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...

Six hours of use and 80 hours of stand-by time are the offering claimed by Thuraya for its new satellite handheld phone battery. Benefits are said to include extended availability during emergencies and extra-rugged construction...

A new report from Companies and Markets provides detailed analyses of the telecoms market in Chad. Failure to secure a national backbone infrastructure as well as international fibre access to support efficient broadband services are two factors identified as crucial if Chad is to progress...

Commitment to doubling tele-density in India’s rural areas formed a recent keynote speech in India. Meanwhile, although 3G has reached Goa, India’s government has still to assign a date for the latest round of 3G licensing. That saga continues. Michael Schwartz summarises...

The Croatian Academic and Research Network has now connected 1,300 schools with the use of Cisco Technology. Its E-Islands project is addressing the Digital Divide between Mainland Croatia and its archipelago...

Nicaragua is set to benefit from a new WiMAX broadband network which will be deployed by Yota, a Russian internet access services provider...

India's state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is now offering WiMAX, making it the country's first operator to provide wireless internet...

Oracle has launched a new application which enables network operators to deploy targeted mobile advertising and marketing campaigns...

A new solution developed by IBM, Novartis & Vodafone and in collaboration with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, is set to use SMS technology as a lifesaving tool by improving the availability of anti-malarial drugs in remote areas in Tanzania...

The Mobile Entertainment Forum has expanded into Latin America with a launch in Brazil, a market forecast to achieve tremendous success in the infotainment sector. So far, 26 founding members of the MEF’s Latin American branch have been declared...

The Czech Republic is to witness an LTE trial, associated with a series of trials that Telefonica is to carry out in both Europe and Latin America. The aim for customers is mobile data with faster response times and rates of up to 58 Mb/s...

Zain is streamlining its operations in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. A strategic five-year plan vested in NSN is intended to modernise a network which must be ready to serve a customer base now at 9 million...

Beijing Mobile will become the first operator in the region to implement direct tunnel technology commercially. Provided by Nokia Siemens Networks, the solution improves packet core network efficiency, allowing increased data speeds and reliable wireless broadband services while providing a platform for future Long Term Evolution deployment...