Headlines for: 8 Sep 2008

Egypt's telecom regulator the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) has announced that the auction for the country’s second fixed line licence will once again be postponed, Reuters is reporting. The decision is understood to have been ma...

Digital trunking mobile operator Intelfon will invest USD75 mullion in expanding its network in El Salvador and its recently launched operations in Guatemala, reports BNamericas citing local daily El Diario de Hoy. The iDEN-based operator also plans to la...

T-Mobile USA has announced that it has launched the T-Mobile brand in all former SunCom Wireless markets throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. According to T-Mobile’s press release, former Su...

Ukrainian telecoms regulator the National Commission on Communications Regulation (NCCR) has revealed that it has received a letter from the Ministry of Defence stating that the conversion of 2GHz band radio frequencies to civilian 3G mobile usage is curr...

Thai cellco DTAC has earmarked additional investment of THB5 billion (USD145 million) for its plan to roll out 3G mobile infrastructure and commercial services in the first half of next year, writes the Bangkok Post. The country's second largest GSM opera...

According to The Jamaica Observer, Digicel will invest USD334 million in its Panamanian subsidiary after the operator bagged the country’s third GSM licence in May 2008; Digicel Panama won the licence with a bid of USD86 million. The funds are to be used ...

State-owned operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has announced that it will float a tender for 93 million GSM lines on 10 September, Indian news source The Economic Times is reporting. The value of the contract is estimated at USD9 billion, with Kulde...

People Telecom (PT) has announced that it has signed a deal allowing it to resell Telstra’s GSM services, Australian IT is reporting. The agreement comes following the announcement in August 2008 by PT that it was aiming to resell mobile services from all...

The Italian telco Wind has postponed the planned sale of its network of 18,000 telecommunications towers which it operates in conjunction with cellular provider 3 Italia. The firm has blamed negative market conditions for the decision to halt the sale, wh...

Cellular operator ONE is to be rebranded Orange Austria from 22 September. The name change reflects the acquisition of a 35% stake in ONE by France Telecom/Orange last year. ONE is Austria’s third largest cellco with just over two million subscribers at t...

Two new mobile resellers are expected to join the cellular market in New Zealand in the coming weeks. Australian-listed telco M2 and locally owned start-up Black and White are set to join Telecom New Zealand, Vodafone and TelstraClear in the NZD2.2 billio...

RomTelecom has been unveiled as the winner of the Romanian government’s auction of wireless internet spectrum in the 410-415MHz and 420-425MHz bands. It beat off the challenge of three rival bidders, NetPoint, Saudi Oger and Tactical Networks, local newsp...

Russia’s largest cellular operator by subscribers, Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), has signed a deal to distribute Apple’s iPhone device, meaning all three of the country’s major cellcos are now able to sell the iPhone. Though the iPhone is still not officially...

The Comium Group has announced that it has nine WiMAX licences in East and West Africa, including in the Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Burundi. The Comium Group is a Lebanese-owned telecoms company, chaired by Dr. Nizar Dalloul. ...

Telecoms Korea is reporting that the Korean telecommunications regulator, the Korean Communications Commission (KCC) has awarded IPTV licences to three operators. The licences were awarded on 8 September to KT Corp, Hanaro Telecom and LG Dacom; all three ...

According to Mexican broadband provider Maxcom’s director General Rene Sagastuy, the telco is set to expand its fibre network with the aim of delivering IPTV services to more cities in the country, IPTV News is reporting. Mr Sagastuy said that Maxcom is f...

According to an industry report by the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG), the British Government's advisory group on broadband, the cost of installing high speed broadband in every home in the UK could reach up to GBP30 billion (USD53 billion). The BSG re...

Cable operator Comcast is launching a legal battle to overturn a decision by telecoms regulator the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to impose sanctions after it was found to be contravening net neutrality rules. The watchdog said last month that C...

The US cable operator Cablevision has launched the first phase of its free Wi-Fi network in parts of New Jersey. The firm says the new network, which offers free wireless internet access to Cablevision cable customers via public WLAN hotspots, is already ...

Paraguay’s telecoms regulator Conatel has awarded a USD1.75 million grant to fixed line operator Copaco for the deployment of internet services in rural areas, BNamericas reports citing local newspaper ABC Color. The grant is being offered under the count...

Antitrust regulator Superintendencia de Competencia (SC) has revealed in a statement that it is studying the proposed acquisition of Amnet Telecommunications Holding by Millicom International Cellular (MIC), reports BNamericas. MIC announced in July that ...

Irish alternative operator Imagine Telecommunications posted an operating loss of close to EUR8 million (USD11.4 million) in the year to 31 December 2007, despite increasing its revenues by 24% year-on-year to EUR49.9 million. The company, which earlier t...

Greek cellco Wind Hellas has announced a 10% year-on-year increase in its consolidated mobile customer base to 4.836 million in the second quarter, alongside a decrease in post-paid annual churn to 21.6%, from 25.5% in 2Q07. Its number of active 3G users ...

Jordan Telecom Group (JTG) will increase its investments by an additional JOD120 million (USD170.8 million) over the coming four years, Chairman Shabib Ammari told journalists at the weekend. ‘The board of directors has endorsed a comprehensive long-term ...

Telecom Italia says it has no plans to sell its media unit Telecom Italia Media or its TV operations, which include the channels La7 and MTV Italia. The firm has announced, however, that it will be implementing a cost-cutting programme at its media divisi...

KDDI of Japan and Russian long-distance telecoms operator Rostelecom on Saturday launched two high speed fibre-optic cables connecting their two countries, Jiji Press reports. The new cables connect Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, and Nakhodka ...