Singapore, Malaysia to slash roaming rates
Malaysia and Singapore will be cutting its roaming charges for voice calls and text messaging over the next two years in a landmark accord.
According to Malaysian Information Minister Rais Yatim, the agreement is the first bilateral deal to slash telecommunications roaming charges in Southeast Asia, and is expected to trigger similar pacts within the region.
A statement issued by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, or IDA, stated that roaming charges for voice calls would be reduced by up to 20% starting May 1 this year, with the cut reaching a maximum of 30% starting May 1, 2012. Roaming charges for short messaging services, SMS or text messaging, would come down by up to 30% next month, reaching 50% from May 1 next year.
As per the statement, IDA and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission are currently studying roaming charges for data services, including multimedia services and video calls, and are reviewing the appropriate actions. Rais described the agreement as the first bilateral cooperation to reduce roaming charges within Asean and paves the way for other similar efforts among Asean countries.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, groups Malaysia and Singapore with Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
The statement quoted Singapore’s Information Minister Lui Tuck Yew as urging regulators from both sides to continue to identify new initiatives to enhance connectivity.
Telecom roaming allows subscribers to use their mobile phones to call when overseas using the network of the domestic operators, but charges are expensive.
Myanmar to get 150,000 new CDMA lines
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 150,000 additional CDMA-based limited mobility wireless phone connections will be deployed by state-run telco Myanma Posts and Telecommunications in two major cities of Myanmar namely Yangon and
Mandalay.
The existing CDMA networks will be expanded by 100,000 and 50,000 lines in Yaragon and Mandalay respectively. The process will cost around USD500 per new connection and it will use 800MHz equipment.
Active CDMA lines in Myanmar were 205,000 at the beginning of the year, against 375,000 GSM mobile users. The company is also planning to introduce video calling and other 3G applications over a planned W-CDMA mobile network.
No Chinese equipment for border areas- Indian Govt to BSNL.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: India’s government run telecom company, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) will not be able to procure Chinese telecom equipment as proposed by the Indian Government.
These equipments will not be bought in the border areas considered to be sensitive. Indian states bordering Pakistan, China, Bangladesh and Myanmar have been declared as sensitive by communications ministry in the Parliament.
The lawmakers were told that that the telecom companies are expressing concern over the plan which is still under consideration.
Govt. plans to expand CDMA network (Myanmar)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Myanmar government is reportedly planning to raise the capacity of CDMA networks covering the country’s two largest cities of Yangon and Mandalay by 150,000 subscribers. According to the Chinese agency Myanmar had around 200,000 CDMA telephony users at the end of 2008, as well as 375,000 GSM mobile subscribers, although mobile phones are predominantly issued to those connected to the military-run authorities or businesses. The existing telecom network of 400 public telecom access centers covering 44 towns is also being expanded in 2009 to cover all towns in the country.
Myanmar introduces video-capable mobile handsets
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Myanmar has reportedly introduced video-capable mobile phones. The residents of Yangon, the only city with W-CDMA coverage, have got nearly 5,000 such handsets. According to the statistics available, Myanmar was home to 375,800 GSM subscribers at the end of 2008, up from 211,812 in 2007. CDMA-based network subscribers ended 2008 with a subscriber base of 205,500.
Cost of mobiles dip but call tariffs rise steeply in Myanmar
Myanmar will soon experience, the price for owning a mobile phone being much less than using the device. The state-owned mobile operators in Myanmar plan to sell cheaper SIM cards with a tenfold rise in call tariffs. The sale of new SIM cards will begin from Dec. 12 priced at $50-25 times less than the price at present. The new SIM cards will carry a talktime of $10 and the calls will cost $0.30/min up from $0.03/min for otugoing domestic calls and the incoming call s will cost $0.05/min.
Under the current Myanmar system, a military rule, not everyone is entitled to an officially sanctioned mobile phone, which costs $1,250.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Telecoms and state repression in Burma (Myanmar)
There’s been a lot of talk on and reports of how the Internet and communications technologies have focused world attention on the recent protests and subsequent government crackdown in Burma (Myanmar).
Whether it’s via mobile phone, blogs, picture sharing sites or good old-fashioned email, the consensus is that more news got out, and got out a lot more quickly, than it did during the last big Burmese uprising and subsequent dictatorial repression back in 1988.
Once the protests got bigger and bigger, Burma’s military junta cut off Internet connectivity in the country but, even so, some reports are still getting through via mobile phone cameras, although the junta has certainly tried to shut of the cellphone network as well. That leaves intact some satellite connections at private companies and embassies, and perhaps a few roving satellite phone subscribers as well.
Now, it just so happens that I was tracking a story on the junta’s plans for its very own cyber city just before the protests began. There have been quite a few reports across Asia recently that the Burmese “government” is building its 10,000-acre (4,050 hectare) Yadanabon cyber city†project about 70 kilometres east of Mandalay, Burma’s second largest city.
According China’s Xinhua news agency, not only is it going ahead as planned, but the first stage will be opening officially in January 2008 with some big-name tenants from China, Russia, Thailand and Malaysia headlining the propaganda event.
Back in June, “The Irrawaddy”, probably the best news source about Burma, filed a story that panned the grandiose ICT plans of the junta. In particular it quoted Reporters without Borders, which labels Burma an “Internet black hole”, and suggested that no foreign company in its right mind would risk going anywhere near “Myanmar”.
However, according to Xinhua last month, the list of companies signed up to be anchor tenants in the cyber city include the likes of ZTE and Alcatel Shanghai Bell (ASB) from China, Thailand’s Shin Satellite, IP Tel from Malaysia and Russian software outfit CBOSS. It also claims that an airport had been built in†the cyber city and that various systems including ADSL, CATV, Triple Play and WiMax are being installed, experts said, adding that the present stage before the soft opening deals with fibre cable installation.â€
That’s quite a detailed list of development. As it turned out, I was at a satellite conference in Bangkok the same week and thus had a chance to ask a number of people at Shin Satellite, including the company president, directly about this.
Not one single person at that company had even heard of the mythical Yadanabon cyber city, never mind being listed as an anchor tenant there. I then contacted Alcatel about the Alcatel Shanghai Bell (ASB) involvement and got the same response there were no plans to invest in the cyber city project.
Obviously the military dictatorship has simply invented stories to give their ICT project some credibility. It seems that probably have cleared a patch of jungle where the cyber city ought to be, but, of course, there’s nothing there and they are so desperate to get foreign investors to part with hard currency that the junta is pretending that companies are already moving in.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Comm Min asks DoT to look at mobile SVCs on border trading pts
The Commerce Ministry has asked the Department of Telecom to look into the possibility of allowing mobile services at border trading points with China, Pakistan and other neighbouring countries to help increase the flow of import and export from these land ports.
Taking up the issue of poor connectivity, the commerce ministry in a letter to DoT, said since no Indian operator was allowed to operate within 10 km of the international border, Indian traders were at a disadvantage.
With the government recently opening up Nathu La pass for trade with China, it has come to notice that mobile phones of Indian traders catch up signals of China Mobile.
Similarly, at the trading points with Bangladesh, Indian mobile phones catch signals of Grameen phones of Bangladesh.
The Commerce Ministry wanted dot to look at the possibility of allowing mobile services at more than 15 border trading points that India has opened with Bangladesh, China, Nepal, Myanmar and Pakistan.
As per cellular mobile service license and unified access service license, an operator requires government clearance for providing mobile service and setting up of base trans-receiver station within 10 km of the international border.
To increase trade with neighbours from land routes, the government is looking at opening more border trading posts. Recently, the cabinet had approved a plan to establish Land Ports Authority of India to manage these posts.
During Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit last month, a proposal was mooted to open two more trading posts with China at Demchok in Ladakh and Bumla in Arunanchal Pradesh.
UAE: Etisalat plans India move
Etisalat is looking to enter the Indian telecommunications market as a prelude to doing business in other Asian countries such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar, the Maldives and the Philippines, a senior executive said yesterday.
The Abu Dhabi-based com pany is “studying several offers” from Middle East and Asian companies to acquire more mobile licences, Chairman Mohammed Hassan Omran said yesterday.
Although it is currently focusing on speeding up the operation of the third mobile licence in Egypt, which it obtained recently, Etisalat is “making efforts” to enter other markets, Omran told Al Emarat Al Youm.
Etisalat also recently bought a controlling stake in Pakistan Telecommunications Corporation, but lost the bidding for a 30 per cent stake in Tunisie Telecom in Tunisia.
“We are focused on the Egyptian market because it is an important market in the region, and one that is witnessing considerable growth. We will begin services on schedule in February 2007,” Omran said.
Observers say the Egypt licence witnessed strong competition between rivals, but Etisalat beat rivals from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and South Africa as well as Egypt, paying some $2.9 billion (Dh10.6bn) for the licence.
The company was earlier this month ranked sixth among 50 listed Arab companies by Forbes magazine. It took top spot in the UAE and fifth in the GCC, in the Shuaa Capital-Gulf Business report on the biggest GCC companies by market value in 2006.
Etisalat has been going global with a vengeance since it acquired the Mobily licence in Saudi Arabia for $2bn (Dh7.34bn).
In the race to acquire Telsim of Turkey, however, Etisalat’s bid of $2.51 billion (Dh9.2bn) was the lowest. Vodafone of the UK won the deal for $4.55bn (Dh17bn).
Source- http://www.zawya.com
Technorati : Etisalat, India, Maldives, Middle East, Mobile, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, UAE
Ice Rocket : Etisalat, India, Maldives, Middle East, Mobile, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, UAE
