Inside Contactless, a provider of open-standard contact-less chip technologies, has announced that its MicroPass 4003 contact-less intelligent payment processor is powering the MasterCard PayPass contact-less payment technology recently launched in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil...

Subex, which provides Operations and Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS) for CSPs (Communications Service Providers), is set to strengthen its presence in Latin America. It is to provide its ROC fraud management system under a contract with Telefónica Ingeniería de Seguridad (TIS), who are acting for Movistar Colombia...

Zoom Technologies, a China-based manufacturer of mobile phones and other mobile electronic products, has unveiled the Leimone E63, its first in a series of 3G Leimone brand phones. The E63 supports CDMA2000/GSM dual-mode with two card slots, UIM and SIM, and is designed specifically for China Telecom's 3G network recently rolled out in China...

Zain Bahrain has showcased the MENA region’s first LTE call, achieving a download data speed of 70 Mb/s. In a trial to demonstrate its LTE readiness, Zain Bahrain “proved its preparedness and commitment” to mass-scale deployment of this advanced technology just six months after announcing the Middle East’s first LTE contract with Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN)...

Research and Markets has announced the addition of African Mobile Voice Market and Major Network Operators to its range of reports. This annual report deals with mobile communications and mobile data markets in 38 African countries...

VocalTec Communications, which provides carrier-class VoIP and convergence solutions for fixed and wireless service providers, has announced that Smart Mobile, a mobile service provider in Cambodia, has selected and deployed VocalTec’s Class-4 International Gateway solution to enable seamless VoIP termination and network economies allowing for improved end-user pricing strategies...

Mobile telephony and data in fourteen Middle Eastern countries has just been by Research and Markets in its Middle Eastern Mobile Voice and Operators Market report. Higher penetration rates and consequent lower ARPU constitute a key finding.

A new research report commissioned by Zain and Ericsson highlights the socio-economic impact of mobile telephony in Sudan. It reveals how mobile communications in Sudan is creating jobs, generating wealth and saving lives.

Accanto Systems’ fixed-mobile convergence solution is allowing a Czech mobile operator to better serve subscribers through a customer-centric approach and drilled down analysis capability...

Alvarion customer Feira De Santana Municipality has won the Prêmio Anuário TI & Governo award for Best Digital City Deployment in Brazil. Its Feira Digital project brings 300,000 people together wirelessly as well as providing public services to the municipality...

GSM subscriber growth is slowly grinding to a halt. According to forecasts from ABI Research, growth is expected to flatline by mid-2011. Asia-Pacific makes up 45% of the global cellular market compared to 29% in 2000...

Mobile money is a highly topical - and highly successful - area of interest for the emerging telecom regions. As our report shows, mobile money can function in even the most inhospitable conditions. Michael Schwartz looks at some recent trends which can themselves be adopted by entrants to m-banking...

It’s small, it’s light and it looks more like a pocket calculator than a mobile phone. But the Vodafone 150 is, according to Vodafone, the lowest cost, fully functioning mobile phone anywhere on earth...

Nine players have expressed their intention to bid in India’s lengthy, much postponed 3G process, and yet despite all the publicity, there are no new entrants. Foreign companies are giving an apparently lucrative opportunity a miss....

This year is set to become a significant one for Middle East telecoms. Specific areas of interest will be broadband investment, clarification of regulations and cloud computing...

A new report looking at Croatia in 2Q10 examines the status of incumbent T-Hrvatski Telekom (T-HT), predicting reduced market share and increased competition. The report is also slightly cautious regarding the mobile sector...

Listing its top trends for the 2010 African telecoms market, analyst IDC has singled out several developments for 2010 which will make this year a series of defining moments. They include submarine cables, backhaul, and broadband infrastructure...

New standards have been adopted by the ITU to enhance the quality of satellite communications during emergencies. All aspects, from early warning through rapid response to relief operations are covered...

Synchronica has signed its largest contract to date for Mobile Gateway. The US$1.05 million Indonesian deal includes 300,000 devices over a one-year period...

Voice Short Message Service (VSMS) allows mobile users to send and receive eight-second voice messages or voice notes from their terminals whether via CDMA, GSM or any other technology by just making a standard voice call. Venezuela’s Equipos Telemo has just become the country’s first company to offer this facility...

Recovery from global recession through 2010 will allow  growth to return to EMEA, including the market for hardcopy peripherals. The prediction for this sector is made by IDC and forecasts CAGR of 7.6% for EMEA for 2010-2014...

A new publication in the Country Reports series from  Datamonitor is called Fixed Line Telecoms in Mexico. It looks at market competitiveness and gives a five-year forecast, as well as the data one expects from this type of report.

Geos Communications, which provides solutions for those in the mobile sector, has acquired the Chinese mobile content retailer Duo Guo, which has been described as the only legitimate retail channel for downloading mobile media content in China.

A new collaboration between Selevision and Irdeto will grow customer bases and increase RoI for television content providers and advertisers in the Middle East.

The Hindu, one of India’s leading newspapers, has published a report on recent progress towards the auctioning of 3G spectrum. We summarise the key intentions in what has been almost a comedy of errors as cancellations and other factors have resulted in distrust and lack of confidence.

Guam’s communications network will see improvements costing US$10 million this year. The aim is to set the stage for more competition in wireless, digital TV and broadband...

Companies and markets has released a new report analysing in great detail the telecoms market in The Philippines. Any loss in growth in 2009 is likely to be compensated for this year. There is also likely to be another entrant in the 3G sector...

Recent findings by ABI Research analyse the impending battle for market share, not to say domination, between WiMAX and LTE. Both systems are progressing steadily and, according to ABI, will co-exist for some time to come...

Fixed-line services provided by Telkom Kenya have recently seen their reliability improved due to a new system which diverts calls to another cable if the original is cut...

Airwide Solutions and Tecnotree will be making available a portfolio of messaging, OSS/BSS and value-added services solutions to operators worldwide. Emerging regions are claimed to benefit from comprehensive, out-of-the-box infrastructure solutions.

A new report from Arab Advisors Group analyses and ranks 20 fixed-service operators in 15 Arab countries. Key performers are to be found in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria. Twenty fixed-line operators in 15 Arab countries served 27.8 million fixed-line subscriptions by end-September 2009, down 4.6% from 29.2 million at year end 2008...

Albanian newcomer Eagle Mobile has introduced a policy of putting incomplete calls on auto mode. It has brought in Kirusa’s Auto-Voice SMS system to monetise these calls...

DTAC, the second largest mobile operator in Thailand, is gearing up to handle increased growth in mobile data, while furthering its commitment to reducing its environmental impact. It aims to significantly lower its carbon emissions with new network architecture and technology from Nokia Siemens Networks...

The world’s first HSPA+ smartphone, powered by the Android operating system, was announced by Huawei at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The U8800 smartphone will be commercially available in the third quarter of 2010, and is able to support high-speed Internet access, which is faster than existing 3G smartphones...