Pre-WiMAX Trials Launch in Malaysia
Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will unveil pre-WiMAX equipment at the launch of "Malaysia ICT Month" in Kepala Batas on September 7. Trials are set for Penang, and providers plan to blanket all of Malaysia with WiMAX connectivity. The effort is a collaboration between Intel, Alcatel, and Telekom Malaysia.
Sun Microsystems Invests in India
India Engineering Centre in Bangalore is among four development centers identified by Sun Microsystems for further investments in terms of people and capital in fiscal year 2006. According to Sun Microsystems India Managing Director Bhaskar Pramanik, other countries where similar investment commitments have been envisaged include Beijing in China, St Petersburg in Russia and Prague in Czechoslovakia.
Hong Kong Issuing Broadband Licenses
Following in the footsteps of Singapore, Australia and India, Hong Kong has decided to issue unified broadband licenses to fixed and mobile phone firms, looking to offer broadband wireless. Analysts are of the view that this is a step towards making "anytime, anywhere" Internet access available to everyone. The South China Morning Post reports that the new combined licensing system will put all operations under the same regulations.
People’s Daily: Our Telecom Giant
The Chinese telecom industry has speedily secured a firm place as a giant in the telecommunication industry within just a decade. By 2007, foreign capitals will be able to apply for licenses for basic telecom, including business, domestic and international phone service. In 2004, China’s the industry’s revenue rose to RMB 518.76 billion yuan, up 12.6 percent from the previous year. China's telecom authority received a total of 22 applications for foreign investment in the country's telecom sector by the end of April, said an official with the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) in Shanghai on Monday.
Guangdong Extends with Alcatel
China’s Guangdong Telecom has selected Alcatel to expand its metropolitan area network and broaden its IP-based data service abilities. The subsidiary of China Telecom will deploy the Alcatel 7750 Service Router in seven major cities in the southern province of Guangdong, which currently has the largest number of broadband subscribers in China. The project is expected to be completed in June 2005 and was secured with Alcatel's flagship Chinese company, Alcatel Shanghai Bell.
China’s 210-billion Yuan for Telecom
China will invest 210 billion Yuan in its telecom industry this year, reports Sina. Telecom operators will upgrade current networks to use soft switch technology and invest in metropolitan area networks (MAN). China Telecom will integrate its new MAN project with its CN2 project in 2005. China Mobile and China Unicom's mobile networks will also be improved. China Mobile will focus on new services that are low bandwidth but high in value added. China Telecom, China Netcom, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Education and Research Network have jointly built the world's largest IPv6 networkCNGI.
India Reduces Broadband Tarriffs
India had 55 million cable-TV homes in 2004, making it the only country with more cable-TV homes than fixed-line telephones (42 million). "If cable TV has grown to this number, it is entirely because of the strength of Indian enterpreneurship," said Mr. Pradip Baijal, Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. He said that TRAI is considering a reduction in broadband tariff from $4 per 100 Kbps a month to $1. Enterprising entities have been able to provide wireless connections to India's rural areas. "If you are able to connect six villages in this manner, you can have movies released to these villages which are entertainment starved," he said.
ZTE Bags 12 Contracts in 10 Countries
China’s largest listed telecommunications manufacturer and leading wireless solutions provider announced 12 contract wins in 10 countries in the first quarter. ZTE has made agreements with industry giants France Telecom, Alcatel and Portugal Telecom. In March, it announced that it is to become a global supplier of ADSL equipment to France Telecom, with its 118.6 million customers worldwide. The agreement with Alcatel, announced at February’s 3GSM World Congress, will see ZTE’s CDMA radio access portfolio integrated into Alcatel’s CDMA end-to-end solutions.
India Wi-Fi Spots to Top 3500
Industry analysts expect that most airports, hotels, cafes, restaurants, major railway stations and hospitals in India will opt for wireless connectivity. Internet service provider Dishnet has begun work on a $62-million project to set up 6,000 hotspots across 180 cities. Service providers will also launch WiMax, and operators such as Tata, Reliance, Bharti, MTNL and BSNL have begun testing with Motorola’s Canopy-based WiMax platform. Wi-Fi tariffs in the India, which were earlier among the highest in the world, have witnessed a 100 percent fall over the past 12 months.
China’s New Telecom Giant
In December, Huawei receive a $10-billion line of credit to power its global expansion to Asia and Europe. Huawei managers say they aren't looking to compete on price alone. The company wants to collaborate with other firms to break into the US market. "If we cut price, and you cut price, who can win? Huawei can win," said Yi "Evan" Bai, FutureWei's vice president for business development. "But we cannot five years later guarantee we would still be the leader. You need to get money back."
Telecom Reform a First Step in Vietnam
Vietnam’s giant state-owned post and telecom corporation will become an economic group, including two units going public to trigger competition in the local market. VPNT will be changed into a post and telecommunications group, the first such economic group in Vietnam, according to Prime Ministerial decision issued March 23. The project will include equitization of two big mobile phone networks under VNPT, MobiFone and Vinaphone, but the state will retain a 50% stake in the companies when they go public. Without support from telecoms services, post services will face difficulties but the charge rate of post service will be remain the same.
$2 Billion Rural Telephony in India
BHARAT Sanchar Nigam Ltd, Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservices are joint winners of the government-sponsored project to provide 8 million fixed telephone lines to rural households in India. The project is being supported from India’s Universal Services Obligation Fund. Competitive bids brought down the cost of the project by 60-75%, enabling a rollout of 8 million lines instead of the originally planned 6 million. Moreover, the bids show there is a telephony market in rural India. While the Government had worked out a cost of $425 per line, the operators have quoted between $100-$200.
China Walks Out Over Protocol
Accusing the International Standardization Organization of favoring the IEEE 802.11i ANSI-certified wireless LAN security scheme, China walked out of a wireless standards meeting in Sulzbach, Germany, this week. China felt that its own Wireless Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI) security scheme had been withdrawn and placed on a slower track by the ISO. China had initially agreed not to make WAPI a mandatory security scheme for any equipment used in China, but it later approached the ISO to put WAPI on a fast track for acceptance as an international standard.
Asia-Pacific on Tap for WiMAX
Alcatel Asia-Pacific's V.P. of business development, Michel Levy, says the region’s readiness to embrace new technologies is key to Alcatel’s adoption of WiMAX. Countries such as Malaysia, he said, can benefit from WiMAX technology and will be able to witness some of its promises through field trials planned in the first half of 2006 through a strategic alliance between Alcatel and Intel Corp.
South Korea Adds to Global Prowess
Well known for its high broadband penetration rates, South Korea’s progressive telecommunications reputation continues to grow. South Korean companies have signed deals with heavy-hitters EarthLink, Nortel, Verizon Wireless, and China Unicom. In December, the government agreed to cooperate with Great Britain in digital broadcasting and mobile gaming, and it has struck similar deals with France and Poland. South Korea wants to help establish 40 corporate R&D centers over eight years in a bid to become Northeast Asia's research hub.
China Telecom Boosts Gateway Kenya
Chinese telecom firm ZTE Communications has donated Sh144 million worth of communication equipment to Telkom Kenya. The offer, the largest that Telkom Kenya has received in two years, is meant to help the company to expand its services countrywide. China has chosen Kenya as the gateway through which it hopes to roll out its telecommunication strategy in East and Central Africa.
IT Spending in Asian and European "Tigers"
A new study from the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) shows that emerging economies in Asia and Eastern Europe are expected to rapidly increase or continue to increase their ICT spending in the coming years. Together, those increases indicate both a newly invigorated participation in the global information economy and a robust relationship between investment in ICTs and broader economic growth.
India Telecoms Eye WiMAX
Reliance Infocomm, the code division multiple access mobile service company, the Tata group's Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL) and the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) will test launch wireless broadband technology commonly known as WiMAX. These companies are looking into alternative technologies and a pilot project will be launched shortly in Pune, India.
Taipei to Be Top Hotzone
Some 10,000 wireless access points will go into service, covering a 272-square-kilometer area and reaching 90 percent of Taipei's 2.65 million residents, making it one of the first fully Wi-Fi-connected cities in the world. Aptilo Networks will supply the management platform and Q-Ware will operate the network, which is called "WiFly."
