According to an eFive Telecoms company press release, the system will be comprised of two trunks: the first one connecting South Africa to Angola and Nigeria, and the second linking Angola to Brazil. This end-to-end project will further increase connectivity in Africa, deliver additional capacity for wholesale, and enhance service...

Deutsche Telekom will loss its exclusivity contract for the iPhone as Vodafone and O2 will start to offer the handset on certain contracts before the end of December, Dow Jones reports. Significance: The iPhone is one of the most popular handsets on the market at the moment, and take-up has been very strong in most of...

An Indonesian government minister has threatened to shut down BlackBerry services in Indonesia if device maker Research In Motion (RIM) refuses to block pornographic content, according to media reports. Communication and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring, a vocal anti-pornography campaigner, has said banning digital content...

Many entrepreneurs go into emerging markets with fixed plans and the best of intentions: Launch a business, solve a problem. But the dearth of information about customers, cultures, and competitors often stops them in their tracks. The authors offer five guidelines for creating markets in uncertain environments. 1. Define...

Alcatel-Lucent took another left turn in its application enablement strategy, buying a small tool vendor that enables cross-platform development – with a long-term view of integrating APIs, services and other resources into this new mobile tool...

It appears that M2Z Networks may be leaving the wireless world similar to the way it entered. That is to say, in a murky sort of way. M2Z is the entity whose lofty goal was to build a free national wireless broadband network. But last Friday, one of M2Z's investors got a phone call from the FCC with the news that its...

T-Mobile USA 's planned 42-Mbit/s 3G update in 2011 will involve a software upgrade on the network side, according to a Heavy Reading analyst, but it will also require new devices to take full advantage of the HSPA+ speed boost. T-Mobile started deploying its initial 21-Mbit/s HSPA+ in Philadelphia in 2009 and now covers 55...

Fastweb SpA, Vodafone Group plc, and Guinness feature in today's saloon bar of European telecom news nuggets. In Italy, competitive operator Fastweb is making incumbent Telecom Italia SpA sit up and take notice with the imminent launch of a 100-Mbit/s FTTH service in seven cities. (See Fastweb Hits 100Mbit/s.) Vodafone is...

Orascom chairman Naguib Sawiris has confirmed that talks are under way between his company and Russian integrated operator VimpelCom Ltd. In an interview with Canada's Globe and Mail, Sawiris said: "We are not only talking to them, we are talking to anybody." It has been widely rumoured for several weeks that...

The CEO of Sony Ericsson has stated he does not expect any changes in company ownership "for a while", adding that the handset vendor does not see a current need for any injection of capital. Chief executive Bert Nordberg added that Sony Ericsson, a joint venture (JV) of Japanese giant Sony and Swedish equipment...

Orange Espana, the Spanish subsidiary of Orange, the mobile unit of France Telecom, will invest 500 million euro (US$641 million) over the next two years in network upgrades and capacity enhancement, local media Expansión reports, citing the chief executive officer of the company, Jean Marc Vignolles. Significance: The...

As Greenpeace champions ways to address global warming issues on multiple fronts, the information communications and technology sectors are not exempt from the organisation’s campaigns to fuel changes from the sector. Here we talk with Casey Harrell, who leads Greenpeace International’s efforts to engage the ICT sectors...

With recent numbers showing a decline in performance, customer experience automation and innovation will be needed to ultimately retain customers and keep up with other industries. As mobile and wireline providers encroach on one another’s landscapes, some believe certain strategic initiatives will...

Apple today took time to unveil some new changes to its mobile operating system, as well as refreshes to its iPods, iTunes and Apple TV products. Speaking at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs spent about an hour showing off Apple’s most recent innovations....

The Indian government surprised the industry today by allocating 3G capacity to this year's spectrum auction winners on time. (See India's 3G Auction Ends, Raises $14.6B.) There had been growing concern that the handover of 3G spectrum would be delayed beyond the agreed-upon September 1 deadline, but the Department of...

Cable & Wireless Worldwide plc (London: CW.), VimpelCom Ltd., and Vodafone Germany are among the runners 'n' riders in today's roundup of European telecom news nuggets. Shares in London-based Cable & Wireless Worldwide leapt 12.9 percent in morning trading on the London Stock Exchange amid trader rumors of...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Femtocells and enterprise femtocells are going to help mobile operators provide indoor coverage to their subscribers, while at the same time, relieve backhaul and infrastructure costs, says In-Stat. Although all segments of the emerging compact base station market, which includes indoor and metropolitan picocells...

After a number of delays, Costa Rica's telecoms watchdog SUTEL published yesterday the bidding rules for the spectrum tender for three licences in the 850 MHz, 1,800 MHz, and 2,100 MHz bands, la Nación reports. The selection process will follow a hybrid approach, taking into account both qualitative and quantitative...

The CRTC has said that Canada's largest telecoms operators have to invest more than half of a C$770-million (US$695.3-million) escrow fund on the deployment of broadband to rural and remote areas. The remainder should be returned to customers in urban areas through rebates. According to the CRTC, the broadband roll-out must...

Google has acquired SocialDeck, which enables simultaneous gaming via multiple devices and social networks. The start-up provides a number of games for Facebook, iPhone, and BlackBerry. Significance: The acquisition further strengthens Google's capabilities in the social networking area. Recently it acquired Angstro,...