3G

MTS extends its 3G coverage

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 11:07:26 -0500

Russia's largest mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) has launched 3G services in two more Russian cities--Chelyabinsk and Irkutsk. This brings the total number of 3G networks launched by MTS since May 2008 to 10.

MTS intends to launch 3G networks in at least 14 cities during 2008 and in up to 40 cities in Russia through 2009. MTS also holds 3G licenses in Uzbekistan and Armenia, where the networks are scheduled for launch in 2009.

MTS reports very strong demand for the mobile data services delivered by its 3G networks with one city, Yekaterinburg, experiencing a 30 per cent growth in mobile Internet traffic in the three months following service launch.

For more on this story go to Mobile Europe

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Ericsson wins UK 3G RAN management contract

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 10:53:09 -0500

The joint venture formed by T-Mobile UK and 3 UK to run their 3G radio access networks (RAN) has awarded a four-year managed services contract to Ericsson. Mobile Broadband Network Limited (MBNL) was formed by the two UK operators in January 2008 with the intention of deploying the UK's most extensive 3G network by 2010.

Under the new contract Ericsson will be responsible not only for the operation and maintenance of the jointly owned 3G network but also for T-Mobile's 2G radio access network. MBNL's deal with Ericsson should deliver substantial cost savings and enable better control over operational expenditures. As part of the contract Ericsson will be decommissioning an estimated 5,000 cell sites. Around 80 T-Mobile employees have been transferred to Ericsson.

For more on this story go to Telecomredux and Mobile Europe

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Local operators win Turkish 3G licences

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 10:45:22 -0500

Following an auction Turkey has issued three new 3G licences, all to incumbent operators. Plans to issue a fourth licence were cancelled due to lack of interest from potential bidders.

Turkey's largest mobile operator Turkcell won the A Licence, which offered the largest block of spectrum, with a bid of US$462 million. The other licences were won by Vodafone and Avea with bids of US$323 million and US$276 million respectively. This auction was Turkey's second attempt at awarding 3G licences; the 2007 auction was cancelled after Vodafone and Avea refused to participate unless the Government mandated number portability as part of the deal.

For more on this story go to Cellular News

Related article:
Turkcell flourishes, while Vodafone complains

Apple told to pull iPhone ad

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:10:38 -0500

The UK advertising regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), has told Apple to discontinue using a TV ad for the iPhone. This is the second time in three months that Apple have been found wanting in respect of iPhone advertising. In August this year the ASA banned another ad which promised users access to ‘all parts of the Internet' a promise that it could not keep. On this occasion the offending ad showed a close-up of the iPhone 3G browsing the web, downloading files, and viewing Google Maps, loading each in a fraction of a second.

A number of consumers complained the ad exaggerated the speed of the device and the ASA concurred. Apple argued the ad was meant to be relative rather than absolute and that consumers would understand the loading speeds were simplified as an example but this argument cut no ice with the ASA.

For more on this story go to Silicon.com and The Register

Related article:
Nielsen: 98 percent of iPhone subscribers use mobile data

Mobile Life in Germany in 2012

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:38:27 -0400

In the next few years, more and more people will have access to ultra-fast mobile Internet on their handsets as 3G penetration in Germany exceeds 60 per cent by 2012. Revenues from data services on mobile devices, not including those from SMS and MMS, are expected to more than triple to €5.7 billion by 2012 from €1.6 billion in 2007. Article

Free 3G broadband ... for BT WiFi subscribers that is

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:17:49 -0400

Having only announced last week that it had cut the cost of its Openzone WiFi service by as much as 50 per cent, BT has gone a stage further today by including a free mobile broadband connection for subscribers on the company's most expensive tariffs.

The company claims that its WiFi business continues to exceed its expectations in terms of new subscribers and traffic, with Chris Bruce, general manager of BT Openzone, stating: "Over the last six months we have seen double the use compared with the same period last year." BT also announced that it was making available 2,500 new European WiFi hotspots, which, altogether, makes the dramatic price cuts seem somewhat curious

Regardless of this, BT maintains that business users want the best connection available, albeit fixed, WiFi or 3G broadband. Customers wanting this level of connectivity can subscribe to the company's Business Total Broadband tariff and receive a USB dongle to make a connection to the 3G network (Vodafone in the UK) and 100,000 BT WiFi hotspots.

The combined WiFi/3G package starts from around €26 per month for those signing a two-year contract, although this offer is no longer available after the end of this year.

For more on this story:
- go to the The Telecom and FierceWireless: Europe interview

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T-Mobile unveils 3G/WiFi docking station (femtocell?)

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:14:07 -0400

In what appears to be an initiative to educate WiFi laptop users into the wonders of 3G mobile broadband, T Mobile has released details of a docking station for its 3G mobile broadband dongles.

Labelled the Mobile Broadband Share Dock, the T-Mobile device allows multiple users (but no more than three at any one time) to connect to the femtocell-like Share Dock using their WiFi-enabled laptops. Users then plug a T-Mobile HSPA dongle into the Share Dock that provides the laptops with the mobile broadband connection.

T-Mobile admitted the dock only worked with its own USB dongles--being SIM-lacked. The company said its Share Dock would be available later this month with the cost dependent upon the user's existing 3G contract.

This move by T-Mobile might be seen as peculiar, but given the huge number of 3G dongles being sold they might (just) have a winner on their hands.

For more on this story:
- go to Reg Hardware

Related articles:
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New French 3G licence designed to trigger competition

Paul Rasmussen — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:40:20 -0400

Lack of competition in the French cell phone market has prompted the telecoms regulator ARCEP to recommend that a new 3G licence should be awarded in a public tender. However, ARCEP failed to specify if it would award all the available frequencies to one bidder or divide the available spectrum into several bundles, some of which could then be earmarked for new entrants.

Leaving the door open to further political lobbying, the French Finance Minister, Christine Lagarde, said she had received the recommendations and would be discussing the issue with other relevant ministers prior to submitting their observations to parliament at some future date.

Following public consultation conducted earlier this year by ARCEP, the idea that the available 3G spectrum could be bundled into packages open to existing operators was rejected unanimously. This essentially leaves the French broadband provider Iliad (which tendered a low offer last year) as the most likely bidder for a 3G licence. In the past ARCEP has rejected Iliad's applications for failing to stand up to financial scrutiny, although with this latest recommendation the regulator has failed to provide any details of the financial criteria required of interested parties.

"We are looking at procedures that give priority to all or part of the frequencies to a newcomer, following similar conditions that governed the previous tenders," said an ARCEP spokesman.

For more on this story:
- go to EasyBourse and ITPro

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Rumour mill: 4th French 3G licence shelved. Licence story
French operators play politics to stop 4th UMTS licence. French operator story

Orange ignores femtocells and launches 3G/Wi-Fi UMA service

Paul Rasmussen — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:36:39 -0400

Not wanting to wait for femtocells to become commercially viable has provoked Orange to announce its 3G/Wi-Fi UMA strategy. The company, which already has more than one million users of its 2G UMA service, claims its 3G UMA solution is a 'world first', initially using handsets from Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

Gareth Abel, the company's marketing operations director for Orange group handsets, said the decision to go with Wi-Fi was made some time ago specifically to accelerate Orange's convergence strategy. "However, we've been working very closely with Samsung, Sony Ericsson and the cell phone chipset vendors to make 3G work within UMA. The critical challenge was to make the handover of voice calls from 3G to Wi-Fi, and vice versa, a seamless switch. This was the main technical issue and we had a dedicated team to ensure this would work, but it was a complex challenge."

The 3G UMA service has been designed to work with the Orange Livebox access point with the objective of attracting users of the new handset to download music, TV content and videos. "It will be targeted at a younger audience, a segment that wants to consume a wide choice of multimedia," said Abel.

The company admitted it would continue to monitor the development of femtocell technology, but, more specifically, focus on its potential readiness for widescale deployment. "For the moment, there won't be an immediate switchover to femtocells, as there's been a lot of effort within Orange achieving the 3G UMA product that we're announcing," confirmed Abel.

Story source: FierceWireless Europe

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Kineto's UMA Client to be available for 3G Phones built with Qualcomm Chipsets. UMA client story
3GPP adds 3G support to UMA standard. 3GPP story

T-Mobile joins 'free laptop' parade

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:30:01 -0400

Having seen Orange and 3 launch ‘free' laptops configured for 3G usage, T-Mobile has responded with its own offering using an Asus Eee PC 901 netbook. The deal, which was launched late last week at the giant IFA trade show in Berlin, calls for subscribers to sign a 24-month contract--however, pricing has not been announced, although is expected to be below existing offerings from other operators.

The laptop includes an integrated 3G module specifically designed for T-Mobile's network (said to log on within seconds of booting up the laptop) and connection manager software that was jointly developed by the two companies.

For more on this story:
- go to ZDnet

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