www.WirelessFederation.com/news: T-Mobile Austria, nation’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, has reportedly unveiled that it has been running a trial of long term evolution (LTE) network in Innsbruck since the beginning of July. The network is claimed to be the largest of its kind in Europe and operates across 60 cell sites which were supplied by Chinese vendor Huawei Technologies. T-Mobile explained that the focus of the trial is to gather customer experience data, as well as proving the technical performance of the hardware and software.
T-Mobile has asked the Austrian government to consider the distribution of 2.6GHz frequencies, so it can prepare to introduce the technology on a commercial basis, although such a launch is not expected until the end of 2010 at the earliest.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Qtel today launched a fantastic roaming offer for people taking a vacation this summer, with some of the most affordable rates for using your Qtel phone while abroad.
With thousands flying off for rest and relaxation this summer, Qtel has used its international reach to create a Summer Roaming Zone that provides great rates in popular destinations like the Maldives, Thailand, Austria, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK, Egypt, Tunisia, and more. (more…)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: As for the earlier reports, Samsung Omnia II i8000 is anticipated to launch with Windows Mobile 6.1, with the possibility of being upgraded to Windows Mobile 6.5 later.
But now its is likely that A1, mobilkom, the Austrian mobile operator, will launch the Omnia II directly with Windows Mobile 6.5 in September.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Orange Jordan, the sole integrated telecom operator in the Kingdom, has expanded the coverage of its roaming retail offer, enabling its Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go subscribers to receive reduced tariff calls during their travel from any fixed or GSM network in the Kingdom.
Mrs. Majd Shweikeh, CEO of Orange Mobile, pointed out that this service comes as part of the efforts placed by Orange to improve its services and offers according to the international trends in the telecom field.
‘With this announcement, we further highlight Orange’s policy of transparency when launching any offer or service. Ever since introducing it end of last year, the roaming retail offer has been known for this transparency and the reduced tariff,’she added. (more…)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Regulator of Austria, TKK has issued its decision for the mobile termination fees that Austrian mobile operators Mobilkom Austria, T-Mobile Austria, Orange Austria and 3 Austria can charge.
The MTA fees are set at EUR 0.045 per minute until 30 June of this year, at EUR 0.04 per minute from 1 July of this year until 31 December of this year, at EUR 0.035 per minute between 1 January and 30 June 2010, at EUR 0.0301 per minute between 1 July and 31 December 2010 and at EUR 0.0251 per minute between 1 January and 31 May 2011.
The operators have six weeks to file an appeal against the decision of the regulator at administrative court or constitutional court.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: LG Electronics has introduced the LG Viewty Smart (GC900) smartphone in the Austrian mobile market. The handset features a 8 Megapixel camera with Intelligent Shot mode and succeeds the Viewty (KU990) smartphone. The touchscreen smartphone has LG’s 3D user interface and as a recommend sales price of EUR 499.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mobilkom, mobile operator of Austria has introduced HTC Magic, nearly 400 customers showed up at its shop in Vienna on the first day of sales. Now the handset is available in an exclusive white edition at A1 shops from EUR 49 with certain subscriptions.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: T-Mobile Austria has posted revenues of EUR 267 million in Q1′09, down by 2.6% since Q1′08, though the operator experienced a 4% rise in its subscriber base from 3.287 million at Q1′08-end to 3.418 million at Q1′09-end.
The service revenues dropped by 3% year-on-year to EUR 256 million in Q1′09. The EBITDA also dipped by 30.3% to EUR 53 million and the share of non-voice grew from 23% in Q1 2008 to 27%.
The postpaid subscriber base rose by 6.1% to 2.3 million, with 35,000 net additions during Q1′09 whereas the prepaid base saw a drop of 0.1% year-on-year to 1.113 million, losing 19,000 subscribers in Q1′09.
The subscriber acquisition costs (SAC) grew 18.5% year-on-year to EUR 109, due to a 26.5% growth in postpaid SAC to EUR 205, while prepaid SAC fell by more than 66% to EUR 2 and subscriber retention costs (SRC) grew by 14.9% to EUR 108.
The operator reported a downfall in ARPU by 7.4% year-on-year to EUR 25, due to a 8.3% drop in postpaid ARPU to EUR 33 and an 11.1% decrease in prepaid ARPU to EUR 8.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 3 Austria has introduced a new promotion on the occasion of its 6th anniversary, under which it offers new mobile phones at a price of EUR 3 in combination with 3LikeHome tariff.
The promotion is valid until 30 June and also offers free activation. 3LikeHome offers the same minute fees and SMS fees as in Austria to subscribers, while they are in all countries with a 3 network: the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Australia, Italy and Hong Kong.
3 Austria also provides all mobile data modems for EUR 3 in combination with a 3DataFair (15GB) for EUR 20 a month.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: T-Mobile CR, has launched a new roaming add-on, dubbed as Cestovatel (‘Traveller’). Until 31 July, subscribers can receive free incoming calls and send SMS at discounted prices of CZK 5 per SMS and CZK 10 per MMS (VAT included).
The service will also be available in summer resorts across Greece and Bulgaria. The Cestovatel roaming add-on is available in Montenegro, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Austria, Slovakia, Great Britain and the US. Calls within the visited country and to the Czech Republic are charged at CZK 4.76 per minute, plus the call set-up fee of CZK 34.51.