Telecompaper Africa/Asia articles from December 2006

Telecompaper Africa/Asia archives from December 2006

China - 5Fad, BrainMedia team up on mobile music streaming.
December 29, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Chinese online music service 5Fad has signed a partnership contract with BrainMedia to launch a mobile music streaming service in China. 5Fad has released a mobile music search and streaming service which...

China - AsiaInfo to upgrade China Telecom systems.
December 29, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) AsiaInfo has won an order to upgrade business support systems for China Telecom. The order is for work at the Chinese operator's Henan, Shanxi, Tianjin and Heilongjiang subsidiaries. AsiaInfo will expand...

India - BSNL to invest INR 20 billion in broadband development.
December 29, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Indian state owned telecom company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) said that they would be investing about INR 20 billion to augment its broadband infrastructure in urban and rural areas. BSNL director...

India - Airtel launches services Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh.
December 29, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Indian mobile operator Airtel launches mobile services in the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh circle, investing INR 6 billion in its fiscal year installing 450 towers in last three months. Airtel has also...

India - Indian govt to issue long distance licence to BT.
December 29, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) British carrier BT was issued Letters of Intent (LoI) by the Indian Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for the award of licences for National Long Distance and International Long Distance services....

Japan - Willcom aims for 10 million PHS subscribers.
December 29, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Japanese PHS services provider Willcom aims to grow its customer base to 10 million, from the 4.33 million subscribers it currently has, Willcom president Masaki Kikugawa told the Nikkei Business Daily in...

Japan - Motorola hypes up Motorazr M702iS.
December 29, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Motorola further increased the hype around the new Motorazr, the M702iS. The company contracted David Beckham to plug the product in several appearances in Tokyo and a popular sports programme. Motorola...

Malaysia - Malaysian regulator to boost mobile content development.
December 29, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The Malaysian regulator plans to set up a mobile content development fund, the Edge Daily reports citing a spokesperson of the MCMC. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) will set...

Oman - Oman Mobile discounts international calls.
December 29, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Oman Mobile is offering a discount on international calls until the end of January. The lower rates apply to the fifteen countries most frequently called by its subscriber base. Rates start at 95 baizas per...

Taiwan - MediaTek buys majority stake in RF technology developer.
December 29, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Taiwan-based fabless IC company MediaTek has acquired a 31.55 percent stake in Airoha from BenQ for TWD 606 million. Following the transaction, MediaTek will be Airoha's majority shareholder. Airoha is a...

Thailand - CAT expects net profit to drop in 2007.
December 29, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Thai mobile operator CAT Telecom expects its net profit to drop to THB 1.5 billion next year, on the back of an expected THB 31 billion in revenues, the Nation reports quoting senior executive vice...

Uganda - UCC collects UGX 3.5 billion from operators.
December 29, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The Uganda Communications Commission has collected UGX 3.5 billion from operators as part of its annual levy, reports New Vision. The figure is down slightly on UGX 3.6 billion collected in the previous...

Viet Nam - Sai Gon Postel receives fixed ILD licence.
December 29, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The Vietnamese ministry of posts and telematics (MPT) has granted a licence to Sai Gon Postel to roll-out a network and provide fixed long-distance and international call services in Vietnam, news agency...

Asia - Asian telecoms disrupted by earthquake.
December 28, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Asian operators have reported disruptions to service following an earthquake off the coast of Taiwan on 26 December. The problems are due mainly to damage to undersea cables from the 7.1 quake, centred on...

Bangladesh - Bangladesh to see mobile user-base rise to 20 mln - study.
December 28, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) At the end of this year Bangladesh will have some 20 million mobile users, double the number of 2005, writes online newspaper BDNews24.com citing Pyramid Research. By 2009, the mobile user base in the...

Bangladesh - Regulator includes data revenues in revenue sharing rules.
December 28, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has requested mobile operators to pay 5.5 percent of their earnings from data communications to the regulator, local media report. The...

India - Essar joins race for Hutch takeover - report.
December 28, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Indian industrial group Essar has become the third bidder for control of mobile operator Hutch Essar, writes the Financial Times. Essar, which already holds 33 percent of Hutch, has offered USD 11 billion...

India - Aircel picks Alvarion for WiMAX deployment.
December 28, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Indian mobile operator Aircel has awarded an order to Alvarion for WiMAX equipment. Aircel will use the BreezeMAX 3000 for rolling out wireless broadband services in 50 cities in northern and eastern India....

India - TRAI seeks input on review of internet services.
December 28, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The Indian telecommunications regulator TRAI has issued a consultation paper which reviews internet services in the country. The government's Department of Telecommunication (DoT) is seeking...

Iraq - MTC Atheer tops 3 million subscribers.
December 28, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Iraqi mobile operator MTC Atheer has doubled its subscriber base in the past year to over 3 million customers. The subsidiary of Kuwait-based MTC entered the Iraq market three years ago. The company...

Kenya - New Kenyan operator Vtel facing difficult start.
December 28, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The Vtel consortium that won the bidding for a second fixed licence in Kenya is having a difficult start, reports The Nation. The group missed a 8 December deadline to make its formal application for the...

Nigeria - Alcatel, ZTE to expand Nigerian telephony service.
December 28, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) ZTE and Alcatel Shanghai Bell have signed contracts for work on the second phase of the Nigerian government's National Rural Telephony Project, report Nigerian papers. Both firms worked on the first phase...

Singapore - StarHub launches 100 Mbps internet service.
December 28, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Singaporean communications provider StarHub has launched a 100 Mbps residential broadband service following the company's deployment of Docsis 3.0 technology. StarHub has combined this network upgrade with...

Thailand - TOT to pressure DTAC, True Move into paying access fees.
December 28, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Thai carrier TOT confirmed it would ban some three million newly allocated numbers of DTAC and True Move if the companies stop paying access charges, the Bankok Post reports. Customers of the mobile...

Brunei Darussalam - Brunei regulator consults on VoIP regulations.
December 28, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The Brunei telecommunications regulator AiTi has commenced a dialogue with stakeholders on VoIP services and has issued a consultation paper on the technology. The AiTi proposes to only adopt necessary...

China - China Unicom picks PacificNet for CRM services.
December 28, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Chinese mobile operator China Unicom has awarded a contract to PacificNet for customer resource management consulting and call centre training services. PacificNet's subsidiary Epro will help China...

India - TRAI consults on resale in IPLC segment.
December 28, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The Indian telecommunications regulator TRAI has issued a consultation paper on resale in the International Private Leased Circuits (IPLC) segment. The consultation paper discusses the approach and...

Israel - Pelephone plans price hike.
December 28, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Israeli mobile operator Pelephone is raising prices in order to offset required cuts in interconnection rates. Some 40 percent of customers will experience price increases averaging 2.6 percent from 1...

Japan - One third of FTTH subs uses VoIP - comms ministry.
December 28, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Japan saw the number of ISDN subscribers go down 4 percent year-on-year to 56.8 million, according to figures from the Japanese communications ministry. The country recorded an increase of 33 percent in...

Japan - Regulator consults on interconnection charging rules.
December 28, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The Japanese ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) has launched a second consultation on rules for interconnection charges. In November and December this year, the ministry held a first...

Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia extends deadline for mobile, fixed licences.
December 28, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Saudi Arabia's Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has extended the deadline for applications for new fixed and mobile operator licences. The deadline for fixed licence applications...

Thailand - TOT to submit concession contract changes for approval.
December 28, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Thai telecommunications operator TOT plans to send concession contract amendments to the ICT ministry shortly, the Nation reports citing a TOT spokesperson. The amendments were not submitted to the...

China - Beijing Mobile taps AsiaInfo for BI system.
December 27, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Provider of telecom software and security products and services in China AsiaInfo Holdings has signed a contract to develop Phase III of Beijing Mobile's Business Intelligence (BI) system. The project aims...

China - Shanghai Mobile activates Contec Hornet platform in China.
December 27, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Contec Innovations, Canada-based provider of mobile infrastructure software, has announced that Shanghai Mobile, subsidiary of China Mobile, has activated Contec's Hornet platform to deliver third party...

China - Datang-led TD-SCDMA project passes government evaluation.
December 27, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) A government-backed TD-SCDMA project in China has passed an official evaluation, Interfax reports citing the ministry of information industry (MII). The project, led by Datang Mobile, passed lab and...

Japan - Japan sees FTTH subscriber base exceed 7 million.
December 27, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Japan ended September with 7.15 million FTTH subscribers, up 850,000 from the end of July 2006, according to figures from the communications ministry. The number of total broadband subscribers rose to...

Japan - Comms minister warns of NTT dominance on FTTH market.
December 27, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Japan's newly appointed telecommunications minister, Yoshihide Suga, has warned that Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) has become dominant in the FTTH market, the Financial Times reports citing the...

Malaysia - NeraTel wins two telecommunications contracts in Malaysia.
December 27, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Singapore-based Nera Telecommunications (NeraTel) has won two contracts with a total value of MYR 7.6 million. The contracts were secured by Nera's subsidiary Nera Malaysia. One f the contracts is for...

Taiwan - Chunghwa Telecom to buy 32% stake in handset distributor.
December 27, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Taiwan carrier Chunghwa Telecom plans to buy a 32.5 percent stake of mobile phone distributor Senao International, the China Post reports citing a company statement. Chunghwa will buy 72.52 million Senao...

Taiwan - Google, Chunghwa to launch mobile search services.
December 27, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Google has signed an agreement with Taiwan operator Chunghwa Telecom for the launch of mobile search services, the China Post reports citing a Chunghwa spokesperson. Chunghwa will offer Google's mobile...

China - China Netcom to offer itemised billing, number portability.
December 27, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Chinese fixed-line operator China Netcom plans to offer itemised billing and number portability from 2007, Interfax reports citing a company official. Before the end of next year, the company will...

Hong Kong - OFTA concludes survey on mobile coverage in country parks.
December 27, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) has completed a survey on the coverage of mobile phone networks along popular hiking trails in Hong Kong. Based on the survey results, a total of 125...

Hong Kong - Hong Kong sees mobile subscriber rise to 9.29 mln.
December 27, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Hong Kong had over 2.14 million 2.5G and 3G mobile subscribers as of September 2006, according to figures from OFTA. Total mobile subscribers numbered 9.29 million. Mobile penetration as of September was...

Israel - Partner names Avner CEO.
December 27, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Israeli mobile operator Partner Communications, which operates under the Orange brand, has named David Avner CEO from 1 January 2007. Currently deputy CEO and COO and previously an Amdocs executive, Avner...

Japan - Motorola launches hot pink Motorazr, buoyant on device sales.
December 27, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Motorola announced that the Motorazr (M702iS) with i-mode has been selling very well in Japan, a week after the device began reaching retailers. The device, which works with NTT DoCoMo's FOMA network,...

Japan - NEC corrects results for H1, FY in Japan.
December 27, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) NEC has submitted its semiannual report on its financial results for its H1 period to the Kanto Local Financial Bureau, Japan. The company has changed its accounting principles for preparing its...

Japan - Japanese govt issues draft tax reform bill.
December 27, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The Japanese Cabinet has issued the 'Draft Amendments to FY2007 Tax Reform', the communications ministry announced. ICT related decisions include: Expansion and extension of the taxation for promoting...

Singapore - M1 launches free Wi-Fi service at Parco Bugis Junction.
December 27, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Singaporean mobile operator MobileOne (M1) has launched Wi-Fi services with a 1 Mpbs download speed at Parco Bugis Junction for free. The free service is available until the end of 2007. The service uses a...

Taiwan - Far EasTone deploys Miyowa's instant messaging technology.
December 27, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) French instant messaging content and service provider Miyowa has provided its mobile instant messaging solution to Taiwan operator Far EasTone (FET). For both i-mode and WAP, FET has opted for the...

Thailand - Comms ministry to probe all telecom concession contracts.
December 27, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The Thai communications minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom has said that the ministry will examine Shin Satellite's telecom concession, the Nation report. Shin Sat, founded by ousted prime minister Thaksin...

Asia - Ip.access, NexWave in picocell technologies deal in Asia-Pac.
December 22, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Ip.access, UK-based developer of cellular picocell technologies, will join forces with Singapore-based NexWave Technologies, provider of scalable network engineering solutions & services in the...

Asia - IPTV revenues in APAC to hit USD 512.4 mln - study.
December 22, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Revenues in the Asia Pacific IPTV market are estimated to increase from USD 353.4 million this year to USD 512.4 million next year, according to Frost & Sullivan. Dwindling wireline revenues, consumer...

Asia - Telehouse America, Voxel dot Net in business project.
December 22, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Telehouse America will carry out a business development project with Voxel dot Net, managed hosting provider. Telehouse will play a key role in facilitating Voxel's domestic and international expansion,...

Australia - Telstra forecasts record text messages on Xmas Day.
December 22, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Telstra is forecast to break records at Christmas 2006, with Australians expected to send 22 million text messages on Christmas Day, up from 16 million on Christmas Day 2005. The forecast figure will set a...

Australia - ACMA launches four consultations.
December 22, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has launched several consultations regarding various proposals on smartnumber allocation, digital television channels in rural Australia, call...

Australia - Telstra slams ACCC line sharing decision of AUD 3.20 p/m.
December 22, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Telstra announced it has received an interim determination from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on its line sharing service of AUD 3.20 per month. There is no change to Telstra's...

India - Hutchison confirms offers for Hutch Essar.
December 22, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Hutchison Telecom International has confirmed that its has been contacted by several companies interested in acquiring its stake in Indian mobile operator Hutch Essar. Earlier, Vodafone confirmed that it...

India - Vodafone confirms interest in Hutch Essar.
December 22, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Vodafone has confirmed its interest in acquiring Indian mobile operator Hutch Essar. The company said in a statement that it is considering taking a controlling stake in the Indian operator, in line with...

Japan - Access, NTT DoCoMo in licence deal for GPRS, i-mode.
December 22, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Access has signed a licence agreement with NTT DoCoMo for GPRS and the W-CDMA i-mode platform. The agreement marks the first time Access has been awarded a licence for the i-mode platform from DoCoMo. Under...

Japan - Aplix, Sweet in R&D deal on mobile RSS technology.
December 22, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Aplix has entered into joint R&D projects with Sweet, unit of Yumemi, focusing on mobile RSS technology. The alliance will build on the strengths of both companies to develop new RSS technology for mobile...

Japan - Softbank upgrades to HSPA with Ericsson.
December 22, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Japanese mobile operator Softbank has awarded a contract to Ericsson for expanding its WCDMA network with HSPA technology. Further details on the timing of the deployment or value of the contract were not...

Kazakhstan - Ericsson Nikola Tesla wins HRK 206 mln equipment deal.
December 22, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Croatian telecom equipment manufacturer Ericsson Nikola Tesla (ENT) has won a HRK 206.1 million from TeleKrona. The contract is for the delivery of new equipment for multi-purpose networks as well as their...

Kenya - Safaricom cuts on-net prices for holidays.
December 22, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Kenyan mobile operator Safaricom is lowering its call rates for the holiday season. From 21 December through 1 January, all subscribers will get calls to other Safaricom customers at KES 10 per minute....

Lebanon - Cedarcom launches wireless broadband in Lebanon.
December 22, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Lebanese operator Cedarcom has deployed a fixed wireless network, called MOBI. Based on Kyocera's iBurst technology, the service with download speeds of up to 1 Mbps is available in partnership with local...

Malaysia - Nextnation's revenues rise 61 percent.
December 22, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Malaysian mobile application service provider (ASP) Nextnation saw revenues and net income in the second quarter ended 31 October rise. The company attributes the growth to the company's strategy to focus...

New Zealand - Telecom NZ's operational split to be complete mid-2007.
December 22, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) New Zealand communications minister David Cunliffe has announced more details of the process to be followed for the operational separation of Telecom New Zealand. The first phase of the legislative process...

Saudi Arabia - Saudi fixed market to contract on mobile substitution.
December 22, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) The value of the Saudi Arabian fixed telephony market is expected to contract an average 7.6 percent per year over the next five years due to mobile substitution for voice services, according to a report...

Saudi Arabia - Turkcell to bid for mobile licence in Saudi Arabia.
December 22, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Turkish mobile operator Turkcell plans to bid for the third mobile operator licence in Saudi Arabia. The government is expected to auction the licence in the first half of 2007. Currently, Mobily and Al...

Australia - MySpace to reach deal with Australian mobile network in Q1.
December 21, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) MySpace, owned by News Corporation, is due to sign a partnership deal with an Australian mobile phone network in Q1 2007, reports The Australian. MySpace was already in preliminary negotiations with all top...

Bangladesh - Banglalink launches business services, GPRS.
December 21, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Bangladeshi mobile operator Banglalink has launched services targeted at business customers. In addition to a range of products, companies under the Banglalink enterprise package will be assigned a...

Hong Kong - Pacific Internet Hong Kong launches data centre service.
December 21, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Internet communications provider Pacific Internet Hong Kong has launched a data centre service in China. The service targets Hong Kong enterprises with cross-border communications needs across the Chinese...

India - Vodafone considers bid for Hutch Essar - report.
December 21, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Vodafone is considering a takeover bid for Indian mobile operator Hutch Essar, according to reports in several UK newspapers. The offer for the fourth-largest Indian operator could be worth up to USD 13.5...

India - BSNL, MTNL upgrade to 2 Mbps.
December 21, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Indian state-owned operators BSNL and MTNL are upgrading their broadband customers to download speeds of up to 2 Mbps from January, up from 256 Kbps currently. India has about 2 million broadband users,...

India - Tech Mahindra signs five-year contract with BT.
December 21, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Indian network services group Tech Mahindra has signed a five-year contract with BT worth over USD 1 billion in revenues. Tech Mahindra will support BT's planned growth of managed services to business...

India - UMTS Forum recommends harmonised 3G spectrum to India.
December 21, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Industry group the UMTS Forum is calling on the Indian government to maintain technology neutrality in its forthcoming 3G licensing process. India is expected to allocate 3G spectrum in 2007. The Forum...

Japan - Yahoo! Japan launches Wi-Fi service.
December 21, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Yahoo! Japan has started offering its paid subscribers access to a network of 3,500 Wi-Fi hot spots nationwide, reports the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. For JPY 210 per month, they can get internet access at train...

Japan - Comms equipment output up 3.5 percent in Japan.
December 21, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Output of consumer communications equipment by the Japanese industry is estimated to hit JPY 3.073 trillion, up 3.5 percent from a year earlier, according to figures from the Japan Electronics and...

Lebanon - Motorola upgrades MTC Touch's network.
December 21, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Motorola is upgrading the mobile network for Lebanese mobile operator MTC Touch, allowing the company to offer new services. MTC said it plans to expand its SMS roaming offer to other countries and will...

Malaysia - Redtone, eB partner for broadband services.
December 21, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Malaysian network services provider Redtone has agreed to work with ISP eB Capital on offering broadband services. Redtone already holds a 11.56 percent stake in eB Capital, and the seven-year agreement is...

New Zealand - SKY, Vodafone New Zealand launch SKY Mobile TV service.
December 21, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) SKY Television and Vodafone New Zealand have unveiled SKY Mobile TV, a new TV service. The new mobile service is for Vodafone customers with 3G handsets, and will be available from early-2007. The service...

New Zealand - Net Insight wins Kordia order in New Zealand.
December 21, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Net Insight has received an order for deliveries to Kordia, provider of customised broadcast and telecommunications networks, network services and converged solutions in New Zealand and Australia. The...

New Zealand - New Zealand decision on mobile termination rate delegated.
December 21, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) New Zealand communications minister David Cunliffe has delegated the decision on the Commerce Commission's mobile termination rate recommendations to his colleague, economic development minister Trevor...

Oman - Nawras signs network expansion deal with Ericsson.
December 21, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Omani mobile operator Nawras has awarded a contract worth USD 50 million to Ercisson for expanding its network. To be carried out over the next three years, the expansion will take Nawras' network coverage...

Philippines - PLDT to de-list from NYSE Arca.
December 21, 2006... (From Telecompaper Africa/Asia) Philippines Long Distance Telephony Company (PLDT) plans to de-list its American Depositary Shares from the NYSE Arca market. The shares will remain listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The move is...