The BBC World Service Trust has developed English language courses for mobile phones and is currently offering them to over 50 million mobile phone users in Bangladesh. The idea behind the project is to extend BBC’s existing learning tool to mobile, in addition to TV and Internet, and reach more people.

For the endeavor, BBC has teamed up with all six of Bangladesh’s networks, which have agreed to cut the cost of calls to the service by up to 75%. Speaking of the course, it consists of over 250 audio and SMS lessons, and each lesson is a three-minute phone call, costing about 3 taka.

According to The Financial Times, more than 300,000 people have already signed up for the service, which is great!

[Via: textually]

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• BBC World Service Trust uses Ericsson to do Mobile learning in Bangladesh
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• Get free or cheap phone calls with Truphone
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• Ryanair to start offering in-flight mobile calls

It was back in April when we reported that North Korea has reached 20,000 mobile phone users. Now, 6 months later, we’re glad to see that them number is approaching the 70,000 mark. As of the end of September, the sole mobile operator in the country koryolink, which BTS is majority owned by Eygpt’s Orascom Telecom, reported that its subscriber base has reached 69,261 users. Meaning that in the time you’re reading this, the 70,000 mark has been reached and even surpassed.

In the 9 months ending September 30, 2009 – koryolink reported revenues of $18.5 million with EBITDA of $10 million, representing a margin of 54%.

Currently, the carrier is working to extend the network coverage to the whole country…

[Via: CellularNews]

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During the Mobile Asia Congress, the GSMA unveiled Mobile’s Green Manifesto, developed in collaboration with The Climate Group, to set out how the mobile industry plans to lower its greenhouse gas emissions per connection. The manifesto makes specific policy recommendations for governments and delegates attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen to realise the full potential of the role that mobile communications can take in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.

Through the Green Manifesto, the mobile industry outlines its goals:

• To reduce its total global greenhouse gas emissions per Connection by 40% by 2020 compared to 2009.
• To aim for carbon neutral growth, despite the fact that the number of mobile connections is set to rise by 70% to 8 billion by 2020.
• To work with handset vendors to ensure that the energy consumed by a typical handset is reduced by 40% by 2020.
• To work with equipment vendors to ensure that the life cycle emissions of network equipment components are reduced by 40% by 2020.

And if you care to read the whole thing, you can do that from this page.

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• Juniper Research: Green handset shipments could reach 500 million units globally by 2014
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• Bangladesh-based Grameenphone orders solar-powered base stations from Huawei
• Gartner: India’s mobile services market to surpass $37 billion by 2012

Just when we talked about Oberthur’s EcoSIM card, the company announced that it has demoed a visual voicemail service running on their Multimedia SIM Card GIGANTIC WUAOW during the CARTES & Identification 2009 exhibition in Paris. Oberthur’s “partner in crime” is Spanish Telefonica (NYSE: TEF), which will undoubtedly sell the service as soon as all trials are completed. Moreover, we’ve no doubts other carriers will jump on board, selling visual voicemail to all the feature phone-ownin’ (no smartphone is needed, as far as I’ve understood) folks out there. A new revenue stream for the carriers has emerged, and I bet they won’t miss it.

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• Proof of BlackBerry Visual Voicemail in AT&T’s online account management webpage
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• T-Mobile launches Visual Voicemail app for Android!

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) announced a significant revision to the definition of Mobile Marketing. The new definition is:

Mobile Marketing is a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network.

Where:

• The “set of practices” includes “activities, institutions, processes, industry players, standards, advertising and media, direct response, promotions, relationship management, CRM, customer services, loyalty, social marketing, and all the many faces and facets of marketing.”
• To “engage” means to “start relationships, acquire, generate activity, stimulate social interaction with organization and community members, (and) be present at time of consumers expressed need.” Furthermore, engagement can be initiated by the consumer (”Pull” in form of a click or response) or by the marketer (”Push”).

According to MMA’s President and CEO, Mike Wehrs, the new definition more accurately reflects the evolved nature and current capabilities of Mobile Marketing…

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It is being reported that Telenor is mulling acquisition of Pakistan’s Warid Telecom for around $1.3 billion. If this proves true and Norway-based company succeeds, it will leave the Dhabi Group with 7% of Warid, while other 30% will stay with Singtel.

According to Pro Pakistani, the talks went through in a smooth way, with Telenor agreeing to paying the value that was pretty acceptable for Dhabi Group.

Pakistan telecom market includes 5 big players: Moblink with just over 28 million customers, Telenor and Ufone with just under 20 million customers, Warid Telecom with around 17 million, and China Mobile (NYSE: CHL)-owned Zong with with just under 6 million customers.

And for the record, China Mobile had previously tried to buy out Warid Telecom but reportedly failed to reach an agreement on the price…

[Via: CellularNews]

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• China Mobile to buy Telenor Pakistan?
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• China Telecom to migrate to LTE withing next three years

Helix Wind, the company which we’ve already mentioned in the past, will trial its cell tower-powering wind turbines in Southern California. Installation will occur in early 2010, and the test will run for three months.

In addition to providing power to the cell phone towers, Helix will also test whether it’s feasible to sell excess power to the power grid under a power purchase agreement.

The company is working on the project in association with Core Communications Group-owned Vertical Green.

Finally, Helix points out that due the fact that the number of cell phone towers is expected to grow in the next five years, they will be carefully watching the market and look for the opportunity to sell as many wind turbines as demanded…

[Via: renewbl]

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• Helix Wind’s wind turbines are ideal for cell phone towers in rural areas
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• FCC and wireless carriers butt heads over backup power for cell towers

We already talked about India’s ban on prepaid mobile phones in Kashmir, which authorities put in force in belief rebels use fake documents to obtain the phone cards to evade detection and detonate bombs. Well, the move is far from popular and has led to angry protests, putting as many as 20,000 jobs at risk and jeopardizing peace efforts in the disputed territory between the Indian government and Muslim separatists.

Last week, hundreds of activists from the pro-India People’s Democratic Party demonstrated against the decision, accusing the government for discrimination. The party’s president, Mehbooba Mufti, said: “Our party will launch a movement against the retrograde steps like the banning of mobile phones, which have added to the feeling of siege among the people.”

There are 3 million prepaid card subscriptions in the region, according to the Home Ministry. Each such prepaid card costs about 100 Indian rupees, which is about $2. Not surprisingly, these cards are popular among the youth and those who can not afford ongoing postpaid plans.

The government has said it will review the ban once security concerns are addressed…

[Via: CellularNews]

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• India bans pre-paid phones in Kashmir
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• Russian government to take stake in an Indian operator?

Oberthur Technologies announced the successful deployment of EcoSIM, what they say is the first patented eco-friendly SIM card in the market.

The trick is in the size – Oberthur’s SIM card is half the size of a classic SIM and it also reduces the amount of plastics used by 50%. As a result, the CO2 emissions generated per card is reduced from 16 to 8 grams. In addition, they say because the card is smaller, it also reduces the carbon footprint for transport and overall waste through environmentally friendly packaging using the recycled paper and PEFC and FSC certified materials.

Until now, SIM cards were produced on sheets of plastic using a credit card size format. Oberthur’s process allows for the manufacturing of two SIM cards on a single sheet of plastic instead of one…

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• Sony Ericsson GreenHeart Concept Phone
• Sony Ericsson announcing “eco” phones June 4th
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• Oberthur Technologies’ SIMSense is the first motion detection SIM card

TeliaSonera and Altimo agreed to merge their interests in Turkcell and Megafon into a new company, which will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. AF Telecom, Megafon’s third major shareholder, is also invited to join the partnership, though we’re not sure about their response at this moment.

The idea is to create an international operator, with over 90 million subscribers in Russia, Turkey and the CIS countries, which will focus on developing both Turkcell and MegaFon, as well as look for expansion into new emerging markets.

Both Turkcell and Megafon will continue to operate as separate companies, retaining their own brands and marketing strategies…

[Via: CellularNews]

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• Turkcell to acquire 80% of Belarus’ BeST
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India’s Jet Airways is launching a new service for its customers, allowing them to get the lowest current fares on their mobile phone. The service works via SMS, and in order to use it, users should send a short message containing “Origin Destination Date” (i.e. BOM DEL 25/11) to 56388.

In addition to the new service, Jet Airways already allows customers to check their flight status, get updates on their Jet Privilege account, and check-in — all via SMS.

Commenting on the new service launch, the company’s Sudheer Raghavan said: “This initiative, the first of its kind in the domestic civil aviation industry, is designed to seamlessly offer guests information on the lowest possible fares at that moment. We are confident that it will be popular with our travellers, and encourage more people to book their fares online at jetairways.com.”

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• UK Office of Communications to allow in-flight cellphone calls – OfCom plan allows voice calls
• Prepaid-operator Page Plus Cellular offers unlimited plan, too
• Ofcom moves forward on in-flight Mobile usage…
• Nippon Airways To Offer iPhone Connection Service for New York City to Tokyo Travelers
• Telecom Italia is the latest carrier that has signed to offer Nokia Messaging

Again we bring you the news involving a small carrier. It’s Page Plus Cellular which announced that its Standard Plan will provide more voice minutes for the same price beginning today, November 16th. Instead of 83 minutes, Page Plus’ $10 replenishment card now provides 100 minutes of talk time. In other words, customers who were paying $.12 a minute will now pay just $.10 a minute.

In addition to the $10 refill card, replenishment cards are also offered in $25, $50 and $80 denominations which provide correspondingly more minutes, with the lowest rate of $.06 per minute. The minimum replenishment period is 120 days, meaning a low-use customer can use the service for around $3 a month…

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Switzerland is probably one of the most organized countries in the world. In that sense I was not surprised to learn that the country’s Federal Communications Commission (ComCom) has already instructed the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) to prepare the allocation of mobile radio frequencies which are either currently free or which will become free in the foreseeable future for tender in the course of the next year. The allocation of frequencies will take place by auction.

Current GSM and UMTS licences expire on 31 December 2013 and 2016 respectively, and the idea is to be ready when that happens. In addition, OFCOM also plans to release other frequencies from various mobile radio bands for the provision of mobile radio services.

There are two goals Swiss authorities try to achieve – enable any new operators to acquire mobile radio frequencies, and allow existing operators to equipping themselves with sufficient frequencies for the future.

OFCOM will now prepare the tender documentation and the design of the auction, whereas ComCom will decide on the next steps and is expected to launch the invitation to tender in the course of 2010. All interested companies will be able to participate…

[Via: CellularNews]

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• Ofcom pushes back UK phone spectrum auction
• Indonesia and Chile to auction 3G licenses in the next few months
• UK: Ofcom announces it’s plan to release spectrum (via auction) for Mobile TV
• Switzerland to allow 3G at 900Mhz
• O2 & Qualcomm in line for L-band spectrum in UK

Giesecke & Devrient (G&D), the company we’ve already seen co-operating with Nokia on mobile payments and fighting counterfeit products, has developed a new form factor for debit/credit cards called Convego Air Mobile, which has a form of a sticker, enabling contactless payments.

Once the thin and pliable foil has been affixed to a mobile phone or PDA, the device can be used to pay bills at all terminals supporting the contactless MasterCard PayPass standard. In that sense, the company sees this product as an important transitional technology on the way to contactless payment transactions.

Size wise, the Convego Air Mobile payment sticker measures 43×33 mm (1.7×1.3 inches) and is therefore easily affixed to any phone. In addition, its surface provides enough space for customer-specific designs and optical personalization by laser engraving — i.e. branding.

In terms of real-world use, Convego Air Mobile is already being used in several pilot projects by various banks in Europe and North America.

[Via: CellularNews]

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Israel’s Defense Forces (IDF) is working on a text message rocket alert system. The system, which will be installed within two years and will work alongside existing air raid sirens, will automatically send an SMS to all phones in the area that could be endangered by a missile attack.

The technology behind the SMS notification relies on the advanced rocket sensors which will soon have the ability to calculate the projectile’s exact trajectory. Once the predicted impact zone is identified, all mobile phones in the area will receive a text message with a warning. Moreover, the system will be designed to additionally warn people by making the phones vibrate, produce a sound, and/or flash. I’m guessing some software modification is required for this to work, but I’ve no doubts Israeli army has all the resources needed to pull this out. Hopefully, they’ll never need to use such a system.

[Via: textually]

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• Japanese Mobile Phones to warn of incoming Earthquakes!
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• Upingme wants to mobilize classified ads

A new word has been created – metrotextual, representing a man who is openly affectionate and ends his text messages to male friends with “kiss.”

According to the new research from T-Mobile (NYSE: DT), 22% of men regularly include a kiss on texts to their male friends. Apparently this anomaly (pardon my ignorance) is most widespread among 18-24 year old males with three quarters regularly sealing texts with a kiss and 48% admitting that the practice has become commonplace amongst their group of friends. Moreover, 23% of this age group even appreciate an “x” in an SMS exchange from people who aren’t close friends.

And it’s not just the kids that do this – 10% of men over 55 often complete a text to another male with a kiss.

The research also revealed a certain etiquette – a lower case “x” is the preferred sign-off for 52% of respondents, compared to 17% for a bolder uppercase “X.”

Hmmm, maybe I’m a conservative hillbilly (even though I think I’m not), but none of my male friends does this. Is it just me or this is plain weird?

[Via: smh.com.au, image from scottcounseling.com]

Related News from IntoMobile:

• LG: U.S. teens and tweens use more than 2,000 unknown words in their text messages
• SMS text messaging makes kids smarter
• Texting is for old people!
• Page Plus Cellular unveils unlimited text messaging add-on plan
• Family, couples text heavily

In a single day we caught two news items where we have Google (NSDQ: GOOG) on one side and a smaller company being acquired on the other.

The first news item deals with mobile advertising network/platform – AdMob. The search giant paid $750 million in stock with the idea to obviously dominate the mobile ad market just like they do on a desktop. AdMob is the single largest iPhone ad network and has recently acquired AdWhirl, the company that serves mobile ads from multiple sources. In addition, AdMob also covers other platforms, Android included. Among their clients are such well known companies like Ford and Coca-Cola.

In the other news, Google has acquired VoIP company Gizmo5 for $30 million in cash. With this deal, the search giant gets a true SIP/VoIP provider under its belt opening up new possibilities for its Google Voice service. Moreover, there are certainly some Gizmo5’s assets that could be used to improve Google Talk.

And that sums it up. I’ve no doubts AdMob’s assets will be used properly — after all advertising is Google’s cash cow — but for Gizmo5, I’m not sure. There are certainly some interesting things Google could do with it, but we thought the same for Orkut and Dodgeball, and where are they now? Any thoughts?

[Via: BGR, eWeek]

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• AdMob launches free mobile analytics suite
• AdMob: iPhone ad unit hits 249 million impressions in 2007
• AdMob June metrics highlight rapid mobile web growth
• AdMob acquires AdWhirl!
• Google promotes the Moto Droid on its homepage

Just caught the press release, so I’m not sure this is still valid, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

The Texas-based developer Brice Milliorn is selling its company called JBMJBM on eBay. What’s interesting about it is that the company makes iPhone apps, and 87 apps are included in the offering. Starting bid is $100,000 and we’re eager to see how up can this go.

Among the applications potential buyer will get are Friday Night Lights, iSpy Game, iReferee, iSexyRef, iSexyRef2, Pro Rodeo Fan, Sit Up Counter, Shake 2 Count, plus several College sports apps.

Commenting on the move to sell its business, Brice said he’s doing so to spend some time with his family. And in case you’re wondering, he has sold over 30,000 applications so far. eBay listing is here.

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• Compass Intelligence: U.S. businesses will spend $11.6 billion on mobile apps by 2012

Wataniya Palestine is the second mobile operator that offers its services in Palestine. The company which is owned by Kuwait’s National Mobile Telecommunications (unit of Qatar Telecommunications) and a holding company for Palestinian public assets is looking to serve residents of the West Bank, even though Israel has yet to release the full range of frequencies agreed for the network.

The new carrier began functioning with a frequency range of 3.8 MHz, less than the 4.8 MHz Israel had agreed to open under the last year’s agreement with the Palestinian Authority. Some $270 million was invested in infrastructure in addition to a $140 million licence fee, with part of the money being provided by the World Bank and the U.S. government.

Wataniya Palestine will compete with the existing operator, Zain-owned Palestine Telecommunications Co (PalTel), which has about 1.5 million subscribers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Right from the start, the Wataniya has 40,000 users who had registered during a month-long promotional campaign…

[Via: Reuters]

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• Palestinians get new cell phone network
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India’s Ministry of Home Affairs has announced that pre-paid mobile phones are now banned in Jammu & Kashmir. As a result, no carrier can issue a new pre-paid SIM card while existing SIM cards should not be renewed in the region.

Security issues are the main reason behind the move, and Ministry said that the step comes in the wake of the reports that proper verification is not being done while providing pre-paid SIM cards by the service providers and vendors.

It’s also worth pointing out this isn’t the first time the Indian government has changed the rules about mobile services in the region bordering Pakistan. For instance, mobile phone coverage is forbidden along the demarcation line between the two countries…

[Via: CellularNews]

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• Prepaid phone ban stirs anger in Indian Kashmir
• Lifeline: 1.4 million Americans recieving free or very cheap mobile service
• Mexican legislation would require prepaid customers to register identity
• Sagem my411x: Go Pre-paid with Style
• T-Mobile pre-paid: Now just $1 per day for unlimited in-network calls