VocalTec Communications, the wholesale arm of Deutsche Telekom launched an innovative solution for global VoIP Interconnection.
In a statement, Deutsche Telekom said after successfully completing test and evaluation procedures in a live network environment, the Essentra EX solution is now commercially available to enable IP interconnection of Deutsche Telekom’s international VoIP network to other VoIP networks/affiliates.
With this innovation, Deutsche Telekom can market reliable international VoIP interconnection services to its customers, the company said.
Wholesale providers and ISPs can now utilize the Deutsche Telekom international network to carry their VoIP traffic and benefit from assured QoS, security and optimal routing plan management.
This solution is part of the global network for voice minutes termination, it said.
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BT has signed an agreement to acquire Stemmer GmbH and SND GmbH — German companies constituting the enterprise IT services segment of net AG, listed on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
“This acquisition will add complementary skills and capabilities to our existing portfolio. Stemmer and SND have an excellent reputation in the IT services area,” said François Barrault, chief executive of BT Global Services.
“This transaction will complement BT’s strengths in the German market and we will be able to offer our customers an even broader portfolio of end-to-end networked IT services,” he added.
The completion of the acquisition is subject to obtaining regulatory clearance. As at the last audited balance sheet on 30 September 2007, the combined gross assets of Stemmer and SND were EUR9.7 million.
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Vodafone will partner MySpace to launch Vodafone Music Reporter, a platform that will share footage from Vodafone-sponsored music events with MySpace users across the UK, Spain, Italy and Germany markets.
The Vodafone Music Reporter interactive profile, hosted on MySpace, will offer clips from summer festivals including the upcoming Vodafone Music Unlimited event in Cologne.
It will also host user-generated content so that subscribers can share their own music footage, upload and download photos, videos and additional content related to Vodafone-sponsored events.
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Siemens‘ top management is too German for its own good, as well as too white and male, according to its chief executive, Austrian-born Peter Löscher.
He is quoted in an interview in the Financial Times saying that the priority for his second year in charge would be to improve the “global diversity” of managers and warned that Germany’s competitiveness could be threatened if it failed to do so.
He added, “The management board are all white males. Our top 600 managers are predominantly white German males. We are too one-dimensional.”
In fact, Siemens has a number of foreigners on its management board. Aside from Löscher is Austrian and two of the remaining seven members are American. The other five are German. However, of its 15 divisional heads, 11 are German, although more than 80% of its revenues come from outside Germany.
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Last week, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the iPhone needs to be more affordable, and it looks like wireless carriers are taking that message to heart.
Germany’s T-Mobile is offering the 8-GB iPhone 3G for as little as 1 euro, or about $1.55. In order to get this price, subscribers have to sign up for a monthly service plan of nearly $107 a month. With the company’s minimal service plan, the smartphone will cost about $263.
More Personal Tech InsightsWhite PapersThe Friday ITch: Season 2, Episode 1 Demo: MagicJack The 16-GB version will cost about $31 with the all-inclusive data plan that costs nearly $138 a month. With T-Mobile’s cheapest plan, it will cost about $387.
Users of iPhones tend to use more data than other Internet-enabled cell phone users, and that should continue now that the latest version is capable of faster mobile Internet access. Carriers are willing to eat some of the handset’s cost to get these heavy data users in long-term contracts.
O2, which will carry the phone in the United Kingdom, said last week it would offer a free iPhone 3G for subscribers who sign up for service plans costing either $88 or $146.50 a month.
In the U.S. market, AT&T will be the exclusive carrier of the iPhone 3G. With a two-year contract, the 8-GB version will cost $199, and the 16-GB version will cost $299. In addition to voice services, mandatory monthly data fees cost $30, and business users will have to pay $45 a month.
The iPhone 3G will be released July 11 in 22 countries and Apple said it will eventually be sold in 70 countries. Since its release last year, the iPhone has sold 6 million units in six countries.
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T-Mobile will sell the iPhone 3G for as little as €1 next month to German, Dutch and Austrian customers who sign up for one of its more expensive service plans, a ComputerWorld US report, said.
People who sign a 24-month contract and opt for one of T-Mobile’s two priciest plans can have Apple’s 8GB iPhone 3G for just €1, approximately US$1.55 at Monday’s exchange rate, according to information released by the German telecommunications company,
The €1 price must be combined with either a €69 or €89 monthly plan.
The brawnier 16GB iPhone 3G will also be available at reduced prices for customers who select the more expensive plans. That model will cost €39.95 (US$62) or €19.95 (US$31) when paired with the €69 and €89 plans, respectively.
People inking lower-priced contracts may also be eligible for iPhone 3G discounts, said T-Mobile.
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Deutsche Telekom has announced that it has signed a deal with MTV Networks Germany to offer the latter’s content in the video-on-demand library of the telco’s IPTV service ‘T-Home Entertain’. The agreement, effective immediately, allows the German giant to continually expand its selection of content from MTV Networks. Programmes cost EUR0.99 for a 24-hour rental. T-Home Entertain customers will have unlimited access to all available content from Nickelodeon – the children’s television channel – with a subscription to the ‘Kids Selection’ package, costing EUR4.99 per month.
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Vodafone plans to restructure its German operations by splitting its business and residential services into separate units. A person familiar with the situation told Reuters that Vodafone is keen to specifically tailor its services to its customers’ needs. Vodafone itself has declined to comment. Last month, Vodafone agreed to buy the 26.4% stake in Arcor for EUR474 million (USD736 million) in cash from Deutsche Bahn and Deutsche Bank, taking its holding in the fixed line operator to 100%.
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Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann is standing by the company’s outlook for 2008, saying that so far it has weathered the strength of the euro, economic weakness in the US and soaring oil prices, reports Dow Jones. ‘There are currently no developments which can put the company’s 2008 forecast at risk,’ Obermann said on the sidelines of a media conference in Cologne. DT is targeting EBITDA of EUR19.3 billion (USD30.4 billion) in 2008, unchanged year-on-year. The executive added that T-Mobile USA had been unaffected by the US economic downturn during the second quarter, and that DT’s domestic customer base had not been impacted by a recent subscriber data abuse scandal.
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Nokia completed the transfer of its adaptation software R&D unit based in Bochum, Germany, to Sasken Communication Technologies, a Reuters report said.
Nokia announced the deal in January as part of its decision to close its cellphone plant in Bochum, cutting 2,300 staff.
“The transaction will enable continuance of the employment for 35 employees of the software R&D entity in Bochum,” Nokia said in a statement.
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Deutsche Telekom rolls out international IP connection (Germany)
