Who cares what mobile network you’re on; NRJ says why not be on more than one?

Here’s an interesting development. A mobile network in France called NRJ has announced a new ability that will make life much easier for itself and its customers. NRJ doesn’t own it’s own cell towers, and depending on where you are France it can run on either Orange or SFR towers… and quite often both. So NRJ has been working with mobile software company Sicap to turn its position straddling two different operators from a disadvantage into an advantage.

SK Telecom and Hana leading mobile credit payment charge

There are some interesting things going down in South Korea when it comes to mobile payments. The largest operator in the country (and one of the largest in the world) SK Telecom has today confirmed the purchase of a 49% stake worth $350 million / €240 million in the credit card unit of Hana Financial [...]

First true commercial LTE network rollout

Rating: And its from TeliaSonera in Sweden and Norway
Given Motorola’s highly dubious claim to have offered the first cellular mobile phone ever  (despite the Nordic NMT), this time it seems only fair to let Scandinavia claims to possess the world’s first truly commercial 4G network using LTE technology. Via TeliaSonera in Sweden and Norway.
Significantly, [...]

Mobile operator TeliaSonera claims the launch of first commercial LTE

European mobile operator TeliaSonera is claiming that it has launched the very first commercial LTE network in the world. With other operators building test-networks, pre-commercial pilots and other trial deployments, it’s quite possible that TeliaSonera has taken this particular achievement. But lets have a closer look at what it has actually accomplished.

Once again, rumours surface about T-Mobile and Sprint merger

Financial services giant (and massive bailout recipient) Citigroup has breathed new life into a recurring rumour. The company has raised its share price rating for Sprint Nextel, and is claiming that there is a good possibility Sprint and German owned T-Mobile will merge in the next 12 months.

Deutsche Telekom claims first LTE voice call using VoLGA

Rating: We’re obviously getting closer to real LTE
It’s frequently overlooked when discussing 4G networks that, besides providing high speed data links, such networks need to carry the boring stuff too – voice and SMS. Well, thanks to the VoLGA Forum, Deutsche Telekom claims it has made the first LTE phone call. Sadly, VoLGA is not [...]

Waiting for the bandwidth hammer to fall - AT&Ts mobile data threats made simple

This week saw AT&T making some bold announcements concerning flat-rates for mobile data users… and not in the direction that you might want. The high amount of data being consumed by a small segment of the mobile using public has caused AT&Ts head of Wireless, Ralph de la Vega, to make some pretty non-specific threats aimed at high data users.

F5 says it can cure mobile internet bottlenecks

Rating: Side-effect is whole bunch of interesting stats
With mobile data traffic set to grow by as much as 10 to 15 per cent a month, network operators are facing a dilemma. How do they expand capacity? An ideal solution would obviously be cost effective. F5 Networks says that intelligent cacheing is the solution.
The aim [...]

iPhone goes on sale from Tesco on Monday. So where’s the price war?

It has been all the rage to offer actual iPhone units to consumers for free, as long as they are paying a high enough monthly rate. Those that buy generous monthly quantities of texts, minutes and data can expect to walk out of the shop without paying an initial lump sum for the iPhone itself. Tesco Mobile is following along that proven path, and is claiming to have the lowest monthly payments available - 20 quid. But is it really all that great a deal?

Compuware claims Vantage for Mobile improves subscriber visibility

Rating: All-you-can-eat stats on data users
Coming from a networking/IP background, network tool specialist - Compuware - has decided to target mobile network operators with its new Vantage for Mobile offering. It claims the software can drill down right to an individual usersto diagnose data network problems.
The company recently conducted a market research with 22 operators [...]

UK youth offered free MMS for 1 day

Rating: The BBC to benefit from major mobile user-generated content
Not content with getting its news footage for free from an unsuspecting British populace, the UK’s publicly funded media company - the BBC – has decided to sucker more kids into using their mobile phones to send in pictures/videos via MMS.
No fewer than seven leading UK-based [...]

Go-SIM offers cheap data roaming

Rating: Targets US market with its SIM cards, phones & dongles
The term “bill shock” is an infrequently used term, but it applies to data usage just as much as to calls when ‘roaming’ abroad on a GSM handset. A British company, Go-SIM, is now promoting its international SIM cards in the US market. Maybe it [...]

Sprint finishes up absorbing smaller wireless operator iPCS

Sprint announced today the it has completed its tender offer for smaller mobile operator iPCS. The sale has overcome earlier legal obstacles to settle for around $830 million.

The Indian mobile price war is getting ridiculous

Indian mobile operator Reliance Communications (RCom) has announced a new price for sending SMS. It is 1 paise. Which is 0.0002 dollars. To put it another way, it now costs 2 cents to send 100 SMS through Reliance. How do you reckon that’s going to pan out in the long run?

Will iPhone fare better in South Korea than China?

The iPhone has had a troubled journey into South Korea. A playground fight of corporate proportions broke out because of the iPhone, and legal difficulties had to be overcome. But with the device finally launching, will it perform better than the disappointing Chinese launch?

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