Telecommunications

Intel Corporation and Nokia are to merge their software platforms Moblin and Maemo to create MeeGo, a Linux-based software platform that will support multiple hardware architectures across the broadest range of device segments, including pocketable mobile computers, netbooks, tablets, mediaphones, connected TVs and in-vehicle infotainment systems. The new open software platform will accelerate industry innovation and time-to-market for a new Internet-based applications and services. MeeGo-based devices from Nokia and other manufacturers are expected to be launched later this year. (Source: Nokia)

This week, as the first operator in the world, TeliaSonera launched 4G services commercially to customers in Stockholm, and Oslo.  4G/LTE will open up new possibilities for customers to use and enjoy services on their laptops, requiring high transmission speed and capacity, such as advanced web TV broadcasting, extensive online gaming and web conferences.
The two pioneering 4G city networks cover the central city areas of Stockholm and Oslo and will be used for mobile data. 4G is the fastest mobile technology available on the market, with speeds up to ten times higher than today’s turbo 3G. 
(Source: TeliaSonera)

Vodafone has launched Vodafone 360 - a new suite of Internet services for mobile and PC. To increase the use of social media, all of a customer’s contacts, status updates and messaging services are brought together in one place. Customers will have integrated contacts, music, photos and mapping services and can share their favourite music choices and even their physical location, how and when they choose, with their chosen groups of friends. The service is automatically backed up and synchronised, regularly and wirelessly, between the mobile and PC or Mac. All contacts updates, emails, photos and conversation history or settings changes made either at home or when on the move are saved, keeping all the content up-to-date. (Source: Vodafone)

China Mobile, China’s largest mobile phone provider plans to launch specially adapted handsets for Google’s Android mobile phone operating system in June. The Taiwan-based handset manufacturer HTC said China Mobile would start selling a customised version of the HTC Magic, a handset based on Google’s Android operating system, through its stores. This will be the first high-end handset to be legally available in China and it could open the door for handsets such as Apple’s iPhone into the world’s largest mobile market. China issued 3G mobile licences in January, but it required China Mobile, the largest, to use TD-SCDMA, a homegrown 3G technology, while competitors China Unicom and China Telecom were awarded licences under WCDMA and CDMA2000, the standards used in European and US markets. (Source: Financial Times)

Plans by the European Commission to reform EU Telecoms regulations, centralize regulatory decisions in Brussels and create an European  “super-regulator” to oversee the decisions made at national level, have been blocked by a vote in the European Parliament. The vote by the plenary session was derailed after a group of MEPs reintroduced an amendment aimed at limiting the prosecutions of those found to be illegally downloading copyrighted material.

The European Commission is set to award 18-year rights to a band of radio spectrum that could be used to create new Europe-wide mobile phone services. Two companies are set to receive the S-band licence, UK’s Inmarsat and Solaris Mobile, a joint venture between Luxembourg-based SES Astra and Eutelsat of France.

Prices of mobile phone calls made between EU countries will be further lowered as of July this year, according to an agreement made on 24 March on the EU's so-called 'roaming regulation'. As part of the deal, however, telecoms companies will still be able to subject users to an initial charging period of 30 seconds, which should enable operators to maintain some revenue. (Source: EurActiv)

 

The European parliament has voted to reduce  the price of cross-border data downloads, in a move that echos the reduction of voice roaming telephone charges. The new rules will come into effect in July. Wholesale prices of data will be capped at 50 cents per megabyte, well under the €1 level that the industry had been lobbying for as a compromise. Retail prices for one megabyte of data currently average just under €4, though are falling rapidly. Prices of text messages will also controlled by the agreement.

The major European mobile network operators are lobbying the EU for a delay to new regulations on setting mobile termination rates. The heads of Vodafone, T-Mobile and Orange and other companies will urge commission president Jose Manuel Barroso to defer the plans until 2015, rather than introduce them by 2012. The EU proposal aims for a more coordinated approach to setting termination rates across the EU and to eliminate national charges deemed too high. According to the EC, average mobile termination rates are currently some nine times higher than fixed termination rates. The new regulations could lead to an up to 70 percent reduction in mobile termination rates within a few years. (Source: Telecom Paper, Guardian)

New customers of Alice DSL services, owned by Telecom Italia's German subsidiary Hansenet, will start be offered free mobile internet access as of January 9th.  All new Alice customers will be able to access the Internet via the network of O2 Germany and use up to 30 MB per day for free. (Source: Telecompaper)