China’s MIIT has approved the construction of a subsea cable from the southern coastal city of Xiamen to the offshore island of Jinmen, which is controlled by Taiwan. The 26m yuan ($3.8m) cable will be initially lit at 2x 10Gbps. It will be built by China Telecom and Chunghwa Telecom with 2Tbps design capacity.
Fujitsu is considering whether Apple’s newly unveiled iPad tablet PC infringes its trademarks, after using the moniker on a range of mobile computer products for the retail industry since 2002. A spokesman for Fujitsu Frontech, the Fujitsu subsidiary that makes the computers, told telecomasia.net its North American division is “aware of Apple’s iPad announcement and the possible infringement on our trademark,” adding that the firm is “discussing our options with our trademark counsel.”
Nasdaq-listed Chinese IP vendor UTStarcom will take on $48.5m in investments from a Beijing city-owned investment fund - Beijing E-town International Investment and Development (BEIID) – and two other funds, Ram Max Group and Shah Capital Management.
Nokia has formed a joint venture with educational products provider Pearson to boost sales of the Mobiledu handset-based education program in China. Beijing Mobiledu Technologies will handle the distribution and development of English-language learning materials in China and support the 20 million subscribers Nokia has signed up to Mobiledu since its launch in 2007.
Intelsatsays its IS-4 Indian Ocean satellite has failed and the carrier is working with affected customers to identify restoration capacity.
UK newspaper the Daily Mirror has blocked subscription news aggregation service NewsNow from trawling its website, in the latest move in the battle between publishers and content aggregators.
Global semiconductor sales in 2009 reached $226.3 billion, down 9% on 2008’s sales of $248.6 billion, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). The SIA was expecting 2009 sales to reach just $219.7 billion.