www.WirelessFederation.com/news: O2 UK has planned 160 job cuts as part of a restructuring of its customer care operations. The company said it would re-skill employees for redeployment to other roles within the company where possible. A Spokesman reportedly said that the restructuring comes as the company’s core market has matured and the operator faces increased competition.
On 03.31.09, In Mobile, By Editor
On 03.31.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation,com/news: As the April approaches, the distribution of prepaid cellular cards in Lebanon will be rearranged and new prices will be launched in order to restrain from the black market sales. Minister Jibran Bassil has announced the new distribution policy of prepaid cellular cards at a press conference.
Bassil said that the step taken will bring stability to the Lebanese mobile market. He further said that the reorganised policy will benefit all the concerned parties, including primary and secondary distributors, the two network operators, the ministry and most importantly, the subscribers who will be able to receive quality service at a steady price throughout the nation.
Bassil said that each of the two operators should have 15 distributors across Lebanon, including one distributor in each district, ensuring better service. This policy would pave way to all those who have the necessary requirements – such as market experience, retail shops, and the technological know how etc. – to get into the distribution business and encourage available distributors to perform better.
This step is considered to be a decisive factor in times when the market is facing black market sales, which gives distributors a range of 2-20 percent share maximum.
Basil believes that the number of subscribers is expected to jump to 1.6 million and an additional 800,000 lines are expected to increase the market activity, which will benefit primary and secondary distributors.
According to the new distribution policy, the monthly subscriptions for the postpaid cellular cards will drop to $15 from the current $25, a drop of 40%. The per-minute rate of postpaid cards will also come down by 16% from the current $0.13 to $0.11.
Additionally, the price of a prepaid card, valid for one month will fall from the current $45 to $25, while the cost of a one-minute call will dip from the current $0.50 to $0.36.
The subscribers will also have an option of purchasing the prepaid cards with a validity of up to three months for $75.
On 03.31.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Since the launch of mobile banking system in Colombia, the m-banking subscribers have crossed the mark of 9 million. Colombia has made an addition of 11,000 new m-banking customers per month, a report reveals. This service enables subscribers to use their mobile phones to consult their bank account balance, make money transfers and bill payments, as well as top-up prepay mobile phone accounts.
The incumbents like Comcel, Movistar and Tigo currently provide m-banking services as part of their value-added services portfolio.
The subscribers of Colombia made around 960,000 m-banking transactions, average generated by each subscriber is 8 m-banking transactions monthly.
On 03.31.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: ViVo, mobile operator based in Brazil, is offering the Treo Pro smartphone by Palm to its subscribers. Treo Pro runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and includes e-mail, Wi-Fi and GPS capabilities. Treo Pro features a high-resolution colour touch screen and a full QWERTY keyboard with a removable battery that packs up to five hours of talk time.
On 03.31.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: HTC Magic will be available on Vodafone network from May 1. The phone, which Vodafone will market as the HTC Magic Pioneer, will reportedly be the second Android-based phone to be released. The smartphone will be offered to its users with a $35 a month service plan.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has given green signal for T-Mobile network as well.
On 03.31.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation,com/news: Tigo, the Ghanian mobile operator, has introduced Google SMS Search, a service which allows mobile subscribers to search web by SMS. The mobile Subscribers will have to SMS their query to short code 46664 which represents GOOG on a phone keypad to search for news, sports, general information, word definitions, language translation and weather, among others.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
On 03.31.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation,com/news: Econet Wireless has commenced its mobile operations in Burundi, as it connects its subscribers for a one-month network testing, which will take place in 16 provinces. According to Econet Burundi MD Darlington Mandivenga, during the first one month of testing, the subscribers will be connected to test the voice quality and network coverage. He further said that the Econet has “hundreds of thousands” of customers on it waiting list.
At present, Telcel is the leading mobile operator in the nation operating under the brand name Ucom followed by Onamob and Africell, now rebranded as Tempo.
Yanick Mugisha, the brand manager at Econet reportedly said that the operator’s plan was to have a subscriber base of 100,000 in the first month.
The SMS interconnection agreement inked by Econet with other operators will prove to be a decisive factor for the operator, enabling the subscribers to send SMS to the subscribers of other mobile operator. The operator hopes to achieve 94% of the coverage by the time it launches its network in a month’s time.
On 03.31.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Hits Telecom, a mobile operator based in Kuwait, has reported a KWD 1.7 million profit for its fiscal year 2008 on revenues of KWD 96.1 million. Chairman Sultan Bahbri, reportedly said, the company managed to perform well in its first year of operation, from September 2007 to 31 December 2008. The company ended 2008 with a total assets of KWD 145.6 million.
On 03.31.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation,com/news: Reiterating its commitment to provide convenience, coverage and value to its customers, Etisalat announced the launch of iPhone 3G, 8MB and 16 MB devices for its Wasel customers in the UAE.
Starting Wednesday, 1st April, iPhone 3G device will be available for all Wasel customers, who will be able to buy the device off-the-shelf, and benefit from a spectacular offer providing a return benefit of more than Dhs2000.
The iPhone 3G 8GB device will be available in black color, while the 16GB device will be available in both white and black colors.
Etisalat is also offering free 250 MB monthly data package for six months and one free Wasel SIM Card with every device, providing lucrative return benefit effectively bringing down the device cost.
Customers can choose to activate their subscription on their current SIM or on the new SIM, being offered free by Etisalat. Customers keen on upgrading the free data package of 250 MB can subscribe to any of the current Etisalat data packages, and the free bandwidth (250 MB /per month) will be added to their selected package automatically.
Commenting on the announcement, Essa Al Haddad, Chief Marketing Officer, Etisalat, said,”Etisalat is delighted to launch the world acclaimed iPhone 3G device
for its prepaid customers in the UAE. With Etisalat’s widespread 3G network, a remarkable device experience and an unprecedented bundle package, providing return benefits, the service fulfils our commitment of providing convenience, coverage and value to our customers.”
“Etisalat with its powerful 3.5G mobile broadband network offers download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps and upload speed of 1.92 Mbps, providing an unparalleled device experience to its customers,” added Al Haddad.
iPhone 3G combines all the revolutionary features of iPhone plus 3G networking that is twice as fast*, built-in GPS for expanded location-based mobile services, and iPhone 2.2.1 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs thousands of third party applications available through the Apple App Store.
iPhone 3G 8MB and 16MB is available now for both the prepaid and postpaid customers across all Etisalat business centres and outlets.
On 03.31.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation,com/news: Jordan’s telecoms regulator TRC has rescheduled the date to award the 3G licences. With the awarding of licence, TRC expects to bring 3G services to the nation before 2009-end. The regulator has set JOD 25 million as the minimum bid for a paired block. The last date for putting the bids is set as 26 May’09 and the winners will be announced following day. TRC will issue further 3G spectrum to the other active operators ten months later at a price based on the winning bid.
The bid winner is also eligible to acquire the 2G spectrum at an acquisition fee equal to 130% of the winning price of the tender.