T-Mobile Hungary & Ericsson begin LTE tests
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In order to cater for anticipated demand for data intensive services, ‘4G’ Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology are under development by T-Mobile Hungary and Swedish equipment manufacturer Ericsson.
The trial of the LTE network is already under the process and ahead of a planned commercial launch. The date of the launch is still not revealed.
In October 2009, the LTE equipment was installed. A test system began in earnest in January this year, capable of providing voice and data services, with a goal of achieving download speeds of up to 100Mbps.
According to T-Mobile, since the introduction of HSPA technology, the number of people signing up to mobile internet packages has expanded dramatically and today, more than 90% of data generated by T-Mobile’s 430,000 broadband subscribers is related to its HSPA network.
NTT & TTK to link IP-VPN services in Russia
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: IP-VPN services of Russian long-distance operator Transtelecom (TTK) and NTT Communications of Japan will be interconnected in Russia and NTT’s ‘Arcstar Global’ IP-VPN service will be made available nationwide. The announcement has been made by both the companies whose strategic partnership began in 2006 when the two agreed to develop data networks.
This partnership between NTT and TTK resulted in the construction and launch of the Hokkaido-Sakhalin Cable System, a 570km, 640Gbps undersea fibre-optic cable linking Ishikari, Hokkaido and Nevelsk, Sakhalin, the shortest route between Japan and Russia.
Owned by Russian railways, TTK’s network is laid along the rail route, spanning more than 55,000km. 19 foreign partner telecoms companies and NTT have reached an agreement to implement new process and practices that will enhance the quality and customer satisfaction levels of the Arcstar global network service.
Managing services for multinational organizations has been the major focus of Arcstar and the list of the organizations include VLAN, MPLS IP-VPN, leased lines and ATM.
China Mobile receives green signal for Taiwan unit
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: China mobile has been given the permission to establish a subsidiary in Taiwan, expected to pave the way for the telco to buy a stake in local operator Far EasTone.
The application received by Taiwanese government states that China Mobile’s new unit plans to wholesale electronics materials and it has been claimed that the subsidiary will be used as a vehicle for investing in local player Far EasTone. 100% stake in a new company in Taiwan has been revealed by China Mobile’s chairman Wang Jianzhou.
Intentions of China Mobile, the world’s biggest mobile phone operator by subscribers to buy a stake in Far EasTone first came into light in April 2009 and it was announced by the operator that it had agreed to pay $527 million for a 12% holding.
100 countries were opened in Taiwan for investment by companies based in mainland China in which telecom sector was not included and even after winning the approval of Far EasTone’s board in June, the government never approved its deal with China Mobile.
Terms of Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) is still being discussed by the two countries. ECFA is a trade deal considered particularly contentious by Taiwan’s opposition Democratic Progressive Party, which views the deal as an underhand attempt to unify the island with mainland China.
BSNL’s board decides to scrap GSM deal (India)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A tender worth $6 billion to supply equipment for 93 million mobile phone lines on the global system for mobile communications, or GSM, platform has been decided to be scraped by the board of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
Scarcity of GSM lines have been suffered by the state run Indian telco, in its bid to increase its subscriber’s addition pace to match the bigger rivals Bharti Airtel Ltd., Reliance Communications Ltd. and privately held Vodafone Essar Ltd.
A report submitted to the Indian government by a panel set up for the restructuring of BSNL and led by, adviser to the country’s Prime Minister Sam Pitroda led to this decision. Changes in BSNL’s procurement processes and procedures have been suggested by the panel in consultation with the Central Vigilance Commission, the country’s federal corruption regulator.
It has also been alleged that the cancelling of the whole tender process has also been suggested by the panel.
Controversies hit the much-delayed tender due to various issues including legal and government directives right from the start. First BSNL was dragged to the local court by the telecom equipment maker Nokia Siemens Networks after it was disqualified for the tender, as it didn’t meet “techno-commercial criteria.
L.M. Ericsson Telephone Co., Huawei Technologies Co, Alcatel-Lucent, ZTE Corp. and Nortel Networks Corp included in the list of bidders.
11-Digit Phone Numbers plan opposed by Indian operators
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Indian regulator’s plans to move the country to an eleven digit phone number system has been opposed by the majority of India’s mobile network operators. Pending shortage of available numbers within the current mobile prefix has made the changes to the numbering system a requirement and has leaded the TRAI to hold a consultation.
Mobile operators have countered this suggestion of TRAI by suggestion that the numbering blocks currently reserved for landline can be made available to mobile subscribers. The GSM operators have been represented by Cellular Operators Association of India which feels that keeping six billion numbers reserved for fixed line subscribers is unfair. This is a clear wastage of the precious numbering resource as the actual number is even below 40 million.
According to the association, considering the relative size of the subscriber bases in the mobile and fixed sectors and the exponential growth of mobile subscriptions, it is worthwhile to free up the fixed line numbering resources and re-allocate some levels to mobile services
The only operators which had not objected to the idea of longer phone numbers are Reliance Communications and the Tata Teleservices. In their opinion, long term trend towards 11-digit phone numbers in inevitable regardless of how many dialing prefixes are made available.
Zain’s legal dispute with Nigerian assets might delay Bharti deal
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The pending legal dispute over the ownership of Zain on its Nigerian assets might lead to the delay in the selling of the African assets by the company to Indian telco, Bharti Airtel. Econet Wireless Holdings and Zain have been undergoing a long dispute and the former has claimed a right of first refusal when a collection of shareholders sold their stakes to Zain in 2006.
5% of Vee Mobile which trades as Zain Nigeria is still owned by Econet and since the sale of the network first suggested back in 2003, it has been fighting attempts to bypass its claimed rights to buy out shareholders. In 2003 itself, due to Econet’s pressure, South Africa’s Vodacom retreat its decision to buy a controlling stake in the company.
After that, Delta State and First Bank along with various shareholders sold their stakes to Celtel Wireless which is now a Zain subsidiary, in September 2005 and since then the sale has been in dispute ever.
AT&T goes ‘Green,’ aims to save environment (USA)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: It’s time for the mobile world to go green and after Sprint, AT&T has joined the league to save environment. New standards will be adopted by the operator for its packaging and handset designs with a mission to reduce waste, encourage recycling and reduce its carbon footprint.
Both AT&T and the manufacturers have started working on different methods that could reduce the amount of packaging that goes into its handset boxes, besides reducing the size of the boxes themselves. It has been estimated that 60% less paper and 30% less plastic will be used in its packaging by switching materials from plastic to recycled paper.
Newer and stricter standards are required to be adopted by handset makers to reduce packaging, use non-petroleum based inks and use recycled materials for in-box documentation. AT&T also believes that the GSMA Universal Charging Solution will be complied by majority of new devices, mandating a more energy-efficient charger for new devices. GSMA has already restricted the use of lead, mercury, and other hazardous materials used in electronic equipment and AT&T believes these changes will have a positive impact on the environment.
Verizon replaces Yahoo with Google (USA)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A year long exclusive search deal with Yahoo has been called off by T-Mobile USA, replacing it with search giant Google. The deal has been completed recently and as per the deal, Yahoo will be replaced by Google as the default search engine on T-Mobile handsets approximately by March 3.
The Web2Go platform and home page of the mobile phones of the operator has already activated Google Search.
Earlier this week, Google was replaced by Yahoo as a search engine on AT&T’s Motorola Backflip Android phone.
Zain Jordan considers LTE roll out
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A number of offers by international equipment vendors are currently being studied by Zain Jordan for the introduction of Long Term Evolution (LTE). Offers to build 4G infrastructure from companies like Motorola, Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks is on Zain’s cards.
According to Zain CEO Abdel Malek Al Jaber, he is awaiting a decision by the telecoms watchdog, the TRC, on the award of the necessary licenses which will hopefully lead to the launch of a trial network later this year, ahead of an official launch in early 2011.
Apple IPad to hit the stores in April
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The technology oriented people waiting anxiously for the much anticipated Apple iPad to adore their gadgets collection will have to wait a little more as the launch of the device has been delayed and will now hit the stores on April 3.
Earlier, Apple scheduled the launch of the device worldwide by end March. No reasons have been cited by the company behind the delay. According to analysts, Apple might have to delay or limit the size of the launch because of an unspecified production problem but denied any affect of the delay on the sales of the iPad during Apple’s fiscal third quarter, which ends in June.
Depending on the data storage capacity, the range of the first iPad will vary between $499, $599 or $699 and will be connected to Wi-Fi networks only. The cost of those versions which can also be connected to 3G cellular networks will range between $629, $729 or $829.
Orders can be placed by the US customers from March 12 and all models will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the U.K. by late April.
12 new applications will be included in the iPad, especially designed for the touch-screen device. According to Apple, it will also run “almost all” of the more than 140,000 apps already available for the iPhone and iPod Touch and users will be able to access the applications they bought for those devices through the iPad.
