A report commissioned by analytics vendor Citrix has revealed the extent of LTE-based video streaming growth. The report focuses on the consumption of LTE-based services among global tier 1 operators; and concludes LTE is already generating five times greater data volume than 3G at operators that offer both.
Indian operators Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices and Aircel this week announced a three way inter-circle roaming partnership to offer pan-Indian 3G services to their customers.
Pakistan’s telecoms regulator the PTA has reacted angrily to a story published by Reuters in which the news agency describes early stages of the country’s current 3G and LTE spectrum auction as “dismal”. In a statement that dismisses the Reuters report as “baseless” and “fabricated”, and raises the prospect of legal action, a PTA spokesperson claimed the auction’s progress is satisfactory.
Millicom-owned African carrier Tigo said this week that it has acquired more than 250,000 new customers in less than three months following its return to two troubled eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Thailand is preparing to finally hold its 3G auction in late 2012. ¬The Thai telecoms regulator, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), will auction off the long-delayed 3G licenses next year.
Vodafone and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe have announced a partnership that will see the UK headquartered international carrier become the ‘preferred partner’ to provide connectivity for the 3G version of Sony’s forthcoming portable gaming console. The deal extends across Europe, taking in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Vodafone’s Partner in France (SFR), as well as in Australia and New Zealand.
Indian operator Bharti Airtel will rely on Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) to expand, plan and operate its mobile networks in seven African countries. The operator, which provides services in 19 countries across Asia and Africa, will rely on NSN to expand its 2G (GSM/EDGE) networks and deploy 3G networks in the countries.
Bulgarian communications regulator the CRC has issued a tender for a fourth 3G licensee in the country. Prospective bidders will be allowed to submit applications for the UMTS licence until November 14, with the award due to take place December 7. The licence will be valid for 15 years and will consist of 2 х 15MHz blocks of FDD spectrum in the 2GHz band.
Poland’s second largest carrier, Polkomtel, has been sold to media mogul and Forbes rich-list regular Zygmunt Solorz-Zak for a reported €4.5bn. The sale brings an end to what’s been a fairly lengthy saga; the telco’s multiple shareholders have been looking to sell the company for several years but opportunities for a clean sale were regularly marred by in-fighting and disagreement over how the sale should proceed.
Belgium’s fourth 3G licence has been granted to the sole bidder for it, Telenet Tecteo Bidco. The consortium, made up of cable operators Telenet and Tecteo, paid €71.5m for the licence, which also gives options on GSM spectrum.
China Unicom’s heavy spending on handset subsidies has taken its toll on profits. Announcing its 2010 annual results yesterday, China’s second-largest operator reported an 11.3 per cent growth in revenue that was tempered by a net profit drop of almost 60 per cent to $586.5m. China Unicom reported losses of RMB 3.4bn on “handset subsidy costs.”
Nextel Brazil, a subsidiary of NII holdings, has won 20MHz licences in the 1.9 – 2.1GHz band in an auction conducted by Brazilian regulator Anatel. Nextel was successful in its bids for 11 of the 13 lots on offer, which will give it coverage of 182.4 million people, or 97 per cent of the population.
The Afghanistan Telecom Regulatory Authority (ATRA) is currently in talks with the country’s four mobile carriers to gather opinion on the allocation of spectrum for next generation services. It is not yet certain whether the regulator will simply allocate spectrum to the operators or whether an auction will take place, however the aim is to have commercial 3G services in Afghanistan by the end of 2011.
Thailand’s Supreme Administrative Court has upheld a lower court ruling halting the auction of 3G licenses in the country. Last week, state run operator CAT Telecom challenged the auction propsal in court arguing that the Office of the National Telecommunication Commission did not have authority to grant spectrum until the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) – new body – has been established.
Indian operator Bharti Airtel has selected Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks to deploy HSPA networks in the 13 regions where Airtel has licenses. Seven telecom regions have been awarded to Ericsson and three each to Huawei and Nokia Siemens. The financial value of the contracts have not been disclosed.
The top three local mobile operators in Thailand, AIS, DTAC and True Move, were the only companies to apply to bid in the upcoming 3G spectrum auction. Qualified bidders will be announced on September 15, 2010. Licenses auctioned will be valid for 15 years for 15MHz bandwidth in the 2100MHz band.
After what seems like years of waiting for it to start, and weeks of bidding, India’s 3G licensing auction has finally come to a close, with the biggest winner being the government. India raked in more than $14.6bn from the process, as operators fought to get the most desired chunks of spectrum.
Swedish equipment firm Ericsson said Monday that it has scored two frame agreements with China’s leading wireless operators, China Mobile and China Unicom, valued at $1.8bn.
On Thursday, Telekom Austria’s Belarusian subsidiary Velcom announced the commercial launch of 3G HSPA+ in Minsk and Gomel.
Google’s own branded Nexus One is quietly creeping into more carrier partnerships, filling out the long tail by targeting those more obscure North American spectrum frequencies.
Disaggregation is accelerating access to more efficient components, and open programmatic interfaces are increasing hhttps://t.co/AixJfpb4t6
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While many in the industry believe standalone core will have a material impact on 5G growth, wider network challeng hhttps://t.co/jNKMQjp7u9
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03 February 2023 @ 13:17:23 UTC
