The last couple of years have seen a rapid escalation in the number of patent disputes in the telecoms sector, prompting many big names to call for changes to software patent law to better allow the industry to break out profits derived from patents.
Vodafone D2, the German arm of the UK-based carrier, has revealed that it will soon have an LTE ready smartphone from Taiwanese handset maker HTC available on its network. German publication Computer Week has said that the Vodafone press office in Germany has confirmed that the HTC Velocity 4G will soon be coming to market, though the exact launch date and pricing has not been confirmed.
Equipment vendor Alcatel-Lucent has launched an extended portfolio of software and services designed to ameliorate customer experiences on both fixed and wireless networks.
The UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has said it will be forcing down the prices that Openreach, the wholesale division of incumbent BT, can charge for broadband and telephone rental. The proposed charge controls would reduce the cost of a “fully unbundled line” from £91.50 to £87.41, and shared unbundled line, where an ISP used the line just to provide broadband, would drop from £14.70 to £11.92, while the cost for phone rental services would drop from £103.68 to £98.81.
Vodafone Group has confirmed that it has abandoned its plans to merge its operations in Greece with local operator Wind Hellas, citing the uncertainty around the Greek market as a key reason.
It is impossible to open the business pages without some reminder of the huge importance of patents to the telecoms industry. The government’s proposal to introduce a ten per cent rate of corporation tax for patent-related profits is designed to encourage investment in innovation in the UK, and further highlights the opportunities for those who get patent value right. This could mean that some businesses should now take a greater interest in filing patents, and others will want to review their established arrangements to make the most of the proposals.
Late last week, Hutchison 3G Austria (3) finally announced the acquisition of Orange Austria in a deal valued at around €1.3bn. The market share of the newly-enlarged operator will reach around 22 per cent of total customers. This is more than double the market share of any other subsidiary of the 3 Group in Europe, but still places the operator a distant third to T-Mobile (~32 per cent) and Telekom Austria (~46 per cent) in a market that has effectively been reduced to just three players. The market had already been whittled down from five players to four in 2006 when T-Mobile Austria acquired tele.ring.
UK telco BT has successfully trialled the delivery of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband on an on-demand basis in St Agnes, Cornwall, delivering speeds of up to 300 Mbps
Still three weeks out from MWC and the news has already gone colder than most of Europe. The mercury in the thermometer outside the Informer’s hovel has gone south of zero for the fourth time this week but it’s nowhere near as cold as for some of our cousins further east.
Orange Austria, owned by France Telecom, is to be acquired by Hong Kong’s Hutchison, which competes with Orange through its 3 Austria operation. The deal, worth €1.3bn, consolidates the third and fourth players in the Austrian market.
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