Is T-Mobile and Orange about to get the go ahead in UK? If so, say hello to your new biggest operator

The proposed merger between T-Mobile and Orange in the UK has caused a whole bucket full of regulatory winces. At the start of this month, GoMo News reported how the UK Office of Fair Trading, which was investigating the merger, passed it up to the European Commission to see if the entire process could be sped up. Now both operators are claiming that the EC is on the verge of approving the merger. In which case you could see a new joint-venture between the French and German operators go ahead in the next few months.

#MWC GSMA Awards overview, winners and soft focus perspective

GSMA Awards hosted by Mr Stephen Fry!!!

This afternoon I am at the GSMA awards and I have to be honest, Stephen Fry is the reason I’m here!

ORANGE UK CONTINUES ITS ANDROID ROLLOUT WITH THE HTC DESIRE

: Orange today announced it will be launching the much anticipated HTC Desire, the next Android device to be ranged by Orange in the UK. Available this spring across all Orange consumer retail and business channels, the HTC Desire will be free on selected consumer pay monthly and business price plans.
Offering a rich, intuitive [...]

MWC: Windows Phone 7 games orientated

Rating: Will offer tight integration with Bing, though

It appears that the very latest incarnation of Microsoft’s mobile OS, Windows Phone 7, is very heavily biased towards the gaming/entertainment sector. However, every Windows Phone 7 Series phone will come with a dedicated button for Bing to provide one-click access to search from anywhere on the phone.

Orange launches a €2 for 2MB Travel Data Daily roaming tariff

Orange today reinforced its commitment to enable more customers to get access to mobile multimedia
services with the launch of a daily data roaming tariff across the European Union (EU). The €2 for 2MB daily data bundle is designed to offer Orange customers peace of mind when accessing mobile data services anywhere in the EU.

More Blyk news - the mobile advertiser holds on to powerful analytics from Aito

News from Blyk is like waiting for buses - nothing for ages, then it all comes along at once. After Blyk announced it was being bought into Orange last year, we didn’t hear anything for months. Then in January, Orange announced a new service based on the Blyk offering. This must have gone pretty well, because mobile analytics service Aito has announced it will be continuing to work with Blyk.

Is T-Mobile and Orange merger being put on the fast-track? UK asks EU to step in

Remember this? It was huge during the middle of last year - T-Mobile UK was basically forced by its German parent company Deutsche Telekom to sell its UK operations. The eventual buyer was Orange. This caused raised eyebrows because Orange is owned by French operator France Telecom. More than one question was raised about the wisdom of having the largest operator in England being a French/German joint venture. Evidently this matter has exhausted the UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT), because it has asked the European Commission to take over the matter.

ORANGE RETAINS POSITION AS THE TOP MOBILE BROADBAND PROVIDER IN THE UK

· Orange’s mobile broadband service revealed as the most reliable, according to YouGov survey
· Customers rank Orange top in nine categories including for ‘upload speed’ and ‘ease of use’
London, 1st February 2010: Orange has retained its position as [...]

Orange puts Blyk to good use with mobile brand advertising offering

There was a bit of a skirmish last year, in July 2009. Ad-supported mobile network Blyk went through a “will-they-won’t-they” period of shutting up shop, before finally dissolving and merging parts of the company with mobile operator Orange. And now Orange is launching what could be a powerful new advertising service using Blyk technology. Let’s have a look back to see exactly what’s going on.

Orange UK customers go MMS mad in the snow

“This week, Orange saw one of its biggest spikes for MMS. Yesterday, customers sent an unprecedented 984,000 messages with pictures of them playing in the snow - almost double the normal daily volume. Throughout the day, the Orange network witnessed a considerable increase in customers using MMS to share their experiences in the snow with [...]

Orange gently eases UK bankers into mobile payments with Barclaycard

Orange and Barclaycard have unveiled the “next step” in their payment partnership, with a new contactless credit card. The card delivers a lot of services tied in with your mobile phone - where will these steps end? Hopefully, with full contactless mobile payments.

Do you really need a High Def mobile phone? Orange hopes so.

Orange is introducing a new HD service for phones, which it says will mean an end to crackly voices and poor connections. It promises that the quality of voice calls will increase so much that you’ll feel like you’re in the same room. It also means you’ll need to buy a new phone that is HD enabled.

So here’s a quick question for you.

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.

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?

Orange App Shop client officially launched

Rating: Maybe they’ll get the shop client in time for Xmas
Perhaps just in time for Xmas, the new Orange App Shop has been launched. A special shop client has just been introduced and the company claims, ” ‘One-click’ access to useful services, information and entertainment across a wide range of mobile devices and platforms - [...]

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