Azercell warns subscribers about possible credit difficulties (Azerbaijan)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Azercell, mobile operator of Azerbaijan, has warned subscribers about potential difficulties placing credit on their phones in the evening on Sept. 2 and 4. The cause is said to be the work towards upgrading the network.
Mobile Money makes cellular payments easy, from Cambodia to Kenya
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mobile Money Technology has quickly revolutionised the way customers pay their bills and companies manage their payroll, from Cambodia to Kenya. Already millions of people in developing countries who do not have access to a bank account are using mobile phone banking services to convert cash into credits on their cell phones to make safe and easy payments.
A fast rising star on the Mobile Money Technology firmament is WING Cambodia, one of the newest mobile payment services in the world. Cambodia has a population of 14 million, of which only half a million have a bank account, while there are over 3 million mobile phone subscriptions. WING Cambodia operates there in a joint venture with ANZ Bank.
WHY MOBILE MONEY TECHNOLOGY WORKS
Says Brad Jones, WING Cambodia MD: Urban to rural corridors are essential to us. We started out targeting Cambodia’s 350 000 garment industry workers in 300 or so factories, focusing on a simple payroll product.†The global financial crisis has certainly been felt in the garment industry, with 70-80,000 jobs lost. We are still working in the garment sector,†says Jones, but we have also shifted our focus slightly towards providing payroll services to relatively recession-proof industries such as NGO and some corporate clients.â€
On the consumer side, the clients are mainly blue collar urban workers who send money to family members in rural areas. Says Jones: We also use a debit card – particularly valued by our urban customers – that allows customers to withdraw cash from ANZ Royal ATMs in Cambodia. These cards help to improve much of the merchants’ liquidity problems and, with no fees to merchants; this enables them to turn money over quicker.â€
Tata Indicom launches Pay Per Call Product (India)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Tata Indicom has launched a revolutionary Pay Per Call product. The Pay Per Call plan breaks completely free from the usual pulse of one minute, The subscribers are charged at a fixed charge on a per-call basis—at Re. 1 for all local calls and Rs 3 for STD calls for 10 minutes (600 seconds).The SMS are charged at a special price of 50 paise for both National and local messages. The offer is valid on all calls made by Tata Indicom subscribers to any mobile phone or land line connection, on any network.
Initially, the product is introduced on the pre-paid platform, and all subscribers who opt for it will be charged a very nominal daily fee of Re. 1 to avail the unique tariff option. It is available on all new Tata Indicom connections, and existing subscribers can adopt the offer with a one-time recharge of Rs 96 (In some circles it is Rs. 99).
As per the plan, the pulse which is usually of 60 seconds (Exception:TATA DoCoMo) will be of 600 seconds that is 10 minutes.Moreover, as a promotion, subscribers will enjoy an extended pulse of 3600 seconds for all local calls for first 15 days from the date of activation.
Pay per call Plan :
Each local call to be charged at Rs 1 for 10 minutes & each STD call to be charged at Rs 3 for 10 Minutes
Pulse for Local & STD call will be 600 secs
Pulse for Roaming & STD calls will be 60 secs
This new starter kit allows keep talking benefit only with the purchase of a new handset on the tata indicom network , if sim is used with old & used handsets , the default tariffs of Rs 1/min for Local calls & 1.5/min for STD Calls . Local SMS @ Rs1 & National SMS @ Rs 1.5
As a special promotion , customers will enjoy an extended pulse of 3600 secs for all local calls for first 15 days from date of activation
Daily rental to be charged at Rs 1 per day
Keep talking plan is a stand alone plan & can not be coupled with any other special offers which has free talk time or free minutes built in.
Apple lowers iPhone price by one-third to spur sales
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Apple has dropped the price of 8GB version by one-third. It is now offering 8GB model at $200 which is less than its introductory price. The firm hopes that the price cut will boost sales of the mobile device it introduced in June, said CEO of Apple Steve Jobs.
The firm reportedly sold 270,000 iPhones during its fiscal third quarter and in July they anticipated to sell 1 million phones by September. Jobs said that the company is on track to meet that goal.
Govt asks SC to review NP ruling (Argentina)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The government of Argentina has reportedly asked the country’s Supreme Court to review a ruling which ordered the state to legislate number portability (NP). In July’09 Argentina’s Fifth National Administrative Court ruled that NP be regulated within 90 days, but according to the government, the decision to legislate NP must be made by the executive branch and not by the judicial.
Vivo gives Anatel USD482m for 3G licence (Brazil)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Vivo has reportedly paid over BRL902 million (USD482 million) to the c ountry’s telecoms regulator Anatel as part-payment of the 3G licence it won in April 2008. The payments comprises 69.6% of the amount owed to Anatel for the concession, which covers twelve regions throughout Brazil.
iPhone 3GS now available in Taiwan
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Chunghwa Telecom has started delivering Apple’s iPhone 3GS to pre-order subscribers in Taiwan from 28th August onwards.
The 16G and 32G versions of iPhone 3G are available at NT$24,000 (US$729.36) and NT$27,500 respectively for the telecom carrier’s pre-order subscribers.
Sprint to release HTC Touch Pro-2 on Sept 8 (USA)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Sprint is finally releasing the HTC Touch Pro2 on September 8 through its Web site and telesales. The phone is price tagged at $349.99 with a two-year contract and after a $100 rebate. The Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone does offer a couple of advantages over the carrier’s other smartphones, however, including the Palm Pre and RIM BlackBerry Tour. For one thing, it has world-roaming capabilities in addition to a brilliant 3.6-inch, WVGA, tilting touch screen. Also, the phone embellishes spacious full QWERTY keyboard, HTC’s TouchFlo 3D user interface, and Straight Talk Technology.
China Unicom wins 3-yr iPhone deal with Apple
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: China Unicom has reportedly striked three-year iPhone deal with Apple in China. The operator will buy iPhones from Apple on a wholesale basis as the deal does not include revenue sharing.
China Unicom Chairman Chang Xiaobing said the operator will offer two versions of the 3G iPhone in the fourth quarter, at a subsidised price. The phone is seen boosting China Unicom’s ARPU, Chang said. China Unicom is all set to launch its new 3G network on 28th Sept, covering 285 cities and planning to reach 335 cities by 2009-end.
China Unicom Executive Director and President Lu Yimin said the company wants one-third of China’s 3G mobile market next year.
