MTS, a unit of Sistema Syam TeleServices Limited (SSTL), has reportedly added around 800,000 customers in the month of October alone, with the launch of two low cost Android smartphones – MTS MTag 3.1 and MTS Livewire priced under US$ 100.

According to reports, a spokesperson for MTS has said that they were able to get 7,95,523 customers in the festive month of October because they gave the CDMA consumers the option to choose from a variety of Android phones at different price points and they also initiated a lot of awareness campaign across the country. He added that the launch of the two smartphones in the festive season helped propel their growth.

As per sources, pre-paid users received 150 minutes of calls, 150 SMSs and 150 MB of data free every month for 12 months, with the smartphone. Whereas postpaid users were offered a 12 month contract during which users had to pay Rs 250 each month, against which they received 250 minutes of calls, 250 SMSs and 250 MB of data free each month.

 

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Leap Wireless International has reportedly announced plans of launching LTE services in Arizona by the end of this year, ahead of its launch of 4G services next year. According to reports, the San Diego based carrier said that it expects to spend around US$ 250 million during the first phase. Further, Leap Wireless reportedly plans to upgrade two-thirds of its existing CDMA network with LTE technology over the next few years.

As per sources, Doug Hutcheson, CEO, Leap has indicated that the firm expects to offer LTE smartphones by mid-to-late 2012. He also said that Leap currently owns enough and does not need additional bandwidth to offer LTE services. As per industry reports, the carrier had previously signed a long-term 4G roaming agreement with LightSquared in March 2011.

 

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MTS telecom has introduced new international roaming services for its prepaid subscribers allowing them to roam across more than 400 GSM networks in 231 countries. The company offers these services along with a dual mode SIM card, which will work on CDMA networks while in India and on GSM while abroad. With this service, the company claims that it is the first telecom operator in the company to offer international roaming services for the CDMA prepaid customer base.

As per reports, Leonid Musatov, Chief marketing and Sales Officer, MTS India, has said that with a view to enhance connectivity and convenience, they have now introduced international roaming services for their customers. This would enable their customers to stay connected while travelling abroad without changing their phone numbers and also enjoy seamless data connectivity on the go internationally.

Further, the international roaming service also offers users access to the GPRS services in 206 nations across more than 300 telecom networks. Further, this will also provide users access to the High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) services in 114 countries across 145 networks.

 

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Vivo has announced that it will shut its CDMA network in September.

The company did not reveal how many customers are still using this technology, but noted that they are being warned in advance about the need to purchase a GSM handset.

Vivo’s CDMA coverage in the South, the interior of Sao Paulo and a part of the Midwest was provided by Motorola. The rest of Brazil was divided between Nortel and Alcatel-Lucent.

 

 

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Ukrainian telecommunications regulator NKRZ is all set to launch a tender for CDMA 800 frequencies in summer 2011.

As per reports, additional 2.5 GHz frequency bands will be offered in the Sumi, Cherkasi and Chernivtsi regions. The licences will be valid through 2016.

 

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Nigerian CDMA operator Starcomms has launched a value-added service for job-seekers, dubbed as Jobs-on-phone. It is a personalized, voice-based job portal, which helps Starcomms customers seek new employment or recruitment opportunities through their fixed or mobile phones.

The Starcomms service is designed as a portal, which links employees with prospective employers. It is a service that can be easily accessed by all mobile and fixed Starcomms customers anytime and anywhere, thus providing a large-scale database of jobseekers.

Customers can dial the service code *32640 to register and create their profile in the voice database before they can use the Starcomms Jobs-on-phone service. The required data will include information like age, gender, location, qualifications and experience.

 

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Ericsson has completed a CDMA wideband high definition voice call using the Enhanced Variable Rate Codec Narrowband-Wideband (EVRC-NW) codec. CDMA HD voice delivers speech in a spectral range of 50Hz to 7000Hz, which increases voice quality, intelligibility and decreases listening fatigue, even in environments with high background noise. The Ericsson CDMA development team in collaboration with Qualcomm has reached this goal by completing HD voice calls in a lab environment on a CDMA voice network.

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Ericsson has stated that it has successfully completed a CDMA wideband High Definition (HD) voice call using the Enhanced Variable Rate Codec Narrowband-Wideband (EVRC-NW) codec, demonstrating a technical first for the CDMA industry.

CDMA HD Voice delivers speech in a wider spectral range of 50Hz to 7000Hz, which increases call quality, even in environments with high background noise.

According to Surya Bommakanti, Vice President, Product Area Core, BU CDMA Mobile Systems, Ericsson, they have demonstrated the first high-definition CDMA voice call in the world over an Ericsson network utilizing the new EVRC-NW 3GPP2 standard codec and ensuring interoperability with existing functionality while easing the rollout of future wideband services. This is the starting point of a voice quality revolution that will significantly enhance CDMA networks as they know them today.

The Ericsson’s CDMA development team worked in collaboration with Qualcomm on the tests.

­Sprint has outlined plans for its migration of its Push-to-Talk services over to its CDMA network. The Sprint Direct Connect will launch with an initial portfolio of rugged devices from Motorola Mobility and Kyocera. The devices will feature most of the capabilities available on current Sprint Nextel iDEN based phones. The planned portfolio will include an ultra-rugged camera flip phone and an Android Smartphone with a touch screen and a QWERTY keyboard.

Sprint expects to deepen its push-to-talk portfolio by 2012, adding more devices with new form factors and features.

The devices are expected to enable group push-to-talk for up to 200 participants, Land Mobile Radio (LMR) interoperability, and availability notification. In early 2012, Sprint Direct Connect is expected to add more capabilities, including international push-to-talk.

In addition, the Push-to-talk coverage footprint is planned to increase to nearly 2.7 million square miles and is expected to cover a population of 309 million (with the addition of 1xrtt and roaming coverage) – an increase from the iDEN network’s 908,370 square miles covering a population 278 million.

During the nationwide implementation of Network Vision, Sprint expects to continue operating the iDEN network at current performance levels. As the customer base shifts to more broadband-centric push-to-talk applications on the CDMA network and Sprint launches Sprint Direct Connect, iDEN cell sites are expected to be phased out in 2013.

According to Paget Alves, President-Sprint Business, their customers are asking for broadband push-to-talk now. They’ve seen steadily increasing demand for faster data speeds, better and broader coverage, and more applications on push-to-talk devices. Sprint Direct Connect is designed to solve for all three, and is expected to come with sub-second push-to-talk call set-up time initially in Sprint CDMA RevA coverage areas. Sub-second call set up is expected to expand across the U.S. with the implementation of Network Vision.

Alves added, they believe the new push-to-talk service powered by a broadband network and featuring competitively priced rugged handsets and smart phones will represent an unmatched offering in the market.

Cellular Communication, Nepal’s handset distributor  has launched three new low-end mobile handsets with long battery life.

It has launched a dual-GSM phones and a CDMA phone with internet phone and FM radio. With these handsets, the company is targeting  customers who cannot afford high-end phones.

Cellular Communication is planning to launch multimedia phones as well as high-end phones with Wi-Fi and 3G support in the near future.

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