Bids for Nigeria's state-run telecoms company Nitel are being received from both local and international firms. There appears to be a sticking-point in that the Nigerian Government will give priority to those bidding for the entire Nitel enterprise although the key asset and therefore target is the MTEL mobile division...

Huawei has been selected by Grameenphone, a subsidiary of Telenor, to deploy solar-powered Base Transceiver Stations in Bangladesh...

Nokia's new mobile financial service Nokia Money will consumers with mobile device access to basic financial services. For many consumers, this will be the first time they have had any access to such financial services...

Ovum’s new report, "3G spectrum licensing in India", outlines a number of issues which have caused auction delay, unresolved issues clouding future outlook and several contentious issues still to be resolved. For the author 3G spectrum auction is unlikely to attract additional new players or entice most of the new 2G licensees to participate...

Ugandan mobile carrier MTN has launched Voice SMS service across the country, based on Voice SMS technology from Kirusa, a vendor of Voice SMS and developer of mobile value added services. The MTN Voice SMS offering in Uganda is bolstered by additional features like Scheduling and Dynamic Group Voice SMS...

Subscribers to T-Mobile in the Czech Republic can expect to enjoy advanced 3G data and multimedia services thanks to a faster mobile broadband network. Nokia Siemens Networks has been selected to build an advanced 3G mobile network...

A team of informatics and engineering specialists at City University London has received US$200,000 in funding from the UK Government’s UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) for a three-year project to develop new security measures for mobile banking...

Hunan's provincial government has announced that its local Unicom operation has launched 3G services. To encourage use, a 50% discount is available for all existing or potential Hunan Unicom subscribers...

Thuraya Telecommunications Company has launched what it describes as the world’s toughest satellite phone, namely the new Thuraya XT. Thuraya is also using the words most rugged and reliable phone in the market to reinforce the importance it is attaching to the launch...

With a fixed-line penetration rate of 21%, Chile can now boast the highest such rate in Latin America. The newest report from Companies and Markets covers a variable market where fixed-line is successful but broadband has to date been disappointing in terms of growth...

Followers of the problems challenging the Egyptian mobile operator Mobinil and its would-be purchaser France Telecom will be aware of the coverage Developing Telecoms has given to this long-running saga...

According to the Times of India, rumours are circulating that the group of Indian Ministers with responsibility for allocating 3G spectrum will be confining the bids to just four new players...

Reports from China Knowledge and SinoCast Daily Business both indicate that 3G deployment in China is continuing faster than predicted by the three licencee companies. China Telecom appears to be enjoying a clear advantage over China Mobile and China Unicom...

Indonesia is set for huge growth in 3G service uptake over the next five years, and operators are taking creative steps to build out that subscriber base, according to the latest forecast data and analysis from Pyramid Research, the telecom research arm of the Light Reading Communications Network...

Iraq is now the most competitive Arab cellular market. This year’s Cellular Competition Intensity Index, instituted by Arab Advisors Group, reveals that Jordan (most competitive market in 2007 and 2008) has come in second...

Following the recent prolific deployment of cabling systems in the seas around East Africa, two highly-respected organisations, the Christian Science Monitor and the BBC, have been bringing their customers up-to-date. Michael Schwartz reviews the articles...

International Launch Services (ILS), which provides mission and launch services to the commercial satellite industry, has carried the AsiaSat 5 satellite into orbit on its ILS Proton on behalf of Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat) of Hong Kong...

 London-based firm Companies and Markets have released a new report entitled 'Cuba - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband' which profiles the fixed-line, mobile and broadband markets in Cuba. The report notes that Cuba has the lowest mobile penetration rate in Latin America and that government-controlled Etecsa and its subsidiary Cubacel monopolise fixed-line and mobile respectively...

The Asia-Pacific region will see huge numbers of cellular towers built over the next five years, with demand driven by the massive, rapid increase in mobile subscribers in China and India. By 2014, according to Cellular Base Station and Site Leasing Markets, a new study from ABI Research, the area will contain 39% of the world’s cell towers, in a Total Addressable Market worth nearly US$125 billion...

Xiamen Hospital in China’s Fujian Province is using a wireless LAN system from Aruba Networks to improve patient care in mobile Electronic Medical Records, patient registration applications, Real-Time Location Tracking, and video surveillance...

T-Hrvatski Telekom has released a review of its operations in Croatia,where it remains a key player in fixed-line and mobile. Fixed-line has experienced a minor decline as the company increases its role in Internet provision. Broadband technologies are proving successful with targets remaining ambitious...

The telecoms market seems rather quiet at present - with the exception of India. This review by Michael Schwartz looks at recent developments in this massive market and tries to identify some of the major current trends... 

Russian operator Synterra is to deploy ECI’s new XDM-3000 to accommodate growing customer demand for capacity-intensive carrier-class infrastructure solutions that can simultaneously handle both Ethernet and TDM-based services, fundamental to the ECI 1Net framework for optimal network transition...

Pakistan’s Universal Service Fund has chosen Balochistan and Southern Punjab as the targets for its latest initiative to bring telecoms to the country’s remote areas. Half a million Balochistanis will be helped by this new development...

Supported by Sky Perfect JSAT, KVH's newest mini-VSAT coverage area now supports broadband Internet and voice services for maritime and aeronautical applications...

Kenya has pioneered e-Learning in sub-Saharan Africa now that the Kenya Broadcast Corporation has launched digital content for use in schools. Doreen Apollos, writing on the Corporation’s website, introduces us to the development...

Issue 45 of Submarine Telecoms Forum contains an article by Dr Andrés J Fígoli Pacheco, a Senior Legal Counsel with Telefónica International Wholesale Services (TIWS) in Montevideo, Uruguay. He has been engaged in improving the legal framework protecting submarine cables in Latin America...

Analyst and forecaster Companies and Markets has recently turned its attention to the less-publicised markets in the Caribbean. Its profile of Haiti’s fixed line system can hardly be described as optimistic...

Statements by the CEOs of both Turkcell and Turk Telecom indicate that both believe that introducing 3G into Turkey will be achieved more cheaply by the two companies sharing the costs of infrastructure...

Azerfon, one of the fastest growing mobile operators in Azerbaijan, and Vodafone have announced a non-equity partnership to provide customers with “high quality communications services and to collaborate jointly on future technological developments”...

WiMAX provider Alvarion and Angolan operator Mundo Startel will be expanding the WiMAX facilities available in Angola as a result of the contract they have just signed...

Gilat Satellite Networks will provide Argentina’s Servicio Satelital with a SkyEdge II satellite communications network to enable broadband Internet connectivity at hundreds of sites nationwide. The sites will include schools, oil and gas firms and retail lottery locations...

Indian Minister of State at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Shri Gurudas Kamat updated his country’s Upper House of Parliament (the Rajya Sabha) regarding progress towards rural tele-density projects and penetration...

ZTE Corporation is rolling out a state-of-the-art all-IP mobile phone and data network for a newcomer to Madagascar, mobile operator Madamobil...