Wireless Federation

Digitel, the Venenzuelan mobile operator deploys 18 base stations in the month of October for its GSM expansion worldwide. Digitel deployed the infrastructure in six regions of the country where the company had operations: greater Caracas, Centro, Centro Llanos, Centro Occidente, Oriente and Guayana. Digitel which currently has a subscriber base of 5.5Mn, expects to grow the base to 6Mn by 2008-end.
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Digitel, Venezuela, has reported that it has rolled out a total of 80 new GSM base stations in the first six months of this year, with deployments in every state in the country.

The cellco says it covers at least 85% of all communities nationwide, giving an overall population coverage of over 90%, and it is aiming to reach as near to 100% coverage as possible by the end of the year. According to a database, in full-year 2007, Digitel added a total of 260 new GSM/GPRS/EDGE base stations to reach new areas and improve the quality of voice and data transmission in existing coverage zones.

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The Venezuelan government yesterday launched a process to auction mobile spectrum in the 1700MHz, 1800MHz and 1900MHz bands, telecoms regulator Conatel said in a statement. Conatel said the auction is aimed at meeting the growing demand for mobile telephony faced by the country’s three cellcos Movilnet, Movistar and Digitel. Telecommunications Minister Jesse Chacon told reporters: ‘We want to favour those that can carry out the fastest rollout’, although he added that the process ‘is open for additional companies to participate.’ Concessions will be valid for 15 years and the initial bidding price is set at USD120 million. Participants will have until 10 September to submit bids, and Conatel will announce the licence winners on 22 October. Winners are expected to start using their new spectrum by November 2007.

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Palm, Inc. and Digitel today announced the availability of the Palm Treo 680 smartphone in Venezuela.

The Treo 680 GSM/GPRS/EDGE quad-band world phone, running on the Palm OS, boasts Palm’s hallmark ease of use. use. It’s packed with features beyond its excellent phone capability, such as email, web browsing, messaging, multimedia, calendar, contacts, touch screen and more.

With the introduction of the Treo 680 smartphone, Palm is targeting new users in the rapidly growing smartphone and feature-phone markets. The Treo 680 will offer a simple and fun way to get started and stay connected.

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Intec Billing, a worldwide provider of business and operations support systems (BSS/OSS), has recently announced that DigiTel, a competitive service provider in the Philippines is deploying Intec InterconnecT v7.1, the latest generation of the world’s most powerful, flexible and reliable system for domestic, international and ITU-based billing and settlements.

DigiTel Chief Information Officer, Henry Aguda said: “We selected Intec’s Interconnect v7.1 because of its reputation as the clear market leader, its state-of-the-art convergent architecture, and the strong local support that Intec can provide in the Asia-Pacific region.”

Established in 1987, Digital Telecommunications Phils. Inc. (DigiTel) is majority-owned by JG Summit Holdings Inc., one of the largest and most diversified conglomerates in the Philippines. DigiTel continues to be the second largest provider of fixed line communications in the country. Through 608 regional and local exchanges, DigiTel telephones are now available in 276 towns and cities throughout Luzon.

InterconnecT v7.1 meets the functionality and performance requirements of a dynamic telecommunications market by dealing with both traditional and next-generation products and services in a single system, and with proven ability to handle national carrier traffic levels. InterconnecT v7.1 takes settlement to the next level by also supporting inter-partner settlement for IP-based services offered over next generation networks. This includes multi-party settlement with a variety of enterprises such as content providers, for services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), content downloads and multimedia messaging.

Norm Halvorson, Vice President Intec Asia Pacific said: “As Intec approaches its ten year anniversary, we continue to grow our lead in the global market for interconnect billing and settlement with the latest version of a product that has an unmatched track record in over 200 major operators. Intec Interconnect v7.1 now offers a level of functionality and performance that cannot be matched, particularly in technically demanding, next-generation services and in complex, multi-party settlements.”

(Asia Pacific)

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The number of public tele-centres in Venezuela grew by 7.06% quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of 2007, to 2,669, reports BNamericas, citing data from telecoms watchdog Conatel. Most of the centres are franchises of state-owned incumbent CANTV and mobile operators Movistar and Digitel, although some are run independently. The number of tele-centres has grown from 718 at the end of 2001.

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Telegeography writes…Recent 3G licence winner RCS&RDS has awarded a network rollout contract to Nokia of Finland. The cable operator has selected Nokia to supply radio and core equipment, including its Flexi W-CDMA base station, MSC Server mobile softswitch and Flexi Intelligent Service Node (ISN). Financial details were not disclosed. Cable operator RCS&RDS plans to launch its first 3G mobile services this month under the name Digi.Tel, after winning a next-generation licence last December.

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