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), a leading private equity firm, has agreed to invest US$250m. in Bharti Infratel.
KKR’s investment is in addition to the US$1bn. in Bharti Infratel pledged in December 2007 by leading international investors Temasek Holdings, The Investment Corporation of Dubai, Goldman Sachs, Macquarie, AIF Capital and Citigroup & India Equity Partners.
Bharti Infratel owns over 20,000 sites and holds an approximately 42% stake in Indus Towers, the recently announced joint venture between Bharti, Vodafone and Idea, which has over 70,000 sites. Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers will provide passive infrastructure services to all wireless telecom operators in India on a non-discriminatory basis.
Posted by Judith — 3:27 AM
Thursday, February 7, 2008
AT&T expands 3G rollout to an additional 80 cities .
Source: Converge.
AT&T will expand the deployment of its 3G service to more than 80 additional cities in the U.S. during 2008. This will make the AT&T 3G service available in nearly 350 U.S. markets by the end of 2008, including all of the top 100 U.S. cities. The 3G initiative will include the roll out of more than 1,500 additional cell sites nationwide.
Posted by Judith — 4:36 AM
Tekelec acquires Estacado Systems for SIP software expertise.
Source: Converge.
Tekelec has recently acquired substantially all of the assets of Estacado Systems, a start-up based in Dallas, Texas that develops Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) software.
Posted by Judith — 3:40 AM
Time Warner to split AOL businesses.
Source: FT.com.
Time Warner is separating AOL’s dial-up internet access service from its faster-growing online advertising business. The move could presage a sale or further realignment of both businesses in response to Microsoft’s US$42.2bn. offer for Yahoo.
Posted by Judith — 3:05 AM
Telstra launches ADSL2+ network.
Source: TeleGeography.
After a stand-off with the government lasting more than a year, Telstra yesterday turned on its ADSL2+ broadband network. The telco had refused to activate ADSL2+ before, except in exchanges where its competitors were already operating. It claimed it did not have regulatory certainty from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that it would not be forced to re-sell the service to its competitors.
Posted by Judith — 3:04 AM
Docas to pay US$22m. for Intelig.
Source: TeleGeography.
Brazilian investment group Docas is paying US$22m. to acquire one of the country’s long-distance operators Intelig. Docas closed the deal to purchase Intelig last month at which time it agreed to pay US$12m. to Intelig’s owners, British-owned National Grid, US-based Sprint Nextel and France Telecom. The remaining US$10m. will be paid when Docas actually takes control of Intelig.
Posted by Judith — 2:47 AM
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
FCC OKs AT&T buy of Aloha.
Source: RCR.
The FCC has approved AT&T Mobility’s US$2.5bn. purchase of Aloha Partners L.P.’s 700 MHz properties, triggering an angry dissent from a Democratic member of the GOP-led telecom agency.
The deal, which is expected soon to get the Justice Department’s blessing, gives AT&T Mobility 12 megahertz of spectrum covering 196 million people in 281 markets — including the top 10 markets in the United States
Posted by Judith — 4:59 AM
Broadband row looms as Ofcom agrees to review level of BT line sharing charges.
Source: TimesOnline.
BT could raise significantly the prices that it charges broadband rivals for accessing its network after securing a preliminary review from the regulator.
The pledge from Ofcom to consider BT’s case for more flexibility on its pricing is expected to ignite a bitter row with competitors such as Carphone Warehouse and Tiscali.
Posted by Judith — 4:50 AM
Telenor to divest shares in Golden Telecom.
Source: Digital Media Europe.
Norwegian telco Telenor is divesting all its shares in Golden Telecom, a Russian telecoms operator, in a transaction estimated to be worth US$4.3bn.
Lillian Acquisition, a subsidiary of Russian mobile operator VimpelCom, purchased the shares from Telenor for $105 per share. Telenor owns 18.3% of Golden Telecom’s shares of common stock.
Posted by Judith — 4:46 AM
AOL buys online marketing network buy.at.
Source: Globe and Mail.
Time Warner Inc.’s AOL has announced that it has purchased buy.at, an online affiliate marketing network, as part of a strategy to bolster its Internet advertising operations.
Posted by Judith — 4:03 AM
BT launches mobile services in Spain.
Source: BWCS.
BT has thrown its hat into the mobile ring in Spain and launched a new MVNO service aimed at business customers. The British operators says it will offer converged voice and data services as well as unified fixed-mobile communications, with handsets from HTC, Nokia and Samsung.
Posted by Judith — 3:58 AM
In CBS test, mobile ads find users.
Source: NYT.
CBS is to announce that it is trying one of the first serious experiments with cellphone advertising that is customized for a person’s location. The CBS Mobile unit is teaming up with the social networking service Loopt, which allows its subscribers to track participating friends and family on their mobile phones.
Posted by Judith — 3:24 AM
Ericsson forms major managed network service partnership in the UK.
Source: BWCS.
Indian network services company GTL has announced a strategic alliance with the UK wing of the Ericsson empire to provide managed network infrastructure services in the British mobile market.
Ericsson UK currently has some wide-ranging managed services contracts with the major UK mobile operators. However, the GTL tie-up is its first partnership with another network services company.
Posted by Judith — 3:05 AM
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
BC Partners finalises US$16.5bn. Intelsat deal.
Source: FT.com.
BC Partners will announce the completion of its US$16.5bn. purchase of Intelsat, the world’s biggest satellite operator, after reaching a compromise with banks to overcome difficult financing conditions on its biggest ever deal.
The completion of the Intelsat deal - first agreed in June just weeks before a dramatic contraction of global credit markets - is a boost for BC Partners, as it had been viewed as a possible victim of the credit squeeze.
Posted by Judith — 2:44 AM
More US WiFi on trains.
Source: BWCS.
West Coast company WiFi Rail has stated that is has successfully demonstrated its wireless connection systems on San Francisco’s underground and over-ground rail networks. The company is reported to have launched its technologies in underground tube trains, on normal over-ground rail connections and at four City stations in San Francisco.
The system is powered by a solar energy source The company can supply WiFi signals in underground trains using Cisco radios, filters and amplifiers, via a coaxial cable. Above ground WiFi Rail uses a series of pole-mounted radios and antennas which work in conjunction with RF technologies.
Posted by Judith — 2:42 AM
LiMo puts wheels on mobile Linux platform.
Source: Telecoms.com.
Open mobile Linux movement, the LiMo Foundation, has stated that it will have the first release of its mobile platform ready to go in March.
A handful of telecom powerhouses banded together a year ago to form the mobile Linux collective. Motorola, NTT DoCoMo and Samsung were among the founding members. But all three are also founders of the Open Handset Alliance.
A not for profit organisation, the LiMo Foundation is aimed at blending the community-based development benefits of Linux with development practices from the mobile community in a bid to minimise fragmentation.
Posted by Judith — 2:07 AM
Monday, February 4, 2008
Google works to torpedo Microsoft bid for Yahoo.
Source: NYT.
In an unusually aggressive effort to prevent Microsoft from moving forward with its $44.6bn. hostile bid for Yahoo, Google emerged over the weekend with plans to play the role of spoiler.
Publicly, Google came out against the deal, contending in a statement that the pairing, proposed by Microsoft in the form of a hostile offer, would pose threats to competition that need to be examined by policy makers around the world.
Privately, Google, seeing the potential deal as a direct attack, went much further. Its chief executive placed a call to Yahoo’s chief offering the company’s help in fending off Microsoft, possibly in the form of a partnership between the companies.
Posted by Judith — 5:42 AM
O2, 3 UK combine mobile video services.
Source: Telecoms.com.
UK operators 3 and O2 have announced a partnership that will see the cellcos combine their respective mobile video services into a single community.
The carriers will merge their existing user generated content services and make them accessible to any UK mobile user, regardless of network.
Both services are based on the same underlying platform developed by mobile application developer Yospace. The new service will be called EyeVibe.
Posted by Judith — 5:10 AM
Telecom Egypt awards Alca-Lu submarine cable deal.
Source: TeleGeography.
Telecom Egypt and Alcatel-Lucent have signed a US$125m. contract to deploy a new submarine cable network linking Sidi Kerir in Egypt to Marseille in France. As a result, Telecom Egypt will be able to meet the growing demand for broadband services and will aid Egypt’s quest to become an international communications hub between Europe and Asia/Africa.
Posted by Judith — 5:02 AM
Saturday, February 2, 2008
UK public spectrum to be auctioned.
Source: BBC.
The British government and the Ministry of Defence will be able to share and trade valuable radio spectrum under new plans announced by the regulator Ofcom.
The proposed new rules will free up prime spectrum currently held by public sector agencies and organisations.
Any freed spectrum could be used to develop new mobile and wireless services, according to the regulator.
It is estimated that the spectrum held by the public sector is worth between GBP3bn.and 20bn.
Posted by Judith — 4:52 AM
New cable cut compounds net woes.
Source: BBC.
A submarine cable in the Middle East has been snapped, adding to global net problems caused by breaks in two lines under the Mediterranean on Wednesday.
Posted by Judith — 3:59 AM
Friday, February 1, 2008
Microsoft wants to purchase Yahoo.
Source: BBC.
Microsoft has offered to buy the search engine company Yahoo for US$44.6bn. (£22.4bn.) in cash and shares.
The offer, contained in a letter to Yahoo’s board, is 62% above Yahoo’s closing share price on Thursday.
Posted by Judith — 7:06 AM
FCC wireless auction bidding breaks US$10bn. barrier.
Source: TeleGeography.
After five days and 16 rounds of bidding, the total sum now bid on the FCC’s auction of wireless spectrum has now topped the US$11.57bn. mark, eclipsing the government’s own target of US$10bn. by a fair margin.
Posted by Judith — 5:33 AM
Sprint sees Nextel write-off of up to US$31bn.
Source: Reuters.
Sprint Nextel has stated that that it might have to write off all of the US$30.7bn. goodwill value from its purchase of Nextel Communications and smaller deals as it struggles with customer losses.
Posted by Judith — 5:00 AM
VSNL to roll out WiMAX network to dozen cities by 2009.
Source: TeleGeography.
VSNL Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy is reported as saying that his company plans to rollout WiMAX networks in eleven new cities by 2009, in addition to the one already launched in Bangalore. VSNL, which will soon be renamed Tata Communications, intends to invest INR20bn. (US$508m.) in its WiMAX operations and is aiming for a subscriber base of 30m.
Posted by Judith — 4:41 AM
Motorola eyes separating mobile divisions.
Source: InformationWeek.
Motorola, the world’s No. 3 mobile phone maker, has announced that it is exploring strategic alternatives including a possible separation of its mobile devices business from other units.
he company said alternatives could include the separation of mobile devices from its other businesses in order to allow each business to grow and serve customers better.
Posted by Judith — 4:09 AM
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