www.WirelessFederation.com/news: China Unicom, the nation’s second largest mobile phone. reportedly intends to launch a mobile mail service in October this year. The operator has begun the testing of its Wo-branded service and plans to launch officially as early as 1 October, a media report suggests. After the official launch, China Unicom will offer three subscriptions: a CNY 5 per month plan which includes a 10 GB mailbox, 1 GB of additional storage and the ability to send attachments of up to 30 MB; a CNY 15 per month plan which includes unlimited mailbox, 10 GB of online storage, and an attachment limit of 50 MB; and a free plan which includes a 2 GB inbox, 10 GB of online storage, and a 20 MB attachment limit.
On 08.26.09, In Mobile, By Editor
On 07.29.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: BSNL, the state owned telco, according to a local media report has shown interest in acquiring a 10%-15% stake in Kenyan mobile operator Essar Telecommunications Kenya (ETK), which provides services under the ‘Yu’ brand. A BSNL official reportedly confirmed that talks are on between the two companies, ‘Valuations are being discussed. We are doing the due diligence.’
On 07.24.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Verizon has reportedly added 1.1 million mobile subscribers in Q2′09, align with the analytical anticipations. The largest mobile operator across the nation, ended Q2 with 87.7 million subscribers. Nearly all the additions were “retail,” meaning they bought service directly under Verizon Wireless’s brand rather than from a reseller such as Tracfone Wireless.
On 07.22.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Open Joint Stock Company Vimpel-Communications, a leading international provider of telecommunications services, officially announced the commercial launch of its mobile operations in Vietnam under the Beeline brand via GTEL-Mobile Joint Stock Company, mobile telecommunications joint venture in Vietnam.
“With the start of our operations in Vietnam we are strengthening our positions in South-East Asia. The Vietnamese telecom market has a great potential with a young and dynamic population of more than 86 million people and a fast growing economy. Our partnership with such a reliable and professional local partner as GTEL Corp helped us achieve the result we had planned,” said Boris Nemsic, Chief Executive Officer, VimpelCom. “The launch in Vietnam follows our successful start in Cambodia where we have already commenced operations earlier this year,” noticed Vladimir Riabokon, Executive Vice President, International Business Development, VimpelCom.
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On 07.09.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Vodafone Germany has introduced a a single, new branding strategy as it completes the integration of its Arcor fixed-line unit. The operator plans to present a single and common brand for customers and partners, with the individual needs of customers put at the centre of this strategy. The new single brand will be supported by a campaign targeting ‘Generation Upload’ customers. The campaign portrays customers as heroes of the day and uses the slogan ‘Now is Your Time’. The integrated company will offer mobile, fixed-line, data and broadband internet services under a single brand. Vodafone will also promote the new brand across social media channels such as Facebook, MySpace and Youtube.
On 07.03.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news:Red Mobile, the prepaid mobile operator, has relaunched its service across the nation to the 40 million 2G handset users and aims to expand its subscriber base to 1 million by 2009-end.
“Out of 55 million mobile phone users, only 15% to 20% are with 3G handsets. So, by making it available on the 2G network, we are now expanding our service offerings to those that are still using 2G mobile phones,” Danilo J. Mojica, Smart Communications, Inc. wireless consumer division head, reportedly said.
The relaunch is anticipated to raise the average revenue per unit (ARPU) of the operator by 10%, at around P100 per subscriber, officials said.
“Because our subscriber base is low, it is understandable that our ARPU is at that level. But hopefully, it will increase with our affordable service offerings,” Mr. Zaballero explained.
Red Mobile offers calls at P0.50 per minute within the network and the same rate applies to video calling, short messaging, and multimedia messaging services.
“We are the only brand in the market that allows customers to consume their load up to the last drop,” Mr. Zaballero said.
On 07.03.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Telekom Slovenije, which owns Macedonian fixed line network operator and ISP On.Net and recently acquired domestic cellco Cosmofon, will be merging under a single operational brand name by the end of this year. According to Cosmofon chief executive officer Olivier Poncin, the integration plan will be launched upon completion of the merger, and will involve a ‘reorganisation and analysis of responsibilities’ – meaning a review of staffing levels.
On 06.11.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Tata Teleservices, the Indian mobile operator, is all set to launch its GSM services branded under the name Tata DoCoMo, reflecting the name of its shareholder and partner, Japanese telco NTT DoCoMo. Tata DoCoMo will launch the services soon, initially in the Southern region of India. Tata Teleservices, a CDMA mobile operator, moved into the GSM forray following the footsteps of its CDMA rival RCom, which recently launched its GSM services. The operators anticipate that the dual-technology will help them attract larger subscriber base from market leaders Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar after MNP is introduced in the nation by end of 2009. NTT DoCoMo will help Tata launch services such as i-mode, location-based services, mobile payments and 3G in India. Tata is investing USD 2 billion in the nationwide GSM roll-out, which be completed by 2009-end.
On 06.05.09, In Mobile, By Editor
T-Mobile USA intends to launch its second Android based Google handset, CTO Cole Brodman reportedly said. According to Brodman, the device will be introduced in the summer as the details come in later this month. The new device will operate on the ‘cupcake’ version of the OS, and it’s thought likely that a new vendor partner such as Motorola or Samsung will produce it. “We’ll have multiple new Android devices from multiple partners this year,” the CTO said.
Brodman added that Android devices will integrate more of T-Mobile USA’s brand in the future.
On 06.04.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Vodafone Australia Ltd. and Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecommunications Ltd have merged their businesses. “Australia has been very interesting lately, we have merged with a competitive company last Friday and formed a new company and that will forward under the name of Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA),” Former Vodafone Australia Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and current Vodafone Hutchison Australia board member Russell Hewitt, said. It is 50-50 % joint venture. VHA will market its products and services under the existing Vodafone brand, and retain the
exclusive rights to the 3 brand, which is owned by Hutchison. It is anticipated that Earnings per share for both Vodafone and Hutchison Australia would be enhanced by the deal. Australian dollars in revenue and will head about 6 million customers,” Hewitt said.
“So that makes it quite a large company in Australia and makes it a very strong competitor trying to move into the number two position in the market place,” he added. After the merger VHA is now headed by Hutchison Australia Chief Executive Officer Nigel Dews, with Vodafone CEO Nick Read as Chairman.
Current Vodafone CFO Dave Boorman is VHA’s CFO, while Hewitt will be a non-Executive Director of VHA.
“As a result of that merger I’ve moved on to the board of VHA and I get to keep my shareholders responsibility here in Fiji which I’m delighted about because we really enjoy coming to Fiji,” he added.