Uninor chairman Chandra asks for interim replacement (India)
Unitech Wireless’ Chairman Sanjay Chandra, who was arrested by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the wake of 2G spectrum scam, has asked the company’s board to appoint an alternate director to deal with its day-to-day affairs as an interim arrangement.
Unitech Wireless (Uninor) is a joint venture between Unitech and Norway’s Telenor. Telenor had demanded that Chandra should resign from the chairmanship of Unitech Wireless till the investigations into 2G spectrum issue are over.
According to the company, one of Unitech’s nominee directors will take over as the chairman of the board. This request was sent a few days back. Chandra was arrested last week after the special court denied bail to him along with other accused.
Telenor stated that Chandra is facing serious accusations, and Telenor expects him to focus on defending his case in court while Unitech Wireless focuses on running its business.
According to Telenor Group Asia’s Director of communications Glenn Mandelid, the company believes that a temporary resignation for as long as the 2G court case is ongoing is the appropriate action, and it will continue to persuade Unitech that Chandra steps down, and that they appoint a replacement, as this would be in Unitech Wireless’ best interest.
NetCom overhauls postpaid offer (Norway)
NetCom has revamped its postpaid portfolio, offering new subscriptions that include more talk-time, SMS as well as data at a fixed monthly fee, effective as of 18 April.
The new subscriptions are available in four variants, namely Small, Medium, Large and X-Large, which are designed to suit the needs of all end-users. As it noticed a sharp increase in mobile internet usage as well as a surge in the sales of smartphones in the recent period, NetCom included plenty of MB in its new subscriptions.
With prices ranging between US$22.01 and US$108.98 per month, they offer between 100 and 3,000 minutes, 50 to 3,600 SMS, as well as 75 to 4GB at standard data transfer speeds. Over-the-limit traffic is reduced to 120 Kbps. With these offers, calls come with no connection fee; users get free access to HomeRun hotspots in Scandinavia and can combine their subscription with ‘Tradlos Familie.’
NetCom continues to offer subscriptions for customers who do not want to pay the fixed price. In addition to fixed-price subscriptions, customers can choose from FlexiTalk, Kontant and YoungTalk. Other subscriptions will eventually be phased out.
Metaswitch Networks to acquire Colibria (UK)
Metaswitch Networks has announced that it is acquiring mobile instant messaging provider, Colibria for an undisclosed amount. Metaswitch stated that the addition of Colibria’s IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and Rich Communication Suite (RCS and RCS-e) compliant portfolio broadens the range of options that it can now present to operators.
Lars Myhrum, Colibria CEO will assume the General Manager role for Metaswitch’s presence in Norway, with responsibility for the ongoing development and evolution of the Colibria product line.
Colibria’s investors are Verdane Capital, Ferd Venture, and Bjorgvin.
TeliaSonera, TDC win contracts from Posten Norden (Denmark)
Posten Norden has selected TeliaSonera for telephony and TDC for data communication, including video conferencing services.
The new agreements provide Posten Norden with integrated, efficient and standardised communication services. One of the main objectives of the procurement process was to reduce the number of suppliers.
The agreements are for a four-year period with an extension option, involve approximately US$20.76 million per year and cover the group’s operations in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland.
The agreements do not include any volume guarantees. TeliaSonera will become Posten Norden’s telephony supplier, namely its supplier of fixed IP and mobile telephony and purchased phones.
Posten Norden currently has 10,000 fixed subscriptions/extensions and approximately 35,000 mobile subscriptions/connections. Based on these volumes, the telephony agreement involves approximately US$13.28 million per year. TDC will be Posten Norden’s supplier of Wan and video conferencing services. Posten Norden currently has 4,000 Wan connections and approximately 30 video conferencing systems.
Tele2 plans event to break record for world’s longest mobile call (Norway)
Tele2 Norway is planning to organize an event in an attempt to break the record for the world’s longest mobile phone call.
The event will be organized in cooperation with Sony Ericsson and P4 at a suitable place in Oslo on 8-9th April. Participants will have a new conversation topic each hour. They will get a five-minute break every hour and should not have a silent moment for more than ten seconds. Audience will be able to watch the event live, listen to the calls, ask questions and comment on verdensrekord.no.
Tele2 will encourage the public to help the participants by asking questions as well as to contribute with comments and suggestions. The event is part of Tele2′s strategy to show that the company’s fixed-price subscription is the best fixed-price service and that it is cheap for those who make calls frequently. Tele2 recently launched a promotional campaign running in March and April for its Tele2 Fastpris (Tele2 fixed-price) offer.
NetCom restores mobile broadband portfolio (Norway)
NetCom has revamped its 4G (LTE) mobile broadband portfolio as well as reduced the prices of its mobile broadband subscriptions by almost 20%.
The new offer is available in NetCom’s sales channels as of April 1 for both residential as well as business customers.
The new addition to NetCom’s offer is the monthly tariff X-Small which offers 100 MB per month. As previously, customers can also get 1GB, 8GB, 15GB, or 30 GB per month with the monthly tariffs Small, Medium, Large, and X-Large or from 0.5 GB per day with KontantSurf, all at download speeds between 20 and 80 Mbps.
2G scam India: Norway PM seeks fair treatment for Telenor
Norway’s prime minister has reportedly lobbied his Indian counterpart to ensure that Norwegian mobile operator Telenor receives ‘fair treatment’ from Indian authorities in a telecommunications graft scandal.
According to reports citing Deputy Trade Minister Rikke Lind, Telenor had asked Norwegian authorities to engage in the case, which threatens to strip mobile licences from Telenor’s majority-owned Indian unit Uninor.
India’s Central Bureau of Investigation charged ex-telecommunication minister A Raja, Reliance ADA group and the Indian joint venture partners of Telenor and of Etisalat in a multi-billion dollar telecommunications licensing corruption scandal. Lind stated that Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg sent a letter to Manmohan Singh about the Telenor affair.
Lind stated that Norwegian authorities want to make sure the Indian government does what it can to ensure that Telenor and other foreign investors in India’s telecommunication market receive fair treatment. The trade ministry confirmed the content of the e-mail to Reuters. Telenor was not immediately available for comment.
Telenor has long said that if corruption had occurred, it was before 2008, when it bought its Indian mobile licence from partner Unitech, which holds 32.5% of Uninor. According to Telenor’s Asia chief Sigve Brekke, it’s important to emphasize that nobody is convicted. But if there is something to the allegations that have been brought against their partner, then they distance themselves strongly from it.
Sony Ericsson introduces Xperia PLAY smartphone
Sony Ericsson has introduced Xperia PLAY, the PlayStation certified smartphone.
The device is now on sale in shops in the UK, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, with further availability in additional six markets over the next two weeks.
The Xperia PLAY launches with more than 60 games from content providers, including Sony Computer Entertainment, Gameloft, Electronic Arts and Glu Mobile.
The range of games available to download at launch is a combination of original PlayStation titles, 3D titles and controls of Xperia PLAY as well as casual games. Sony Ericsson has formed partnerships with over twenty developers from publishers, independents, middleware providers Havok and Unity, Android developers, to enable a steady flow of new titles for Xperia PLAY.
The phone features games such as Assassins Creed Altair’s Chronicles HD, Need for Speed, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, Dungeon Defenders Second Wave, Gun Bros, Galaxy on Fire 2, Guns ‘n’ Glory, Worms, Zenonia 2, Backstab and N.O.V.A.2. In addition, Asphalt 6 racing game will be available for free exclusively on Xperia PLAY. The games are downloadable via the ‘Xperia PLAY launcher’, an application that is activated by sliding open the gamepad.
The ‘Xperia PLAY launcher’ recommends games and enables consumers to search for top titles optimised for Xperia PLAY on Android market. There is also a range of PlayStation original games available at launch in select markets initially.
These are comprised of a pre-install of the PS One classic Crash Bandicoot and a further five PlayStation original games available to download via the PlayStation Pocket application in Xperia PLAY.
These games include Cool Boarders 2, Destruction Derby, Jumping Jack Flash, MediEvil and Syphon Filter. More games from Sony Computer Entertainment will be added to Xperia PLAY on a regular basis. Xperia PLAY will be available within the next two weeks in Spain, France, Finland, Singapore, India and Portugal.
Xperia PLAY will be in stores in the US market with Verizon Wireless this spring.
Cosmote Romania launches three new data roaming add-ons
Cosmote Romania has launched three new postpaid data roaming add-ons.
The offer is available for Cosmote Romania subscribers who travel to EU countries, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland (countries included in the operator’s ‘Group 1′ corresponding to its ‘Roaming Avantaj’ tariff scheme).
Dubbed ‘Roaming Internet,’ the add-ons can be acquired on top of existing data subscriptions. Three ‘Roaming Internet’ add-ons are available, namely 25 MB, 50 MB, and 100 MB for US$14.09 (VAT excluded), US$21.13 or US$35.22 per week. Over-the-limit traffic is charged with US$2.81 per MB.
TELENOR to offer new mobile subscriptions (Norway)
Based on results from a comprehensive survey on what mobile users want out of a mobile subscription, Telenor is changing its mobile subscription offering. The answer is that mobile users want a good offer on mobile phones combined with low and predictable prices on subscriptions. They are also interested in coverage that provides the maximum user experience.
Telenor’s radical change to its subscription offering starts 11 April. This will see the start of sales at around 1,500 mobile dealers countrywide. From now on Norwegian mobile customers will only have two options to choose between, Komplett and Prat. In this way Telenor is simplifying and improving its mobile subscriptions.
Svein Henning Kirkeng, Director of Consumer Markets in Telenor, emphasizes that Telenor shall give customers the best mobile experience the market has to offer, and that the growth in mobile Internet usage places major demands on mobile operators.
“Telenor gives people the best user experience when it comes to mobile surfing in Norway; this is documented by independent tests carried out in various media. With our new subscriptions you not only enjoy Telenor’s superb coverage, but also simple and reasonably priced subscriptions with good promotions on mobile phones for surfing. Telenor is now coming out with the most attractive mobile packages on the market,” says Kirkeng.
All additional services, such as the popular FriFamilie, can be combined with the new subscriptions.
The customer decides
Komplett and Prat are offered with various packages that cover the needs of everyone. In an effort to make this adaptation a success, Telenor asked 3,000 people what they wanted out of a mobile. The new mobile subscriptions come as a direct answer to these wishes. Key feedback:
- For the first time in Norwegian mobile history people are saying that surfing using a mobile phone is more important than sending text messages (SMS).
- For the first time in Norwegian mobile history, people are voicing in unison that they want a fixed monthly price that includes as much as possible. This is because people want to keep things simple and predictable.
- Yet again in Norwegian mobile history, people are giving clear responses that, when they are in the market for a subscription, they prefer good offers on mobile phones too.
- The paradigm shift we are now experiencing in the mobile world places great demands on operators. When people are increasingly using mobile phones for a diverse range of network services, they demand network access and a good user experience at all times anywhere they go. Coverage and quality take on a new meaning entirely.
Great value included
Choosing the name Komplett is, according to Telenor, quite obvious since the package contains nearly everything:
- Good offers on mobiles for surfing.
- Everything you need in terms of talk time, SMS and data.
- FriFamilie offers unlimited minutes, SMS and MMS to family members.
- Telenor’s test winning mobile network.
“With Komplett Telenor is providing Norway’s best total solution in terms of mobile subscriptions. Everything is included here; talk time, SMS and data – and the customer gets a great price on a new mobile phone too. The total value of the subscription is actually higher than the monthly price,” says Svein Henning Kirkeng.
Komplett comes in Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large – and Control. Since the mobile user is getting a large package at a fixed price, there is great value included. Telenor will make this value known to customers, because the company wants to show everyone how big a price reduction the subscriptions represent as well as how much value is included in the subscriptions.
Reasonable packages for the windbags too
For those customers most interested in calling with a mobile, Telenor is offering Prat. Prat offers good call prices and predictable customised use. Varieties of Prat are named for how much talk time is included: Prat 100, Prat 400 and Prat 1200. Here too the customer gets very attractive prices on a new mobile phone – and again, FriFamilie and Telenor’s superb coverage are included.
Out with the old, in with the new
Sales of all current subscriptions ceases on Monday, 11 April 2011, and sales of Komplett and Prat starts the same day. Telenor will not be automatically moving customers from the old subscriptions to the new ones but it will be simple to change subscriptions.
“Our existing customers will be informed and guided by us via the Internet, e-mail and SMS, so that they can familiarize themselves with our new reasonably priced offers at a relaxed pace, and choose the package that best suits them, says Kirkeng. He points out that whether they go over to the new subscriptions or keep their existing ones is entirely up to the customer.
In closing Svein Henning Kirkeng points out that although Telenor is going the extra mile to fulfil wishes for reasonably priced mobiles for surfing, the company will still offer good package prices to those who want to keep their old mobiles, yet still benefit from Komplett or Prat.
