GSM

ETSI considers MirrorLink as connected car standard

The Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC) and ETSI have announced a co-operation agreement under which the latter will formally consider the former’s MirrorLink method of publishing data on car dashboards as an ETSI Technical Specification (TS).

Huawei, Vodafone get LTE, GSM to coexist in same spectrum

Chinese equipment vendor Huawei has showcased what it claims is the world’s first successful implementation of a Dynamic Spectrum Sharing technology trial with Vodafone Spain, that will allow LTE and GSM to coexist in the same spectrum. Although carrier aggregation technologies hold significant promise for maximising spectrum resources, it’s clear that many operators will be wedded to GSM for years to come and this approach leaves both LTE and GSM free to use the same spectrum.

Telenor cuts its losses in Mumbai

Norwegian operator group Telenor will cease operating in Mumbai, after being told by India’s Supreme Court to shut down its operations in the city. The operator’s Indian subsidiary, Uninor, will lose around 1.84 million customers as a result.

NSN reduces M2M signalling load

The number of GSM subscriptions supporting M2M applications is expected to top one billion by 2015, according to equipment vendor Nokia Siemens Networks this week. To meet this demand, NSN has introduced a software suite catering to the use of GSM networks as M2M service platforms.

European giants call for 1800MHz device support for LTE

In a major shift in operator preferences for LTE spectrum, three of Europe’s most influential carriers have joined together to encourage vendor support for LTE devices operating in the 1800MHz spectrum. Making their announcement at the LTE World Summit in Amsterdam, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom and TeliaSonera earmarked the soon-to-be-re-farmed 1800MHz spectrum as their preferred choice for rolling out LTE networks.

EU agrees technical rules for using LTE devices on GSM frequencies

The European Commission has agreed technical rules for how the opening up of spectrum in the 900MHz and 1800MHz bands should take place. The rules are designed to avoid interference between 4G and existing 3G and GSM devices and, according to the Commission, must be implemented by member states before the end of this year.
The rules put in place a mechanism for the adoption of technical harmonisation rules that will allow GSM bands to be made available for LTE and WiMAX systems. Under EU telecoms regulations, member states have already had to examine competition between operators and address “any distortions of competition.”

Ericsson takes Nortel’s GSM business

The carcass of fallen Canadian giant Nortel continues to be picked over, with Swedish vendor Ericsson announcing that it has acquired the certain assets of the Carrier Networks division of Nortel relating to the GSM business in the US and Canada.

Nortel to offload GSM business

Nortel, the fading star of the telecoms world, said late Wednesday it is planning to sell off its GSM and GSM-R (GSM for railways) assets via an open auction process.

CDG announces sub $35 3G handsets

The CDMA Development Group (CDG) looks keen to steal some thunder from arch-rival trade body, the GSM Association (GSMA). The CDG on Wednesday announced that two suppliers are now offering ultra low cost cdma2000 3G devices for less than $35 and another five suppliers are offering cdma2000 handsets for less than $40. In total, the […]

ITU, GSMA tackle digital di

The ITU and the GSM Association (GSMA) joined forces on Tuesday in a bid to tackle the digital divide in some of the world’s least developed markets. During the meeting of the Global Symposium for Regulators taking place in Dubai this week, Hamadoun Toure, secretary general of the ITU, and Tom Phillips, chief of government […]

3GSM Asia: Asian ops plan IM rollout

The GSM Association’s personal Instant Messaging (IM) campaign has scored further success in Asia, with mobile operators in Malaysia and Singapore planning the development and launch of interoperable IM services. Launched at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona last February, the initiative aims to make instant messaging on mobile networks as ubiquitous and popular as […]

3GSM Asia: GSMA goes nuts for biofuels

The GSM Association (GSMA) Development Fund has teamed with Ericsson and MTN to establish biofuels as an alternative source of power for mobile networks in the developing world. For the past three months the trio have been working on a project in Nigeria to demonstrate the potential of biofuels to replace diesel as a source […]

GSMA attacks EC spectrum plans

Plans to make parts of the 3G spectrum available to other technologies have been criticised by the GSM Association (GSMA). The lobby group’s ire has been directed at proposals by the European Commission to free up so-called ‘extension bands’ which have, thus far, been reserved for 3G technologies. The group believes the plans will damage […]

GSMA to lobby Parliament on roaming

The GSM Association (GSMA), unhappy at yesterday’s formalised proposals to cut roaming charges, said Thursday that it will begin lobbying the European Parliament in the autumn, following the summer recess. The Association’s stated position is that it doesn’t want regulation, arguing that its members are able to regulate themselves. To that end, it intends to […]