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]

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…

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]

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.”

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…

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]