Telecom Asia articles from August 2007

Telecom Asia archives from August 2007

Only you can save mankind: NTT group has a global warming section in its annual report. My favorite part is the bit describing NTT Communications' use of targeted air conditioning for its equipment racks.(TANNER)
August 1, 2007... Last month, two billion people rocked the planet with Live Earth, the global concert event whose aim was to get people to think more seriously about global warming and, hopefully, to do something about it. Here in the telecoms sector, there'll...

Smartphones move to the big screen.(FIRST MILE)
August 1, 2007... Displaying and viewing content from a mobile device has always been a frustrating endeavor, but Canadian software developer Meta4Hand believes it has the answer: A laser-based micro-projection system that incorporates a compact laser-projection...

Cost pressures drive managed services growth.(STAT SNAP)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... The increasing need to reduce costs is forcing enterprises to move to managed services. According to IDC, enterprises are recognizing that a managed services engagement not only results in cost savings, but also provides access to technology...

Closer to the PC Internet experience.(NEWS ANALYSIS)
August 1, 2007... In its latest attempts to promote consumption of mobile data services and challenge rival 3HK's X-Series, SmarTone-Vodafone has rolled out a service that it claims enables mobile users to browse Internet content the exact same way as they do on...

Telcos race to offer IPTV services.(INSIGHT: ONE MONTH'S TELECOM RESEARCH)
August 1, 2007... Seeking to recapture revenue being generated by entities using their broadband pipes, telcos are keen on rolling out Internet-based services themselves, with focus to go beyond just video services. According to iSuppli, the market for IPTV...

The cellular battle goes indoors.(INSIGHT: ONE MONTH'S TELECOM RESEARCH)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... From a race to provide the widest possible outdoor coverage, cellcos are gradually shifting their focus to rolling out more indoor base stations, in a bid to take advantage of mobile phone usage within homes and offices. Analysys says that...

HSPA connections to hit 11m this year.(INSIGHT: ONE MONTH'S TELECOM RESEARCH)(High Speed Packet Access)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... W-CDMA HSPA connections are expected to reach 40 million worldwide by the end of 2008. Wireless Intelligence predicts that by 2010 HSPA will represent around 45% of total W-CDMA cellular connections. HSPA will be commercially present in more...

Ads invade China's online gaming market.(INSIGHT: ONE MONTH'S TELECOM RESEARCH)
August 1, 2007... China's online gaming market has generated 87 million yuan ($11.5 million) in advertising revenue in 2006, and is expected to chalk up even more ad sales in the coming years. Analysys International says more than 70% of online games being...

Japan's telcos lead the way in recycling.(NEWS ANALYSIS)
August 1, 2007... You can generally get an idea of how big companies are by the amount of waste they generate. You can also get a clear indication of their commitment to recycling and environmental issues by the percentage of that waste they recycle. The...

China invested 73.06b yuan ($9.6b) in the telecom sector in the first five months of this year.(Beijing)
August 1, 2007... China invested 73.06b yuan ($9.6b) in the telecom sector in the first five months of this year, rising 32.7% year on year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Information Industry.

RIM receives clearance to sell its popular BlackBerry device in China after eight years of trying.(Beijing)
August 1, 2007... RIM receives clearance to sell its popular BlackBerry device in China after eight years of trying. The Canadian-based company is finalizing the delivery of its products there.

China Unicom begins testing a music-download service that offers mobile users songs from 23 record companies, including EMI, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music and Universal Music.(Beijing)
August 1, 2007... China Unicom begins testing a music-download service that offers mobile users songs from 23 record companies, including EMI, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music and Universal Music. The trial service, called Xuan Qu, allows subscribers...

The Chinese government offers to extend a long-term loan totaling 20b baht ($653m) to the financially ailing Thai Mobile to upgrade its voice service to multimedia and 3G.(Bangkok)
August 1, 2007... The Chinese government offers to extend a long-term loan totaling 20b baht ($653m) to the financially ailing Thai Mobile to upgrade its voice service to multimedia and 3G. The deal is signed by both governments.

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) orders TOT to settle the interconnection charge dispute with mobile operator DTAC soon or risk penalties ranging from lines to the loss of its telecom license.(Bangkok)
August 1, 2007... The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) orders TOT to settle the interconnection charge dispute with mobile operator DTAC soon or risk penalties ranging from lines to the loss of its telecom license. TOT missed the July 5 deadline for...

Dialog Telekom launches a new fixed wireless network based on CDMA technology through its subsidiary, Dialog Broadband Networks.(Colombo)
August 1, 2007... Dialog Telekom launches a new fixed wireless network based on CDMA technology through its subsidiary, Dialog Broadband Networks. Dialog Telecom will provide its CDMA subscribers with a range of value-added services.

Vietnam's Ministry of Post and Telematics has put Viettel on the list of mobile network operators whose mobile tariffs will be controlled by the telecom watchdog.(Hanoi)
August 1, 2007... Vietnam's Ministry of Post and Telematics has put Viettel on the list of mobile network operators whose mobile tariffs will be controlled by the telecom watchdog. The decision came alter the military-owned Viettel emerging as the country's...

Indonesia sets limits on the foreign ownership of companies in several sectors it says are key to national security, including cellular and fixed-line telecom firms.(Jakarta)
August 1, 2007... Indonesia sets limits on the foreign ownership of companies in several sectors it says are key to national security, including cellular and fixed-line telecom firms. The regulations would not apply to foreign investments that are already in...

ZTE defends its controversial $329.5-m deal with the Philippine government for the national broadband network project.(Manila)
August 1, 2007... ZTE defends its controversial $329.5-m deal with the Philippine government for the national broadband network project. ZTE made the statement amid the call by business group for a review of the provisions of the contract to determine whether...

PLDT, through its biggest stakeholder.(Manila)
August 1, 2007... PLDT, through its biggest stakeholder, Hong Kong's First Pacific, wants to sell part of a government stake bought last March to its Japanese partner NTT DoCoMo.

Seoul.(NEWS MAP: Asian telecoms this month)
August 1, 2007... SK Telecom denies a local newspaper report that it is preparing a bid for Sprint Nextel. Local media reported that SK Telecom has been talking with several global equity funds since earlier this year about funding a takeover of the US carrier....

Taipei.(NEWS MAP: Asian telecoms this month)
August 1, 2007... Handset maker Foxconn International, a division of Taiwanese electronics parts maker Hon Hai, plans to develop handsets based on the TD-SCDMA standard and expects its first orders when the technology is in use next year.

Tokyo.(NEWS MAP: Asian telecoms this month)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... NTT DoCoMo begins a month-long experiment of a super 3G system using Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology that will support download speeds of up to 300-Mbps, nearly 100 times faster than its current WCDMA network. NTT DoCoMo will jointly...

Sydney.(NEWS MAP: Asian telecoms this month)
August 1, 2007... The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission launches a world-first court action accusing Google of misleading web users by misidentifying sponsored links on its search engine. SingTel Optus partners with MySpace.com to offer its...

Singapore.(NEWS MAP: Asian telecoms this month)
August 1, 2007... SingTel will lead a group of companies in a bid to build a high-speed broadband network in Australia. The group, to be called G9, will include SingTel's Australian unit Optus, PowerTel, Macquarie Telecom Group, Soul, iiNet and New Zealand...

New Delhi.(NEWS MAP: Asian telecoms this month)
August 1, 2007... The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India orders telecom operators to improve their services or face penalties. The TRAI has asked operators to upgrade their services and be at par with the service quality benchmark fixed by the regulator.

Nepal Telecom selects ZTE to build 3.5m cellular lines network.(ZTE FastFacts)
August 1, 2007... ZTE Corporation, a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, has been awarded by Nepal Telecom, Nepal's largest telecoms operator, a project that will help the telecom company to add 3.5 million lines to...

Motorola CEO Ed Zander is under attack again.(movements)
August 1, 2007... Motorola CEO Ed Zander is under attack again. A campaign to boot Zander, along with four other board members, is led by a group of small investors and includes an online petition, blog and five-minute video manifesto.

NTT DoCoMo signs an agreement with the wireless unit of AT&T.(movements)
August 1, 2007... NTT DoCoMo signs an agreement with the wireless unit of AT&T under which DoCoMo will provide technical and financial support for the deployment of AT&T's 3G mobile network in Hawaii.

Viacom hits Internet search leader Google with a $1b lawsuit.(movements)
August 1, 2007... Viacom hits Internet search leader Google with a $1b lawsuit, saying that Google's popular video-sharing site YouTube is a massive center of copyright infringement, routinely displaying clips from Viacom shows.

EU regulators slap Telefonica with a fine of 151.9m euros ($206.5m).(movements)
August 1, 2007... EU regulators slap Telefonica with a fine of 151.9m euros ($206.5m), claiming the company unfairly squeezed rivals by setting wholesale Internet prices too high to allow them to turn a profit.

Samsung Electronics agrees to a cross-licensing agreement on patents with Ericsson in wireless communications technology.(movements)
August 1, 2007... Samsung Electronics agrees to a cross-licensing agreement on patents with Ericsson in wireless communications technology. The agreement allows the two companies to use each other's patents covering 2G and 3G technology.

Sony Ericsson sees growing profits and market share in the second quarter but says the average selling price of its handsets continued to fall.(movements)
August 1, 2007... Sony Ericsson sees growing profits and market share in the second quarter but says the average selling price of its handsets continued to fall. The firm said net profit rose 54% to 220m euros ($303 m) from 143m euros in the same period last...

Nortel.(movements)
August 1, 2007... Nortel appoints Steven J. Bandrowczak as the company's new CIO, effective July.

Telefonica offers 3b euros ($4.08b) to Portugal Telecom for a controlling stake in its Brazilian mobile venture Vivo.(movements)
August 1, 2007... Telefonica offers 3b euros ($4.08b) to Portugal Telecom for a controlling stake in its Brazilian mobile venture Vivo. The Spanish group has reportedly confirmed that it has made a bid, but has not confirmed the amount.

Alcatel-Lucent says that it is part of a group of companies that won a $20b contract with the US government to develop a communications network for federal offices.(movements)
August 1, 2007... Alcatel-Lucent says that it is part of a group of companies that won a $20b contract with the US government to develop a communications network for federal offices. The Networx program, announced in March, will stretch over the next 10 years.

Airvana, ip.access, Netgear, picoChip, RadioFrame, Tatara and Ubiquisys set up an independent, not-for-profit organization to support and promote worldwide deployment of femtocell technologies.(movements)
August 1, 2007... Airvana, ip.access, Netgear, picoChip, RadioFrame, Tatara and Ubiquisys set up an independent, not-for-profit organization to support and promote worldwide deployment of femtocell technologies, Initial working groups of the Femto Forum will...

Research In Motion sees its first-quarter earnings grow 73% on increased sales and subscriber additions.(movements)(Financial report)
August 1, 2007... Research In Motion sees its first-quarter earnings grow 73% on increased sales and subscriber additions. For the quarter ended June 2, RIM earned $223.2m, up from $128.8m in the year-ago quarter.

Palm reports a 43% drop in its fiscal fourth-quarter profit amid sharply rising costs and competition.(movements)(Financial report)
August 1, 2007... Palm reports a 43% drop in its fiscal fourth-quarter profit amid sharply rising costs and competition. But the company also reported record sales of its Palm Treo lineup, and fourth-quarter performance easily beat Wall Street's tepid...

Rural revolution takes root: with market saturation occurring in many urban areas, carriers and vendors embark on a telecoms transformation in the less-developed world.(Cover story)
August 1, 2007... In the remote agricultural province of Lao Cai in Vietnam a few shared community phones are being replaced with high-speed WiMAX broadband connections and VoIP telephony for thousands of residents. In rural Cambodia, a new 3G/UMTS mobile...

Momentum shifts as WiMAX gains mind share; Peter MacKinnon, general manager of Nortel WiMAX and chairman of the board, LG-Nortel, talked to group editor Joseph Waring about its expanded WiMAX initiatives in Taiwan and the company's stepped-up focus on the technology.(ONE-TO-ONE)(Interview)
August 1, 2007... Nortel and Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA) in May signed an agreement for the joint development of an end-to-end WiMAX ecosystem in Taiwan, covering joint prototype product development, interoperability testing, support for WiMAX...

Telecom's Olympic challenges: broadband and a mix of new wireless technologies, both homegrown and foreign, promise to take center stage at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, as Beijing strives to host a "high-tech Olympics." Are service providers and vendors ready to meet the challenge?(TECHNOLOGY)
August 1, 2007... With less than 12 months to go, China is set to launch on a world stage its first-ever Olympic Games in Beijing, showing its modern face and economic power to the world. To assure a successful event, the Chinese government is pouring billions...

VoIP growth anticipated in China: like elsewhere in the world, VoIP popularity is growing, but smaller regional providers gain a foothold with limited but less expensive telephony services.(RESEARCH NOTES)
August 1, 2007... VoIP services are eventually expected to become more mainstream in China, but current offerings are dominated by smaller virtual VoIP providers operating in regional markets, thanks to confusion and uncertainty about government regulations and...

Once a novelty, IPTV now evolving as a necessity: Sin Siew Teyew from Frost & Sullivan.(INDUSTRY VIEW)
August 1, 2007... When IPTV first entered the IT lexicon three to five years ago, industry players toyed with the idea of adopting it to get a grip of the technology. That experimentation is now over, with its adoption considered imperative rather than just...

3G home access solution.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
August 1, 2007... Nokia Siemens Networks has launched the 3G femto home access solution with open interfaces and a new network element, Femto Gateway. The solution, says Nokia Siemens, enables operators to enhance their 3G service offering and coverage, as...

DPI-based service gateway platform.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
August 1, 2007... Allot Communications has introduced a deep packet inspection (DPI)-based service gateway platform that will enable broadband service providers to build efficient, secure, manageable and profitable intelligent networks that are optimized to...

Router for NGN, IP-based services.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
August 1, 2007... Juniper Networks has unveiled the T1600 core router, which is capable of delivering 1.6-Tbps of throughput in a single half-rack chassis. The service-aware T1600 has a 60% smaller footprint and consumes 44% less power than its previous...

Extended FTTx product suite.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
August 1, 2007... UTStarcom has unveiled an extension of its fiber-to-the-x (FTTx) product suite, a platform delivering a rich mix of revenue-generating applications for next-generation voice, video and data services. As an extension of UTStarcom's Gigabit...

Enhanced with GPON capability.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
August 1, 2007... Wave7 Optics has announced support for the ITU-T G.984 Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network (GPON) standard networks via its Trident7 Universal Access Platform. The Trident7 platform is the industry's only FTTP platform capable of...

Upgraded billing and customer care system.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
August 1, 2007... Russian firm Inline Telecom Solutions has launched Bill-Master v 4.2, the latest version of its billing and customer care system. This product provides higher performance and fault tolerance, together with additional facilities in managing...

Fault and performance management.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
August 1, 2007... TTI Team Telecom International has introduced the Netrac FaM Analyzer, which provides valuable insight into the impact of operations on business processes and business-level objectives. Part of TTI Telecom's fault management product family,...

Secure encryption for high-speed Ethernet networks.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
August 1, 2007... ECI Telecom has introduced an advanced encryption solution that protects all types of data transmission over high-speed Ethernet networks. The Aurora-G is part of ECI's offering for the government and military telecom market, as well as...

Asia telecom transactions index.(TELECOM CORPORATE)
August 1, 2007... Asia telecom transactions index Value Seller Buyer Deal (US$) Maxis Communications Saudi Telecom Acquisition of 25%...

Index passes 1700-points level.(TA30 TELECOM STOCK INDEX JUN 16-JULY 15, 2007)
August 1, 2007... The TA Index continued to set records, jumping 4.1%, or 67 points, to a second straight high at 1,718 points. Overall, Asian markets closed mostly higher, thanks to strong liquidity and investors' hopes of robust first-half corporate earnings...

Networking opportunities across Asia.(EVENTS CALENDAR)(Table)(Calendar)
August 1, 2007... Networking opportunities across Asia Date Event Location Aug 20-Aug 23, 2007 In-Building Solution Singapore Asia Pacific Summit 2007 Sep 03-Sep 04, 2007 TM...

WiMAX Forum appoints Japan directors.(TELECOM CAREER)
August 1, 2007... The WiMAX Forum has appointed Dr. Tadao Saito, a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, as director for the industry group's new office in Japan. Dr. Kenji Kohiyama, a professor at Keio University, was named vice director of...

New CEO at Telecom NZ.(TELECOM CAREER)
August 1, 2007... Telecom New Zealand has appointed Dr Paul Reynolds as CEO, replacing Theresa Gattung who left the company last month after eight years in the position. Reynolds is currently CEO of BT Wholesale. Telecom NZ COO Simon Moutter will be the...

BT appoints security chief.(TELECOM CAREER)
August 1, 2007... Ganesh K. Vanapalli has joined BT as chief security officer for Asia Pacific. Based in New Delhi, he is responsible for protecting BT's corporate infrastructure in the region. Vanapalli comes to BT from IBM Global Services where he was...

Siemens CEO joins board.(TELECOM CAREER)
August 1, 2007... Siemens president and CEO Peter Loscher has joined the board of Nokia Siemens Networks, succeeding Klaus Kleinfeld. Apart from Loscher, the board also includes Nokia president and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who acts as chairman, and five...

UTStarcom names COO.(TELECOM CAREER)
August 1, 2007... UTStarcom has appointed Peter Blackmore as president and COO, placing him in charge of the company's network solution business unit, international sales, marketing and services, global supply chain, IT and quality. Blackmore joins UTStarcom...

Exec appointments at NXP.(TELECOM CAREER)
August 1, 2007... NXP Semiconductors has promoted Samuel Mang to SVP and sales manager for greater China and Mike Yeh to regional executive for China, replacing Tony Lear who retired in June. Mang and Yeh have been with NXP Semiconductors (formerly Philips...

Subex Azure founder named NASSCOM chair.(TELECOM CAREER)
August 1, 2007... Subash Menon, founder chairman, MD and CEO of OSS solutions supplier Subex Azure, has been appointed as chairman of the product forum of NASSCOM, India's premier trade body for the IT industry. He will serve a two-year term.

Sybase 365 assigns regional director.(TELECOM CAREER)
August 1, 2007... Sybase 365 has promoted Jo Rich to regional director to lead the company's operations and expand its footprint in Australia and New Zealand, particularly in the financial services sector. With more than 10 years of experience in the ICT...

Enea's new software standards chief.(TELECOM CAREER)
August 1, 2007... Jim Lawrence has taken over the position of chief software standards officer at Enea, a network software and services provider. With more than 25 years of experience, Lawrence will be responsible for driving growth for Enea's...

SiGe Semiconductor taps CTO.(TELECOM CAREER)
August 1, 2007... SiGe Semiconductor has hired Peter L. Gammel as its new technology chief. Prior to this post, Gammel was VP for engineering at a venture-backed start-up company.

Opportunity to leverage their brands: what's really needed is community education about network dangers and how both to keep them out and to spot them.(INSIDE LINE)
August 1, 2007... The rousing cheer you heard recently from the Big Telco bunker was in celebration of the demise of VoIP firm SunRocket. At the time of its sudden closure on July 16, SunRocket was the second biggest US VoIP provider, with more than 200,000...

Dieting by cellphone.(BACKPAGE BRIEFING)
August 1, 2007... Will using your mobile phone to photograph that ice-cream sundae make you less likely to eat it? Japanese officials hope so. Public health insurance officials in the Osaka region of western Japan have signed up 100 heart, diabetes and...

Explosive iPods.(BACKPAGE BRIEFING)
August 1, 2007... Listen to an iPod during a storm and you may get more than electrifying tunes, according to an Associated Press report. A Canadian jogger recently suffered wishbone-shaped chest and neck burns, ruptured eardrums and a broken jaw when lightning...

BlackBerry threat.(BACKPAGE BRIEFING)
August 1, 2007... Government defense experts in France have a bone to pick with Le BlackBerry. The French newspaper Le Monde reports that officials fear emails sent though the devices could be subject to interception by US intelligence agencies and that trade...

Email addiction.(BACKPAGE BRIEFING)
August 1, 2007... Adults just may be more addicted to their email than teenagers. Half of Britons cannot exist without their email, with those in their 20s and 30s more dependent then teenagers, according to a survey by software firm Nasstar. The BBC...