Press Clippings: July 2011
Major Industry items you might have missed
Saturday, July 30, 2011
AT&T to curb wireless browsing speed for heaviest data users.
Source: Businessweek.
AT&T, the largest U.S. phone company, will curb browsing speeds for its heaviest users on unlimited wireless data plans to cope with surging data traffic.
AT&T and other carriers are battling congestion on their networks as sales of smartphones surge and more people use them to download video and browse the Web.
Posted by Judith — 2:03 AM
Friday, July 29, 2011
Vodafone getting a US$4.5bn. windfall from Verizon Wireless.
Source: cellular-news.
Vodafone is to get its first dividend payment from its Verizon Wireless subsidiary in many years after the US network approved a US$10bn. (GBP6.1bn.) dividend payment to its two shareholders.
As a 45% shareholder in Verizon Wireless, Vodafone’s share of the dividend will be US$4.5bn. (GBP2.8bn.).
Posted by Judith — 3:43 AM
BT to extend ADSL2+ to 90% of the UK.
Source: TeleGeography.
BT has announced that it will extend the availability of its ADSL2+ services to around 2.5m. more premises than it had originally planned, with around 900,000 of those properties set to benefit from the coverage expansion being in rural areas. As a result of its expanded coverage plans BT will, on completing the rollout, offer downlink speeds of up to 20Mbps to around 90% of the UK’s premises, up from its original target of 80%.
Posted by Judith — 3:08 AM
Mobile phone shipments rise 13% to 361m.
Source: BBC.
Mobile phone makers shipped 361m. handsets in the second quarter of this year, up 13% on the same period in 2010, according to a new report.
Smartphone volumes reached 110m. units, with Apple overtaking Nokia and Samsung to become the biggest vendor.
Posted by Judith — 1:01 AM
France Telecom to withdraw from several European markets.
Source: TeleGeography.
As part of an ongoing portfolio review started by its Chief Executive Officer earlier this year, FT has put up for sale its Austrian, Swiss and Portuguese assets. As a result of slow growth in European markets, FT is attempting to maximise profitability by pulling out of countries where it is not one of the top two operators and where it does not have a controlling stake in the company.
Posted by Judith — 12:11 AM
UK mobile retail access via smartphone grew 163% in past year.
Source: cellular-news.
Nearly 6% of mobile phone users visited an online retail website with their mobile phone. In the EU5 region (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK), the number of smartphone users accessing online retail sites has increased by 80% over the past year.
This growth is even stronger in the UK, with a 163% increase in smartphone users accessing retail sites since May 2010.
Posted by Judith — 12:08 AM
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Sprint, LightSquared announce network-sharing deal.
Source: cnet.
Sprint Nextel and LightSquared have confirmed a long-anticipated network-sharing deal designed to spur the creation of a 4G network.
Under the terms of the 15-year deal, LightSquared would pay Sprint US$9bn. in cash and an estimated US$4.5bn. in credits for LTE and satellite equipment. In exchange, Sprint would host LightSquared’s spectrum and provide network services, while LightSquared would have roaming access to Sprint’s 3G network.
Posted by Judith — 4:12 AM
France Telecom plans sale of Swiss network
Source: cellular-news
France Telecom has announced that,, following the review of its European asset portfolio, it has begun the process for a potential disposal of its consumer business in Switzerland. The company tried to merge Orange Switzerland with rival network, Sunrise last year, but it was blocked by the Swiss Competition Commission.
The company also said that a review of operations in Africa and the Middle East as well as those for the Enterprise sector is underway and should be completed by year-end.
Posted by Judith — 2:35 AM
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
ISPs ‘still mislead’ on broadband.
Source: BBC.
Broadband speeds in the UK now average 6.8Mbps, but there is still a huge gap between advertised and actual speeds, according to Ofcom.
Almost half of broadband users are now on packages with advertised speeds above 10Mbps but few achieve this.
Ofcom’s biannual report into the state of the broadband market urged changes to advertising.
Posted by Judith — 5:56 AM
Orange inks African deal with Google for mobile services.
Source: cellular-news.
France Telecom-Orange and Google have signed a partnership that aims to facilitate access to Google’s services across Africa by leveraging Orange’s networks. This will enable Orange’s mobile customers to stay in touch with their Google services and Google users to extend their network by using SMS-based services.
Posted by Judith — 4:38 AM
BTC gets refitted for competition.
Source: TeleGeography.
Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC), the new owners of the Bahamas’ wireless monopoly Bahamas Telecommunication Company (BTC) has announced plans to update the brand. CWC has made the development of a 4G network a priority for the company, and hopes to have begun rollout by April 2012. CWC’s main concern, however is to prepare the company for competition, when the market is liberalised in 2014.
Posted by Judith — 3:33 AM
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Mozilla starts work on mobile code.
Source: BBC.
The creators of the Firefox web browser have started developing an operating system for mobiles and tablets.
Although the project will draw on some parts of Google’s Android mobile operating system much of the code will be freshly written.
Once finished the operating system will compete with Android as it will run on the same devices.
Posted by Judith — 3:46 AM
RIM streamlines top management, cuts 2,000 jobs.
Source: Telecompaper.
Research In Motion announced plans to cut 2,000 jobs and streamline its top management in an effort to boost growth. The company gave more details on its cost optimisation plan first announced in June, saying North America employees will be the first to get their notice this week. After the 2,000 lay-offs across its global workforce, RIM will have a total of around 17,000 employees.
Posted by Judith — 1:59 AM
ChinaTel Group ‘outgrows’ name.
Source: TeleGeography.
US-based ChinaTel Group announced yesterday that it has rebranded to VelaTel Global Communications. The name change was prompted by the company’s decision to diversify its portfolio and increase its presence overseas.
Posted by Judith — 12:46 AM
Vodafone Germany inks strategic partnership deal with euNetworks.
Source: TeleGeography.
Bandwidth infrastructure provider euNetworks has announced the signing of a strategic partnership agreement with Vodafone Germany to deliver fibre services to the operator in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin and Munich. The deal will enable Vodafone to strengthen its fibre-optic network to support its LTE network rollout.
Posted by Judith — 12:05 AM
Monday, July 25, 2011
Syntel reaches agreement with Ericsson in bid to acquire NITEL.
Source: TeleGeography.
Nigerian firm Syntel has finalised a technical partnership agreement with Swedish equipment vendor Ericsson in an attempt to acquire a 75% stake in fixed line incumbent Nigeria Telecommunications (NITEL), after the latest attempt to sell the ailing telco was cancelled last month.
Posted by Judith — 3:13 AM
RIM buys Swedish online video editing developer.
Source: cellular-news.
RIM has brought the Sweden based video editing software developer, JayCut for an undisclosed amount.
RIM stated that “By working with JayCut to add video editing capabilities to the BlackBerry platform we can further enrich our customers’ multimedia experience with BlackBerry.”
Posted by Judith — 1:49 AM
Etisalat joins Telefonica’s bulk buying partners network.
Source: cellular-news.
UAE based Etisalat and Spain’s Telefonica have signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement to enter into a broad-based cooperation. The partnership will allow both Groups to collaborate on a range of strategic areas given their capabilities and expertise.
Under the terms of the Agreement, the companies will establish mechanisms to enable them to draw on each other’s experience in various strategic areas, including collaboration on technological standardization, new global technology initiatives, R&D, and new emerging products and services.
Posted by Judith — 12:54 AM
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Judge rejects Oracle damages estimate versus Google.
Source: Reuters.
A U.S. judge has rejected Oracle Corp’s claim for billions of dollars in damages from Google for infringing on Java patents, a day after warning both sides they had taken unreasonable positions in a patent battle over the Android mobile system.
The judge has given Oracle a chance to come up with new figures, after saying in a testy hearing the day before that both technology giants were “asking for the moon.”
Oracle sued Google last year, claiming the Internet search company’s Android software infringed on Java patents that it inherited through an acquisition of Sun Microsystems in 2010.
Posted by Judith — 2:57 AM
Friday, July 22, 2011
Altimo acquires additional 14% stake in Turkcell.
Source: TeleGeography.
Altimo, the telecoms arm of Russian conglomerate Alfa Group, has announced that it has acquired an additional 14% stake in Turkish mobile operator Turkcell, giving the firm a significant advantage in its long-running battle with Cukurova Holdings for control of Turkcell.
Posted by Judith — 2:43 AM
T-Mobile and Orange (Poland) share their NetWorkS!
Source: TeleGeography.
Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa (T-Mobile Poland) and Orange Poland have signed a 15-year agreement on mobile access network sharing. The two cellcos founded a joint venture, dubbed ‘NetWorkS!’ with each owning 50% of the new company.
Posted by Judith — 1:48 AM
Tele2 to buy out Norwegian mobile partners.
Source: Telecompaper.
Tele2 has agreed to buy out its partners in the Mobile Norway joint venture. Orkla, Hafslund Venture II and Katalysator Telekom are the three largest shareholders in Network Norway with 67.76% of diluted share capital, including warrants and options.
Posted by Judith — 12:03 AM
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Ericsson wins 5-year managed services contract across Africa.
Source: cellular-news.
Bharti Airtel has signed a five year managed services agreement with Ericsson for its Africa operations. Under a separate two year agreement, Ericsson will modernize and upgrade Airtel’s mobile networks in Africa with the latest technologies.
This is Ericsson’s first multi-country Managed Services deal in Africa.
Posted by Judith — 4:56 AM
Alcatel-Lucent confirms talks on Enterprise division sale.
Source: Telecompaper.
Alcatel-Lucent has confirmed it’s considering a sale of it’s enterprise equipment business. The company said in a statement that “all options are being explored, including discussions with third parties”. In June, unions in France staged action at Alcatel sites to demand the management be more open about its plans.
Posted by Judith — 3:11 AM
Acer to buy U.S. cloud computing firm iGware.
Source: Reuters.
Acer, the world’s No.2 PC maker, will buy U.S. based cloud computing firm iGware for US$320m., looking to move into the potentially lucrative cloud market and add value to its main hardware business.
Posted by Judith — 1:58 AM
Dell to buy Force10 Networks.
Source: Telecompaper.
Dell has announced an agreement to acquire Force10 Networks, a maker of data centre networking equipment. Dell said the takeover will give it a broader range of products to offer enterprise customers, an area where it has been expanding in recent years.
Posted by Judith — 12:09 AM
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
T-Mobile to offer unlimited data plans.
Source: Reuters.
Wireless telecom firm T-Mobile USA has announced that it will begin offering unlimited data service plans, in a move aimed at wooing customers of bigger rivals Verizon Wireless and AT&T which have stopped offering such plans.
Posted by Judith — 3:14 AM
Isis sIgns up credit card vendors to mobile payments service.
Source: cellular-news.
Isis, the USA based mobile commerce joint venture between AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, has signed merchant agreements with Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express. Isis’ relationships with all four payment networks mean that with Isis-enabled phones and payment terminals in place, merchants and consumers will have ubiquity and freedom of choice when it comes to payment network acceptance.
Posted by Judith — 2:32 AM
BT told to cut annual prices for firms that use its network to supply remote rural locations.
Source: BBC.
Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator, has instructed BT to cut annual prices by 12% below inflation for the next three years for firms that use its network to supply remote rural locations.
Up to three million homes and businesses will benefit from the reduction, Ofcom said, especially those located in the hard-to-access parts of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the South West, Yorkshire, Northumberland and Cumbria.
Posted by Judith — 1:04 AM
Alcatel speeds up Unicom’s 3G network.
Source: TeleGeography.
Alcatel-Lucent has announced that it will be increasing the reach and efficiency of China Unicom’s 3G network. China Unicom has commissioned the work to meet the increasing demand for mobile broadband. The French-US firm will be expanding the GSM and W-CDMA network in ten provinces starting with Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Fujian, providing China Unicom the means to optimise its existing networks and preparing them for future upgrades.
Posted by Judith — 12:00 AM
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Cisco confirms 6,500 job cuts.
Source: Telecompaper.
Cisco has confirmed it will cut 6,500 jobs as part of its plan to reduce operating expenses by US$ 1bn. Around 2,100 employees have already agreed to a voluntary early retirement, and the remainder will be redundancies. Cisco noted that the job cuts also include a 15% reduction of vice president level and above employees. Overall, this represents a reduction of around 9% of Cisco’s regular full-time workforce.
Posted by Judith — 3:08 AM
Ziggo enters mobile broadband sphere.
Source: TeleGeography.
Dutch cableco Zesko Holdings (Ziggo) has entered the country’s mobile market by launching an inaugural broadband internet offer targeted at tablet and laptop users. The operator is partnering with MVNE Aspider and KPN Mobile The Netherlands to launch the new service, which is only being offered to existing Ziggo customers.
Posted by Judith — 12:43 AM
TIM Brasil to spend BRL171m. in rural fibre rollout.
Source: TeleGeography.
Brazilian operator TIM Brasil is looking to spend BRL171m. (US$109m.) to roll out a fibre-optic network capable of delivering voice, data and broadband services covering 27 municipalities in Amazonas, Para and Amapa states.
Posted by Judith — 12:00 AM
Monday, July 18, 2011
HTC to appeal against Apple patent ruling.
Source: BBC.
Taiwanese mobile phone company HTC has said it will appeal against a US ruling that it infringed two Apple patents.
If Friday’s ruling by the US International Trade Commission is not overturned, the US may ban imports of some HTC phones.
Posted by Judith — 4:19 AM
Spanish govt oks Telefonica’s planned 6,500 job cuts.
Source: Telecompaper.
The Spanish Labour Ministry has approved the agreement between Telefonica and unions to cut up to 6,500 jobs through 2013 to reduce company costs. The current value of the cost of Telefonica’s Redundancy Plan is estimated to reach EUR2.7bn.(US$3.8bn.) before taxes.
Posted by Judith — 2:08 AM
France Telecom in DRC takeover.
Source: TeleGeography.
France Telecom has begun talks with ZTE regarding a potential buyout of the Chinese company’s 51% share of Democratic Republic of Congo cellco Congo China Telecom (CCT). In addition, the French telco is considering entering the tender for the remaining 49%, currently being offered by the Congolese government. The move to gain a foothold in DRC is part of a larger strategy from France Telecom to offset declining revenues from competition in Europe by expanding into emerging markets in Africa and the Middle East. Under its Orange banner, France Telecom already has a presence in 14 African countries.
Posted by Judith — 12:51 AM
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Apple wins initial ITC ruling on HTC phone.
Source: Reuters.
Apple has won a preliminary ruling from a U.S. trade panel that Taiwanese handset maker HTC Corp infringed on two of the California company’s patents.
The ruling, though preliminary, will be closely dissected as it is one of the first between Apple and other smartphone makers that use Android.
Posted by Judith — 3:20 AM
Friday, July 15, 2011
DT completes OTE stake increase to 40%.
Source: TeleGeography.
DT has completed a transaction to raise its equity stake in Greek incumbent telco Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation (OTE, including cmobile group Cosmote) from 30% to 40% after a state put option was activated. The share deal completed on 11 July, with the German giant paying EUR391.6m. (US$556m.) for the 10% stake.
Posted by Judith — 1:28 AM
Vodafone, Airtel, Idea sign 3G roaming pact.
Source: Telecompaper.
Vodafone Essar has announced agreements for nationwide 3G roaming with rivals Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular. None of the operators have nationwide spectrum for 3G, so the agreement will facilitate customers accessing services throughout the country.
Posted by Judith — 12:37 AM
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Nokia, Siemens end talks to sell stake in NSN.
Source: Telecompaper.
Nokia and Siemens have rejected offers from private equity companies to invest in their joint venture Nokia Siemens Networks. The two partners said in a joint statement that they have completed a review of offers and have decided to continue the shareholding structure as is.
Posted by Judith — 2:42 AM
PayPal introduces NFC Android-to-Android m-payments service.
Source: Telecompaper.
PayPal has unveiled a peer-to-peer payment functionality that allows Android users to pay each other by tapping two NFC-enabled devices together. The system leverages a PayPal widget that allows users to request or send money. After the phones buzz together, the recipient can decide to send or receive money by entering a PIN number.
Posted by Judith — 1:29 AM
Brightpoint to distribute ZTE smartphones in the UK.
Source: cellular-news.
ZTE has signed an agreement with Brightpoint to distribute its mobile phones in the UK. The company has previously announced plans to increase its marketing efforts to boost handset sales in the UK, and later the USA and Europe.
Posted by Judith — 12:15 AM
Sri Lanka Telecom to spend US$46m. upgrading mobile network.
Source: cellular-news.
Sri Lanka Telecom is to invest LKR5bn. (US$46m.) in its mobile phone subsidiary, Mobitel for modernisation and expansion
Posted by Judith — 12:00 AM
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
US regulator extends review of Level 3, Global Crossing deal.
Source: Telecompaper.
The US Department of Justice is extending its investigation of Level 3 Communications’ proposed takeover of Global Crossing. Level 3 said it will respond accordingly but still expects the takeover to close by year-end. Level 3 announced in April the proposed takeover for US$3bn.
Posted by Judith — 3:08 AM
NBN Co and Telstra gain rural 2300MHz spectrum.
Source: TeleGeography.
NBN Co, the public-private partnership set up to oversee the management and construction of the country’s in-deployment NBN has emerged as the biggest winner in the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s auction of spectrum in the 2300MHz band. In total, three companies walked away with frequencies at the closure of the sale process, with NBN Co gaining 24 of the 40 concessions for a total of AU$1.33m. (US$1.41m.).
Fixed line incumbent Telstra spent AU$304,300 on twelve 2300MHz spectrum licences and vividwireless won four concessions via its subsidiary BKAL Pty at a cost of AU$37,300.
Posted by Judith — 2:16 AM
Bharti Airtel extends IT support contract with IBM to African subsidiaries.
Source: cellular-news.
Bharti Airtel and IBM have announced a 10-year agreement to provide IT services to its employees across 16 African countries. In terms of the agreement, IBM will provide a standard operating environment, ‘help desk’ and ‘desk side’ support.
In terms of the new agreement, IBM will provide comprehensive end user services to Airtel employees across Africa, in French and English. IBM will also be responsible for the implementation and maintenance of a standard operating environment.
Posted by Judith — 1:39 AM
Alfa completes Alestra buyout.
Source: TeleGeography.
Mexican conglomerate Alfa Group has reportedly completed the purchase of AT&T Telecom Mexico’s 49% stake in fixed line and broadband provider Alestra. On the back of the stake acquisition Alfa is now the sole shareholder in Alestra.
Posted by Judith — 12:55 AM
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
EU operators push for bandwidth charging.
Source: Telecompaper.
European telecom operators will publish a report this week advocating new business models, including charging online content providers for network priority, in order to finance the next generation of broadband infrastructure.
Posted by Judith — 1:46 AM
China Telecom to launch MVNO in UK.
Source: TeleGeography.
China Telecom has announced plans to launch an MVNO in the UK next year to cater to the Chinese community in Britain and Chinese tourists. The company estimates a potential market of around 800,000 potential subscribers in the UK.
Posted by Judith — 12:53 AM
China Telecom awards routing contract to Alcatel-Lucent.
Source: Converge.
China Telecom has selected Alcatel-Lucent’s IP routing and 100G technology for upgrades to its network. The contract was secured by Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell, Alcatel-Lucent’s flagship company in China.
Posted by Judith — 12:00 AM
Monday, July 11, 2011
Bouygues Telecom joins Telefonica Partners Program.
Source: Telecompaper.
French operator Bouygues Telecom has joined the Telefonica Partners Program. The initiative aims to make available to selected operators and under commercial terms a host of services that allows partners to cooperate on key business aspects.
Posted by Judith — 9:06 AM
Telenor announces purchase of Norwegian fibre duo.
Source: TeleGeography.
Norwegian telecoms group Telenor has reached an agreement to acquire two local fibre companies, LOS Bynett and Bynett Privat, both of which provide high speed fibre-optic services. The value of the deal has been confirmed at around NOK300m. (US$55.3m.) and it is understood that staff at both companies will be kept on
Posted by Judith — 8:08 AM
Alcatel-Lucent sets aside funds for New Zealand network costs
Source: cellular-news.
Alcatel-Lucent’s New Zealand subsidiary says that it faces a potential loss of NZ$27.6m.(US$23.12m.) following the problems with the 3G network it built for Telecom NZ, and which then suffered a number of serious network failures.
Posted by Judith — 1:16 AM
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Lebara Mobile looks for buyer.
Source: Telecompaper.
The European ethnic MVNO Lebara Mobile is up for sale. The company confirmed in a statement that it hired RBS to “explore future strategic opportunities”. Started in the Netherlands in 2004, Lebara Mobile now operates in seven European markets and Australia, targeting local immigrant and ethnic communities with low-price international calls.
Posted by Judith — 4:22 AM
Friday, July 8, 2011
EBay buys Zong as mobile payments gain traction.
Source: Reuters.
EBay has announced that it has agreed to buy cellphone payments provider Zong for about US$240m. to help its PayPal unit push further into mobile commerce.
Zong is eBay’s seventh acquisition so far in 2011. Other deals this year include the purchase of GSI Commerce, Magento and Where. The company is buying businesses and technology that can help it work with more merchants as commerce moves increasingly online.
Posted by Judith — 3:48 AM
Rogers launches LTE network in Ottawa.
Source: Telecompaper.
Canadian operator Rogers Communications has launched its LTE network in Ottawa. Rogers also announced that network roll-out to Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal will occur this fall, and that LTE-enabled smartphones from Samsung and HTC will be available later this year.
Posted by Judith — 1:00 AM
Ericsson lands deal with Vodafone Italy for network management.
Source: TeleGeography.
Swedish equipment vendor Ericsson has announced that it has entered into a five-year partnership with Vodafone Italy to manage field operations for the cellco. Under the terms of the agreement, Ericsson will assume responsibility for Vodafone’s fixed and mobile access and transmission networks, as well as taking control of the operator’s fixed core network nodes.
Posted by Judith — 12:18 AM
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Facebook launches video chat with Skype.
Source: Reuters.
Facebook will add Skype video chat to its pages, aiming to spice up the appeal of the world’s No. 1 Internet social networking service while fending off increased competition from Google.
The agreement deepens the company’s cooperation with Microsoft, which is in the process of buying Skype to build up its web presence.
Posted by Judith — 3:54 AM
TeliaSonera joins the M2M cooperation agreement of France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom.
Source: cellular-news.
An operator alliance between France Telecom-Orange and Deutsche Telekom covering Machine to Machine (M2M) services has been expanded by the addition of TeliaSonera to the alliance.
The agreement, which initially was signed by France Telecom-Orange and Deutsche Telekom in February 2011 to cover France, Germany, Belgium, and Luxembourg, has since added The Netherlands and most recently the UK through Everything Everywhere to its purview.
Posted by Judith — 2:00 AM
EC wants structural fix for roaming market, more price cuts.
Source: Telecompaper.
The EC has proposed increased regulation of mobile roaming in the EU, including more price cuts on voice and SMS, new retail price caps on data services and requirements for operators to open up their networks for competitors to offer alternative roaming services. The EC said its latest report on the roaming regulations found that prices remain “stubbornly close” to the existing retail price caps.
Posted by Judith — 1:03 AM
Judge rejects Apple bid for injunction against Amazon.
Source: Reuters.
A U.S. judge has denied Apple’s attempt to quickly stop online retailer Amazon from using the “App Store” name.
Apple filed a trademark lawsuit saying that Amazon has improperly used Apple’s App Store name to solicit software developers throughout the United States.
Apple also asked for a preliminary injunction to stop Amazon from using the name, which Apple says is trademark protected. However, Amazon argued that the term is generic and therefore not protectable.
Posted by Judith — 12:49 AM
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
IPass unveils Wi-Fi Exchange for service providers.
Source: cellular-news.
Wi-Fi roaming service provider, iPass says that it has launched an Open Mobile Exchange, which enables mobile networks to extend core mobility and Internet offerings by integrating Wi-Fi with their cellular services.
Posted by Judith — 2:51 AM
Microsoft wants Samsung to pay smartphone license.
Source: Reuters.
Microsoft Corp has demanded that Samsung Electronics pay US$15 for each smartphone handset it makes based on Google Inc’s Android operating system as the software giant has a wide range of patents used in the mobile platform.
Posted by Judith — 1:54 AM
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
China Telecom begins migration to IP common platform.
Source: TeleGeography.
China Telecom has signed a deal with Alcatel-Lucent to upgrade its existing public switched telephone network with an internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS). The new system, the first large-scale deployment of IMS by the telco, will be rolled out to 120m. people across six provinces: Shanghai, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Xinjiang and Sichuan.
Posted by Judith — 3:41 AM
Vodafone launches Android Market channel.
Source: Telecompaper.
Vodafone has launched its own channel on the Android Market. It will feature a regularly updated selection of Vodafone services as well as news, sport, information and gaming apps. The own-brand channel is already live in the UK, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, and will launch soon in Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
Posted by Judith — 1:22 AM
Bouygues to launch B&You mobile brand, VoIP for youth market.
Source: Telecompaper.
French mobile and broadband operator Bouygues Telecom has announced plans to launch a new brand under which it will offer mobile services to young consumers. From 18 July B&You will serve the “internet generation”. In a market first, Bouygues states explicitly that B&You customers will be able to use VoIP via Wi-Fi.
Posted by Judith — 12:09 AM
Monday, July 4, 2011
Baidu says Microsoft’s Bing to power its English search.
Source: Reuters.
China’s Baidu, which has three-quarters of China’s search market, has signed a deal with Microsoft’s Bing to offer English-language search to Baidu users, as Baidu looks to expand overseas and Microsoft to increase its China presence.
Baidu dominates China’s search engine market after Google Inc pulled out following a high-profile fallout with Beijing over censorship last year.
Posted by Judith — 3:54 AM
Lycamobile launches in France.
Source: TeleGeography.
UK-based international MVNO Lycamobile has launched in France, its 14th market since it launched in the Netherlands in 2006. Lycamobile, which has now has operations in Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Australia, Germany, Poland and Ireland, currently boasts around 6.5m. customers.
Posted by Judith — 1:03 AM
Nokia pulling out of Japanese phone market by August.
Source: cellular-news.
Nokia is reported to be preparing to leave the Japanese market within the next few months and will close its own brand retail stores by the end of July.
Nokia stopped selling handsets through the networks in November 2008 after its market share dropped below one percent. Nokia had sold handsets through Softbank and Docomo - but the local operators prefer to define their handset specifications in-house and contract handset vendors to make phones for them.
Posted by Judith — 12:41 AM
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Vodafone buys out partner Essar.
Source: The Independent.
Vodafone has sealed a long-awaited deal to buy out its partner Essar from their Indian mobile joint venture for US$5.46bn. (GBP3.4bn.), ending a highly fractious relationship.
The telecoms giant will purchase the 33% stake owned by a collection of Essar companies, giving it a majority 74% shareholding in the venture.
Posted by Judith — 3:01 AM
Friday, July 1, 2011
Apple and Microsoft group buys Nortel patents.
Source: BBC.
Bankrupt telecoms firm Nortel has sold its remaining patent portfolio for US$4.5bn. (GBP2.8bn.) to a consortium of six firms including Apple and Microsoft.
The other consortium members are Sony, RIM, Ericsson, and EMC.
The auction of Nortel’s assets had been hotly contested, with Google and Intel losing out.
Posted by Judith — 4:42 AM
Cost of Euro mobile roaming falls.
Source: BBC.
The cost of making and receiving mobile phone calls while travelling in Europe has come down again.
The new tariffs are the latest in a series of annual price reductions forced on the mobile industry by the European Commission.
Brussels has said it aims to equalise roaming and domestic charges by 2015.
Posted by Judith — 2:40 AM
KDDI to roll out 100,000 hotspots to handle cellular traffic.
Source: TeleGeography.
Japan’s second largest telecoms group KDDI Corp is looking to deploy a Wi-Fi network with more than 100,000 hotspots. KDDI has contracted Ruckus Wireless to supply equipment, with the vendor already having installed 10,000 access points.
Posted by Judith — 1:50 AM
Polkomtel sold for US$5.5bn. to Polish businessman.
Source: cellular-news.
Polish mobile network operator, Polkomtel is to be sold by its shareholders to Polish businessman, Zygmunt Solorz-Zak for an enterprise valuation of EUR4.5bn. (US$6.5bn.).
Polkomtel, which trades as the Plus network is owned by Vodafone (24.4%), PKN Orlen (24.4%), KGHM Polska Miedz’ (24.4%), Polska Grupa Energetyczna (21.85%) and Weglokoks (4.98%)
Posted by Judith — 12:03 AM
Deutsche Telekom signs Blue Jeans network for Cloud-based video conferencing.
Source: Converge.
Deutsche Telekom has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Blue Jeans Network to market a scalable, interoperable videoconferencing solution in Europe by the end of the year.
Posted by Judith — 12:00 AM
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