Wireless Networks

O3b Networks has been developing a new fibre-quality, satellite-based, global Internet backbone for telecoms operators and ISPs. It is now able to anounce that the largest ISP in Afghanistan, NEDA Telecommunications, will deploy O3b Networks' Quick Start service as part of a multi-year, multi-million dollar agreement. The agreement will provide low-latency, fibre quality, Internet connectivity between Afghanistan and the global internet infrastructure...

The first global standard offering an in-home, high-speed network capable of delivering room-to-room HDTV has been agreed by ITU. The standard, published under the G.hn banner, promises high quality multimedia over power, coaxial, phone and other home network wiring. It will give up to 20 times the throughput of existing wireless technologies and three times that of existing wired technologies...

NCC is assuming the new role of a broadband wireless Web access provider, having launched a wi-fi network in Nizhny Novgorod enabled by an end-to-end CBOSS solution...

Qatar Telecom has signed an agreement to implement a full network modernisation project that is intended to double mobile broadband speeds in Qatar. Strategic partner Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) will modernise and optimise Qtel's pioneering nationwide 2G and 3G networks, providing a network infrastructure based on the company's "future-proof" solutions...

Zain has launched commercial services in Ghana with the start of the first 3.5G network on the continent outside South Africa. Zain Ghana's network will offer its customers ultra high-speed Internet access and, for the first time in Ghana, the ability to make video-calls and use rich multimedia content including sending video clips, music and pictures at the touch of a button. Zain's 3.5G network will give Ghanaians a new lifestyle option...

Motorola has announced the deployment of its first WiMAX trial network for Vietnam Datacommunications Company (VDC), a member company of the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), which is the largest ISP in Vietnam. The network allows VDC to test next-generation wireless broadband services in major cities of Vietnam...

In partnership with Safaricom, ADC will be supplying its InterReach Fusion solutions to provide in-building wireless coverage at over 40 sites in Kenya, including the famous 14-storey Landmark Plaza in Nairobi...

ITU has published its annual report, Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2008: Six Degrees of Sharing, detailing a set of regulatory strategies designed to lower the costs of network rollout...

Backhaul is crucial in that it provides the connection between the core network and the mobile base stations that connect to users' devices. Any cellular network is only as good as its backhaul since it does not matter how well the cellular base stations perform or how wide a choice of handsets the customer has: if the backhaul capacity isn't available the user suffers...

Taking the opportunity of the Electronica trade show, Infineon Technologies AG launched what it claims is "the world's smallest Transient Voltage Suppression diode" for the protection of antennas in the latest electronic equipment...

Andrew and its representative in Chile, Raylex, have been chosen by Entel PCS to deploy wireless network infrastructure. The overall contract is intended to enhance the already well-subscribed Chilean mobile market...

The customer base of ETK, the telco serving Krasnoyarsk Krai and the Republic of Khkassia, has exceeded 2 million subscribers. ETK is fully owned by Siberia's largest telco, Sibirtelecom, and with 40% of the local market is the leading company in Krasnoyarsk Krai, far outpacing its federal competitors. Today, it runs GSM-900/1800 and IMT-MC 450 networks...

Freescale Semiconductor is helping accelerate the build-out of China's Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA, a third-generation wireless standard that is being widely adopted throughout China) networks, leveraging deep industry relationships and a broad technology portfolio for wireless infrastructure equipment...

Nokia will launch Nokia Life Tools, a range of innovative agriculture information and education services targeted at non-urban consumers. Designed specifically for emerging markets, Nokia Life Tools helps overcome information constraints and provides services to this next generation of mobile users...

HP has announced a new blade platform designed to help service providers reduce costs and efficiently expand capacity...

iCON Communications, the newest provider of wireless broadband IP based communications services in Armenia, believes it is on track to launch its WiMAX service in Yerevan prior by January 2009, and extending its coverage into major cities in Armenia during 2009. WiMAX has been singloed out by iCON as extending the range and speed of existing wireless internet technologies by covering an entire geographic area rather than limited "hot-spots"...

Through its Wireless Reach initiative, Vodacom, supported by the GSMA Development Fund and Qualcomm, has connected Internet cafes in three of Tanzania's cities to its HSPA mobile broadband network, enabling locals to gain high-speed access to information and multimedia services...

Caribbean telecoms operators have enjoyed many successes in recent years, with the Dominican Republic boasting five million mobiles within a population of ten million. To support network expansion and coverage, local fixed/wireless operator Codetel has deployed Ceragon's FibeAir 3200T all-indoor wireless trunk solution...

Sixteen of the world's best known IT and mobile companies have united behind a GSMA-led initiative to create a new category of always-connected Mobile Broadband devices, intending to deliver an alternative to WiFi whereby customers will go online while on the move...

Sify, a pioneer and leader in data telecom and Internet services in India is to migrate its infrastructure to a Next Generation IP Network in a first of its kind deal with Cisco. The network aims to set new standards for the data telecom services industry in India...

O3b, the brainchild of American entrepreneur Greg Wyler, who most recently rolled out fibre optic cable networks in Rwanda with his company Terracom, is a development with great potential. Standing for the "Other 3 Billion", the company aims to deliver high speed, low cost broadband internet to developing markets...

TT&T is deploying the first Cisco WiMAX network in Asia Pacific at Mae Fah Luang University. Expected to help bridge the digital divide, this will also be the first production WiMAX network in Thailand...

To take advantage of the deregulated market in Poland, rapidly increasing traffic volumes and widening demand for services, Netia, the country's largest alternate carrier, was faced with a major challenge of upgrading its optical network. The solution entailed a radical shift in the core network design using the best technology available on the market. As a result Netia is now able to deliver revenue generating services including IPTV...

Keithley Instruments, which specialises in solutions for emerging measurement needs, is introducing what it believes to be the industry’s first measurement-grade 8x8 MIMO system. The system is used for primary research of next-generation RF MIMO devices and technologies.

Rural telecoms in Bangladesh are set to enjoy a boost with the news that Ericsson is launching a pilot scheme to show how high-speed Internet - directed via 3G/HSPA - can enhance life in the country's rural communities. 

Alcatel-Lucent has won a US$49 million contract right through 2011 by Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC) to supply GSM/EDGE solutions to Vivatel, BTC’s GSM mobile subsidiary.

The Grameen Foundation is well known for pioneering telephone networks in rural surroundings. Its latest scene will allow two organisations to spend US$10,000 on building up village phone systems.

Synchronica, a provider of mobile email and synchronization solutions, is offering Mobile Gateway, its mass-market push email infrastructure software in response to major mobile operators in Africa wishing to provide affordable 'BlackBerry like' services...

Cornet-AM, an Internet services provider and part of the Comstar Group, has finished building the Republic of Armenia's first mobile WiMAX network...

Shyam Telelink, the Indian subsidiary of Sistema, has selected three vendors to supply equipment for construction of CDMA 800 MHz mobile network in India...

High-speed wireless Internet is now a reality in Argentina's San Luis Province, as the result of collaboration by Wavion, La Punta University and Xiden Networking. This is a pioneering project which brings free, wide-area Internet to a region of Argentina...

Sistema, the largest public diversified corporation in Russia and the CIS, which manages fast-growing companies within the consumer services sector, has announced that its Indian telecoms subsidiary Shyam Telelink has selected three vendors to supply equipment for construction of CDMA 800 MHz mobile network in India...

Mobile telephone service providers look set to extend their turf battles to the rural areas, where the cost factor is the only lure for consumers...