Telecom Asia articles from November 2006

Telecom Asia archives from November 2006

DRM in the age of mash media.(TANNER)
November 1, 2006... Last month saw the launch of the first annual Anti-DRM Day. The event, coordinated by the Free Software Foundation's anti-DRM initiative, Defective By Design, was intended to raise awareness of digital rights management issues that, in their...

Wireless broadband's powerline play.(FIRST MILE)
November 1, 2006... Despite years of trials and hype built on the promise of high-speed access over electrical infrastructure, BPL (broadband powerline) has had greater success as a home networking option than a broadband access link. But BPL still has a shot at...

Asia's dominates digital media consumption.(STAT SNAP)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Asia continues to dominate the digital media world, according to the latest research from Informa. The firm's latest Converging Media (CM) Index, published quarterly, reveals that Asian is home to three of the world's top four digital-content...

GSMA says 73% of USF money for developing markets unspent.(NEWS ANALYSIS)(universal service funds)
November 1, 2006... Developing markets with "universal service funds" intended to pay for telecoms rollouts have collected $6 billion to date, but only $1.6 billion has actually been allocated, according to a new study released Tuesday. The study, conducted by...

Premium content to drive mobile growth.(INSIGHT: ONE MONTH'S TELECOM RESEARCH)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... While messaging will continue to account for bulk of operator-generated revenues in most emerging and developing markets in Asia Pacific, much of the market's growth potential lies in premium content. According to Frost & Sullivan, the region's...

3G services to fuel China FMC growth.(INSIGHT: ONE MONTH'S TELECOM RESEARCH)(third generation wireless technology)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The advent of 3G services in China will boost fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) in China between 2008 and 2010. In-Stat says that from 400,000 consumer FMC subscribers in 2005, there will be 11.4 million by 2010. Convergence will take place...

'Prosumers' increase enterprise mobility adoption.(INSIGHT: ONE MONTH'S TELECOM RESEARCH)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... 'Prosumers' in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) are increasing their use of enterprise mobility applications and services to fulfill their business or office requirements. However, usage of such applications is confined to more basic...

India to lead data center race.(INSIGHT: ONE MONTH'S TELECOM RESEARCH)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... With many "self-build" programs already in place, India is expected to lead the Asian Internet data-center market in terms of space and revenue by 2010, placing second only to Japan. BroadGroup says the overall market, composed of 11 economies,...

Vanco portal simplifies shopping for data networks.(NEWS ANALYSIS)
November 1, 2006... UK-based virtual network operator (VNO) Vanco last month launched its long-awaited Web-based portal that simplifies the process of designing, purchasing and maintaining data networks from a wide range of network operators across the globe....

China's telecom carriers and radio and TV enterprises are negotiating possible profit-sharing arrangements for future mobile TV services.(BEIJING)
November 1, 2006... China's telecom carriers and radio and TV enterprises are negotiating possible profit-sharing arrangements for future mobile TV services. Industry insiders say if the negotiations bear fruit, an ongoing dispute between telecommunications and...

The government orders mobile users to start registering their mobile phones using real names starting next year.(BEIJING)
November 1, 2006... The government orders mobile users to start registering their mobile phones using real names starting next year. The new registration scheme is aimed at helping curb the surging number of mobile phone crimes.

ZTE secures a deal with China Unicom to build part of the carrier's national optical-fiber network.(SHENZHEN)
November 1, 2006... ZTE secures a deal with China Unicom to build part of the carrier's national optical-fiber network. Under the deal, ZTE will lay the optical lines to connect the cities of Shenyang and Dalian in northeast China's Liaoning province to Qingdao...

PCCW makes an HK$1.94b ($24.9m) offer to buy the network assets of Sunday Communications, in a bid to privatize the mobile operator.(HONG KONG)
November 1, 2006... PCCW makes an HK$1.94b ($24.9m) offer to buy the network assets of Sunday Communications, in a bid to privatize the mobile operator. PCCW, which already owns 79.4% of Sunday, made an attempt to privatize Sunday last December but failed to get...

A top civil court accepts a lawsuit seeking to cancel licenses given to Thaksin Shinawatra's former business empire for various telecom services.(BANGKOK)
November 1, 2006... A top civil court accepts a lawsuit seeking to cancel licenses given to Thaksin Shinawatra's former business empire for various telecom services, in what could prove another blow to the ousted prime minister.

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) awards CS Loxinfo a license to operate an international Internet gateway service.(BANGKOK)
November 1, 2006... The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) awards CS Loxinfo a license tom operate an international Internet gateway service. The license is category, which is for application with or without their own networks.

WorldTel Bangladesh plans to install about 300,000 fixed-line telephones in the national capital.(DHAKA)
November 1, 2006... WorldTel Bangladesh plans to install about 300,000 fixed-line telephones in the national capital. WorldTel will initially offer 100,000 connections in November.

US firm Always On Network will invest $60m to provide Internet services to most of Bangladesh within ten years.(DHAKA)
November 1, 2006... US firm Always On Network will invest $60m to provide Internet services to most of Bangladesh within ten years, under an agreement the company signed earlier with the Bangladesh Information and Communication Technology Ministry to establish...

Mobile value-added service provider OnMobile, a spin-off of software house Infosys, wins some $28m in funding from Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Polygon Investment Partners.(BANGALORE)
November 1, 2006... Mobile value-added service provider OnMobile, a spin-off of software house Infosys, wins some $28m in funding from Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Polygon Investment Partners. OnMobile plans to use the funding to strengthen its international...

EVNTelecom selects Lucent Technologies for the third phase of the carrier's CDMA450 network expansion.(HANOI)
November 1, 2006... EVNTelecom selects Lucent Technologies for the third phase of the carrier's CDMA450 network expansion. The two companies have already deployed an advanced wireless network to provide voice and mobile data services based Lucent's cdma2000...

The government plans to issue up to four licenses to operators to provide high-speed broadband wireless services based on WiMAX technology.(KUALA LUMPUR)
November 1, 2006... The government plans to issue up to four licenses to operators to provide high-speed broadband wireless services based on WiMAX technology. It earlier cancelled the original tender for the WiMAX 2.3-GHz spectrum, saying that the specifications...

BenQ, the world's No.6 mobile phone maker by market share, blames poor product management for the demise of its mobile unit in Germany.(TAIPEI)
November 1, 2006... BenQ, the world's No.6 mobile phone maker by market share, blames poor product management for the demise of its mobile unit in Germany. The company filed for insolvency last month for the German operations it took over from Siemens in October...

KDDI will buy Tokyo Electric Power's fiber optics communications business with shares worth 115b yen ($963m).(TOKYO)
November 1, 2006... KDDI will buy Tokyo Electric Power's fiber optics communications business with shares worth 115b yen ($963m). The deal, which will become effective January 1, will help KDDI challenge incumbent NTT, which is also expanding its fiber-optic...

SoftBank and Access develop an Internet browsing and email software for mobile phones.(TOKYO)
November 1, 2006... SoftBank and Access develop an Internet browsing and email software for mobile phones. The software will be installed in mobile phones sold by SoftBank, which this year bought the Japanese unit of Vodafone Group.

Telstra rolls out a HSDPA service that it says will reach 98% of the country and cover the largest geographical area of any such network in the world.(SYDNEY)
November 1, 2006... Telstra rolls out a HSDPA service that it says will reach 98% of the country and cover the largest geographical area of any such network in the world. The announcement comes ahead of the government's sale of its remaining 51.8% stake in...

Vodafone New Zealand agrees to buy ihug, a local ISP, for NZ$41m ($27m).(WELLINGTON)
November 1, 2006... Vodafone New Zealand agrees to buy ihug, a local ISP, for NZ$41m ($27m). ihug, owned by New Zealand ISP group iiNet, has about 125,000 subscribers and has a strong brand in the ISP broadband market.

Singapore mulls plans to cover most of the island with public wireless Internet access by next year.(SINGAPORE)
November 1, 2006... Singapore mulls plans to cover most of the island with public wireless Internet access by next year and offer nearly 10,000 subsidized computers to low-income students.

Temasek Holdings suffers a paper loss of 41%.(SINGAPORE)
November 1, 2006... Temasek Holdings suffers a paper loss of 41% since it acquired Thai telecom giant Shin Corp earlier this year.

MTNL chairman and managing director RSP Sinha confirms that the company would bid for a national telecom operator license in Kenya.(NEW DELHI)
November 1, 2006... MTNL chairman and managing director RSP Sinha confirms that the company would bid for a national telecom operator license in Kenya for fixed-line and cellular services.

Motorola goes to court to challenge a decision by BSNL that disqualified Motorola from bidding on a large contract.(NEW DELHI)
November 1, 2006... Motorola goes to court to challenge a decision by BSNL that disqualified Motorola from bidding on a large contract. The contract oil offer involves providing 62m GSM lines and supplying 3G equipment and is worth billions.

MobiTel rolls out 3G services after agreeing to drop a video phone feature that the government feared would be used to spread pornographic images.(PHNOM PENH)
November 1, 2006... MobiTel rolls out 3G services after agreeing to drop a video phone feature that the government feared would be used to spread pornographic images. The government has allowed MobiTel, a company partly owned by Cambodian businessman Kith Meng, to...

Google buys YouTube for $1.65 billion, brushing aside copyright concerns to seize a starring role in the online video revolution.(movements)
November 1, 2006... Google buys YouTube for $1.65 billion, brushing aside copyright concerns to seize a starring role in the online video revolution. The all stock deal unites one of the Internet's marquee companies with one of its rapidly rising stars.

Philips signs an agreement to sell its mobile phone business to China Electronics Corp for an undisclosed amount.(movements)
November 1, 2006... Philips signs an agreement to sell its mobile phone business to China Electronics Corp for an undisclosed amount. According to Philips, the mobile phone unit has an annual turnover of 400m euros ($501.7m) and about 240 employees, mainly in the...

Sony Ericsson's third quarter net profit nearly tripled to 298m euros ($373.78m) in the quarter that ended September 30.(movements)(Financial report)
November 1, 2006... Sony Ericsson's third quarter net profit nearly tripled to 298m euros ($373.78m) in the quarter that ended September 30, compared to 104m euros ($130.45m) in the same period last year, thanks to strong consumer demand for its improved camera...

Arianespace successfully launched last month two communications satellites into orbit from its South American base in French Guiana.(movements)
November 1, 2006... Arianespace successfully launched last month two communications satellites into orbit from its South American base in French Guiana. The Ariane-5 rocket deployed the DirecTV 9S for US digital television service provider DirecTV and the Optus D1...

Alcatel expects subscribers to IPTV.(movements)
November 1, 2006... Alcatel expects subscribers to IPTV to reach 100m by late 2010, up from three million now.

The US FCC delays a vote on the proposed buyout of BellSouth by AT&T until November 3.(movements)
November 1, 2006... The US FCC delays a vote on the proposed buy-out of BellSouth by AT&T until November 3 at the latest after two Democrats asked for time to study last-minute concessions offered by the companies.

Microsoft acquires Colloquis.(movements)
November 1, 2006... Microsoft acquires Colloquis, a privately held company that helps other companies automatically answer customers' online questions.

T-Mobile USA is set to launch by year-end a new breed of mobile phones that can pass live phone calls between cellular and Wi-Fi networks.(movements)
November 1, 2006... T-Mobile USA is set to launch by year-end a new breed of mobile phones that can pass live phone calls between cellular and Wi-Fi networks. The firm will use Unlicensed Mobile Access technology for the specialized phones.

Sprint Nextel announces that Tim Donahue is leaving as chairman of the struggling mobile carrier, the second unexpected departure of a top executive in six weeks.(movements)
November 1, 2006... Sprint Nextel announces that Tim Donahue is leaving as chairman of the struggling mobile carrier, the second unexpected departure of a top executive in six weeks. The company did not name a replacement for Donahue, who was CEO of Nextel before...

Tele2 sells its French fixed-line telephone and broadband unit to Vivendis SFR wireless division for 3.3b kronor ($450m).(movements)
November 1, 2006... Tele2 sells its French fixed-line telephone and broadband unit to Vivendis SFR wireless division for 3.3b kronor ($450m). The company will incur a one-time loss of 1b kronor ($136m) from the sale,

Hackers operating through Chinese Internet servers have launched a debilitating attack on the computer system of the US Commerce Department.(movements)
November 1, 2006... Hackers operating through Chinese Internet servers have launched a debilitating attack on the computer system of the US Commerce Department, forcing it to replace hundreds of workstations and block employees from regular use of the Internet for...

A new study released by the FTTH Council and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) unveils that FTTH deployments in North America.(movements)
November 1, 2006... A new study released by the FTTH Council and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) unveils that FTTH deployments in North America have now reached 6m homes, up by over 50% or over 2m homes since March 2006.

IPTV or else: why telcos are doing IPTV whether they want it or not: despite optimistic forecasts of worldwide IPTV uptake, given the high investment costs, most telcos would rather avoid the IPTV trail. It's just that in most markets, they have no choice.(Cover story)
November 1, 2006... Telcos and broadband companies around the globe are jumping like crazy onto the IPTV bandwagon. According to a recent analysis by Infonetics Research, these adventurous corporate souls are on target to invest $26 billion by 2009 in building...

The year that was 2006.(SATELLITE ROUNDUP)
November 1, 2006... All up, 2006 has been a good year for the satellite industry--if you don't count the shutdown of Connexion By Boeing's inflight broadband service or the Indian Research Space Organisation losing its INSAT-4A satellite after its domestic GSLV...

Mobile's great transition.(ROUNDTABLE: MOBILE NGN)(Interview)
November 1, 2006... Cellular networks will migrate to all-IP--eventually. What's missing is the business case and customer demand for new SIP services. That was the conclusion of a panel discussion on converged networks led by Telecom Asia editor-at-large Robert...

Is lack of test equipment slowing EV-DO evolution? In future updates to cdma2000 networks, test difficulties won't just increase linearly with increasing data rates. Quantum jumps in test difficulty will occur because of the addition of new technologies as EV-DO moves from Release 0 to Revision B.(TEST & MEASUREMENT)
November 1, 2006... Planners have worked hard to minimize the impact to network operators as they move along the cdma2000 evolutionary path. cdma2000 1x is backward and forward compatible with 2G IS-95. However, the jump to cdma2000 1x EV-DO Release 0 isn't quite...

Finding the win-win in net neutrality: because broadband access providers and Internet companies can't be really successful without the other, they need to partner to ensure QoS--something that's been sorely lacking in consumer VoIP.(INDUSTRY VIEW)
November 1, 2006... True or false: a clownfish is to a sea anemone as a content provider is to a service provider. No, this isn't a Scholastic Aptitude Test question. This kind of symbiotic relationship, defined as "a relationship of mutual benefit or dependence"...

Cisco and Fujitsu launch four-slot CRS-1.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
November 1, 2006... Cisco Systems and Fujitsu have launched a four-slot model of their co-branded CRS-1 carrier routing system. According to the companies, as with other routers in the series, the new model delivers the same 40 Gbps of switching capacity per...

Automated, low-cost optical transport platform.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
November 1, 2006... Siemens Communications has released the SURPASSR hiT 7300 optical transport platform for regional and long-haul applications. The platform incorporates major features for flexible and dynamic optical networking, including OADM, ROADM and...

40-Channel ROADM module.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
November 1, 2006... NeoPhotonics has unveiled its 40-channel reconfigurable optical add/drop module (ROADM) with per channel variable optical attenuators and power monitoring. A 2-degree ROADM allows any wavelength to be dropped or added at any node in a DWDM...

Terabit FTTx platform for high-bandwidth services.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
November 1, 2006... Huawei Technologies has launched its new terabit SmartAX FTTx platform to help telecom carriers' quickly deliver high-bandwidth services such as VoD, Internet games and IPTV. Based on the 10-Gigabit Ethernet architecture, the FTTx platform...

Commercial UWB MIMO antenna.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
November 1, 2006... Omron has released what it says is he world's first commercial polymer mtenna for ultra-wideband (UWB) communications, targeted toward high-definition and other telecast quality video transmission applications. Volume shipments to HDTV and...

Addressing BTS power consumption issues.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
November 1, 2006... ZTE Corp.'s new power amplifiers with 30% efficiency will be used in a new generation of energy-saving CDMA base stations, reducing power consumption by 50%. According to ZTE, power consumption has long been an issue for mainstream base...

Seamless streaming to TVs, home entertainment systems.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
November 1, 2006... Netgear has introduced what it claims to be the first Intel Viiv technology-verified digital media adapter (DMA), the Netgear Digital Entertainer (EVA700), bringing home computers and home entertainment systems together. The Digital...

WAN optimization solutions.(PREMIERE: Latest products and services)
November 1, 2006... Citrix Systems' WANScaler 8000 series of wide area network (WAN) optimization solutions features dynamic multi-level compression technology with extended disk-based history that can improve application response times for branch office employees...

Networking opportunities across Asia.(EVENTS CALENDAR)(Brief article)(Calendar)
November 1, 2006... Networking opportunities across Asia Date Event Location Nov 15-Nov 17, 2006 Outsourcing & Managed Singapore Services for Telecom Nov 27-Nov 29, 2006 Near...

DoCoMo appoints US SVP.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2006... NTT DoCoMo has named Masaki Yoshikawa SVP to head its operations in the US. Prior to the appointment, Yoshikawa was MD of the company's global coordination department under the global business division.

New SingTel head.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2006... SingTel has appointed Chua Sock Koong as its group CEO from starting April 1, 2007, replacing Lee Hsien Yang who led the company for 11 years. Chua has been with SingTel for 17 years and currently serves as group CFO and CEO of international...

StarHub COO resigns.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2006... StarHub COO Yong Lum Sung will step down at the end of the year. Yong joined StarHub in July 2002, following the merger of Singapore Cable Vision and StarHub, and was instrumental in managing the operational integration of the two companies.

Broadcast Australia mobile TV GM.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2006... Broadcast Australia has named Martin Farrimond GM for mobile TV services. Farrimond comes to Broadcast Australia with more than 20 years of mobile communications and "new media" experience. Most recently, he was head of content solutions...

Telecom NZ re-elects directors.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2006... Shareholders of the Telecom Corp. of New Zealand have re-elected Rob McLeod and Rod McGeoch to the company's board as directors. McLeod joined the board in 2004 and is currently chairman of the New Zealand Business Roundtable. McGeoch...

NXP Semiconductors appoints senior execs.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2006... NXP Semiconductors, formerly Philips Semiconductors, has appointed four senior executives to the board of management of its holding company NXP b.v. The company has named Frans van Houten as president and CEO and chairman, Peter van Bommel...

MEASAT taps broadcast sales director.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2006... MEASAT Satellite Systems has named Anne Chan director of broadcast sales, responsible for building the company's broadcasting customer base on the new MEASAT-3 satellite that will be launched later this year.

F5 Networks hires MD for ANZ.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2006... Chris Poulos has joined F5 Networks as MD for Australia and New Zealand. Most recently, Poulos was Asia Pacific MD of Akimbi Systems, which was acquired in June 2006 by VMWare.

Netgear appoints CIO.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2006... Netgear has appointed Tom Holt as CIO, responsible for developing and overseeing long-term IT environment and migration strategies for the company. Previously Holt was VP of IT strategy and planning at Lucent Technologies.

Ericsson taps multimedia head.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2006... Ericsson has assigned Jan Wareby as SVP and head of its newly stabled multimedia unit starting from January 1, 2007. Wareby currently is corporate EVP and head of sales and marketing at Sony Ericsson.

New appointments at mFormation.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2006... mFormation Technologies, a provider of mobile device management software, has appointed Matthew Bancroft as CMO. Most recently, Bancroft ran business development for Flarion Technologies, which was acquired by Qualcomm. mFormation has also...

Enpocket gets new sales exec.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2006... Mobile marketing company Enpocket has hired Daniel Hodges as its EVP of sales. With his 20 years of advertising and media industry experience, he is expected to drive the mobile advertising sales of Sprint Mobile Media.

SS8 Networks hires new CFO.(TELECOM CAREER)
November 1, 2006... Unified messaging solutions provider SS8 Networks has appointed industry veteran Kam Wong as CFO. Apart from all company's internal and external financial matters, Wong will also be in charge of SS8 human resources and information technology.

TA index expands 2.8%: TA30 telecom stock index Sep 15-Oct 16, 2006.(TELECOM CORPORATE)
November 1, 2006... The TA 30 climbed 2.8%, or 38 points, extending its gains for a fourth consecutive months as most Asian stock markets advanced. Gainers outnumbered losers 20 to 9, while one remained unchanged. The top movers were China Mobile and China...

Bandwidth sector re-born--or is it?(INSIDE LINE)
November 1, 2006... After five years of brutal consolidation, the Asian bandwidth business is finally in a building phase. A clutch of new longhaul and regional cables and upgrades are on the drawing board. But caution is the watchword from those making the...

Google? "Morons!".(BACKPAGE BRIEFING)(YouTube Inc. acquired)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... YouTube's success had spurred speculation in recent weeks that the company would eventually be acquired, but not everyone was convinced. Such as Mark Cuban, investor and dot-com vet. "Anyone who buys [YouTube] is a moron" Cuban told a group...

NGN.(BACKPAGE BRIEFING)
November 1, 2006... IP/MPLS has long been thought of as the core technology for next-gen networks, but BT--whose 21st Century Network (21CN) project has been at the vanguard of the NGN movement--is having second thoughts about end-to-end IP/MPLS and is considering...

Transmission.(BACKPAGE BRIEFING)
November 1, 2006... The backbone speed wars are heating up again, with several companies announcing breakthroughs in optical transmission speeds. The most recent news came from NTT, which presented a paper at an European Conference Optical Communication in France...

IPTV.(BACKPAGE BRIEFING)
November 1, 2006... China can't seem to catch a break when it comes to homegrown technology. Its WAPI standard was rejected by the ISO/IEC, and local operators don't want TDS-CDMA for. 3G. Now some Chinese companies their backs on another local technology for an...