Press Clippings: August 2008
Major Industry items you might have missed
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Ofcom seeks help on mobile rules.
Source: BBC.
The good and bad aspects of the UK’s mobile phone networks are being sought by Ofcom.
The telecoms regulator wants help from consumers and industry on areas that need more regulation or where the rules can be loosened.
It is also looking for ideas on how best to extend mobile networks across the entire nation.
Posted by Judith — 3:44 AM
Friday, August 29, 2008
Vodacom (SA) snaps up Gateway.
Source: Telecoms.com.
South African operator Vodacom has announced that it has agreed to acquire most of the assets of pan-African carrier services and satellite firm Gateway Telecommunications.
Vodacom, which is a 50/50 joint venture between Vodafone and local carrier Telkom, is to pay approximately US$675m. for the firm. The broadcasting businesses held by Gateway are not part of the transaction.
Posted by Judith — 4:58 AM
Microsoft to buy online survey firm for US$486m.
Source: Reuters.
Microsoft has announced that it has agreed to acquire Web-based survey company Greenfield Online Inc for about US$486m.
The deal gives Microsoft access to Greenfield’s Ciao.com, a popular price comparison and consumer reviews site in Europe.
Microsoft said it will sell off Greenfield Online’s main business — Internet survey solutions, which accounts for about 75% of the company’s overall revenue.
Posted by Judith — 3:45 AM
Comcast draws the line at 250GB.
Source: Light Reading.
Comcast has announced that it will place a 250 Gbyte threshold on excessive users as of Oct. 1.
Comcast said the threshold will apply to less than 1% of its high-speed Internet subscribers, noting that the median residential usage is 2 to 3 Gbytes per month.
Posted by Judith — 3:41 AM
Swan Telecom gains Delhi GSM spectrum.
Source: TeleGeography.
Swan Telecom has been awarded GSM spectrum for the Delhi circle. Swan will join the likes of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Idea and MTNL in providing services in the region. Swan beat other interested companies including Datacom and Tata Teleservices to secure the licence.
Posted by Judith — 3:30 AM
Ofcom considering state of UK mobile market.
Source: TeleGeography.
Britain’s telecoms watchdog Ofcom has announced that it is to launch a consultation with consumers and leading mobile operators to assess mobile market conditions in the UK. The regulator has indicated it feels the market needs less regulation and more competition, claiming proper access, choice and value for money were becoming more important as mobile increasingly replaces landline and fixed broadband services.
Posted by Judith — 2:07 AM
CRTC gets tough on Shaw.
Source: TeleGeography.
The CRTC has taken the unusual step of renewing Shaw Communications’ operating licences for only two years, as opposed to the standard seven-year term granted to most companies. The watchdog claims that Shaw’s breaches of the rules include putting too many commercial messages on its community channel, a lack of weather warnings on its cable feed and ignoring simulcast rules for US network signals.
Posted by Judith — 2:06 AM
Thursday, August 28, 2008
BT looks to ditch Indian stake.
Source: FT.com.
BT is considering the sale of its 31% stake in Tech Mahindra, the India-listed software services firm, having decided that the holding does not fit its long-term strategy.
The UK telecoms company is reportedly keen to sell all or a large part of its stake in the joint venture, which has a market capitalisation of about US$2.2bn.
Posted by Judith — 5:00 AM
Cisco buys E-Mail and calendaring start-up for US$215m.
Source: NYT.
Cisco Systems announced Wednesday that it will acquire PostPath, a venture-backed start-up that provides open-source e-mail and calendaring software, for US$215m. The acquisition will add to Cisco’s collaboration tools.
Posted by Judith — 4:51 AM
T-Mobile launches 3G in Dallas.
Source: TeleGeography.
As part of T-Mobile’s plan to bring its 3G network to 20 US markets by the end of this year, the company has announced the launch of 3G services in Dallas. The company has reportedly spent US$191m. on getting the network operational in Dallas.
Posted by Judith — 4:35 AM
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
NSN bags monster network sharing contract.
Source: Telecoms.com.
The mobile network joint venture between UK operators T-Mobile and 3UK has announced that it has tapped Nokia Siemens Networks as its infrastructure supplier.
NSN has been selected to deliver the 3G radio network infrastructure for the consolidation of the two operators’ 3G radio access network, which will provide near complete population coverage by the end of 2009.
Posted by Judith — 4:51 AM
Virgin Mobile’s operations given thumbs up by DoT.
Source: TeleGeography.
The Department of Telecommunications has given the all clear to Virgin Mobile’s operations in India, reiterating that it does not consider the company’s services that of a MVNO.
Posted by Judith — 3:07 AM
Telecom Italia completes Alice France sale.
Source: TeleGeography.
Telecom Italia has completed the sale of its French broadband unit Alice France to Iliad for EUR775m. In a statement Telecom Italia said the transaction will allow it to reduce its net debt by about EUR750m.
Posted by Judith — 3:00 AM
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Telstra and H3G in network access deal.
Source: TeleGeography.
Telstra has partnered with Hutchison 3G Australia (H3G), allowing H3G to access its Next G network in areas where the smaller operator has no network presence of its own. H3G is planning an expansion of its own network infrastructure, aiming to increase its coverage from 54% to 60% of the Australian population, although no timeframe has been announced for this expansion; the agreement with Telstra will allow the operator to compete for customers in 96% of the country. The value of the agreement is understood to be worth more than AU$120m. (US$103m.).
Posted by Judith — 5:38 AM
Infosys snaps up Axon in GBP407m. deal.
Source: Scotsman.
Infosys, the Indian software giant, has agreed to buy UK-based Axon in a GBP407m. cash deal.
The deal is Infosys’ second acquisition in little over a year, and will help narrow the gap between the Bangalore-based company and India’s largest IT company, Tata Consultancy Services.
Posted by Judith — 4:47 AM
Zayo notches another acquisition.
Source: TelecomWeb.
The fast-growing Zayo Group has bagged yet another business bandwidth provider - number nine in just one year - with a deal to buy privately held Columbia Fiber Solutions.
Columbia brings Zayo’s total to 19,000 miles of fiber, in 125 markets spread across 20 states, with more than 1,600 on-net buildings.
Posted by Judith — 3:52 AM
HP to close US$13.25bn.n EDS purchase.
Source: WSJ.
Hewlett-Packard Co. has announced that it expects to close its US$13.25bn. acquisition of EDS on Tuesday.
The deal, announced in May, is HP’s biggest acquisition since it bought Compaq Computer Corp. in 2002 for US$19bn.
Posted by Judith — 2:55 AM
Monday, August 25, 2008
Embarq embarks on worker cuts.
Source: Light Reading.
Citing a confluence of rising competition, higher fuel costs, and a slumping economy, Embarq has confirmed that it intends to sever between 500 and 700 workers from its network service group by year-end.
If Embarq lays off the higher end of that range, it will affect about 8% of a division that presently employs about 8,700. Embarq, which has close to 18,000 employees in all, also expects to reduce its contractor base by about 300 people.
Posted by Judith — 8:10 AM
Broadcom buys AMD’s digital TV business.
Source: C|NET.
Broadcom is paying US$192.8m. in cash to acquire Advanced Micro Devices’ digital television business.
Roughly 530 AMD employees working for the DTV business will be “invited to join Broadcom” as part of the sale, which has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors.
Posted by Judith — 3:23 AM
Saturday, August 23, 2008
FCC puts off plan to change cell roaming rules.
Source: Reuters.
The head of the FCC has put on hold a plan to revise the rules governing the right of small wireless phone carriers to “roam” on the networks of larger rivals.
At issue is whether carriers should be allowed to roam in areas where they own airwaves, but have not built networks.
The FCC Chairman had proposed guaranteeing that carriers who owned unused spectrum could continue roaming for four years before they lost roaming rights. However, he withdrew the proposal before a meeting of the FCC’s five commissioners on Friday because they had not reached an agreement on the issue.
Posted by Judith — 3:13 AM
3 continues fight against rate cuts.
Source: TeleGeography.
UK mobile operator 3 will continue its legal challenge to regulator Ofcom’s ruling requiring the cellco to cut connection charges last year.
Ofcom’s March 2007 ruling called for a 45% cut in mobile termination rates across 3’s network by 2011. The ruling was the first time the regulator had brought 3 within its price controls regime for the charges; which has already been applied to O2, Vodafone, Orange and T-Mobile.
Posted by Judith — 1:20 AM
Friday, August 22, 2008
Verizon, Google close to mobile search deal.
Source: WSJ.
Verizon Communications Inc. is nearing an agreement with Google on a wide-ranging partnership, according to people familiar with the situation, in what could be a much-needed jolt for the anaemic mobile search business.
It’s the latest sign that telecom companies are finally conceding that their homegrown search services have stalled.
Posted by Judith — 2:44 AM
Nortel buys audio technology firm.
Source: Globe and Mail.
In its latest effort to diversify beyond telecommunications equipment, Nortel has purchased a software firm whose voice technology aims to bring life-like sounds to virtual worlds on the Web.
Nortel said it is paying up to US$10m. DiamondWare Ltd., whose software is used by both the gambling industry and the U.S. military. Although the deal is relatively small, it represents one of the new directions in software and services to which executives want to steer the company.
Posted by Judith — 2:01 AM
Terria considering Telstra tie-up for national broadband network.
Source: TeleGeography.
It is reported that that broadband consortium Terria will offer its rival Telstra ‘substantial’ equity in the National Broadband Network (NBN) if it wins the federal government’s tender process. The Terria consortium is made up of eight telcos, including Optus and AAPT.
Posted by Judith — 1:55 AM
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Japanese firms to launch aggressive overseas cell phone technology push.
Source: TeleGeography.
The government of Japan is backing a major push by the country’s mobile technology developers to market its major mobile technology products abroad. The initiative will include the nation’s popular FeliCa ‘wallet phone’ which uses a microchip embedded in a cell phone to communicate with a reader device in stores, train stations and vending machines for cashless payments.
Posted by Judith — 11:28 AM
Cox to enter mobile market.
Source: TeleGeography.
Cox Communications has announced plans to offer a wireless service that will ‘integrate all our services into one device with a consistent cross-platform interface; and make our content and applications mobile’. Cox will utilise the 22 AWS licences in the 700MHz band it acquired this year for US$304m. and anticipates spending a total of US$500m. on spectrum in total.
Posted by Judith — 11:25 AM
FCC orders Comcast to stop blocking some large files.
Source: WashingtonPost.
Comcast is testing new technologies that would slow the transmission of Internet files for its biggest users by as much as 20 minutes during times of heavy network congestion. But the nation’s largest cable provider has promised not to target specific content, such as video files that compete with its cable television business.
The tests come as the FCC released an order that forces Comcast to stop its earlier efforts to block transmission of certain Internet files, a ruling that public interest groups hailed, saying it would prevent network operators from acting as gatekeepers of the Web.
Posted by Judith — 3:31 AM
Intel to build Yahoo widgets into new TV chips.
Source: Reuters.
After years of false starts aimed at bringing the Web to TV sets, Yahoo has announced that it is working with Intel to create Web computer channels that run alongside TV shows.
The Web company and world’s largest chipmaker are working on what they call the “Widget Channel,” which will enable TV viewers to interact with and watch a dynamic set of TV widgets — small Web-based applications that complement TV shows.
Posted by Judith — 2:47 AM
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
FiOS is beating targets says Verizon.
Source: TeleGeography.
Verizon Communications says its FiOS fibre-optic TV, internet and telephony service has already exceeded its initial expectations, four years after it first unveiled the project. The US$23bn. fibre-based network has now been deployed past 19m. households at a cost of around US$4,000 per customer.
Posted by Judith — 5:08 AM
Ericsson, STMicro merge assets to create chip giant.
Source: Telecoms.com.
US chip shop STMicroelectronics is to merge with Ericsson’s Mobile Platforms unit and spin the resulting operation off into a joint venture.
Acknowledged by analysts as the biggest consolidation in the chipset market so far, the 50/50 joint venture claims to have the industry’s strongest product offering in semiconductors, supplying components to Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG and Sharp.
Posted by Judith — 5:05 AM
Indian regulator approves VOIP.
Source: Light Reading.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is moving to relax restrictions on telcos and ISPs offering VOIP services in a bid to encourage the adoption of broadband services and push down the cost of rural telephony.
Posted by Judith — 3:05 AM
CAT rules in favour of BT on mobile termination rates.
Source: TeleGeography.
The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has ruled that UK mobile operators face millions of pounds in repayments after overcharging BT customers who called mobile phones from their fixed lines. The ruling covers an ongoing row between BT and mobile operators after the latter raised termination rates in 2006; the CAT has ruled that prices should have been lower and therefore repayments must be made.
Posted by Judith — 2:24 AM
Nuance bids to acquire Zi, potentially combining speech with predictive text input.
Source: Converge.
Nuance Communications has submitted a proposal to the board of Zi Corporation to acquire the company for U.S. $0.80 per share in cash.
Zi provides discovery and usability solutions for Mobile Search, Input and Advertising.
Nuance is a leading provider of speech recognition and voice control technologies.
Posted by Judith — 2:01 AM
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
A ‘Dream’ come true: U.S. approves the first Google phone.
Source: NYT.
Taiwan-based HTC, one of the largest mobile device makers in the world, has gained FCC approval for the first smart phone to use Google’s Android operating system.
The FCC documents confirm the name of the new phone: Dream. Most important, though: with the smartphone’s certification behind it, it is possible for T-Mobile, the nation’s No. 4 wireless carrier, to go ahead with plans to debut the phone next month and begin selling it ahead of the Christmas shopping season.
The new phone is an important step in Google’s plans to expand the company’s presence beyond the personal computer and into the mobile universe.
Posted by Judith — 5:01 AM
TINet grows.
Source: TeleGeography.
The Italian-owned international wholesale carrier Tiscali International Network (TINet) has expanded its presence in North America by establishing a network presence in five data centres operated by internet exchange firm Switch and Data. TINet is establishing new IP/MPLS points of presence in Switch and Data’s Atlanta, Dallas, Palo Alto, Seattle and Toronto sites.
Posted by Judith — 4:35 AM
U.S. Network operators deny DPI-based advertising tracking.
Source: Converge.
Leading U.S. network operators have mostly denied using deep packet inspection (DPI) technologies for the purpose of behavioral advertising tracking of individual U.S. consumers. The U.S. House of Representative’s Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet launched the inquiry earlier this month to address privacy concerns raised by the data collection practices of Internet network operators who tailor Internet advertising based on a consumer’s Web surfing activity.
Posted by Judith — 4:12 AM
XO extends its Ethernet reach .
Source: Converge.
XO Communications announced the deployment of a new and enhanced Ethernet switching platform in major metropolitan locations across its U.S. network.
XO said it is currently capable of delivering Ethernet services to nearly four million commercial buildings in 75 major metropolitan markets across the United States.
Posted by Judith — 3:09 AM
Monday, August 18, 2008
Signal gripes mount over new iPhone.
Source: FT.com.
The ranks of unhappy iPhone users continued to swell at the weekend as Apple customers complained about problems maintaining a signal on the company’s new 3G handset.
Over the past few weeks, customers have flocked to Apple’s online support forums to complain about weak or fluctuating signals leading to dropped calls and long download times.
Posted by Judith — 3:42 AM
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Ghana approves Vodafone’s Telecom buy out.
Source: Telecoms.com.
The Ghanaian parliament has approved a controversial deal that will see Vodafone, the world’s biggest mobile operator in terms of revenue, take a 70 per cent holding in state owned Ghana Telecom.
Vodafone will pay up to $900m for the stake, but there have been allegations from those opposing the deal that Ghana is being short changed.
Posted by Judith — 5:23 AM
BSNL plans rural WiMAX expansion.
Source: TeleGeography.
State-run telco BSNL is planning to install WiMAX base stations in 1,000 regional blocks , (rural India is divided into 6000 blocks of population). BSNL has rights to the blocks as part of its programme to connect rural India to government services online, and the operator aims to provide high speed internet access to 25,000 villages by the end of the fiscal year. Currently BSNL’s WiMAX equipment is supplied by SOMA Networks, but it is understood to be in discussion with multiple vendors regarding this contract.
Posted by Judith — 1:55 AM
Friday, August 15, 2008
Ofcom to further delay spectrum auction.
Source: TeleGeography.
It is reported that that British regulator Ofcom will not auction off three blocks of 2.6GHz spectrum in October as planned. The regulator had originally intended to auction the spectrum late last year, but the process was initially delayed due to legal action by T-Mobile; the cellco was unhappy that Ofcom would not clarify whether re-farming of the 900MHz spectrum band would be allowed. O2 has also raised an objection that the future usage of existing spectrum has not been settled; both cellcos are understood to be considering the possibilities for launching W-CDMA or LTE services on existing frequencies. Both T-Mobile and O2 contend that until they know the future of existing spectrum they cannot accurately assess the value of the 26GHz spectrum.
Posted by Judith — 5:09 AM
GrameenPhone hit with second fine for illegal VoIP.
Source: TeleGeography.
GrameenPhone has agreed to pay a fine of BDT2.5bn. (US$37m.) to the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission for its involvement in illegal call termination via VoIP technology. This is the second penalty for unlicensed VoIP telephony provision that the regulator has levied on the country’s leading mobile operator; the Telenor subsidiary earlier paid the watchdog BDT1.7bn. in ‘compensation’ for lost government earnings due to the illegal practice.
Posted by Judith — 5:06 AM
RTG ups ante at FCC in opposition to VZW/Alltel deal.
Source: RCR.
Following up on a similar filing earlier this week, the Rural Telecommunications Group filed an individual petition with the FCC urging the agency to deny Verizon Wireless’ pending acquisition of Alltel Communications.
The new filing touches on a number of issues brought forward in the earlier filing, made by RTG and other entities, but also asks the FCC to limit the merged entities to 55MHz of wireless spectrum below the 1GHz band at the county level and to 110MHz of spectrum below the 2.3GHz band.
Posted by Judith — 3:31 AM
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Yahoo! releases Fire Eagle for location-based services.
Source: Converge.
Yahoo! has released its Fire Eagle open platform for location-based mobile services.
Fire Eagle is a network service that gives users a place to store and manage information about their location, and offers developers protocols for updating or accessing that information.
Yahoo! said its goal with Fire Eagle is to help developers create Internet experiences that are geo-aware.
Posted by Judith — 7:16 AM
Spending on communications falls.
Source: BBC.
Britons are spending more time using communications services but paying less for them, says an Ofcom report.
Every day in 2007, the average consumer spent 7 hours and 9 minutes watching TV, on the phone, using the internet or using other services.
Since 2002, mobile use has doubled and PC and laptop use has grown fourfold.
However, the average UK household spend on communications in 2007 was GBP93.63 a month - a fall of GBP1.53 on 2006.
Posted by Judith — 3:33 AM
Sprint’s iDEN network to go?
Source: TeleGeography.
Sprint Nextel is reported to be considering the sale of the Nextel iDEN wireless network after it has struggled to integrate the network with its CDMA networks. In a regulatory filing, Sprint said that it was exploring alternatives for iDEN including ‘improving operations, making additional investments, entering into strategic partnerships and considering potential divestitures’.
It is estimated the value of the iDEN network has plummeted around 80% since Sprint paid around US$35bn. for Nextel Communications in 2005.
Posted by Judith — 2:35 AM
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Nortel buys Pingtel.
Source: Light Reading.
Nortel has stepped up its efforts to be one of the major players in the so-called “unified communications” sector with the acquisition of software applications specialist Pingtel Corp. for an undisclosed sum.
Pingtel, which is already a Nortel OEM partner, is being acquired from Wireless LAN vendor Bluesocket Inc. , which only acquired Pingtel in July 2007.
Pingtel is best known for its SIPxchange software, a SIP-based PBX product targeted at small and medium-sized business users, a market segment in which Nortel claims to have 15m. customers worldwide.
Posted by Judith — 7:43 AM
LG leapfrogs Samsung in US.
Source: FT.com.
LG Electronics, the South Korean mobile phone manufacturer, has overtaken rival Samsung to take second place in the US handset market behind Motorola in the latest quarter.
The figures underscore the popularity of several touchscreen-based handsets made by LG, including the Vu and Voyager. Both are sold by Verizon Wireless in competition with Apple’s iPhone which is offered exclusively by AT&T in the US.
Posted by Judith — 4:28 AM
Huawei vows aggressive European push.
Source: FT.com.
Huawei Technologies, the fast-growing Chinese telecommunications equipment maker, has pledged to step up its European sales efforts, in a move that will increase pressure on troubled western rivals.
Huawei’s European marketing director has announced that the company had achieved sales of US$2bn. in Europe in 2007, up from US$770m. in 2006.
Huawei is aiming to boost European sales further this year, implying that it is seeking to increase its market share at the expense of its established rivals - Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks.
Posted by Judith — 2:15 AM
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Leap against Verizon buy.
Source: TeleGeography.
Leap Wireless International has called on the FCC to block Verizon Wireless’ proposed acquisition of smaller rival Alltel. Leap wants to see the US$28.1bn. deal turned down because it would harm competition and make it more difficult to forge roaming agreements. Leap currently has roaming deals with both Verizon Wireless and Alltel but fears that its existing agreements would not be honoured by the enlarged company.
Posted by Judith — 5:19 AM
Tata Teleservices to spend US$2bn. on expansion.
Source: TeleGeography.
Indian telco Tata has set aside approximately INR80bn. (US$2bn.) for network expansion over the next 24 months. According to the press reports Tata Teleservices, part of the Tata Group conglomerate, plans to launch GSM services across India by March 2009 and BlackBerry services by September this year.
Posted by Judith — 5:02 AM
Verizon reaches deal with unions.
Source: TeleGeography.
Verizon Communications has reached a tentative agreement with two unions which averts a planned strike. Verizon announced on Sunday that it had concluded three-year contracts with the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which together represent around 65,000 Verizon employees. The deal offered by the telco includes a 10.5% wage increase to be staggered over three years. Verizon is keen to avoid industrial action which could hamper its rollout of fibre-optic broadband internet and TV networks.
Posted by Judith — 5:00 AM
Sprint in U-turn on US$3bn. cash call.
Source: FT.com.
Sprint Nextel, the US mobile phone network operator, performed a quick about-face on Thursday and cancelled an unpopular US$3bn. convertible offering a day after announcing it.
The company, which announced the cash call on Wednesday along with its second-quarter financial results, said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it had decided “to cancel the offering because the terms being offered were not economically attractive due to unfavourable market conditions”.
Posted by Judith — 4:51 AM
Broadband growth plummets in second quarter.
Source: NYT.
The number of new high-speed Internet subscribers in the United States fell in the second quarter to the lowest level since tracking the broadband market began seven years ago.
The slowdown mainly results from a drop in new customers at the phone companies, which added just 23% of the customers they added in last year’s second quarter.
The largest phone companies, AT&T and Verizon, have begun to emphasize faster, more expensive services over entry-level DSL.
Posted by Judith — 3:39 AM
H.P. buys wireless network infrastructure company.
Source: NYT.
Hewlett-Packard has announced that it plans to buy Colubris Networks, furthering the consolidation of wireless networking companies.
Colubris sells wireless access infrastructure products based around the 802.11n wireless standard.
Posted by Judith — 2:13 AM
Monday, August 11, 2008
Windstream Revives Talk
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Speculation has been swirling in recent months that the next wave of U.S. telecommunications consolidation will be among rural providers. Windstream would likely be a key participant, especially since the two-year anniversary of its Alltel spinoff also marked the end of a restriction in shares it can issue.
Posted by Penny — 1:07 PM
MetroPCS picks LTE for 4G
Source: RCR Wireless
MetroPCS Communications Inc. plans to hitch its 4G plans to Long Term Evolution technology. Following in the footsteps of other CDMA carriers, MetroPCS said during its second quarter conference call that it would use LTE for its 4G network technology. Verizon Wireless, Alltel Communication L.L.C. and other carriers have also made the same decision, ignoring the CDMA community’s own 4G technology,
Posted by Penny — 1:02 PM
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Nortel Wins Moscow WiMAX Contract
Source: Cellular News
Russia’s Comstar-United TeleSystems has chosen Nortel as the supplier for its WiMAX network in Moscow. The market for WiMAX in Russia is growing quickly with companies like Comstar leveraging its speed, capacity, and cost-effectiveness to expand their businesses and address the demand for wireless broadband. Rethink Research Associates estimates that the number of WiMAX subscribers in Russia will grow to 1.7 million in 2010 and 4.3 million 2012.
Posted by Penny — 12:52 PM
T-Mobile USA’s 3G network hits Sin City
Source: RCR News
T-Mobile USA Inc. kept good on its 3G rollout promise; the carrier launched its 3G network in Las Vegas. Although it currently lags behind its tier-one competitors in the high-speed data arena, T-Mobile USA has plans to launch 3G in 20 more markets by the end of the year.
Posted by Penny — 10:37 AM
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Sprint, Clearwire Ask FCC To Reject Proposed Merger Provisos
Source: CNN Money
Sprint Nextel Corp. and Clearwire Corp. intend to go head to head against the country’s largest wireless Internet networks if their merger is approved, but that ability could be hampered if regulators call for new conditions, the companies told the Federal Communications Commission late Monday.
Posted by Penny — 1:24 PM
Chambers: Challenges Remain For Next Few Quarters
Source: Channel Web
Cisco Systems Tuesday reported its first $10 billion quarter but said it expects revenue growth to remain below long-term expectations for at least the next six months.
Posted by Penny — 11:45 AM
Delta to offer Wi-Fi on U.S. flights.
Source: NYT.
Delta Air Lines has announced that it will offer broadband wireless Internet access on its entire domestic mainline fleet by next summer. Continental Airlines had previously announced plans to offer similar service across a majority of its mainline fleet.
Several other airlines either offer or plan to offer a similar service, though on a much more limited number of flights than Delta and Continental.
Posted by Judith — 4:23 AM
UK questioned on online ad system.
Source: BBC.
The UK government has until the end of August to respond to a letter from the EU about the controversial online ad system Phorm.
EU commissioner Viviane Reding has asked the UK government to clarify whether the system is in breach of European data laws.
Phorm’s so-called Webwise system tracks users’ web habits in order to better target ads at them.
BT is due to begin a widescale trial of the service imminently.
Posted by Judith — 2:51 AM
Tango, AirWalk and Tatara Systems partner on enterprise FMC femtocell.
Source: Converge.
Solution Tango Networks, AirWalk Communications and Tatara Systems are partnering on an enterprise-focused fixed-mobile convergence solution employing femtocells. The Tango/AirWalk/Tatara enterprise femtocell FMC solution, which has been successfully demonstrated, utilizes any standard mobile device. The solution leverages the hybrid architecture of Tango Networks’ Abrazo, which enables any mobile phone to become a true extension on the enterprise’s existing voice communications network.
Posted by Judith — 2:49 AM
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Leap bullish on mobile broadband, posts lower ARPU
Source: RCR Wireless
Leap Wireless International Inc. is planning to aggressively expand its broadband offering even as that buildout weighs down its financials.
Posted by Penny — 3:29 PM
Martin Ready To Adopt New Must Carry Rules
Source: Would Exempt All But Largest Operators From Carrying Local Stations in Both Formats…
Would Exempt All But Largest Operators From Carrying Local Stations in Both Formats
Posted by Penny — 11:16 AM
Verizon-Rural Cellular deal given green light.
Source: TeleGeography.
The FCC has approved the proposed merger between Verizon Wireless and Rural Cellular Corp, paving the way for the completion of the US$2.67bn. deal. Verizon has already agreed to divest some of its spectrum assets in six markets in Vermont, New York and Washington as required under earlier recommendations by the Department of Justice. Rural Cellular Corp operates under the name Unicel in the Midwest, Northeast, Northwest and the Southern regions of the United States.
Posted by Judith — 4:56 AM
Nortel JV buys WDM-PON specialist.
Source: Light Reading.
Nortel has just acquired its way into the emerging high-speed access space WDM-PON, with the acquisition, by its joint venture LG-Nortel Co. Ltd. , of a leading PON system specialist, Novera Optics.
LG-Nortel is paying an initial US$16m., plus a potential extra US$10m. if certain business targets are met during the next 18 months, for the WDM PON specialist that already has its leading edge access gear deployed at Korean incumbent KT Corp.
Posted by Judith — 3:53 AM
AT&T to be provider of ‘cloud computing’
Source: WSJ.
AT&T is unveiling a service that provides computer networking and storage services for business customers, making the telecommunications giant the latest company to invest in what is known as “cloud computing.”
Cloud computing has become a crowded field in a short period of time, as technology companies such as Google and Amazon have announced initiatives. Verizon has stated that it plans to enter the market in the first half of 2009.
Posted by Judith — 3:14 AM
Monday, August 4, 2008
AT&T tells FCC no P2P.
Source: TeleGeography.
AT&T has revealed to the FCC that it does not allow mobile subscribers to use P2P applications as they have a detrimental effect on network capacity. The company issues a written warning to any customers it finds using the applications and if the breach continues it will terminate the user’s contract.
Posted by Judith — 6:16 AM
LiMo Foundation adds new handsets, members.
Source: CNET.
Seven new mobile phones have passed the LiMo Foundation’s certification process, and the group has new members to welcome aboard.
The new phones, from Motorola, Panasonic, and NEC, are the latest to ship with Release 1 of the LiMo Platform, a Linux-based operating system for mobile phones developed by a consortium of wireless carriers, handset makers, and others.
There are now 21 phones in the world running the LiMo software, mostly in Asia. But a few, such as Motorola’s Rokr E8, are sold in the U.S. The whole idea behind LiMo is to give handset makers and carriers the basic underpinnings needed to create a modern mobile phone, but with the freedom to customize the look and feel of those phones to suit their desires.
Posted by Judith — 5:16 AM
Deutsche Post kills huge HP outsourcing deal.
Source: InformationWeek.
Deutsche Post, the German logistics company and parent to DHL, has chosen not to finalize the contract after a six-month review found the “benefits, particularly in the early years, do not outweigh the risks.”
It’s a considerable blow to HP, which has had limited success winning IT services megadeals. HP plans to propel itself into the IT services big leagues via the pending acquisition of EDS for US$13.9bn.
Posted by Judith — 3:04 AM
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Comcast violated Web access policy.
Source: CNN.
A divided FCC has ruled that Comcast violated federal policy when it blocked Internet traffic for some subscribers and has ordered the cable giant to change the way it manages its network.
In a precedent-setting move, the FCC by a 3-2 vote enforced a policy that guarantees customers open access to the Internet.
Posted by Judith — 2:09 AM
Friday, August 1, 2008
Alcatel-Lucent signs contract for Atlantic-Mediterranean segment of Europe India Gateway.
Source: TeleGeography.
Alcatel-Lucent has announced the signing of a contract to deploy the 7,100km Atlantic-Mediterranean segment of the 15,000km Europe India Gateway (EIG) submarine cable system. EIG is the first direct, high-bandwidth optical-fibre submarine cable system from the UK to India, designed to enhance capacity between countries on three continents.
EIG landing stations are planned in the UK, Portugal, Gibraltar, Monaco, France, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and India. It will also provide interconnection with other major cable systems connecting Europe, Africa, Asia and North America.
Posted by Judith — 5:18 AM
Qwest replaces Sprint with Verizon service.
Source: TeleGeography.
Denver-based Qwest Communications began selling Verizon Wireless plans on 30 July. The new five year agreement replaces the service Qwest had been operating since 2003 where it sold wireless phone plans under the Qwest Wireless brand using Sprint network access, which it bought wholesale.
Posted by Judith — 5:15 AM
Tata launches global Ethernet services.
Source: TelecomWeb.
Indian telecom company Tata Communications has launched a pair of global Ethernet services for multinational enterprises to create WANs across India and onward to major business centres in North America as well as Asia, Europe and Africa.
The two services are Dedicated Point-to-Multipoint Ethernet and Dedicated Multipoint Ethernet.
Posted by Judith — 4:09 AM
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