Base Stations closed in the Indian city, Noida
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Around a quarter of the base stations had been shut down by the authorities, resulting in the disruption of ¬mobile phone services over the weekend in the Indian city of Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
The action was taken after the phone companies failed to meet the authorities demand to seek the necessary authorization for the towers to be erected. Out of 400 to 572 towers in the city, 125 to190 towers have been shut-down. The authorities have also cut the electricity supply to the towers and have sealed the backup generators.
According to Sandeep Chandra, senior project engineer, Noida Authority, only 125 cellular service providers had submitted applications requesting an extension a few months ago and would be spared for the moment.
Application for 3G license submitted by Schutzengel Telecom
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) in the Philippines has received an application from market newcomer Schutzengel Telecom Inc to get provisional authority to build, install, operate and maintain a national 3G mobile network.
As per the application submitted by Schutzengel Telecom, the company is fully aware and cognizant of the vital need to provide the general public with an adequate, efficient and cost effective means of mobile communications and is open and amenable to operate within any of the frequency bandwidth which is presently available or may be made available for the 3G standard.
With NTC looking to award the country’s fifth and final 3G operating license through a ‘beauty contest’ style process, Schutzengel claims it is ‘legally, technically and financially capable to put up a 3G network’. Besides, it also possesses the requisite financial resources and capability to render the proposed service which shall be sourced from a combination of internally generated funds, supplier’s credit, loans and other forms of financing, and should it be necessary, from equity infusion
T-Mobile USA sued by BMI over ringbacks
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A copyright infringement lawsuit has been filed by performing rights organization BMI against T-Mobile USA alleging the operator sold ringback tones without the necessary licensing agreements in place.
BMI which collects and distributes licensing revenues on behalf of songwriters, composers and music publishers filed a suit in December 19 with the U.S. Federal Court in the Central District of California, alleging that each time a musical ringtone goes off in public, the mobile phone melody constitutes a performance and violates copyright law.
According to the company, despite its extensive efforts spanning several years, T-Mobile has not signed a license agreement.
Vodafone Essar’s stake to be transferred to overseas investment company
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 2.63% of the economic interest of the Essar Group will be indirectly transferred to its mobile network operator Vodafone Essar to its overseas investment company. 49% stake in Essar Telecommunications Holding (ETHPL), which has a 10.97% stake in the Essar Group will be transferred to Mauritius-based Essar Telecom India (ETIL) for INR5.3 billion (USD116 million).
Provisions of the relaxed foreign investment norms according to which foreign investment of less than 50% in an Indian investing company will not be treated as foreign direct investment (FDI) as long as Indian citizens have a 50% stake and the right to appoint a majority of directors in the investing company, will be used to switch investment.
Currently, 33.02% stake in Vodafone Essar is held by Essar Group and with 22% of that held through ETIL, which is treated as foreign investment. ETIL will acquire 49% stake in Essar Capital Holdings (India) (ECHL) for INR2.8 billion, and a further 49% stake in Essar Satvision (India) after the proposed transaction. ECHL and Essar Satvision will then subsequently purchase a 49% stake in ETHPL.
Deutsche Telekom partnered municipalities to close digital divide
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 720 partnership deals had been signed by German telecoms company Deutsche Telekom (DT) with municipalities across the country for expanding their broadband networks in 2009. Another 50 proposals are waiting for the municipal officials’ approval.
DT offers to cooperate with local communities whenever loss is incurred due to low potential customer bases and high broadband expansion costs. The remaining costs could be covered by the participation of the municipalities in the expansion through various ways like making available any existing cable ducts or conduits, or by taking on the necessary underground engineering measures.
Because of the partnership, 300,000 additional households can now enjoy high speed internet connections along with capacity upgrades and standard expansion. The company would rely heavily on a combination of technologies to enable more broadband connections in the future.
Telenor to be the only telco to bid for Serbia’s second fixed-line license
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: According to Serbia’s telecommunications agency Ratel, the only company to present a bid for the country’s second fixed-line operator licence was Telenor. Mobile operator VIP, Cyprus-based Kerseyco Trading and Serbian-American Konsing Group are the other three companies who had qualified for the bidding.
However, all the necessary documents to participate in the bidding were provided only by Telenor. Company’s financial bid for the second landline operator license granted for a period of ten years will be opened by 18 January.
LTE deployment by Movistar to be launched in 2011
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Second half of 2011 could encounter the deployment of LTE infrastructure in large cities across the country by the Venezuelan mobile operator, Movistar. However, the necessary wireless spectrum to launch LTE is still not allocated to the company.
According to company’s networks and infrastructure VP, Juan Comerma, low frequencies are required to achieve LTE deployment. Price and availability of LTE devices are the other factors affecting the commercial launch date.
M-pesa agents’ recruitment method changed by Safaricom
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Removing the need to deal directly with sub- agents, Aggregator Model, a new system has been launched by Safaricom, a leading mobile phone provider, thus changing tack on its method of recruiting mobile money transfer, M-pesa agents.
As per the new model, the sub agents will be appointed by the agents on its behalf. The model will be introduced especially in the areas like Nairobi which are considered to be highly saturated by the agents. The super agents will give a float to the agents and the details are later passed on to the sub agents who will then work on agreed commissions by the agents.
Essar, a rival telecom operator, on the other hand, is set to launch money transfer service yuCash, thus eliminating the need for sub-agents altogether. Besides, it will ensure that agents get maximum commission, which it says is yet to be finalized but will be competitive.
Safaricom says that they have taken the step to protect its partnership with the existing agents. According to Safaricom chief executive Michael Joseph, existing agents have the capacity to serve Nairobi and other areas adequately. Besides, the migration of the existing sub-agents under the agency model to Aggregator has already begun.
MTN & IMI announce partnership
Millions of mobile and online content users across Africa and the Middle East will reap the benefits of a landmark tie-up between MTN and IMImobile – an India-based software and managed services provider linked to 350 content providers worldwide.
The two companies have teamed up in a bold move to address the growing demand for content in emerging markets. This strategic partnership will entail providing MTN’s 21 markets access to a repository of current and globally popular content through enhanced delivery platforms. Content categories will include music (with local and international flavour), sports, games, entertainment, news and much more.
It will also enable MTN to launch new income-generating voice and data services across its global footprint, with revenues from mobile content and services estimated at around US$150.2 billion in 2011, up from US$89,3 billion in 2006, worldwide. (more…)
