France Telecom has reportedly approached a series of financial institutions to arrange a 10 billion EUR loan that will enable it to acquire TeliaSonera. The French telecom giant, which is also known as the owner of the Orange mobile group, has been negotiating with the Nordic operator for quite some time now. However, it seems…
ReCellular’s a new mobile phone recycling campaign aims to raise money for American Red Cross
ReCellular recently announced a new mobile phone recycling campaign with the goal to raise a minimum of $50,000 for the American Red Cross. Apparently two in three Americans will replace their mobile phones with a newer model this year, and the vast majority of them will either keep their old phones in a junk drawer,…
Japan wants to boost the MVNO market
Japan seems to want to boost the MVNO market, as the country’s regulator called for mobile operators to disclose their network leasing prices. The regulator has reportedly also asked smaller players like eMobile, Willcom, and UQ Communications to reveal their prices as well. The move is designed to stimulate competition in the market, which continues…
Orascom Telecom sets up a new unit to expand across Asia and Africa
Orascom Telecom is reportedly eyeing new investments in Africa and Asia. Apparently, the biggest mobile phone operator in the Middle East and North Africa has set up a new unit called Telecel Globe to evaluate investment opportunities in the region. According to Orascom’s Chairman and CEO Naguib Sawiris, Telecel Globe will work as a separate…
Dell to use Ericsson’s HSPA modules in next-gen laptops
HP will use Qualcomm’s Gobi, while Fujitsu-Siemens will rely on Sierra Wireless’s HSPA solution to provide HSPA connectivity in their future laptops. Now, Dell announced a deal with Ericsson to use the Swedish company’s mobile broadband modules to “provide the end user with a simple and cost effective solution for broadband access while on-the-go.” In…
Optus expanding its HSPA network in Australia
Singapore’s SingTel owned Optus, one of Australia’s two iPhone carriers, recently said it will invest a further AU$315 million (US$295 million) in building its HSPA-enabled 3G network. The idea is of course to compete and match Teltra’s 99% 3G network coverage and ultimately get more customers. Last year, Optus announced it will invest AU$500 million…
TomTom doesn’t plan own-brand handsets
TomTom won’t follow Garmin’s suit and doesn’t plan to launch own-brand handsets. Apparently, the personal navigation device (PND) maker wants to focus on the development of the core software and further strengthen its content and services for in-car PNDs. While still concentrating on the PND market, the handset segment is a potential market for the…
Pakistan: Begging for alms via SMS
Pakistani beggars and/or thieves are using SMS to fool people into giving them hefty alms in the name of religion. I guess not all people do this for fraud — certainly a number of them have real reasons for begging via SMS. One message reads, “I am a poor man and my daughter is admitted…
Africa surpasses North America in terms of number of mobile subscribers
According to Total Telecom, there are now more mobile phone users in Africa than in North America. Apparently, the number of mobile phone users in Africa exceeded 280 million in Q1 2008 and will reach the 300 million mark next month. As a result, the continent has surpassed North America (U.S. and Canada) which has…
SIMable makes mobile phone unlocking easy
Recently we spotted an interesting piece of technology developed by Essex-based company 24/7 Mobile Solutions Ltd, called SIMable, which promises to make the process of unlocking mobile phones as seamless as possible. SIMable is an ultra thin chip, that when attached to a SIM card, immediately fools most mobile phones into thinking that they have…