Telecompaper Africa/Asia articles from May 2012

Telecompaper Africa/Asia archives from May 2012

Kenya - KDN sheds 51 workers.
May 31, 2012... Altech Kenya Data Networks (KDN) has shed at least 51 employees in its ongoing staff reduction exercise. The company blamed business demand and the need to reduce its cost base, the Daily Nation reported. Over the next several weeks the company...

Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe teledensity grows to 78.8% in March.
May 31, 2012... Zimbabwe's teledensity rose to 78.8 percent in March as mobile operations added more customers. According to the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe, Econet added 714,000 subscribers in the first quarter to maintain...

Liberia - Lonestar Cell MTN supports talent contest.
May 31, 2012... Liberian operator Lonestar Cell MTN is sponsoring the West Africa singing competition Project Fame West Africa, starting its fifth season in Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Ghana. The Liberia audition is scheduled for 2 June at the Samuel...

Kenya - Safaricom loses KES 93 mln in banking fraud.
May 31, 2012... Kenyan operator Safaricom has lost KES 93 million in a fraudulent banking scheme. According to Business Daily, the firm sued 13 former agents for obtaining goods worth KES 93 million using banking slips that were later found to have been forged....

South Africa - Telkom clients in parts of Johannesburg hit by cable theft.
May 31, 2012... South African fixed line operator Telkom has expressed great concern about copper theft after customers in parts of Randburg in Johannesburg were without service on 29 May for the second time this month. Telkom said the area of Bromhof was...

Indonesia - Indonesian companies sell 32,000 more tablets in Q1.
May 31, 2012... Eager tech consumers in Indonesia snapped up some 704,000 tablets worth more than USD 385 million in the last twelve months, according to a study by GfK Indonesia. Surging demand fuelled strong tablet sales over the last four consecutive...

Nigeria - NCC maintains Nigerian mobile operators must pay fines.
May 31, 2012... The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has maintained that the mobile phone firms must pay NGN 1.17 billion in fines it imposed for poor service in March and April. Reuben Muoka, Head of Media Relations for the NCC, said that the fines had...

China - Lenovo launches Android smartphone with Intel chip.
May 31, 2012... Lenovo has launched in China its Lenovo LePhone K800 smartphone, its first with an Intel chip. The LePhone K800 mainly targets technological pioneers and business elites and aspires to bring Chinese consumers the high performance of Intel...

Rwanda - MTN Rwanda to give 1% profit back to community.
May 31, 2012... MTN Rwanda announced that it will be ploughing 1 percent of its profit back into the Rwandan economy by investing it in the MTN Foundation, which helps to develop the local community. MTN Human Resource Manager Marry Ashimwe commented that the...

Qatar - Qtel to operate Pearl-Qatar network.
May 31, 2012... Qtel has signed an agreement with United Development Company (UDC), the master developer of The Pearl-Qatar project, to acquire the full communications infrastructure of the urban development in Doha. Pearl-Qatar is a residential development on...

Africa - MTN Group to commit 70% of year's investment by end-June.
May 31, 2012... The MTN Group expects to have committed 70 percent of its full-year capital investment of ZAR 24.4 billion by the end of next month. During 2011, MTN had expected to invest a total of ZAR 22 billion, but only spent ZAR 17.7 billion. Group CEO...

Rwanda - MTN Rwanda, MFS Africa launch online money transfer service.
May 31, 2012... MTN Rwanda and MFS Africa (Mobile Financial Services Africa) have announced the launch of an online service that enables MTN Mobile Money customers to receive international remittances directly on their mobile phones. It is also being rolled out...

Cameroon - Cameroon opens tender for third mobile operator.
May 31, 2012... Cameroon's ministry of posts and telecommunications has launched a call for interested parties to apply for a 3G licence to become the country's third mobile operator, Cameroon Tribune reports. Applicants must be mobile communication operators...

Middle East - Facebook opens Mideast office in UAE.
May 31, 2012... Facebook has opened its first office in the Middle East. The social network site will be based in Dubai Internet City, to work with brands across the region. The MENA office will be headed up by Jonathan Labin, Head of Global Marketing...

South Africa - Cell C plans job cuts.
May 31, 2012... South African mobile operator Cell C has informed its employees that a consultation will start on streamlining its business. According to Techcentral, it's understood that Cell C's networking division will be particularly hard hit by the...

Africa - Airtel Africa inks five-year call centre deal with Avaya.
May 31, 2012... Airtel Africa announced a five-year deal with Avaya Communications Outsourcing Solutions to provide services to Airtel customer care centres in 16 African countries. In the first year of the new agreement Avaya, in collaboration with UAE-based...

South Africa - Vodacom South Africa launches Samsung Galaxy S3.
May 31, 2012... Vodacom South Africa has launched the Samsung Galaxy S3. Vodacom is selling the Galaxy S3 on promotional contracts from stores at its Vodacom World mall in Midrand until the official launch of the device on 7 June. All of the postpaid offerings...

Japan - NEC re-organises Central Research Laboratories in Japan.
May 31, 2012... NEC is re-organising its Central Research Laboratories based in Japan to focus on the business areas of cloud computing and Smart Energy and enhance its global research and development (R&D) capacities. NEC Central Research Laboratories will...

UAE - Tiger Group implements Mitel cloud architecture.
May 31, 2012... UAE-based Tiger Group is aiming for the latest cloud architecture by selecting a Mitel virtual service. The virtualised unified communications and collaboration (vUCC) services will enable the Tiger Group to enhance its business continuity...

Australia - Sophos inks distribution deal with Firewall Systems.
May 31, 2012... Security and data protection firm Sophos has signed a distribution agreement with Firewall Systems, the specialist security business unit of Distribution Central, to deliver its security services across Australia. Sophos will continue to provide...

Malaysia - Maxis launches Funambol-powered cloud storage service.
May 31, 2012... Malaysian communications provider Maxis has launched the Loker, a cloud storage service based on mobile sync software provider Funambol OneMediaHub, for all its customers. Maxis Loker allows users wirelessly sync media, files and personal data...

Central African Rep. - Millenium Telecom selects Airspan for 4G network deployment.
May 31, 2012... US-based provider of broadband wireless access networks Airspan Networks has been selected by Central African Republic mobile operator Millenium Telecom Centrafrique for a 4G mobile deployment. The initial deployment is focused on delivering...

China - China approves 3G Apple device.
May 31, 2012... China's Telecommunication Equipment Certification Center has approved an Apple device with 3G capabilities. The device, which is thought to be an iPad, is compatible with China Unicom's WCDMA network, the Wall Street Journal reports. The notice...

South Korea - SK Telecom pilots multi-carrier LTE technology.
May 31, 2012... Korean communications firm SK Telecom has launched a pilot service for multi-carrier technology that enables use of both 800 MHz and 1.8 GHz frequency bands for LTE services. The company plans a commercial launch of the technology in July, the...

Australia - Australian ISPs spend more on network costs than NZ ISPs.
May 31, 2012... Although New Zealand ISPs have been introducing higher-quota plans over the last year, Australian consumers still enjoy larger data allowances, according to research by Market Clarity. The study found that Australian ISPs spend more of their...

Australia - Do Not Call Register exceeds 7.5 mln numbers.
May 31, 2012... Australian's Do Not Call Register has over 7.5 million numbers registered, including half of Australia's fixed line home numbers and over three million mobile numbers. The register was established on 31 May 2007 by ACMA. The watchdog has also...

South Korea - KT launches mobile payments app.
May 31, 2012... South Korean communications firm KT and Shinhan Bank have launched ZooMoney, a mobile payment service. The service will be activated first in Namdaemun Market, a popular traditional market, and the company hopes to expand the service to over...

Canada - City Telecom completes exit from telecom business.
May 31, 2012... Hong Kong communications firm City Telecom has completed its exit from the telecommunications business in Hong Kong and Canada to focus solely on its IPTV and multimedia business. City Telecom sold its telecom business to private equity firm...

New Zealand - Wireless Nation offers 15 Mbps broadband service in Auckland.
May 31, 2012... New Zealand internet services provider Wireless Nation has said that it now offers fast wireless broadband services in Auckland's CBD. The service offers download speeds of up to 15 Mbsp and upload speeds of up to 10 Mbps. Wireless Nation also...

Thailand - True says only court can alter 3G contracts with CAT.
May 31, 2012... Thai communications firm True said that only a court could order a change to its 3G contacts with state-owned operator CAT Telecom. However, the company did welcome talks with CAT that aim to seek solutions to the issues identified with the...

New Zealand - First third-strike notices lapse without action.
May 31, 2012... The first 'third strike' notices for infringing copyright have now lapsed without any action having been taken. New Zealand's new 'three strikes' copyright regime that came into effect in September last year and some 2,0000 infringement notices...

Australia - Optus expands 3G coverage in Victoria.
May 31, 2012... Australian telecommunications provider Optus has expanded its 3G network to more areas in Victoria. Optus has installed two new mobile towers in Bendigo and another tower in Golden Beach in the Gippsland region.

New Zealand - Telecom launches 'Smart Prepaid' tariff.
May 31, 2012... Telecom New Zealand has introduced the 'Smart Prepaid' tariff plan. The prepaid tariff charges NZD 0.44 per minute for calls to any New Zealand network. Texts are priced at NZD 0.20 per message and data costs NZD 1 a day for up to 10 MB (after...

Afghanistan - Afghan Wireless launches international calls promo.
May 31, 2012... Afghanistan mobile operator Afghan Wireless has launched an international calls promotion. Calls to India, Pakistan, the US, and Canada are charged at AFN 4,99 per minute for prepaid and postpaid customers.

Cambodia - Beeline launches Kado tariff plan.
May 31, 2012... Mobile operator Beeline Cambodia has introduced a new plan called 'Kado'. The plan gives customers USD 2 as a bonus every month for one year when they top-up their credit. The bonus can be used for on-net calls and GPRS internet services.

Singapore - IDA fines SingTel for service disruption.
May 31, 2012... The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) has fined SingTel Mobile for breaching the Code of Practice for Telecommunication Service Resiliency. This fine follows IDA's investigation of the disruption of SingTel's 3G mobile services...

Australia - Telstra network performs well in data quality - study.
May 31, 2012... Overall mobile network performance in Australia varies widely by the type of activity being performed on the mobile device. Higher number of problems are experienced by customers conducting data-related activities, compared with placing calls...

Bhutan - B-Mobile will no longer re-activate old numbers.
May 31, 2012... Bhutan Telecom has announced that its B-Mobile business will no longer re-issue deactivated mobile numbers to the initial owner once they're deactivated for more than three months. The company said the move is due to having a large pool of...

Malaysia - Telekom Malaysia grows Q1 profit 54%.
May 31, 2012... Telekom Malaysia posted a first quarter net profit of MYR 250.6 million, up 53.5 percent from MYR 163.3 million in the year-ago quarter on higher revenue and higher unrealised forex gain on US Dollar (USD) debt. Revenues went up 11 percent to...

Philippines - PLDT re-launches internet-based SME services.
May 31, 2012... Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) has re-launched a system for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to boost productivity. PLDT's SME Nation offers three services under the Productivity Solution Suite: PLDT Watcher, PLDT FASTrack (Field...

Philippines - PLDT, Meralco seek BPL technology partner to revive project.
May 31, 2012... Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) and affilate Manila Electric (Meralco) are still looking for an expert to help the companies with a broadband over power lines (BPL) project. In January, a vendor from Germany offered its services to...

Bangladesh - Bangladeshi operators urge lowering of Sim tax.
May 31, 2012... Bangladeshi mobile operators called on the government to reduce the Sim tax more. The operators say the Sim tax makes it hard to expand to rural consumers. The operators argue that the Sim tax is taxing the poorest segment of society as the more...

Bangladesh - Banglalion to issue BDT 1.30 bln in bonds.
May 31, 2012... The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Bangladesh has granted approval to Banglalion Communications' plan to issue 10 percent convertible zero-coupon bonds worth BDT 1.30 billion. The Wimax services provider will issue the bonds to...

Kenya - Altech Kenya plans job cuts.
May 31, 2012... Altech Kenya Data Networks (KDN) has confirmed that following a comprehensive market analysis, the company has begun a consultation process with staff to discuss plans for a reduction in staff numbers. The objective of the job cuts is to reduce...

Uzbekistan - CDMA Uzbekistan offers free internet for summer.
May 31, 2012... Mobile operator CDMA Uzbekistan, working under the Perfectum Mobile brand, has introduced an offer of free wireless internet services for the summer when purchasing the Aircard Franklin U300 modem in shops of the operator. The modem, supporting...

Middle East - Nokia set to launch Lumia series in Oman.
May 31, 2012... Nokia Middle East announced it will soon launch in Oman the company's new Lumia series, Oman Daily Observer reported. The Nokia Lumia 900 is the largest smartphone from Nokia to date with is 4.3-inch display and is the flagship model of the...

Africa - East Africa regulators meet in Burundi.
May 31, 2012... The East African Community (EAC) telecommunications regulators are meeting in Rwanda to look at ways of easing communications and radio development in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. Speaking at the meeting, Burundian Communication...

Israel - Israeli operators cut smartphone prices.
May 31, 2012... Israeli mobile operators Cellcom, Partner Communications and Pelephone are slashing their smartphone prices for customers who pay in cash. According to Globes, customers who two weeks ago paid Cellcom Israel more than ILS 4,380 in 36...

South Africa - MWeb switches off wireless network.
May 31, 2012... MWeb Business announced plans to switch off its wireless network at the end of May, shifting its focus back to its core business. GM Andre Joubert said that the wireless network was basically a remnant of the Wimax trial network from 2007. After...

Kenya - Kenyan mobile termination rates to fall 38% from July.
May 31, 2012... The Kenyan government has announced that mobile termination rates will fall by 38 percent to KES 1.60 a minute from July from KES 2.21, Business Daily reported. The rate was agreed at a meeting of the Ministry of Information, the Communications...

India - Reliance Communications hires new wireless CEO.
May 31, 2012... Indian operator Reliance Communications has appointed Gurdeep Singh as president and CEO of its Wireless Business. Singh will be responsible for leading Reliance Communications Wireless Business to achieve higher revenues and profitability....

Kenya - South Sudan invited to connect to broadband via Kenya.
May 31, 2012... The Kenyan government has invited South Sudan to connect to the recently laid fibre optical cables that span the East African region. The invitation was made by Kenyan Ambassador Bruce Madete during a meeting with the South Sudan's Minister for...

India - Indian Railways taps NSN for Kolkata GSM-R infrastructure.
May 31, 2012... Indian Railways has selected Nokia Siemens Networks as its partner for equipping the Kolkata, West Bengal metro line with GSM-R infrastructure. Nokia Siemens Networks is providing its Flexi Base Stations and Flexi Base Station Controllers. The...

Malaysia - Maxis, Alcatel launch integrated e-book service in Malaysia.
May 31, 2012... Malaysian communications provider Maxis has launched the integrated e-book service with the help of Alcatel-Lucent. In full support of the Malaysian government's knowledge society programme, Maxis will provide access to a digital library with...

Nigeria - Airtel Nigeria unveils electronic data top-up cards.
May 31, 2012... Airtel Nigeria has introduced what it calls the first ever physical and electronic data recharge cards in Nigeria.The cards are available in denominations from NGN 99.00 to NGN 7,999 corresponding to data allowances of 10 MB to 5GB. Customers...

South Africa - Cell C evaluating WASP double opt-in service system.
May 31, 2012... South African operator Cell C is evaluating a technical system for a double opt-in service to protect its customers from wrongful billing by wireless application service providers (WASPs), MyBroadband reported. In December 2011, Vodacom...

China - TCL introduces flip covers for Alcatel One Touch smartphones.
May 31, 2012... Chinese handset maker TCL Communication has introduced integrated flip covers for Alcatel One Touch 995 and One Touch 991 smartphones. Both of them, with white and black versions, will be available in June. Other flip covers for One Touch 985...

Middle East - Tellabs partners with Spectrum Training in Middle East.
May 31, 2012... Network equipment maker Tellabs and technical training centre Spectrum Training have signed a collaboration agreement to provide Tellabs certified training and lab services in the Middle East. As a result of the agreement, local service...

South Africa - South African internet economy represents 1.9% of GDP.
May 31, 2012... South Africa's internet economy contributed ZAR 51 billion to the economy in 2010, representing 1.9 percent of GDP, according to the Boston Consulting Group's Connected World series, IT-Online reported. The figure is expected to almost double to...

South Africa - Vodacom fits Cape Town office roof with solar panels.
May 30, 2012... South African operator Vodacom has announced that it is fitting its Century City office in Cape Town with close to 2,000 mono-crystalline solar panels, which will cover the 3,600 square meter roof of the building. The solar array will be...

South Africa - Dark Fibre Africa invests in Eastern Cape.
May 30, 2012... South Africa-based Dark Fibre Africa (DFA) is deploying fibre infrastructure worth ZAR 72 million in the Eastern Cape region. More than 100km of fibre is being laid in the region that includes Mthata and East London. The open network will...

Algeria - Mobilis adds SMS plans for prepaid customers.
May 30, 2012... Algerie Telecom subsidiary Mobilis has introduced two SMS plans for its MobtaSim prepaid customers. Costing DZD 50, they provide users with 50 SMS to Mobilis numbers or 25 SMS to any Algerian mobile network to be used within 7 days.

South Africa - MTN buys back ZAR 1.36 billion in shares.
May 30, 2012... South Africa-based MTN Group has bought back ZAR 1.36 billion of its own shares, and plans to continue buybacks. MTN acquired the shares between 8 March and 28 May. The total value of shares bought back by the company, including repurchases made...

UAE - Axiom launches Samsung Galaxy SIII in UAE.
May 30, 2012... UAE-based distributor Axiom has launched the Samsung Galaxy SIII in the UAE. Axiom is offering customers the handset in either pebble blue or marble white. Axiom said it held a successful pre-order campaign, allowing Samsung enthusiasts to be...

Middle East - HP Middle East appoints Halabi as networking director.
May 30, 2012... HP appointed Ammar Halabi as its new Middle East director for its Networking business unit. Halabi brings 18 years of ICT industry experience, including time at Cisco, where prior to joining HP he was Regional Manager for Data Centre,...

India - Loop seeks refund of INR 47 bln for telecom licences.
May 30, 2012... Indian mobile operator Loop Telecom has filed a plea with the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) seeking a refund of its entry fee paid for acquiring telecommunications licences, a release of its performance bank...

Australia - Daramalan selects Brocade to enhance campus network.
May 30, 2012... Daramalan College, the single-campus secondary school in the Australian Capital Territory has replaced its local area network infrastructure with a unified campus networking equipment based around the ICX family of switches from networking...

China - ZTE passes second phase of China TD-LTE test.
May 30, 2012... ZTE has passed the second phase of a national multi-mode TD-LTE network validation trial in China. The cities covered by the second phase of the trial include Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Xiamen. By passing this trial...

New Zealand - 2degrees to sell Galaxy S III from 31 May.
May 30, 2012... New Zealand mobile operator 2degrees will launch Samsung Galaxy S III, which will be available to consumers from 31 May. The Galaxy S III powered by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, features a 4.8-inch HD display, an 8-megapixel camera and video...

Australia - NEC to acquire CSG's Technology Solutions business.
May 30, 2012... NEC has signed an agreement to acquire Australian ICT company CSG's Technology Solutions business. The transaction includes the complete Technology Solutions business that provides IT services, including managed services, enterprise services and...

India - RCom selects Smith Micro to offer mobile video to users.
May 30, 2012... Indian operator Reliance Communications (RCom) is exclusively using software services developer Smith Micro's mobile video platform, Vidio, to deliver video content offerings with its 3G service. Vidio enhances the subscriber experience while...

China - China Telecom deploys 130 SBCs from Acme Packet.
May 30, 2012... China Telecom has deployed session border control products provider Acme Packet's Net-Net Session Director SBCs to enable replace its legacy PSTN infrastructure with the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture, enabling enhanced voice, video,...

China - Unicom's 3G revenues to overtake 2G this year.
May 30, 2012... China Unicom expects its 3G services to contribute more to its total revenues than 2G services for the first time this year, The China Daily reports. 2G sales are expected to see a small drop this year as subscribers migrate to 3G, according to...

China - China Telecom deploys Acme Packet IMS gear.
May 30, 2012... China Telecom has deployed Acme Packet's Net-Net Session Director session border controllers (SBCs) to help replace its legacy public switched telephone network (PSTN) infrastructure with IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture. China Telecom...

China - NQ Mobile completes NationSky stake buy.
May 30, 2012... Mobile security services provider NQ Mobile (formerly known as NetQin Mobile) has completed its acquisition of a majority stake in Beijing NationSky Network Technology, a provider of mobile services to enterprises in China. NQ Mobile acquired 55...

Philippines - Wi-Tribe launches postpaid promos.
May 30, 2012... Wimax services provider Wi-Tribe Philippines has launched two new promotions. The first promotion offers the PHP 1,998 plan at PHP 1,298 per month when customers take out a subscription before 28 June. The promotion also offers a free Wi-Fi...

Pakistan - Tax authority seizes PTA's bank accounts.
May 30, 2012... Pakistan's tax authority has seized the bank accounts of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to recover an outstanding amount of PKR 3.6 billion. Similarly, the Federal Board of Revenue, as it attempts to reach the revised collection...

Australia - Telstra switches on 1000th LTE site.
May 30, 2012... Telstra has switched on its 1000th LTE site in Mackay, Queensland. The milestone was reached one year to the day that the company announced that the first 4G LTE base stations had been switched on. Telstra's LTE network is available in over 100...

South Korea - FTC slaps mobile game makers with fine over refund issue.
May 30, 2012... The Korean Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has fined sixteen mobile game makers for refusing refunds. The watchdog imposed combined fines of KRW 64 million as well as other punitive measures, the Korea Herald writes. The FTC found that the mobile...

China - China's mobile internet market hits CNY 30.6 bln.
May 30, 2012... China's mobile internet market grew 21 percent year-on-year to CNY 30.6 billion in the first quarter. The number of mobile internet users went up 5.1 percent to 450 million, the Shanghai Daily writes citing an Analysys International report. The...

Thailand - DTAC offers birthday minutes.
May 30, 2012... Thai mobile operator DTAC has launched a promotion for its Happy brand customers to celebrate its ninth birthday. The company is offering 99 bonus call minutes to customers on their birth date every month between 1 June and 31 August.

Japan - Softbank to launch phone with radiation measuring capability.
May 30, 2012... The mobile unit of Japanese operator Softbank will sell smartphones that can detect radiation. Softbank Mobile will sell smartphones made by Sharp that can measure radiation and will show the level of radiation on the display, the Nikkei...

Japan - Softbank scraps bond issue plans.
May 30, 2012... Japanese communications firm Softbank has scrapped plans to issue three types of domestic straight bonds. Principal underwriter Nomura Securities said that the operator believed the timing is not right for the bond issue, the Nikkei writes....

Japan - Cuts at Panasonic's comms units could hit 1,000.
May 30, 2012... Panasonic's planned job cuts could include 1,000 cuts at its systems and communications divisions. The company already announced plans to phase out domestic production of mobile handsets, shifting manufacturing overseas. The job cuts would come...