Japanese firms Matsushita Electric Industrial and securities service company Secom are amongst a group of companies looking to offer a range of next generation wireless broadband services from spring 2009, the Nikkei daily writes. It is understood that Matsushita intends to sell notebook computers and car-navigation systems capable of connecting [...]

Fixed wireless access operator TeleCard has announced that it has selected Augere, a European company focused on broadband delivery in emerging markets, as the contractor for its WiMAX network, according to Pakistani news source The Post. TeleCard has confirmed that deployment of equipment has already started and commercial services are [...]

Thai fixed line telco TT&T; has reported consolidated group revenue for the second quarter of 2008 of THB1.939 billion (USD57.5 million), up by 10.3% from THB1.758 billion in the second quarter of 2007, and by 6.9% from THB1.814 billion in 1Q 2008. The increase in turnover was mainly attributed to [...]

The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has ruled that UK mobile operators face millions of pounds in repayments after overcharging BT customers who called mobile phones from their fixed lines. The ruling covers an ongoing row between BT and mobile operators after the latter raised termination rates in 2006; the CAT [...]

The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) has announced that South Korea now has 45 million mobile phones in operation, a penetration rate of 91%; approximately 43 million of these phones are reported to have internet connectivity. The number of landline phone users continues to fall however, with 23 million subscribers reported [...]

Telenor of Norway says it would consider selling its stake in Russian cellular operator Vimpelcom to bring an end to a long-running conflict with the cellco’s other main shareholder, Alfa Group. The dispute between Telenor and Alfa centres on their interests in Ukraine, where they both own stakes in the [...]

Telekom Austria has reported a 26% fall in second-quarter net profit due to higher interest expenses, falling fixed line usage, competition in its domestic mobile market and start-up costs in Serbia and Macedonia. Net profit for the three months to the end of June fell from EUR130.6 million (USD191 million) [...]

The US wireless internet service provider Pipeline Wireless has awarded Redline Communications a contract to provide WiMAX products to support Pipeline’s first WiMAX network rollout. Redline will supply its RedMAX AN-100U base station for Pipeline’s deployment in downtown Boston. A commercial launch will take place within the next few months, [...]

The Romanian telecoms market is set to grow by 10.6% to EUR4.3 billion (USD6.3 billion) in 2008 according to a study by Polish research firm PMR. Cellular market leader Orange reported an 8.8% increase in revenues for the second quarter of 2008, while rival Vodafone saw sales rise 7.6% over [...]

The Bangkok Post reports that Thai cellco DTAC is preparing to launch commercial 3G mobile broadband services in Bangkok in the first quarter of next year. The GSM operator plans to introduce 3G services in three phases. A THB1.2 billion (USD36 million) first phase will cover the capital in the [...]

The Telecoms Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has announced that restrictions on internet telephony are to be lifted, Reuters is reporting. Currently domestic internet calls are limited to PC-to-PC connectivity, and are prohibited from terminating on a PSTN or mobile line; international internet calls may connect to both PSTN and [...]

An official from Oman's Ministry of Finance has revealed that eight telcos have expressed formal interests in bidding for the 25% stake in Omantel that has been put up for sale by the government. Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and Etisalat are two of the companies said to be in the [...]

Fritz Joussen, the head of Vodafone Germany, has called for the auctioning of radio frequencies no longer used for terrestrial television, reports Thomson Financial citing an interview that appeared in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The executive said that the frequencies should be sold to telcos to bring broadband internet to those [...]

Ugandan mobile operator Warid Telecom has launched two new value added services (VAS) Music Zone and Gaming Zone, claiming a first for the country. The Music Zone service allows Warid customers to listen to music for as long as they want for a flat-rate fee of UGX299 (USD0.18), while Gaming [...]

Brazilian mobile phone and computer manufacturer Intelbras has started selling its first three cell phone models, writes BNamericas citing a company statement. Intelbras is looking to augment and expand its solutions portfolio which currently includes telecoms, technology and electronic surveillance gear for security markets. The new Intelbras-branded models are the [...]

Brazilian mobile operator Telemig Celular and its parent, Telemig Celular Participacoes, have completed a share buyback programme, reports BNamericas citing a statement from the Sao Paulo stock exchange Bovespa. The two firms purchased a total of BRL903 million (USD550 million) worth of shares, it said. Telemig Celular Participacoes bought back [...]

Just days after the completion of the government’s sale of a 70% stake in national fixed line operator Ghana Telecom (GT) to Vodafone Group, the country’s opposition Convention People’s Party (CPP) has pledged to review the deal if it is voted into office in the forthcoming elections in December. One [...]

Municipally-owned telco Empresas Municipales de Cali (EmCali) has selected Chinese equipment vendor ZTE to build it a WiMAX mobile broadband network. ZTE said in a statement yesterday that it will deploy a 3.5GHz 802.16e WiMAX network covering Cali, Colombia's second largest city with two million inhabitants, and the Popayan region. [...]

The Russian wireline and fixed-wireless operator Synterra has reported a 250% increase in net profits for 2007 at USD138 million. Revenues for the year more than doubled to USD449 million. ‘The considerable revenue growth in 2007 was primarily due to organic growth in the business of the Synterra Group,’ the [...]

The Russian wireline operator Comstar UTS has received access codes to allow it to begin offering domestic and international long-distance fixed line services. ‘We will be able to provide local, inter-zonal, inter-city and international telephony services, as well as broadband internet access, IPTV services and other data transmission related solutions,’ [...]

The minor US cellular operator Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel) has contracted Alcatel-Lucent to deploy 3G CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A technology for its subsidiary Shenandoah Personal Communications Company. The USD30 million upgrade covers Shenandoah’s networks in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. ‘Advances in technology are moving faster than ever before, [...]

Saudi Telecom Company (STC)’s subsidiary in Kuwait is to sell off a 25% stake worth KWD25 million (USD93 million) prior to a flotation on the Kuwait Stock Exchange later this year. The sale, which will begin on 22 August MEED reports, comes as part of deal agreed when STC was [...]