Romania

Vodafone announces the closure of navigation services (Sweden)

On 03.15.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The free navigation service provided by Google and Nokia has taken a toll on Vodafone which has announced the closure of its navigation business. Wayfinder, a Swedish navigational software firm was bought by Vodafone in December 2008 at a price of $30 million (19.8 million pounds). The closure will result in the loss of 95 jobs across Sweden, Romania and Britain.

After the introduction of free services in the last six months, commercial proposition for navigational services had completely changed and existing customers on the Vodafone offering will be moved over to new services provided by partners such as handset makers.

After the announcement of Google and Nokia’s plans, the business model of providing paid-for turn-by-turn navigation services has come under pressure.

Vodafone entered the navigation business in its drive to grow mobile data revenues as the mobile market became saturated.

Romanian regulator to allow 3G across 2G bands

On 02.25.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The technical and administrative measures of the provision for deployment of 3G services using the 900MHz and 1800MHz frequency bands by the cellular operators has been completed by Romanian regulator the National Communications Authority (ANCOM).

The 3G coverage of Orange Romania, Vodafone Romania and Cosmote will now be improved across the entirety of their current footprint.

According to Catalin Marinescu, president of ANCOM, this measure is part of the authority’s stated intention to promote broadband development in Romania and along with the CDMA license awards in 2008 and the forthcoming review of local loop unbundling, the liberalization of spectrum in the 900MHz and 1800MHz bands will contribute to the increased penetration of mobile internet access.

Tagged with: 2G • 3G • Ancom • CDMA • Cosmote • Europe • Orange • Orange Romania • Romania • Vodafone • Vodafone Romania

Nokia considers opening a factory in Argentina

On 02.22.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Opening of a new handset factory in Argentina by Nokia is on the cards thus, taking its tally of own-factories to ten worldwide. The handset production of the company is being moved to lower cost countries and the move came under controversy when it closed its Bochum plant in Germany.

According to Nokia spokesman Tapani Kaskinen, Nokia is investigating the possibility to arrange mobile device assembly in Argentina.

The company currently has ten factories in nine countries: Brazil, China, Finland, Hungary, India, Mexico, Romania, South Korea and recently it announced its plans to cut around 12% of its workforce at its Finnish factory as it switched the facility from low-cost handset production towards higher margin smartphones.

Tagged with: Argentina • ASIA • Brazil • China • Europe • Finland • Germany • Hungary • India • Korea • Mexico • Mobile Device • Nokia • North America • Oman • Romania • South America • South Korea

Orange to charge for handset customer care services

On 02.16.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Orange customers seeking support for handset specific issues will now be charged. Remote assistance service will also be included in the dedicated hotline assistance allowing Orange agents to remotely connect to a customer’s device and offer real-time, technical set-up and support.

Specialist customer service representatives will give expert assistance offering telephone guidance and answer queries, such as how to set up web and email access, how to synchronize and back-up a device and how to connect accessories.

Smart phone customers will receive the service as an Orange Care package. Launching in Q2 2010, the service will be available in France, Switzerland, UK, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Romania, Moldova and Belgium.

Tagged with: Belgium • Europe • France • Launch • Oman • Orange • Poland • Romania • Slovakia • Spain • Switzerland • UK

France Telecom’s Orange expands its travel data daily roaming tariff

On 02.15.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The expansion of a EUR2 for 2MB mobile internet tariff for roaming customers has been announced by France Telecom’s Orange. The 2MB Travel Data Daily roaming bundle has already been launched in Spain and Romania in 2009 and it will now be rolled out to the UK, Poland, France, Slovakia, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, Belgium and Moldova.

Orange is also offering a EU5 for 10MB daily data roaming limited to Apple iPhone users.

According to Olaf Swantee, senior executive vice president for the Orange’s global mobile business, for roughly the price of a cup of coffee, Orange is helping customers keep doing what they’re doing; not only designed for heavier users who use the mobile internet to download music or games but for everyday customers who want to be able to check their emails, tweet or upload their pictures to social networking sites, anywhere they may be within the EU.

Tagged with: Apple • Austria • Belgium • Europe • France • France Telecom • iPhone • LG • Luxembourg • Moldova • Orange • Poland • Romania • Slovakia • Social Networking • Spain • Switzerland • UK

Cosmote‘s HSPA+ network to be build by ZTE (Romania)

On 02.04.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Cosmote Romania has contracted Chinese equipment manufacturer ZTE to deploy an HSPA+ evolved UMTS network. Infrastructure across all the major cities in Romania will be deployed by Cosmote by the end of March 2010.

The network will be installed with ZTE’s software-defined radio (SDR) technology and will be capable of theoretical peak download speeds of 21Mbps while SDR will allow seamless transition from GSM/UMTS to HSPA+ and, in future, LTE.

Cosmote which did to not receive a 3G concession in the 2004 and 2006 license tenders, acquired local 3G specialist Zapp, thus gaining access to a 3G concession and allowing it to prepare to roll out mobile broadband services of its own.

Tagged with: 3G • Cosmote • Europe • HSPA • LTE • Romania • UMTS • Zapp • ZTE

Zapp to launch 3G+ services in August (Romania)

On 07.23.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Zapp, the Romanian mobile operator, will launch 3G+ network in August’09. The network was developed by operator in partnership with ZTE. The network will offer internet speeds of up to 21.6 Mbps. The 3G+service will initially be available in the Bucharest capital area, providing data transfer speeds of up to 21. 6 Mbps for download and 5.8 Mbps for upload.
Zapp, at present, is also upgrading its 3G network and intends coverage expansion from 23 to 63 cities. Additionally, the operator is will expand the coverage of its high-speed EV-DO network by 25%. Zapp aims to expand its mobile data services coverage to 80 percent of the country’s population.

Tagged with: Earned Income Supplement • Extension • Free Airtime • GAMA • GSM • Hotel Intercontinental Kabul • IndiaGames • Mobile payment • mobiNorth America • Romania • Vermont

Vodafone UK slashes roaming tariffs for business subscribers travelling in Europe

On 07.11.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news:

For a flat fee of £20 per person, per month, businesses using their phones in Europe can now stay in touch with colleagues and customers for the same price as making a call at home
With Vodafone Europe receiving calls abroad is now FREE
Vodafone continues to help customers to stay in touch through a range of voice, data and email whilst abroad with a suite of services.

Vodafone UK business customers now have even more ways to reduce their roaming and international call costs with the introduction of Vodafone Europe.

By adding Vodafone Europe for £20 per person, per month, customers can make business calls and texts in 12 European countries and make International calls from the UK for 5p per minute. Sending texts costs 5p per message and there is no charge for taking incoming calls. Calls are billed by the second, offering the best possible value.

“Our business customers have told us keeping in touch with customers – be it by voice, data and email whilst overseas – is vital in giving them a competitive edge” says Peter Kelly, Enterprise Director, Vodafone UK. “By adding Vodafone Europe to our suite of roaming options, customers can make decisions in real time, knowing they have greater budget control and clarity on what they and colleagues are spending when using their phones abroad.” (more…)

Tagged with: 4D • ABR Telecom • Bharti • BT Movio • BTRC • Chinguitel • Cyber Shot • Czech Republic • Dopod International • France • Greece • Irancel • Kuwait • Oman Telecommunications • Palm • Partner • Romania • Rural Africa • T-Mobile Netherlands

Orange Jordan expands its roaming offer coverage

On 07.01.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Orange Jordan, the sole integrated telecom operator in the Kingdom, has expanded the coverage of its roaming retail offer, enabling its Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go subscribers to receive reduced tariff calls during their travel from any fixed or GSM network in the Kingdom.
Mrs. Majd Shweikeh, CEO of Orange Mobile, pointed out that this service comes as part of the efforts placed by Orange to improve its services and offers according to the international trends in the telecom field.
‘With this announcement, we further highlight Orange’s policy of transparency when launching any offer or service. Ever since introducing it end of last year, the roaming retail offer has been known for this transparency and the reduced tariff,’she added. (more…)

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100,000 phone numbers port in Romania since the launch of NP – Anacom

On 06.30.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: According to the figures revealed by Anacom, nearly 100,000 phone numbers were ported in Romania since the launch of number portability 35 weeks back. Of the total 100,000 ported numbers, 70,845 were of mobile telecommunication and 29,155 of landline telephony.
In case of the mobile phone lines, all five operators gained new subscribers following the introduction of this facility: Vodafone – 26,353, Cosmote – 26,104, Orange – 17,322, RCS&RDS – 652, Telemobil – 414, ANCOM said.
“One hundred thousand numbers have been ported. Enough to prove us the efficiency of number portability facility and that users are aware of the existence of it. Not too many however, which shows us that carriers make efforts to retain their clients and satisfy their needs. This is the essential role of portability, to confer clients more power and to give operators an additional reason to try harder” said the chairman of National Authority for Communications (ANCOM), Catalin Marinescu.

Tagged with: Charges • Deutsche Telekom • EBITDA • Free Airtime • Gaming • NGHLR • Nokia • Romania • TCO • Unitech Wireless • Virgin Media • Vistream • Yemen