Telecompaper Africa/Asia articles from September 2009

Telecompaper Africa/Asia archives from September 2009

Zimbabwe - Econet Zimbabwe customer base hits 2 mln.
September 30, 2009... Econet Wireless Zimbabwe announced that its number of subscribers has reached 2 million. CEO Douglas Mboweni said the network capacity now stood at 3 million, and this was expected to be expanded further to over 5 million with new investment...

Nigeria - Natcoms calls for free anti-mobile phone theft service.
September 30, 2009... Nigeria's National Association of Telecom Subscribers (NATCOMS) has insisted that the planned Anti-mobile Phone Theft Initiative (Anti-Mophti) must be free of any charges. The association has also moved against the planned use of NetVisa as the...

Qatar - Qtel's credit facility oversubscribed.
September 30, 2009... Qatar Telecom (Qtel) said it had completed syndication of a USD 2 billion loan facility for general corporate purposes including to refinance existing debt. The group said in a statement that despite the current difficult global credit...

Nigeria - Starcomms donates solar chargers to telecentre operators.
September 30, 2009... Nigerian mobile operator Starcomms is giving out free solar chargers to some of its high-performing telecentre operators in the country. The solar power battery charger converts the sun rays into low voltage DC electricity, providing power that...

Africa - Southeast African carrier picks Evolving Systems Tertio.
September 30, 2009... A Southeast African mobile operator has selected Evolving Systems' Tertio service activation system for carrying out current and future provisioning requirements, as well as supporting its business growth strategy. The operator's activation...

Japan - DoCoMo trials Ericsson LTE equipment.
September 30, 2009... Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo is testing LTE equipment from Ericsson. Ulf Ewaldsson, the head of Ericsson's radio networks business, told Dow Jones in an interview that DoCoMo will decide in 2010 whether to use Ericsson's equipment for its...

Taiwan - Chief Telecom deploys Acme Packet Net-Net SBCs in Taiwan.
September 30, 2009... Chief Telecom, a subsidiary of Chunghwa Telecom, has deployed the Acme Packet Net-Net session border controllers to offer advanced, IP multimedia subsystem based enterprise VoIP services throughout the island. Chief Telecom has deployed SBCs for...

Japan - NTT to offer 200 Mbps fibre-optic service in November.
September 30, 2009... Japan's NTT plans to offer fibre-optic services with speeds of up to 200 Mbps, double the company's current speed. The new service will be offered as an upgrade to NTT's Flet's Hikari service, The Nikkei writes. Customers can apply for the...

Philippines - PLDT expects Q3 sales to be 'softer'.
September 30, 2009... PLDT expects sales in the third quarter to be 'softer' due to lower net adds. The company expects to sign-up fewer than 1 million subscribers for Q3, the Manila Times reports citing CEO Napoleon Nazareno.

Australia - Foxtel offers online television to subscribers.
September 30, 2009... Australian pay-TV operator Foxtel has unveiled an online television service, as well as Foxtel Next Generation: a television guide upgrade, movies on demand, more HD channels, and thirty additional channels. On 1 October the download service...

Armenia - Beeline Armenia launches 'For You' tariff.
September 30, 2009... Armenian mobile operator Beeline has launched a new prepaid tariff called 'For You'. The tariff plan offers customers on-net calls for AMD 19 per minute and off-net and fixed calls for AMD 39 per minute. On-net SMS messages cost AMD 9 and MMS...

Malaysia - Tune Talk targets 5,000 subs per day.
September 30, 2009... Malaysian MVNO Tune Talk expects to gain between 3,000 and 5,000 new customers per day from next month. The company currently has about 30,000 subscribers, news agency Bernama reports citing CEO Jason Lo. The company launched services on 19...

Thailand - CAT targets revenues of THB 52 billion.
September 30, 2009... Thai communications provider CAT Telecom targets revenues of THB 52 billion this year as it is changing its focus to integrated mobile services from international calls. The company's core international direct dialling revenues are declining,...

Taiwan - Alvarion opens office in Taiwan.
September 30, 2009... Wimax equipment maker Alvarion has opened an office in Taipei, Taiwan. The Taipei office includes Wimax product development, collaboration centre, customer support and sales. The opening of the Taipei office follows the announcement of...

Singapore - SingTel bids for English Premier League rights.
September 30, 2009... Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) has submitted a bid for the broadcast rights to the English Premier League matches. The matches will take place between August 2010 and May 2013.

Philippines - PLDT, Smart donate funds, services to Ondoy victims.
September 30, 2009... Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) and mobile subsidiary Smart Communications have donated PHP 5 million to the ABS-CBN Foundation for its response and relief efforts following typhoon Ondoy. Furthermore, through its own PLDT-Smart...

Azerbaijan - Nar Mobile increases coverage with 17 base stations.
September 30, 2009... Azerbaijani mobile operator Nar Mobile has installed seventeen more base stations across the country. In Baku the company rolled out eight base stations, in Gusar two, and in Absheron peninsula, Sumgait, Khanlar, Astara, Salyan, Guba, and...

New Zealand - Kordia posts NZD 4.7 mln profit for H2.
September 30, 2009... New Zealand-based telecommunications networks provider Kordia posted a profit of NZD 4.7 million for the second half, reversing the first half loss of NZD 4.4 million. For the full year the company posted a profit of NZD 1.1 million. The figures...

Australia - Vividwireless picks Verizon, Optus for internet access.
September 30, 2009... Seven Network's Wimax subsidiary Vividwireless has picked Verizon and Optus to provide equipment for its planned network in Perth. Unwired, which is building the network for Vividwireless, will purchase internet access services from Optus and...

Bangladesh - Bangladesh mobile operators add 940,000 subs in August.
September 30, 2009... Bangladesh ended August with 48.91 million mobile subscribers, after operators added 940,000 new customers during the month, figures from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) show. Grameenphone shed 20,000 customers...

India - Airtel launches 1 Mbps plans for triple-play customers.
September 30, 2009... Indian telecommunications provider Bharti Airtel has introduced new plans for its triple-play customers on 'digital TV interactive', the company's IPTV service available in Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida. The Magic@Home Freedom plan offers speeds of...

Australia - Seven to sell share in Vividwireless.
September 30, 2009... Australia's Seven Network will sell a share in subsidiary Vividwireless to partially fund the roll out of a Wimax network, the Australian Financial Review reports quoting Vividwireless CEO Martin Mercer. Seven Network plans an investment of AUD...

Australia - Telstra reassures shareholders.
September 30, 2009... Telstra's chief executive David Thodey has attempted to reassure shareholders saying shareholder interests are still a priority in discussions with the government. Thodey sent a letter sent with chairman Catherine Livingstone to all...

India - Vodafone Essar drops local call rates in Bihar and Jharkhand.
September 30, 2009... Indian mobile operator Vodafone Essar has reduced its local call rates to INR 0.50 per minute in the states of Bihar and Jharkhand. All new and old prepaid customers can avail this new base tariff, without the additional purchase of any vouchers...

China - Chunghwa, China Telecom collaborate on business directory.
September 30, 2009... Chunghwa Telecom's directory subsidiary Chunghwa International Yellow Pages Media (CIYPM) plans to launch a business to business platform in China. The B2B platform will function as a trading bridge between Taiwan-based businesses and Chinese...

New Zealand - Telecom responds to TSO reform proposal.
September 30, 2009... Telecom New Zealand has responded to the government's plan to reform the Telecommunications Service Obligation (TSO) and Rural Broadband Initiative. Telecom plans to participate in the consultation process. The company has pushed for reform of...

Viet Nam - Beeline Vietnam launches Big Zero tariff.
September 30, 2009... Vietnamese mobile operator Beeline will introduce a new tariff plan on 1 October. The Big Zero tariff offers 19 free on-net SMS messages per day. The free tariff is applicable from the second text message each day. The normal on-net SMS rate is...

Kenya - Zain Kenya adds cross-network money transfers to Zap.
September 30, 2009... Kenyan mobile operator Zain said its customers can now send money to other telecommunications networks following the interconnection of its Zap service with other providers. Zain Kenya MD Rene Meza said the cross-network service will expand the...

Australia - BBC content now available on iTunes in Australia.
September 30, 2009... BBC Worldwide has announced availability of its TV content for purchase and download on the iTunes Store in Australia. From 24 September, Australian consumers can buy episodes of Torchwood, Doctor Who, Little Britain, Spooks, Ashes to Ashes and...

Nepal - Nepal's Smart Telecom deploys Redknee's converged billing.
September 30, 2009... Communications software developer Redknee has been awarded a contract by Nepalese operator Smart Telecom for its converged billing and customer care software. Redknee's Turnkey Converged Billing (TCB) will allow Smart Telecom to launch voice,...

Lesotho - Econet Telecom Lesotho launches SMS-based e-mail service.
September 30, 2009... Econet Telecom Lesotho (ETL) has teamed up with specialist in unified messaging for telecoms operators ForgetMeNot Africa to launch a two-way e-mail service over SMS. Using ForgetMeNot Africa's Message Optimiser, the new service enables Econet...

Philippines - Nera wins purchase orders from Filipino operator.
September 30, 2009... Singapore's Nera Telecommunications has received purchase orders from a mobile operator in the Philippines for the supply, delivery, installation and maintenance of microwave transmission equipment. Of the aggregate value of SGD 7.1 million, SGD...

China - Huawei, China Mobile deploy mobile softswitch in China.
September 30, 2009... Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer Huawei has entered into a contract with China Mobile to deploy the Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture-based mobile softswitch system in Guangdong province. Huawei's ATCA mobile softswitch...

Georgia - Georgia protests against use of Russian prefixes in Abkhazia.
September 30, 2009... The use of Russian phone number prefixes in the break-away region of Abkhazia is illegal, according to the Georgian national commission for communications. Interfax reported the regulator's response after an earlier announcement of an agreement...

Asia - Wi-tribe, P1 agree partnership.
September 30, 2009... Wi-tribe, a subsidiary of Qatar Telecom, has signed an agreement with Packet One International, the Wimax global services arm Malaysian operator Packet One (P1), to collaborate on strengthening the Wimax industry in Asia. The two operators will...

South Africa - HTC Hero to launch in South Africa in October.
September 30, 2009... Leaf International Communications, official distributor of the HTC brand in South Africa, announced that the HTC Hero will be available locally towards the beginning of October. The device features a 3.2-inch touch screen, 5 megapixel camera,...

India - MTNL invites bids to build network for Commonwealth Games.
September 30, 2009... Indian state-owned operator MTNL has invited bids from global and Indian companies to build the communications and IT network for the Commonwealth Games 2010. MTNL stated that the contract to set up this infrastructure in Delhi is worth more...

India - BSNL to offer INR 50 bln outsourcing deals - report.
September 30, 2009... Indian state-owned operator BSNL plans to outsource the management and maintenance of its towers and cable networks to compete with private rivals such as Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications, writes the Economic Times. BSNL plans to...

India - TTML to raise USD 250 mln.
September 30, 2009... Indian operator Tata Teleservices Maharashtra said it will raise USD 250 million from domestic and foreign markets by issuing shares and bonds, reports news agency PTI. TTML said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange that the board of...

India - Tata Docomo launches in Haryana.
September 30, 2009... Tata Teleservices' GSM brand Tata Docomo has launched its commercial operations in Haryana. The Tata Docomo GSM mobile service will have extensive coverage in 386 towns and cities and 1,750 villages in Haryana. Coverage in the districts of...

Thailand - Comarch brings internet banking service to Thailand.
September 30, 2009... IT business applications provider Comarch has signed a contract with Thai bank TMB, member of the ING Group, to implement the Comarch Internet Banking service for corporate clients across the country. The Comarch Internet Banking platform...

Morocco - Meditel offers online bill payment, prepaid top-ups.
September 30, 2009... Moroccan mobile operator Meditel has tied up with online payment platform Maroc Telecommerce to allow its postpaid customers to pay their bills online, writes Maroc-IT. The service also enables prepaid customers to top up their credit. Maroc...

India - MindTree to acquire Kyocera Wireless India.
September 30, 2009... Japanese handset manufacturer Kyocera has entered into a share transfer agreement with IT services provider MindTree for Kyocera's India-based engineering group company Kyocera Wireless India. KWI is engaged in software development for...

Jordan - Jordan considers liberalising GSM spectrum use.
September 30, 2009... Jordan's Telecommunications Regulatory Commission opened a public consltation on liberalising the use of GSM spectrum in the 900 and 1800 MHz bands. The country's three mobile operators, Orange Jordan, Umniah and Zain Jordan, asked the regulator...

India - MasterCard starts NFC m-payments pilot in India.
September 30, 2009... Credit card giant MasterCard has launched a NFC mobile payments pilot based on MasterCard PayPass in Bengaluru, India, in collaboration with Citibank, Nokia and Vodafone. Trial participants will be offered discounts at various popular retail...

India - MasterCard starts NFC m-payments pilot in India.
September 29, 2009... Credit card giant MasterCard has launched a NFC mobile payments pilot based on MasterCard PayPass in Bengaluru, India, in collaboration with Citibank, Nokia and Vodafone. Trial participants will be offered discounts at various popular retail...

Middle East - Ipoque signs FVC for distribution in MENA.
September 29, 2009... European vendor of internet traffic management systems Ipoque has appointed FVC as its authorised distributor for the Middle East and North Africa region. The partnership is aimed at expanding Ipoque's reach in the region's enterprise sector,...

Algeria - Nedjma sponsors CABBA football team.
September 29, 2009... Wataniya Telecom Algeria, which trades as Nedjma, has signed a sponsorship deal with the Chabab Ahly football club of Bordj Bou Arreridj (CABBA) for the 2009/2010 season. Nedjma, which is the official sponsor of the Algerian Football Federation...

Bahrain - BBM to support Cisco deal with Bahrain govt.
September 29, 2009... Bahrain Business Machines (BBM) has been selected to support an agreement between Cisco Systems and the eGovernment Authority of Bahrain. BBM will partner Cisco to fulfill the infrastructure requirements for the communications and IT sections of...

Africa - Altech H1 revenue up 4% to ZAR 4.73 bln.
September 29, 2009... South Africa-based Allied Technologies (Altech) reported a 4 percent increase in its half-year revenue to ZAR 4.73 billion, while operating profit grew 17 percent to ZAR 479 million. The group reported a 12 percent rise in diluted headline...

Zimbabwe - TelOne slashes tariffs, writes off subscriber bills.
September 29, 2009... Zimbabwe's fixed-line service provider TelOne has written off subscriber bills for January and slashed tariffs in response to a government order early September. TelOne said the tariff cut was also taken in light of the general hardships and...

Tunisia - Tunisie Telecom offers football goal videos to mobiles.
September 29, 2009... Tunisie Telecom has introduced the Goal service to allow Tunisie Telecom and Elissa mobile phone customers to download and receive videos of League 1 football goals on their handsets. There is no cost to sign up for the service, which is...

Malawi - TNM subscriber base nears 700,000.
September 29, 2009... Malawi's mobile operator TNM said its customer base hit 695,224 as of 30 June. The company's market share increased from 29 percent on 1 January to the current 32 percent. The mobile company said the number of prepaid subscribers reached 685,067...

Tunisia - Tunisia raises international bandwidth to 17.5 Gbps.
September 29, 2009... Tunisie Telecom has announced an increase in the country's international bandwidth to 17.5 Gbps, from 15 Gbps in May. The increase was activated via the SMW4 cable segment from Marseille, France. Tunisia has three international IP connections to...

Nigeria - Starcomms extends on-net calls at NGN 1 per minute.
September 29, 2009... Nigerian operator Starcomms has extended by another month its on-net call promotion of NGN 1 per minute, which ran during the Ramadan period. Starcomms users pay NGN 1 per minute for calls made within the network between the hours of 22:00 and...

Nigeria - Nigeria mobile industry plans handset safety standards.
September 29, 2009... Nigeria's telecommunications stakeholders have decided to join forces to initiate a minimum safety requirement programme aimed at tackling the influx of substandard mobile phones into the country, Business Day reports. The minimum safety...

Ghana - Glo picks ZTE to build national backbone network in Ghana.
September 29, 2009... ZTE has signed an agreement with Nigerian operator Globacom to build a national backbone transmission network across Ghana's major cities and a metro network in the capital Accra. ZTE will supply its ZXMP S385 SDH-Based Multi-Service Node...

Japan - JPIX picks Force10 switch/routers to offer 10 GbE services.
September 29, 2009... Japan Internet Exchange has deployed Force10 Networks' ExaScale E-Series family of switch/routers to provide high-performance 10 GbE services and port density for its growing network. The chassis-based ExaScale E1200 switch/routers serve as a...

Uganda - I-Telecom to focus on data services.
September 29, 2009... Uganda's sixth mobile operator, I-Telecom has started services and promised to focus on data services. The launch of the domestic 076 network followed a successful test period of about 10 months from last December, reports local paper The...

Swaziland - MTN Swaziland names Glamini as new chairman.
September 29, 2009... Mobile service provider MTN Swaziland has appointed David Dlamini as its new chairman for the next two years. Dlamini takes over from Senator Winnie Magagula who served two terms as chairman of the board since 2005. He is not new as chairman of...

Qatar - Vodafone Qatar to sponsor Doha Rugby Football Centre.
September 29, 2009... Vodafone Qatar announced an agreement to sponsor the Doha Rugby Football Centre (DRFC) with the Clubhouse now to be called the DRFC Vodafone Rugby Clubhouse. The DRFC club was formed in 1974 and was known as the Qatar Rugby Union Football Club....

Middle East - Amideast to open Cisco entrepreneur institute.
September 29, 2009... Amideast and the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute are collaborating to provide training. Under a recent agreement with the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute, Amideast will establish training centres in Lebanon, Morocco and Oman. Scheduled to begin in...

UAE - Etisalat gets green light for m-wallet platform launch.
September 29, 2009... UAE operator Etisalat has received approval from the Central Bank and the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) to provide mobile money transfer services in the region, Business24/7 reports. Customers will now be able to pay utility...

Singapore - M1 launches no-contract plan with postpaid features.
September 29, 2009... Singapore mobile service provider MobileOne has launched a new tariff plan that will allow customers to enjoy the benefits of postpaid mobile services without the contractual commitments. Customers who sign up for the new SuperPac plan will able...

Philippines - NTT Com to launch ICT services subsidiary in Philippines.
September 29, 2009... NTT Communications will establish NTT Communications Philippines as a wholly-owned subsidiary in Manila to provide system integration, security services and other ICT services from 1 October. NTT Com Philippines will provide local multinational...

Middle East - Microsoft establishes Arab Intellectual Property Centre.
September 29, 2009... The League of Arab States, Microsoft and Khasawneh & Associates have launched the Arab Intellectual Property Centre. The Arab Intellectual Property Centre is an online portal which aims to provide the Arab region with assistance in its...

Taiwan - BNS wins IPTV deal from Max Media in Taiwan.
September 29, 2009... Asian IPTV technology provider Broadband Network Systems has signed a five-year contract with Taiwan's in-building broadband service provider Max Media to build and deploy community-based IPTV services. The contract will see BNS supply complete...

Indonesia - Bakrie considers mergers.
September 29, 2009... Indonesian telecommunications provider Bakrie Telecom is looking at possible mergers with foreign investors. The company is looking at another company buying Bakrie Telecom or taking a share in BTel and become strategic partners, Bisnis...

Australia - Australian govt rewrites intercept bill proposal.
September 29, 2009... Electronic Frontiers Australia and the Internet Industry Association have welcomed changes to the proposed Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment Bill 2009. Both organisations were concerned with that the previous draft could...

China - SK Telecom to launch vehicle telematics in China.
September 29, 2009... South Korea's SK Telecom will introduce mobile telematics services in China. The service will allow users to remotely monitor and control vehicles through mobile phones, The South China Morning Post reports. The 'Mobile in Vehicle' service will...

Japan - Japan to establish task force for reform, overhaul of NTT.
September 29, 2009... The Japanese government will establish a task force for a possible overhaul of the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) group, The Nikkei reports. The internal affairs ministry plans to set up the task force as early as next month to look at...

Japan - NEC acquires 17% share in Wire and Wireless.
September 29, 2009... NEC has bought an almost 17 percent stake in Wire and Wireless through a private share placement. NEC acquired a 16.8 percent share in the public wireless LAN service provider for almost JPY 200 million, The Nikkei writes. NEC is the company's...

Taiwan - Motorola to contract MediaTek for handset chips - report.
September 29, 2009... Motorola will contract Taiwanese IC design firm MediaTek for handset chips for its low-end mobile phones. Motorola has decided to outsource the chips for all of its sub-USD 150 mobile handsets and industry sources say MediaTek will be the...

Armenia - VivaCell lowers price of mobile modem.
September 29, 2009... Armenian mobile operator VivaCell-MTS has lowered the price of its MTS Connect modem. The E156G modem now costs AMD 20,000, down from AMD 30,000. The E156G supports HSPA/UMTS/EDGE/GPRS technology, allows browsing with speeds of up to 3.6 Mbps,...

Malaysia - Malaysian regulator regulates sales of SIMs on flights.
September 29, 2009... The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (SKMM) has issued guidelines to regulate the sale of pre-activated prepaid SIM cards on board inbound flights to Malaysia. Under the guidelines, the service provider is required to verify...

Singapore - M1 finalises acquisition of ISP Qala.
September 29, 2009... Singapore mobile service provider MobileOne (M1) has completed its acquisition of ISP Qala Singapore. M1 bought the ISP for SGD 14.9 million with an option for a further payment of SGD 3 million if Qala meets certain financial targets for the...

Japan - Baidu launches mobile search in Japan.
September 29, 2009... Chinese search services provider Baidu has launched a beta version of its mobile search service in Japan. Baidu Japan mobile search will build upon the existing Baidu.jp services, including web search, image search and video search, with special...

Australia - AAPT roll out Ethernet to Toowoomba.
September 29, 2009... Australian communications firm AAPT has rolled out its Ethernet platform in Toowoomba. Partnering in the region with local resellers, AAPT's Ethernet platform can provide voice, data and internet capacity of up to 40Mb. The platform can also...

Australia - AAPT provides Bendigo and Adelaide Bank with IP VPN.
September 29, 2009... Australian communications provider AAPT has been selected by the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank to connect nearly 400 of the Bank's sites through its IPVN. The deal is worth about AUD 9 million over two years. The new IP VPN integrates nearly all of...

New Zealand - NZ govt proposes changes to TSO levy.
September 29, 2009... The New Zealand government has released two proposals for public comment that focus on progressing the rural fast broadband initiative and reforming the Telecommunications Service Obligations (TSO) levy. For the NZD 300 million rural broadband...

China - Sina's acquisition of Focus Media falls through.
September 29, 2009... The acquisition agreement between Chinese online media and mobile VAS company Sina and Focus Media has fallen through. In December 2008, the companies agreed that Sina would acquire substantially all of the assets of Focus Media's digital...

China - China Unicom to launch iPhone on 1 October for CNY 5,000.
September 29, 2009... China Unicom will launch Apple's iPhones in China this week. The operator will launch the phone on 1 October for CNY 5,000, the Financial Times reports. Unicom did not disclose which model it will sell but the smartphone will not support Wi-Fi....

China - Alibaba.com to buy HiChina from Synnex.
September 29, 2009... Business process services company Synnex will sell its controlling interest in China Civilink to Alibaba.com. China Civilink operates in China as HiChina Web Solutions and provides domain name registration, web site hosting and design services....

Japan - Internet Multifeed interconnects with Equinix.
September 29, 2009... Japanese internet exchange provider and operator of the Japan Network Access Point (JPNAP), Internet Multifeed, will extend the JPNAP peering fabric into the Equinix Tokyo-2 International Business Exchange data centre. As a part of the...