Telecompaper Africa/Asia articles from March 2009, page 3

Telecompaper Africa/Asia archives from March 2009

Japan - Dell to bundle internet service with laptops in Japan.
March 26, 2009... Dell will start offering wireless internet service with its laptops for sale in Japan from this summer. The Nikkei reports that Dell will team up with Japan Communications to use NTT DoCoMo's mobile network for the service. The bundled...

Malaysia - TM to launch e-commerce platform for SMEs.
March 26, 2009... Telekom Malaysia will launch a new online product called My Portal To Do Business or mybizpoint by the middle of next month. TM Sabah general manager Sukkuriya Masri said that mybizpoint was aimed at providing an e-commerce platform for small...

Algeria - Algeria aims for 6 million ADSL lines in 2013.
March 26, 2009... Algeria aims to have 6 million ADSL lines in 2013 and 1.3 million at the end of 2009, versus 400,000 at present, according to ICT minister Hamid Bessalah, reports La Tribune. These objectives are part of the country's E-Algerie 2013 programme...

India - Vodafone Essar launches election alert service.
March 26, 2009... Indian mobile service provider Vodafone Essar has launched the 'Election Alert' service for its customers. The Vodafone Election Alert Pack will provide four updates daily on the candidates profile, trivia about past elections, information on...

Asia - NeraTel signs reseller agreement with Net Insight.
March 26, 2009... Singapore-based telecommunication services and equipment provider Nera Telecommunications has signed a reseller agreement with Net Insight to distribute its Nimbra products in the South East Asian market. NeraTel will be actively promoting...

Qatar - Qtel, Vodafone start interconnection.
March 25, 2009... Interconnection between mobile operators Qtel and Vodafone Qatar has gone live, linking the two telecommunication companies in Qatar. With the agreement now in force and the points of connection in place, voice and data traffic can flow...

Kenya - AccessKenya inks financing deal with NIC Bank.
March 25, 2009... AccessKenya has signed a loan agreement with NIC Bank for a 6.5-year term facility for KES 400 million. With the signing of this facility, together with existing cash and bank facilities, the company has completed the funding for its metro...

South Africa - Opera kicks of 14-country tour in South Africa.
March 25, 2009... Web browser maker Opera Software will this week start a two-week tour of South African universities to discuss the future of the web with students and staff. The company will also hold a series of "community meet-ups" with users during the...

Singapore - Axia completes CAD 19 mln subscription receipts offering.
March 25, 2009... Axia NetMedia has closed its offering of 11.5 million subscription receipts. Priced at USD 1.65 per subscription receipt, the offering raised gross proceeds of CAD 19 million. The proceeds were deposited in escrow with Computershare Trust...

Japan - NTT Com, Digital Forest to develop web analytics services.
March 25, 2009... NTT Communications has agreed to acquire Japanese provider of web marketing return on investment (ROI) services Digital Forest. The move will allow NTT Com to develop web-marketing analytics services for enterprise customers. NTT Com will...

South Africa - South Africa internet user base to grow to 9 mln by 2014.
March 25, 2009... South Africa's internet population is expected to grow as much in the next five years as it has in the 15 years since the internet became commercially available in South Africa. According to report by World Wide Worx and published by...

South Africa - MTN Foundation to spend ZAR 4 mln on telemedicine.
March 25, 2009... South Africa's MTN Foundation said it will be spending more than ZAR 4 million on providing bandwidth to four primary healthcare telemedicine workstations, which are being opened in the Free State. The workstations were funded by the...

Jordan - Orange Jordan CEO sees limited mobile market growth.
March 25, 2009... The market for mobile phone services in Jordan is nearing a saturation point with existing customers, limiting potential growth to 100,000 new subscribers this year, according to Orange Mobile CEO Majd Shweikeh. He says mobile operators will...

India - Tata Teleservices announces change in chairman.
March 25, 2009... Indian telecommunication service provider Tata Teleservices announced that R N Tata has decided to resign as chairman and director of the company and A R Gandhi shall cease to be director of the company, effective 23 March. Amal Ganguly will...

South Africa - Cell C names Reichelt as new CEO.
March 25, 2009... South African mobile operator Cell C has named Lars Reichelt as the company's new CEO. Reichelt has served as CEO of Banglalink, Orascom Telecom's venture in Dhaka, and as CEO of Telefonica 3G Mobile in Zurich. Outgoing CEO Jeffrey Hedberg...

India - Quippo Telecom to raise USD 300 mln funding.
March 25, 2009... India's independent tower company Quippo Telecom Infrastructure plans to raise up to USD 300 million of fresh capital from the overseas market to finance future growth, writes The Economic Times. The company plans a private placement of new...

Egypt - Nilesat, Eutelsat extend deal for shared orbital position.
March 25, 2009... Egyptian satellite company Nilesat and Eutelsat Communications have signed a strategic agreement to pursue the development of the 7 degrees West orbital position which is used by both companies for satellite broadcasting across the Middle...

Saudi Arabia - Saudi Telecom offers service to track missed calls.
March 25, 2009... Saudi Telecom has launched its Mawjood AL-Hatif service which will enable Al-Hatif customers to receive a notification SMS of any missed call as well as busy line to one or two Jawwel numbers. Customers will also be able to know the time,...

Kenya - Mobile handset makers push for tax cuts in Kenya.
March 25, 2009... Mobile handset manufacturers are pushing the Kenyan government for zero-rating of handsets. About 20 percent of the value of every phone legally purchased goes to the government in the form of two taxes -16 percent VAT on the handset and 2.25...

Indonesia - XL gets USD 214 mln loan for Ericsson equipment.
March 25, 2009... Indonesian mobile operator XL has secured a loan of USD 214 million for the purchase of equipment from Ericsson. This is the Indonesian company's second deal with Swedish export credit guarantee agency EKN. The facility was arranged by ABN...

Taiwan - Chunghwa Telecom partners Warner for DRM-free downloads.
March 25, 2009... Chunghwa Telecom has announced a deal with Warner Music Taiwan to establish an online retail channel for downloading DRM-free music titles from the record label. The service is expected to launch in late March, the Digitimes reports. The...

Lebanon - MTC Touch launches online number booking service.
March 25, 2009... Lebanon's mobile operator MTC Touch has launched an online number booking service for customers to select and book their postpaid or prepaid mobile phone lines. Once chosen, the customer has three days to pass by the company's shops to...

Africa - Netcom Africa picks Gilat to deploy SkyEdge network.
March 25, 2009... Gilat Satellite Networks announced that it has been chosen by West Africa-based Netcom Africa to provide a SkyEdge II network that will serve West Africa's corporate, energy and financial sectors. Based in Nigeria, Netcom provides...

Hong Kong - H3C, Wharf T&T to launch SMB ICT offerings.
March 25, 2009... H3C Technologies and Wharf T&T are together developing information and communication technology (ICT) offerings for the small-to-medium business market in Hong Kong. The companies expect to combine Wharf T&T's ICT and H3C's IP-based...

India - Star, CJ form JV, launch home shopping network in India.
March 25, 2009... Asian media and entertainment company Star and Korean regional home shopping group CJ Home Shopping have announced a 50:50 joint venture to launch and operate a home shopping network across India. The first stage of the partnership will be...

Australia - Vodafone trials mobile account management tool in Australia.
March 25, 2009... Vodafone Australia has unveiled MyVodafone Xpress, a desktop application which allows customers to manage personal spending on mobile services. The application allows customers to check account balances, set reminders for bill payment and...

China - Guangzhou Digital Media picks Envivio headend for iTV.
March 25, 2009... Envivio's 4Caster C4 has been selected by Guangzhou Digital Media Group to provide high definition and standard definition video encoding for an interactive TV service based on the Microsoft Mediaroom platform. The installation is claimed to...

New Zealand - Telecom New Zealand's CEO resigns from eAccess board.
March 25, 2009... Telecom New Zealand chief executive Paul Reynolds will resign from the board of Japanese broadband services company eAccess, effective from the eAccess annual meeting on 25 June. Reynolds said that his decision to step down from the eAccess...

China - TechFaith, Qiao Xing Mobile to launch 3G phones in China.
March 25, 2009... China Techfaith Wireless Communication Technology (TechFaith), and Qiao Xing Mobile Communication, a Chinese domestic manufacturer of mobile handsets operating its business primarily through its subsidiary CEC Telecom, have announced that...

China - China Telecom's FY net profit down on one-time charges.
March 25, 2009... China Telecom's full year 2008 operating revenues rose to CNY 186.8 billion from CNY 180.9 billion in 2007. Operating profit fell to CNY 5.1 billion from CNY 37.7 billion, and net profit dropped to CNY 979 million from CNY 24.2 billion. The...

India - SeaChange enables Avid DNxHD workflow for Sakshi TV.
March 25, 2009... SeaChange International has announced that its digital video system is enabling complete Avid DNxHD broadcast for Sakshi TV. The all-news broadcaster is using SeaChange's Broadcast MediaLibrary/MediaClient play-to-air platform to support its...

Australia - Optus launches new Whale Song brand campaign.
March 25, 2009... Australian communications provider Optus launched the Whale Song brand campaign with a 90-second television commercial on 22 March. The Whale Song campaign has been created in conjunction with advertising agency M&C Saatchi. This campaign...

China - China Telecom's mobile subscribers grow to 30.63 mln in Feb.
March 25, 2009... China Telecom ended February with 205.83 million local access lines in service, down from 207.38 million lines in January. Broadband subscribers grew by 87,000 to 45.90 million at the end of February. The company gained 1.70 million mobile...

Malaysia - TM International prices rights offering.
March 25, 2009... TM International has priced its rights offering at MYR 1.12 per rights share. Shareholders will receive five rights shares for every four TMI shares already held. The issue of 4.691 billion rights shares is expected to raise a gross amount of...

India - Pacnet boosts investment in India.
March 25, 2009... Asian telecommunications provider Pacnet has increased its stake in Pacific Internet India to 74 percent from 55 percent, and the company will file applications for international long distance and national long distance licences shortly....

Australia - SP Telemedia doubles H1 net profit.
March 25, 2009... Australian operator SP Telemedia, which operates under the name TPG-Soul, announced EBITDA for the fiscal first half to January of AUD 44.4 million, up sharply from AUD 12.4 million a year earlier. Net profit jumped to AUD 5.1 million from...

Taiwan - ITRI partners Telcordia on security market.
March 25, 2009... Taiwan's Industry Technology Research Institute has signed a partnership agreement with Telcordia Technologies to develop products for the security and surveillance market. ITRI selected Telcordia as its cooperative partner in the R&D of...

Qatar - Qtel promotes Nokia postpaid bundles.
March 25, 2009... Qtel and Consolidated Gulf Company (CGC) have joined hands to offer postpaid customers a one-year subscription to Shahry 50 free with the purchase of a Nokia mobile phone. Customers signing up for the bundle promotion will save QAR 350. The...

Uganda - MTN Uganda targets 5 mln subscribers by year-end.
March 25, 2009... MTN Uganda crossed the 4 million subscribers mark last week and targets adding another 1 million mobile customers by the end of this year. The mobile operator's CEO Noel Meier told the Daily Monitor that the company will use its MTN Zone...

Iraq - Asiacell towers, staff struck by terrorist attack.
March 25, 2009... Iraqi mobile operator Asiacell was struck on 22 March by a terrorist attack in the province of Kirkuk which targeted the company's towers and personnel. The company said that one of their security guards was killed as a result of the attack,...

Asia - Central Asia Wimax networks grow to 13 in Q1.
March 25, 2009... There are 13 active Wimax operators in Central Asia currently, up from eight six months ago, according to a study by J'son & Partners. More than 22 operators have a licence to provide Wimax services in the region, including 13 active...

Tunisia - Tunisie Telecom to form investment JV to fund its R&D.
March 25, 2009... Tunisie Telecom has announced that it will form an investment joint venture with state banks Banque de l'Habitat and Societe Tunisienne de Banque, reports Tekiano. The incumbent operator's CEO, Montacer Ouaili, told a press conference that...

India - M-payments approach 2% of transactions in India.
March 25, 2009... Indian mobile payments services have reached a penetration level of 10 percent among India's 600 million mobile users, according to industry analysts cited by the Indian publication Financial Express. In 2008, m-payments transactions only...

Tunisia - Tunisiana launches SMS job search service.
March 25, 2009... Mobile operator Tunisiana has launched an SMS-based job search service costing TND 1.56 for ten job offers. Users are invited to register and submit their profile at www.emploisms.net or at wapup.com.tn to start receiving the employment...

Middle East - FTTH Council Europe opens Middle East chapter.
March 25, 2009... The Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council Europe has announced the launch of its activities in the region by forming the 'FTTH Council Europe Middle East Group'. The FTTH Council Europe is a non-profit organisation working to accelerate the...

South Africa - Telkom halts outsourcing plans - union.
March 25, 2009... South African fixed-line operator Telkom has put outsourcing plans on hold following an agreement with trade unions. Telkom management met with certain trade unions last week regarding the issue and concluded an agreement, promising no...

New Zealand - NZ regulator calls for lower mobile termination rates.
March 25, 2009... New Zealand's Commerce Commission has called for mobile operators to lower their termination rates. The regulator had asked the operators to make proposals on rates and received replies from Vodafone, Telecom New Zealand and NZ Communications...

Australia - Telstra drops IBM for Infosys - report.
March 25, 2009... Australian operator Telstra has scrapped a large part of its IT outsourcing contract with IBM as the company reduces its outsourcing partners to two from four, the Australian reports. IBM staff were told the scratching of the vendor's...

Kenya - Safaricom expands sponsorship of Kenya Open.
March 25, 2009... Kenyan mobile operator Safaricom has given the country's premier golf event, the Kenya Open, KES 10 million and said it's considering a long-term commitment for the event. CEO Michael Joseph announced the deal after signing a sponsorship...

Zimbabwe - Econet Zimbabwe launches scholarship fund.
March 25, 2009... Zimbabwe's largest mobile service provider, Econet has established a scholarship fund for academically gifted Zimbabweans to pursue higher tertiary studies. The Joshua Nkomo Scholarship Fund (JNSF), named after one of the Southern African...

Middle East - Rotana, Zain launch entertainment service in Middle East.
March 25, 2009... Mobile operator Zain has signed an exclusive agreement with Rotana to make the latter's digital entertainment productions available to Zain customers initially in Kuwait and later in other Zain Middle East operations. Through a new service...

Thailand - Thailand mobile operator deploys HP NGOSS.
March 25, 2009... Thailand mobile operator DTAC is deploying HP Next Generation Operations Support Systems (HP NGOSS) to automate key network and service management processes to reduce internal costs, speed delivery of revenue-generating services and improve...

New Zealand - Telecom NZ names Semmoto to board.
March 25, 2009... Telecom New Zealand has appointed Sachio Semmoto to the company's board. Semmoto is the founder and chairman of Japanese telecommunications company eAccess, and the founder, chairman and CEO of Japanese mobile telecommunications carrier...

Malaysia - Telekom Malaysia picks Alcatel to expand Ethernet network.
March 25, 2009... Alcatel-Lucent has been awarded a EUR 7 million contract for the expansion of Telekom Malaysia's 10 Gigabit Ethernet network. The contract will see a network expansion in the central and northern regions of Peninsular Malaysia....

Australia - ACMA seeks comments on DNC register fees.
March 25, 2009... The Australian Communications and Media Authority is seeking comments from market parties on proposed new fees and payment arrangements for telemarketers to access the Do Not Call Register in 2009-10. ACMA's proposed streamlined payment...

South East Asia - Sybase 365 offers Windows Live Messenger Service in SE Asia.
March 25, 2009... Sybase subsidiary and mobile messaging services provider Sybase 365 has inked an agreement to resell Microsoft Windows Live Messenger services to its mobile operator customers in South East Asia. This will enable Southeast Asian operators to...

Nigeria - Nigeria's Direct On PC signs contract with O3b Networks.
March 25, 2009... O3b Networks announced that Nigerian ISP Direct On PC (DOPC) has signed a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract for services with O3b Networks. DOPC has selected O3b's QuickStart and QuickVAR carrier services to significantly expand the...

Philippines - Prime brings wireless internet access with Wink.
March 25, 2009... Filipino IP communications service provider Prime Communications has launched the Wink wireless internet access service for businesses. The Wireless Link service provides round-the-clock access to the internet minus the complications and...

Israel - Hot mulls acquisition to enter ISP market.
March 24, 2009... Israeli cable operator Hot is mulling entering the internet services and international calls sectors. Globes Online reports that the company is examining the establishment of its own internet services and international calls services, either...

Viet Nam - IBM to build IT infrastructure for GTel.
March 24, 2009... Vietnamese mobile operator GTel-Mobile has signed a contract with IBM to build an IT infrastructure and business services to support its commercial launch this year. Under the multi-million-dollar contract, IBM will facilitate the...

Lebanon - Alfa slashes SMS, MMS charges by 60%.
March 24, 2009... Lebanese mobile operator Alfa announced a 60 percent reduction in SMS prices for all postpaid and prepaid subscribers with effect from 18 March. Alfa said it has cut the local and international SMS prices as well as the MMS price for both...

Japan - Japan Cablenet to deploy Arris kit for high-speed data.
March 24, 2009... Japan Cablenet plans to deploy Arris' Speed Star 160 service, across its cable system, beginning at its JCN Koala Katsushika site in March. The Speed Star 160 incorporates the Upstream Channel Bonding technology which enhances data rates....

Hong Kong - Cell Idea to manufacture NFC device for Bluetooth phones.
March 24, 2009... Hong Kong-based mobile payments technology provider Cell Idea is set to produce a NFC-Bluetooth device called 'With me', which adds NFC functionality to mobile phones with Bluetooth. By connecting With Me to Bluetooth phones, mobile phones...

India - Indian govt withdraws licence fee cut - report.
March 24, 2009... The Indian government has called off its decision to slash the licence fee for telecommunication operators with a large network presence, following opposition from the finance ministry, writes The Economic Times. The communications ministry...

Jordan - Orange Jordan introduces Unizone offer.
March 24, 2009... Orange Jordan has introduced Unizone, a new offer which allows university students to make free calls to any Orange mobile or fixed subscriber inside or outside the country while on campus. The offer is valid from 08:00 to 17:00 hours at 17...

India - Indian court restricts dual-Sim handsets.
March 24, 2009... The Indian High Court in Madras has restrained mobile phone manufacturers Samsung India, Mirc Electronics and Spice Mobile as well as several retailers from manufacturing and selling multiple-Sim mobile phones, writes The Economic Times. The...

Australia - Telstra launches mobile modem for HSPA+.
March 24, 2009... Australian operator Telstra is launching the Next G Turbo 21 Modem at Telstra shops and dealers across Australia for use on its new HSPA+ network. The Next G Turbo 21 Modem offers typical download speeds ranging from 550 Kbps to 8 Mbps. The...

Japan - Softbank to unify brand logos.
March 24, 2009... Japanese operator Softbank plans to unify the logos for its brands Softbank Mobile, Softbank BB and Softbank Telecom to the silver logo that Softbank Mobile currently uses, from April. The move is part of plans to offer more converged...

Nigeria - Suburban Telecom to deploy Cisco TelePresence system.
March 24, 2009... West African IP backbone service provider Suburban Telecom plans to deploy the Cisco TelePresence system. Suburban Telecom recently conducted a face-to-face meeting, using the TelePresence system, with Cisco's chairman and CEO John Chambers...

India - BSNL to lease out telecom towers in semi-urban areas.
March 24, 2009... Indian state-owned operator BSNL has decided to lease out its passive infrastructure, including towers, to other telecommunication companies in semi-urban areas in India, writes The Economic times. The agreement would be on a bilateral basis,...

Botswana - Orange Botswana renews 3-year Zebra sponsorship.
March 24, 2009... Orange Botswana has renewed a three-year sponsorship for the country's senior national team, Zebra, to the tune of BWP 10.5 million. Acting Orange Botswana CEO Keabetswe Segole said the mobile operator was proud of the national team and...

Israel - Bezeq Q4 net profit down 5% to ILS 298 mln.
March 24, 2009... Israeli operator Bezeq said its fourth-quarter net profit fell 5 percent to ILS 298 million from ILS 315 million a year earlier. Revenue in the quarter slipped to ILS 3.062 billion from ILS 3.12 billion a year ago, mainly due to the timing of...

China - Chinese operators slash investment budgets in 2008.
March 24, 2009... In line with the current global financial crisis, telecommunication equipment manufacturers will seek ways for cost-effective products and systems leading to an intense price competition in China's 3G market, according to a report by iSuppli....

Viet Nam - Mobifone unveils special offers for prepaid, postpaid users.
March 24, 2009... Vietnam mobile operator MobiFone is offering prepaid customers 100 percent value top-up and 30 intra-operator texts. Mobifone is also offering postpaid customers 30 intra-operator outgoing minutes and a discount of VND 399 per minute on...

Viet Nam - GTel picks Alcatel for GSM/Edge network roll-out in Vietnam.
March 24, 2009... Alcatel-Lucent has been selected by Vietnamese mobile operator GTel-Mobile to provide a turnkey GSM/Edge network system. Alcatel-Lucent will roll out GTel-Mobile 's network in the North and Central areas of Vietnam with commercial services...

Singapore - Singapore varsity picks Procera's PacketLogic PL10000.
March 24, 2009... The National University of Singapore (NUS) has deployed Procera Networks' PacketLogic PL10000 to manage network costs with bandwidth management. NUS is Singapore's flagship university that offers a global approach to education and research...

Thailand - Mycom to deliver NIMS-PrOptima to CAT Telecom.
March 24, 2009... Mycom has signed a contract with Thailand's CAT Telecom for the delivery of its performance management software NIMS-PrOptima. The Mycom software, being delivered across the Huawei CDMA access, circuit core and packet core networks, will allow...

Japan - Kinki Rokin adopts Cisco infrastructure in new head office.
March 24, 2009... The Kinki Labour Bank has adopted Cisco products in the network infrastructure of the bank's new headquarters, integrating business systems, unified communications, physical security systems and digital signage. The new Kinki Rokin building,...

Taiwan - Chunghwa enhances IPTV with Harmonic products.
March 24, 2009... Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom has deployed Harmonic's content management products to support its multimedia-on-demand (MOD) IPTV service expansion. The upgrade has enabled Chunghwa Telecom to offer its IPTV customers advanced interactive...

China - China Unicom selects Alcatel-Lucent for 3G W-CDMA networks.
March 24, 2009... Alcatel-Lucent has been selected by China Unicom to deploy 3G W-CDMA networks in 14 Chinese provinces. This contract, secured through Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell (ASB), will enable the operator to provide its end users with new 3G mobile...

Asia - APNIC elects Jian as executive council member.
March 24, 2009... The Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) has elected Zhang Jian as executive council member. The APNIC executive council is composed of seven councilors, who are elected by the APNIC members. Jian will oversee the operation of...

Japan - Broadband service contracts cross 30 mln in Japan.
March 24, 2009... The number of contracts for broadband services has crossed 30 million in Japan, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), which compiled the figures reported by telecommunications carriers as of the end of...

UAE - Du picks Injazat Data Systems for data centre services.
March 24, 2009... UAE service provider Du and Injazat Data Systems announced the signing of a data centre services contract. Under the three-year deal, Injazat will provide managed collocation services for Du's mission-critical systems through its new Abu...

Philippines - Smart picks Aicent's mBridge for global MMS.
March 24, 2009... Philippines' wireless services provider Smart Communications has selected Aicent to enhance multimedia message service (MMS) delivery for its subscribers. Smart is using Aicent's MMS Gateway service along with the enhanced mBridge Virtual...