Cellular-News: Friday 2nd June 2006

Cellular-News -

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[[ Financial ]]

Russia's VimpelCom withdraws proposal to buy Ukraine's Kyivstar

Russia's second largest mobile operator VimpelCom has withdrawn its proposal to both Norwegian telecommunication company Telenor and Russia's Altimo, the telecommunications arm of Alfa Group, to acquire

100% in Ukraine's largest mobile operator Kyivs...

Micron, Sprint Nextel Join Corporate Venture Capital Wave

Micron Technology and Sprint Nextel have launched the latest in a recent flurry of corporate forays into the venture capital world. But rather than seeking a quick buck as many entrants did during the Internet bubble, these new efforts are intended t...

Ukraine's Astelit says revenue soars on year in Jan-Apr

The revenue of Ukrainian mobile operator Astelit rose to 111.661 million hryvnas in January-April from 18.115 million hryvnas in January-April 2005, the company said in a report sent to regulators Thursday. ...

Telenor says still interested in VimpelCom Kyivstar deal

Norwegian telecom operator Telenor ASA Thursday said it understands Vimpel Communication's decision not to extend its offer to purchase Kyivstar, but will continue to seek Altimo's agreement to enable talks to go forward. ...

[[ Handsets ]]

Venko, Teikon launch mobile phones from Rio Grande do Sul factory

Brazilian handset manufacturers Venko and Teikon launched their first mobile phones assembled at their new factory in southern Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul state on May 30, local newspapers reported. ...

Nokia: Vertu luxury range to hit LatAm within two years

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia plans to launch its Vertu luxury phone range in certain Latin American countries over the next two years, regional press reported Vertu's CEO Alberto Torres as saying. ...

Dolce & Gabbana Restyle a Motorola Handset

Motorola and the fashion house, Dolce & Gabbana have unveiled a new RAZR V3i Dolce & Gabbana handset, the latest collaboration which unites the RAZR design together with Dolce & Gabbana's signature style for consumers across the world....

[[ Industry News ]]

Emergency Telecoms Provided for Indonesian Earthquake

Following the Indonesian earthquake at the weekend, the communications charity, Telecoms Sans Frontieres has sent a delegation to assist in providing emergency telecoms services to aid workers and displaced people who want to call worried relatives. ...

[[ Messaging ]]

Aicent Claims 100 MMS Interconnections

Aicent has announced that it has reached a significant milestone by offering the largest number of destinations for Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) exchange among global mobile operators. As of yesterday, over 100 operator destinations are already...

[[ Mobile Content ]]

Microsoft To Offer Messenger For DoCoMo Soon - Sources

Microsoft will release a version of its Windows Live Messenger application for use on NTT DoCoMo mobile phones "very soon," sources at Microsoft say. ...

China's BREW Service Market Size Dropped in Q1 2006

China's Analysys International has reported that China's CRBT service market continues to decrease, the total market size had dropped 5% quarterly to reach US$6.1 million in the first quarter of 2006. The continuously sluggish condition has formed a ...

[[ Network Operators ]]

European Mobile Operators To Lower Roaming Tariffs

Six mobile phone operators in Europe have Thursday agreed to halve the price of average wholesale roaming tariffs. ...

Russia's Start Telecom to start construction of WiMAX network

Russian telecommunications operator Start Telecom plans to start the construction of a WiMAX network soon, which is projected to operate in five cities by the end of this year, the company's Executive Director Pavel Kaplunov said, Vedomosti business ...

[[ Personnel ]]

Claro unit denies CEO reshuffle

Brazilian mobile phone company Claro denied it has carried out a CEO reshuffle. ...

[[ Regulatory ]]

EU To Impose Roaming Rules Despite Industry Price Cuts

The European Commission will go ahead with a proposed regulation to slash mobile phone roaming tarrifs despite operators' offer to voluntarily cut prices, spokesman Martin Selmayr said Thursday. ...

[[ Reports ]]

O2 Tops UK Customer Care Survey

O2 ranks highest in customer satisfaction with mobile telephone service in both the pre-pay and contract service sectors, according to a J.D. Power and Associates study. Among pre-pay providers, O2 ranks highest with an overall index score of 738 poi...

Multimedia Services Demand Urgent Planning for Expanded Backhaul Capacity

The growth of mobile data and multimedia services over high-bandwidth

3G networks has mobile operators, traditional wireline carriers, and cable companies alike preparing to make critical choices in an effort to expand the capacity of cellular networ... [[ Statistics ]]

Belarusian GSM operator BeST?s user base at 8,500 as of Jun 1

The subscriber base of state-controlled Belarus Telecommunications Network, or BeST, rose 13.3% in May to 8,500 users as of June 1, the company said in a press release Thursday. ...

April figures suggest 29 million mobile lines by year-end

The Argentine mobile market should grow to more than 29 million lines in service by year-end if the current monthly growth rate persists. ...

[[ Technology ]]

Motorola Buys TTPCom

Motorola is paying US$193 million to buy the UK based TTP Communications. TTPCom, is focused on the three core areas of mobile phone technology - applications, protocols, and silicon. The TTPCom business was founded in 1988 and has approximately 575 ...