Telecompaper Africa/Asia articles from November 2011, page 7

Telecompaper Africa/Asia archives from November 2011

Indonesia - Indonesia to issue mobile content rules in 2012.
November 16, 2011... Indonesian ICT minister Tifatul Sembiring plans to issue new regulation for mobile content early next year following complaints by consumers of credit loss due to mobile content services, the Jakarta Post writes. "[The policy] will be in the...

Fiji - Telecom Fiji launches EasyTel offer.
November 16, 2011... Telecom Fiji has launched an EasyTel CDMA 2000 service promotion. For FJD 39, customers get a cordless phone on a tariff plan without line rental. The offer includes FJD 20 talk time and charges FJD 0.12 per unit for calls to other Telecom Fiji...

Asia - S i2i moves to net loss in Q2.
November 16, 2011... Asian provider of mobility solutions, voice, data and computing services S i2i (formerly Spice i2i) moved to a net loss in the second quarter. Revenues jumped 307 percent to USD 267.54 million from USD 65.75 million a year earlier, primarily due...

South Korea - Samsung won't seek injunction against iPhone in Korea.
November 16, 2011... Samsung Electronics will not seek an injunction against the sale of the Apple iPhone 4S in South Korea, the Chosun Ilbo writes. The new iPhone was launched in the country on 11 November and Samsung had been considering whether to apply for an...

Kenya - Safaricom fibre tender attracts foreign, local firms.
November 16, 2011... Kenyan operator Safaricom's inland fibre tender has attracted interest from both foreign and local firms. The contract is to build a national fibre-optic network and is worth an estimated KES 4.8 billion, the Business Daily reported. The tender...

India - RCom confirms network talks with RIL.
November 16, 2011... India's Reliance Communications (RCom) has confirmed talks to lease out its telecommunication infrastructure to Reliance Industries (RIL) which plans to offer wireless broadband services in the country from mid-2012, reports The Economic Times....

UAE - Alawadi appointed as acting CFO for Etisalat UAE.
November 16, 2011... Etisalat announced the appointment of Ahmed Alawadi as acting CFO for Etisalat UAE. Alawadi holds a Masters in Finance from the American University in Dubai and has over 12 years' of experience in the fields of finance and accounting as well as...

India - BSNL, Bharat Berry launch push-mail services across India.
November 16, 2011... Indian state-owned operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) has collaborated with Bharat Berry Technologies to provide push e-mail services to mobile subscribers across in India, reports The Economic Times. Launched earlier in Delhi and Mumbai,...

Middle East - Yahsat appoints Al Hosani as CEO.
November 16, 2011... Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat) has named Tareq Abdul Raheem Al Hosani as its CEO. Prior to his promotion to CEO he was employed as Yahsat's executive director for corporate strategy and business development. He takes over from...

Middle East - Tata, Nawras bring TGN-Gulf cable system on stream.
November 16, 2011... Tata Communications and Oman's Nawras have announced the launch of the Oman to India TGN-Gulf undersea cable. It will be used to route voice and data traffic instantaneously from Oman to Mumbai and onwards to the rest of the world, via the Tata...

South Africa - Neotel to launch new residential offerings in January.
November 16, 2011... South African fixed line operator Neotel will continue to focus on consumer offerings, MyBroadband reported. CEO Sunil Joshi said that consumers can expect new data packages and new devices by the end of January 2012. He gave no details, but did...

India - UTV Indiagames supplies GoD to MBlaze customers.
November 16, 2011... Indian gaming company UTV Indiagames has signed an agreement with mobile operator MTS India to offer its Games on Demand (GoD) service to MBlaze customers. GoD is an online gaming subscription service provided via wireless broadband. With this...

India - UCWeb launches Android browser in India.
November 16, 2011... UCWeb has launched its Android mobile web browser in India. The UCWEB 8.0 version comes with improved performance in speed, intelligence, safety, low energy consumption and expandability. UCWEB 8.0 has an average speed over 50 percent higher...

Asia - Verizon launches VoIP service in Asia-Pacific region.
November 16, 2011... Verizon has expanded its VoIP service within the Asia-Pacific region, enabling multinational companies in commercial hubs across the region to take utility of a range of the UC and collaboration applications. By using Verizon's global IP network...

Malaysia - Digi CyberSafe Programme launched in Malaysia.
November 16, 2011... The Malaysian Ministry of Education, Digi Telecommunications, CyberSecurity Malaysia, and Childline Malaysia have launched the Digi CyberSafe Programme, a nationwide outreach campaign aimed at raising the awareness of child safety on the...

South Africa - Web Africa unveils residential uncapped ADSL service.
November 16, 2011... South African ISP Web Africa has launched an uncapped ADSL service aimed at residential broadband customers, MyBroadband reported. Services range from ZAR 179 per month for 384 Kbps to ZAR 1,699 for 10 Mbps. Like all other ISPs, Web Africa's...

Pakistan - Wateen to provide Ku-band satellite bandwidth to Spacecom.
November 16, 2011... Pakistani Wimax operator Wateen Telecom has signed a three-year multi-million dollar agreement with satellite and telecommunication services provider Spacecom International. Under the terms of the USD 11.3 million multi-transponder agreement,...

Swaziland - Swazi private sector welcomes SPTC mobile ops plan.
November 16, 2011... The private sector has welcomed Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini's statement that the government supports Swaziland Post and Telecommunications Corporation (SPTC) in having its own mobile company, the Times of Swaziland reported. Dlamini said to...

Israel - Cellcom Israel Q3 revenue down to USD 449 mln.
November 16, 2011... Cellcom Israel said total revenue for the third quarter declined by 3.7 percent to USD 449 million year on year from USD 466 million. This was mainly because of a significant decrease in interconnect fees from local operators, which were reduced...

India - Comviva launches WebAxn self-care application.
November 16, 2011... Comviva said it has launched a single-click self-care application called WebAxn. Customers can check their balances, monitor mobile usage, manage subscriptions to VAS and access support information related to their subscriptions from their...

South Korea - SK to speed up LTE roll-out.
November 16, 2011... Korea's SK Telecom is speeding up the expansion of its LTE network, with plans to launch the service in 84 cities by April 2012, eight months earlier than originally planned. Limited services were launched earlier this year in a few big cities,...

Kenya - Safaricom supports Nairobi National Park preservation scheme.
November 16, 2011... Safaricom Foundation said it has partnered with the Nairobi Green Line Trust to support its efforts to preserve the Nairobi National Park from further encroachment and environmental degradation caused by urbanisation. The Foundation's chairman...

Qatar - Qtel to switch to e-billing.
November 16, 2011... Qtel has urged all its customers to sign up for electronic billing before 30 November when it will move all clients to paperless options in order to avoid waste, the company said. Paper bills will still be available after 30 November, but...

Qatar - Vodafone Qatar extends local calling offer.
November 16, 2011... Vodafone Qatar said that its local calling offer has been extended until 30 November in response to public demand. Under the offer, customers pay for the first three minutes of a domestic call then get the next 30 minutes free. This offer...

Mauritius - MTML launches low-cost subscription plan.
November 16, 2011... Indian-owned mobile operator Mahanagar Telephone Mauritius (MTML) has launched a new subscription called 'Chili' offering the country's lowest call and SMS rates, L'Express reports. Customers will pay MUR 0.50 to send an SMS to any operator, at...

Mauritius - MTML launches low-cost Chili subscription plan.
November 15, 2011... Indian-owned mobile operator Mahanagar Telephone Mauritius (MTML) has launched a new subscription called 'Chili' offering the country's lowest call and SMS rates, L'Express reports. Customers will pay MUR 0.50 to send an SMS to any operator, at...

Australia - NBN Co selects Corning to supply optical fibre cable.
November 15, 2011... Glass and ceramics specialist Corning Cable Systems has been selected as a primary supplier of optical fibre cable and hardware to the NBN Co for the Australian government's NBN initiative to bring enhanced broadband services to the residential...

Kenya - Bharti Airtel faces opposition over govt land deal.
November 15, 2011... Bharti Airtel's plans to build its African headquarters in Nairobi have run into strong bureaucratic hurdles. According to Business Daily, work on the project stalled after two key government agencies questioned Airtel's acquisition of prime...

Kenya - Kenyan High Court stops CCK from switching off broadcasters.
November 15, 2011... The Kenyan High Court has issued a temporary order stopping the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) from switching off broadcasters who have not renewed their licences by the 15 November deadline, The Standard reported online. Justice Isaac...

Angola - Angola opens first data centre.
November 15, 2011... Angola's ICT minister, Jose Carvalho da Rocha, has visited the country's first data centre, Angola Press reports. Financed by South Korea, the USD 30 million data centre built in a 5,000 sq mt zone will be used to process and store government...

South Africa - Vox Telecom delists shares.
November 15, 2011... South Africa's Vox Telecom will delist from the AltX exchange on 15 November, following completion of the buy-out offer by the Investec-Lereko consortium. CEO Douglas Reed said the delisting will enable Vox Telecom to concentrate on nothing but...

Algeria - Nedjma offers second number on same Sim card.
November 15, 2011... Mobile operator Wataniya Telecom Algeria (Nedjma) has launched a service called 'Nedjma Thani' that enables customers to add a second number to their Sim card to receive incoming calls and thereby keep their main number private. Customers can...

Africa - IFC, Intel Capital to join for technological innovation.
November 15, 2011... International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group and Intel Capital will coordinate their technology equity-finance programmes to accelerate innovation and nurture entrepreneurship in developing countries across the...

South Africa - Wipro Technologies to expand in South Africa.
November 15, 2011... Wipro Technologies announced its growth plans for the African region and said it plans to set up a strategic delivery centre in South Africa and create opportunities in the region for around 1,000 skilled professionals in the next three years....

Asia - Intel Capital invests USD 40 mln in ten Asian firms.
November 15, 2011... Intel Capital has invested USD 40 million in ten Asian companies, reflecting the spread of technology innovation across Asia. The investments include eight investments in companies from Makepolo.com and Miartech (Shanghai), China, Happiest Minds...

UAE - Al Ansari Exchange partners with TransferTo.
November 15, 2011... UAE-based remittances provider Al Ansari Exchange has launched Cross-border Mobile Top-up, an over-the-counter airtime transfer service. The new offering, which is being launched in partnership with TransferTo, will allow members of the UAE...

South Africa - HTC Evo 3D launches in South Africa.
November 15, 2011... The HTC Evo 3D Android smartphone has launched in South Africa. The device not only has a screen capable of displaying 3D graphics without the need for glasses, but also has two 5 megapixel cameras that allows the user to capture 3D images and...

Israel - Golan Telecom picks Nokia Siemens for network roll-out.
November 15, 2011... Israeli operator Golan Telecom has chosen Nokia Siemens Networks to set up its mobile telephony network in Israel. Nokia Siemens is the exclusive vendor to French mobile carrier Free, which is a partner in Golan Telecom and is currently setting...

China - FRITT licenses Spirit's HD voice, videoconferencing product.
November 15, 2011... China-based developer of emergency communications services First Research Institute of Telecommunications (FRITT) has licensed Spirit DSP's TeamSpirit Conferencing product. The product comprises Spirit's cross-platform, wideband (HD) voice and...

Azerbaijan - Aztelecom upgrades access node in Masally.
November 15, 2011... Azerbaijan national operator Aztelecom is carrying out work to upgrade its telecommunications access node in Masally. The project is due to be completed by the end of December, reports Trend. The access node will be based on a NGN using Huawei...

India - S Tel CEO joins RCom as wireless COO.
November 15, 2011... Indian operator Reliance Communications named Shamik Das, CEO of S Tel, as its new joint president and chief operating officer of the RCom wireless business. As a member in the leadership team, Das will also be a member of the wireless...

China - Huawei buys out Symantec venture for USD 530 mln.
November 15, 2011... Huawei has agreed to buy Symantec's 49 percent stake in their joint venture Huawei Symantec for USD 530 million. This will give Huawei 100 percent of the company. Based in Hong Kong and set up in 2008, Huawei Symantec provides security, storage...

Australia - NBN awards equipment contracts to six Australian companies.
November 15, 2011... The Australian government company that is rolling out the National Broadband Network, NBN Co has awarded contracts worth up to USD 635 million over the next five years to six companies operating in Australia to provide an array of equipment for...

New Zealand - Gen-i wins telecom contract from C&C DHB.
November 15, 2011... Telecom New Zealand's ICT unit Gen-i has won a four year contract from the Capital & Coast District Health Board (C&C DHB), New Zealand to deliver telecommunications services. The deal, following a tender, includes the provision of...

Israel - Mirs to buy domestic roaming services from Pelephone.
November 15, 2011... Israeli mobile operator Pelephone Communications has signed a MoU with mobile operator Mirs Communications. Under the agreement, Mirs will purchase from Pelephone domestic roaming services on Pelephone's HSPA network, and the parties will...

China - GrenTech receives buy-out offer from CEO.
November 15, 2011... RF technology and mobile components developer China GrenTech's board of directors has received a proposal letter from its chairman and chief executive officer, Yingjie Gao, to acquire all of the outstanding shares of GrenTech not currently owned...

China - VelaTel inks agreement with Aerostrong to offer WBA.
November 15, 2011... US-based VelaTel Global Communications has signed an agreement with Aerostrong. Aerostrong is a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Group (CASC), a state-owned company in China. Under the agreement, VelaTel, through a PRC...

Pakistan - PTCL to offer broadband services in Sukkhur region.
November 15, 2011... Pakistan Telecommunications Company (PTCL) has won a Universal Service Fund (USF) project for installation and provision of broadband services in the whole of Sukkhur region in Sindh Province, Pakistan. Through an open bidding process, PTCL has...

Philippines - JG Summit reduces stake in PLDT.
November 15, 2011... JG Summit Holdings has reduced its shareholding in Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT), in line with the latter's acquisition of Digitel. JG Summit sold 5.81 million PLDT shares to Metro Pacific Resources for PHP 14.53 billion. As payment...

Pakistan - Mobilink rated best in survey.
November 15, 2011... Pakistani mobile operator Mobilink is the best rated operator in a survey organised by the Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA). Mobilink is followed by Warid in second place and Telenor in third place. Zong came fourth while Ufone was last, the...

Indonesia - Telkomsel union halts strike.
November 15, 2011... The union of Indonesian mobile operator Telkomsel, Sepakat, has ended its strike for an indefinite period. The move was made to ensure the operator would be able to provide quality services during the ASEAN summit and SEA Games. Some 1,000...

Thailand - CAT, True ready to discuss 3G contract amendments.
November 15, 2011... Thai communications firms CAT Telecom and True are set to discuss amending their 3G contracts to bring them in line with the regulator's anti-monopoly regulations. State-owned communications firm CAT Telecom has asked the NBTC to extend the...

Singapore - SingTel Innov8 takes 22% stake in IGA.
November 15, 2011... SingTel's corporate venture capital arm SingTel Innov8 has subscribed for 4.57 million shares in IGA for USD 0.35 per share or an aggregate consideration of USD 1.6 million. IGA is a game advertising platform and as a result of the transaction,...

Singapore - IDA slaps M1 with fine for service disruption.
November 15, 2011... The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) has imposed a financial penalty on mobile operator M1 for breaching the Service Resiliency Code. The move follows IDA's investigation into the disruption of M1's mobile services on 18 May...

Cambodia - Vimpelcom widens EBITDA loss in South-East Asia.
November 15, 2011... Vimpelcom reported South-East Asia net operating revenues of USD 17.4 million in the third quarter, up from USD 5 million in the year-ago period. The company widened its EBITDA loss for the quarter to USD 15.2 million versus an EBITDA loss of...

Tajikistan - Beeline Tajikistan grows EBITDA to USD 14 mln.
November 15, 2011... Beeline Tajikistan grew its third quarter net operating revenues to USD 29 million from USD 22 million a year earlier. EBITDA jumped to USD 14 million from USD 8 million and the EBITDA margin rose to 47.3 percent from 37.4 percent in Q3 2010....

Armenia - Beeline Armenia ends Q3 with 761,000 mobile subs.
November 15, 2011... Beeline Armenia ended the third quarter with 761,000 mobile subscribers, up from 733,000 in the previous quarter and up from 581,000 in the year-ago quarter. The number of fixed-line broadband subscribers rose to 115,000 from 100,000 in Q2 and...

Uzbekistan - Beeline Uzbekistan grows Q3 EBITDA to USD 35 mln.
November 15, 2011... Beeline Uzbekistan saw its third quarter EBITDA jump to USD 35 million from USD 22 million a year earlier. EBITDA margin stood at 47.3 percent, up from 40.7 percent in Q3 2010. Net operating revenues totalled USD 73 million versus USD 54 million...

Kazakhstan - Beeline Kazakhstan sees Q3 revenues rise.
November 15, 2011... Beeline Kazakhstan posted net operating revenues of USD 223 million for the third quarter, compared with USD 197 million a year earlier. Mobile revenues were USD 212 million versus USD 193 million in the year-ago period and fixed-line revenues...

Afghanistan - Afghan mobile operators see increased tower attacks.
November 15, 2011... Mobile networks in Afghanistan have become a key battleground in the war on the Taliban. The insurgents demand that operators shut their networks down at night as the majority of anti-insurgent tip-offs from civilians are made at night....

Pakistan - PTA revises spam rules.
November 15, 2011... The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has revised the rules to curb SMS spam and unsolicited calls. The new draft rules include the establishment and expansion of grey lists and black lists of known 'spammers' as well as some other...

Australia - NextDC moves ahead with Sydney data centre.
November 15, 2011... New Australian data centre player NextDC has received formal development consent from the City of Ryde to construct its energy efficient data centre facility in Sydney named "S1".

Australia - NSN takes VHA to court over performance bond withdrawal.
November 15, 2011... Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has taken Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) to court of the withdrawal of a performance bond. VHA terminated its contract to manage core network operations with NSN in April last year. After experiencing network...

Thailand - Jasmine saw revenues and profits slip in Q3.
November 15, 2011... Thai telecommunications group Jasmine International saw its revenues and profits slip in the third quarter on forex losses. Revenues dipped 14.2 percent to THB 2.37 billion from THB 2.76 billion in the year-ago quarter. About 70 percent of...

Bangladesh - Robi launches SMS, MMS promotion.
November 15, 2011... Bangladeshi mobile operator Robi has launched prepaid SMS and MMS bundles. Customers can buy an SMS bundle with 100 on-net messages for BDT 5 and an MMS bundle with 10 off-net MMS also for BDT 5. Both bundles are valid for one day and are...

Fiji - USP selects Fintel for capacity upgrade.
November 15, 2011... The University of the South Pacific (USP) has selected Fiji International Telecommunications (Fintel) to upgrade its internet service from STM1 (155 Mbps) to STM4 (622 Mbps). Under the agreement, Fintel will provide the university with Southern...

Philippines - Smart, Globe reduce SMS interconnection fee.
November 15, 2011... Philippine communications firms Smart Communications and Globe Telecom have agreed to reduce the SMS interconnection charges by PHP 0.20, in line with the regulator's recent decision to lower the SMS interconnection charges. Smart and Globe have...

Nepal - NTA board selection committee challenged in court.
November 15, 2011... The government's decision to include a Nepal Telecom manager in the committee that will select board members for the Nepal Telecom Authority (NTA) has been challenged in the Supreme Court. Narayan Devkota filed a case against this decision,...

China - SinHub's Q3 sales fall 7.3%.
November 15, 2011... Chinese electronics manufacturing and supply chain management company SinoHub saw its sales and profits drop in the third quarter. Net sales dropped 7.3 percent to USD 52 million from USD 55.8 million a year earlier. Gross profit was USD 6.3...

Thailand - Samart grows Q3 profits on TOT's 3G project.
November 15, 2011... Thai telecommunications equipment and services group Samart posted a net profit of THB 259.17 million in the third quarter, up 36 percent from THB 190.54 million in the year-ago period. Revenues were THB 6.24 billion, up 66 percent from THB 3.75...

New Zealand - InternetNZ opens funding round for Christchurch projects.
November 15, 2011... New Zealand internet advocacy group InternetNZ has launched a new one-off funding round for initiatives aimed at the Canterbury region rebuild. A total of NZD 435,000 is available. Preference will be given to projects from Christchurch and those...

Azerbaijan - Aztelekom to expand regional wideband internet.
November 15, 2011... Azerbaijani state-owned operator Aztelekom, together with UNO's Development Programme (UNDP) plans to boost wideband internet penetration in regional areas. Aztelekom general director Mahammad Mammadov said the company plans to purchase...

Uzbekistan - Ucell cuts social networks daily rate, extends Hajj promo.
November 15, 2011... Uzbekistan mobile operator Ucell has reduced the activation rate for its service offering unlimited access to social networks. The service enables access to selected Russian social networks or Facebook for USD 0.10 per day. The operator has also...

Kazakhstan - Tele2 Kazakhstan to offer minimum 5GB in mobile data packs.
November 15, 2011... Mobile operator Tele2 Kazakhstan plans to stop sales of mobile internet packages with 50, 100, 250, 1,024 and 3,072MB traffic from 24 November. Purchased and unused packages should be used within a month. The operator has launched sales of 5GB...

South Africa - MWeb starts open peering in Durban.
November 15, 2011... South Africa ISP MWeb announced the establishment of a MWeb point of presence at the Teraco Data Centre in Durban. MWeb has invited other ISPs to peer at the data centre on a settlement-free basis (open peering). MWeb CEO Rudi Jansen said the...

North Korea - Koryolink grows to 809,000 customers.
November 15, 2011... North Korea's only mobile operator Koryolink finished September with 809,000 customers, up from 666,500 three months earlier. At the end of Q3, Koryolink's network consisted of 453 on-air base stations, covering 14 percent of the territory and...

Bangladesh - Banglalink nearly doubles EBITDA in Q3.
November 15, 2011... Bangladesh mobile operator Banglalink saw its third-quarter EBITDA jump 98.2 percent to BDT 3.2 billion (USD 43.2 million), while sales rose 14.4 percent to BDT 9.6 billion. After holding off on customer acquisitions in the first half of the...

South Africa - Nashua Mobile launches unshaped, uncapped ADSL.
November 15, 2011... South Africa's Nashua Mobile has launched unshaped, uncapped ADSL plans. Customers can choose from speeds of 384, 1024 and 4096 Kbps, and the plans allow two simultaneous connections. If used concurrently, the Peak Information Rate (PIR) will be...

UAE - Orange leads Uganda mobile QoS survey.
November 15, 2011... Uganda's regulator said that mobile service providers have failed to meet its benchmarks on blocked calls and dropped calls. The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) said a survey it carried out between 30 May and 2 September in eight of...

Ghana - Vodafone Ghana introduces 138 offer.
November 15, 2011... Vodafone Ghana introduced the '138' tariff plan, allowing customers to make calls for as low as GHS 0.01 per minute on-net between 21:00hrs and 23:00hrs and between 05:00hrs and 07:00hrs every day. The '138' offer also gives customers GHS 0.03...

UAE - TRA sponsors scholarships at Sharjah University.
November 15, 2011... The UAE's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has signed up to support the Betha Program with Sharjah University. Under the agreement, the TRA through its ICT Fund will sponsor 56 students to continue their academic career at Sharjah...

Pakistan - Mobilink customer growth slows in Q3.
November 15, 2011... Pakistan mobile operator Mobilink saw a substantial slowdown in customer growth in Q3, as the company struggled with the difficult market conditions. In addition to tough competition, flooding and power shortages impacted operations, it said....

Algeria - Djezzy adds 325,000 subscribers, revenues up 6% in Q3.
November 15, 2011... Algerian mobile operator Djezzy gained 325,000 new subscribers in the third quarter, to finish September with a total 16.289 million. While the company continued to struggle under forex restrictions imposed on it by the central bank last year,...

Kyrgyzstan - Katel expands top-up network.
November 15, 2011... Kyrgyzstan mobile operator Katel has expanded its network of top-up points. Customers can now top up their balances without commission fees in all post offices in Bishek, as well as in retail outlets of the operator in Bishkek and Osh.