MTC launches 4G LTE services in Namibia (Namibia)
Mobile operator MTC has rolled out the 4G LTE cellular telephony in Windhoek, a broadband network that is said to be 10 times faster than the previous connection, according to a report by AllAfrica.
Speaking at the launch of the new technology, Miguel Geraldes, Managing Director of MTC said customers will have a much better experience in 4G as the speed will be tremendously faster. 4G is the fourth generation of wireless communication standards, converging computers and cellphones wirelessly in an era of ultra-fast broadband internet access.
As per the report, Geraldes said that there will be no latency, when you click the button, you no longer have to wait to get a response from the network as this will now be instant which is significant for business.
After Angola, Namibia becomes the second country in Africa to be equipped with the 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE). MTC’s latest move follow last weeks launch of the long awaited West African Cable System, a connection that, among others is set to enable high-speed internet access. The 4G LTE will for now only be accessed in certain areas in Windhoek.
Geraldes added that they further expect to cover the whole of Windhoek with 4G LTE at the end of July 2012, adding that 4G LTE will allow mobility with download speeds up to 100MB per second and 50 Megabits per second upload compared with the current 3G where the speed was up to 7.2/1.8 Megabits per second. Further, put simply the speed will be 10 times much faster than the current version of Netman 3G.
Geraldes said MTC has ambitions to cover 45 per cent of the Namibian population in the next 12 months, including part of the rural areas, which, according to him, compared with the current 3G that covered close to 32 per cent based in urban areas.
There are a full range of devices already available for the customers from the dongle to connect with a laptop, a desktop, a tablet, and even a smartphone.
Telefonica launches single pan-European mobile data tariff (Europe)
Telefónica banishes bill shock with the announcement of its first standard pan-European data roaming tariff – giving smartphone customers 25MB of high-speed Internet usage anywhere across the 27 European Union member states for just $2.54 a day.
Telefónica’s EU-wide tariff means mobile customers – on Movistar or O2 networks – will no longer have to worry about the cost of sending or receiving emails, updating their Facebook status or browsing the web on their smartphones when travelling or holidaying abroad.
For $2.54 a day, Telefónica is giving its smartphone customers travelling in the EU a data volume of 25 Megabytes – which translates to 250 visits to essential websites like Facebook, Twitter, Google or BBC Online and up to 500 emails.
Additionally, customers will only pay for days they choose to use data, and will not be charged should they wish to switch off their phone.
The Telefónica tariff weighs in at a fraction of new price caps announced by the European UnionFacebook, Twitter, Google – which ruled that as of 1 July, one data megabyte should cost no more than $0.9, or $22.25 for 25 MB. On a per megabyte basis, Telefónica’s European tariff works out considerably cheaper than the EU’s regulated rate.
José María Álvarez-Pallete, Chairman and CEO of Telefónica Europe, said that users no longer need to switch off their smartphones when travelling within the EU, and neither do they need to worry about bill shock when they get home. Further, their European data tariff gives smartphone customers great value while allowing them to do what really matters – to stay connected wherever they are in a simple and transparent way and with complete peace of mind.
Smartphone customers use on average around 6MB in a day, but any Telefónica customers exceeding 25 MB will be immediately notified. The Pan-European tariff launched in Germany in May and will be available this summer to O2 and Movistar customers in Spain, United Kingdom, Ireland, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
RIM introduces the BlackBerry Curve 9320 (Canada)
Research In Motion announced a stylish new smartphone for socially-connected customers. The new BlackBerry Curve 9320 smartphone features all the core BlackBerry messaging and social-centric features that keep people connected, and it offers global 3G connectivity backed by long battery life to allow users to make the most of their day.
Carlo Chiarello, EVP, Smartphone Business at Research In Motion, said that the new BlackBerry Curve 9320 is designed to make it incredibly easy for users to stay socially-connected. The new BlackBerry Curve 9320 will be especially popular with customers upgrading to a smartphone for the first time and existing Curve customers looking for a step up in speed and functionality.
The BlackBerry Curve 9320 has everything a customer needs to stay in touch with the people and things that matter most to them. It features a dedicated BBM key, bringing the power of RIM’s popular mobile social network up in an instant, as well as the best keyboard in its class for quick and easy typing. It includes a built-in FM radio, allowing users to tune into their favorite local stations, and listening to the FM radio does not require a data plan or use data services. Designed to allow both 3G connectivity and long battery life, customers can get up to 7 hours of talk time or up to 30 hours of FM radio listening or music playback with headphones.
Customers can easily interact with their social network in real time, using preloaded apps for Facebook and Twitter. The new Social Feeds 2.0 app is also preloaded, allowing users to post updates to multiple social networks simultaneously and capture updates from news sources (RSS), social apps and instant messaging apps all in one consolidated view. The integrated camera includes a flash and supports video recording, and pictures can be tagged with their location thanks to the smartphone’s built-in GPS.
The BlackBerry Curve 9320 comes with the new BlackBerry 7.1 OS, which supports features such as Mobile Hotspot and Wi-Fi calling where available. Parental Controls is a brand new, on-device feature that provides parents and guardians with simple options to help protect children by restricting access to specific functions, features and applications.
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.
Nokia to begin rolling out Nokia 808 PureView in May (Finland)
Nokia confirmed that the Nokia 808 PureView will start rolling out in select markets in May. The Nokia 808 PureView is the first smartphone to feature Nokia’s award-winning PureView technology. PureView represents Nokia’s highest level smartphone imaging experiences, bringing together high-performance sensors, exclusive Carl Zeiss optics, and Nokia developed imaging algorithms. The first markets to begin selling the Nokia 808 PureView include Russia and India.
Since its launch in February, the Nokia 808 PureView has received multiple awards, including Best Mobile Device at Mobile World Congress 2012, as well as an award for Best Imaging Innovation for 2012 from the Technical Image Press Association (TIPA).
Jo Harlow, Head of Smart Devices at Nokia, said that PureView has completely raised the bar on imaging performance for the whole smartphone industry – and Nokia is not stopping here. They are going to carry on developing PureView for their future smartphones in ways that will again revolutionize the imaging experience.
The Nokia 808 PureView features a large, high-resolution 41 megapixel sensor with high-performance Carl Zeiss optics and new pixel oversampling technology. At standard resolutions (2/3, 5 and 8 megapixels) this means the ability to zoom without loss of clarity and capture seven pixels of information, condensing into one pixel for the sharpest images imaginable. At high-resolution (38 megapixels maximum) it means the ability to capture an image, then zoom, reframe, crop and resize afterwards to expose previously unseen levels of details. With superior low-light performance and the ability to save in compact file sizes for sharing in email, MMS, and on social networks, the Nokia 808 PureView makes it possible for anyone to capture professional looking images in any conditions.
In addition to superior still imaging technology, the Nokia 808 PureView also includes full HD 1080p video recording and playback with 4X lossless zoom and the world’s first use of Nokia Rich Recording. Rich Recording enables audio recording at CD-like levels of quality, previously only possible with external microphones. The Nokia 808 PureView also features exclusive Dolby Headphone technology, transforming stereo content into a personal surround sound experience over any headphones and Dolby Digital Plus for 5.1 channel surround sound playback.
Samsung net income up by 81 percent (South Korea)
South Korean company Samsung Electronics Co. has posted its highest profit in at least two years after beating Apple Inc. and Nokia Oyj in smartphone sales, according to a report by BN. The company said in a statement that net income went up 81 percent from a year earlier to $4.4 billion.
As per the report, Samsung shares witnessed a record high, with handsets such as the Galaxy Note causing the mobile phone business to almost triple in the quarter.
Further, the report reveals that Samsung plans to double sales of smartphones and tablet computers this year, helped by new products, the company said in February. Including basic phones, Samsung expects to sell about 380 million handsets this year after shipping a record 300 million units last year.
ZTE debuts IMS application to smartphone users (Europe, America)
ZTE Corporation, a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, announces its latest IMS application for smartphone users in Europe and America at the IMS World Forum 2012 held in Madrid. The application enables quick and efficient access to mobile VoIP.
Based on ZTE’s successful IMS deployments in Europe with a dramatic increase of 100,000 new users per month on average, ZTE developed this innovative IMS application. It allows operators to offer a converged service combining internet applications and traditional telecom services, enabling them to expand their subscriber scale and increase revenues.
With this intelligent application, subscribers can download and install an IMS client onto a smartphone and use Mobile VoIP and other multimedia services immediately whilst still receiving incoming calls and SMS with their 2G/3G mobile numbers.
Focusing on user experience, ZTE’s solution not only supports VoIP and SMS, but also provides more abundant services, including IP Centrex, VMS, VPABX, Home Zone, Video Conference, Instance Messaging and Presence Services (IM/PS), File Transfer, and Image Sharing.
Xu Ziyang, Vice President of ZTE Corporation, said that to identify immense pressure on operators from the industry competition; ZTE is committed to offering differentiated services that will build up their competitive advantages. This IMS application realizes the combination of abundant services with easy use offering improved access to both phone calls regardless of location and the significant savings on the expense of making international and otherwise expensive calls.
As of the end of 2011, ZTE had more than 140 commercial and trial IMS deployments officially launched around the globe , with scores of commercial networks deployed in such countries as Italy, Poland, Spain, Turkey, Albania, Saudi Arabia, Philippine, Singapore, India, the USA and China.
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.
