Telefonica launches smartphone chat app titled ‘TU Me’ (Spain)
Mobile operator Telefónica is working towards winning back customers from the free instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Viber that have eaten into its text message revenues, by launching its own smartphone chat app, according to a report by FT.
As per the report, TU Me, developed by Telefónica Digital, the carrier’s innovation unit established last September, will allow customers of any mobile network to send free voice and text messages, photos, video and their location to friends who also use the same app. The app, which is available from Wednesday for Apple’s iPhone and will soon be released for Google Android smartphones, is free to download and use.
The report reveals analysts estimate that they have attracted tens of millions of users and cost operators billions of dollars in lost revenue, by cannibalising text and picture messaging.
Stephen Shurrock, chief commercial officer at Telefónica Digital, said it was important for the operator to meet consumers’ needs, while potentially generating extra revenues from spurring increased data consumption or selling digital goods. He said that they can see users increasingly starting to use Viber and WhatsApp. What they wanted to do is put themselves in the centre of that market as well. ?They thought it was important for them to be in that space.
He said Telefónica was broadly comfortable that there is not going to be a significant impact on its own texting revenues because it already offers inclusive bundles of text messages in many markets. Shurrock said if we are staying close to customers and giving them products they want, that should improve churn.
Mozilla to begin sale of smartphone in end 2012 (USA)
Mobile phones running an operating system developed by makers of the Firefox web browser will go on sale in late 2012, according to a report by BBC. The first handsets running Mozilla’s ‘Boot to Gecko’ (B2G) software will be available in Brazil on Telefonica Vivo’s mobile network.
Announced in July 2011, B2G aims to be an open rival to Google’s Android.The Mozilla Foundation is best known for its Firefox browser that adheres strictly to official standards for writing and viewing web pages.
As per the report, Gary Kovacs, chief executive of Mozilla, said this openness would make a difference to the way applications on phones operate. B2G aimed to make apps more like webpages and able to share data and links, he said. It did this by basing everything on the latest web standard known as HTML5.
No details were given on who would make the handsets that Telefonica Vivo was planning to offer to its 90 million customers. It said the phones would cost about the same as existing feature phones.No specific date for the launch was given but Telefonica said it should happen at the end of 2012 or in early 2013.
Azerfon to deploy 4G services in Baku (Azerbaijan)
Azerbaijani mobile operator LLC Azerfon has completed work on the installation of an LTE (Long Term Evolution) base station to deploy 4G services, as reported by Trend last week. The report reveals that the base station that supports the fourth generation network will be deployed in the area of the State Flag.
As per the reports, LTE technology has been selected as the basic technology of the fourth generation. The 4G family includes technologies that allow data transfer in mobile networks at speeds above 100 Mbit/s for mobile users and 1 Gbit/ s fixed one which is 10 times more than in 3G networks.
Further, the company plans to introduce a Euro-package with special prices for the company’s services on the eve of Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku.
Orange to offer new iPad on March 16 (France)
Orange today announced that it will offer the new iPad in France on Friday, March 16.
The third generation iPad is a category defining mobile device that features a stunning new Retina display, Apple’s new A5X chip with quad-core graphics and a 5 megapixel iSight camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos and 1080p HD video. It also still delivers the same all-day 10 hour battery life while remaining amazingly thin and light.
Delphine Ernotte Cunci, executive director, Orange France, said that Orange offers iPad customers the largest mobile network in mainland France. With the most extensive and best mobile broadband coverage in France, Orange customers will be able to make full use of the amazing capabilities of the new iPad on the move.
Customers can buy the new iPad at orange.fr and in selected Orange retail stores beginning Friday, March 16.
SK Telecom bids for stake in Hynix Semiconductor Inc (South Korea)
SK Telecom, South Korea’s largest mobile carrier by market share, is the only bidder for a stake worth $2.8 billion in Hynix Semiconductor Inc., a leading computer-chip maker. According to reports, Korea Exchange Bank said that no other bidders came forward for the 20 percent stake (146.1 million shares) in the computer-chip company.
As per sources, the South Korean telecom operator is looking to diversify its businesses to secure new growth drivers beyond the almost saturated domestic telecom market. However, industry analysts have raised certain uncertainties regarding the completion of the deal as the parent company’s chairman is still under investigation for allegations of embezzlement.
Further, as per industry reports, analysts have also raised concerns regarding the financial strain on the company as a result of the increased investment in the advanced network technology as well as the substantial capital expenditures required to keep up with the technological upgradation in the chip production lines.
Solomon Telekom expands mobile network (Solomon Islands)
Solomon Telekom (Our Telekom) has expanded its mobile network. The company brought services to 32 new rural communities over the past year, bringing the total to 63 mobile sites across the country.
The companys’ sales teams are travelling to the communities in the coming months to officially launch the services.
Telekom upgrades network in Geisenhausen (Germany)
Telekom Deutschland has upgraded its UMTS network with HSPA+ technology in Geisenhausen (Bavaria).
Following the upgrade, all households in the municipality will now be able to access internet with maximum download speed of 21.6 Mbps.
The upgrade is a part of Telekom’s strategy to upgrade/expand its DSL and mobile network to offer broadband in rural areas, where currently no broadband services are available.
Huawei to offer free mobile network to London underground system
Huawei Technologies is bidding to provide a mobile network for the London underground system in time for the 2012 Olympics.
According to sources, this offer, worth around US$80 million is being made from the former Olympic nation to the new one. There have been attempts to deploy a network for mobile phones in the Underground for almost a decade but no one has apparently been able to come up with a commercially viable model.
There have been heightened reports recently that Transport for London was close to signing a contract with the UK’s mobile networks with the intention to deploy the network in places for the London Olympics.
A spokesperson confirmed that transport for London and the Mayor are currently in discussion with mobile phone operators and other suppliers about the potential provision of mobile phone services on the deep Tube network. Given the financial pressures on TfL’s budgets, any solution would need to be funded through mobile operators with no cost to the fare or taxpayers.
Uninor offers ‘Cricket Unlimited’ service (India)
Uninor has launched ‘Cricket Unlimited’ service for cricket enthusiasts this season.
Cricket Unlimited is a voice based application which will allow subscribers to listen to and browse cricket content via the mobile network.
The service is available across all handsets. To subscribe to the ‘Cricket Unlimited’ service, a Uninor customer needs to dial the toll free number and request for this service.
This service will be available for US$0.06 per day per match-day or US$0.66 for monthly pack on a toll free number. Once subscribed to the service, customers can browse through ‘Live Match Coverage’, participate in ‘Cricket Opinion Poll’, and download ‘Cricket Tunes’ including ring tones and caller tunes as part of this offer. Furthermore, subscribers can also access cricket rankings, match schedules and all cricket trivia.
Natcom mobile network completes first international voice call (Haiti)
Vietnamese telco Viettel has revealed that its subsidiary in Haiti, National Telecom (Natcom) successfully completed its first international voice calls over its new Haitian mobile network so far with five active base stations with ‘international standard quality’ connectivity demonstrated in a link-up with Vietnam in late December 2010.
The news came less than four months after work began on launching a GSM/3G cellular network from scratch, whilst Natcom is also replacing and expanding the ruined fixed line network of the former Teleco to provide national services including DSL broadband access.
In its announcement the company added that Natcom had also made successful domestic test calls over both its new fixed fibre-optic and mobile networks. Natcom, which has yet to interconnect its new networks with Haiti’s other telecoms operators, expects to launch commercial mobile services over a network of 1,000 base stations later in 2011.
