Vodafone introduces promotion on Calling Card 25 (Qatar)
Vodafone Qatar has introduced a new promotion on its International Calling Card 25 that will offer calls to 15 popular international destinations at US$0.13 a minute.
The promotion will run until 31 May, and customers will get 51 minutes of international calling when they buy the card to call India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Thailand, Syria, Sudan, Turkey, Bahrain, UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The International Calling Card 25 can be used by all Vodafone customers on their mobile phones.
Unlike other calling cards, consumers do not need to dial special numbers and enter PIN codes to use the card; with Vodafone’s International Card 25 all they need to do is load the card as they would any other scratch card.
Etisalat introduces BlackBerry Homeland promotion (UAE)
Etisalat has introduced its new ‘BlackBerry Homeland’ promotion, exclusive to Wasel and postpaid BlackBerry customers who subscribe to the Unlimited Domestic Social Package.
The offer provides 15 free international minutes every month for a period of six months from the date of subscription. These free minutes can be used to call India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Philippines. The promotion is valid until 31 July
. To avail of the BlackBerry Homeland promotion, customers can subscribe to the Unlimited Domestic Social Package by sending a SMS with the text HL49 to 1010. Customers can also visit the Etisalat business center or Etisalat outlets and subscribe to the service.
The Unlimited Domestic Social Package is designed to give customers a more personalized offer based on specific user needs and is priced at US$13.34 per month. The Unlimited Social Package allows customers to access specific social networking and messaging applications without having to worry about data usage limits. Email access and internet browsing are however excluded from the package.
Etisalat Sri Lanka rolls-out HSPA+ services
Etisalat Sri Lanka has introduced its HSPA+ network in a number of regions. The operator can now provide services with speeds of up to 18 to 21 Mbps.
The network will be rolled out to cover all cities in Sri Lanka, including the Northern and Vanni districts.
Coinciding with the launch of the new network, Etisalat has launched the Huawei S7 Android tablet for US$282.41 bundled with a twelve-month data plan.
The company further stated it offers parental control software, NetNanny, with Content Watch and also announced it will be launching content in Sinhala and Tamil.
Subscribers will also get 25 MB of storage space and an e-mail account with their internet package.
STC rolls-out offer for international calls (Saudi Arabia)
STC has introduced Sawa International, offering international calls to selected countries from US$0.14 per minute.
The company claims this is the cheapest international fare for prepaid cards in the country.
Under the new offer, STC customers can make discounted calls to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt and Philippines for US$0.14 per minute, while calls to Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Libya, Lebanon and Nepal cost US$0.18 per minute.
Calls to Kuwait and UAE cost US$0.23 per minute. The discounted rate for calls to Morocco, Algeria, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Eritrea is 102 halls per minute and calls to Somalia are US$0.34 per minute.
STC announced that this offer is available to all Sawa and Lana customers for one month starting 13 May.
Mobitel trails LTE (Sri Lanka)
Mobitel has successfully trialled LTE technology achieving download speeds of up to 96 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 49 Mbps.
Mobitel has recently announced its selected ZTE as its technology partner to roll out LTE across its network.
Rival Dialog Axiata also announced it is piloting LTE in Colombo and boasted speeds of over 100 Mbps in indoor demonstrations and 40 to 50 Mbps in outdoor mobile demonstrations.
Dialog Axiata launches LTE pilot in Colombo (Sri Lanka)
Dialog Axiata has launched the LTE pilot in several areas in Colombo city. The pilot network showed speeds of over 100 Mbps in indoor demonstrations and 40 to 50 Mbps in outdoor mobile demonstrations.
According to Dialog Axiata, it will conduct extensive trials of LTE technology in parallel with the expansion its of HSPA+ services across all provinces of Sri Lanka.
Rival Mobitel announced its own LTE trial and stated that it achieved speeds of 96 Mbps in the downlink and 49 Mbps in the uplink.
Vodafone Qatar launches international calls at $0.17
Vodafone Qatar’s World Calling Club is offering international call rates to more than 190 countries for US$0.17 a minute.
Calling destinations included in this promotion are Bahrain, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Iran, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, UK, US and Yemen.
Vodafone is also running a promotion on its International Calling Card 25 that gives customers 46 minutes of talk time to 15 popular destinations at a rate of QAR 0.14 a minute. Both promotions run until the end of May.
Mobitel to install LTE with ZTE (Sri Lanka)
Mobitel plans to trial and deploy an LTE network and has chosen ZTE as its technology partner.
Mobitel has signed an agreement with the Board of Investment which will allow the operator to import project related equipment free of customs duty.
According to Mobitel Chairman Nimal Welgama, the company has committed to an investment of around US$60 million which will add 1,000 LTE-capable base stations to the company’s existing network, The Island reports citing .
Meanwhile the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) plans to finalise the spectrum allocation for LTE shortly.
Dialog Axiata denies Suntel acquisition plans (Sri Lanka)
Dialog Axiata has played down mounting speculation that it is about to buy Suntel, a wireless fixed access provider owned by Sweden’s Telia.
According to Dharshana Abeysinghe, a spokesman for Dialog Axiata, there is nothing happening regarding Suntel at the moment.
There is intense industry speculation that Axiata had conducted preliminary due diligence on Suntel and a deal may be reached soon following a visit by a Malaysian team.
Suntel had been in the market for some time, with an Indian telecom eyeing it at one time. But the deal fell through.
Mobitel Lanka offers astrology service (Sri Lanka)
Mobitel Lanka is offering astrology services with Deshabandu Sumanadasa Abeygunawardena.
The ‘MyAstro’ service offers custom astrological readings, including daily personalised forecasts, personalised numerological services, and auspicious times.
Subscribers can subscribe via SMS. The service will then request information such as birth date, time, and place of birth via a voice prompt.
