Newsletter January 2014

EDITORIAL

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Dear Readers,
CACF team wishes you a very Happy New Year. PTA is planning to launch the sale of the nation’s first 3G and 4G licenses in March 2014. The PTA signed up Value Partners Management Consulting (VPMC) to advise on the auction, with the government expecting to make between USD1.2 billion and USD2 billion from the sale. Zong has been issued with a long-awaited license for long-distance and international (LDI) services. The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to block the unregistered SIMs of all cellular companies operating in the country and Afghan SIMs activated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal areas. Zong has launched its state-of-the-art Pakistan’s largest cloud computing based contact center which was inaugurated by Minister for Information Technology Ms. Anusha Rehman and Chariman PTA, Dr. Ismail Shah.

Roshan has announced the opening of its new Network Operations Center (NOC). Ucell has reduced roaming rates on networks of Russian mobile operator Megafon and Spanish mobile operator Yoigo. Beeline is planning to launch up to 900 new base stations across Uzbekistan. Beeline Uzbekistan has won the award of “The most popular mobile operator in 2013” given by Odnoklassniki.ru. Altel has announced that it has extended its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network to six new cities, namely Aktau, Aktobe, Atyrau, Karaganda, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Shymkent. In frames of network expansion and modernization project, VivaCell-MTS has recently installed another 60 new base stations in Armenia (30 3G stations and 30 2G stations).

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Industrial News

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Roshan Opens a Centralized Network Operations Center

Afghanistan’s Roshan has announced the opening of its new Network Operations Center (NOC). A first in Afghanistan, the NOC enables Roshan to monitor the nation-wide network in real-time to proactively identify network issues. The NOC marks the next step in the technological evolution of Roshan’s network. By centralizing network monitoring from 13 regional monitoring systems previously into one system now, the NOC aims to improve Roshan’s response time when resolving network issues. Additionally, the NOC will allow Roshan to continuously perform ‘health-checks’ across the network, and proactively prevent problems from arising.

Source: Cellular-News

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Megacom Revenue Rises By 5% This Year

Megacom has announced the initial unaudited results of its activities this year. It said full-year revenues totaled KGS 8.085 billion, up by 5 percent year-on-year, up by 17 percent from 2011 and up by 39 percent from 2010. The full-year net profit totals KGS 1.778 billion, up by 16 percent year-on-year, up by 36 percent in comparison with 2011 and up by 133 percent from 2010.
Source: TelecomPaper

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Ucell Cuts Roaming Rates in Russia, Spain

Ucell has reduced roaming rates on networks of Russian mobile operator Megafon and Spanish mobile operator Yoigo. The reduced rates will be applied for prepaid subscribers, meaning up to 50 percent lower prices. Services will be calculated under the rates of the TeliaSonera Eurasia roaming zone on the network of Megafon and rates of the TeliaSonera Mobility zone on the Yoigo network.
Source: TelecomPaper

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Beeline Kyrgyzstan Offers New Online Payment Service

Beeline Kyrgyzstan has started a one of a kind offer to top up balance. Users can go to Beeline’s website and use their credit cards Visa and MasterCard to recharge their balance through the service “Online Payment” service.
Source: Beeline PR

Altel Adds Six New Cities to LTE Footprint

Altel has announced that it has extended its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network to six new cities, namely Aktau, Aktobe, Atyrau, Karaganda, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Shymkent. Altel inaugurated its 4G network in December 2012 in the cities of Astana and Almaty. Coverage was extended to a number of satellite towns around the two cities in July 2013.

Source: TeleGeography

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Nokia Lumia 1020 Now Available in Pakistan

Nokia has announced the availability of the Nokia Lumia 1020 all over. The Lumia 1020 is able to produce some of the sharpest images possible by any digital camera thanks to Nokia’s innovative PureView technology, including a second generation 41 megapixel sensor, ZEISS optics with six lenses and optical image stabilization; allowing people to capture, edit and share photos and videos of professional quality. The phone is available at all Nokia Care Centres and partner franchises across Pakistan.

Source: Nokia PR

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Beeline Launches GPRS-Roaming In Italy

Beeline Uzbekistan has expanded geography of its GPRS-roaming service. According to the operator, the agreement on cooperation was signed with TIM (Italy). Beeline has been number one operator in Uzbekistan on number of roaming partners since 2010. The company also leads in GPRS roaming segment (299 operators in 130 countries) and 3G-roaming (217 operators in 113 countries).

Source: UzDaily

Zong Finally Issued LDI Concession

Zong has been issued with a long-awaited license for long-distance and international (LDI) services. Whilst the cellco has been operational in the market for more than five years under the aegis of China Mobile, it has been denied an LDI concession by the terms of a deal between the government and Etisalat over the part privatization of incumbent Pakistan Telecommunications Company Ltd (PTCL), which precluded the sale of new licenses before March 2013. The Sindh High Court has further delayed matters by imposing a hold on the allocation of new LDI licenses on the basis that the nation’s Telecom Policy had expired in 2008, and that fresh concessions should await the drafting of a new policy.

Source: TeleGeography

MTS Uzbekistan Assets Transferred to State-Owned Telco

Uzbekistan’s state-owned Uzbektelecom has acquired the assets of the local mobile network, MTS-Uzbekistan following its forced bankruptcy last year.
Local authorities transferred Uzdunrobita’s (MTS) assets to Uzbektelecom. It’s not clear when the legal transfer of ownership took place. Uzbektelecom will monitor the condition of the equipment of the cellular operator, but whether the company plans to use the equipment is not clear.

Source: Cellular-News

Pakistan to Auction 3G/4G licenses in March 2014

PTA is planning to launch the sale of the nation’s first 3G and 4G licenses in March 2014. The PTA signed up Value Partners Management Consulting (VPMC) to advise on the auction, with the government expecting to make between USD1.2 billion and USD2 billion from the sale. 30MHz of spectrum will be put up for sale, although the PTA has not yet determined how it will split up the spectrum. Similarly, the watchdog has not decided to what extent it will regulate the prices of the authorizations.

Source: Phone world

Odnoklassniki.Ru Presents Awards To Beeline Uzbekistan

Beeline Uzbekistan has won the award of “The most popular mobile operator in 2013” given by Odnoklassniki.ru. The company has received this high award on the basis of the recently published ranking, in which the group Beeline Uzbekistan in the “Classmates” took the top spot with more than 500,000 subscribers.
Source: UzDaily

Pakistan’s PTCL Makes Offer to Buy Warid Telecom

Pakistan’s PTCL has submitted a binding offer to buy local rival mobile network, Warid Telecom, although it has not disclosed how much it has offered to pay. The brief announcement was made through a letter to the Karachi stock exchange. Warid Telecom has been put up for sale by its UAE based owner, the Abu Dhabi Group, who is reportedly seeking bids in the region of US$1 billion for the company. Both PTCL and China Mobile had previously expressed an interest in buying the company, although China Mobile later dropped out.

Source: Celular-News

VivaCell-MTS installed another 60 base stations across Yerevan and regions

In frames of network expansion and modernization project, VivaCell-MTS has recently installed another 60 new base stations in Armenia (30 3G stations and 30 2G stations. Overall, from January 2013 till present (December 2013), in frames of network expansion and modernization project 186 new 3G base stations and 77 2G base stations were installed in all regions of Armenia (total of 263). In frames of the project, 2G stations were upgraded in terms of improvement of voice services, and existing 3G base stations were upgraded in terms of data expansion and capacity improvement.
Source: VivaCell-MTS PR

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PHC directs PTA to block unregistered Afghan SIMs

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to block the unregistered SIMs of all cellular companies operating in the country and Afghan SIMs activated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal areas within 15 days. The directive was issued to PTA in a writ petition of a franchiser of a cellular company, seeking blocking of all unregistered SIMs of the cellular companies in Pakistan and activation of SIMs in thousands of Afghan cellular companies in the country, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata as these were being used in extortion, kidnapping for ransom and terrorism cases.

Source: Phone World

Beeline to launch 900 new base stations

Beeline is planning to launch up to 900 new base stations across Uzbekistan. Andrei Safronyuk, director-general of Unitel said that due to constructive dialogue with the regulator, the company started to receive necessary permissions to launch base stations from November. He said that these documents will allow to launch 900 new base stations across Uzbekistan. At the same time, he added that after launch of the stations, the company will configure network and there could be short disruptions.

Source: UzDaily

Windows Brings VIP Summit

The Windows VIP Summit took place at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Karachi. The day-long event laid strong emphasis on Microsoft’s new “Devices and Services” strategy. Which is not to say that either of the two are new to the company. Microsoft has been producing hardware for over three decades now, its devices such as Windows Phone are now about a decade old. Windows VIP Summit was a fruitful insight into some of Microsoft’s latest products such as the Windows 8.1, Office 365 and Windows Azure.
Source: Dell PR

Enjoy Christmas Roaming with Orange

On the threshold of the New Year and Christmas holidays, Orange has offered a special tariff to its customers for roaming in the countries of main destinations for Christmas holidays: Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India. When roaming in these countries between December 20 and January 13, the special rate of 65 AMD/min will be applied for incoming calls. Orange also offers low rates in 21 Orange Zone countries: 250 AMD for incoming and outgoing calls.
Source: Orange PR

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Zong Hits Highest Postpaid Sales in the Month of November 2013

Zong has achieved highest sale in postpaid segment by passing 17,000 postpaid sales in month of November 2013. This is industry leading performance considering the fact that country was shut off for more than a week.
Source: Zong PR

Uzbekistan Internet Audience Up By 18% In 2013

Uzbekistan’s internet audience has jumped by 18.3 percent year-on-year in 2013, citing a speech by Islam Karimov, the country’s president. The audience currently totals 7.1 million. The mobile connection subscriber base is 19 million and handset penetration is three devices per household. The mobile internet subscriber base has grown by 11.54 percent to 9.815 million.
Source: TelecomPaper

Easypaisa Announces the Commercial Launch of ATM Cards

Pakistan’s first and largest branchless banking service, Easypaisa has announced the commercial launch of its ATM cards throughout the country. The soft launch was performed earlier this year. As per banking standards, Easypaisa ATM cards are highly secure and also extremely convenient for Easypaisa Mobile Account customers who are no longer required to visit an Easypaisa shop to withdraw cash every time from their Mobile Accounts. Easypaisa ATM cards work on all ATMs in the country and can be used to withdraw cash from the Mobile Account directly, at a much lower cost.

Source: Phone World

Kazakhstan to Cut CDMA Service Rates

The Kazakhstan government announced that it plans to reduce the monthly subscription cost of internet services over the CDMA EV-DO technology in rural areas. The rate will be reduced from 1 January 2014 by 35 percent. The rates under two current tariffs will drop from KZT 2,000 to KZT 1,300 and from KZT 4,000 to KZT 2,600, respectively. The national operator Kazakhtelecom has already reduced the cost of internet over CDMA EV-DO and raised the speed without price increase for subscribers in rural areas earlier this year.
Source: TelecomPaper

Zong Inaugurates Pakistan’s Largest Contact Centre

Zong has launched its state-of-the-art Pakistan’s largest cloud computing based contact center which was inaugurated by Minister for Information Technology Ms. Anusha Rehman and Chariman PTA, Dr. Ismail Shah. With the launch of this new Contact Centre, Zong has taken another giant leap to provide best in class support services to its customers and facilitate them with their queries round the clock.

Source: Zong PR

Orange Offers to Talk for Free During the Year 2014

All customers who will join Orange Let’s Talk prepaid service between December 10, 2013 and January 15, 2014, will be able to activate Orange “With Each Other” pack with friends or family members (2 to 4 persons) and will talk to each other for free as much as they wish during a whole year. Moreover, they will get as well the possibility to travel to Paris with all their close ones included in the pack (air ticket and hotel accommodation). The trip will be organized for all the members of the 1 000th and 10 000th activated pack.
Source: Orange PR

Altel Deploys GSM Networks in Major Cities

CDMA operator Altel has announced that it is close to completing the rollout of GSM networks in Astana, Almaty, Karaganda, Shymkent, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Aktau, Atyrau and Aktobe. Although the new network is not expected to go live until the first quarter of 2014, CDMA customers have until 31 December to trade in their existing CDMA handsets. The CDMA-to-GSM switch is not the first network overhaul that Altel has undertaken this year. In September the company switched off its 3G network, after migrating users in Almaty and Astana across to its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) platform.
Source: TeleGeography

Mobilink Adds Operator Billing For Gameloft

Mobilink brings operator-billing for Gameloft’s game store, which is a mobile based online store showcasing some of the best branded & licensed games for mobiles. Customers can purchase and download game from this store using their Mobilink prepaid connection with Mobilink mobile internet.
Source: Mobilink PR

Mobile Operators to Invest US$112.43m to Their Networks

Mobile communication operators of Uzbekistan are planning to invest US$112.43 million to development of their networks. Unitel LLC is planning to direct US$59.4 million, Coscom will direct US$53.03 million and Beeline planned to invest US$28 million. According to the programme, Uzbekistan plans to use investments for US$3.883 billion within 166 investment projects.

Source: UzDaily

Mobilink to Introduce Whatsapp-Based Mobile Services in Pakistan

VimpelCom Ltd. a leading global provider of telecommunications services and holding company of Mobilink PMCL has announced a partnership with WhatsApp Inc., the operator of WhatsApp application and services, to deliver consumer offers based on the WhatsApp application and services for VimpelCom customers around the world. The partnership with WhatsApp will enable Mobilink to provide enhanced internet communication services within its bundled tariff plans, and to drive mobile internet usage and revenues. The new innovative Mobilink and WhatsApp offers have also been launched in Bangladesh with other VimpelCom operators to follow in due course.

Source: Mobilink PR

Three mobile handsets fall to one family

Number of mobile communication users in Uzbekistan makes up 19 million people, the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov. Speaking at the solemn ceremony dedicated to the 21st anniversary of Constitution of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov said that there are three mobile phones per family.
According to the President of Uzbekistan, number of internet users in Uzbekistan grew by 18.3% compared to 2012 and reached 7.1 million people.

Source: UzDaily

Wateen and Qubee to combine wireless broadband businesses

Wateen Telecom and Qubee, announced their intention to combine their wireless broadband businesses in Pakistan. The agreement will see Wateen and Qubee forming the second largest broadband service provider in Pakistan, with over 200,000 subscribers. The transaction is subject to the requisite corporate, regulatory and governmental approvals, and is targeted to be completed within the first half of 2014. The formation of a new business, Wateen and Qubee intend to reenergize the wireless broadband market with planned investment of more than $25 million for the improvement and expansion in coverage of the combined network of the two companies.

Source: Wateen PR

Beeline signs roaming agreement with two more operators

Beeline has expanded geography of international roaming. It has signed an agreement on voice roaming with Claro (Chile) and Ncell (Nepal). Beeline subscribers can use CAMEL roaming. The service allows to use Beeline communication services at any positive balance, in other words without guarantee fee of US$50 and till the balance of subscriber reaches US$0. At the same time, the funds will be written off in real time regime. CAMEL roaming does not requires activation and it is automatically enabled in handsets. The service can use any individual subscribers, connected to pre-paid tariffs at any positive balance.

Source: UzDaily

Azercell ramps up LTE service; 252BTS now cover Baku and Absheron

Azercell has confirmed that its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network now covers Baku and the Absheron peninsula, with a total of 252 base transceiver stations (BTS) in operation. Director general Kiril Gaburich also informed journalists that LTE users can now access voice services, noting that devices are available supporting the LTE standard.

Source: TeleGeography

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Qualcomm & Bakcell Exhibits Mobile Technology & Applications at Bakutel

The 19th Azerbaijan International Telecommunications and Information Technologies Exhibition, Bakutel 2013 was a 4 day event that started on 2nd December, at Baku Expo Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan. Bakcell, The First Mobile Operator and The Chief Mobile Internet Provider of Azerbaijan and world most prominent and leading chipmaker, Snapdragon Qualcomm partnered up to promote the latest global technology trends in the mobile industry. At their Bakucell stand Qualcomm displayed its products while Bakcell presented Mobile signature (Asan imza) and M2M services. The stall at Baku 2013 was a frame of partnership between the two companies where they demonstrated a number of digital games that are based on the latest technologies.
Source: CACF

Pakistani Users are putting their Internet into a New Gear

According to a new survey sponsored by Google, Pakistani users are shifting their Internet into a new gear in 2014, which will be the year mobile Internet overtakes desktop Internet. While desktop is dominant with 91 percent owning a PC at home, 45 percent also own a smartphone or tablet. 18 percent cite the latter as their primary device. Mobile devices are gaining momentum: 86 percent use PCs to access the Internet daily, 77 percent use smartphones, 73 percent use feature phones and 59 percent use tablets daily. This trend follows a decline in the prices of smartphones and tablets, and anticipated launch of 3G services. Internet-capable feature phones are expected to continue to play an important role, too.
Source: Google PR

Qualcomm Names Steve Mollenkopf CEO and President

Qualcomm Incorporated has announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously approved a succession plan for executive management of the Company. Steve Mollenkopf was promoted to Chief Executive Officer-elect of Qualcomm, and appointed to its Board of Directors. He will continue to serve as the Company’s President. Effective March 4, 2014, following the Company’s 2014 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, Mollenkopf will become Chief Executive Officer.
Source: Qualcomm PR

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Bakcell Launches Mobile Signature Service

Bakcell has announced the launch of mobile signature service (Asan imza) in collaboration with the State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Best Solutions. Now Bakcell customers can confirm their identity, access e-services and use digital signatures via Mobil ID service. At present, Asan Imza is going to be used for tax and other operational purposes, related to Ministry of Taxes. However, the service is not going to be limited to this, and more possibilities to use Asan Imza will be provided in the future.
Source: Bakcell PR

Armentel to Support Development Of Armenian-Language Mobile Apps

ArmenTel jointly with “Center for Technological Development” foundation has announced the start of the program aimed at developing Armenian-language mobile apps within AppCON 2013 international conference. The organizers invite individuals and legal entities working in Armenia to present their offers on cooperation aimed at developing mobile content downloading it in a special form placed on app.am at www.app.am/submit.html.
Source: Armentel PR

Telecom Namibia Launches LTE Network

Telecom Namibia has switched on its LTE service and is now taking orders via its website. The LTE services are available in the capital Windhoek and surrounding areas, as well as Walvis Bay, Swakopmund, Langstrand and Henties Bay at the coast and Ondangwa, Ongwediva, Oshakati, Ohangwena and Oshikango in the north of the country.
Source: Cellular-News

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TOT’s 3G Second Phase Contract Delayed until Next Year

TOT will not sign contracts for its second-phase 3G mobile network expansion until next year, while it continues to consider possible partnership models with either its existing mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) partner Samart i-Mobile or the country’s largest cellco Advanced Info Services (AIS).
Source: TeleGeography

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Cyber Security Conference Concludes- Speakers Urged for More & Speedy International Collaboration

An international-level Conference called “Global Cybersecurity Cooperation: Challenges and Visions” was held on 2-3 December 2013 at the Four Season Hotel in Baku, Azerbaijan. The conference was organized by the Government of Azerbaijan in cooperation with International Telecommunication Union. The basic aim of the conference was to facilitate discussions on all aspects of cyber security and to promote the exchange of best practices as well as sharing of meaningful information on major developments in the protection of online activities. The conference was attended by high-level delegates and leading experts from governments, businesses, academia and NGOs. Delegates from CACF were also invited by the MoC Azerbaijan who showed their support to the conference and the speakers.
Source: CACF

Algerian 3G Launch Delayed Until ‘Late December 2013’

Zohra Derdouri, the Algerian Minister of Post and Information Technology and Communication, said that 3G services will not be launched in the country on 1 December 2013 as previously announced. Although the decree issuing the final 3G licenses to the three successful bidders – Mobilis, Ooredoo Algeria (Nedjma) and Djezzy – was signed on 2 December 2013, it will take time for the operators to submit their offers to telecoms regulator (ARPT) for approval. Further, Mrs Derdouri revealed that the Algerian government is also planning to introduce ‘fixed mode 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) ‘services in January 2014.
Source: TeleGeography

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IPKO Delivers 3G As Promised

IPKO has announced the commercial availability of 3G high speed mobile services from 1 December 2013, claiming a first in Kosovo. From launch IPKO’s W-CDMA/HSPA network covers 80% of the Kosovar population and 43.7% of the country’s territory, initially focusing on major cities and towns, while its plan for 2014 is to expand 3G coverage to 75% of territory and 88% of the population. Expecting a ‘surge’ of 3G adoption from the first day of launch, IPKO will automatically upgrade users’ existing mobile internet packages from 2G to 3G.

Source: TeleGeography

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Yoigo Expands 4G Network Footprint to Six More Provinces

Yoigo banner has announced that it plans to expand LTE coverage to six additional provinces this month. With the cellco already providing its 4G products in Madrid, Malaga, Valencia, Barcelona, Alicante and Seville, it also extended its footprint to Castellon, Tarragona, Girona, Cordoba, Huelva and Vizcaya. With rollout continuing apace, Yoigo has confirmed that it is aiming to offer its LTE-based tariffs to more than 22.5 million people, or around 48% of the population, by the end of the year. Looking further ahead, by the end of the first quarter of 2014 the mobile operator has set out its stall to offer 4G in all cities with more than 70,000 inhabitants.

Source: TeleGeography

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PLDT’s Smart Trials LTE Multicast Service in the Philippines

Smart Communications has carried out the region’s first successful trial of ‘video multicast’ over a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. If and when Smart brings the full-blown service to market, the cellco says that the new technology will allow its users to take advantage of ‘lag-free’ live video feeds directly to their smartphones and devices/tablets. Smart Communications has partnered with Huawei of China for the LTE-based evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (eMBMS) trial, which the Chinese vendor claims is the first one in the world to be conducted over a 2100MHz frequency.

Source: TeleGeography

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T-Mobile Macedonia Opens 4G Network to End Users

T-Mobile Macedonia has enabled users to access its 4G network, initially only in some areas of the capital Skopje (Center Karposh Airport and K.Voda) and Mavrovo, although going forward it will be sequentially expanded to reach all customers in the Republic. In order to use the cellco’s new Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, T-Mobile customers will need a 4G-enabled mobile device, and a suitable SIM card. It notes that users who purchased a SIM before 2009 will need to replace them with new ones in order to take advantage of the faster service.

Source: TeleGeography

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Colombia Gets Two New LTE Networks

Two of Colombia’s three major cellular operators have announced the launch of 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) services. Telefonica subsidiary Movistar and Millicom-backed Tigo are both now offering LTE-based mobile broadband access in the cities of Bogota, Medellin, Barranquilla and Bucaramanga, while Movistar has also launched in Cali. Movistar expects to be covering 58 cities by July next year with investments of COP700 trillion (USD362 million). Wireless market leader Claro is also set to introduce LTE technology on a commercial basis, having already begun marketing 4G-capable handsets.

Source: TeleGeography

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Algeria awards final 3G licenses

Algerian telecoms watchdog the Autorite de Regulation de la Poste et des Telecoms (ARPT) issued the final licenses for the provision of 3G services in the country to all three applicants—Mobilis, Ooredoo Algeria (Nedjma) and Djezzy – on 3 December 2013. Mohamed Toufik Bessa, head of ARPT, has also revealed that, in order to save time, the regulator agreed to allow ‘operators to submit their 3G offers for consideration’, with these offers subsequently validated on the same day. Further, the ARPT assigned frequencies and blocks of numbers, suitable for 3G+ technology, to all licensees.
Source: TeelGeography

Tunisia to Launch 4G in 2014-2015

Tunisia’s minister of ICT Mongi Marzouk announced at a press conference the plans to make 4G services available between 2014 and 2015, saying ‘It is high time for the country to access 4G’. Tunisiana, Orange Tunisia, and Tunisie Telecom (TT) have all called for the formation of a committee to prepare for the launch of 4G services.
Source: TeelGeography

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Verizon triples LTE spectrum capacity in selected markets

Verizon Wireless has reportedly tripled the amount of spectrum available for Long Term Evolution (LTE) in a number of major markets, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, New York City, Seattle and Washington, DC. The improvements follow reports in October this year that the cellco was starting to utilize its recently acquired advanced wireless services (AWS) frequencies to boost its 4G capabilities. Verizon Wireless chief network officer Nicola Palmer says that in every major city east of the Mississippi, and in several western markets, Verizon is using ‘full’ 40MHz blocks of spectrum, double the size of the 20MHz blocks deployed across its 700MHz nationwide LTE deployment.

Source: TeleGeography

3 Ireland postpones 4G launch until New Year

Mobile network operator 3 Ireland, owned by Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa, has said it is postponing its rollout of 4G services until the end of January 2014. Previously, the cellco’s parent had targeted a pre-Xmas launch to entice users to sign up to its new advanced services. No reason has been given for the delay, although it is of note that the parent group is currently seeking antitrust approval for the up to EUR850 million (USD1.2 billion) acquisition of fellow carrier O2 Ireland from Telefonica of Spain. The deal was agreed in June this year.

Source: TeleGeography

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Aircel in bid to launch second 4G network

Wireless provider Aircel may become the second operator to offer 4G services in India when the cellco launches operations in its ‘established cities’ in the next three to six months. Following on the heels of Bharti Airtel’s LTE network launch, Aircel is vying with Reliance Jio Infocomm, part of petrochemical giant Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), to activate the nation’s second 4G system. Aircel’s chief marketing officer, Anupam Vasudev commented that banks had been more willing to assist with funding for the 4G rollout, despite the company’s association with a number of corruption cases and loss-making operations – issues that had previously complicated securing additional loans.

Source: TeleGeography

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OFCA releases official statement on 3G reallocation

Hong Kong’s Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) released an official statement on 8 December to clarify and justify its position on the upcoming re-assignment of 3G mobile spectrum and the Spectrum Utilization Fee (SUF) for allocating the 2100MHz UMTS band, following the regulator’s recent decision to auction one-third of the band currently held by four network operators, allowing a fifth operator (most likely China Mobile Hong Kong) to claim a portion of the band in October 2016.

Source: TeleGeography

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Moody’s: 4G License Is Credit Positive for China Mobile

Moody’s Investors Service said that the Chinese government’s decision to issue a TD-LTE, or 4G license is credit positive for China Mobile as this will help strengthen its market position in the growing wireless data business. On 4 December, China Mobile announced that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology had granted its parent, China Mobile Communications Corporation (CMCC), permission to operate the TD-LTE business and China Mobile will assist CMCC in the construction and operations of the TD-LTE network. China Mobile is likely to enjoy the first mover advantage in the TD-LTE business as it has been investing in the technology since early 2013, well ahead of its competitors.
Source: Cellular-News

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Verizon to Boost LTE Network with AWS Spectrum in 50 Cities in 1H14

Verizon Wireless has revealed plans to augment its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network with advanced wireless services (AWS) spectrum in 50 cities during the first half of 2014, in a bid to avoid potential capacity issues. The process includes seeding the customer base with AWS-capable devices, as well as deploying in-building coverage and distributed antenna systems (DAS) nodes. McAdam noted that 42 of Verizon’s 49 LTE base stations in the New York metro area have already been upgraded with AWS spectrum.
Source:TeleGeography

Claro Puerto Rico Expands LTE to Nine New Areas

Claro Puerto Rico has announced the expansion of its 4G LTE network to nine additional towns. The latest towns to receive LTE coverage are: Cayey, Ceiba, Hatillo, Guayama, Rincon, Rio Grande, Patillas, Vega Alta and Vega Baja. These areas join Claro’s existing 4G footprint on the island which includes: Aguada, Anasco, Arecibo, Barceloneta, Fajardo, Humacao, Juncos, Manati, San Lorenzo, San Juan (metropolitan and surrounding areas), Ponce, Mayaguez and Caguas. Claro had expanded the network promising theoretical peak speeds of 50Mbps to a total of 18 additional settlements in seven weeks.
Source: TeleGeography

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Cabinet Green Lights Spectrum Fees, M&A Norms

The Indian government has approved auction prices for spectrum in the 900MHz and 1800MHz bands, and has accepted new norms for mergers and acquisitions in the sector. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave the final approval for the frequency sale, following green lights from the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) and the Telecom Commission. The CCEA accepted the pricing plan suggested by the Commission, which set the base price per-MHz for pan-India spectrum at INR17.63 billion (USD289.36 million) for 1800MHz frequencies, whilst prices for 900MHz airwaves in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata were set at INR3.59 billion, INR3.27 billion and INR1.25 billion respectively. The Commission’s recommendations struck a balance between proposals from the Telecoms Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the first of which was deemed to have lowered prices too far whilst the latter had kept costs too high. The auction is due to begin on 21 January 2014.
Source: TeleGeography

Vodafone Spain Carrying Out LTE-Advanced Tests in Madrid

Vodafone Spain is trialing LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) technology in Madrid using spectrum in the 1800MHz and 2600MHz bands. In its pilot of the technology, which is being conducted both in laboratory settings and in the AZCA and Nuevos Ministerios areas of the city, Vodafone has achieved downlink speeds of up to 297Mbps. The cellco was cited as saying that it aims to introduce LTE-A commercially in both Madrid and Barcelona ‘in the coming quarters’.
Source: TeleGeography

LIME Launches LTE in Cayman Islands

LIME has commercially launched its Long Term Evolution (LTE) services in the Cayman Islands. The network, which was deployed by Swedish equipment vendor Ericsson, offers maximum download speeds of more than 100Mbps, and boasts 100% coverage across the Cayman Islands. LIME CEO Bill McCabe said:
Source: TeleGeography

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Senegal’s Networks Deploying Test LTE Networks

All three of Senegal’s mobile networks are expected to have deployed LTE networks within the next few weeks, although initially just a test platforms. Orange has already built a pilot LTE network in parts of Dakar and Saly, while the two remaining networks, Tigo and Expresso should launch networks by the end of this month. The telecoms regulator has already granted temporary 4G licenses to the networks, although those would need to be made permanent before commercial services can be offered to customers.
Source: Cellular-News

Ooredoo Algeria Expects 2m Subscribers to Migrate to 3G

Algerian mobile operator Ooredoo Algeria (formerly Nedjma) anticipates that around two million subscribers will migrate to its 3G network once the technology has been commercially launched in the country. Ooredoo Algeria’s CEO Joseph Ged said that the company has been preparing for the 3G upgrade since 2011, and has invested more than USD1 billion on equipment for the modernization of its system.

Source: TeleGeoGraphy

Virgin Mobile Signs 4G Agreement with SFR

Virgin Mobile France has signed an agreement with mobile operator SFR to offer 4G services over its network. The MVNO’s subscribers will be able to access SFR’s Long Term Evolution (LTE) network from next spring. In September 2013 Virgin signed a similar leased agreement with Bouygues Telecom, with the service to be launched in the first half of 2014, due to the level of preparation required.
Source: TeleGeography

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Regulator ploughs on with 1800MHz, 900MHz plans

Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has confirmed that in February it will release detailed proposals for an upcoming 4G mobile license auction of 1800MHz frequencies. The regulator’s 1800MHz plan is also coordinated with moves for 900MHz licensing under technology neutral conditions, and it has hired the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to study auction methods, gauge the value of frequencies, set reserve prices for licenses and draft licence conditions. The ITU will submit its study to the NBTC early in 2014.
Source: TeleGeography

China Telecom to Begin 4G Trials

China Telecom has been authorized to begin large scale 4G network trials in more than 40 cities. The rollout will initially target high-density areas such as shopping and business districts, parks and subways. Whilst Telecom completed a tender earlier this year for 4G core network covering 31 provinces nationwide, its trials will concentrate on over 40 cities including Nanjing, Shanghai, Beijing and Wuhan. China Telecom is planning to invest CNY45.7 billion (USD7.45 billion) in 4G network construction next year.
Source: TeleGeography

True Move Asked to Speed up Migration of GSM Customers to 3G Networks

Thailand’s True Move has been urged by the regulator to speed up the migration of its GSM customer base to a 3G network ahead of the sale of its GSM spectrum next year. Two mobile networks, True Move and DPC technically saw their operating concessions expire in September, but were given an extra year to complete the migration of their customers to alternative networks.
True Move had expected to complete the migration within four months, but still has around 11 million customers on the older network.

Source: Cellular-News

Slovak Telekom Launches Nationwide 4G/LTE Network with Ericsson

Slovak Telekom has launched a LTE network in five cities in Slovakia, based on equipment supplied by Ericsson. Ericsson is the sole vendor for the LTE radio network, which operates at 1800MHz and offers a maximum theoretical speed of 73Mbps download and 23Mbps upload. Circuit-switched fallback (CSFB) ensures that voice calls and text messages are delivered to LTE devices through the use of a 2G/3G circuit-switched network. This LTE rollout contract includes systems integration, network optimization, multi-vendor verification and related services.

Source: Cellular-News

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Unicom Still Set On FDD-LTE

Lu Yimin, the CEO of China Unicom, has confirmed that, whilst the cellco has recently been issued a license for China’s home grown Time Division Long Term Evolution (TD-LTE), the operator remains focused on Frequency Division Duplex (FDD)-LTE, as the ecosystem for the latter technology is more mature. Unicom will build TD-LTE networks in the busiest and most data-intensive areas, and will expand its 4G footprint with FDD-LTE networks when licenses are issued for the platform.
Source: TeleGeography

Nextel Brasil to Take 3G To Four New Cities

Nextel Brasil unit has announced its intention to expand its 3G footprint to four new cities, namely Sorocaba, Sao Jose dos Campos, Santos and Campinas. The operator will target both business and residential users in the new markets, offering its recently launched ‘3G Smart 300 Plan’ for BRL99.99 (USD43.01) per month.
Source: TeleGeography

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Vodafone Fiji Reports Strong Sales of 4G Devices Two Weeks into Launch

The chief marketing officer of Vodafone Fiji, Mr Sanjeewa Perera, has said that sales of the company’s new 4G devices have exploded since it launched its new Long Term Evolution (LTE) network two weeks ago. The official added that more than 4,000 customers have signed up for 4G plans in the first two weeks of launch, with the cheapest mobile device selling at FJD199 (USD106.5).
Source: TeleGeography

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Japan’s KDDI Selects Ericsson for LTE

KDDI has selected Swedish equipment vendor Ericsson to deploy its Long Term Evolution (LTE) system and Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network. According to a joint press release, Ericsson will provide a FDD LTE and EPC radio access network based on its RBS6000 base station solution, in addition to network rollout and systems integration services. Further, the agreement marks a milestone as it is the first time Ericsson and KDDI have collaborated to implement a radio access network.
Source: TeleGeography

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Malaysian Network Launches LTE Service

Malaysia’s U Mobile has launched its LTE network, offering theoretical peak download speeds of up to 75Mbps. The network has been launched in strategic areas within the Klang Valley as well as Taman Molek in Johor Bahru. In conjunction with the 4G LTE launch, U Mobile will be offering promotional LTE device bundle-plans starting from 17 December 2013 to 31 January 2014.

Source: Cellular-News

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DoT to Deny Spectrum Sharing On 3G

Under new proposals the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will block operators from sharing 3G spectrum. The DoT has begun drafting rules for spectrum sharing to address the scarcity of suitable frequencies for high quality mobile services. Under the plans, telcos will be permitted to share spectrum resources within a service area, with the caveat that the total amount of shared spectrum should not exceed the maximum allowed to a single provider. This practice will not be extended to 3G spectrum however.

Source: TeleGeography

Optus Introduces World’s First TD-LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation Network

Australia’s Optus has successfully begun testing the future of its 4G Plus network by activating the world’s first TD-LTE Advanced carrier aggregation. Optus announced it achieved single user peak speeds of over 160 Mbps on its commercial 4G Plus network in early December. This announcement follows earlier tests of the potential of the 4 G Plus networks, that demonstrated a site throughput of over 500 Mbps, when utilizing the bulk of Optus’ 2300 TD-LTE spectrum.

Source: Cellular-News

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China Mobile Hong Kong Launches New Corporate Brand, plus Commercial Brand “and!”

China Mobile Hong Kong Company Limited (China Mobile Hong Kong) has announced the launch of a new commercial brand, “and!”, as well as a new twin logo. The new branding reflects the company’s dynamism aligned with the premier mobile network operator’s refreshed corporate image. With this launch, China Mobile Hong Kong aims to deepen relationships with its customers while continuing to deliver innovative and customized value-added services.
Source: Zong PR

Telstra switches on 3,500th 4G base station to reach 85% population coverage

Telstra has announced a milestone in the rollout of its 4G network, revealing that, having deployed its 3,500th Long Term Evolution (LTE)-enabled base stations, its infrastructure is now available to 85% of the population. With the latest cell site inaugurated in Hamilton Island, Telstra has said that more than 300 regional towns now have access to the superfast speeds offered over its LTE network, while 1,500 base stations had reportedly been upgraded over the past six months in order to reach the self-imposed 85% target set back in June 2013; at that date population coverage stood at 66%.

Source: TeleGeography

Omnitel Widens 4G Footprint

Lithuanian mobile operator Omnitel has expanded its Long Term Evolution (LTE) network to the cities of Elektrenai Kaisiadorys, Silale, Kryzioku, Balsiu and Pavilnio. In October the TeliaSonera-owned company said it planned to increase 4G coverage to around 50% of the population in 2014, using 800MHz spectrum acquired at auction earlier that month for a total of LTL5.1 million (USD1.9 million).

Source: TeleGeography

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Ooredoo Launches 3G Services in Algeria

Ooredoo has launched its 3G network in Algeria, just hours after it was granted a 3G license by the regulator. Coverage is initially available in ten major cities across the country. Customers will however need a second 3G-enabled number from Ooredoo, and add it to their existing SIM card.

Source: Cellular-News

China Mobile finally inks iPhone deal

China Mobile has finally signed a long-awaited deal with Apple to sell the US firm’s iPhone handset devices. The pact is expected to help kick-start Mobile’s 4G services, whilst generating billions of dollars of additional revenue for the US manufacturer. The cellco announced that it will begin taking orders for the iPhone on 25 December. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Source: TeleGeography

T-Mobile USA to Offer Free Data Usage for Facebook Mobile Website

T-Mobile USA is to offer free access to the Facebook mobile website to all its low-cost customers, even if they don’t sign up to a paid-for mobile data tariff. The company’s existing prepaid mobile brand, GoSmart Mobile will offer the free unlimited internet access to Facebook and Facebook Messenger from next month.

Source: Cellular-News

VoLTE Testing Will Be Key to Service Rollouts

Voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE) is predicted to grow tremendously through 2016, making it imperative for operators to test the new service at all layers to ensure quality of service (QoS), according to the latest report from Heavy Reading. Demand is mainly being driven by customer requirement for both voice and data and the operator’s ability to provide this with LTE services. It’s important for operators to test VoLTE at various layer levels to ensure the QoS prioritization of the voice element is accurate.
Source: Cellular-News

DRC Watchdog Stages Preliminary LTE License Consultation

The introduction of 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) licenses in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could occur as early as 2014, after a preliminary consultation was initiated by Tryphon Kin Kiey Mulumba, the Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and New Technologies of Information and Communication on 19 December. 3G licenses were introduced in the DRC in July 2012, priced USD15 million apiece. Airtel DRC, Oasis Telecom (Tigo), Vodacom Congo and Africell all acquired a concession, while Orange (then Congo Chine Telecom [CCT]) had a 3G authorization included with its October 2011 license renewal.

Source: TeleGeography

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Samsung Launched Galaxy Star Pro in Pakistan

Galaxy Star Pro (S7262) has been released by Galaxy in the Pakistani market. The Samsung Galaxy Star Pro offers customers the world renowned and highly reliable Samsung Galaxy Experience. It comes with a vivid large 4 inch display with a high quality screen, leading to premium viewing. It further offers the latest Android Jelly Bean Operating System, making multitasking faster and managing applications with easy wireless access. It also features a 4 GB internal memory with a microSD slot for additional storage. Powered by 1 GHz processor and 512 MB RAM.
Source: Samsung PR

Big Shakeup in Tablet Apps Processor Rankings as Qualcomm Wins In Non-iPad Tablets in Q3 2013

The global tablet processor market grew 30 percent year-on-year to reach $1.2 billion in Q3 2013, according to the Strategy Analytics. Apple, Qualcomm, Intel, Samsung and MediaTek featured in Strategy Analytics’ Q3 2013 top-five tablet applications processor revenue share rankings. Qualcomm rose to the number two position in tablet applications processors in Q3 2013 in revenue terms, thanks to its Google Nexus 7 2013 and Amazon Kindle Fire HDX design-wins. This is quite a dramatic change in position as the company hadn’t even made it to the top-five just two quarters ago.

Source: Qualcomm PR

Explosive Smartphone Growth, Cannibalizes Indian Feature Phone Sales

The India smartphone market grew by 229% YoY in the third quarter of 2013 (3Q13). According to IDC, vendors shipped a total of 12.8 million smartphones in 3Q13 compared to 3.8 million units in the same period of 2012. 3Q13 grew by close to 28% over the units shipped in the second quarter of 2013 (2Q13). The 5-6.99 inch screen size smartphones (phablets) continued to show sustained growth in 3Q2013 as well – the phablet category contributed to 23% in the overall market in terms of volume. The overall mobile phone market (Feature Phones and Smartphones) had a 12% growth YoY and a 7% growth QoQ with the share of feature phones sliding further to make 81% of the total market in 3Q13 despite the feature phone market growing at 3% in 3Q2013 over 2Q2013.
Source: Cellular-News

LTE Users Making More Use of Mobile Video

EE said that its LTE customers are sharing and streaming more on 4G than ever before. One in four people (24%) uses social media at least ten times per day and over a third (36%) are streaming more video than they did on 3G, with large peaks in traffic during key events. The survey also revealed that 8.30am and 5.30pm are the busiest times for mobile shopping, as people combine their journeys to and from work with some serious retail therapy. It also revealed that Web browsing and email (40%), video (22%), social media (18%) and music (8%) are top of the list in terms of 4G traffic. More specifically, the top five applications in terms of volume of 4GEE data are: web browsers, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and video calls.
Source: Cellular-News

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Nike Rumored to Be Working on SmartWatch

Nike is reportedly working on a smartwatch of its own to fend off possible challenges from other electronics vendors next year. Nike has a market share of around 30% in the global sportswear market, but could face a challenge in the wearable electronics market from smartphone vendors developing smart watches that include fitness tools. There is however contrary suggestions that the new product could be just an updated version of its existing Fuelband, a simple wrist strap that logs fitness data for downloading to a server
Source: DigiTimes

Samsung Extends HomeSync Compatibility to More Android Devices

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, has announced it will extend compatibility of HomeSync to more Android devices. Through the Google Play app store, more Android devices – including non-Samsung devices – will be able to enjoy the benefits of HomeSync. HomeSync provides one terabyte of private cloud storage, which is enough room to upload 10 photos daily for 82 years, or five minutes of home video for 10 years. The device supports up to eight users with five devices each, so that the whole family can save and share images, music, videos, documents and files from any registered device.
Source: Samsung PR

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Southeast Asia’s Smartphone Sales Volume Up by 61% in Past Nine Months

In the first three quarters of this year, consumers from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines have spent US$10.8 billion on nearly 41.5 million units of smartphones. Among these seven individual markets tracked, Indonesia has the greatest smartphone sales volume and value. Since the beginning of this year, Indonesian consumers have already bought 14.8 million smartphones worth over US$3.33 billion. Thailand and Malaysia are countries with the next highest smartphone sales volume with 7.2 million and 6.4 million units sold respectively. However, in terms of smartphone sales revenue, the ranking of these two countries are switched with Malaysia garnering US$2.25 billion while Thailand raked in US$1.96 billion in the January to September 2013.
Source: Cellular-News

5G Mobile System Requirements Discussed at ETSI Future Mobile Summit

The recent ETSI Future Mobile Summit discussed the next generation of mobile technology which will be developed to succeed the 4G systems currently being deployed. To support the development of 5G technologies, the European Commission has committed EUR700 million to leverage industry investment in R&D between 2014 and 2020 and has announced the 5G Public Private Partnership programme to accelerate and structure research and innovation for interoperable 5G networks. The ETSI Future Mobile Summit was also a tribute to the work of the 3GPP standardization group. ETSI celebrated the 15th anniversary of this project in the castle of Mandelieu La Napoule, France, on the eve of the summit.
Source: Cellular-News

Apple asks US court to ban Samsung phones, tablets

Apple has asked a federal judge to bar US sales of Samsung smartphones and tablet computers in the blockbuster patent case involving the two electronics giants. In a court filing in California, Apple said the smartphones and tablets were found to have violated patents in a jury trial held last year. Apple renewed its bid for a permanent injunction on sales of a number of Samsung products after an appeals court decision last month cleared the way for a new hearing on the matter. In the latest filing dated Thursday, Apple’s attorneys wrote that the court “previously concluded that Samsung’s sale of infringing products has irreparably harmed Apple.” The document added that the appeals court decision “makes clear that the record evidence… collectively demonstrates a sufficient ‘causal nexus’ between Samsung’s infringement and the irreparable harm to Apple.”

Source: The News

BlackBerry Co-Founder Sells More Shares in the Company

BlackBerry co-founder, Mike Lazaridis has sold more of his shares in the company, raising US$26 million according to a stock market filing. That was also the last time he had to report a share sale, as his stake in the company has now been reduced to below 5 percent, which is the threshold for having to report such matters. The sale of the shares also quashes the last vestige of rumors that he might lead a takeover attempt for the company. According to the stock market filing, he sold around 3.5 million shares in two separate transactions last week.
Source: Cellular-News

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China Approves Pilot to Open Mobile Telecoms Market

Authorities have approved 11 private “virtual carriers” to resell mobile telecommunications services. The pilot opens up the market for privately run companies to offer discounts or more attractive deals, raising competition in a market dominated by state-owned enterprises China Mobile Ltd, China Telecom Corp Ltd and China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd. Under the pilot, private companies will be able to buy mobile communication services in bulk from providers which have their own mobile networks, repackage them and sell them to end-users.

Source: Phone World

Google Has Partnered With Audi for On-Board Android

Google is reportedly hitting the road for its next battle with Apple for mobile OS market share. The Web giant has teamed with carmaker Audi to develop in-car entertainment and information systems based on the Android operating system. The aim of the partnership, which is expected to be announced next week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, would allow for in-car integration of music and navigation apps currently available on smartphones. The partnership is expected to generate a challenger to Apple’s iOS in the Car, which aims to integrate users’ iPhones with their car’s onboard receiver or “infotainment” system.
Source: news.cnet

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UPCOMING EVENTS

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CommunicAsia 2014

CommunicAsia is taking place 17 – 20 June 2014 Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. The stellar event recognised by industry professionals, continues to strengthen and stay relevant to the ever changing info-communications technology industry. CommunicAsia2014 is the event that addresses the ENTIREICT ecosystem from 4G / LTE, AR and Innovations, Content Security Management, FTTx, Mobile Apps, Mobile Broadband, Mobile Devices, RF & Cables, Telecom Energy & Power System.
Please visit:http://www.communicasia.com/

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CEM in Telecoms Global Summit 2014

CEM Global Summit 2014 will showcase the most comprehensive agenda in the market. 2 days summit includes 30+ interactive debates, panel discussions, case studies and roundtables to dive deeper into issues such as employee engagement, self-service strategies and how to build that sought-after 360 degree view of your customers. The event will take place 27-29 January, 2014 at Hotel Russell, London, United kingdom.Please visit:http://www.customerexperienceevent.com/

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Managing Customer Churn & Profitability: North America Summit 2014

The summit is set to take place on February 11th to February 13th at EPIC Hotel, Miami, Florida. 3 days of interactive sessions will help company in maximize your networking time with senior representatives from different departmental functions responsible for reducing customer churn and maximizing loyalty and profitability.Please visit:http://www.churnandprofitabilityus.com/

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Mobile Payments and NFC Summit

Mobile Payments and NFC Summit will take place in The Copthorne Tara Hotel London on 25-27 March 2014. The main focus of this summit is to help develop the strategies that are required to effectively develop and monetize mobile payment business model and identify the main stakeholders.Please visit:http://www.mpaymentsandnfc.com/

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Monetising OTT Services

Telecoms IQ’s Monetising OTT Services event will take place in The Copthorne Tara Hotel London on 24-26 March 2014. Should operators be trying to beat the OTT players at their own game? Or can they learn to embrace these services in order to tap into this potentially lucrative market? The answer to these question will provides a unique opportunity to learn from the entire value chain how to work together to generate revenue from OTT services.Please visit:http://www.monetisingott.com/

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Enterprise IT2014

EnterpriseIT2014 is a four day event will take place at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, from 17th June, 2014 to 20th June, 2014. It is Asia’s definitive sourcing platform for innovative technologies. International exhibitors will be showcasing a myriad of technologies such as Apps & Augment Reality, Big Data, Cloud Computing and Services, e-Government & e-Services, Enterprise Networks and Technologies, Storage Systems, Tele-presence and Video Conferencing, and much more.Please visit:http://www.goto-enterpriseit.com/

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Phone World Magazine

CACF has launched 6th Edition of Phone World Magazine covering the devices and their ecosystem serving to bridge the gap between the OEMs, Operators, Distributors, Retailers, and the Consumers. Phone World 6th Edition is available in Pakistani markets. Pdf is available on www.phoneworld.com.pk . PhoneWorld website has latest local telecom news, handsets and also has blog section. For subscription email to: info@phoneworld.com.pk
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3G DEVICE SECTION

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[/column] [column] Name Samsung Galaxy J
GENERAL
2G Network GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 800 / 850 / 2100
4G Network LTE 900 / 1800 / 2100
DATA GPRS/EDGE/Speed/WLAN/BLUE TOOTH/ USB/
Operating System Android OS, v4.3 (Jelly Bean), upgradable to v4.4 (KitKat)
Chipset Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800

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[/column] [column] Name Nokia Lumia 525
GENERAL
2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – RM-998
3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100 – RM-998
DATA GPRS/EDGE/Speed/WLAN/BLUE TOOTH/ USB/
Operating System Microsoft Windows Phone 8 Black
Chipset Qualcomm MSM8227
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[columns indent=”25″ bottom=”25″] [column]
[/column] [column] Name Sony Xperia C
GENERAL
2G Network GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 – SIM 1 & SIM 2
3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100
DATA GPRS/EDGE/Speed/WLAN/BLUE TOOTH/ USB/NFC/
Operating System Android OS, v4.2.2 (Jelly Bean)
Chipset Mediatek MT6589

[/column] [column]
[/column] [column] Name Motorola Moto X
GENERAL
2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – all versions
CDMA 800 / 1900 – for Verizon, Sprint
3G Network HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 – for AT&T, Verizon
4G Network LTE 700 / 850 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 – for AT&T
DATA GPRS/EDGE/Speed/WLAN/BLUE TOOTH/ USB/
Operating System Android OS, v4.2.2 (Jelly Bean), upgradable to v4.4 (KitKat)
Chipset Qualcomm MSM8960Pro Snapdragon
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VENDORS/OEM SECTION

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Ericsson to Accelerate Mobile Backhaul Transformation for E-Plus

Germany’s E-Plus Group has extended its existing exclusive partnership with Swedish vendor Ericsson under which it aims to transform its mobile backhaul to all-IP. With the IP RAN transformation said to be ‘an important cornerstone’ in the German operator’s mobile broadband strategy, Ericsson has also confirmed that under the terms of the agreement between the two companies it will transform the Germany-wide microwave network, which will be migrated to all-IP in the mid-term using MINI-LINK long- and short-haul products.

Source: TeleGeography

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LG to Pre-Install BlackBerry’s BBM into Smartphones

LG smartphones are to start shipping with BlackBerry’s own OTT messaging app pre-installed. Starting with the LG G Pro Lite, BlackBerry announced a bundling agreement with LG Electronics involving both standard and virtual preloading (using the LG App Manager). The company confirmed that BBM will also continue to be available as a free download from Android app stores, including Google Play. The company also restated that the BBM service will continue to be upgraded for Android and iPhone users in the coming months, with updates that will include support for BBM Channels, as well as support for BBM Voice calling and BBM Video calls.
Source: Cellular-News

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Ericsson emerges as main supplier following Chunghwa Telecom’s LTE Tender

Swedish vendor Ericsson has announced that it has been named as the main supplier for the Taiwanese operator’s country-wide LTE deployment, including the Radio Access Network (RAN) and roll-out services. Further, Ericsson has also revealed that it won the tender to act as sole supplier for the Evolved Packet Core, which includes Mobility Management Entity and Evolved Packet Gateway on SSR 8020, as well as IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem). As part of the deployment scope, Ericsson has confirmed it will provide LTE RAN for the most populated areas of Taiwan, including Taipei city.

Source: Cellular-News

LG G Pro Lite Makes Its Global Debut

LG Electronics (LG) has introduced its latest device, LG G Pro Lite, with a 5.5-inch display and unique UX features. In addition to its large IPS display, LG G Pro Lite features an equally large 3,140mAh battery, embedded Stylus Pen, stereo speakers and Dual SIM with a dedicated Hot Key. The phone is also designed with an ultra-narrow bezel for an incredible edge-to-edge viewing experience, slim design for optimal one-hand grip and convenient UX features shared with LG’s other premium G Series smartphones. LG G Pro Lite will make its world debut this month in Latin America followed by markets in Asia, Russia, China, India and the Middle East.

Source: LG PR

NSN Wins LTE Deployment Contract in Taiwan

Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom has chosen Nokia Solutions and Networks as a supplier to its LTE network, targeting a roll-out in 2014. In addition, the operator extended its existing contract with NSN as sole supplier of its HSPA+ network to further increase the network capacity. Under the contract, NSN will implement an LTE Radio Access Network with its market-leading Flexi Multiradio Base Stations. As another part of the radio access deal, NSN will enable voice services for LTE smartphone users with its circuit-switched fallback (CSFB) technology. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Source: Cellular-News

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LG Denies Claims of a Smartphone Venture with Huawei

LG has denied recent media reports that it is considering setting up some sort of smartphone joint-venture with Huawei. LG’s mobile network operator division, LG U+ does have a supply contract with Huawei, but that division operates at arms-length from the handset one.
Source: Korea Times

Huawei Brings the Benefits of Technology to More People around the World

Huawei has launched its global holiday online competition ‘Unlock Possibilities’. Running in 48 countries, the free competition provides the chance to win a line-up of goodies, culminating in two grand prize Mercedes-Benz Sports Coupes.

Source: Huawei PR

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3G Technologies (Guarantee) Ltd.
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