Arianespace has successfully launched Intelsat S.A.’s newest satellite, the Intelsat 17 (IS-17), from Kourou, French Guiana...

Mobile penetration in two central Asian countries is nearing 100% following healthy growth over the past decade...

A pilot mobile number portability (MNP) scheme has launched in two Chinese provinces, the northern municipality of Tianjin and the southern province of Hainan...

Vietnam’s telecommunications sector is witnessing healthy growth with the advent of 3G. Operators are keen to offer the new technology, and increasingly liberalised regulation is attracting foreign firms to the market, according to Pyramid Research. Mobile data services are growing in popularity due to the proliferation of 3G services, and a CAGR of 13.4% is forecast through to 2015...

The same three vendors that are deploying Bharti Airtel’s 3G infrastructure in India have been awarded contracts to expand the operator’s African networks following its acquisition of Zain Africa...

Russia’s increasing need for business communications capabilities has prompted VimpelCom to sign a capacity deal with SES World Skies in order to increase the volume of its services in Eastern Siberia and the Far East of Russia...

LTE infrastructure in Kenya could be constructed by a public-private partnership and then sold with equal availability to both new and existing service providers, according to a new proposal from the country’s government...

The Indian 2G licensing scandal that resulted in the resignation of the country’s telecoms minister Andimuthu Raja will has seized the attention of several government ministers and regulators, who have declared their intention to punish those involved...

The success of mobile financial services in Africa is well known throughout the industry: the proliferation of mobile phones has transformed attitudes across the continent towards banking. Speaking to some of the market’s key players, Developing Telecoms asked what it is that makes the services so compatible with the market...

Tunisia’s largest operator, Tunisiana, is now completely owned by Qtel. The Qatari operator already owned a 50% stake following a joint venture with Orascom, and the Egyptian conglomerate has now sold its stake to its partner as part of an effort to reduce its overall debt before it completes its merger with VimpelCom...

The leading telecom operator in Bulgaria, VIVACOM, has launched a unified OSS platform in Plovdiv, in southern Bulgaria...

Updates for the fourth quarter of 2010 are now available for the telecommunications sectors in Kenya and Sudan. Covering mobile, fixed-line and internet sectors, the reports from BMI Research feature the latest market data released by service providers and regulators...

An international competitive carrier in Israel has deployed a convergent prepaid and postpaid charging solution from LogNet Systems...

Nigeria’s Sterling Bank has launched a new SMS fraud protection service, in line with the trend of African banks taking advantage of the ubiquity of mobile phones to interact with their customers and enlist their help in monitoring card activity for fraudulent charges...

Nokia Siemens Networks has introduced a new Flexi BSC (base station controller) that offers up to 80% reduction in energy consumption along with a 40% increase in capacity over existing base station controllers...

Chinese firms ZTE and China Unicom are jointly launching a new online application service in Hong Kong. Entitled the “WoStore”, the service is a multi-device, multi-platform application store built by ZTE...

Cambodia has managed a remarkable transition in building a vibrant telecom market. Despite the country's status as one of the least developed nations in the world and whilst it remains one of the poorer countries in Southeast Asia, Cambodia's efforts to expand and upgrade its telecom infrastructure have certainly been bearing fruit. ..

The GSMA has announced the formation of a task force of mobile operators to explore the development of an embedded SIM that can be remotely activated. The move is expected to enable the design of exciting new form factors for mobile communications. It will also speed the development of M2M services by making it easier to bring mobile broadband to non-traditional devices such as cameras, MP3 players, navigation devices and e-Readers, as well as smart meters...

Cloud computing looks set to top Asia’s agenda for the next ten years, if the opinions of key executives from China Unicom and Korea Telecom are anything to go by...

Market research outlining Azerbaijan's telecommunications sector indicates that the country’s economic dynamism is driving growth...

The GSMA has announced that it is launching the Mobile Energy Efficiency Network Benchmarking Service, an initiative that will provide a benchmark measurement of network energy efficiency, and will help mobile network operators lower their energy costs and carbon footprint. With this information, it is now possible to identify the scale of potential efficiency gains and develop programmes to achieve these savings...

The number of LTE connections in Asia Pacific will exceed 120 million by 2015, according to new data released today by Wireless Intelligence. This aggressive growth will be spearheaded by China with the country expected to account for nearly half (57.9 million) of the total number of LTE connections in Asia Pacific during this period. Major Asian countries are currently driving HSPA and LTE Mobile Broadband uptake to boost productivity, enhance GDP and build more efficient, information-based economies...

The national carrier of Paraguay, Compañía Paraguaya de Comunicaciones S.A. (COPACO S.A.), has connected to iBasis, a wholesale carrier for the exchange of long distance phone calls. The connection makes Paraguay part of a global network spanning over 100 countries and delivering more than 2 billion minutes of international voice traffic every month...

New market reports for two West African nations – Gambia and Burkina Faso – suggest that both countries have weathered the global financial crisis well. Telecoms and internet offerings are set to improve over the next few years with the advent of new fibre-optic cables...

As part of its ongoing dispute with India’s tax authorities, Vodafone has been ordered to pay a deposit of INR 25 billion (£345m) of an INR 112.18bn tax claim...

The handset market in India has attracted another major player in the form of Sharp, the Japanese electronics firm. With an aggressive expansion strategy that will see it launch four devices in India before the end of the year, Sharp has stated its aim of “becoming a leader in the mobility market in India”...

 The South African mobile telecommunication market is one of the most developed and mature markets in Africa with a very high demand for mobile value added services. In order to meet this demand, the South African operator Cell C has selected MCTEL to deploy its device management platform on its network...

 India’s Department of Telecoms has been hit by allegations that have forced the country’s telecoms minister, Andimuthu Raja, to resign. The department is believed to have sold 2G spectrum licences for far less than they were worth, thereby costing India billions of dollars...

Globecomm Systems has won a contract to provide wireless managed services in Freetown, Sierra Leone...

The next generation of wireless broadband appears to be taking off in Africa, with several African countries recently witnessing the launch of their first 4G networks...

Azur Congo Brazzaville, a subsidiary of group operator Bintel Ltd, has increased its investment in Redknee’s billing and customer care solution in response to the fast customer acquisition it has experienced since it launched in September 2010...

 China’s forthcoming Taiyuan-Zhongwei-Yinchuan high speed railway will have its essential wireless communications enabled by Andrew Solutions. The firm will provide a coverage and capacity system in the Shanxi Province section of the railway...

Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries lead the European ranks in terms of fibre to the home/building (FTTH/B) subscriber growth. The fastest adoption of these technologies can be observed in countries where local loop unbundling (LLU) has either not been implemented or not gained much popularity. In the long term, investment in FTTH/B technology will become one of the major competitive weapons for all fixed broadband operators in the ongoing battle against mobile broadband providers...

The US Virgin Islands recently witnessed the launch of commercial services – including unlimited voice services and 4G mobile broadband - by Choice Communications...