NSN acquires IRIS Telecom
Nokia Siemens Networks has announced that it has wrapped the acquisition of IRIS Telecom, a telecommunications and engineering services firm. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Istanbul, Turkey-based IRIS Telecom was founded in 1999 in order to provide network planning and optimization services to telecommunications operators and equipment vendors in Turkey, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. According to company’s website, IRIS Telecom also provides network deployment and network operation services. Its customers include mobile operators Turkcell, Avea and Ucell.
In a news release, Finland-based Nokia Siemens Networks stated that the acquisition strengthens its implementation, network planning and optimization capabilities and business across Turkey, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
IRIS will continue to function as a separate legal entity and will remain based in Istanbul. Mete Gokdemir, the co-founder of IRIS, will continue to lead the company as chief executive. IRIS co-founder Johan Bruce will assume a new position as executive director. Gokdemir and Bruce will both continue to serve on IRIS’ board of directors.
Seven telecom operators from five countries collaborate on Regional Cable Network (RCN) Project
Seven operators, including Etisalat (UAE), Mobily (Saudi Arabia), Jordan Telecom, Mada and Zain (Jordan), Syria Telecom (Syria) and Superonline, a Turkcell Group company, from Turkey have announced that they are building the Middle Easts longest fully-redundant terrestrial communications infrastructure along a 7,750 kilometer round trip route. The RCN project will extend from the city of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates to Istanbul in Turkey and then to Europe and will serve as a gateway to the Internet for 2 billion people.
The RCN project was signed by the seven telecom operators during a ceremony held in Ankara. The event was attended by the Minister of Transport and Communications Binali Y?ld?r?m, RCN Project Interim Consortium Chairman and Executive Vice President of Carrier Wholesale at Etisalat Ali Amiri, the CEOs of the founder members of the Consortium: including Turkcell CEO Sreyya Ciliv, Mobily COO Mr. Abdulaziz Altamami, Jordan Telecom Group CEO Mrs. Nayla Khawam, Mada Group Managing Director Charles Hage , Syrian Telecommunications Establishment Director General Nazem Bahsas and Superonline CEO Murat Erkan.
Starting from Fujairah (United Arab Emirates) and passing through Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Amman (Jordan), Tartous (Syria) and reaching Istanbul (Turkey), the RCN projects fibre optic cable line will cover the entire Gulf region in the Middle East for the first time through a uniform infrastructure. 3,875 km in radial length and totaling 7,750 km with its round trip routes, the RCN project will become the regions longest fully-redundant terrestrial fiber infrastructure between Fujairah, one of the busiest nodes for submarine and fibre cables, and the West.
Addressing the ceremonial assembly, Consortium Chairman and Executive Vice President Carrier & Wholesale at Etisalat, Ali Amiri described the RCN as being unmatched in terms of speed, quality, ease of upgrade, redundancy, and reliability. Recalling that the dual fibre lines would cross five countries and intersect in five cities, Amiri stated that this infrastructure has the ability to provide the tremendous capacity of 12.8 terabits per second. The demand for intercontinental connectivity continues to grow at a remarkable rate. The regions governments are encouraging investment in new technologies to bolster the performance of their national economies. Operators are deploying Next- Generation Networks for both fixed-line and wireless environments which in turn allow an increasing volume of services to be provided to ever more consumers. These factors as well as the growing technical literacy of the local population and availability of rich local content are all driving the demand for ever more capacity. Etisalat is delighted to partner with six of the regions leading operators in a project which will enhance the lives and increase the reach of over two billion people, Amiri said.
Designed to stretch from Fujairah to Istanbul and offer connectivity to Europe through more than 15 access points readily available on the Bulgarian and Greek borders of Turkey, RCN infrastructure boasts a data carrying capacity of 12.8 Terabit per second. Initially 2.4 Terabit per second of capacity will be activated along the two different routes. In contrast to similar systems, all the operators taking part in RCN, will dedicate fibre on both routes exclusively to RCN, paving the way to immediately upgrade or re-route the entire path when needed.
The RCN project brings together top telecom companies from five countries. Each a leader in communication technology in their respective countries, Etisalat (UAE), Mobily (Saudi Arabia), Jordan Telecom/Orange Jordan and Mada-Zain Partnership (Jordan), Syrian Telecommunications Establishment (Syria), and Superonline (Turkey) have signed their names to the Project. With an approximate investment value of half a billion dollars, the fibre optic line will be operational in the second quarter of 2011.
With the potential to directly serve the largest population in the Middle East region, the RCN project will ensure more reliable, redundant and faster Internet connectivity for roughly 2 billion people with its diversified route. Envisaged to satisfy the Internet demand in the countries involved and to become the preferred route for transit traffic across all the countries it passes through, this Project will increase speeds throughout the region.
Turkcell launches its first smartphone-T10
Turkcell, one of Turkey’s leading communication and technology firms, has launched its first smart phone in the market with the introduction of the Turkcell T10 mobile phone.
Turkcell announced the T10 smart phone on Tuesday during a press conference at Turkcell headquarters in Istanbul. The features that make the phone different from others are the Google voice search, shortcuts to most frequently visited sites, a compass and Turkcell mobile TV applications, all of which are pre-installed in the T10.
According to Burak Sevileng¼l, the assistant general manager of Turkcell, the number of smartphones is increasing at such an accelerated pace that in 2012 smartphones sold will reach 490 million, surpassing the sales of desktop computers, which are expected to sell only 270 million in 2012. The popularity of smartphones has been triggered by the rise in 3G technology. The company expects that the amount of 3G users in the world will surpass the 1 billion mark by the end of 2010.
Sevileng¼l noted that the Turkcell T10 has an Android 2.1 operating system, 2.8 inch touchscreen, 3G HSPDA (High-Speed Downlink Package Access), 3.2 megapixel camera with flash, MP3 player, push e-mail, GPS, Wi-Fi, a compass and access to Java applications. According to him, the T10 is the first smart phone in the world that has a Google voice search application pre-installed. Furthermore, with the T10, users will have access to gn§PLAY, a music streaming service that includes more than 2.5 million songs.
The T10 is available in both black and white casing, will be presented in two packages; the advantage and full package. The advantage package includes the device, 500 MB of Internet access and 60 hours of live TV broadcasting and it will cost US$30.47 per month in a one-year contract and US$20.29 in a two-year contract.
Nokia Siemens Networks to Acquire IRIS Telecom
Nokia Siemens Networks is buying Turkey based IRIS Telecom, for an undisclosed sum to boost its network planning and optimization business across the region. According to the company, subject to regulatory approval, the deal should be completed during the first quarter 2011.
According to Nokia Siemens, IRIS, which has around 630 employees, will continue to operate independently under its own name, with its head office in Istanbul.
According to Mete Gokdemir, CEO, IRIS Telecom, 3G and mobile broadband are driving the need to manage end-user experience while improving network efficiency. While a fair portion of the region’s operators are still managing their networks in-house, the company is seeing a growing trend toward outsourcing, given the higher complexities and competence requirements of managing IP networks. In this evolving scenario, Nokia Siemens Networks’ proven business model and the acquired local capabilities of IRIS Telecom will create a winning proposition for operators.
According to Geert Buijk, regional head of Services, Nokia Siemens Networks, the company will use IRIS Telecom’s localized operations and strong position in NPO to improve the service delivery model in Turkey, Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The company aims to deliver unmatched competitive advantages for customers across a region where network data traffic is increasing rapidly as 3G and mobile broadband are starting to take off.
The current CEO, Mete Gokdemir will continue in his role, and Johan Bruce, currently chairman of IRIS Telecom’s Board, will be nominated Executive Director of the company. After closing of the deal, Nokia Siemens Networks will honor all existing commitments made by IRIS Telecom, including those to other equipment vendors. Future multi-vendor services opportunities will be evaluated on a case by case basis in line with Nokia Siemens Networks’ strategy.
Turkcell completes HSPA+ 3G tests
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A series of HSPA+ enabled 3G network tests have been completed by Turkcell in collaboration with Ericsson, attaining a peak transmission speed of 42Mbps. Ericsson provided its dual carrier and multi carrier frequency solutions in a network upgrade programme.
According to Turgut Erkul, business area radio manager at Ericsson, Turkcell and Ericsson conducted an HSPA multi carrier 42.2Mbps test on 5 March 2010 in Istanbul. Turkcell is among the first operators in the world to reach 42.2Mbps speed with Ericsson’s HSPA multi carrier solution.
Turkcell chief network operations officer, Ylter Terzioolu, on the other hand added that Turkcell will provide these speed levels to its customers in 2010 and aims to eventually reach 84Mbps in 3G.
Investment in cutting-edge infrastructure will be continued by Turkcell to ensure that its network can utilize the most up-to-date technologies.
Turkcell’s Subscriber Base Reaches 30.8 Million
ISTANBUL, Turkey, October 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Turkcell (NYSE:TKC, ISE: TCELL), the leading provider of mobile communications in Turkey, announced today that its total number of subscribers reached 30.8 million as of September 30, 2006. This corresponds to an increase of 3.3% from 29.8 million as of June 30, 2006 and an increase of 15.3% from 26.7 million as of September 30, 2005. Turkcell’s subscriber base consists of 5.7 million postpaid and 25.1 million prepaid subscribers.
Turkcell added approximately 1.0 million net new subscribers in the third quarter of 2006. New gross subscribers acquired in the third quarter of 2006 consisted of 91% prepaid and 9% postpaid subscribers.
In the third quarter of 2006, Turkcell’s churn rate increased to 4.1%, compared to 3.6% in the second quarter of 2006, mainly due to overall high market growth in the previous quarters and competition. Turkcell expects to lower quarterly churn rate for the fourth quarter of 2006 as a result of its segmented retention and loyalty programs as well as proactive churn prevention activities.
The subscriber acquisition growth trend during the third quarter of 2006 has remained strong. During this period, Turkcell introduced several campaigns and programs targeting various segments in line with its strategy. Turkcell continues its focus of maintaining leading position in the market through underlining its brand values and better value for money propositions.
Source- http://biz.yahoo.com
