Cellular-News: Wednesday 3rd May 2006

Cellular-News -

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[[ Financial ]]

MTN Group Agrees Terms For $5.53 Billion Investcom Buy

In one of the largest takeover deals ever entered into by a South African group, mobile phone company MTN Group said Tuesday it has agreed terms that may lead to a $5.53 billion offer for Investcom, which has mobile phone operations in Africa and the...

Verizon CEO Says Still Wants Vodafone Stake

Verizon Communications Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg said he remains interested in buying Vodafone Group's 45% stake in Verizon Wireless, but no actions have been taken on either side. ...

[[ Legal ]]

Research In Motion Comments On Visto Patent Complaint

Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM) said Visto Corp., which has filed a complaint alleging patent infringement against RIM in the U.S. Eastern District Court of Texas, has already filed patent complaints against several companies in the industry. ...

[[ Messaging ]]

Telenor To Provide Microsoft Mobile E-Mail In Sweden

Norwegian telecommunications operator Telenor, Tuesday said it will start offering Microsoft's Windows Mobile E-mail service to its subscribers in Sweden. ...

[[ Mobile Content ]]

Gemplus USIM Cards Chosen by 3 for Mobile TV

Gemplus says that it has been selected as the exclusive USIM partner of 3 Italia, for its world first Mobile TV service. Based on DVB-H technology, the service will be launched on 3 Italia's network prior to the FIFA World Cup in June 2006....

Consumers Bemoan Mobile Games Selection and Pricing

With E3 on the horizon, mobile gaming finds itself in the spotlight, with even Paris Hilton getting into the game. But despite Hilton's proclamation that, "mobile gaming is hot right now," the audience for downloaded mobile games is stagnating. M:Met...

[[ MVNO ]]

Latest Niche Wireless Provider Targets Youth Market

Helio LLC, the latest niche wireless service provider to pop up, launched Tuesday with a set of phones and services geared towards the affluent youth and Korean-American markets. ...

[[ Network C African Operator Compresses Backhaul Traffic NMS Communications has announced that the pan-African operator, Celtel is broadening the use of NMS's AccessGate backhaul optimisation solution to reduce operating expenses as its subscriber base continues to flourish. AccessGate reduces backhaul tra... [[ Network Operators ]]

Indonesia Telkom Expects 3M New CDMA Subscribers In 2006

PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia expects to add three million new subscribers to its Flexi mobile-phone service this year amid efforts aimed at having the CDMA unit contribute a larger portion of the company's consolidated operating revenue. ...

Source says Russian businessmen behind Kyrgyz? 2nd GSM operator

Two Russian businessmen are behind MegaCom, Kyrgyzstan?s second GSM mobile network operator, a source close to the company told Prime-Tass Tuesday. ...

All You Can Eat SMS Tariff

Telia Sweden is launching an "all you can eat" SMS tariff. For the price of US$13.50 (SEK 99) per month, Telia's customers can send as many SMS messages as they can to all mobile networks in Sweden. Telia's Trend Survey 2006 indicated that SMS is sti...

[[ Regulatory ]]

EU Court:Regulators Should Have Studied T-Mobile-O2 Deal

A top European court Tuesday said European regulators were wrong to give antitrust exemption to a roaming agreement between Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile International and 02 PLC. ...

EU's Kroes Mulls Ceilings On Roaming Phone Charges

European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes Tuesday said she may consider imposing ceilings on the 'roaming' charges of mobile phone operators but ruled out creating fixed roaming-service charges across Europe. ...

Telecom Egypt,Telecom Italia To Bid For Mobile License

State-controlled Telecom Egypt, Tuesday said it would join forces with Telecom Italia to bid for Egypt's third mobile telecommunications license. ...

Petition to Repeal Double-Taxation of Cellphone Use

South Dakota, USA cell phone users declared a small victory as a petition was submitted yesterday with enough signatures to place a repeal of a double taxation of cell phone use on the November ballot. The tax in question is the Gross Receipts Tax (G...

[[ Reports ]]

European Converged Device Market Shows Poor Opening Quarter

According to the latest market data from IDC, the Western European mobile device market (including standalone handhelds and converged devices) grew by 25% year on year in the opening quarter of 2006, as total shipments reached 3.2 million units. Sign...

Growth Opportunities for Wireless Carriers in Marketing to Teens and Parents

JupiterResearch finds that wireless carriers can significantly grow their subscriber base and revenues by targeting teenagers and parents with separate marketing messages. According to a new report, 58% of teens have cell phones, whereas 70% of adult...

[[ Statistics ]]

VimpelCom reports 100,000 subscribers to Beeline brand in Ukraine

The number of subscribers to VimpelCom's Beeline brand in Ukraine amounts to 100,000 as of now, VimpelCom said in a press release Tuesday. The brand was launched in Ukraine on April 11. ...