Going into 2011, new reports on the telecommunications sectors of two Middle Eastern countries detail the past year’s progress and potential future developments...

A new partnership between mobile solutions provider Comviva and Airtel Bangladesh will provide messaging solutions across Bangladesh via Comviva’s Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, Short Message Service Centre and Bulk Messaging Gateway portfolio...

The world’s largest mobile operator, China Mobile, has received permission from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to commence trials of TD-LTE technology in six cities across the country...

A new acquisition could see the early deployment of 3G services by Thailand’s third-largest operator. True Corp, which owns the operator True Move, has confirmed that it will purchase the entirety of Hutchison Telecommunications International’s local CDMA business, complete with associated firms...

A new network-sharing agreement in India between two private operators and state-owned operator MTNL will see extended 3G services in two of the country’s major cities, Delhi and Mumbai...

Russia’s largest operator Mobile TeleSystems has filed a case against Turkmenistan’s regulatory authorities, following the latter’s decision to suspend the licence of Barash Communications Technologies – a subsidiary of MTS – for one month...

The world’s two fastest growing economies, India and China, will soon enjoy a direct underground terrestrial link offering seamless connectivity to customers transiting India or China to reach key global destinations...

Nokia Siemens Networks has announced that it has completed the closing of the agreement to acquire all shares of IRIS Telecom. IRIS is a telecom and engineering services firm headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey...

A new solar power system designed specifically for the Indian telecom market has been launched by Eltek Valere, a provider of high efficiency power systems...

In response to increasing demand for wireless internet access, GTA TeleGuam has installed four new cellsites to boost wireless capacity in high-use areas across Guam...

New information on the telecommunications sectors in two West African countries details the successes of privatisation in Mali, as well as the problems faced by Senegal’s Internet market...

The board of VimpelCom has approved the proposed merger with Weather Investments, the parent company of Egypt’s Orascom. Two thirds of the nine board members voted in favour of the deal, with opposition coming from the three representatives of Norwegian firm Telenor...

A memorandum of understanding has been signed between the Indian operator Reliance Communications and the China Development Bank Corporation which will see the former receive funding of US$1.93 billion...

The designer of China Mobile’s Ophone operating system is reportedly planning on bringing future versions more closely in line with Google’s Android, the platform on which Ophone is based...

India will soon witness the launch of a new device which purports to deliver fast broadband via 3G mobile infrastructure, even in areas with weak 3G signal...

Cybercom has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China’s biggest wireless broadband service provider, CECT-Chinacomm...

Subscribers of Bharti Airtel in Ghana now have access to a new Voice SMS service, supplied by Kirusa...

Following a recent conference in London on financing telecoms in emerging markets, Developing Telecoms Publisher Alec Barton reflects on the recent spate of mergers and acquisitions amongst mobile network operators in emerging markets, particularly in Africa. He looks at some of the causes and considers whether the trend towards consolidation will continue...

India’s second-biggest mobile operator, Reliance Communications, has begun operating its 3G networks. Operating under R-Com, it has switched on 3G services in Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh and Kolkata...

One of Zain’s shareholders has initiated legal proceedings in an attempt to prevent the sale of a 46% stake in the company to rival operator Etisalat, in a move that threatens the proposed US$12 billion deal between the two Middle Eastern firms...

Haiti’s first mobile money service has been launched by Voilà and Unibank, following a successful nine month pilot which provided the international relief and development agency Mercy Corps with a secure, cost-effective method of distributing money across Haiti to support reconstruction efforts...

The Indian regulator TRAI has announced that it will publish a consultation paper that focuses on the country’s VAS market which it hopes will “see how to bring VAS into the active mainstream”...

The GSMA has elected Franco Bernabè, Chief Executive Officer of Telecom Italia, as its new Chairman for a two-year term, from January 2011 through December 2012...

Around 49 million subscribers to Claro Brazil, the Brazilian subsidiary of América Móvil, will now have access to a device-agnostic mobile IM solution, provided by Synchronica. Named Claro Messenger, the mobile IM service is powered by Synchronica’s hosted instant messaging and presence service (IMPS) platform...

 India’s 2G spectrum licensing scandal has provoked many observers into giving their opinions on the country’s telecoms sector, and now the chairman of Tata Group, Ratan Tata, has commented on the events...

Developing Telecoms recently examined some of the factors that have led to mobile banking’s success across many African markets. Mobile money transfers in particular represent a far more secure alternative to handling devalued currency in a cash economy, and for this reason adoption has been widespread. However, the informality of mobile banking infrastructure in Africa can appear challenging to the developed world, and raises serious questions about the potential impact of fraud in the mobile finance sector...

One of the key bones of contention in the VimpelCom – Orascom merger has been the Algerian government’s claim that it was promised ownership of Orascom’s Algerian operations, branded Djezzy...

The Hungarian operator Magyar Telekom (MT) is targeting the country’s SME market with packaged business services that it will deliver via OneAccess ONE100 multi-service access routers...

In a bid to attract subscribers, China Unicom has halved the monthly fee that it charges for its 3G service. The operator’s cheapest monthly 3G tariff – formerly CNY96 – has now been reduced to CNY46...

One of India’s major service providers, Vodafone Essar, has begun a strategic engagement with Wipro, an IT services company, which will see the latter supply its fixed-line telecom services for enterprise business customers...

A new independent tower company will begin operating in Ghana as a result of a joint venture between American Tower Corporation and MTN...

Three of India’s telecom circles will soon have access to high-quality mobile broadband, a new range of VAS and significantly improved voice services from Aircel...

Mobile phones have the power to change lives in emerging markets, but attitudes towards gender are in some cases impeding progress. Cat Barton looks at how the advent of mobile phones in Bangladesh is plagued by a 'gender gap'...

Banglalink, a wholly owned subsidiary of Orascom Telecom and a leading operator in Bangladesh, has won the International Association of the Money Transfer Networks (IAMTN) “Best New Service” Award for Mobile Remittance services, powered by Comviva’s mobiquity mMoney.  This is the first international remittance service available via the mobile phone in South Asia...