Clickatell has extended its free SMS services to organisations providing aid to Haiti. The versatility of SMS has made it the communication channel of choice in the aftermath of the recent earthquake, and Clickatell’s move is sure to be welcomed not just by aid workers and residents in Haiti, but by those donating to the numerous charities providing aid to the country...

Facebook and Twitter have found loyal users in Africa. Some say that a lack of fixed-line infrastructure has somehow forced mobile users into using these socially-oriented functions. Michael Schwartz challenges this perception...

Zain’s customers in Malawi, Niger and Sierra Leone are set to enjoy Zap, the company’s mobile commerce service. While Zap in Malawi is only at the pilot stage, the service has been up and running for nearly a year in East Africa...

Brazil has long been a high performer in the world of emerging telecoms markets - in overall economic terms, she is a member of the CIRB group. And yet there are still challenges she needs to meet to become a mature telecoms power. Michael Schwartz analyses...

Telkom Kenya is worried that its deployment of a 3G network in Kenya will be threatened by the US$25 million licensing fee set to be imposed by the Communications Commission of Kenya. The company believes that the fee will mean less money for mobile development...

The world’s tallest building, the Burj Dubai, now offers broadband Internet at what is believed to be the fastest speed in the Middle East. Two companies, Etisalat and du, have enabled the connection...

Mauritius - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband is the latest report from Research and Markets. It predicts that annual GDP growth should return to between 4% and 5% as of 2011...

Mobile application downloads will more than double in the next five years. With the growth in smartphone applications and in application stores, ABI Research forecasts that downloads will reach 5 billion by 20124, from this year’s 2.3 billion...

Brightstar will now be managing online sales for Brazil’s Oi. Initially, globally familiar handsets such as those from Nokia, Samsung, LG, and Motorola will be available, along with well-known smartphone manufacturers like Blackberry, HTC, and Apple...

A joint venture in the Chinese city of Xiamen will witness Taiwanese telco Chunghwa Telecom working with the Government of Xiamen to manage call centre services. Both Taiwanese and mainland Chinese organisations will be served...

Russia’s Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) has enlisted the iBasis Premium Voice service for international calling. Core advantage of the contract is that MTS will gain worldwide voice termination via one single connection to the iBasis network...

The first company to inform us of its intentions for Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona next February is Astellia. Its Cigale Abis monitoring system is designed to improve trouble-shooting and optimisation...

The first company to inform us of its intentions for Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona next February is Astellia. Its Cigale Abis monitoring system is designed to improve trouble-shooting and optimisation...

Zambia’s next general election may see the ownership of fixed-line monopoly Zamtel as a key issue. Main opposition leader Thomas Sata says he will reverse the privatisation as it is a strategic organisation and he believes that rural branches of Zamtel will be closed...

Rwanda has acquired its third mobile licencee, now that Millicom has commenced operations. The newcomer covers 50% of the country, including 3G in Rwanda’s capital Kigali. Operations will be branded Tigo...

The Philippines may see a quadrupling of its citizens signing up for high-speed Internet by 2012. Source of the forecast is silicon-chip-maker Qualcomm, which maintains representatives in Manila...

3G is accelerating the growth in Internet usage in Turkey, according to research conducted by Turkcell. The Turkish company carried out its survey last month among its modem subscribers...

US$45.5 is the price now on offer from France Telecom for a single share in Mobinil, the Egyptian operator owned jointly by France Telecom and Orascom Telecom. Mobinil’s future has recently been the subject of several complex legal and financial developments...

Joining 80 other countries already linked to iPhone, Guam now enjoys basic iPhone 3G as well as the enhanced iPhone 3GS, which is claimed to run at twice the download speed as normal iPhone 3G. A special tariff is in place for new customers...

Demand from the Indian government, telecoms, industrial and utilities segments are expected to propel growth in India during 2010, according to a new forecasting model from Ovum. The market will witness the revival of larger, consolidated outsourced contracts...

Colombia’s Ministry of Communications has extended the contract which it signed with Gilat Satellite Networks by one year. Gilat will also transfer 300 telecentres to parts of Colombia without other means of communication...

Andrew has launched what it describes as “the world’s first” location protection server, the GeoLENs Policy Server. Developed in collaboration with operators, it ensures that access to location information is limited to those who are authorised. In fact, one timely scenario where Policy Server would not restrict location information is in emergency situations when public safety workers are attempting to locate users in distress...

While the final death toll from the earthquake on Haiti has yet to be established, it is clear that many of the world’s leading organisations, public and private, have supplied emergency equipment and food and drink on a massive scale. This article by Michael Schwartz looks at the early help given by the telecoms sector...

A new study conducted by World Wide Worx has identified a growth spurt in South Africa’s Internet user base that looks set to continue into 2010…

Latin America’s largest mobile phone network Claro is set to augment its operations in Honduras by implementing Open Systems’ SmartFlex solution, following a decision from its operator, América Móvil. The move follows a successful deployment of the solution by Claro’s Enitel operation in Nicaragua...

A West African wireless operator is to deploy Redknee’s real-time converged billing and customer care solution. Voucherless top-ups will be a key benefit from the new contract...

Developing Telecoms' publisher Alec Barton questions why he goes to Mobile World Congress, the largest annual convention for the communications industry, and considers how important and relevant the event is to emerging markets...

Videophone roaming is a reality in China, now that China Unicom have teamed up with NTT DoCoMo. China Unicom has also joined 11 telcos to expand the roaming over an international context...

Next month in Barcelona Rohde & Schwarz will put on display its complete product portfolio for new mobile radio and wireless technologies. The company will focus on LTE in the FDD and TDD modes of operation; highlights include the R&S CMW500 wideband radio communication tester with signaling functionality and handover capabilities...

Improved 3G services for Beijing Mobile subscribers will be possible this year as Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) technology and services have been engaged to provide a “future proof” TD-SCDMA network...

Eagle Mobile, which has just commenced mobile operations in Albania, has formed an agreement with Kirusa to offer Voice SMS to its Albanian subscribers. This is stated by the two partners to be the first-ever deployment of a Voice SMS solution in Europe...

Altobridge, a provider of solutions for mobile network operators with a particular focus on emerging markets, has acquired ADC’s portfolio of GSM base station and switching products...

Hoping to court investors, Bangladesh’s telecoms regulator has announced that auctions for 3G licences will be held in 2010...