Telecompaper Africa/Asia articles from October 2011, page 4

Telecompaper Africa/Asia archives from October 2011

China - M-payment users to hit 220 mln in China - study.
October 25, 2011... The number of users of mobile payments services in China is forecast to hit 22 million at the end of this year. Trade volume is expected to reach 5.24 billion, up 78.8 percent, according to research by Analysys International. In 2013, trade...

Australia - Brisbane rolls out free Wi-Fi in parks.
October 25, 2011... The Australian state capital of Brisbane will add twenty free Wi-Fi hostpots in parks before mid next year. Work on the roll-out, which is estimated to cost AUD 2 million, is expected to begin next month and will be completed by June 2012, the...

Malaysia - YTL expands Yes sales network to east coast.
October 25, 2011... Malaysian Wimax operator YTL Communications, which uses the Yes brand, has expanded its sales network to Malaysia's east coast to meet growing demand for mobile internet services in the region. The Yes sales network comprising over 37 authorised...

Philippines - PLDT confirms intention to keep Sun's unlimited offering.
October 25, 2011... Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) has confirmed its intention to keep the Sun Cellular brand separate if it is allowed to buy a majority stake in Digitel, which operates the brand. The company also confirmed its intention to continue to...

Indonesia - Telkomsel to expand mobile broadband in 60 regions.
October 25, 2011... Indonesian mobile operator Telkomsel plans to roll out mobile broadband in sixty regions across the country in 2012. This year the company rolled out mobile broadband services in forty big cities and Telkomsel plans to bring this number to 100...

Nepal - Nepal Telecom, Ncell seek compensation from illegal VoIP.
October 25, 2011... Nepal telecommunications firms Nepal Telecom and Ncell have filed cases against three ISPs that have offered illegal VoIP to their customers to bypass international calls services. The two companies are seeking compensation for the loss of...

Egypt - Mobinil launches new family of tariff plans.
October 25, 2011... Egyptian mobile operator Mobinil has launched new tariff plans, namely Star Control, Star Etkalem, Star Smartphone, Star Online, and Star Global, which are designed to satisfy its customers' various communication needs. With Star Control,...

Iran - Iran earns USD 6.6 bln from MTN Irancell.
October 25, 2011... The Iranian government has earned close to IRR 66 trillion (USD 6.6 billion) directly and indirectly from services provided by the second mobile operator MTN Irancell in the past six years, Iran Daily reported. Irancell MD Alireza Qalambar...

Israel - Hezbollah faces block on private telecom network.
October 25, 2011... Local authorities in Lebanon have moved to block the installation of private telecommunications network in Metn town by Hezbollah, the Daily Star writes. Residents and representatives of the municipality of Metn have thwarted alleged attempts by...

Bahrain - Zain Bahrain named telecom sponsor for WMF.
October 25, 2011... The Bahrain Polytechnic announced the signing of Zain Bahrain as the official telecommunications sponsor for the upcoming 1st Bahrain Waste Management Forum and Exhibition 2011. The mobile operator said responsible environmental management is...

Kazakhstan - Kazakhtelecom reports KZT 40 bln in 9-mth net profit.
October 25, 2011... Kazakhstan's national operator Kazakhtelecom reported revenues of KZT 125.938 billion for the first nine months of 2011. EBITDA reached KZT 52.643 billion, and the operator generated KZT 39.918 billion in net profit for the nine months. Its...

Armenia - Armentel offers fixed IP address for Hi-Line subs.
October 25, 2011... Armentel, working under the Beeline Armenia brand, is offering a permanent IP address service for household and corporate services of its fixed broadband services under the Hi-Line sub-brand. The monthly subscription costs MD 500. The service is...

Egypt - Vodafone Egypt starts ADSL promotion.
October 25, 2011... Vodafone Egypt announced a promotion on its ADSL Express services. Customers who sign up a friend for the service will save 50 percent on a subscription for one year. For the basic 512Kbps service that means the customer and his friend each pay...

India - India to charge telemarketers for sending bulk SMS.
October 25, 2011... The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will impose a charge to deter tele-marketers from delivering bulk text messages in defiance of a three-week-old ban on unsolicited calls and text messages, reports The Economic Times. Trai will...

Kazakhstan - Altel launches Zero tariff with unlimited on-net calls.
October 25, 2011... Kazakhstan mobile operator Altel launched the new Zero tariff offering unlimited on-net calls for subscribers of its Pathword network. Free calls on the network are offered for KZT 1,000 per month. Customers must also agree to receive SMS...

Indonesia - Axis offers internet access at IDR 2 per kb.
October 25, 2011... Indonesian mobile operator Axis has launched internet services for its users at a cost of IDR 2 per kb, all day. For Axis customers in Jabodetabek, Java, Northern Sumatera, Bali and Lombok, the cost per day is capped at IDR 3,500, after which...

Kenya - Safaricom appoints Tombleson as finance director.
October 25, 2011... Kenyan mobile operator Safaricom announced the appointment of John Tombleson as finance director. Tombleson joins Safaricom from Vodafone Qatar, where he held the position of acting CEO and CFO. He replaces Chris Tiffin, whose time at Safaricom...

Armenia - MTS drops Kornet-AM Wimax services in Armenia.
October 25, 2011... Armenian operator Kornet-AM, a subsidiary of Russian operator MTS, has stopped providing Wimax services, reports News Armenia. The operator launched Wimax services in Armenia in 2008. 3G services from the other Armenian subsidiary of MTS will be...

India - India to expand mobile coverage in Maoist zones.
October 25, 2011... India's Department of Telecommunication (DoT) will ask a minimum two operators to roll out mobile networks in nine states with a sizeable Maoist presence by early 2012, reports The Economic Times. It has also decided not to reserve any role for...

Qatar - Starlink launches latest BlackBerry Curve.
October 25, 2011... Qatar operator Starlink is selling Blackberry's latest handset, the Blackberry Curve 9360, from 24 October. The new Curve features a 2.4-inch screen, qwerty keyboard and optical trackpad and runs the new BlackBerry 7 OS. It also comes with GPS...

Jordan - Intel supports young entrepreneurs in Jordan.
October 25, 2011... Intel is working with Jordan's Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship to set up the Intel Entrepreneurship Challenge, Intel Learn Program and Intel Youth Enterprise Program. These programs are part of Intel's annual investment to improve...

India - Augere picks Ericsson for TD-LTE launch in India.
October 25, 2011... Ericsson announced a contracto provide equipment for the launch of TD-LTE services by Augere in India. Augere, will use Ericsson's RBS6000 base station to launch services in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh under the Zoosh brand. The contract...

UAE - RIM launches BlackBerry Curve 9360 smartphone in UAE.
October 25, 2011... Research In Motion (RIM) announced the launch of the BlackBerry Curve 9360 in the UAE from authorized partners. Running the new BlackBerry 7 operating system, the phone is aimed at social network users. It comes with GPS, NFC and Wi-Fi support,...

Oman - Nawras postpaid customers to use top-up vouchers for payment.
October 25, 2011... Oman's operator Nawras has introduced a service for postpaid customers to use a prepaid recharge card or electronic recharge option to settle their account. The new method of payment is designed to further improve the customer experience,...

Bahrain - Viva Bahrain to offer Google SMS service.
October 25, 2011... Viva Bahrain has entered into a partnership with Google to offer customers the Gtalk SMS service. This enables users to send SMS messages through their Gmail accounts to any Viva number, as well as reply to the message from mobile handsets....

Swaziland - MTN Swaziland, govt in talks over shares.
October 25, 2011... The Swaziland government has appointed a team to negotiate with MTN Swaziland about its shareholding structure and competition with Swaziland Posts and Telecommunications Corporation. According to the Times newspaper, this will include talks on...

Zambia - ZICTA issues warning over 'hazardous' mobile phones.
October 25, 2011... The Zambia Information Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) has warned traders against flooding the local market with cheap imported counterfeit mobile phones which are hazardous to consumers. ZICTA Director General Margaret Mudenda said...

Ghana - MTN Ghana to compensate Blackberry users.
October 25, 2011... MTN Ghana announced it is offering compensation to its Blackberry users for the global interruption of Blackberry services. The compensation comprises a four-day fee waiver. Even though the BlackBerry disruption was caused by an incident outside...

India - Etisalat denies link to India licence scandal.
October 25, 2011... UAE-based operator Etisalat has denied any culpability in the ongoing Indian 2G spectrum scandal, Gulf News reports. Etisalat said in a statement to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange that the scandal now under investigation by authorities...

Qatar - Qtel, Amiri Guard sign pact for IT expertise.
October 25, 2011... Qtel and Qatar's Amiri Guard have signed an agreement to provide communication technology for the Amiri Guard, Gulf News reported. Under the terms of the agreement, Qtel will work with the Amiri Guard to provide infrastructure and expertise to...

UAE - Etisalat starts Global Business Plan promotion.
October 25, 2011... UAE operator Etisalat announced the launch of Global Business Plan, a promotion offering savings for businesses on international calling rates. The landline promotion, valid for three months, will enable businesses to make international calls to...

Japan - NTT Data to open business centre in Ishinomaki.
October 25, 2011... Japanese ICT firm NTT Data will open a business centre in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, with plans to employ about 100 people in two to three years, reports the Nikkei. The centre is slated to open in January and begin full-scale operations...

Nigeria - MTN Nigeria sets up app developers forum.
October 25, 2011... MTN Nigeria has introduced a forum where local apps developers can meet and share ideas about how to move the apps sector forward. The operator's CMO Bola Akingabde said the operator was keen on becoming a frontline player in the application...

Rwanda - Rwanda targets 60% mobile penetration in 2012.
October 25, 2011... The Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) targets an increase in mobile penetration to 60 percent by the end of 2012. Rwanda's mobile penetration rate dropped to 34.4 percent in April this year after the regulator revoked Rwandatel's GSM...

Bahrain - Batelco to organize Startup Weekend.
October 25, 2011... Bahrain operator Batelco is organising in cooperation with Tenmou a Startup Weekend in Bahrain to encourage young aspiring entrepreneurs and assist them on the road to establishing successful ICT and e-business enterprises. Startup Weekend...

UAE - Etisalat provides Imdaad workforce management system.
October 25, 2011... Etisalat announced its first strategic partnership with Imdaad, a provider of integrated facilities management services in the UAE, to deploy a Work Manager Solution in partnership with Syclo. The Mobile Workforce Management Solution will enable...

Liberia - LTA warns against phone-tapping.
October 25, 2011... The Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) has denied claims of service providers tapping consumer lines to monitor their conversations. The stories appeared in the local media. In a statement, the industry regulator noted that it was not...

Madagascar - Telma to bring fibre to Madagascar universities.
October 24, 2011... Madagascar's national operator, Telma, is working with the government department for communications infrastructure Icom to equip the country's six large universities with fibre by the end of the year, L'Express de Madagascar reports. Icom...

Ghana - Ghana telecom subscriber base hits 20.2 mln.
October 24, 2011... The number of telecom subscriptions in Ghana reached 20.19 million at the end of August, representing 81.7 percent of Ghana's population. According to figures released by the National Communications Authority (NCA), the fixed-line base reached...

Tajikistan - Tcell cuts rates for SMS bundles.
October 24, 2011... Tajikistan mobile operator Tcell reported that it has reduced rates for SMS bundles. The bundle including 100 SMS costs USD 1.80, 200 SMS are offered for USD 3, and 300 SMS cost USD 3.6. The bundles can be purchased using the USSD menu.

Sierra Leone - Airtel Sierra Leone launches new promotions.
October 24, 2011... Airtel Sierra Leone is running a series of promotions for international callers. Both postpaid and prepaid users can now call landlines in the US or Canada for 30 units and fixed lines in the UK or 25 units per minute every weekend. Also as...

Zimbabwe - Telecel appeal over chair charges rejected.
October 24, 2011... The Zimbabwe High Court has dismissed a review application in which Telecel Zimbabwe challenged Attorney General Johannes Tomana's decision to decline prosecuting company chairperson Jane Mutasa on fraud charges. Mutasa was arrested in 2009 with...

Armenia - Orange Armenia unveils new monthly subscriptions.
October 24, 2011... Orange Armenia launched new postpaid tariff plans which are named Dolphin, Panther and Butterfly. Each of these offers responds to a particular customer need. Orange Dolphin tariff plans are designed for those who are making lots of calls, while...

South Africa - Vodacom hands DStv Select to MultiChoice.
October 24, 2011... MultiChoice announced it will take over the running of the DStv Select bouquets, which was previously administered by Vodacom. Vodacom's head of digital media, Prins Mhlanga, also confirmed that the network operator will no longer run the DStv...

Jordan - Orange Jordan, Ericsson to expand 3G services.
October 24, 2011... Orange Jordan announced the signing of an agreement with Ericsson to expand Orange's HSPA+ network. The HSPA+ expansion contract follows Ericsson's deployment of Jordan's first 3G network with Orange in October 2009. With this new agreement,...

Bahrain - Viva Bahrain adds Indian content on Wap portal.
October 24, 2011... Viva Bahrain announced that its Wap portal, VIVALand, has been expanded to include Malayalam, Bengali and Bollywood content including ringtones, polytones, movie clips, wallpapers, animations and full-length songs. Indian film and music fans can...

Oman - Nawras launches new payment services.
October 24, 2011... Oman operator Nawras has launched new payment services for mutual customers of Nawras and National Bank of Oman (NBO). With the launch of real time electronic recharge, all Nawras customers with NBO accounts can now recharge their accounts and...

Bahrain - Batelco, KT sign MoU to explore smart cities services.
October 24, 2011... Bahrain's operator Batelco has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Korea Telecom to explore together projects targeting smart cities services in Bahrain. Both companies will work on exploring services such as smart economy; smart...

Ghana - Vodafone Ghana inks distribution deal with Shell.
October 24, 2011... Vodafone Ghana has entered into a strategic partnership with Shell Ghana, to set up Vodafone outlets at selected Shell stations across the country. Vodafone said the operator's customers can now walk into selected Shell outlets or shops across...

Indonesia - Axis signs deal with Ericsson to build 2G, 3G sites.
October 24, 2011... Indonesian mobile operator Axis has signed an agreement with Ericsson to build 1,000 sites to expand and optimise its network, in addition to deploying HSPA offering high data speeds. Ericsson will accelerate the expansion of Axis' network with...

Singapore - M1 to launch iPhone 4S.
October 24, 2011... Singaporean communications provider M1 will offer the iPhone 4S on 28 October. iPhone 4S will be available starting at USD 505 for the 16 GB model, USD 630 for the 32 GB model and USD 770 for the 64 GB model. Customers can select from a range of...

India - COAI raises levy concerns.
October 24, 2011... The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has expressed concern over the penalties levied by the Department of Telecom (DoT) on the mobile operators. In a meeting with the communications minister Kapil Sibal, COAI argued that many of...

Thailand - AIS to offer 3G roaming on TOT network this month.
October 24, 2011... Thai mobile service provider Advanced Info Service (AIS) will launch 3G roaming on TOT's network later this month. The number of AIS subscribers that will be able to roam on TOT's 3G network will be determined by TOT's 3G network capacity, The...

Afghanistan - Afghanistan consults on satellite service.
October 24, 2011... Afghanistan's Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has begun a consultation on the planned implementation of additional satellite communications services. The government plans to solicit proposals from private industry for the...

Bangladesh - Grameenphone grows Q3 profit to BDT 5.63 bln.
October 24, 2011... Bangladeshi communications provider Grameenphone posted revenues of BDT 22.83 billion for the third quarter, up by 18% year-on-year. The growth was mainly due to steady subscription growth and contributions from data, roaming, and wholesale...

South Korea - KT to expand SMS transmission capacity.
October 24, 2011... South Korean telecommunications provider KT will expand SMS transmission capacity from 90 bytes to 140bytes from November. Following the expansion, KT customers can send a maximum of 70 Korean letters (currently 45 letters) and a maximum of 140...

China - Unicom completes CNY 8 bln commercial paper issue.
October 24, 2011... China Unicom has completed the issue of the second tranche of commercial paper for the year 2011, in the amount of CNY 8 billion. The commercial paper has a maturity period of 366 days and an interest rate of 5.78 percent per annum.

Philippines - Smart boosts HSPA+ base stations to 1,200.
October 24, 2011... Philippine mobile operator Smart Communications has brought the number of HSPA+ base stations to 1,200, up from 500 in September. "Combined with other technology platforms, HSPA+ will play a big role in achieving our goal of extending broadband...

Philippines - San Miguel buys ISM's stake in Eastern Telecom.
October 24, 2011... Philippines food and beverage manufacturing company San Miguel has bought a 37.7 percent stake in Eastern Telecommunications Philippines from ISM Communications. San Miguel bought ISM's holding for PHP 1.51 billion, the Manila Standard Today...

Bangladesh - Tax authority clarifies VAT on spectrum charges.
October 24, 2011... The Bangladeshi National Board of Revenue (NBR) has clarified the VAT issue on spectrum charges. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has been asked to ensure 15 percent VAT is deducted before operators deposit their...

Malaysia - Malaysia to boost internet hotspots in Sarawak.
October 24, 2011... The Malaysian communications regulator is planning to establish 600 internet hotspots using satellite services in Sarawak next year. Currently, there are some 205 hotspots in the state, mostly in rural areas to boost ICT use by rural residents,...

Viet Nam - Viettel opens handset plant.
October 24, 2011... Vietnamese military-run communications firm Viettel has opened a plant for the production of electronics and telecommunications worth over VND 200 billion. The plant will manufacture 5 million 3G USB dongles, 3 million mobile handsets, and...

Viet Nam - Vietnamese govt to hold majority stake in 5 telcos.
October 24, 2011... The Vietnamese government will hold a majority stake in five telecommunications firms. The prime minister recently signed a decision that will see the state hold a stake of over 50 percent in Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT),...

Malaysia - Maxis, U Mobile sign network-sharing deal.
October 24, 2011... Malaysian telecommunications firms Maxis and U Mobile have signed a network-sharing agreement. Maxis' subsidiary, Maxis Broadband, signed the network sharing and alliance agreement for 3G as well as for LTE services when spectrum becomes...

Taiwan - Coolpad establishes marketing unit in Taiwan.
October 24, 2011... China-based handset vendor Coolpad will establish a marketing joint venture in Taiwan to market its smartphones in the Taiwanese market. Taiwan Coolpad Technology is a marketing JV with Coolpad's sales agent in Taiwan, Jia Teng Technology, the...

Taiwan - Lenovo launches two 10.1-inch tablets in Taiwan.
October 24, 2011... Lenovo has introduced two 10.1-inch tablet PCs in Taiwan. Lenovo launched the ThinkPad Tablet and the IdeaPad K1, the Digitimes writes. Both tablets are powered by Nvidia dual-core Tegra processors. The ThinkPad targets the business segment and...

Viet Nam - FPT grows nine month profits by 21%.
October 24, 2011... Vietnamese ICT firm FPT posted a nine month profit of VND 1.87 billion, up 21 percent year-on-year. Revenues went up 23 percent to VND 18.72 billion.

Thailand - DTAC's Q3 profit up 0.5%.
October 24, 2011... Thai mobile operator DTAC ended the third quarter with 22.87 million subscribers after adding 136,055 new customers in the quarter, slowing down signi?cantly from last quarter due mainly to seasonality and ?ooding. Blended ARPU rose 0.9 percent...

Bangladesh - Bangladesh to issue gateway, exchange licences.
October 24, 2011... The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has invited companies to apply for a licence for International Internet Gateway services (IIG), Interconnection Exchange (ICX) services, and International Gateway (IGW) services....

India - Idea's profits slip in Q2.
October 24, 2011... Indian mobile operator Idea Cellular ended the second quarter with 100.2 million subscribers and posted revenues of INR 46.55 billion, up 26.2 percent. EBITDA grew 37 percent to INR 10.44 million from INR 7.62 billion in the year-ago quarter....

Australia - Australian govt begins price controls review.
October 24, 2011... The Australian telecommunications minister Stephen Conroy has released a discussion paper for the review of telecommunications retail price controls. Following consultation on the issues raised in the discussion paper, the review's findings will...

Azerbaijan - Azercell refused to join MMS exchange with Bakcell.
October 24, 2011... Azerbaijani mobile operator Bakcell says that rival Azercell refused to establish interconnection for MMS messaging. The company recently established an MMS exchange service with Azerfon-Vodafone and Nar Mobile but said that Azercell refused to...

Viet Nam - FPT to absorb telecom unit.
October 24, 2011... Vietnamese ICT firm FPT is planning to absorb its telecommunications unit, FPT Telecom, under its 'One FPT' model. FPT has already absorbed three of its units, including FPT Information System, FPT Software, and FPT Trading, Viet Nam News writes...

Viet Nam - EVN Telecom may be merged with another operator - report.
October 24, 2011... The Vietnamese ICT deputy minister Le Nam Thang has urged Viet Nam Electricity (EVN) to merge its telecom unit, EVN Telecom, with another state-owned network operator. EVEN Telecom reportedly has suffered considerable losses and racked up debt...

Georgia - Geocell starts Mobilari top-up bonus promotion.
October 24, 2011... Georgian mobile operator Geocell, in partnership with Mobipay, has launched a top-up promotion dubbed 'Mobilari'. As part of the campaign, customers who recharge their Geocell mobile account by GEL 5 or more via Mobipay will receive a bonus of...

India - Vodafone Essar fined INR 25,000 for nuisance calls.
October 24, 2011... Vodafone Essar has been told to pay INR 25,000 to a doctor who had subscribed to the Do Not Call (DNC) facility but still kept getting calls from various companies, the Times of India reported. Mumbai Suburban District Consumer Disputes...

Taiwan - Chunghwa selects BMC to provide cloud service.
October 24, 2011... Taiwanese communications provider Chunghwa Telecom has selected BMC Software to implement a unified cloud and IT operations management service. The BMC BladeLogic Automation Suite provides CHT with a stack configuration in a secure network and...

China - Gehua Cable selects ST's HD Cable Modem chip for STBs.
October 24, 2011... Broadcasting company Beijing Gehua Cable Television Network has selected semiconductor maker STMicroelectronics' integrated HD Cable Modem chip to deploy in set-top boxes to all of its subscribers. Beijing Gehua's customers will gain from the...

Thailand - RIM offers BlackBerry Curve 9360 in Thailand, Singapore.
October 24, 2011... RIM has launched its BlackBerry Curve 9360 smartphone in Thailand and Singapore, which features the BlackBerry 7 OS available from authorised BlackBerry partners. The BlackBerry Curve smartphone features optical trackpad, GPS and Wi-Fi support,...

Lebanon - Lebanese govt officially launches 3G services.
October 24, 2011... The Lebanese government has officially launched 3G services, which will start at USD 19 per month for 500 MB, The Daily Star reported. Telecoms Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui said increasing the internet speed and decreasing prices could put Lebanon...

Armenia - Armentel launches new unlimited fixed broadband.
October 24, 2011... Mobile operator Armentel, working under the Beelline Armenia brand, has introduced a new unlimited fixed broadband tariff for subscribers of its Hi-Line sub-brand. It is offering a 512 Kbps services for AMD 3,000 per month. The first month's...

China - Vtion names Zheng as chief financial officer.
October 24, 2011... Chinese mobile data card manufacturer Vtion Wireless Technology has named Hongbo Zheng as chief financial officer succeeding Huan Chen, effective 23 October. Chen will leave the company for personal reasons and in agreement with the supervisory...

Indonesia - Indosat, NSN conduct LTE field trial in 1800 MHz band.
October 24, 2011... Indonesian mobile operator Indosat and Nokia Siemens Networks have conducted a LTE field trial in the 1800 MHz band. The trial is based on FDD-LTE (frequency division duplex) technology and showcases Indosat's network readiness to re-farm the...

Tajikistan - Megafon Tajikistan offers free on-net calls at weekends.
October 24, 2011... Mobile operator Megafon Tajikistan reported that it is offering free calls within its network during October weekends. The offer is available by default to all corporate and retail subscribers.