Bharti gets 600k 3G customers
India's Bhart Airtel, which has expanded its 3G services in Mumbai, said its 3G subscriber base has grown to 600,000. The company said its 3G users were consuming over 1 terabyte of data per day in one city.
Russia eyes Samsung, Huawei for LTE
Russia’s four main operators agreed to offer services running on Yota's wholesale Wimax/LTE network. The move could be a major coup for Yota’s main suppliers, Huawei and Samsung.
Asia Pacific Telecom shoots for 3m users
Taiwan’s Asia Pacific Telecom is aiming at boosting its subscriber base to 3 million by the end of April from 2.88 million last year. The operator hopes to achieve this by increasing the number of smartphone users and the launch of its new EVDO network.
Sweden 4G sale draws little competition
Swedish regulator PTS said Sweden’s 4G auction generated a total of about $330 million following 31 rounds of bidding over five days. The country chalked up the least amount among the four sales completed globally to-date, due to a lack of competition that hindered the auction.
Indian telcos may forgo excess spectrum in 2014
A memo issued by India’s Department of Telecom hints at compelling GSM operators to hand back spectrum holdings in excess of 6.2Mbps in 2014, when their licenses are due to renewal. Operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular currently hold up to 10MHz of 2G airwaves.
HK 3G auction fetches $240m
Hutchison and SmarTone won a 3G auction in Hong Kong, paying a combined $243 million for 20MHz of spectrum. The operators will be granted 15 year licenses for the spectrum, and be required to cover 50% of the population within five years.
China Telecom world's biggest CDMA carrier
China Telecom’s mobile subscriber base breached the 100-million mark in 2010, according to China Daily. This means the operator has overtaken Verizon Wireless, which has 94.1 million subscribers, as the world's largest CDMA operator.
Bakrie unit zooms in on mobile broadband
Indonesia's Bakrie Telecom, through a subsidiary, has launched a separate brand focused on data products and services. Bakrie Connectivity debuted in June last year and markets its parent company's CDMA data network which has been upgraded to 1x-EVDO Rev A.
SK Telecom, China Mobile do joint R&D
SK Telecom has signed a memorandum of understanding with China Mobile to jointly develop new, next-generation technologies. The deal focuses on four key ICT areas, including next-generation network, device platform, machine to machine and WAC/mobile internet.
ChinaTel taps ZTE for network hardware
ZTE and China Tel Group have signed a contract for ZTE to supply ChinaTel with infrastructure equipment for the nine-city wireless broadband network that the latter is deploying in Fujian province. The value of equipment for the first two cities is $9.57 million.
NTT DoCoMo removes SIM lock
NTT DoCoMo said its customers may request to have the SIM lock capability removed from any of its wireless device sold from April 1. Customers must take their device to any docomo Shop in Japan and sign a waiver acknowledging that certain services and features might be disabled when another operator’s SIM card is used.
Wi-Fi Alliance sets standard for hotspot program
Service providers and device manufacturers in the Wi-Fi Alliance have formalized a set of industry market requirements that will lay the foundation for a new Wi-Fi Certified testing program. The program addresses authentication and provision of service for public Wi-Fi networks.