Europe Intelligence Wire articles from May 2007

Europe Intelligence Wire archives from May 2007

Matters of the heart.
May 18, 2007... (From Off Licence News) Look out for much more than Malbec among a diverse offering from Argentina's wineries. La Riojana will be showing its recently launched organic range Ecologica (AGBP5.99), the reserve range Valdevina (AGBP5.99)...

Poland - Polish operators deploy Telrad's voice over WiMAX platform.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Israeli WiMAX developer Telrad networks' Commatch 6004 platform, which allows voice over WiMAX through existing TDM switches, has been deployed on two live networks in Poland, as part of a deployment of...

Italy - FastWeb board steps down, CEO stays on.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) FastWeb's chairman, directors, independent non-executive directors have resigned from the board due to the outcome of the Swisscom public tender offer. With the resignation of the majority of its members,...

Europe - Two Way TV sells Ark Technology to Virgin Media.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) UK production company Two Way TV has sold its Ark Technology for an undisclosed sum to UK cable operator Virgin Media. The deal covers the interactive TV technology in the UK and Ireland. Virgin has used Ark...

Norway - Teligent wins mobile office extension deal from Telenor.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Swedish telecom equipment manufacturer Teligent has received an expansion order from Telenor Norway to deliver a capacity extension of their existing mobile office installation. The installation is marketed by...

Ireland - Blue Ocean Wireless names CEO.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Ireland-based merchant marine GSM service provider Blue Ocean Wireless has appointed Robert Johnson as CEO. Johnson was previously director of maritime and aeronautical services at satellite communications...

Switzerland - Orange Switzerland lowers international call tariffs.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Orange Switzerland has cut the tariffs for calls from Switzerland to mobile and fixedline numbers in Europe and the USA. All customers with a new Optima or Maxima subscription will be able to make calls to Europe...

France - Free moves to MPEG-4, extends DTT channel coverage on IPTV.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) French ISP Free has passed from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 for its Freebox TV IPTV service, expanding the area in which it can offer the country's 18 free-to-air DTT channels in unbundled areas. Customers with a 1.7 Mbps...

Germany - Siemens names Peter Loescher CEO from 1 July.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Peter Loescher, currently President of Global Human Health at Merck, will be the new President and CEO of Siemens. The supervisory board of Siemens approved the proposal of its chairman's committee to appoint...

Germany - Kabel Deutschland acquires PrimaCom shares from founder.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) German cable network operator Kabel Deutschland (KDG) has acquired around 3.8 million shares in German cable network operator PrimaCom, 2.9 million of which from PrimaCom's founder Wolfgang Preuss. KDG now holds...

Germany - Deutsche Telekom employees continue to strike.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) The German union ver.di reports that on 18 May, around 7,000 Deutsche Telekom employees were on strike and announced that the strike will continue in full force on 21 May. The strike concerns the transfer of...

Belgium - Ale-Brutele to integrate 8 cablers in 2008.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Belgian cable consortium Ale-Brutele has signed agreements take over a number of Wallonian cable companies for EUR 464.5 million, De Tijd reports. Ale-Brutele will continue operations with the eight cable...

France - M@gic Fil launches IP Centrex service.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) French operator M@gic Fil Telecom has launched an IP Centrex service for SMEs and very small companies. The company is offering a packaged offer for customers requiring four to ten lines, including xDSL...

Spain - Ono to provide advanced comms for Sicarm 2007 show in Spain.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Ono, supplier of communications and entertainment via broadband, will provide advanced communications services for the Sicarm 2007 information society exhibition in Murcia, Spain. Ono will be official provider of...

Portugal - Sonaecom plans new acquisitions by end of June.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Portuguese multimedia company Sonaecom is planning to close more acquisitions of small operators by the end of June, before starting to think big. On the level of small operators, Sonaecom is aiming at Tele2 and...

Portugal - One in ten Portugese mobile customers uses UMTS in Q1.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Third generation mobile (3G) was used in the first quarter of this year by 1.281 million Portuguese users, according to data published by the Portugese telecommunications regulator Anacom. These figures refer to...

Portugal - Cofina and Controlinveste fight it out for TV Cabo.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) The fight for PT Multimedia, the company that controls Portuguese cable TV operator TV Cabo, is heating up. After Controlinveste which acquired 3.77 percent, Cofina has also entered the playing field purchasing...

Germany - E-Plus adds SMS to Time & More packages.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) E-Plus will enhance its existing Time & More packages to Time & More All from 1 June. The enhancement is that the monthly fee can be used for call minutes or SMS messages. The Time & More All tariffs offer a 50...

Netherlands - KPN implements IP service provisioning solution of Atreus.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Dutch telecoms company KPN has selected the IP service provisioning solution of the supplier of provisioning software for VoIP and IMS-based services, Atreus Systems, to deploy a full range of VoIP business...

Turkey - Turkcell resumes ADR cancellation programme.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Turkish mobile operator Turkcell's ADR (American Depositary Receipts) depositary bank JP Morgan Chase Bank will be reopening the ADS issuance books and opening, on a limited basis, the ADS (American Depositary...

Malta - Malta's MCA sees complaints about services in Q1.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) In Q1 2007, consumers in Malta raised complaints or queries with the MCA regarding around 40 main areas regarding fixed and mobile telephony, internet, TV and postal services. Residential consumers raised around...

Spain - Movistar launches up to 62% cheaper tariffs in Spain.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Movistar has launched new voice tariffs for mobiles in Spain which are up to 62 percent cheaper than before. The tariffs are aimed at Movistar's nearly 22 million customers, and are up to 40 percent cheaper than...

Spain - Imagenio launches promotion on Imagenio Familiar service.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Imagenio has launched a special promotion which features the Imagenio Familiar service, including over 60 TV channels, a 3MB ADSL or Mini service and national flat rate charge. With the package, users will see a...

France - Vistel named to oversee CanalSat-TPS merger compliance.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) French antitrust authority DGCCRF has named Jacques Vistel, the former CEO of France Televisions' overseas territories broadcaster RFO, to ensure that Canal Plus respects 59 obligations for the merger of pay...

France - Kewego removes Canal Plus clips from video sharing website.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) French video sharing website Kewego claims that it has been wrongfully accused by Canal Plus of offering the latter's programmes, writes Les Echos. Kewego states that under current legislation internet users...

Netherlands - XS4ALL introduces e-mail via IMAP.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) KPN ISP XS4ALL introduces IMAP for its customers. This method of e-mail is suitable for handling e-mail from different computers. Incoming, read and sent mails can be seen always and everywhere because they...

Netherlands - T-Mobile NL sues Telfort over comparison ads.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) T-Mobile Netherlands is suing KPN subsidiary Telfort over an advertising campaign. T-Mobile alleges that Telfort's advertising campaign which compares several subscriptions from different operators is wrong. In...

France - France introduces ten-day MNP.
May 21, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) France has introduced mobile number portability (MNP) in up to ten days on 21 May. Subscribers need only provide their operator ID code to their new operator, which will handle all of the procedures. These are...

Poland - Exatel deploys Transmode platform for DWDM network.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Polish fixed network operator Exatel has selected the Transmode TS-Series platform for deployments across its entire Polish metro networking environment. Transmode is a Swedish provider of Multi-Reach Optical...

Switzerland - Swisscom introduces two converged business services.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Swisscom has launched two new business services: One Phone Business and Unified Communications. By combining the advantages of fixed network and mobile telecommunications in a single device, One Phone Business...

Finland - Elisa to test NFC technology-based services.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Finnish operator Elisa will test safe services to be used by mobile terminal devices utilising Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. In this technology, a SIM card is used as a security platform that enables...

Denmark - Bredbaand Nord uses Cisco equipment for FTTH network.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Danish utility company Bredbaand Nord has launched video services over a Cisco IP NGN platform comprising a headend from Scientific Atlanta and a Cisco Ethernet fiber-to-the-home (E-FTTH) network. The initial...

Denmark - HP, Cisco build FTTH network for MidtVest Bredbaand.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) HP has teamed with Cisco and Danish broadband operator MidtVest Bredbaand (MVB) to build a high-speed, fibre-to-the-home network for the delivery of advanced services such as VoD and interactive TV to homes and...

Italy - TIM to launch mobile internet flatrate for EUR 20 on 1 June.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Telecom Italia Mobile presented its new offers for the summer at its 2007 dealer convention, collecting orders for 3.1 million mobile telephones, of which over 40 percent UMTS and exceeding the results of the May...

Netherlands - Quadia unveils business web TV concepts.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Dutch provider of web TV content and technology, Quadia, enhances its services portfolio with a number of web TV concepts for the business market. With these TV concepts, organisations are able to develop...

Europe - ADB integrates Latens conditional access into its STBs.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB) has integrated the condtional access system of digital TV system and software provider Latens into its set-top boxes. The integration with ADB's 3800 and 5800 advanced STB ranges...

Europe - Fring mobile VoIP client optimised for The Cloud.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Mobile VoIP provider fring and European wireless broadband provider The Cloud have announced the launch of the fring mobile VoIP client specially optimised for The Cloud. The joint service allows all Cloud users...

Ukraine - Ukranian mobile revenues grow 39% to USD 3.4 bln in 2006.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Ukranian mobile revenues amounted to USD 3.4 billion in 2006 growing 39 percent compared with 2005, according to research by iKS-Consulting. The mobile penetration reached 105.1 percent on 31 December 2006, but...

Switzerland - ESB, Finecom offer free Wi-Fi access in Biel.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Energie Service Biel/Bienne (ESB) and Swiss telecom operator Finecom Telecommunications have launched a free public WLAN between the central train station and the central square in Biel. Until the end of this...

Germany - Unity Media drops ish, iesy, Tele Columbus brands.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) German cable network operator Unity Media has decided to drop its existing regional brands ish in Hessen, iesy in North Rhine Westphalia and Tele Columbus West in both states. Instead all 5 million households in...

Germany - Deutsche Telekom strike goes on, civil servants plan lawsuit.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) The number of Deutsche Telekom employees that were striking on 21 May amounted to more than 14,000, compared with 16,000 on 16 May, according to German union ver.di. A Deutsche Telekom spokesperson told the...

Germany - TPG sells Freenet stake to German investor Vatas.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Private equity investor TPG (Texas Pacific Group) has sold its 12.45 percent stake in German telecommunications service provider freenet to Berlin-based investor Vatas. At the same time TPG-Axon sold its 6.22...

Netherlands - Casema lowers tariffs of business triple play package.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) As of 1 July, Dutch cable company Casema will reduce the tariffs of the triple play package for businesses: Zakelijk TV + Internet + Bellen (Business TV, Internet and Telephone services). The package is being...

Switzerland - Swisscom to reorganise to focus on customer needs.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Swisscom has unveiled its new company structure to focus fully on customers' needs. From 1 August Swisscom's former Fixnet, Mobile and Solutions group companies will be replaced by the Private Clients, SMEs and...

France - Alsace has most internet visitors per inhabitant - study.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Per inhabitant, Alsace, Burgundy and Poitou-Charentes have the highest number of internet visits in France, according to XiTi, based on a survey of 88,187 websites in April. They are followed by Rhone-Alpes, Ile...

Netherlands - Esprit uses Alcatel-Lucent's Metropolis platform.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Esprit Telecom has a new generation optical network delivered and installed by Alcatel-Lucent. According to Esprit Telecom the Metrolpolis-platform enables the company to provide voice and data services from a...

Spain - ONO Empresas to be internet provider for IB-Red in Spain.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) ONO Empresas, unit of ONO, has reached an agreement with Spain-based telecommunications services firm IB-Red in which ONO Empresas will become IB-Red's internet provider. Under the deal, ONO will supply a 24-Mbps...

Spain - ONO to offer Champions League final for free on Ojo.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) ONO, provider of communications and entertainment via broadband, will offer a recording of the Champions League soccer final on 24 May, the day after the final takes place, for free on its Ojo VoD service. The...

Spain - Vodafone Espana to set up customer centre in Jaen.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Vodafone Espana has reached an agreement with La Carolina municipality in Jaen, Spain, for the company to set up a customer management centre in the municipality. The centre will focus on advanced services, aimed...

Turkey - Turkish operator deploys Nextone system for VoIP services.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Turkish mobile operator Turkcell's fixed network subsidiary Tellcom has deployed the NexTone IntelliConnect System to migrate from a PSTN to an IP network. Tellcom is using NexTone's technology to offer new VoIP...

Portugal - Portugal Telecom reports share capital increase, reduction.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Portugal Telecom has requested to register before the Commercial Registry of Lisbon its share capital increase, in the amount of EUR 79 million through the incorporation of legal reserve, and a share capital...

Germany - Deutsches Forschungsnetz selects Cisco for routing platform.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Cisco has been selected by Germany's National Research and Education Network (NREN) Deutsches Forschungsnetz (DFN) to deliver the core routing platform for a new national backbone. X-WiN is operated by the DFN...

Europe - Skype launches Small Business Pack for EUR 99 in Europe.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Skype has launched its Small Business Pack in Europe, including a Skype for Business download, 10 five month subscriptions to Skype Pro (Skype's new internet communications package) worth EUR 100 and EUR 50 of...

Estonia - Eesti Telekom AGM approves EEK 1.31 bln dividend payment.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the shareholders of Estonian telecommunications operator Eesti Telekom, held on 22 May, approved the 2006 Annual Report and allocation of profits. The AGM approved the dividen...

Romania - Cosmote Romania unveils i-mode service details.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Mobile operator Cosmote Romania has unveiled more details of its new i-mode service, offered in co-operation with parent company Cosmote of Greece and Japan's NTT DoCoMo. Cosmote Romania is offering access to 63...

Netherlands - Orange NL adds fixed telephone number to Unique service.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Orange Netherlands has added a new feature to its Unique service. Unique users can add a fixed line telephone number allowing others to call to this number at the lower call rate to fixed line numbers. When...

Netherlands - Skype users have problems with online payments via iDEAL.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Dutch users of Skype are not able to pay for services in combination with Dutch online payments platform iDEAL. After the money has been debitted from their bank account, Skype still does not receive the money,...

France - Le Figaro acquires cultural website evene.fr.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) French press group Le Figaro has acquired cultural website evene.fr for an undisclosed amount. The newspaper writes that its new property generated a EUR 1.8 million turnover in 2006 and that it expects to double...

Ireland - Digiweb launches line rental information website.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Irish ISP Digiweb has launched its new information based website at www.nolinerental.ie, focusing on the notion that consumers no longer need to pay line rental charges to get broadband or phone services. The...

France - Alcatel-Lucent France dicusses job cuts with workers.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Alcatel-Lucent France and Alcatel-Lucent Entreprise are holding meetings with company committees concerning the group's 1,468 job cuts planned in France, writes Les Echos. The former is due to lose 1,330 of its...

Italy - Italian banks invest EUR 1 bln in telecommunications.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Italian banks have invested around EUR 1 billion in one year in telecommunications in order to improve banking services and communication with clients, according to data from the fourth Broadband Observatory...

Switzerland - Monzoon deploys GO Networks Wi-Fi equipment.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Swiss Wi-Fi operator Monzoon has deployed the Mobile Broadband Wireless Wi-Fi solution from US Wi-Fi equipment manufacturer GO Networks, a subsidiary of NextWave Wireless. Using GO Networks Wi-Fi base stations,...

Slovenia - Tender for Telekom Slovenije privatisation due in August.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Slovenia's Finance Ministry has announced that the international tender for the sale of a minority stake in Telekom Slovenije is expected to be published by end-August. CA IB Corporate Finance has been chosen by...

Italy - Telecom regulator to judge SMS price alert complaints.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Italian users of mobile phones who are informed of unilateral pricing changes must be allowed immediate portability of their number to another operator, along with the residual credit, according to the Italian...

Croatia - Shares in Croatia's T-HT estimated at HRK 225 each.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Anticipating the autumn sale of 20 percent of Croatian telecom operator T-HT, analysts at the Hypo Alpe Adria Bank (HAAB) estimate that the value of an individual share will be HRK 225 (EUR 31). This means that...

Italy - FastWeb provides Sky channels via IPTV in Italy.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Sky Italia's pay-TV offer is now available to the IPTV subscribers of FastWeb, due to an agreement signed in March between the two companies. In practice, FastWeb is making available all of the packages of Sky...

Spain - Spanish internet user base grows 9% in one year - study.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) The number of people who used the internet for information and communication in Spain grew by 9 percent in a year, growing from 12.1 million in March 2006 to the current 13.2 million, according to research...

Luxembourg - Mobistar acquires VOXmobile for EUR 80.3 million.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Belgian mobile operator Mobistar has signed an agreement for the take-over of the Luxembourgian mobile telephone operator VOXmobile. In December 2006 the shareholders of VOXmobile authorised a business bank to...

Germany - Astra Germany, arvato mobile partner for interactive service.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Satellite services provider Astra Germany and German mobile applications developer arvato mobile partner to provide the interactive TV service Blucom. TV and radio channels that use Blucom can now send data to...

Poland - Polish court oveturns PLZ 100 mln fine imposed on TP.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Poland's Competition and Consumer Protection Court has overturned a PLZ 100 million fine imposed on Telekomunikacja Polska (TP) by regulator UKE. The Court ruled that the UKE decision was invalid as it was issued...

Netherlands - Casema implements Scientific Atlanta's HDTV PVR set-top.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Dutch cable operator Casema has selected the Explorer 8455DVB HDTV Personal Video Recorder set-top of Cisco company Scientific Atlanta for the expansion of digital interactive video services in the Netherlands....

Ukraine - Life:) offers Premium 5 plan for Astelit business users.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Ukrainian mobile network life:) has launched the new Premium 5 tariff plan through its Astelit brand for corporate customers. The plan offers bonuses for incoming calls, with a bonus of UAH 0.10 for every minute...

Belarus - Beltelecom cuts internet access rates in Belarus.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Belarusian operator Beltelecom has reduced internet access rates for its subscribers and for telecommunications operators with effect from 15 April. It has lowered internet access rates for legal entities by 10...

Poland - UKE launches tender for two 1,800 MHz frequency blocks.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Polish regulator UKE has announced a tender for two frequency reservations on the 1,800 MHz spectrum band to be used in public telecommunications networks. The two reservations within the 1,710-1,730 MHz and...

Italy - Panservice deploys Zhone broadband platform.
May 22, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Italian ISP Panservice has deployed a multi-service Broadband Loop Carrier (BLC) from US-based IP-based equipment maker Zhone Technologies to deliver ADSL2+ and Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) services. The...

Spain - Jajah tells Spaniards they can cut call costs by 80%.
May 23, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) The co-founder of global VoIP provider Jajah has told Spaniards they could cut their phone bills by up to 80 percent by using the service. In interviews with El Mundo and El Pais, Roman Scharf said customers...

Europe - GSMA criticises EU roaming services regulation.
May 23, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) The GSM Association (GSMA), global trade association for mobile operators, believes that the proposed EU regulation of roaming services, approved by a vote in the European Parliament, is unnecessary, will curb...

Czech Republic - Volny extends network coverage to new cities.
May 23, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Czech operator Volny has extended its high-speed network to the cities of Usti nad Labem, Karlovy Vary and Ceske Budejovice. It is also expanding existing coverage in Teplice, Plzen, Prague, Brno and Ostrava....

Germany - Union: 26,000 DeTe employees join strike and protests.
May 23, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) German union ver.di reports that 16,000 Deutsche Telekom employees registered for the strike on 23 May and said that in total 26,000 employees participated in protests. Meanwhile ver.di accuses Deutsche Telekom...

Europe - Vodafone has cut roaming fees by 40% since summer 2005.
May 23, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Vodafone Group insists that it has already lowered European roaming fees, with customers now paying on average more than 40 percent less for voice roaming in Europe compared to summer 2005. The announcement comes...

Switzerland - Orange to trial triple play service on Zurich fibre network.
May 23, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) Orange Switzerland will test broadband internet, HD TV and telephony services on the fibre network of Zurich utilities company ewz. 55 households in Zurich will be able as of autumn to try out the services for a...

Europe - LogicaCMG reports Q1 revenues of GBP 767.8 mln.
May 23, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) LogicaCMG reports first quarter revenues of GBP 767.8 million, up 36.4 percent on last year (Q1 2006 GBP 562.7 million). This represents growth of 4.3 percent on a pro forma constant currency basis. Performance...

Europe - EP approves EU roaming tariff decrease to EUR 0.43/EUR 0.19.
May 23, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) The European Parliament, in its plenary session in Strasbourg, voted with a strong majority in favour of an EU Regulation to substantially reduce the charges for using mobile phones abroad. It will now enter into...

Netherlands - Dordrecht installs interactive digital pillars.
May 23, 2007... (From Telecompaper Europe) The Dutch municipality of Dordrecht has installed information pillars to send and receive online text messages. The pillars include both LED screens with texts and full colour screens with texts, pictures and...