China's north-south telecoms divide has become more pronounced with the news that China Netcom and China Telecom will not look for business opportunities in each other's 'territories.'

Phones-for-Health is a cutting-edge US$10 million public-private partnership bringing together mobile phone operators, handset manufacturers and technology companies.  

Financial analyst Deloitte has revealed the countries whose rates of taxation, direct or indirect, on mobile communications are the highest in the world. Heaviest tax is in Turkey, where the taxation rate as a cost of mobile ownership is over 2.5 times the global average. Deloitte's report, commissioned by the GSMA, is summarised in this critical review...

Financial analyst Deloitte has revealed the countries whose rates of taxation, direct or indirect, on mobile communications are the highest in the world. Heaviest tax is in Turkey, where the taxation rate as a cost of mobile ownership is over 2.5 times the global average. Deloitte's report, commissioned by the GSMA, is summarised in this critical review...

China is a market which astounds observers with amazing regularity. On this occasion two sources of surprise are almost in competition. The first is that China has just completed a 4G trial in Shanghai and moved to full development - the surprise being that it has achieved this before rolling out 3G. The second surprise is that Chinese 3G has taken so long, as one of our own recent reports has noted...

The incumbent international gateway monopoly business model is past its sell-by date; governments should liberalise this market immediately and all stakeholders will benefit. This forceful assertion is the conclusion of Tom Phillips, Chief Government & Regulatory Affairs Officer to the GSM Association.

The Sudanese telecoms market is increasingly becoming more competitive in both the fixed and cellular markets...

Mobile communication is revolutionising economic and social life in rural India, spawning a wave of local entrepreneurs and creating greater access to social services, according to a new study by The Centre for Knowledge Societies commissioned by Nokia. The research identifies seven major service sectors - including transport, finance and healthcare - that could be radically transformed through mobile technologies...

Mobile communication is revolutionising economic and social life in rural India, spawning a wave of local entrepreneurs and creating greater access to social services, according to a new study by The Centre for Knowledge Societies commissioned by Nokia. The research identifies seven major service sectors - including transport, finance and healthcare - that could be radically transformed through mobile technologies...

Latin Business Chronicle has just launched its Latin Technology Index, a review of how 17 countries in Central and South America are rising to the challenge of boosting penetration rates in PC, fixed and wireless telephony, Internet, and broadband Internet.

Egypt's telecom market is fairly liberalised, declares the Arab Advisors Group. By December 2006, the regulator (NTRA) had issued more than 200 telecom licences, three cellular licences, two payphone licences, two prepaid calling card licences, four VSAT licences and four international GMPCS operators...

Russia has the potential to become a world leader in advanced mobile communications if it follows a transparent and objective approach to licensing third-generation spectrum, according to the GSM Association.

Vodafone is set to launch a £7bn plus offer for the Indian mobile phone operator Hutchison Essar as the company prepares to fight off rival bids for India's fourth largest telecoms carrier...

Arab Advisors Group has launched a new report which analyses the cellular tariffs for 42 cellular operators in 19 Arab countries.

Malaysia's government is encouraging the roll-out of 4G/WiMAX in its country next year by announcing that it will issue two appropriate licences in the next few months.

Bharti Airtel Limited has awarded Nokia an estimated US$400 million contract to expand its managed GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks in eight Airtel circles and to deploy a pan-Indian WAP solution across its networks.

Slovenia's Masterline has agreed to distribute PacketLight Networks productions and solutions for storage and disaster recovery. Michael Schwartz learnt more from PacketLight CEO Coby Hanoch, and asked him for his views on Slovenia as a place to trade.

Over the last five years, the fixed telecoms sector in Central and Eastern Europe has faced major challenges from mobile, which has appeared unstoppable. However, it is now believed that the decline in fixed-line penetration may show signs of slowing down - and that in some markets there may yet be some growth...

According to the ITU 45,000 exhibition visitors attended ITU Telecom World. But how many were from Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Central Europe? It seems many exhibitors felt not enough to justify the cost of participating. Telecom returns to Geneva in 2009. But has the day of mega-events passed, or has a rival event taken Telecom's place?