Qualcomm said it plans to sell the radio spectrum it acquired during India’s BWA spectrum auction. The official word is that they are not in the network building business and that they don’t want to compete with network operators, which may be their clients. The goal was to secure the deployment of LTE in the…
Israel to launch missile warnings SMS service
It’s unfortunate when a service like the one I’m going to talk about is actually required… Israel’s Defense Forces are about to announce the details of a long-planned SMS alerts service to warn citizens of incoming missile attacks. The application was developed by Israel-based eViglio in cooperation with Ericsson, and is expected to be activated…
GSMA’s Mobile Business Briefing gets a Chinese-language edition
One must admit China is increasingly becoming an important player in pretty much every industry, mobile included. That prompted GSMA to launch a new Chinese-language edition of its popular Mobile Business Briefing news service. Chinese edition will be published on a weekly basis and offered as a free service that covers global industry developments. The…
China’s mobile number portability trials begin later this month
We know India is on its way to introduce mobile number portability, how about China? Well, it seems things are moving forward in that direction in the world’s most populous country as well. According to a document released by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), Mobile Number Portability (MNP) tests will start in…
Orascom’s mobile network in North Korea keeps growing like crazy
Orascom Telecom announced that its mobile network in North Korea, Koryolink, has grown by 63%, from 184,000 to more than 301,000 users, in the three months to the end of September. The reason for such a solid quarter is obvious – they are the only operator in the country and have expanded recently to more…
QIP is Russian answer to Skype?
Most of us haven’t heard of QIP, but apparently it’s getting a popular instant messaging and VoIP app in Russia these days. The man behind this product is a billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who is planning to create a rival to Skype and offer cheap online calls. The service is still not as widely popular as…
Indian government plans to introduce encrypted SIM cards for secure communication
The Indian government is reportedly planning to come up with guidelines to issue encrypted SIM cards with digital signatures unique to an individual or company, allowing secure interaction over email and SMS from a mobile phone. Moreover, mobile banking services would also take advantage of the increased communication security. N Vijayaditya, Controller of Certifying Authority…
Is your cell phone haunted?
Do you ever get calls that are heavy with static? Or do you get calls from “withheld numbers?” According to one “paranormal expert,” it may be because your phone is haunted and ghosts are trying to contact you. That’s according to a report out of The Sun and this shows off some “research” from paranormal…
India’s Tata DoCoMo to launch its 3G network on November 5th
The ever-innovative Tata DoCoMo is gearing toward launching its 3G network on November 5th, making it the first private operator to launch a WCDMA-based network in India. The so called Diwali Day will compete with two state-owned rivals, MTNL and BSNL, which were given an “early 3G start” by the government. Tata DoCoMo’s Executive President…
TerreStar Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Remember TerreStar? The satellite company that makes those slick little satellite phones? Yeah, well, it just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Word was that the company wasn’t doing so well, so this doesn’t come as a surprise to those who were whispering about TerreStar’s financial woes. After the all, the company has over $1 billion…