Press Clippings: September 2009

Major Industry items you might have missed

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Japan FTC says Qualcomm violated Antimonopoly Act.

Source: NetworkWorld.

Japan’s Fair Trade Commission has said that Qualcomm coerced Japanese telecom equipment makers into signing licenses that impede the companies in their research and development efforts and strengthen its own position in the Japanese market.
The company was found in violation of Japan’s Antimonopoly Act and was ordered to rescind certain provisions on the licenses issued to Japanese companies.

Posted by Judith — 4:30 AM

TDC to sell Invitel to Mid Europa Partners.

Source: Telecompaper.

Danish operator TDC has agreed to sell its 64.6% in Hungarian fixed-line operator Invitel to investment company Mid Europa Partners for DKK54.9m.(US$10.8m.) TDC announced this summer plans to sell Invitel, also known as HTCC, after earlier this year completing a financial restructuring at the Hungarian operator.

Posted by Judith — 2:42 AM

Cherry launches voice over Wi-Fi MVNO in Belgium.

Source: Telecompaper.

Belgian MVNO Cherry has started services. Targeting smartphone customers, Cherry offers a service to route traffic over Wi-Fi networks, in public or at home or the office, and switch calls seamlessly between Wi-Fi and GSM networks.

Posted by Judith — 2:39 AM

TTSL launches GSM services in Haryana.

Source: TeleGeography.

Indian mobile network operator Tata Teleservices (TTSL) has announced the launch of commercial GSM-based voice services in the Haryana circle under its Tata DoCoMo banner. Tata’s GSM network in the region will cover 386 towns and cities and 1,750 villages, along 1,800km of the state’s highways, at airports, along 400km of rail routes and at places of tourist interest.

Posted by Judith — 1:51 AM

Microsoft gets patent verdict overturned.

Source: cnet.

A federal court has reversed an earlier ruling that Microsoft’s product activation technology infringed on Uniloc’s patent, overturning a US$388m. verdict in the case.

Posted by Judith — 1:25 AM

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Vodafone to join UK iPhone battle from 2010.

Source: Reuters.

Vodafone will sell the Apple iPhone in Britain from 2010, finally sealing a deal to sell the popular phone in one of its biggest markets.
Vodafone, which said recently it had been hurt in Britain by not securing the iPhone deal, will join France Telecom’s Orange and Telefonica’s O2 in selling the phone in Britain. It will also sell it in Ireland.

Posted by Judith — 3:32 AM

Industry starts work on mobile link to HD TVs.

Source: Telecompaper.

Nokia, Samsung Electronics, Silicon Image, Sony and Toshiba have formed a Mobile High-Definition Interface Working Group. The group intends to create an industry standard for an audio/video interface to connect mobile phones or portable consumer electronics devices directly to high-definition televisions and displays.

Posted by Judith — 3:06 AM

Vodafone throws down gauntlet in Irish fixed line market.

Source: TeleGeography.

Vodafone has sent a clear message to the incumbent Eircom that it intends to take the fight to the former monopoly in the fixed line and broadband segment. The company has trimmed the price of its 3Mbps ‘Vodafone at Home’ fixed broadband and calls package in response to new packages being offered by Eircom. Vodafone, which recently struck an LLU pact with BT Ireland, now has 170,000 fixed line customers and a roughly 15% share of the Republic’s broadband market. As part of the BT deal, Vodafone is taking over the former’s 84,000 residential customers and around 3.000 small business users.

Posted by Judith — 1:53 AM

Nokia buys travel social network Dopplr.

Source: InformationWeek.

Nokia smartphones may soon be friendlier for road warriors, as the world’s largest handset maker has announced that it has acquired the social travel network Dopplr.
Dopplr describes itself as a “Social Atlas,” and it’s a Web-based service that enables travelers to create trip itineraries and share them with friends.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Nokia representatives said it was far less than the $14 to $22 million price tag that was being reported last week.

Posted by Judith — 1:38 AM

Monday, September 28, 2009

Unicom to buy back stake from SK Telecom.

Source: FT.com.

China Unicom, the country’s second largest mobile operator, has announced that it will buy back a 3.79% stake held by SK Telecom, South Korea’s biggest wireless company, for US$1.28bn.
The deal marks the end of SK Telecom’s three-year investment in Unicom and is a blow to the South Korean company’s ambition to expand in the world’s largest mobile market.

Posted by Judith — 3:36 AM

Orange announces UK iPhone deal.

Source: BBC.

Orange has reached an agreement to sell Apple’s popular iPhone in the UK.
The deal ends an exclusive arrangement between UK network operate O2 and the Californian phone maker, which has been in place since 2007.

Posted by Judith — 3:07 AM

Primus increases MVNO footprint, expands data range via Rogers deal.

Source: TeleGeography.

Canadian telecoms services reseller Primus has signed a deal with nationwide mobile operator Rogers Communications to increase its MVNO coverage area to 94% of Canada’s population by spring 2010.

Posted by Judith — 2:58 AM

Saturday, September 26, 2009

AT&T looks to flip net rules debate on Google.

Source: Reuters.

AT&T Inc said any new “net neutrality” rules imposed by U.S. regulators need to apply to Web companies like Google as much as to phone companies to ensure a level playing field.

Posted by Judith — 4:20 AM

Friday, September 25, 2009

Canada to review Nortel-Avaya deal.

Source: cellular-news.

Canada’s industry minister has sais that he will review the sale of Nortel’s enterprise division to U.S. telecom company Avaya to determine if the deal significantly benefits Canada.
The insolvent company announced last week it would sell the enterprise division to New Jersey-based Avaya for US$900m.

Posted by Judith — 3:02 AM

Tata takes aummer subs lead.

Source: Light Reading.

Additions to India’s wireless connections topped 15 million for the third month this year, according to statistics from the TRAI, demonstrating the continued growth potential in the world’s fastest growing mobile market.
The biggest winner in August was Tata, adding 3,418,138 subscribers across its CDMA and Tata DoCoMo GSM services. This accounted for 22.5% of the new lines and gave Tata the largest share of the month’s connections, ahead of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar , and Reliance Communications.

Posted by Judith — 2:54 AM

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Vodafone launches new Internet service.

Source: Reuters.

Vodafone has announced a new Internet service, offering access to a host of integrated social networks and applications, in its fight to grow data revenues and compete with smartphones like the iPhone.
Vodafone said its new Vodafone 360 service would use the open source Limo operating system to allow users to store contacts from the phone and social networks all in one place.

Posted by Judith — 3:43 AM

Bell Mobility signs tower sharing deal with Dave wireless.

Source: cellular-news.

Canada’s upcoming new mobile network operator, Data & Audio Visual Enterprises Wireless (DAVE Wireless) says it has signed a licensing agreement with Bell Mobility for wireless cell-site sharing.
Under the terms of the agreement, DAVE Wireless will be able to negotiate the placement of its own wireless equipment on Bell Mobility cell sites, where space is available and in accordance with all governmental guidelines and Bell requirements.

Posted by Judith — 3:12 AM

Korean regulator allows iPhone.

Source: Telecompaper.

The Korea Communications Commission will allow Apple’s iPhone to be sold in South Korea. The regulator used to protect the local mobile handset market with strict rules but has recently began relaxing the rules and now allows devices such as the BlackBerry and iPhone on the market.

Posted by Judith — 3:06 AM

Firm to acquire SkyTerra, take it private.

Source: WashingtonPost.

Satellite firm SkyTerra has announced that it has agreed to be acquired by its biggest shareholder in a roughly US$280m. transaction that will return the company to private ownership.
Starting next year, SkyTerra plans to launch a pair of satellites that will eventually help it meld cellphone service with satellite phone service. If a caller, using one of SkyTerra’s phones, travels outside the range of terrestrial cell towers, that call will automatically switch over to the company’s satellite service.

Posted by Judith — 2:53 AM

Iridium plans its stock market comeback.

Source: FT.com.

Iridium Holdings, the satellite phone company, is to return to the stock market a decade after going into bankruptcy through a reverse takeover which values the company at around US$560m.
Iridium had been spun out of Motorola, the mobile handset maker, and launched a handheld satellite phone in 1998. Only a year later, it was forced to file for bankruptcy protection, wiping out around US$6bn. worth of investment. Its assets were bought by a group of investors in 2000 for around US$25m.

Posted by Judith — 2:31 AM

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Verizon outlines LTE plans.

Source: TeleGeography.

The senior vice president and chief technology officer of Verizon Wireless, Tony Melone, has detailed the company’s plans for rolling out its LTE network . Melone revealed that Verizon intends to launch LTE in 25 to 30 markets in 2010, aiming to deploy the 4G technology across its nationwide 3G footprint by year-end 2013.

Posted by Judith — 4:57 AM

Vodafone takes advantage of foreign investment rule changes to increase Indian stake by 6%.

Source: TeleGeography.

Recent changes to India’s regulations regarding foreign investment have allowed UK-based Vodafone Group to increase its stake in its Indian subsidiary, Vodafone Essar. Vodafone had previously been unable to enlarge its holding in the cellco as the Essar Group’s 33% stake in the mobile operator was structured so that 22% was held offshore, filling the 74% foreign ownership quota set by the government. Under regulatory changes made earlier this year, however, indirect foreign investment routed through a company owned by Indians can now be treated as local equity.

Posted by Judith — 2:52 AM

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Vodafone loses pole position as China Mobile’s Q2 revenues climb to US$17bn.

Source: TeleGeography.

Vodafone can no longer claim to be the world’s largest mobile operator by revenues. China Mobile (or more accurately the parent company China Mobile Communications Corporation) has usurped its British rival to take the top spot.

Posted by Judith — 6:27 AM

Dell to buy Perot Systems for US$3.9bn.

Source: Reuters.

Dell plans to buy Perot Systems for about US$3.9bn., paying a steep 67.5% premium to expand its technology services business and compete with Hewlett-Packard Co and IBM.

Posted by Judith — 4:58 AM

Nortel to sell carrier network assets in auction.

Source: Reuters.

Nortel has announced that it will auction off software assets at its carrier division as it continues the process of selling its operation in pieces to pay creditors.
The Canadian firm, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January, said it would sell assets related to its next generation packet core network components. These include software used to help transfer data over existing wireless networks.

Posted by Judith — 4:54 AM

IBM buys Singaporean analytics specialist RedPill.

Source: Networkworld.

BM has agreed to acquired RedPill Solutions, a Singapore-based company that specializes in customer analytics.
RedPill’s expertise in analytics will beef up IBM’s own analytics capabilities, offered as part of its business process outsourcing services.

Posted by Judith — 3:58 AM

Monday, September 21, 2009

FCC proposes new open internet rules.

Source: The Washington Post.

The FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has proposed new rules aimed at ensuring that network operators treat the flow of Internet content without discrimination.
Under the rules, operators would not be able to discriminate on how they handle Internet content or applications on their networks and would have to make network management practices transparent.

Posted by Judith — 1:05 PM

Court rejects Rogers’ objection to Shaw buying Mountain Cablevision.

Source: TeleGeography.

Shaw Communications’ purchase of smaller cableco Mountain Cablevision has been given the all-clear after the Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed a motion filed by rival Rogers Communications seeking to block the acquisition based on a non-compete agreement in Ontario struck with Shaw nearly ten years ago.

Posted by Judith — 3:29 AM

Mobile Data not popular among UK holidaymakers.

Source: BWCS.

According to a survey released this week, two thirds of British citizens travelling abroad this summer have not used the mobile data services available on their phones.
The survey, which was commissioned by Openet, found that mobile operators have yet to get their pricing right for customers travelling abroad. While the new EU mobile roaming regulations will help bring down data roaming charges from next year, the survey indicates that there is room for mobile operators to drive roaming subscriber data usage higher.

Posted by Judith — 3:09 AM

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Phone calling coming to Twitter.

Source: CNN.com

Twitter users can now make voice calls directly to each other through the microblogging service.
A new third-party offering from Jajah known as Jajah@call will allow Twitter users to initiate a two-way voice chat with other users by typing “@call @username” — where “username” is someone’s Twitter ID — into any Twitter client.
During the beta period, the company said, the calls will be limited to two minutes, but the company will evaluate that length during beta.

Posted by Judith — 4:35 AM

Friday, September 18, 2009

Sprint backs Clearwire.

Source: TeleGeography.

Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse has reinforced the cellco’s commitment to Clearwire’s ongoing deployment of WiMAX networks, stating that his company would be willing to invest further in the operator if necessary. As more of Sprint’s biggest rivals, such as AT&T and Verizon, have announced that they are planning to deploy LTE technology as their chosen 4G platform, speculation has mounted regarding Sprint’s long-term dedication to WiMAX.

Posted by Judith — 5:28 AM

Lycamobile inks roaming deal with O2 UK.

Source: TeleGeography.

British MNVO Lycamobile has announced a new roaming agreement with O2 UK in a move the latter hopes will further expand its user base. Under the deal Lycamobile plans to launch pay-as-you-go SIM cards tied to O2’s network in the last three months of 2009.

Posted by Judith — 2:46 AM

EU adopts guidelines on broadband state aid.

Source: Telecompaper.

The European Commission has adopted guidelines on the application of EU state aid rules for public funding of broadband networks. They contain specific provisions concerning the deployment of next-generation access networks, where many local and national government are looking to the roll out of higher-speed fibre and wireless networks.

Posted by Judith — 2:39 AM

Nokia Siemens Networks claims world’s first LTE call.

Source: TeleGeography.

NSN claims to have made the world’s first voice call using Long Term Evolution technology. The company said the call was conducted at its research and development centre in Ulm, Germany, using its Flexi Multiradio base station, which runs software fully compliant to the 3GPP Rel.8 LTE standard.

Posted by Judith — 2:02 AM

TeliaSonera outsources fixed line maintenance to Ericsson.

Source: TeleGeography.

Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson has won a breakthrough order to maintain the fixed line network in Sweden of TeliaSonera. The contract is Ericsson’s first outsourcing deal from the telco in Sweden.

Posted by Judith — 1:54 AM

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Canada says won’t review Nortel-Ericsson deal.

Source: Reuters.

Canada has decided against launching a review of the US$1.13bn. sale of the wireless assets of bankrupt Nortel Networks to Sweden’s Ericsson, Industry Minister Tony Clement announced on Wednesday.

Posted by Judith — 3:34 AM

AT&T buys 700MHz spectrum from Vulcan.

Source: Telegeography.

Vulcan Spectrum is reported to have agreed terms with AT&T to divest 24 wireless spectrum licences. The licences, which cover parts of Oregon and Washington state, were purchased by Paul Allen-owned Vulcan in 2003 and cover the ‘C block’ segment of the airwaves within the 700MHz band, a part of the spectrum band previously reserved for UHF television channels.

Posted by Judith — 3:14 AM

Datacom agrees tower-sharing deal with Aircel.

Source: Telecompaper.

Datacom Solutions has signed a tower-sharing contract with Indian mobile operator Aircel. The contract, worth about US$400m., will help Datacom to roll out mobile services across the country. Datacom will gain access to a minimum of 5,000 mobile masts over the next sixteen months.

Posted by Judith — 2:42 AM

Czech T-Mobile acquires CRa’s retail operations.

Source: TeleGeography.

Czech cellco T-Mobile is purchasing the retail operations of fellow telecoms group and Czech broadcaster Ceske Radiokomunikace (CRa) for an undisclosed fee, as it looks to establish a platform in the country’s fixed line market.

Posted by Judith — 2:09 AM

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Verizon moves to block Nortel unit sale to Avaya.

Source: Total Telecom.

Verizon Communications has moved to block a planned US$900m. sale of Nortel Network’s enterprise unit to Avaya Inc., citing “serious consequences to safety, welfare and security” in the U.S.
Verizon, a big Nortel customer, said that unless Avaya agrees to take over its contracts with Nortel as part of the deal, there will be “an almost immediate disruption” of U.S. government and military communications networks, as well as emergency systems across the U.S. and Canada.

Posted by Judith — 3:59 AM

BT gets permission to bundle services.

Source: TimesOnline.

BT is set to compete more freely in the residential market after the removal of regulatory constraints that inhibited its ability to bundle services into discount packages.
Ofcom’s liberalisation of the rules governing BT represents a further milestone in the deregulation of the telecoms industry some 25 years after BT was privatised. By allowing BT to compete against its rivals with the bundling of different services, Ofcom has removed one of the last vestiges of regulation in the fixed-line sector.

Posted by Judith — 3:45 AM

Taiwan Mobile to pay Carlyle US$1bn. in swap deal.

Source: Reuters.

Carlyle Group and Taiwan Mobile have struck a US$1bn. deal, with Carlyle taking a big chunk of the telecommunications group in a sign the private equity firm has faith in the island’s economy.
The deal creates Taiwan’s largest pay TV operator and marks the second major acquisition in Taiwan’s telecoms sector in the last five months after China Mobile agreed to buy 12% of Taiwan’s Far EasTone for US$529m. in April.

Posted by Judith — 2:42 AM

Telstra responds to break-up proposal.

Source: Converge.

In a press response to the Australian government’s separation proposal, the newly-appointed Telstra CEO said the company was deeply disappointed the government felt it necessary to introduce this legislation.
“It is Telstra’s view that many aspects of this package are unnecessary and need never be implemented if a mutually acceptable outcome can be reached on the National Broadband Network”.

Posted by Judith — 2:22 AM

Sistema-Svyazinvest deal approved.

Source: TeleGeography.

Russia’s communications minister has announced that the proposed government purchase of Sistema’s holdings in fixed line group Svyazinvest and mobile operator SkyLink has received final approval. Under the terms of the deal, the state will take on Sistema’s RUB26bn. (US$827.7m.) debt to Siberbank in order to acquire the conglomerate’s 25% plus one share stake in Svyazinvest and its 50% stake in SkyLink.

Posted by Judith — 1:24 AM

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

O2 enters fixed-line phone market through BT Wholesale deal.

Source: Telecompaper.

O2 UK is set to enter the fixed-line telecoms market with the launch of the ‘Joined Up’ communications service for SME and corporate customers. The new service will provide businesses with a converged solution for their telecoms requirements spanning mobile, fixed line, data, broadband communications, equipment and professional consultancy. BT Wholesale will provide O2 with the fixed-line element for the new communications service under a five-year managed services agreement.

Posted by Judith — 10:58 AM

Australian government forces Telstra to separate.

Source: Telecompaper.

The Australian government plans to split Telstra into a wholesale and retail unit. Fundamental reforms to existing telecommunications regulations were announced. These seek to address Telstra’s high level of integration, streamline and simplify the competition regime, and to remove regulatory red-tape. The government seeks to structurally separate Telstra on a voluntary and cooperative basis but will impose a strong functional separation framework on the carrier if it chooses not to cooperate.

Posted by Judith — 4:27 AM

Clearwire, UQ, Yota sign Wimax roaming MOU.

Source: Telecompaper.

US Wimax operator Clearwire Communications has signed a MOU with Japanese Wimax operator UQ Communications and Russian Wimax operator Yota of Russia that identifies the objectives and activities each operator will perform towards the realisation of establishing Wimax roaming between the operators.

Posted by Judith — 4:11 AM

NTT DoCoMo pulls out of Malaysian mobile market.

Source: BWCS.

NTT DoCoMo is to sell its stake in Malaysian operator U Mobile. According to reports, DoCoMo will sell its 16.5% holding in the Kuala Lumpur-based company for around US$100m. U Mobile’s parent company is expected to purchase the shares outright.

Posted by Judith — 3:47 AM

Monday, September 14, 2009

Nortel to sell telecom unit to Avaya .

Source: WSJ.

Avaya has agreed to acquire a Nortel Networks Corp. business that makes phone systems for businesses for US$900m., plus an additional US$15m. for an employee-retention program, marking the end of a drawn-out auction for the operation.
Avaya, which is owned by private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners and TPG Capital, beat Siemens Enterprise Communications for the Toronto telecommunications-equipment vendor’s enterprise business.

Posted by Judith — 1:02 PM

Three Japanese handset vendors to merge.

Source: TeleGeography.

A trio of Japanese electronics firms - Hitachi, Casio and NEC - have announced plans to merge their mobile phone operations in a bid to reduce costs and improve their competitive position in the domestic market. From 2010 NEC will take a 71% equity stake in the enlarged entity, with Casio owning 20% and Hitachi holding a 9% stake.

Posted by Judith — 4:42 AM

Nokia buys boutique social networking firm.

Source: internetnews.com

Nokia has acquired Plum, a small company that created a platform for private social networks in a move seen as part of its transformation from wireless device maker to mobile service provider.

Posted by Judith — 3:46 AM

AT&T to inject speed into mobile networks.

Source: BWCS.

AT&T has announced further plans to upgrade its 3G network to HSPA in various markets across the US by the end of the year. The cities singled out by the telco for the 7.2Mbps mobile data network are: Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Miami. The need for speed has been driven, in part, by the popularity of the HSPA-compatible iPhone 3G which AT&T has been selling so successfully.

Posted by Judith — 3:34 AM

Eircom board recommends STT takeover offer.

Source: Telecompaper.

The board of Eircom Holdings has recommended an offer from STT Communications. The offer and estimated capital returns are currently equivalent to AU$1.335 per Eircom share.

Posted by Judith — 3:34 AM

France to invest EUR750m. over 3 years in fibre rollout.

Source: Telecompaper.

French state-owned financial institution Caisse des Depots will invest EUR750m. over three years to support the fibre roll-out in areas of low population density, as part of France’s economic stimulus package to the digital economy.

Posted by Judith — 3:06 AM

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Microsoft US$358m damage award overturned.

Source: Reuters

A U.S. court of appeals on Friday overturned a US$358m damages award against software maker Microsoft Corp in a long-running patent dispute with French telecoms equipment firm Alcatel-Lucent.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which handles many patent and trademark cases, held that Microsoft did indirectly infringe Alcatel’s patents, but said the damages awarded against the firm were not justified and must be retried.

Posted by Judith — 5:28 AM

802.11n Wi-Fi standard finally approved.

Source: CNET News

As predicted last month, the IEEE has finally approved the 802.11n high-throughput wireless LAN standard.
Finalization of the new wireless networking standard—which is capable of delivering throughput speeds up to 300 megabits per second (and even higher)—took exactly seven years from the day it was conceived, or six years from the first draft version. The standard has been through a dozen or so draft versions.

Posted by Judith — 5:12 AM

Friday, September 11, 2009

DoCoMo to Buy Content Delivery Specialist.

Source: Light Reading

Japan’s No. 1 mobile operator NTT DoCoMo unveiled its intentions to play a much bigger role in the international mobile content delivery services market today by announcing the planned takeover of German value-added services specialist Net Mobile AG.
DoCoMo is offering EUR6.35 for each Net Mobile share, valuing the company at about EUR41.6m.(US$60.8m). The Japanese company believes the acquisition, which is subject to a stock acceptance threshold of 75% and regulatory approval, should be completed by the end of this month.

Posted by Judith — 11:49 AM

SES expands Astra2Connect to African market ,

Source: Telecompaper

SES is expanding the reach of its satellite-based broadband service Astra2Connect to Africa through an agreement with Intersat Africa, a provider of satellite-based internet services on the continent. The service, which will start in January 2010, will be offered to households, small and medium enterprises as well as schools.
With capacity coming from SES World Skies’ NSS-12 satellite, Intersat Africa will use the platform to introduce interactive satellite-based broadband services to the African market. Astra2Connect will be sold in ten countries in East and Central Africa, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Newtec, a manufacturer of satellite equipment and a long-term partner for Astra2Connect, will supply Intersat Africa with the respective satellite broadband user terminals based on the Sat3Play technology.

Posted by Judith — 11:48 AM

Vodafone’s Access Gateway denies access.

Source: The Register

Vodafone’s femtocell deployment, termed the Access Gateway, has been plagued with issues prompting users to think fondly of the days when they had no coverage at all.
The Access Gateway is a 3G cell which plugs into the punter’s broadband connection and provides 3G coverage for voice and data. At least, it does when it’s working; but Vodafone can’t seem to keep its service operational for more than a day or two before the system exhibits the kind of faults not seen since the days of analogue mobile phones.
Most disconcerting of these was yesterday’s outage which resulted in callers being heard clearly, but those called being unable to make themselves heard at all. On that occasion at least those called were aware that a problem existed - previous faults have resulted in calls simply not arriving at all despite apparently solid connections.

Posted by Judith — 11:47 AM

Using billing to compete in a developing wireless market.

Source: Telephony Online

Tata Teleservices Limited is relying on a new real-time billing solution from vendor Telcordia to help the current CDMA-based operator launch a new GSM prepaid service into India’s crowded and competitive wireless market.
Tata already uses Telcordia’s Real-Time Charging platform on its CDMA network, which services 40 million subscribers. The operator is expanding its offering with a new GSM-based network, with network gear provided via a partnership Tata has in place with Japanese telecom operator NTT Docomo.
Telcordia serves the Indian market through Telcordia Technologies India, which it established in 2006, including Telcordia India Labs, which provides dedicated software services to Indian operators. “India as a market is really growing quite a bit right now, it’s the largest growth market in the world exceeding even China,” said Anuj Kapur, country head, service delivery solutions, for Telcordia India.
Among the innovations that Tata is relying on to compete with its new GSM services is so-called “single-second billing,” which the operator is promoting as a cost savings versus competing services which round up usage billing to the nearest minute in the case of a short or dropped call, said Kapur.

Posted by Judith — 11:07 AM

Skype retiring third-party Extras.

Source: CNET News

Starting Friday, Skype is effectively pulling the plug on its Extras program, which was designed to help third-party developers create add-ons for Skype’s VoIP service—like emoticon enhancements, backup services, and music player plugins. Unlike Firefox’s similar third-party extensions, not enough people were installing Skype Extras.

Posted by Judith — 11:03 AM

Verizon Challenges Avaya’s Takeover Of Nortel Unit .

Source: Information Week

In a court filing, Verizon Communications has protested Avaya’s bid as jeopardizing U.S. national security.
Avaya Inc.’s US$475m bid to acquire Nortel Networks Enterprise Solution unit has been rivaled by a new, undisclosed bidder for the unit. At the same time, Verizon Communications has protested Avaya’s bid as jeopardizing U.S. national security.
Avaya, which was the first bidder in a “stalking horse” auction for the Nortel unit, wouldn’t maintain certain public safety and defense equipment used throughout the U.S. if it acquires the Enterprise Solution unit from bankrupt Nortel, Verizon said in a filing in a bankruptcy court in Delaware.

Posted by Judith — 10:58 AM

Thursday, September 10, 2009

T-Orange: It is possible to have too much spectrum?

Source: The Register

The merger of T-Mobile and Orange means combining their spectrum holdings, throwing Digital Britain into confusion and putting the Digital Dividend at risk.
Digital Britain’s promise of broadband for all is based on permitting 3G services at lower frequencies, which means reallocating those frequencies between the existing operators. But the plans are all based on there being five UK operators. What’s worse is that until the deal gets regulatory approval no-one can be certain it’s going to happen, putting the UK spectrum auctions in a very difficult position.

Posted by Judith — 12:26 PM

Vivendi Bids $2.9B for Brazilian Telco.

Source: Light Reading

French telecom and media giant Vivendi has launched a US$2.9bn friendly offer to acquire Brazilian alternative telecom operator GVT , in an effort to boost its presence in emerging markets.
The tender offer for the Brazilian operator is Vivendi’s second attempt to acquire its way into high-growth telecom markets. The company recently was in talks to splash out around US$12bn on Zain Group ‘s African mobile operator assets, but it ended those discussions in July.
Now, Vivendi, which owns a 56 percent stake in French fixed and mobile operator SFR and a 53 percent stake in Morocco’s national operator Maroc Telecom , wants to be a telecom player in Brazil, the biggest telecom market in Latin America by service revenue.

Posted by Judith — 11:57 AM

What EMC is Doing in India.

Source: Business Week

When information management technology giant EMC began investing in India in 2003, it looked like a me-too move. Every other major global technology company was establishing a presence in India, so EMC would too. But it’s now clear that EMC has something much grander in mind. Today, EMC announced it plans to spend US$1.5bn on building up capabilities in India over the next five years, which represents a tripling of its investments over the past five. A key element is its new R&D and services complex in Bangalore, which will initially employ 2,000 people and has room for 3,500. A companion piece is a commitment announced yesterday for EMC to do joint research with faculty and students from the International Institute of Information Technology-Bangalore.

Posted by Judith — 11:15 AM

Wireless IPTV opens up in-home opportunities.

Source: Telephony Online

Telecom service providers in the United States are just beginning to explore using WiFi to deliver their IPTV services, but the service is attractive for more reasons than just a wire-free home. WiFi is one of several standards, alongside ZigBee and Z-Wave, competing to be the de facto technology for the home network. If WiFi does take hold as a way to deliver digital TV services, it could become a strategic tool for telcos to stake their claim in other areas of the home as well.

Posted by Judith — 11:12 AM

BT launches business continuity offers to safeguard clients’ customer services operations.

Source: BT plc

BT today launched a series of new offers to help companies and government organisations around the world avoid downtime hitting customer services operations, if faced with an outbreak of diseases, man-made events and natural occurrences.
Extreme weather conditions, industrial strikes and virus outbreaks have all unexpectedly affected customer service operations for a number of companies over the past year, and to tackle this BT Global Services has today outlined special offers, aimed at helping businesses prevent downtime in their contact centres.
Among the offers, BT has launched a new enhancement to its Next Generation Contact Centre (NGCC) service. As part of the service, called BT NGCC Protect, BT will help businesses ready themselves for any business continuity risks in their contact centres, by auditing their requirements and configuring systems so that agents can work from home, or other remote locations, if they can’t make it into the office. The service can work as a stand alone solution or alongside existing contact centre technology, with licenses held in reserve at a greatly reduced cost, and then when required they can become live immediately.

Posted by Judith — 10:21 AM

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Gateway Communications goes live on SEACOM.

Source: Telegeography

Two years after committing to the SEACOM project, Gateway Communications has announced it has gone live on the submarine fibre optic cable which connects Africa to Europe, Asia and the rest of the world. SEACOM, privately funded and three-quarters African owned, is expected to provide bandwidth on an open access basis, allowing all operators to have equal access to the cable. SEACOM has created an artificial price ceiling to ensure wholesalers charge end-users the most attractive market rates available for their bandwidth.

Posted by Judith — 12:17 PM

Juniper, Nokia-Siemens Team on Carrier Ethernet.

Source: Internet News

The market for carrier Ethernet solutions is about to get a little more crowded thanks to a new joint venture from Juniper Networks and Nokia-Siemens Networks (NSN).
The pair’s joint venture, officially named “Carrier Ethernet Solutions,” today received regulatory approval after having first been revealed in June. With the new company, the two networking giants aim to meld hardware and software from both partners into a joint solution for carrier networks.
Juniper Networks owns 60 percent of the joint venture company, while 40 percent will be owned by NSN.
The effort comes at a critical time for carrier Ethernet as service providers around the world work to meet the growing demands for bandwidth and lower costs amid an economic recession.

Posted by Judith — 11:58 AM

Comcast Offers High-Speed Internet for Business in Twin Cities.

Source: eWeek

Communications giant Comcast announced the launch of 100M-bps high-speed Internet service to businesses in the Twin Cities region—which it claims is one of the fastest broadband services available in the United States today.
The service, which boasts up to 100M-bps downloads and 15M-bps uploads, includes a comprehensive business solution with Microsoft and McAfee security software. The company hopes its wideband technology DOCSIS 3.0 will enable Comcast to deliver progressively faster speeds well into the future.

Posted by Judith — 11:29 AM

Cisco’s TCP stack is vulnerable to attack .

Source: The Enquirer

Cisco systems has announced that several of its products have vulnerabilities that could be exploited with denial of service attacks.
Today the company said that the flaws could be used to manipulate TCP connections, forcing them into an indefinitely long-lived state. In order to take advantage of the vulnerabilities a hacker need only complete a three-way TCP handshake with a vulnerable system, Cisco said.

Posted by Judith — 11:05 AM

Vodafone UK offers combined fixed, mobile service for SMEs.

Source: Telecompaper

Vodafone UK has launched the new Vodafone One Net service for small and medium-sized businesses, claiming savings of up to 20 percent on communication costs. The hosted service offers a single number for fixed and mobile calls, one voicemail for all messages and one contract. Business customers can switch seamlessly between their mobile and landline phone depending on where they are. They can also decide to pay a flat call rate, per user subscription, for all fixed and mobile calls. Fixed calls are provided through Vodafone UK’s extended partnership with BT Wholesale.

Posted by Judith — 10:15 AM

AT&T to double wireless data speeds in 6 cities.

Source: Associated Press

Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami and Charlotte, N.C., will be the first cities to see the benefits of AT&T’s plans to double the data download speeds on its wireless network. The six cities will be upgraded before the end of the year, the carrier said Wednesday.
The iPhone 3GS is the only phone on the market now that will be able to take advantage of the speed increase. But AT&T pointed to five other “smart” phones and some USB dongles, which let laptops go online, that will go on sale before the end of the year. Those devices also will be able to take advantage of the new technology, known as HSPA, or High-Speed Packet Access.

Posted by Judith — 10:04 AM

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

T-Mobile, Orange Partnership Looks to Dominate U.K. Mobile Market.

Source: eWeek

Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom announced that T-Mobile U.K. and Orange U.K., their respective properties, would merge, creating a base of 28.4 million customers and taking over 37 percent of the U.K. mobile market. The move will bump O2 to second place and an unhappy Vodafone to third.

Posted by Judith — 2:00 PM

Sweden cures the mobile Internet’s syncing feeling.

Source: The Inquirer

Swedish outfit Mashmobile (formerly Conveneer) has invented a way to make mobile data networks deliver the sort of performance that operators have been over-promising for years.
Today’s phones struggle to upload anything other than a pin code or contacts, so the mobile Internet is pretty much one way traffic. The network address translator you get from your operator only gives you a temporary IP number that lets you surf out from your handset, and nobody can access content stored on your phone from outside the device.
Marc Klefter and Rickard Lindberg, engineers at Conveneer, had an idea to fix this by finding a way to assign URLs to mobile devices. If a mobile devices could somehow be given a socket, it could be assigned a URL. By creating a connectivity platform - a sort of bolt on to the mobile network - they could create a socket connection for each mobile device to its own URL.

Posted by Judith — 2:00 PM

DoCoMo Gives IMS a Shot in the Arm .

Source: Light Reading

Japan’s leading mobile operator, NTT DoCoMo Inc., has teamed up with five vendors to develop specifications that, the partners hope, will give IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) a boost and make it more relevant to telecom service providers.
The group, which comprises Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson AB, Fujitsu Ltd., NEC Corp., and Nokia Siemens Networks , as well as DoCoMo, has developed specifications for a mechanism that delivers network-based value added services for IMS. And the collaborators say they have tested it using several specific services.

Posted by Judith — 1:54 PM

Can AT&T Meet iPhone Network Demands?

Source: Business Week

When AT&T cut the deal that made it the exclusive U.S. distributor of Apple’s iPhone, the carrier bet correctly it would attract millions of new subscribers. What it didn’t bargain for: the huge demands the device would impose on AT&T’s network. Thanks largely to the iPhone’s ability to surf the Web, play videos, and run all manner of software-based tools called apps, by some estimates AT&T now handles more than twice as much smartphone traffic as any other U.S. carrier. Or mishandles, as the case may be. In areas where the devices are most common, such as San Francisco and New York, the iPhone often drops calls or fails to deliver Web access at speeds implied in Apple ads.
The shortcomings leave AT&T under pressure to make its network iPhone-ready or risk losing its edge in smartphones. The company is almost sure to lose the exclusive partnership with Apple, possibly as early as next year.

Posted by Judith — 1:17 PM

Monday, September 7, 2009

Unicom and Telefonica in equity swap deal.

Source: TeleGeography

China Unicom and Telefonica have agreed to broaden their alliance through an initial deal to buy equity stakes in each other worth USD1bn a piece, writes the Financial Times. It is the first time a Chinese telco has taken an equity stake in a European operator. The Spanish company said in a regulatory filing that it would increase its holding in the Chinese operator to just above 8%, from the current 5.4%. The move is aimed at rebuilding the presence it had in China Netcom, the fixed line operator absorbed by Unicom as part of a broader restructuring of China’s telecoms sector last year. Unicom, meanwhile, will take 0.9% of the Spanish company. Unicom hopes to use its strengthening alliance with the Spanish group to enter Latin America, where China is forging relationships to secure supplies of metals and hydrocarbons.

Posted by Judith — 12:50 PM

Google’s Ex-China Head to Fund Start-Ups.

Source: The New York TImes

Three days after announcing that he was resigning as the head of Google’s China operations, Kai-Fu Lee said Monday that he had raised USD115m to create a company that would finance high-tech start-ups in China.
That company, Innovation Works, will search for talented Chinese engineers and entrepreneurs and help them develop the next generation of Internet and mobile computing technologies, Mr. Lee said in a telephone interview.

Posted by Judith — 12:42 PM

T-mobile rumours boost telecoms.

Source: Times Online

Reports that all three of Britain’s major mobile operators are in talks to buy T-Mobile UK, helped drive investors interest in the country’s fixed line phone operators, such as BT and Cable & Wireless, which should benefit from the protracted battle between their mobile rivals.
France Telecom’s Orange, Telefonica’s O2 and Vodafone are all reported to be in talks to buy T-Mobile in the UK. But analysts believe competition concerns will make the acquisition process long and difficult, while companies such as BT and C&W will be free to benefit from the growth of broadband and internet data use.

Posted by Judith — 12:36 PM

Ericsson Enters AT&T’s GPON Domain .

Source: Light Reading

Ericsson AB has been chosen by AT&T Inc. to be one of the U.S. carrier’s two key suppliers of wireline access equipment and associated services, the Swedish vendor announced Monday morning here in Paris.
Late last week AT&T unveiled its “Domain Supplier” program, a new supply chain initiative that will see the operator choose just two key vendor partners in each of an unspecified number of technical domains.
In announcing the program, AT&T identified only one domain, “Wireline Access,” which “includes technologies such as IP/DSLAM and FTTx,” the carrier noted.
That Ericsson has been chosen in this domain will come as something of a relief for the vendor’s management and its networks business unit, as one of the main reasons for buying GPON specialist Entrisphere in early 2007 was to win significant business with AT&T. And while the giant U.S. operator named Ericsson as an official GPON vendor in July 2007, activity since then has been minimal.

Posted by Judith — 12:18 PM

BT selected by Siemens Enterprise Communications for international data network.

Source: BT plc

BT has signed a three-year agreement to provide and operate the international data network for Siemens Enterprise Communications (SEN). The contract covers more than 230 locations of SEN in 45 countries.
The convergent network solution, which is based on BT’s MPLS (multiprotocol label switching) technology, will enable SEN to handle its data communications on a single platform and to reduce its networking costs by 30 per cent.
The agreement includes Internet connectivity for 10,000 users with BT’s MobileXpress solution enabling employees to access the corporate network while being on the road or at home. The management of firewalls and e-mail services is also included in the scope of services.

Posted by Judith — 11:54 AM

Reliance and Bharti aim to build new India-Bangladesh fibre links.

Source: TeleGeography

Indian telcos Reliance Communications (RCOM) and Bharti Airtel have revealed a joint plan to improve links between the remote northeast of India with the rest of the country by deploying new terrestrial fibre-optic routes passing through Bangladesh, which would in turn give the neighbouring country access to both companies’ international submarine and terrestrial networks. CommsDay writes that the Indian pair jointly applied to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to roll out two fibre links between Assam and Meherpur along the Calcutta-Meherpur-Dhaka-Haflong and the Calcutta-Meherpur-Dhaka-Comilla-Agartala routes. Bharti and RCOM have also approached Myanmar authorities to extend their networks there, effectively opening up another overland route to China.

Posted by Judith — 11:52 AM

Saturday, September 5, 2009

AT&T Unveils Domain Supplier Strategy.

Source: Light Reading

Following months of speculation that it is revamping its technology sourcing strategy, AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) today launched its Domain Supplier program, a “major change in the way the company sources new technology for its core network.”
The operator confirmed in today’s announcement that it will have “two suppliers selected and pre-qualified by AT&T” in each domain, presenting a “significant opportunity for them to work in that domain for a set multi-year period.” However, “there is no guarantee of any business award,” the operator added.
AT&T hasn’t specified how many domains — “areas of the future network bounded by a particular technology set” — it will have, but it did offer up the example of Wireline Access, which “includes technologies such as IP/DSLAM and FTTx.”

Posted by Judith — 3:55 AM

IndiaWatch: Hold-Ups & Hangovers.

Source: Light Reading

Number portability stalls. India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has extended the deadline for the introduction of number portability services until the end of the year.
Citing the complexity of implementation, the DoT says number portability in the big urban metro circles and high population ‘A’ circles must now be made available by Dec. 31, 2009.

Posted by Judith — 3:51 AM

Nortel closes submissions for auction.

Source: The Globe and Mail

Nortel Networks Corp. closed the submission process in the auction of its enterprise business Friday with multiple bidders, but only one publicly acknowledging interest in the chunk of Canada’s former technology equipment giant.
U.S. company Avaya Inc. submitted a USD475m stalking horse bid back in July and remains the only firm that has made a public comment about their offer.

Posted by Judith — 2:02 AM

Mobile technology may help city dwellers hitch ride.

Source: Reuters

Hitch-hikers have always used their thumbs to get a ride. Now a new invention aims to update the technique — allowing mobile phone users to dial-a-driver.
The mobile ride-sharing service being developed by researchers in Germany combines internet and mobile technologies to match drivers to passengers for trips around town, without them having to arrange it long beforehand.
While traditional car sharing services require commuters to register routes in advance, the promoters of “OpenRide” say their product enables drivers to enter a destination on their mobile phone when they are already on the road.
A server tracks the vehicle’s current location and scans for ride requests. If the software finds a match, the driver is notified and has the option of picking up passengers en route.

Posted by Judith — 1:06 AM

Friday, September 4, 2009

Vividwireless to bring mobile WiMAX to Australia.

Source: FierceWireless.

Vividwireless, a new subsidiary of one of Australia’s leading media companies, Seven Network, is putting down about $42m. to fund the country’s first mobile WiMAX rollout. The company has selected Huawei Technologies to build out the network

Posted by Judith — 2:46 AM

Deutsche Telekom plans fixed/mobile merger in Q1 2010.

Source: Telecompaper.

Deutsche Telekom will start merging its fixed and mobile divisions in Germany in the first quarter of 2010 using the One Company concept, if the extraordinary shareholders meeting on 19 November of this year approves the plan.

Posted by Judith — 2:11 AM

Virgin and Spice both bid for MTNL 3G franchise.

Source: TeleGeography.

Virgin Mobile and Spice Group are the only two companies to have bid for franchise deals to offer 3G services offered by state-owned Indian operatorMTNL.
Virgin Mobile already has franchise agreements in place in India with Tata Teleservices, allowing it to provide GSM-based services.

Posted by Judith — 2:06 AM

DT in early talks with trio over UK unit sale.

Source: TeleGeography.

Deutsche Telekom is reported to have initiated negotiations with three major players relating to the sale of its struggling UK mobile unit, T-Mobile UK. It is understood that UK-based Vodafone Group, France Telecom and Spain’s Telefonica had all shown interest in the cellco.

Posted by Judith — 1:53 AM

Thursday, September 3, 2009

E.U. starts antitrust inquiry into Oracle’s bid for Sun.

Source: NYT.

European Union regulators have launched an antitrust probe into U.S. software maker Oracle’s takeover of Sun Microsystems, saying the deal could mean higher prices and limited choice for database software.
EU approval is now the main stumbling block for the US$7.4bn. deal which has already been cleared in the U.S. by the Department of Justice.

Posted by Judith — 5:04 AM

Canadian cellcos pledge to give users a fair deal.

Source: TeleGeography.

Canada’s mobile network operators have agreed to adopt a new code of conduct aimed at offering transparency and fairness in their end-user tariffs and contract conditions. The country’s three major nationwide cellcos Rogers, Bell and Telus have agreed to the code, as have most smaller players, including several start-up companies that won wireless frequencies in the July 2008 3G spectrum auction.

Posted by Judith — 4:09 AM

Loop to invest US$75m. in Mumbai expansion.

Source: TeleGeography.

Loop Mobile (formerly BPL Mobile) has set aside US$75m. for expansion of its operations in Mumbai. The cellco has said it hopes to use the funds to assist in its aim of doubling its subscriber base in the circle by the end of this fiscal year.

Posted by Judith — 3:27 AM

Hong Kong’s first MVNO out of business.

Source: TeleGeography.

Hong Kong’s oldest MVNO Trident Telecom has returned its operating licence. Trident was the first MVNO to be licensed in Hong Kong in 2001, and offered services over the network of PCCW Mobile.

Posted by Judith — 3:02 AM

America Movil to offer Ovi.

Source: BWCS.

Mexican mobile operator America Movil has signed up with Finnish handset maker Nokia to make the online application store - the Ovi Store - available across South America.
Ovi is seen by most analysts as Nokia’s attempt to match Apple and its successful online application store.

Posted by Judith — 2:26 AM

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

eBay reaches deal to sell Skype.

Source: BBC.

Online auction site eBay has agreed to sell the majority of internet phone company Skype for US$1.9bn.
Skype is to be majority-owned by a group of private investors, including Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen and private equity firms.
EBay will keep a 35% stake in the firm, which it has been trying to sell for some time.

Posted by Judith — 3:50 AM

Clearwire contracts Huawei for nationwide rollout.

Source: TeleGeography.

US-based WiMAX specialist Clearwire has announced that it has contracted Chinese equipment supplier Huawei Technologies to provide wireless radio access network infrastructure for its planned nationwide WiMAX rollout. The company already has agreements with Motorola, Samsung, Cisco, and DragonWave.

Posted by Judith — 3:19 AM

Sprint inks M2M partnership with DataSmart.

Source: FierceTelecom.

Sprint Nextel has signed a multi-year deal with wireless data service provider M2M DataSmart to help get more machine-to-machine devices running on its network.
Under the agreement, M2M DataSmart will help add M2M devices onto Sprint’s network by providing test accounts and assisting with certification and engineering applications. Further, the two companies will provide developer kits and developer test accounts for end-to-end provisioning and activation.

Posted by Judith — 3:08 AM

AdC hands Zon and PT record fines.

Source: TeleGeography.

Portugal’s antitrust authority, the Autoridade da Concorrencia (AdC), has fined incumbent operator PT and Zon Multimedia, previously a PT subsidiary, a total of EUR53m.(US$75.8m.) for abusing their dominant position. The AdC said that the fines pertain to complaints made during 2003 and 2004, when PT and Zon were still a single company and the country’s sole wholesale operator.

Posted by Judith — 2:26 AM

Apple approves Vonage mobile VoIP app.

Source: cnet.

Vonage has announced that its mobileVoIP app has been approved for use by Apple on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
The Internet telephone service provider said it’s conducting a beta test of the app and that general availability will be announced at a later date.

Posted by Judith — 2:14 AM

Telecom New Zealand faces investigation.

Source: FierceTelecom.

NZ’s Commerce Commission has opened up an investigation into the service provider’s failure to honor an agreement made through the New Zealand’s government-mandated breakup of the service provider’s fixed-line monopoly. The New Zealand government had mandated that Telecom New Zealand split up into three primary units (retail, wholesale and networks) and sell wholesale access to competitive service providers on its local network.

Posted by Judith — 2:00 AM

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

T-Mobile boosts M2M market plans.

Source: cellular-news.

T-Mobile is boosting its Machine-to-Machine communications services after signing a co-operation agreement with Sierra Wireless. The areas of co-operation identified by the MOU are product development, marketing, sales and deployment of M2M solutions and related services.
The co-operation targets the European market, with initial focus on Germany.

Posted by Judith — 4:02 AM

Sony signs Google browser deal.

Source: BBC.

Google has signed a deal with Sony to incorporate its Chrome internet browser into the Japanese technology giant’s personal computers.
This is the first such deal that Google has signed with a PC maker.

Posted by Judith — 3:51 AM

Australia Japan Cable and Pacific Crossing launch GigE, 10GigE service.

Source: Converge.

Australia Japan Cable and Pacific Crossing have teamed up to launch a Gigabit Ethernet Service for carrier, enterprise, and ISP customers looking for scalable, flexible connectivity options between Australia and North America.
Australia-Japan Cable is a 12,700km optical fibre ring submarine cable network, directly connecting Australia and Japan, via Guam. Pacific Crossing owns and operates the trans-Pacific, subsea fibre-optic network ring, PC1, connecting the U.S. and Japan.

Posted by Judith — 3:16 AM

Moroccan investors agree to take Meditel from Portugal Telecom and Telefonica.

Source: TeleGeography.

Portugal Telecom and Spain’s Telefonica have agreed to sell their respective 32.2% stakes in Morocco’s second largest mobile network operator Medi Telecom (Meditel) to a group of Moroccan investment companies. In a statement yesterday, PT said it had agreed a price of EUR400m. (US$574m.) for its stake, whilst Telefonica had also agreed a similar sale, which the Spanish operator later confirmed.

Posted by Judith — 3:02 AM

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