3UK intends to make an initial complaint to antitrust authorities in the UK and Europe regarding the proposed joint venture between O2, Vodafone and Everything Everywhere. Back in June this year, the three operators announced plans to create a standalone m-commerce joint venture in the UK.
UK based carrier Vodafone is addressing the problem of swollen app stores, which it sees as a daunting experience for consumers due to the overwhelming numbers of apps. This week the company followed up on its own portal within the Android Market, with an own branded and curated app store that exists in its own right.
The stand-off between India’s state-owned telco BSNL and several private operators shows no signs of abating, with even emergency services remaining unavailable to non-BSNL users in parts of the country.
Mobile network operators will not be able to roll out 4G LTE services until 2013 at the earliest, due to technical issues, according to UK regulatory body Ofcom, rendering speculation about whether the spectrum auction will be delayed as irrelevant.
Tags;
4G,
Everything Everywhere,
LTE,
O2,
Ofcom,
Spectrum auction,
vodafone,
Broadband,
Europe,
Everything Everywhere,
LTE,
Networks,
News & Analysis,
O2,
Operator,
TV,
Vodafone
International carrier Vodafone has sold 5.5 per cent of Indian operation Vodafone Essar to Indian medical services provider Piramal Healthcare for $640m. Vodafone is required to divest the stake to bring it back below the 74 percent ownership threshold, which is the Indian limit for foreign investment within a company. In July Vodafone acquired Essar’s holding in the operation, taking it beyond that threshold.
Tags;
India,
m-health,
merger and acquisition,
Piramal,
vodafone,
Vodafone Essar,
Asia Pacific,
Networks,
News & Analysis,
Operator,
Vodafone
Almost one third of mobile subscribers in the Netherlands are customers of virtual operators, according to a report published this week by Dutch analyst house Telecom Paper. The total number of MVNO subs in the market has now hit 6.6 million, or 32.8 per cent of the total subscriber base, the analyst said.
Tags;
Kpn,
Lebara,
Lycamobile,
MVNO,
Netherlands,
Simpel,
T-Mobile,
Telecom Paper,
vodafone,
Europe,
Network sharing,
Networks,
News & Analysis,
Operator
euNetworks, a fibre-optic infrastructure provider has announced a network supply deal with Vodafone Germany. As part of the agreement, euNetworks will deliver fibre services to the operator in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin and Munich. The deal will enable Vodafone Germany to enhance its backhaul for its LTE network, which it is continuing to roll-out since in launch in December 2010 and now reaches more than four million homes. euNetworks owns 13 fibre-based metropolitan networks across Europe and according to a statement the deal will, “enable Vodafone to benefit from euNetworks extended footprint”.
Tags;
Backhaul,
broadband,
euNetworks,
fibre optic,
LTE,
vodafone,
Broadband,
Europe,
LTE,
Networks,
News & Analysis,
Operator,
Vendor
The $6bn Polkomtel sale saga looks set to take an interesting turn this week with reports that last-minute squabbling between shareholders could derail the whole process. When news of the impending sale was first announced, many observers pointed to the fragmented nature of the telco’s ownership as a potential roadblock to achieving a smooth sale. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that sources close to the deal are saying the involvement of state-owned shareholderrs with differing views on how the transaction should go ahead are putting the whole venture at risk.
A research project conducted by Ford has demonstrated that LTE is highly suitable for automotive communications applications. The findings of the CoOperative Card Extended (CoCarEX) research project were demonstrated yesterday in Dusseldorf, Germany and proved that LTE latency is low enough for it to provide time-critical driver assistance functions.
Vodafone’s annual profits received a smartphone boost despite an overall fall in net profits of 7.8 per cent. Despite a £6bn+ impairment charge on operations in its European “PIIGS” markets (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain), a 26.4 per cent boost in mobile data revenue made a significant contribution to its overall profit of £9.5bn for the year.