Brazil’s newest mobile operator Unicel plans to launch commercial services in Sao Paulo metropolitan area on September 7th, under the brand name Aeiou. Unicel acquired a GSM licence in October of last year for BRL 93.8 million ($60 million), and is now looking to attract 500,000 subscribers in its first year of operations. So far…
Turkcell to acquire 80% of Belarus’ BeST
Turkey’s largest mobile operator Turkcell is to acquire an 80% stake in state-owned BeST (Belarusian Telecommunications Network) for $500 million. Turkcell will pay $300 million up front followed by two further payments of $100 million at the end of 2009 and 2010, respectively. An additional $100 million will be paid when BeST records a full-year…
Comic: iPhone Nano exists, at least in some heads
If you’re like me, you’re getting tired of all those iPhone Nano rumors. Some people try really hard to make a compelling argument Apple should release a smaller iPhone, which reportedly everyone will like. And while I dig the idea, somehow I’m not convinced. There are so many electronics built inside the iPhone that making…
Parrot: We love California’s and Washington’s hands-free driving legislation
Parrot has recently issued a press release saying that a one-month old California and Washington hands-free law has boosted its Bluetooth accessories sales. Apparently, the Bluetooth accessories maker has seen a three-fold increase in sales of its hands-free car kits and they’re attributing the increase to an aggressive advertising and PR campaign they’ve launched two…
Safran sells Sagem Mobiles to a VC firm; The handset maker becomes Sagem Wireless
France’s industrial conglomerate Safran recently announced that it is selling its loss-making mobile handset business, Sagem Mobiles, to French venture capital firm Sofinnova. The disposal would cost Safran 220 million EUR, but it would retain a 10% stake in the new company, which will be known as Sagem Wireless. Apparently, Safran — which was formed…
Lending mobile phones to friends soon to be illegal in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s government has some weird ideas. Back in February, we saw them blocking SMS on independence day and now they want to ban mobile phone lending. The idea behind the move is to fight terrorism, “to avert irregularities and illegal activities while minimizing threats to national security created by the irresponsible use of telephones.”…
Student spams 400 people with death threat in Russia
In Russia, a 20-year-old sent out four hundred death threats saying “Death to Russian pigs and to you, freak!” to random phone numbers. Authorities have reacted, catching the sender who was in fact Russian. His phone number was traced and he was arrested promptly. After he (Anton Shurubara) was caught, he said that he was…
iPhone 2.0 tip: Hold “.com” button for more options
If you’re running iPhone 2.0 firmware, or have an iPhone 3G which comes with the latest firmware version, you may’ve noticed a number of usability improvements. One thing that caught our eye is the quick way of “typing” domain name extensions. When you type in a URL, hold down the “.com” button to get a…
Korea Telecom to merge with KTF?
The head of Korea Telecom, the country’s top fixed-line and broadband provider, has said full integration with its mobile unit, KTF, would be “desirable”. The deal is still still far from being closed, and the company’s spokesman Lee In-won said: “We are still considering it and no decision has been made on details such as…
South Korean mobiles repel mosquitoes
South Korean mobile phone SK Telecom is offering users a new service that claims to repel mosquitoes. Users can download a sound wave that humans cannot hear, but that annoys mosquitoes within a range of one metre. I’m not sure whether its an application or just a song we’re talking about here, but I guess…