Telecom Asia articles from December 2008

Telecom Asia archives from December 2008

Net neutrality you can believe in.(TANNER)
December 1, 2008... For most of October, just about every conversation I had with friends, colleagues and even total strangers I was supposed to interview about this technology or that inevitably included the question: "Obama or McCain?" And while I'm not in the...

Carrier Ethernet's future may depend on smart apps, not speed.(FIRST MILE)
December 1, 2008... Carrier Ethernet services have been on the rise in recent years, but they're typically pitched as fast, cheap broadband connections to enterprises that can't afford ATM or leased lines. But vendors and operators alike are starting to move away...

Indonesian cellcos suffer margin pinch.(STAT SNAP)
December 1, 2008... Despite being the world's sixth largest mobile market and amid rapid growth in subscriber numbers, Indonesian mobile operators are not thriving with the booming demand as margins continue to shrink. According to Wireless Intelligence, the 116...

Finally, China says it's ready for 3G.(NEWS ANALYSIS)
December 1, 2008... After years of dragging their feet, Chinese officials finally seem ready to issue 3G licenses. Xi Guohua, the MIIT vice-minister responsible for telecom in the Ministry for Industry & Information Technology, gave the strongest hint yet...

Telstra bids for NBN, but on its own terms.(NEWS ANALYSIS)
December 1, 2008... The Australian government's national broadband network (NBN) officially began last month, but not without more controversy from Telstra. After months of attacks on the project, and after refusing to say whether it would take part, the...

Mobile payment market gains steam.(INSIGHT: ONE MONTH'S TELECOM RESEARCH)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... The mobile payment market will continue to gain a wider following, driven mainly by mobile money transfer and contactless NFC transactions. According to Juniper Research, these two mobile payment transaction types will account for 50% of the...

APAC embraces LBS.(INSIGHT: ONE MONTH'S TELECOM RESEARCH)(location-based services )(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... The Asia-Pacific region, particularly advanced and saturated mobile markets Japan and South Korea, is craving location-based services (LBS) more, with the market seen rapidly expanding in the next five years. A Frost & Sullivan report says the...

Consumers snap up smartphones.(INSIGHT: ONE MONTH'S TELECOM RESEARCH)
December 1, 2008... Global smartphone shipments surged to a new high of 39.9 million units in the third quarter, amid bleak economic conditions. According to research from Canalys, shipments to the US market more than doubled, while sales in the EMEA region grew...

Mobile networks critical for remote healthcare.(INSIGHT: ONE MONTH'S TELECOM RESEARCH)
December 1, 2008... Around 50 million people in the EU and US stand to benefit from wireless home healthcare solutions, but only if the healthcare industry will have enough confidence in the capability of existing mobile network infrastructure. Berg Insight says...

DoCoMo takes another gamble in India.(NEWS ANALYSIS)
December 1, 2008... While corporate planners in the rest of the world are bunkering down to survive the economic crisis, NTT DoCoMo is on a shopping spree. Its latest move is to invest $2.7 billion in India in a strategic alliance with Tata Bros. DoCoMo is...

Vendors cool on MIIT mobile phonebook standard.(NEWS ANALYSIS)
December 1, 2008... At a time when mobile users are beginning to save their data in the cloud, China's MIIT is aiming to standardize the handset phonebook. It announced a "unified phonebook standard" in March with the aim of allowing users to easily port their...

Huawei will enter the smartphone market in the first half of 2009, producing devices running on the Symbian and Google Android platforms.(SHENZEN)
December 1, 2008... Huawei will enter the smartphone market in the first half of 2009, producing devices running on the Symbian and Google Android platforms. The company also intends to launch these phones in the North American market within the next five years.

Billionaire Richard Li and China Unicom offer to buy up the remaining 52% of PCCW and take the company private.(HONG KONG)
December 1, 2008... Billionaire Richard Li and China Unicom offer to buy up the remaining 52% of PCCW and take the company private. Li and Unicom are offering HK$4.20 ($0.54) per share. Investors will soon vote on the proposal.

Chinese network suppliers dominate China Mobile's 30b yuan ($.4b) TD-SCDMA tender, winning nearly 90% of the total.(HONG KONG)
December 1, 2008... Chinese network suppliers dominate China Mobile's 30b yuan ($.4b) TD-SCDMA tender, winning nearly 90% of the total. Datang Telecom and its affiliates win the lion's share, picking up around 40% of the tender.

Telenor spends $1.07b for a 60% stake in Unitech Wireless, which will focus on 2G for the next few years and won't take part in India's upcoming 3G auction.(NEW DELHI)
December 1, 2008... Telenor spends $1.07b for a 60% stake in Unitech Wireless, which will focus on 2G for the next few years and won't take part in India's upcoming 3G auction. Telenor has licenses for all of India's 22 circles but has not yet begun operations....

India adds a record 8m GSM subscribers in October.(NEW DELHI)
December 1, 2008... India adds a record 8m GSM subscribers in October and will likely pass the 250m subscriber mark by the end of December.

BSNL joins the Europe India Gateway consortium, which plans to invest $50m on a trans-Atlantic submarine cable.(NEW DELHI)
December 1, 2008... BSNL joins the Europe India Gateway consortium, which plans to invest $50m on a trans-Atlantic submarine cable. The cable is estimated to cost $300m.

Fixed-line operator TT&T earns court approval to enter a business rehabilitation plan in a bid to avoid bankruptcy.(BANGKOK)
December 1, 2008... Fixed-line operator TT&T earns court approval to enter a business rehabilitation plan in a bid to avoid bankruptcy. The court gives the operator until December 25 to come up with a plan and submit it to its creditors for a vote. TT&T is...

Motorola sells its Malaysian R&D center to Indian IT firm Satyam.(KUALA LUMPUR)
December 1, 2008... Motorola sells its Malaysian R&D center to Indian IT firm Satyam. The center develops network management software for Motorola's networks mobility group.

Malaysian airlines becomes the first Asian carrier to allow in-flight mobile use.(KUALA LUMPUR)
December 1, 2008... Malaysian airlines becomes the first Asian carrier to allow in-flight mobile use. The service is provided by AeroMobile and will allow passengers on selected flights to send and receive calls, text messages and emails.

The Malaysian government begins drafting regulation which will see the country's operators closely monitored for quality of service.(KUALA LUMPUR)
December 1, 2008... The Malaysian government begins drafting regulation which will see the country's operators closely monitored for quality of service. Under the proposed regulation, operators will be forced to deliver on any promises made in marketing material.

CAT Telecom awards a contract to extend its IP network to the Samart/AIT consortium.(KUALA LUMPUR)
December 1, 2008... CAT Telecom awards a contract to extend its IP network to the Samart/AIT consortium. The consortium undercuts an offer from NEC, offering to build the network for 898m baht ($26m). CAT has given the consortium 240 days to complete the...

Indosat begins the process of spinning off its fixed-line business to allow Qatar Telecom to buy a majority stake.(JAKARTA)
December 1, 2008... Indosat begins the process of spinning off its fixed-line business to allow Qatar Telecom to buy a majority stake. Indonesian law forbids foreign companies from owning more than 49% of a fixed-line operator, but for mobile operators the...

PLDT's profits drop 28% during the July-September quarter, due largely to the ailing Philippine peso--which has declined in value nearly 18% this year.(MANILA)
December 1, 2008... PLDT's profits drop 28% during the July-September quarter, due largely to the ailing Philippine peso--which has declined in value nearly 18% this year. The global credit crisis has also caused a decline in consumer demand, an effect which PLDT...

Vietnamese operator Viettel expands into Laos, offering services through the Star Telecom Company, a joint venture between Lao-Asia Communications and Viettel Global.(VIENTIANE)
December 1, 2008... Vietnamese operator Viettel expands into Laos, offering services through the Star Telecom Company, a joint venture between Lao-Asia Communications and Viettel Global. Star Telecom hopes to attract 1.5m subscribers by 2010. Viettel is a...

The Vietnamese government intends to announce the winners of the recent 3G license auction in the second quarter of next year.(HO CHI MINH)
December 1, 2008... The Vietnamese government intends to announce the winners of the recent 3G license auction in the second quarter of next year. While all seven existing 2G operators are assumed to have placed a bid, only four 3G licenses will be issued.

NTT DoCoMo buys a 26% stake in Indian operator Tata Teleservices for $2.7b.(TOKYO)
December 1, 2008... NTT DoCoMo buys a 26% stake in Indian operator Tata Teleservices for $2.7b. NTT does not rule out expanding this stake in the future, and may pursue a majority stake.

KT CEO Nam Joong-soo resigns after being arrested for allegedly receiving 300m won.(SEOUL)
December 1, 2008... KT CEO Nam Joong-soo resigns after being arrested for allegedly receiving 300m won ($236,000) in return for favorable treatment during the selection of personnel and subcontractors.

SK Telecom's income grows by 12% over Q3, despite a 6% drop in operating profit.(SEOUL)
December 1, 2008... SK Telecom's income grows by 12% over Q3, despite a 6% drop in operating profit. The company also increases its subscriber-base by 6%. But the results are still 5% lower than market analysts' expectations.

KTF posts its first profit increase in three years.(SEOUL)(Financial report)
December 1, 2008... KTF posts its first profit increase in three years, with Q3 income rising 17% to 73.6b won ($53m).

LG Dacom's profits soar by 28% during the July-September quarter, driven by the rapid growth of the company's VoIP business.(SEOUL)
December 1, 2008... LG Dacom's profits soar by 28% during the July-September quarter, driven by the rapid growth of the company's VoIP business. The company earns $30m on revenues of $291m, which itself increased 21% over the quarter.

Australia's communications minister announces that the live trial of the government's mandatory ISP-level filtering scheme will use a blacklist of around 10,000 sites.(CANBERRA)
December 1, 2008... Australia's communications minister announces that the live trial of the government's mandatory ISP-level filtering scheme will use a blacklist of around 10,000 sites, suggesting the government may seek to censor tens of thousands of sites if...

Under fire from dissatisfied customers, Virgin Australia pulls its wireless broadband kit from Australian stores.(SYDNEY)
December 1, 2008... Under fire from dissatisfied customers, Virgin Australia pulls its wireless broadband kit from Australian stores. Australia's first MVNO, Virgin Australia uses Optus's wireless network, which is slowing to a crawl as it becomes increasingly...

Telstra intends to boost its 3G network speeds to 21 Mbps by the end of the year via eHSPA.(SYDNEY)
December 1, 2008... Telstra intends to boost its 3G network speeds to 21 Mbps by the end of the year via eHSPA. The company also unveils the first mobile broadband mobile capable of achieving these speeds, developed in conjunction with Sierra Wireless and...

Telecom New Zealand's ebita declines 3% over the July-September quarter, falling to NZ$466m ($410m).(WELLINGTON)
December 1, 2008... Telecom New Zealand's ebita declines 3% over the July-September quarter, falling to NZ$466m ($410m). Increased competition and the costs of rolling out a national 3G network--which has cost $340m so far--both contributed to the decline.

SingTel's net profit declines 12% in the July-September quarter, falling to S$868m ($586m).(SINGAPORE)(Financial report)
December 1, 2008... SingTel's net profit declines 12% in the July-September quarter, falling to S$868m ($586m). An expensive |Phone campaign in Singapore and Australia is to blame, as well as the strong performance of the Singaporean dollar. SingTel earns about...

BT, Nokia and Nortel all announce plans to cut jobs in an effort to remain buoyant during the global economic crisis.(movements)
December 1, 2008... * BT, Nokia and Nortel all announce plans to cut jobs in an effort to remain buoyant during the global economic crisis. BT will eliminate 10,000 employees from its payroll by the end of the year, Nortel will cut another 1,300 jobs, and Nokia...

Three major players resign from Australia's Terria consortium, prompting concerns the group will be unable to place a bid on building Australia's National Broadband Network.(movements)
December 1, 2008... * Three major players resign from Australia's Terria consortium, prompting concerns the group will be unable to place a bid on building Australia's National Broadband Network. Terria insists it will bid regardless. Telstra repeatedly insists it...

Alcatel-Lucent continues its string of quarterly losses, but edges closer to profitability.(movements)(Financial report)
December 1, 2008... * Alcatel-Lucent continues its string of quarterly losses, but edges closer to profitability. The company posts a net loss of $51.8m for Q3, compared to Q2 losses of $1.7b.

Cisco launches a new edge router capable of coping with the upcoming heavy IP traffic loads.(movements)
December 1, 2008... * Cisco launches a new edge router capable of coping with the upcoming heavy IP traffic loads, which the company expects will reach exabytes and even zettabytes by 2012.

HTC develops the world's first GSM/Wimax handset, exclusively for the Russian market.(movements)
December 1, 2008... * HTC develops the world's first GSM/Wimax handset, exclusively for the Russian market. The HTC MAX 4G, co-developed by Wimax provider Yota.

India's Telecom Commission approves the Department of Telecom proposal to charge new 3G entrants 3% of their annual revenue in license fees.(movements)
December 1, 2008... * India's Telecom Commission approves the Department of Telecom proposal to charge new 3G entrants 3% of their annual revenue in license fees, and to increase the charges on existing 2G operators entering the 3G market by 1-2% of their annual...

Voxbone introduces a new service that will make use of the new +883 area code to create a global "country code", backed up by banks of direct-inward-dial (DID) numbers.(movements)
December 1, 2008... * Voxbone introduces a new service that will make use of the new +883 area code to create a global "country code", backed up by banks of direct-inward-dial (DID) numbers. This will allow international callers to be charged local rates--and...

Hackers crack the controls of Google's Android OS, potentially allowing the installation of unsanctioned applications, or even a new OS.(movements)
December 1, 2008... * Hackers crack the controls of Google's Android OS, potentially allowing the installation of unsanctioned applications, or even a new OS. Meanwhile, iSuppli determines that the first phone to be powered by Android, the T-Mobile G1, costs $144...

The proposed Yahoo-Google advertising deal is called off, after Google walks away from the partnership amid concerns the deal faced an antitrust suit.(movements)
December 1, 2008... * The proposed Yahoo-Google advertising deal is called off, after Google walks away from the partnership amid concerns the deal faced an antitrust suit. Seeking alternatives, Yahoo approaches Microsoft, only to be told that ship has sailed.

Samsung passes Motorola as the top handset maker in the crucial US market, according to Strategy Analytics.(movements)
December 1, 2008... * Samsung passes Motorola as the top handset maker in the crucial US market, according to Strategy Analytics. Motorola's market share drops to 21%, down from over 30% 12 months ago. Samsung captures 22% of the market, and LG controls 20%.

The authors of the popular iPhone jailbreak tool Pwnage make significant progress toward hacking the 3G model.(movements)
December 1, 2008... * The authors of the popular iPhone jailbreak tool Pwnage make significant progress toward hacking the 3G model. If successful, the tool will allow foreign apps to be installed and will unlock the phone for use on any network.

The EU-funded Wisdom project begins work on the world's first optical firewall.(movements)
December 1, 2008... * The EU-funded Wisdom project begins work on the world's first optical firewall, which promises the ability to analyse data on fibre-optic networks at speeds of up to 40 Gbps.

Strategies for taming the downturn: what to expect in 2009 and steps to fuel growth and cut costs.(Cover story)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Stock markets may be in the doldrums, handset sales forecasts are being cut, and operators and equipment suppliers shedding jobs by the thousand, but for some an economic downturn is not just a problem but an...

Speculation to drive M&A.(Acquisitions and mergers)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Market uncertainty has pushed the value of many companies well below their intrinsic worth, creating buying opportunities for those on the lookout for bargains. For many telcos and technology suppliers, risk aversion will rule, and we fear...

Full steam ahead with transformation.
December 1, 2008... Over the last few years, services providers have talked a lot about improving the cost of operations and gaining an ability to introduce new services faster. Yet, with all this talk only a small percentage of operators globally have actually...

Back to basics: spurring innovation.(supply chain model)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Historical analysis of recessions show that access to a wider variety of stabilization mechanisms made possible by globalization is shortening the troughs of downturns and that recessions are followed by rapid replication of structural...

Strategic cost reduction.(SingTel Group Corp.)
December 1, 2008... SingTel announced cost-cutting measures in October. The Malaysian government in November asked Telekom Malaysia to cut broadband costs. During economic uncertainty, many operators re-focus their strategy on cost reduction. This is often the key...

A flexible outsourcing partner.
December 1, 2008... Outsourcing vs in-house ownership has clearly become more topical given the current developments in the global economy. Businesses are actively looking at ways to reduce costs for longer term sustainability. The recent actions of some banks to...

Integrated conferencing fills the gap.(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Curbs on travel are usually one of the first measures companies take to cut costs, so to maintain relationships with customers and suppliers they are turning to conferencing to fill the travel gap. Ovum forecasts significant overall growth in...

Customers drive NGN build-out: Cable & Wireless CTO Andy Evans updates group editor Joseph Waring on the rollout of its new network platform that delivers multiple services, each with equal quality appropriate to the application.(ONE-TO-ONE)(Interview)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Telecom Asia: Tell us about your network sharing and expansion agreement with BSNL. Andy Evans: We're in the process of building out our new multi-service platform or MSP in India. We've already built out the...

Get proactive on revenue assurance: revenue assurance is becoming more complex for telcos as they launch new services over next-gen IP networks. Bottom line: it pays to proactively place RA at the heart of any upgrade strategy.(TELECOM BIZ)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Economic crisis or not, operators have always taken great pains to minimize revenue leakage and make sure every scrap of traffic is billed accordingly. But the art of revenue assurance is now undergoing a fundamental...

Asia's best technology providers: the winners cover the full gamut of telecom equipment suppliers, with 15 vendors taking home awards in 17 categories.(READERS' CHOICE AWARDS 2008)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Congratulations to all winners Wireless Network Vendor of the Year Nokia Siemens Networks Broadband Network Vendor of the Year Cisco Systems Wireless Broadband Network Vendor of the Year ...

Asia's best technology providers.(READERS' CHOICE AWARDS 2008)
December 1, 2008... The winners of our first Readers' Choice Awards cover the full gamut of telecom equipment suppliers, with 15 vendors taking home awards in 17 categories. Cisco and Huawei each received two awards--Cisco was honored as the top Broadband and...

Decreasing network complexity.(READERS' CHOICE AWARDS 2008: Wireless Network Vendor of the Year: Nokia Siemens Networks)(Interview)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Christian Fredrikson, NSN's head of APAC, outlines the highlights of 2008. In the first nine months of 2008, we shipped more W-CDMA/HSPA networks than during the whole of 2007, deploying the systems to over 130...

Preparing the net for zettabytes.(READERS' CHOICE AWARDS 2008: Broadband Network Vendor of the Year Carrier Ethernet Vendor of the Year: Cisco Systems)(Interview)
December 1, 2008... Hanh Tu, VP of Cisco's Asia-Pacific service provider business, summarizes the highlights of 2008. We saw significant growth of IP-based networks in 2008 as many service providers accelerated the transformation of their networks toward...

Converging the future network.(READERS' CHOICE AWARDS 2008: Wireless Broadband Network Vendor of the Year NGN Infrastructure Vendor of the Year: Huawei Technologies)
December 1, 2008... Ross Gan, Huawei Technologies' global head of corporate communications, outlines the company's strategy for growth. Asia Pacific is a key focus region for Huawei's business and is important to Huawei's internationalization strategy. Our...

Centered around cutting opex and TCO.(READERS' CHOICE AWARDS 2008: Wimax Vendor of the Year: Motorola)
December 1, 2008... Mike Ropicky, Motorola's senior director for marketing and product operations in its APAC home and networks mobility unit, discusses its Wimax successes. Motorola is involved in Wimax deployments, trials and customer engagements in 49...

Capturing value beyond voice.(READERS' CHOICE AWARDS 2008: Core Network Vendor of the Year: Ericsson)(Interview)
December 1, 2008... Magnus Furustam, head of product area core and IMS for Ericsson's network unit, shares its highlights for the year. The year marked a global technology breakthrough when Ericsson introduced new generation, ultra-high capacity softswitching...

Make the experience individual.(READERS' CHOICE AWARDS 2008: IPTV Vendor of the Year: Tandberg Television)
December 1, 2008... Dario Choi, VP and general manager of Tandberg Television APAC, highlights examples of key successes in 2008. During the Beijing Summer Olympics, Tandberg Television played a leading role in the delivery of HD and SD television feeds to a...

Creating the killer app.(READERS' CHOICE AWARDS 2008: Mobile TV Vendor of the Year: Samsung Electronics)
December 1, 2008... Younghee Lee, Samsung Electronics' marketing VP for mobile communication, talks about its mobile TV successes. Samsung's key success was the introduction of P960, the world's first slider DVB-H mobile TV phone. The P960 is the first DVB-H...

Flexible migration to fiber.(READERS' CHOICE AWARDS 2008: FTTx Vendor of the Year: Alcatel-Lucent)
December 1, 2008... Alcatel-Lucent's COO for APAC Sean Dolan outlines the company's FTTx successes. More than 200 customers have selected our FTTx solutions based on the Intelligent Services Access Manager platform. Overall, one out of three fixed broadband...

Configuration changes made simple.(READERS' CHOICE AWARDS 2008: Microwave Backhaul Vendor of the Year: NEC Corp)(Interview)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Hiroya Nakata, NEC's general manager of the global network division, highlights key successes in 2008. Our highlight was that the shipments of our "Pasolink" surpassed more than one million total units in September 2008. Pasolink...

Upgrade path in place.(READERS' CHOICE AWARDS 2008: Optical Network Vendor of the Year: Nortel Networks)(Anthony Mclachlan)(Interview)
December 1, 2008... Anthony Mclachlan, Nortel's leader for carrier networks for Asia Pacific, details the company's highlights in 2008. This year was a major milestone for our metro Ethernet business, and we are extremely pleased with the performance of our...

Moving from concept to cash.(READERS' CHOICE AWARDS 2008: SDP Vendor of the Year: Oracle Communications)(Ty Wang )(Interview)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Oracle Communications senior director of product marketing Ty Wang discusses the company's strategy for growth. Oracle accelerates its growth with each successful customer deployment of commercial services; this...

Extended reach and depth.(READERS' CHOICE AWARDS 2008: OSS Vendor of the Year: Comptel)
December 1, 2008... Comptel's marketing director Olivier Suard highlights its key successes in 2008. Comptel has had a number of successes in 2008, including the acquisition and integration of Axiom Systems, the leading provider of IP fulfillment solutions....

Enabling quick service launches.(READERS' CHOICE AWARDS 2008: BSS Vendor of the Year: Intec)(Intec Telecom Systems PLC)(Company overview)
December 1, 2008... Graeme Paynter, Intec's COO for APAC, talks about the company's highlights for the year. We continued our year-on-year growth in APAC, which is an increasingly important region for the Intec Group in terms of revenue contribution, overall...

Fixed-wireless metro convergence.(READERS' CHOICE AWARDS 2008: Special Editor Recognition Award--Network Innovation of the Year: Redback Networks--SM480 Metro-E Service Transport)
December 1, 2008... The battle for the metro network is getting more fierce as telcos look for ways to simplify their architectures into one all-IP network. But those with mobile operations also need something that can handle mobile backhaul as they lumber towards...

Location bundled with social networks.(READERS' CHOICE AWARDS 2008: Special Editor Recognition Award--Best LBS Application of the Year: GyPSii)(Company overview)
December 1, 2008... Jeff Lin, GyPSii's managing director for APAC, explains what has been the key to GyPSii's success. I'd attribute it to a few key factors. One is that we have senior execs with deep domain experience in enterprise and consumer software,...

Mobile email for the masses.(FORUM)
December 1, 2008... The BlackBerry has been the driving force behind taking email from the PC to the mobile environment. However, its success, along with most of its competitors, has been focused at the higher end of the device market. This segment, where...

Sustainability beyond telecoms.(INDUSTRY VIEW)
December 1, 2008... The telecoms industry in the past was much less associated with the theme of sustainability than many other so-called "heavy" industries, such as energy, chemicals or automotive. An obvious explanation for this is that the telecoms is much less...

Telstra's new CIO.(TELECOM CAREER)
December 1, 2008... Telstra has promoted John McInerney to CIO and group MD, taking over IT responsibilities from Tom Lamminf, the company's SVP of transformation. McInerney, who has been with Telstra for five years, has been executive director of IT since...

IDA hires deputy chief.(TELECOM CAREER)(Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore )(James Kang has been appointed)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... James Kang has joined the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) as assistant chief executive, overseeing initiatives that harness ICT for the government and other sectors in Singapore, including the iGov 2010 master plan and...

CASBAA elects new board members.(TELECOM CAREER)
December 1, 2008... ITV Global Entertainment regional director James Ross will re-join CASBAA's board of directors, while Cosmedia Group CEO Anthony Tse will step down next year. PriceWaterhouseCoopers global managing partner for entertainment and media practice...

Sony exec heads NFC Forum.(TELECOM CAREER)
December 1, 2008... The NFC Forum has elected Sow's Koichi Tagawa as its new chairman and MasterCard Worldwide's Simon Pugh as vice chairman. Tagawa is GM of the global standards and industry relations department of Sow's FeliCa, and has been involved in...

UTStarcom names international sales head.(TELECOM CAREER)
December 1, 2008... Luis Dominguez has joined UTStarcom as SVP of international sales, marketing and services. Dominguez was previously VP and GM of worldwide regional sales operations and president of the Americas for Unisys.

Comverse appoints global sales chief.(TELECOM CAREER)(Urban Gillstrom has been appointed)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Comverse has appointed Urban Gillstrom to the newly created position of group president of Comverse Global Sales. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Gillstrom comes to Conwerse from Ericsson, where he served in a number of senior management...

SUIRG re-elects board members.(TELECOM CAREER)
December 1, 2008... The Satellite Users Interference Reduction Group (SUIRG) has elected MITRE's Nigel Smith as secretary and Qinetiq's David Wilkinson as director to its board for 2009. Also re-elected are James Budden of Satellite Communications Operators...

Mach assigns CFO.(TELECOM CAREER)
December 1, 2008... Jean Mandeville has joined Mach as its new CFO. He comes to Mach with more than 15 years of experience in the financial and telecom industries, having served as CFO at Global Crossing and Singapore Technologies Telemedia.