Headlines for: 1 Jun 2007

Get CommsUpdate in your Inbox. Sign up here.

AT&T, Level 3 Communications, Qwest Communications, Sprint Nextel and Verizon have been awarded a federal telecoms contract worth up to USD20 billion over ten years, reports the Associated Press. Under the so-called ‘Networx Enterprise’ contract the f...

Ericsson has inked a contract with China Mobile Pakistan (CMPak) to expand the cellco’s GSM network through the southern part of the country. Under the terms of the project - which is due to commence this year - the vendor will provide a complete GSM ne...

Vodafone Spain has selected Ericsson to expand its W-CDMA network throughout the country. Over the next three years the vendor will deliver W-CDMA base stations with HSPA capability. Jaime Bustillo, CTO of Vodafone Spain, said: ‘We are modernising our 3...

Jamaica-based holding company Digicel has called on its main rival Cable & Wireless (C&W) to back up claims that it is close to being the number one operator by subscribers in the islands of Grenada and St Vincent & the Grenadines. CEO Colm Delves said th...

Ericsson has been awarded a five-year managed services contract by Vodafone Netherlands. From today the Swedish equipment manufacturer will take control of engineering, implementation and operational activities on the cellco’s multi-vendor core and tran...

Portuguese mobile operator TMN has selected Opera Mini as its default web browser for its mobile internet service. The Norwegian-developed browser will be available as a free download for TMN customers and will be delivered pre-installed on some of TMN’...

Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), Russia’s largest cellco by subscribers, has announced its operational and financial results for the first quarter of 2007. The company’s consolidated revenues for the quarter reached USD1.741billion, OIBDA was USD903 million ...

MTN South Africa has launched Push-to-talk (PTT) services on its network, running over GPRS via Nokia handsets. a company executive said, ‘The PTT technology has been through a successful pilot phase in South Africa and has enormous potential, as proven...

German telco Versatel has entered an agreement with cellco E-Plus to provide cellular services over the latter’s network. The agreement will enable Versatel to offer triple-play packages of DSL internet access, fixed line and mobile telephony. Details o...

Canadian cellco Telus Mobility has announced the availability of faster data speeds on its CDMA2000 1xEV-DO network throughout Southern Ontario, Montreal and Winnipeg, via an upgrade to Rev A technology. Telus is the second Canadian operator to offer Rev ...

Econet Wireless Zimbabwe has completed the installation of a GPRS data platform on its network, which it says will enable it to meet high demand from its customers and roaming visitors to use ‘BlackBerry’ type mobile devices to send and receive e-mail...

Kirkland-based Clearwire Corp has completed its USD300 million purchase of wireless spectrum in the 2.5GHz band from AT&T Inc. (including BellSouth). San Antonio-based AT&T offloaded the frequencies as a condition of its 2006 merger with BellSouth Corp. T...

According to data compiled by the French telecoms regulator Arcep, France was home to 13.5 million broadband subscribers at the end of March, thanks to the net addition of 805,000 residential and business subscriptions in Q1 2007. Of the total, around 2.6...

Lithuanian incumbent telco TEO LT has begun the installation of a fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network which will enable customers to enjoy access to the internet at speeds of up to 1Gbps. Over three years, TEO LT will invest more than LTL100 million (USD38.9...

The government of New Zealand plans to auction two blocks of wireless spectrum for the provision of nationwide WiMAX broadband services in December, writes online portal stuff.co.nz. The country’s communications minister David Cunliffe has pushed back t...

VSNL has announced the commencement of WiMAX services for enterprise customers in Bangalore. The operator claims it is the first launch of WiMAX in India. According to VSNL President (Global Data and Mobility Solution) Vinod Kumar, the WiMAX network will ...

Alcatel-Lucent has signed a two-year cooperation agreement with Cafés Malongo, the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis and Haitian mobile operator Comcel to offer broadband internet access to the rural area of Cap Rouge in Haiti. The pilot project ‘Tra...

Telmex Peru has completed the purchase of local cable TV operator Virtecom, according to local press reports quoted by BNamericas. Virtecom operates under the Mega Cable brand name in Lima. The deal marks the second cable TV company acquisition this year ...

The National Empowerment Fund plans to sell its 1.5% stake in cellco MTN Group to a range of previously disadvantaged groups at a discount, according to trade and industry deputy director-general Lionel October. At the current MTN share price, the offerin...

A quarter of France Télécom’s domestic workforce walked out yesterday to protest against planned job cuts at the company. AFX News reports that an estimated 25% of employees were on strike by midday following a union call for a one-day strike to expre...

Cofetel has revealed in statement that it has published a final version of number portability (NP) regulations. The regulations are due to be published in the country's official gazette and will come into effect 165 days later. Cofetel previously said it ...

The number of public tele-centres in Venezuela grew by 7.06% quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of 2007, to 2,669, reports BNamericas, citing data from telecoms watchdog Conatel. Most of the centres are franchises of state-owned incumbent CANTV ...