The Taiwanese government is planning to commence its 4G auction schedule two years ahead of schedule, by 2013 in an attempt to enable operators to launch their LTE services by 2015, as suggested by reports. Sources reveal that these allocations are expected to be in either the 700 MHz or the 2.6 GHz bands and may be released together with the 900MHz and 1.8GHz spectrum.

According to reports, the ministry would need to reach an agreement to replace the 700-MHz band as the spectrum is currently allocated to the military. As revealed by sources, the advance in Taiwan’s LTE schedule may hint at the country’s shift in focus from Wimax technology to LTE.

 

Filed under:Mobile  Tagged with:
 

EMAXX Telecom Limited has selected PureWave Networks Inc for its 4G network infrastructure network. Emaxx Telecom expects to expand its mobile WiMAX network to cover 7 cities by year end and to attract 150,000 customers over the same period. Currently, the network is commercially operating in the cities of Phnom Penh and Sean Reap. A total of 25 cities are expected to be covered by the end of 2012.

Reports suggest that according to Mr. Frank May, Chairman of Emaxx Telecom Network Group, network reliability and performance along with the economics of network deployment were the prime reasons for selecting PureWave. Further, the ability to deploy high-performing base stations in an all-outdoor configuration presents a winning combination that greatly reduces the network deployment costs. This, combined with PureWave’s exciting LTE roadmap, made them the ideal infrastructure partner for the network.

 

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WiMax operator Vividwireless has confirmed its plans to be a key wholesale customer of the upcoming national broadband network (NBN).

At the CommsDay Summit in Sydney, Vividwireless re-affirmed that its wireless technology is complementary to the NBN and that it would become a key wholesale customer of the NBN, offering retail services to customers on the NBN.

 

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First International Telecom (Fitel), Taiwanese WiMax operator will set-up a number of TD-LTE base stations in Taiwan with China Mobile.

According to reports, Fitel and China Mobile will launch five to ten TD-LTE base stations in the government-planned Taoyuan Aerotropolis beside the Taoyuan International Airport to undertake field test. The trial project is expected to run from July 1 this year to  June 30, 2012. China Mobile will offer technological assistance while local notebook maker Quanta Computer will provide equipment and terminal devices.

 

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Tranzeo appoints Smith as Chairman (US)

Wimax systems manufacturer Tranzeo Wireless Technologies’ board of directors has appointed Patrick N Smith as Chairman of the board.

Smith was previously lead director for the board and replaces James A Tocher who will continue to serve as a board member and the president and Chief Executive Officer of the company.

Smith’s appointment was recommended by the corporate governance and nominating committee of the board and approved by the board. He was the Chairman of the board of directors of broadband wireless semiconductor company Wavesat. He was also involved in Wavesat’s Indian deployments.

Smith was previously VP of Systems Integration and Technology Planning for Sprint in Kansas City.

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Egyptian 3G market, which is mainly operated by three operators, possesses huge potential for future growth. Currently, the penetration level is very less with number of 3G subscribers estimated at less than 1 Million at the end of 2009. According to our research report Booming Egypt Telecom Market”, countries 3G market is expanding at a significant rate since 2007 and is projected to grow five fold by the end of 2012. Moreover, operators are making huge investment to upgrade existing technology with an aim to increase their ARPUs.

Our report finds that the main reasons for huge investments in the 3G infrastructure by the three mobile operators in the country, is the saturation in existing 2G networks and declining ARPU in the 2G segment. Operators are trying to convince their customers to move into the new 3G services as a way of freeing up 2G capacity and halting the steady erosion of the ARPUs. Besides, aggressive marketing strategy is being adopted by all the three operators to lure subscribers in Egypt.

According to our research report, various equipment manufacturers are playing an important role in developing Egypt’s 3G network. Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei have been developing Mobinil’s 3G networks while Alcatel-Lucent and Motorola are cooperating with Mobinil to establish its 2G network. Furthermore, Cisco Systems and Ericsson have had their part in the development and enhancement of the company’s network infrastructure.

Apart from 3G, we have found that Egypt’s mobile market has been growing at a fast pace and is projected to experience smart growth in the coming years. Growth in mobile telephony has been due to an increase in the low-income customer segment over the years. Additionally, stiff price competition between the mobile operators in the country and availability of pre-paid and installment payment options will fuel the segment.

Booming Egypt Telecom Market” provides analysis of Egypt’s telecommunication industry with detail analysis of future potential in different industry segments. The report includes mobile market, fixed line, internet, broadband, 3G, and WiMax market analysis and examines telecom infrastructure in Egypt. The report aims to provide the most accurate outlook of the telecom industry in Egypt.

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Clearwire has cancelled its plans to sell its own branded mobile phones and will rely instead on handsets supplied by its majority shareholder, Sprint Nextel.

The company originally announced its plans to sell its own branded phones last year.

As per reports, Sprint currently resells the Clearwire WiMAX service and offers three handsets and has plans for several new handsets in the next few months.

As per commentators, the decision by Clearwire to start selling own-branded phones is part of the reason why Sony Ericsson would launch a trademark lawsuit claiming that there will be confusion between their respective logos if  the Clearwire logo appears on handsets as well.

 

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Etihad Atheeb Telecom Co.”GO” signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ZTE Corporation on Monday, March 21 to deploy fiber-optic network within the cities (Metro Fiber Ring). The first phase of this network implementation project will start in Riyadh city and will serve the government sectors and business (FTTB) and homes (FTTH).

Eng. Zaid Al Shabanat, Chief Executive of GO Telecom stated “We are pleased to sign this Memorandum of Understanding, which represents a new step towards building the most advanced telecommunications network in the Kingdom. The new fiber-optics network integrates with the Fourth Generation (4G) wireless communications technology, WiMAX 802.16e, to provide GO Telecom products & services that meet the needs of government, business and home sectors, both for Broadband Internet service and Voice services, and opens up more opportunities to provide other Value-Added Services. The second phase of the project will continue in each of the cities of Jeddah and Dammam. Building a new fiber optics network will reinforce the infrastructure of the company and its competitive standing in the Saudi market and will establish a long-term partnership with ZTE Corporation. It should be noted that the founding partners of Etihad Atheeb Telecom Co. “GO” have committed to 65% share upon the raise of company capital.”

 

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Azimuth Systems, Inc., a leading provider of wireless channel emulators and targeted test solutions, today announced that Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), the world’s number one mobile infrastructure provider, has selected the Azimuth Field-to-Labâ„¢ solution to perform benchmark testing for upcoming User Equipment (UE) and LTE eNodeB releases using drive test data collected from real-world locations of interest. The Azimuth Field-to-Lab solution provides the ability to accurately reproduce the same channel conditions observed during drive testing, in the lab, with the addition of fading and noise, offering a highly repeatable and reliable test methodology that will enable NSN to ensure that LTE equipment will perform with the high quality expected when deployed.

Every day, a quarter of the world’s population connects using Nokia Siemens Networks infrastructure and solutions. As the world’s number one provider of mobile infrastructure, with the most LTE commercial deals of any vendor, NSN is focused on delivering the best quality experience to its customers and consumers worldwide.

“We constantly innovate to provide the smartest solutions to our customers and expect our suppliers to meet the same standards of excellence. We performed a detailed evaluation of potential testing solutions and the Azimuth Field-to-Lab solution was the only one available that met all of our testing goals in terms of capabilities,” said Frank Weyerich, head of LTE E2E development at Nokia Siemens Networks. “NSN has come to rely on Azimuth’s easy-to-setup and use, bi-directional ACE MX wireless channel emulator for MIMO testing and the addition of the Field-to-Lab capabilities provide NSN with a market-leading, highly reliable solution for accurate verification of equipment performance.”

By allowing real-world RF conditions collected by drive test tools/scanners to be replayed in the laboratory through the Azimuth ACEâ„¢ MX MIMO channel emulator, the Azimuth Field-to-Lab solution bridges the gap between laboratory and field-measured test results. By utilizing actual channel conditions, test engineers can validate or benchmark mobile equipment performance and/or recreate network trouble spots/conditions for analysis and resolution. It is also the firstin the industry that allows users to automate the entire testbed, with an automation architecture that facilitates sharing of automation modules not only within individual companies, but also across ecosystems to drive consistency in the way things are tested while providing more reliable and repeatable results. These capabilities enable the entire mobile ecosystem, including operators, handset manufacturers and infrastructure vendors to troubleshoot, improve and optimize performance prior to and post deployment. In addition, the Field-to-Lab solution features a host of other features for unprecedented ease-of-use.

“The Azimuth Field-to-Lab solution will enable NSN products to be tested using industry standard models and real-world conditions from actual field data collected from locations of interest,” said Pete Paglia, senior vice president of field operations at Azimuth Systems. “This provides a comprehensive, repeatable and reliable test environment that is closer to the ‘real world’ than ever before, further enhancing NSN’s ability to deliver the high quality products that the company has built a reputation on providing, while saving NSN a substantial amount of time and money.”

Azimuth Systems will be showcasing the Field-to-Lab solution in booth #263 at this week’s CTIA Wireless conference, taking place at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL from March 22-24. Contact Azimuth to schedule an in-person meeting or product demonstration.

About Azimuth Systems

Azimuth Systems is a leading provider of wireless channel emulators and targeted test solutions for LTE/LTE-Advanced, WiMAX, 2G/3G cellular and Wi-Fi technologies. Azimuth’s products are used by the world’s foremost wireless semiconductor designers, infrastructure and mobile equipment vendors, and service providers to improve wireless product quality and speed time-to-market. Azimuth’s wireless test and channel emulation products and solutions enable research, development, quality assurance and systems engineers to test the performance, conformance, certification and interoperability of broadband wireless devices and networks while greatly reducing the cost and time of manual testing.

The company is based near Boston, Massachusetts, USA and may be contacted at +1 (978) 263-6610 or at www.azimuthsystems.com. Follow Azimuth Systems on Twitter at:http://twitter.com/azimuthsystems.

 

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Huawei has launched a series of small cell products for North American customers at the CTIA Wireless 2011.

The series of small cell solutions: the BTS3202E for LTE, the BTS3902E for UMTS, and the BTS3702E and BTS3701B for WiMAX, these series will enhance Huawei’s SingleRAN system, and capitalises on advancements in areas including smaller cell technology, Self Organizing Network (SON) and the LTE radio air interface.

Huawei’s small cell products support multiple technologies across multiple frequency bands in North America. These small cell products will be a part of the wider base of base stations designed to optimize mobile broadband applications and services.