Posts Tagged “gsm”
Feb
26
2010
 
Alcatel-Lucent Wins Hungarian Network Upgrade DealPosted by CompareMobiles.com in Mobile News
Telecoms equipment company Alcatel-Lucent has won a contract from Hungarian mobile operator and Telenor company Pannon GSM Távközlési Zrt (Pannon) to unify its mobile core network and its existing IP/MPLS-based mobile backhaul infrastructure. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Read Full Story…
Feb
15
2010
Two dozen mobile carriers unite against Apple’s App StorePosted by CompareMobiles.com in Mobile News
Two dozen of the world’s largest mobile-phone companies, including Verizon Wireless, AT&T, NTT DoCoMo, Deutsche Telekom, China Mobile and Vodafone, are teaming up to create an “open international applications platform,” which is obviously in direct response to Apple’s success with its own iPhone App Store. Release. The announcement was made this morning at Mobile World Congress. In addition to the 24 carriers, the GSMA and three device manufacturers – LG, Samsung and Sony Ericsson – are also supporting the initiative. All combined, the group reaches 3 billion subscribers worldwide, making it easily the largest app-store initiative. However, the task will also be exceedingly complicated because of the massive scope and technological barriers in uniting so many disparate platforms and operators. Called the the “Wholesale Applications Community,” it aims to create a wholesale platform for mobile apps that provides a single point-of-entry for developers. In other words, it wants to solve the massive fragmentation problem. The group intends on using common open standards that will allow developers to create apps across multiple platforms. Those standards include JIL, which Verizon, Vodafone and China Mobile have been working on, and OMTP BONDI. Those two standards are expected to evolve into a common standard within the next year. Ultimately, they pledge to work with the W3C standards bodies to create one solution for developers to create apps and port them across mobile device platforms and operators. The full list of operators are: America Movil, AT&T, Bharti Airtel, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, KT, mobilkom Austria, MTN Group, NTT Docomo, Orange, Orascom Telecom, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Telenor, TeliaSonera, SingTel, SK Telecom, Sprint, VimpelCom and WIND. The four operators in the Joint Innovation Lab (JIL) mobile apps initiative – Vodafone, China Mobile, SoftBank and Verizon Wireless – are also included.
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The GSMA combines with 24 network operators and opens Mobile World Congress 2010 with a drive to establish a common standard for handset platforms, and to simplify a fragmented software market for developers Read Full Story…
O2 and Orange are to join more than a dozen mobile groups in a project to pool resources and create ‘app’-style services across their range of handsets More than a dozen of the world’s biggest mobile phone companies, including O2 and Orange, are hoping to strike back against the success of Apple in persuading people to download and use mobile applications – or “apps” – by building their own competing open platform which can be used by developers of games and other services. The mobile networks hope that by pooling their resources, creating technology that would allow services to be developed that will work across a huge range of handsets, they can claw back some of the ground they have lost to companies such as Apple and Google and generate additional revenues from third-party developers. The mobile phone networks fear that at the moment they are in danger of becoming little more than “dumb pipes in the air”, with all the revenues created by applications going to software developers and the companies that operate the stores that supply them. Apple has already seen over 3bn apps downloaded from its App Store by users of the iPhone and iPod touch. Google, meanwhile, has an application marketplace as part of its Android mobile phone platform, and several devices sporting the software will be unveiled at this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the industry’s biggest trade show, which starts today. But it is not just Google and Apple that are profiting from the “apps explosion”. Steve Ballmer will this afternoon use the Mobile World Congress to unveil Microsoft’s latest attempt to break into the mobile phone industry. Windows Mobile 7 – or Windows Phone, as Microsoft has dubbed it – includes an application store that allows users of Microsoft devices to download a host of games and other applications. Even phone manufacturers such as Samsung and RIM, maker of the BlackBerry, are getting in on the app act, while Nokia already has its Ovi store open for business. Several of the world’s biggest operators are part of the Open API initiative, which allows application developers access to some of the core information contained within their networks, such as location and billing. Essentially an API (application programming interface) allows a developer to integrate its application with another piece of software. The Open API plan, for instance, allows software developers to create programmes that can be paid for by consumers on their mobile phone bills. But the new consortium, which will be announced by industry trade body the GSM Association at the Mobile World Congress today, is designed to go even further. The recent explosion in mobile phone software – from Apple’s iPhone to Nokia’s Symbian platform, Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows Phone – means the “apps” market is becoming increasingly fragmented. Also, consumers who switch from one device to another will soon find themselves having to download – and pay again – for all the applications they had on their old phone just because their new phone uses different software. The operators fear that they will be at the receiving end of the subsequent consumer backlash. Orange, Telefonica – which owns O2 in the UK – T-Mobile and several other operators are already signed up to the GSMA plan. Vodafone, however, is ambivalent as it is engaged in an open platform alliance called the Joint Innovation Lab with China Mobile, Japan’s Softbank and Verizon Wireless of the US. In fact, applications are likely to be a highlight of this year’s Mobile World Congress, with developer workshops taking place throughout the show, helping programmers create for Android, BlackBerry and Vodafone’s recently announced Vodafone 360 platform. Several companies will also announce their own app developments. Today, for instance, British digital music group Omnifone will announce that it has created a version of its mobile music service that runs on Android phones. Omnifone, which has access to a catalogue of more than 6.5m tracks, is looking for network or handset partners who want to launch an unlimited download or streaming music service on Android devices using its platform. It already, for instance, powers Vodafone’s unlimited music service in the UK and recently clinched a deal to have its MusicStation service pre-installed on Hewlett-Packard laptops and computers. Omnifone is currently developing apps for both the iPhone and Windows Mobile devices. Skype, meanwhile, will today announce that it has created a version of its popular free internet telephony service for Nokia’s Symbian operating system, which is already used by more than 200m mobile phones worldwide. Skype is now available as a free iPhone app, which has been downloaded more than 12m times since its launch in April last year. The Symbian version will initially be available as a download from the Skype website but will appear on Nokia’s Ovi store in the next few weeks. The company, which was sold by owner eBay last year, is planning an Android version for later in the year. Skype, which allows people to call other Skype users anywhere in the world for free, is also expected to announce a partnership with Verizon Wireless, which is likely to raise some eyebrows as in the past the American network’s joint owner, Vodafone, has blocked internet telephony services from its own networks.
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A new set of audited figures for mobile internet use, the GSMA Mobile Media Metrics, reveal a landscape with one very tall peak More than 25% of UK’s population – some 16 million people – accessed the Internet from mobile phones in December. And what were they looking for? The GSMA Mobile Media Metrics, published for the first time on Friday, provide an insight: on the mobile internet, people want to know what their friends are up to – and perhaps do a bit of flirting. Facebook has a clearly lead in GSMA’s top 10 UK mobile internet sites, with 5 million unique users against 4.5 million for all of Google’s sites. (Mobile internet users want answers, too.) And the domination is much greater in terms of times spend online and page views. Facebook had 2.6bn page impressions – nearly three times as many as Google, and more than a third of the 6.7bn total. Nearly half the total minutes online in December were spent at Facebook Mobile – 2.2bn minutes out of 4.8bn, with Google on 400m in a very distant second place. One fifth of UK mobile subscribers now tote smartphones, which is driving a rise in mobile interent use. In December, already 25% of UK’s population or 16 million people accessed the internet from their mobile phones and viewed a total of 6.7bn pages. Besides Facebook and Google, the sites of the mobile phone operators scored well, with spots three to five going to Telefonica Mobile Networks (owners of O2, with all those iPhone users), Orange Sites and Vodafone Group. Finally, the BBC site on the seventh spot indicates that people are reading the news on the go. Breaking news is also available on the mobile networks’ sites, and those of Microsoft and Yahoo at spots six and eight. Regarding unique users, Apple’s and Nokia’s site come in last in the top 10 UK mobile internet sites in December. Once you look at page views and time spent online, Flirtomatic – which is integrated into most mobile operator portals – also comes into the picture.
The GSMA Mobile Media Metrics report was commissioned by GSMA and comScore in partnership with five UK mobile operators: O2, Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and 3UK. It is being audited by ABCe. Richard Foan, managing director of ABCe, who also chairs the web media standards committee JICWEBS, called the new metrics “a great step forward for mobile media”. The figures are based on irreversibly anonymised mobile Internet usage data from all five UK mobile operators, collected with consent from a representative sample of mobile users. In addition, Wi-Fi traffic, not seen in the mobile network traffic, is captured in the server-side logs of media owners and ad networks.
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Jan
29
2010
Alcatel-Lucent Wins $31m West African 3G DealPosted by CompareMobiles.com in Mobile News
Telecoms equipment company Alcatel-Lucent has won a 22m euros ($31m) contract from mobile operator Togo Cellulaire to extend its network capacity in GSM and build the first 3G wireless broadband network in the West African country. The company said the new network will be deployed by the end of 2010. Read Full Story…
Jan
25
2010
Ericsson cuts more jobs as profits drop 92pcPosted by CompareMobiles.com in Mobile News
The telecommunications firm, which has cited a decline in GSM equipment sales, is to cut 500 jobs on top of those it announced last year
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Opera Software’s mobile web browser has been shortlisted in two categories at the GSMA Global Mobile Awards Read Full Story…
Digs knife a little deeper into WiMAXThe GSMA argues that the majority of the 2.6GHz band should be LTE-friendly, conceding that WiMAX needs some space to play in the interest of neutrality.…
What is your recession sales strategy? Read Full Story…
Jan
04
2010
ADC Divests GSM Base Station and Switching Product Portfolio to AltobridgePosted by CompareMobiles.com in Mobile News
Telecoms equipment vendor ADC has sold its GSM base station and switching product portfolio to Ireland-based mobile network operator Altobridge. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Read Full Story…
Dec
29
2009
Mobile phone security cracked, says German hackerPosted by CompareMobiles.com in Mobile News
Karsten Nohl says he has decoded the GSM algorithm used to keep private more than 80% of the world’s mobile conversations A German computer scientist has cracked the codes used to encrypt calls made from more than 80% of the world’s mobile phones. Karsten Nohl and his team of 24 hackers began working on the security algorithm for GSM (Global System for Mobiles) in August. Developed in 1988, the system prevents the interception of calls by forcing phones and base stations to change frequencies constantly. Most of the UK’s mobile phones use the GSM system and the breach represents a potential threat to the security of mobile phone communication. Nohl claims that armed with the code, which has been published online, and a laptop with two network cards, an eavesdropper could be recording phone calls within 15 minutes. “This shows that existing GSM security is inadequate,” Nohl told the Chaos Communication Congress, an international annual meeting of hackers taking place in Berlin this week. Nohl insisted that he had deciphered the code to force the global telecommunications industry to upgrade its security. Nohl told the Guardian that important negotiations involving politicians or business leaders could easily be intercepted and they should invest in further encryption software to protect their privacy. “If there is anything secret going on using GSM, this should be of concern.” The GSM Association, which represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry, played down the security threat and said Nohl’s activity was “highly illegal”. “We consider this research, which appears to be motivated in part by commercial considerations, to be a long way from being a practical attack on GSM,” said Claire Cranton, a spokeswoman. “To do this while supposedly being concerned about privacy is beyond me.” Nohl, who has a doctorate in computer engineering from the University of Virginia, insisted his work was purely academic. “We have written advice from our lawyers stating that our research is within the legal realm,” he said. “Obviously the data we produce could of course be used for illegitimate purposes.” Simon Bransfield-Garth, the chief executive of London-based encryption software firm Cellcrypt, said: “The code that has been cracked is for the 21-year-old 64-bit A5/1 GSM algorithm. In 2007 the GSM Association developed a 128-bit version, A5/3. However, most network operators have not invested to make the required upgrade. “We said in August when this project began that the code would be broken within nine to 12 months. This is a very significant step.”
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Dec
28
2009
Secret code protecting cellphone calls set loosePosted by CompareMobiles.com in Mobile News
Universal phone snooping moves forwardCryptographers have moved closer to their goal of eavesdropping on cell phone conversations after cracking the secret code used to prevent the interception of radio signals as they travel between handsets and mobile operators’ base stations.…
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Dec
22
2009
Letters: Think global, act local after CopenhagenPosted by CompareMobiles.com in Mobile News
So the hopes and fears of all the years end not with a bang but a whimper (Report, 21 December). Of course those with reputations to uphold will tell it differently, but only the climate sceptics are smiling. We have to learn that our addiction to top-down, command-and-control governance is as dangerous as our addiction to carbon. While we should never abandon the quest for a legally binding international agreement, we must redouble our attempts to open up a new front at the local level. One of the few positive notes from Copenhagen was the conference of the elected mayors from the major cities. Over the last decade, in spite of the national politics, American cities such as Boulder, Portland and Santa Monica have been quietly, but effectively, decarbonising their economies. Here, the examples of the Transition towns along with councils such as Kirklees, Stoke, Birmingham and Camden have started to show how fine words can be turned into effective actions. In hindsight, the failure to place a statutory duty on local authorities under the Climate Change Act seems an appalling omission, only corrected in Scotland. But do we need a law? Any council that takes a serious view of the priorities for its communities could not avoid giving the highest priority to climate change, particularly as energy efficiency also delivers financial efficiency. A groundswell of actions by individual communities led by local authorities, supported in turn by national government, is surely the most effective way of creating the climate for change that would tip our leaders into action. Duncan Kerr Managing director, A Climate 4 Change • Talks based on “top down” policies as a route to reaching a meaningful agreement were almost doomed to fail. It seems plain to all but the bureaucrats that a “bottom up” approach is crucial. Ban Ki-moon has said that information and communications technologies (ICTs) are a vital part of the solution to confront global warming. But the voice of the ICT industry has been a major omission in Copenhagen. The GSMA is the trade association that represents the worldwide mobile communications industry – that’s 800 of the world’s mobile operators, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem – and together we have set out our industry’s goals to reduce its total global greenhouse gas emissions per connection by 40% by 2020. ICT can show individuals that helping the planet also helps their own bank balance. It is consumer effort, supported by industry, that will stimulate the mass mobilisation that is needed for effective change. Tom Phillips Chief government and regulatory affairs officer, GSM Association • Now that the world’s leaders have failed to reach an agreement, perhaps it is time to consider other ways of encouraging people to act together to prevent accelerated climate change. After the second world war the twinning of towns from different countries was encouraged as a way of promoting closer understanding. Perhaps now is the time to revise this practice and apply it to the developed and developing nations, so that individual towns could come together and see the former decrease their emissions in line with increases in the latter, while also supplying funds and technological knowhow. Then perhaps the civic leaders of urban centres such as Leeds and Lagos, or Denver and Dakar, might succeed in achieving what their leaders could not. Professor Colin Campbell Fulford, York • Ed Miliband is wise to recognise the crucial roll being played by the green NGOs and “a wider cross section of the public” in the drive to stave off disaster (The road from Copenhagen, 21 December). This will take massive grassroots pressure. He is also right in pointing to the need for “major reform of the UN body overseeing the negotiations”. This should accompany a reform of the UN, including dropping the veto enjoyed by the founding member states and giving proper power to other members. Jim McCluskey Twickenham, Middlesex • The focus on Copenhagen should not be allowed to obscure the other major reason for phasing out the use of oil, gas and coal: they are finite, and demand will eventually exceed supply. The depressing emphasis on carbon trading demonstrates our overriding intention to keep burning fossil fuels as long as we can. Our society is like a super-tanker, heading for shallow waters. But we don’t need to reach agreement with the crew on other supertankers to start changing direction. We can decide ourselves to head for the deep waters of an economy based only on renewable energy. Others will follow. Chris Osman Oxford
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We must be working for the SIM tradeStephen Fry and Duran Duran will be headlining February’s mobile industry bash, as the GSMA tries to drag some sex appeal into the increasingly-dull Barcelona proceedings.…
The power of collaboration within unified communications Read Full Story…
Dec
16
2009
Unravelling the mysteries of Google’s Nexus One phonePosted by CompareMobiles.com in Mobile News
The rumours about a new phone from Google seem tailor-made to generate excitement and speculation. But what do we actually know about it? Over the weekend, a series of stories broke about a new phone (the Nexus One) that Google was trialling – and even planning to sell itself. We covered them, too. A story like that ticks a lot of boxes and draws out an almost Pavlovian response in gadget-watchers everywhere. Google? Yep. Phone? Yes. Bypassing phone networks? You bet. Now, however, there are so many pieces of the story floating around that it’s becoming difficult to separate the things that we know from the things we don’t. The latest slew of suggestions include a potential lawsuit from the estate of Philip K Dick (because the name “Nexus One” is an homage to the replicants in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?); and that Apple is actually behind the ‘Googlephone’ rumour. Google, beyond its statement about dogfooding the other day, remains tight-lipped. So what do we actually know? - that Google employees are trialling an experimental new handset And that’s about it, I think. Other things are either speculation, not true or don’t appear likely (the Dick estate doesn’t own a Nexus One trademark of any sort, for example). The thing about this swirl of ideas is that most of the elements of this are actually a case of business as usual. After all, there have been Google-branded handsets before, and the company is pushing its operating system, Android, like crazy. It’s actually been heavily involved in the design of many Android handsets so far, and selling an unlocked handset is no big deal in Britain or Europe. But it’s the combination of all of these parts, in one big old juicy package, that’s got everybody salivating. Any more things we know about the Nexus One? Leave a comment, and I’ll add them to the list.
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Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has won a contract from Telekomunikacije RS a.d. Banja Luka (m:tel), a leading operator in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to expand and upgrade its GSM network. Read Full Story…
Ericsson has won the bidding to acquire Nortel’s North American GSM business Read Full Story…
Nov
08
2009
‘World-mode’ iPhone due next year, says fanboi rumorPosted by CompareMobiles.com in Mobile News
CDMA meets Jobsian cultThe Jobsian cult is hard at work on a “world-mode” iPhone capable of tapping both CDMA and GSM/UMTS wireless networks, according to the fanboi rumor mill.…
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Ericsson has won a three-year managed services contract from United Arab Emirates-based operator du that will enable du to continue to develop operational efficiency of the nationwide GSM/WCDMA network operations. Read Full Story…
GSM Assocation engages Vodafone’s Vittorio Colao, Telefónica’s César Alierta and Google’s Eric Schmidt among Mobile World Congress speakers next year; body will also stage first App Planet event Read Full Story… |
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