Telecompaper Africa/Asia articles from October 2011, page 9

Telecompaper Africa/Asia archives from October 2011

Philippines - House approves DICT bill.
October 14, 2011... Philippines' House of Representatives has approved on second reading the bill that proposes the establishment of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). A similar version of the bill is currently pending in the...

Australia - Vodafone Australia faces AUD 6 mln suit from dealer.
October 14, 2011... A mobile phone dealer in Sydney is suing Vodafone Australia for more than AUD 6 million over the problems with the operator's network earlier this year. Lawyers for Top Stuff 4 Business will be lodging a statement of claim in the Federal Court...

China - Agilent, Datang establish TD-LTE Advanced research lab.
October 14, 2011... Test and measurement company Agilent Technologies and China's Datang Telecom have established the TD-LTE-Advanced Joint Research Lab. The joint research lab will focus on developing new technologies and test standards to promote TD-LTE-Advanced...

New Zealand - Telecom, Commission reach settlement in UBA voice dispute.
October 14, 2011... Telecom New Zealand has reached a NZD 31.6 million settlement with the Commerce Commission and a number of Telecom's wholesale customers over alleged discrimination under the Telecom Separation Undertakings. Telecom said it does not accept that...

Australia - 46% of Australian businesses likely to take up NBN service.
October 14, 2011... Less than half of Australian businesses are currently likely to take up an NBN subscription, according to a Roy Morgan Research survey. Some 98 percent of the responding businesses had an internet connection and 46 percent were 'very likely' or...

Pakistan - Ufone launches offer for Karachi residents.
October 14, 2011... Pakistani mobile services provider Ufone has launched an offer for residents in Karachi. The offer includes unlimited on-net calls between 12am and 8pm and calls outside these hours cost PKR 1.2 per minute. Off-net calls cost PKR 1.6 any time of...

Philippines - Sun Cellular launches BlackBerry Bold 9990.
October 14, 2011... Philippine mobile operator Sun Cellular has launched the BlackBerry Bold 9990 smarpthone with the BlackBerry Plan 999. The plan features unlimited on-net calls and SMS messages, unlimited internet and BlackBerry services.

Taiwan - Chunghwa to launch two HTC Mango phones in November.
October 14, 2011... Taiwanese carrier Chunghwa Telecom will launch two HTC Mango phones from 1 November. Chunghwa will offer the HTC Titan and the HTC Radar and also launch a value-added service centre, the Hami Hub, for the Windows Phone Mango platform, the...

Sri Lanka - Dialog Axiata launches satellite navigation application.
October 14, 2011... Sri Lankan communications firm Dialog Axiata has launched a satellite navigation application for mobile phones. The app, which can be download from the internet, will offer directions and information about places of interest, the Lanka Business...

Japan - KDDI, Retailigence team up on smartphone purchasing tools.
October 14, 2011... Japanese communications provider KDDI and Retailigence will conduct a series of experiments related to the establishment of the "Online to Offline (O2O) Platform", beginning in late October. The platform aims to connect online and offline...

Cambodia - Mfone CEO resigns, company open to merger talks.
October 14, 2011... The chief executive of Cambodian mobile operator Mfone, Yap Wai Khee, will resign at the end of October due to family reasons. The company is still open to merger talks, the Phnom Penh Post writes citing Atip Rittaporn, managing director of...

China - Telestone completes phase I of TIPS project.
October 14, 2011... Chinese provider of telecommunications local access network services Telestone Technologies has completed the main structure of Phase I of the Telestone Intelligent Premises System (TIPS) Industrial Park project, located in Hebei province. Phase...

Bangladesh - Robi launches SMS, MMS bundles.
October 14, 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 100 off-net MMS also for BDT 5. Both bundles are valid for one day and are...

Australia - ACCC appeals Google ad decision.
October 14, 2011... The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has filed an appeal against the recent decision of the Federal Court in relation to certain advertisements appearing on Google's website. The ACCC claimed that Google had engaged in...

Australia - NBN customers may be allowed to drop backup battery.
October 14, 2011... National Broadband Network customers may be allowed to opt-out from the mandatory battery backup for the network termination unit (NTU). As phones on the National Broadband Network will not be able to make phone calls in the event of a power...

Asia - ST Electronics, Fujitsu partner on cloud learning services.
October 14, 2011... ST Electronics' wholly owned subsidiary, ST Electronics Training & Simulation Systems, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Fujitsu Asia to jointly deliver interactive learning services on the cloud for the education sector. A suite...

Philippines - Globe, PLDT complete interconnection in Bulacan.
October 14, 2011... Philippine communications firms Globe Telecom and Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) have interconnected their services in Bulacan. The interconnection in the province took place after NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba announced that the...

Bangladesh - BTRC says Grameenphone broke 22 rules.
October 14, 2011... The Bangladesh telecommunications regulator says mobile operator Grameenphone has broken 22 rules. The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has met with the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to talk about how to recover BDT...

China - China Mobile establishes board of directors.
October 14, 2011... China Mobile has formally established its board of directors. The board has nine members, including chairman Wang Jianzhou and has five outside directors, ChinaTechnews.com reports. Wang said the establishment of the board represents a major...

Armenia - EBRD financing to expand broadband internet in Armenia.
October 14, 2011... The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is supporting the development of the telecoms, information and media sector in Armenia with a USD 2.2 million quasi-equity investment in Interactive TV, a digital cable TV service...

Azerbaijan - Katv1 eyes commercial HDTV launch.
October 14, 2011... Azerbaijan cable TV operator Katv1 is preparing the commercial launch of HDTV services, Trend reported. The operator will provide subscribers with HD receivers and CAM modules in order to offer SD and HD services.

South Africa - Brightstar to provide services to MTN South Africa.
October 14, 2011... Brightstar has announced a multi-year service agreement to will provide MTN South Africa with device portfolio management services, supply chain services and OEM engagement services for MTN handsets, data devices, laptops and tablets. These...

India - Microsoft unveils Mango OS in India.
October 14, 2011... Microsoft has launched its latest version of the Windows Phone operating system, Mango, in India, reports Business Standard. The Windows Phone 7.5 OS is considered a major update for Windows-based phones. Microsoft announced the release of the...

India - DoT cautions BSNL against Chinese vendors for GSM contract.
October 14, 2011... India's Department of Telecom (DoT) has cautioned state-owned operator BSNL against selecting Chinese providers ZTE and Huawei for its INR 50 billion contract for 15 million GSM lines, citing home ministry and Intelligence Bureau concerns,...

India - Airtel picks 4 providers for broadband wireless - report.
October 14, 2011... Indian operator Bharti Airtel has identified four providers for launching its broadband wireless services in four circles, reported The Economic Times. Airtel is likely to adopt a strategy to split its broadband wireless circles among different...

Namibia - MTC unveils web service charged by time online not data used.
October 14, 2011... Namibia's MTC has launched Netman Time, an internet service under which customers pay only for the time they are active online. Existing prepaid Netman packages are billed by the amount of data downloaded rather than time spent online. Netman...

Kenya - Orange Kenya launches Flybox home Wi-Fi hub.
October 14, 2011... Orange Kenya has introduced the Flybox, which will enable customers to set up Wi-Fi connections within their homes and offices without the use of a fixed line. The Flybox is aimed at residential customers, small and home-based offices, and...

South Africa - Virgin Mobile South Africa to recompense BlackBerry users.
October 14, 2011... Virgin Mobile South Africa said that it will provide repay its BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) customers their fees in full for the days that the BlackBerry operation is interrupted. Research In Motion (RIM) said the messaging and browsing...

Kyrgyzstan - O! brings mobile services to Karakol Alpine skiing resort.
October 14, 2011... Kyrgyzstan mobile operator O! has extended its network in the Issyk-Kul region. The operator now supplies mobile services in the Karakol Alpine skiing resort.

Uzbekistan - Perfectum Mobile offers deal with HTC, Samsung handsets.
October 14, 2011... Uzbekistan mobile operator Perfectum Mobile has launched a new promotion, offering free on-net calls, free national text messaging and, 200-500 MB worth of mobile traffic until the end of the year. The offer is open to new corporate and retail...

Uzbekistan - Ucell launches telephone number definition service.
October 14, 2011... Uzbekistan mobile operator Ucell has introduced its "Who Am I" service. The service offers post and prepaid subscribers their telephone number information over the USSD-menu, as well as tariff information, the activation date of their telephone...

Tajikistan - Megafon Tajikistan offers top-ups in Russia, Turkey.
October 14, 2011... Customers of mobile operator Megafon Tajikistan can now top-up their balances while travelling in Russia. The service is accessible using Qiwi and Rapid payment systems. Russians travelling in Tajikistan can also top up their balances. Customers...

Middle East - Etisalat, Huawei tie up to provide LTE training.
October 14, 2011... Etisalat said its Etisalat Academy has introduced the first certified LTE training programme in the Middle East in partnership with Chinese telecom vendor Huawei. It is aimed at developing a community of highly skilled and certified...

Qatar - IctQatar, Qatar University extend professorial chair deal.
October 14, 2011... Qatar University (QU) and the Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology (ictQATAR) have extended the IctQATAR chair agreement for an additional three years starting in the 2012-2013 academic year. The Professorial Chair has...

Tanzania - Tigo Tanzania donates 1,000 books to Kagera school.
October 14, 2011... Tigo Tanzania has donated about 1,022 textbooks to Rwamishenye Primary School located in Bukoba municipality in Kagera Region. The Tigo Sales Manager for Kigoma and Kagera regions, Alpha Akimu, said the books donated were worth KES 5 million.

Uzbekistan - Uztelecom launches new data centre portal.
October 14, 2011... Uzbekistan national operator Uztelecom has launched a new data centre portal. The site provides information on services offered by the data centre. Uztelecom offers hosting, colocation, domain registration, video-conferencing, VPS-server, and...

Ghana - Ghana to decentralise telecoms regulator's operations.
October 14, 2011... The Ghanaian government says it has initiated policies that will see the operations of the National Communications Authority (NCA) decentralised. The Minister of Communications, Haruna Iddrissu told reporters that the decentralisation is to give...

Africa - Africa's mobile phone users to hit 800 million - study.
October 14, 2011... A Standard Bank Group report says mobile subscriptions in Africa will have reached 800 million by 2015, casting hope on the future of telecommunications. The report entitled 'Key trends promising to drive Africa's economic growth' said that says...

South Africa - Internet Solutions trialing FTTH, cost a problem.
October 14, 2011... South Africa-based Internet Solutions (IS) is currently trialing a fibre to the home (FTTH) service, but indicated that the costs may be too high for a commercial offering, MyBroadband reported. Speaking at the ICASA local loop unbundling (LLU)...

Qatar - Qtel to screen OSN channel Ya Hala on Mozaic TV.
October 14, 2011... Qtel's Mozaic TV service will screen the OSN Ya Hala! channel. YaHala, which means 'welcome' in Arabic, will bring a new and fresh flavour of Arabic television to Qatar. With a mix of comedy, drama and film, the new channel will appeal to a...

Qatar - Vodafone Qatar branded 858 Smartphone goes on sale.
October 14, 2011... Vodafone Qatar is launching its full-function Android-powered 'Vodafone 858 Smart' smartphone on the domestic market at QAR 379. Omar Mufti, Head of Terminals at Vodafone Qatar, said Vodafone Smart is run by Android 2.2 Froyo, the forerunner of...

South Africa - Cells C says LLU an opportunity that will not hit jobs.
October 14, 2011... The local loop unbundling (LLU) that will allow telecommunication operators access to Telkom's 'last mile' of copper cable infrastructure should be seen as an opportunity, and the 'myth' of job losses needed to be dispelled, mobile firm Cell C...

South Africa - Datatec declares maiden interim dividend of USD 0.07.
October 14, 2011... ICT services distributor Datatec has declared a maiden interim dividend of USD 0.07 for the first six months of the financial year, ending 31 August. The multinational IT group, which has its primary listing in Johannesburg and a secondary...

Pakistan - PTCL extends broadband package offer till 31 Dec.
October 14, 2011... Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) has extended its Broadband Pakistan's mega national package's offer of unlimited downloads till 31 December for its 256 kbps DSL customers. PTCL's Broadband mega national package offers 256 kbps data...

Pakistan - PTCL to offer connectivity services to NSO.
October 14, 2011... Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) will facilitate National Savings Organization (NSO) in transforming into an automated corporation by providing country-wide connectivity services. NSO initially awarded the project to PTCL to establish...

Pakistan - PTCL to offer ICT services to DG Cement Company.
October 14, 2011... Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) will provide ICT services to DG Cement Company. It will provide data centre based hosting services to be used as a disaster recovery (DR) site while connecting the DGC head office through a dedicated...

Africa - World Bank says Africa needs USD 15.5 bln to boost GSM.
October 14, 2011... The World Bank has said that all mobile telephone players in Africa would need about USD 15.5 billion to enhance GSM coverage across the continent. A report released by the bank said the African GSM market is capable of expanding beyond its...

South Africa - Etisalat to offer ICT services with Dimension Data in UAE.
October 14, 2011... Etisalat has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with ICT products and services provider Dimension Data to look at offering joint value propositions in managed services and advanced ICT services in the UAE. The parties plan to share...

Saudi Arabia - STC launches unlimited weekly mobile internet package.
October 14, 2011... Saudi operator STC has launched an unlimited weekly internet package for Aljawal and prepaid data SIM customers. Customer can use the package by modem or mobile device, without any collision with the customer's main package. A subscription can...

Middle East - Zservices showcases Zscaler cloud security service at Gitex.
October 14, 2011... Zservices, the provider of local Zscaler cloud security services in the Middle East has been showcasing the first cloud-delivered web and email Security-as-a-Service (SaaS) infrastructure at Gitex Technology Week. The Zservices Middle East cloud...

Saudi Arabia - Saudi Ministry of Education selects Oracle E-Business Suite.
October 14, 2011... Oracle has announced that the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia has selected the Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1 to automate its processes country-wide and boost its electronic services and e-government programme. The ministry's needed a single...

Middle East - UAE web domain agency acquires Red Hat Linux 5 OS.
October 14, 2011... Red Hat, a provider of open source software, said that the UAE internet domain administration .aeDA has standardised its registry infrastructure using the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 operating system, with support from Red Hat Network Satellite....

UAE - Etisalat enables e-Hospitality services for Al Wahda hotel.
October 14, 2011... Etisalat announced that it has signed an agreement to provide e-Hospitality Services for the Grand Millennium Al Wahda Hotel, Abu Dhabi. Etisalat will deliver a full triple play package, incorporating Primary Rate Interface (PRI) voice serving...

South Africa - ISPA wants bitstream access by November as part of LLU.
October 14, 2011... South Africa's Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) has called for the launch of a bitstream access offering by November to replace the 'broken' IPC ADSL wholesale model. In its presentation to the ICASA Local Loop Unbundling (LLU)...

Kenya - Airtel Kenya barred from halting contract with distributor.
October 14, 2011... A Kenyan judge has temporarily barred Airtel Kenya from terminating distributor Ramasalt Agencies' contract over a disputed debt of KES 47 million, Business Daily reported. However, Ramasalt Agencies was directed to pay Airtel KES 10 million...

UAE - Abu Dhabi EAA picks VCE Vblock platform for IT flexibility.
October 14, 2011... Cisco, EMC and VMware have announced that the Executive Affairs Authority (EAA) in Abu Dhabi has chosen the VCE Vblock infrastructure platform to increase business agility through greater IT infrastructure flexibility. It will also lower IT,...

UAE - Etisalat unveils tourist kiosk, IPTV information service.
October 14, 2011... Etisalat Information Services (eIS) has presented two tourism products at Gitex Technology Week in Dubai. The first is the Wayfinder Kiosk, a device that can be installed in public areas to provide convenient visitor information. Rashid Al...

UAE - Etisalat to provide Dubai utility DEWA with payment services.
October 14, 2011... UAE-based operator Etisalat and Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) said they are working towards setting up a payment system for DEWA. Etisalat provides a variety of payment channels including IVR, kiosk and mobile, as well as the...

UAE - Etisalat launches eLife TV via fibre-optic network.
October 14, 2011... Etisalat has announced the launch of 'eLife TV' on its high-speed fibre-optic network. ELife TV is interactive television available within Etisalat's eLife Triple Play service (fixed line, internet and TV), available via its fibre-based...

India - Jak selects NDS for digital TV platform launch in India.
October 13, 2011... Indian cable TV provider Jak Communications has selected a system from digital pay-TV technology provider NDS to enable the launch of its digital pay-TV platform. The new digital platform from Jak Communications will provide subscribers with...

Tunisia - Orange Tunisia discounts mobile comms until election.
October 13, 2011... Orange Tunisia has introduced the "Allo lelkoll" during the election period until 18 October. All customers will pay TND 0.90 a minute, the lowest rate on the market, to call numbers on any network, 24/7. The operator describes itself as a...

Australia - Australian court blocks sale of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.
October 13, 2011... Apple has won another temporary injunction blocking sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, this time in Australia, reports the Financial Times. Justice Annabelle Bennett in the Federal Court issued the temporary injunction to delay the...

Tunisia - Tunisie Telecom targets students with 3G dongle, mobile data.
October 13, 2011... Tunisie Telecom is visiting universities to offer a TND 30 of mobile data credit to students who buy a TND 39 3G dongle for their laptops or handsets. Mobile subsidiary Tunisiana is also waiving subscribers' access fee for the first month....

Africa - Uganda, Guinea welcome outsourcing international gateway.
October 13, 2011... The telecommunications minister of Uganda has announced that he would take the Senegalese model for incoming calls as a model, with the money raised to be used to finance other areas in telecoms, Agence de Presse Senegalaise reports. Senegal and...

South Africa - WirelessG cleared to install in-flight Wi-Fi in South Africa.
October 13, 2011... South African ISP WirelessG said that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has approved WirelessG and Row 44's application to install its G-Connect Wi-Fi equipment on South African commercial aircraft. Given the fact that it was an extensive...

Egypt - Etisalat Misr delays listing on Egypt bourse after uprising.
October 13, 2011... Etisalat Egypt has delayed its listing on the stock exchange until market conditions improve, daily newspaper al-Mal quoted the head of the mobile operator as saying. Political turmoil in the wake of the uprising that toppled President Hosni...

UAE - Etisalat, Du to compensate BlackBerry users after outage.
October 13, 2011... UAE-based operators Etisalat and Du said they would compensate BlackBerry customers after the service outages that entered their third day on 12 October, Arabian Business.com reported. Etisalat said prepaid customers would receive the equivalent...

Saudi Arabia - Zain Saudi Arabia lifts Q3 revenue 8%, cuts net loss 11%.
October 13, 2011... Zain Saudi Arabia reported that its third quarter revenues grew by 8 percent to SAR 1.79 billion (USD 480 million) from SAR 1.66 billion for the same period in 2010. The net loss declined by more than 11 percent to SAR 484 million (USD 129...

Kenya - Safaricom joins school building, sanitation scheme.
October 13, 2011... Kenyan operator Safaricom said Safaricom Foundation, the Tinga Tinga Tales Foundation and Coca-Cola have formed a one-year partnership aimed at improving learning environments in over twenty primary schools countrywide. The initiative is called...

Bahrain - Gulf Air launches Wi-Fi, TV, mobile hub with Panasonic, DeTe.
October 13, 2011... Bahrain carrier Gulf Air, has taken delivery of its first A330-200 aircraft retrofitted with Panasonic Avionics Corporation's Global Communications Suite. The 'Sky Hub' offers passengers onboard full broadband connectivity to access the...

UAE - Du signs 'bandwidth-on-demand' deal with ReiverNet.
October 13, 2011... UAE-based operator Du has signed an agreement with ReiverNet to offer 'bandwidth-on-demand' for businesses in the UAE that have varying bandwidth requirements, such as hotels, universities, hospitals and other business verticals. Du's CCO Farid...

Qatar - Informatica to be exclusive Huawei handset seller in Qatar.
October 13, 2011... Informatica Qatar (iQ), an IT consulting firm and technology products provider, said that it has recently signed an agreement with Huawei to become the exclusive distributor and after-sales service provider in Qatar of Huawei mobile phones,...

Malawi - Malawi operators may now offer both fixed and mobile service.
October 13, 2011... Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) has published amendments to telecommunications operators' licences to allow four of them to provide both fixed and mobile phone services, the BN Times reported. Macra's Director General Charles...

Kenya - Orange Kenya launches service to fight counterfeit drugs.
October 13, 2011... Orange Kenya said it has joined the mPedigree scheme to counter fake medicines. It said mPedigree is an international network of principal telecom operators and leading pharmaceutical industry associations in Africa It said mPedigree allows...

Asia - Lantiq expands single-chip services for cordless home phones.
October 13, 2011... Broadband access and home networking technology provider Lantiq has expanded its family of single-chip services for cordless home telephony. The Cosic Wdct, a 2.4 GHz version of the company's Dect service, features wideband voice and low-rate...

China - Orange, China Telecom sign framework agreement in Beijing.
October 13, 2011... Orange and China Telecom have signed a framework agreement in Beijing in order to make the most of the complementary aspects of their networks and services. Commencing with the enterprise and wholesale segments, Orange and China Telecom believe...

India - MTS India launches data coverage on National Highway 4.
October 13, 2011... Mobile operator MTS India has launched seamless high-speed data connectivity across the 350 kilometre long Chennai-Bengaluru stretch of National Highway 04. The roll-out is part of a larger plan which sees MTS providing seamless high-speed data...

Australia - Australia well positioned for cloud services success - study.
October 13, 2011... Lateral Economics has released a study into the Australian cloud computing services environment, which was commissioned by Macquarie Telecom. The report identifies Australia's stable political and regulatory regime as a key factor in the...

Thailand - DTAC launches tourist Sim.
October 13, 2011... Thai mobile services provider DTAC has introduced the 'Happy Tourist Sim' for inbound tourists. Domestic calls on the tariff plan are priced at THB 1.25 per minute and international calls start at THB 3 per minute. The package also includes...

Japan - Domestic mobile handset shipments jump 49.5%.
October 13, 2011... Shipments of domestic mobile phones and PHS phones in Japan has jumped 49.5 percent year-on-year to 3.05 million units in August on increased sales of Android smartphones. Mobile phone shipments stood at 2.91 million in August, up 49.1 percent...

Japan - eAccess to launch Xperia mini.
October 13, 2011... Japanese telecommunications firm eAccess will launch the Sony Ericsson Xperia mini this month. Although eAccess has mainly focussed on providing high-speed mobile data services, the company now plans to compete with the country's mobile...

Japan - KDDI to buy Korean content delivery company.
October 13, 2011... Japanese communications firm KDDI plans to buy South Korean start-up CDNetworks this month. KDDI will acquire 85.5 percent of CDNetworks' outstanding shares for around JPY 12.8 billion, the Nikkei writes. CDNetworks specialises in content...

Indonesia - Telkom to expand EV-DO network.
October 13, 2011... Indonesian communication provider Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) is investing IDR 200 billion to expand the number of base stations. The move is aimed at supporting the company's newly launched Flexi Net Mobile Broadband service. Telkom...

Thailand - NBTC may scrap existing master plans to draft own.
October 13, 2011... Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) is considering scrapping master plans prepared by its predecessor and drafting its own plans. A source told The Nation that the new regulator has different ideas from the...