100Gbps transmission trial completed by Telefonica and Huawei

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica along with Chinese vendor Huawei completed a field trial of 100Gbps transmissions over a distance of more than 1,000km. A high speed 100Gbps link between Valladolid and Zaragoza stretching for approximately 1,022km has been constructed by Huawei, under the trial without using electrical regeneration.

The trial was based on Huawei’s OSN 6800 WDM/OTN transport platform with the transponder inserted in subracks, and the fibre type used was standard G.652. According to Christian Chua, president of Huawei’s Transport Network Product Line, 100Gbps is the most advanced transport technology and is crucial to operators’ continuous development and the construction of green ultra broadband networks.

Price rise for Telmex’s fixed line only customers(Mexico)

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mobile operator Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex) announced that only the fixed line only subscribers in Mexico will have to face price rise, while there will be no rise on the packages including a broadband service. For the packages that have monthly fee, local and long distance calls, digital services, and high speed internet, the prices will remain the same.

Lower house of the Congress of the Union, Mexico’s Chamber of Representatives, passed a legislation levying 3% excise on telecommunication services in October 2009. Telmex took the decision in order to avoid the offset of the increase in taxes on telecom firms, by increasing the cost of the services to its customers.

Earlier, 4% tax was proposed but it was reduced by one percent by the lawmakers.

Telsur bought by GTD for USD115 million

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In a USD115 million deals, Quinenco agreed to sell telecom firm Telefonica del Sur (Telsur) to rival telco GTD. Chilean financial and industrial conglomerate Quinenco has 74.43% stake in Telsur.

While highlighting the magnetism of Telsur, GTD said that the company has transformed itself from line operator into a multi service provider and now offers a range of broadband and broadcast services. GTD also felt that by the end of 2009, GTD and Telsur together will have a customer base of 480,000 subscribers in fixed and wireless telephony, internet, and digital TV.

Telsur has predicted an annual revenue of USD133 million while GTD expects USD175 million for 2009.

Singtel will join ZTE for Long Term Evolution trials (Philippines)

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: For carrying out Long Term Evolution (LTE) trials in the Philippines, ZTE Corp, a Chinese equipment vendor has planned to work with Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) affiliate, Globe Telecom.
The intention behind the tie up is to develop strategic management of the network as well as long-term planning for LTE network infrastructure projects. A trail will be conducted in the early 2010 for six to nine month in order to assess market demand for broadband access services.

Earlier, SingTel announced it wanted to conduct regional trials of LTE technology in Australia, Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore in collaboration with Telkomsel, Optus, and Globe Telecom. Through this step the company hopes its regional partners and joint ventures will better understand the approach and strategy behind the adoption of LTE in the regional markets.

The trail also aims at wide range of scenarios, including different urban environments and frequency bands.

Telstra’s new iPhone users get $100 credit

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Australia’s largest telco, Telstra, announced its new iPhone plan giving $100 account credit to the new customers, the credit being automatically applied to their bills, until 26 December.

Though Telstra’s Next G network offers an enhanced level of coverage compared with those of its rivals,  its iPhones are significantly overpriced. The plan to provide the credit was announced after the top management of the firm was reshuffled and fixed line broadband plans were overhauled.

At present, Optus rules the iPhone market because of its aggressive pricing and larger data allowances. While Optus 16GB iPhone offers 1GB of data and no upfront charge, Telstra charges $49 on the same plan. Currently, Optus is also offering bonus $100 bill credit to new customers which may seek to counter Telstra’s pricing strategy.

Loxley partners MPG for wireless broadband service on TOT (Thailand)

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In order to enhance the operation of its mobile virtual network, Loxley announced its partnership with UK-based Mobile Partners Group (MPG). MPG will provide 3G-2.1GHz wireless broadband service on TOT’s network in greater Bangkok.

Established in 2006, MPG’s purpose was to simplify mobile-service set-ups with selected partners. At present, it also enables brand names or companies that want to enter the mobile business as either an SP (service provider) or MVNO (mobile virtual network operator).

Loxley, 365 Communication, Samart I-Mobile (SIM), IEC and M Consultant were selected by TOT to provide 3G-service on an MVNO basis for its Bangkok network.

Loxley is investing Bt40 million on related systems and will run the service under i-KooL 3G brand.  The company aims to lure about 30,000 customers as well as break even within 18 months.

According to executive vice president of Loxley, Suroj Lamsam, Loxley’s 3G services would enhance its close-circuit TV system management, existing IT solutions on fleet management, as well as electricity including water-meter management. All these services are offered to state and private enterprises.

Non-text mobile data services getting popular (USA)

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: According to the latest consumer study by the Parks Associates’, 40% of the more than 70 million U.S. broadband households with a mobile phone service have adopted non-text mobile data services.

ARPU drivers like mobile TV and music have been eclipsed by mobile Internet and e-mail services indicating need for the carriers to offer practical” services first to the mobile service users. Carriers can also deploy popular web activities as revenue-generating data services due to 10 percent increase in mobile social networking and navigation services.

According to Director of Health and Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates, Harry Wang, the strong growth rate during the past two years in the usage of mobile Internet, social networking, e-mail, and navigation indicates eagerness in consumers for mobile applications offering convenience and loaded features.

Wang added that Smartphone will penetrate more than 30% of broadband households in US in 2009. Carriers will target these 20 million households to market their mobile data services.

Orange & T-mobile get approvals to merge. UK’s largest Mobile Operator is now in the making.

The proposed merger between Orange and T-Mobile gets all the nods from competition authorities and government bodies in UK and Europe. This signals the creation of UKs largest mobile operator with 30 million users and a market share of around 37 percent.

Timotheus H¶ttges, the CFO of Deutsche Telekom said- “The negotiations were conducted in a fair way and I am certain that this spirit of professionalism and partnership will shape the future of our joint venture. It will set new standards as number one in UK mobile market.”

Of late, T-mobile has faired well but Orange has been fairing below expectations with its fixed broadband customer base dwindling to below the 1 million mark.

Most analysts believe that the merger will allow the companies to better leverage their synergies and develop competitive synergies in high growth sectors such as mobile broadband and roll out innovative services.

David Moffatt is leaving Telstra

Telstra’s Group MD-Consumer Marketing, David Moffatt is to leave the company. Telstra claims he will remain in his position for six months or until a successor is found.
Moffatt started at Telstra as CFO and Group MD for Finance and Admin in 2001 and later became Group MD – Consumer Mktg in 2003.
He moved to his current position in October 2003, taking responsibility for Telstra’s mobile and fixed-line communications, broadband and entertainment services, and managing the Telstra Shop chain.
Moffatt was responsible for bringing GE Capital, into Australia and New Zealand as CEO. He later became CEO of GE’s Australian and New Zealand business.

Telstra’s Group MD-Consumer Marketing, David Moffatt is to leave the company. Telstra claims he will remain in his position for six months or until a successor is found.

Moffatt started at Telstra as CFO and Group MD for Finance and Admin in 2001 and later became Group MD – Consumer Mktg in 2003.

He moved to his current position in October 2003, taking responsibility for Telstra’s mobile and fixed-line communications, broadband and entertainment services, and managing the Telstra Shop chain.

Moffatt was responsible for bringing GE Capital, into Australia and New Zealand as CEO. He later became CEO of GE’s Australian and New Zealand business.

Telefonica reveals plans to test LTE in UK, Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic, Brazil and Argentina.

O2 has revealed plans to test long-term evolution (LTE) of 3G technology in the UK within the next few months.
Telef³nica announced this week that it will do trials of the Long Term Evolution of 3G networks (LTE) within the next few months across UK, Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic, Brazil and Argentina.
Telefonica’s O2 in the UK will be the first operator in the UK to carry out LTE trials. T-Mobile, Vodafone and Orange are all expected to follow O2′s lead in the future.
Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei, NEC, Nokia Siemens Networks and ZTE are supporting Telefonica’s initial technology trials, though it is still open to working with other suppliers.
LTE will allow Telef³nica to offer its customers peak mobile broadband speeds of up to 340Mbps ‘in ideal conditions’ and will also deliver more flexible use of its spectrum as well as boost network capacity.

O2 has revealed plans to test long-term evolution (LTE) of 3G technology in the UK within the next few months.

Telef³nica announced this week that it will do trials of the Long Term Evolution of 3G networks (LTE) within the next few months across UK, Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic, Brazil and Argentina.

Telefonica’s O2 in the UK will be the first operator in the UK to carry out LTE trials. T-Mobile, Vodafone and Orange are all expected to follow O2′s lead in the future.

Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei, NEC, Nokia Siemens Networks and ZTE are supporting Telefonica’s initial technology trials, though it is still open to working with other suppliers.

LTE will allow Telef³nica to offer its customers peak mobile broadband speeds of up to 340Mbps ‘in ideal conditions’ and will also deliver more flexible use of its spectrum as well as boost network capacity.