Cellular-News: Tuesday 13th June 2006

Cellular-News -

======================================================================

[[ 3G ]]

Comtech Wins Chinese 3G Standard Contract

Comtech Group says that it has won a significant design contract for a TD-SCDMA infrastructure solution from China's Datang Telecom Technology. TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) is China's proprietary 3G mobile teleco...

3G Consultation in India India's government has sought recommendations from the Telecoms Authority of India (TRAI) on the methodology for allotment of spectrum for 3G services and its pricing aspects. Following this, TRAI has released the consultation paper to facilitate dis... [[ Financial ]]

Iusacell denied special tax exemption request

Mexico's supreme court has thrown out an appeal by the country's third largest mobile operator Iusacell to receive special tax exemption, local daily El Financiero reported. ...

Elektrim: Deutsche Telekom Exercises Call On PTC Shares

Poland's conglomerate Elektrim said Monday that Deutsche Telecom has exercised its call option on shares in the mobile operator, Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa. ...

UPDATE: Elektrim Says Deutsche Telekom Now Controls PTC

Polish conglomerate Elektrim, Monday said Deutsche Telekom has taken control of Poland's largest mobile operator in the latest move in a three-way dispute that also involves French media group Vivendi. ...

Ericsson Sells Defense Division

Ericsson has announced that it is selling its defense business division to Sweden's Saab for US$512 million. Ericsson is selling Ericsson Microwave Systems, and its 40% holding in Saab Ericsson Space, while retaining its National Security and Public ...

[[ Handsets ]]

Wireless Users Say They Need More Information When Shopping for Cell Service

Americans buying wireless service want more information that's easy to understand, according to survey results released by Consumer Action, a national non-profit education and advocacy organization. Sixty-one percent of 1,001 randomly selected adult ...

Motorola RAZR Tops the List of Most Researched Wireless Phones

comScore Networks has released an analysis of the online research and purchase behavior of US consumers in the wireless phone market. comScore revealed that consumers were most likely to research newly released and "trendy" models, with the...

Let the Parents Track You Everywhere ... or Lose that Mobile Phone

Verizon Wireless, the second largest mobile operator in the United States, has launched a child tracking service called Chaperone. ABI Research believes that despite current limitations in infrastructure and technology, attaching child-tracking capab...

[[ Legal ]]

Qualcomm Files Complaint Against Nokia With ITC

Qualcomm's legal clashings with Nokia, which have become more bitter over the past few months, have heated up again. ...

[[ Messaging ]]

TIM, Vivo, Claro enable Microsoft's MSN Messenger

Brazil's three largest mobile phone operators TIM, Vivo and Claro have signed an agreement with Microsoft to allow their users to receive and send instant text messages, reported local newspaper Gazeta Mercantil. ...

Indian Vendor Secures SMSC Order

India's Bharti Telesoft says that it has secured its 25th order for the Short Message Service Center (SMSC) from the Indian GSM network operator, Airtel to become the leading vendor of SMSC solutions for the operator. Bharti Telesoft secured the 25th...

[[ Network Contracts ]]

Nokia Gets GSM Order In British Virgin Islands

Finland's Nokia, Monday said its has signed a agreement with telecommunications company Cable & Wireless to expand their existing global agreement to include the supply and deployment of a GSM network in the British Virgin Islands. ...

[[ Offbeat ]]

A Perfume for Sophisticated Phone Users

Mobiado, luxury mobile phones manufacture, in cooperation with Bissol, manufacturer of luxury fragrances says that they are launching a perfume - designed specifically for, as they put it -? the sophisticated luxury mobile phone user....

[[ Regulatory ]]

Telecom Egypt Group Gets Technical OK For Egypt License

Telecom Egypt announced Monday that its consortium with Telecom Italia has been qualified by the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) for the technical component of its bid for Egypt's third mobile license. The consortium is one of...

[[ Reports ]]

Hurricane Katrina Still Affecting Cellphone Usage

Telephia reports that monthly mobile usage in the Houston and New Orleans metropolitan areas grew by more than 250 minutes between Q1

2005 and Q1 2006. Data from Telephia's Customer Value Metrics research panel shows that average monthly voice minute...

Moroccans Still Prefer Payphones for International Calls

While Morocco's GSM penetration exceeded 40% in 2005, some 80% of GSM users are still using payphones for national calls. A new Arab Advisors Group major survey of GSM users across Morocco avails deep insights into the usage habits of this predominat...

Family and Prepaid Plans Continue to Drive Growth in the United States

Yankee Group says that family plans are a driving growth factor in the North American mobile market. In the United States, family plans continue to have appeal, with 54% of adult postpaid users on a family plan, up from 49% in 2005. Comparatively, 81...

[[ Statistics ]]

Subscriber Gains Continue for North American Wireless Industry

Youth, family and reseller plans are driving strong gains in gross additions for the North American wireless industry as industry trends experienced in 2005 continue through Q1 of 2006, according to Fitch Ratings. Postpaid churn showed further improv...

[[ Technology ]]

Remote GSM picocell solution with satellite backhaul

ip.access says that its nanoGSM picocell solution has successfully completed testing for interoperability with VSAT satellite equipment from iDirect, the satellite-based broadband access solutions developer. ip.access has joined iDirect's IP Alliance...