Ucell has introduced its new Registan package, including the Huawei U8150 smartphone, a SIM with prepaid tariff, a 2GB SDcard and traffic bonuses.
The package costs US$297.40. The operator has also introduced US$1 and US$ 2.5 bonuses for top-ups of US$2.98 and US$0.59 respectively.
Optus has launched new SIM-only plans and prepaid recharges for iPad 2 users. The plans start at $20 per month for 2 GB without a contract when customers bring their own SIM.
The month-to-month plan also comes in $30 per month version for 4 GB and $60 per month version for 8 GB. A starter-kit with MicroSIM comes with a price tag of $30, which includes 3 GB of data valid for 30 days. Prepaid recharges start at $15 for 300 MB valid for 15 days and range to $40 for 5 GB valid for 60 days and $130 for 15 GB valid for 12 months.
T-Mobile USA, in partnership with Everything Everywhere and Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) has announced the ongoing development of the industry’s first embedded multi-mode international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) SIM.
Designed for cost-effective international machine-to-machine (M2M) deployment, the multi-mode solution will act as a local SIM when deployed in the U.S. and the UK.
This unique borderless solution will offer M2M application providers the ability to deploy multiple global subscriptions for reduced roaming costs and improved coverage in areas outside of local networks. The embedded multi-mode IMSI SIM is expected to be available before the end of the year.
Vodafone Essar has launched its mobile Wi-Fi device, Vodafone R201 in India at the price of US$121.62
Vodafone R201 is a portable mobile Wi-Fi terminal which can be used by five users simultaneously to connect to Vodafone’s 3G network. It is designed to provide customers with an advantage of connecting and communicating on-the-go.
According to Vodafone Essar Chief Marketing Officer, Kumar Ramanathan, as a result of their innovation effort,Vodafone is introducing an exciting range of products to let their customers experience 3G services at its best.
According to the company, R201 uses a SIM slot to connect to Vodafone’s 3G network and five users can then connect their computers, mobile gaming devices or digital music players to the device over Wi-Fi network to enjoy 3G speeds. The device comes with a battery life of up to 4 hours and can offer 3G internet services on the go at a download speed of up to 7.2 megabyte per second on HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access) enabled devices.
Philippine telecommunications provider Globe Telecom is reportedly offering its unlimited SMS service to its postpaid subscribers.
According to the company, its ‘MySuperTxtAll’ allow postpaid subscribers to send unlimited text messages to all networks. Without the need for an extra phone or SIM, postpaid subscribers can make unlimited text messages to subscribers of Smart Communications, Sun Cellular, Touch Mobile, Talk ‘n Text or Red Mobile.
The service is available until May 30 and postpaid subscribers will be charged US$13.70 per month on top of their current bill.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) has made a decision to permit mobile towers within 500 metres of international borders.
The department has modified its norms according to which installation of towers within 10 km of the international border was not allowed. The move is seen as an attempt to counter incoming signals from neighboring Pakistan and Bangladesh.
According to Minister of state for communications and IT, Sachin Pilot, they have changed the norms as they observed that signal from other countries are entering their border areas in North-East, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Now, towers can be placed within 500 metres of the border on Sunday. He added that the move will improve signal strength in the border areas which is important for security.
According to reports, Pilot stated the department was vigilant about the reports of Pakistani mobile network being used near border areas. They have taken action against a few and also Ministry of Home. Defence and DoT are working together to counter such activities.
Pilot added that the department will distribute satellite phones to villagers and security personnel where there was no mobile network and signal was a problem. They intend to ensure network availability to each person in the country.
As the supply of electricity is less in the sparsely-located areas on the borders, a few upcoming mobile towers will be run by solar plants.
The minister launched a scheme called ‘Rakshak’ on Sunday. The scheme offers facility to paramilitary personnel to stay connected with their families in any part of the country without spending on call charges. By paying a nominal sum of US$6.62 monthly, soldiers will get two SIM cards, one of which they can give to their family. The calls made between the two SIM cards will be free.
Vodafone Germany is sampling a pilot SIM-based security product for business customers at CeBIT that enables secure log-in to corporate networks by mobile phone.
The project works by turning a SIM card into a digital ID card to act as an electronic pass and key for access corporate data.
If employees want to log into the corporate network from their mobile phone, they are given an authentication request which they must confirm using their SIM card and PIN number. If both of these check out, access will be granted to the company network.
Telekom Deutschland is all set to expand its mobile broadband tariffs from 5 April this year with two new data tariffs for heavy users.
The tariffs are called Web’n'Walk Connect XL and XXL. The tariffs will offer 10 GB at 21.6 Mbps and 20 GB at 42.2 Mbps for US$75.94 and US$103.58 per month respectively.
After using the included data volumes, the speeds are downgraded to GPRS level until a new month begins. Both tariffs include a USB modem for mobile broadband access and are available as SIM-only tariffs for US$6.91 per month.
Nigeria’s telecoms regulator, the Communications Commission (NCC) has ruled out possibility of a financial bailout for the country’s struggling CDMA network operators.
According to the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Eugene Juwah, the regulator was technology agnostic, and would not step in to support on technology over another.
The Nigerian CDMA networks have struggled to secure market share against the surging GSM operators in the country, who came from nowhere to a dominant position in just a few years.
The CDMA operators were however hit by a regulatory change that mandated the use of SIM based CDMA handsets, forcing them to clear out old stocks of handsets at a discount. The SIM mandate came in as part of the country’s drive to register all its PrePay subscribers.
According to official figures from NCC, at the end of November last year, the total number of active subscriber lines for the GSM sector reached 78.9 million representing a market share of 91.4% while the mobile CDMA sector accounted for 6.2 million representing 7.2%.
Giesecke & Devrient today announced that its carrier-grade Over-the-Air (OTA) platform now offers advanced SIM and mobile device management for handsets on LTE networks. The expansion of SmartTrust DPâ„¢ capabilities now provides mobile operators with a common, single platform for managing subscriber equipment regardless of network technology.
Flexible, reliable and scalable messaging capabilities between the server platform and the SIM or device are essential success factors for an OTA system. SmartTrust DP gives the choice of IP messaging supported by handset and SIM as well as the option to avoid delivering OTA messages while a subscriber is not in its home network.
With a full range of management tools, SmartTrust DP supports an operator’s individual scalability, performance, reliability and interoperability needs by now reaching any IP-connected device and extending the capabilities of the platform beyond BIP support. The SIM can now initiate, through the use of pull functionality within the client, as well as establish an IP session with the SmartTrust DP HTTP server module. Additionally, SmartTrust DP supports polling by the SIM client enabling periodic checks by the SIM client to determine if a management session is required. The addition of pull and poll functionality, complementing existing push capabilities, allows for the implementation of true client-server applications on the SIM that take advantage of the greatly increased bandwidth afforded by a LTE network.
Beyond messaging, the platform implements functionality and services for event reception interfaces, configuration management, charging, user administration, operation and maintenance, logging, statistics, reports, data storage and an API for external access to the unified repository.
The modular architecture of SmartTrust DP allows mobile operators to deploy other applications such as SmartRoam for support of steering to LTE networks, SmartAct for managing LTE-specific files and SmartProvisioning for handling IMS and other data connectivity, either all at once or incrementally. The system has a high availability and ultra-high capacity option built using industry standard clustering technology.
“Utilizing a single Over-the-Air platform to activate and manage existing as well as new wireless devices in today’s growing array of networks helps to improve network efficiency and reduce operational costs,” said Marianne Arosenius, Group Senior Vice President of G&D’s Server Software and Services Division. “We’re unique in our ability not only to deliver a wide-ranging solution to manage LTE devices but also to offer HTTP-ready smart cards. This provides wireless operators with a strong solution set to best manage the rollout of new technologies while best managing existing ones.”
About Giesecke & Devrient
Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) is a leading international technology provider headquartered in Munich, Germany. With a headcount of more than 10,000 employees, the Group generated sales of EUR 1.7 billion in fiscal 2009. Founded in 1852, G&D is a global market leader and pioneering innovator in banknote production and processing, smart card solutions and services for telecommunications and electronic payment, and security documents and identification systems. 65 subsidiaries and joint ventures in 32 countries ensure customer proximity worldwide. For more information, visit our website at: www.gi-de.com.
