Nokia signs its first official 5G equipment deal with NTT DoCoMo

FRANKFURT, GERMANY — Finland’s Nokia said on Friday it signed its first major deal to supply new 5G wireless radio base stations to Japanese telecom operator NTT DoCoMo, which boasts nearly half of the country’s mobile subscribers.

The contract marks Nokia’s first sizeable deal for its flagship mobile base station equipment based on official global New Radio (NR) standards for the fifth generation of wireless networks, which were only finalised in December 2017.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

The deal contemplates DoCoMo starting commercial 5G network service by 2020, in time for the Tokyo Olympics, Nokia said. Initial installations are expected in greater metropolitan Tokyo with a national roll-out to follow in subsequent years.

Nokia, a major supplier to DoCoMo in both the 3G and 4G network eras, has been working with the Japanese operator since at least 2014 on trials of 5G equipment, which promises far faster data rates, greater capacity and quicker response times.

The 5G antennas and related base stations act as the local connections between users of mobile phones and computing devices with the backbone of any operator’s network.

The new equipment also promises to enable DoCoMo to provide new services for autonomous driving, industrial automation and smarter homes by providing wireless links to millions even billions of wireless sensors. Nokia said it will work with DoCoMo to ensure a smooth transition from existing 4G networks.

source: interaksyon.com

STEPPING UP | Qualcomm adds security, battery life features to phone chips

Qualcomm Inc on Wednesday revealed new security and battery life features on its latest Snapdragon 845 mobile phone processor, a chip that customarily powers high-end Android-based phones from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and others.

The chips are increasingly important to Qualcomm’s financial picture while its patent licensing business is under attack from Apple Inc.

Qualcomm’s latest chip features a range of improvements to help it deal with artificial intelligence tasks like recognizing and categorizing images, Keith Kressin, a senior vice president at the company, told Reuters in an interview.

For the first time, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip also features physically separate processor called a “Secure Processing Unit” for storing information like fingerprints and iris scans, similar to technology found on Apple’s iPhone. Previous Qualcomm chips had a “trusted zone” that was not physically separate from the rest of the processor.

“With biometric identification on the rise, it was important to take (security) to the next level,” Kressin said.


The company tweaked various parts of the chip for so-called machine learning applications. While that includes things consumers might notice like image recognition, it also includes behind-the-scenes improvements. For example, the chip will help ensure that a user’s fingers do not accidentally register as taps when gripping the sides of an edge-to-edge display.

Kressin said the chip will also help phones register touch screen inputs when wet. That is a critical improvement because even though many top phone models from Samsung and others are now water resistant, they are difficult to operate with water on the screen.

The newest Snapdragon also has features aimed at virtual and augmented reality headsets. One feature called “Adreno foveation” will let the edges of a headset screen operate at lower resolutions while the center of the screen is sharper, similar to how human peripheral vision is fuzzier than central vision. The technique can save battery live, Kressin said.

Qualcomm does not disclose revenue figures for its Snapdragon chips. But they are an increasingly important part of its business because its lucrative patent licensing business is under attack in a series of legal actions from Apple.

Qualcomm is also facing a $103 billion takeover bid from Broadcom Ltd, which earlier this week said it would nominate a slate of directors to Qualcomm’s board.

source: interaksyon.com

SoftBank invests $250 million in Southeast Asian taxi-hailing app GrabTaxi

SINGAPORE — Japanese telecoms firm SoftBank Corp has pumped in $250 million to become the top investor in Southeast Asian mobile taxi-booking application GrabTaxi Holdings Pte Ltd, its biggest investment in a Southeast Asian Internet firm.

GrabTaxi, which allows customers to order cabs closest to their location by mobile phone, operates in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. In a statement, the two companies said the funding will be used to accelerate the app’s expansion in the region.

The investment in GrabTaxi comes about a month after SoftBank and its billionaire CEO and founder Masayoshi Son announced a $627 million funding into online marketplace Snapdeal as part of a plan to put $10 billion into India’s booming online retail market.

SoftBank also said in October it will lead a $210 million investment round with existing investors in India’s ANI Technologies, which owns a mobile application for taxi bookings.

The Japanese firm is the largest investor in recently listed Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

Including the SoftBank investment, GrabTaxi has raised $340 million in funding. The statement did not specify how much of GrabTaxi SoftBank will own.

Other investors in GrabTaxi, which was developed by two Harvard Business School graduates and launched in Malaysia in 2012 as MyTeksi, include a unit of Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings [TEM.UL] and U.S. investor Tiger Global Management. The app competes with Rocket Internet’s Easy Taxi as well as Uber’s better known app.

Taxi-hailing apps have become popular in Southeast Asia, especially Singapore, one of the most expensive places in the world to own a private car.

Finding a cab during peak hours and during frequent tropical downpours can be difficult in the city-state, which last month said it planned to start regulating third-party taxi booking services for the first time.

Heavy traffic in cities such as Manila and Jakarta also makes finding taxis tough.

Those troubles are benefitting apps such as GrabTaxi. Over the past year, the number of users of the mobile app has jumped six-fold to about half a million and taxi drivers in its network have grown four-fold to 60,000, according to the company.

source: interaksyon.com

White House unveils plan to end NSA's bulk collection of phone data

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration on Thursday announced details of its plan to end the government's vast bulk collection of data about phone calls made in the United States, including new procedures to get judicial approval before asking companies for such records.

Under the plan, phone companies would have to provide data from their records quickly and in a usable format when requested by the government, a senior administration official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

It would also allow the government to seek the data without a court order in a national security emergency.

"I am confident that this approach can provide our intelligence and law enforcement professionals the information they need to keep us safe while addressing the legitimate privacy concerns that have been raised," President Barack Obama said in a statement about the plan, which needs approval by Congress.

The US government began collecting so-called metadata shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, under part of the Patriot Act known as Section 215.

The program's defenders say it helps the government find connections between people plotting attacks overseas and co-conspirators inside the United States, while critics view it as an infringement of privacy rights.

Obama has been under pressure to rein in surveillance since former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden last year disclosed classified details about the breadth of the government's intelligence gathering, sparking an international uproar.

Next step: Congress

Obama announced his initial response to the debate in January, including a ban on eavesdropping on the leaders of allied nations.

On Thursday, the administration provided additional details about its plans for telephone records known as metadata. Such records document which telephone number called which other number, when the calls were made and how long they lasted. Metadata does not include the content of the calls.

Under the proposal, once the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court approves gathering records associated with a phone number, phone companies could be required to turn over data associated with that number on an "ongoing and prospective" basis, a senior administration official said on a conference call.

Companies would be compelled to provide technical assistance to the government to query the records, and may be compensated in a way that is consistent with current procedures, the official said.

The administration will ask the court to allow it to operate its existing program for at least another 90 days, as Congress weighs legislation.

"We would hope that the Congress would take something up very expeditiously," the official said.

At least two proposals for ending bulk collection of phone data have already been unveiled by lawmakers.

In October, Patrick Leahy, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Jim Sensenbrenner, a House Republican, introduced a bill that would require the government to show a request for data was relevant to an ongoing investigation.

Their bill, called the USA Freedom Act, has been endorsed by privacy advocates including the American Civil Liberties Union.

Earlier this week, Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Dutch Ruppersberger, the top lawmakers on the House of Representatives' intelligence panel, released a plan that would not require the government to first get court approval of a request for data.

Instead, the court could order the data expunged if it was later found not to be linked to suspicious activity.

House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, has said he supports the bill.

But Obama has been clear that "one of the main attributes" he wanted to see in the overhaul was requiring court approval before data requests are made, the senior administration official said, noting the government has been following that practice since January. (Additional reporting by Mark Felsenthal)

source: interaksyon.com

China, Europe to drive telecom network investment in 2014

STOCKHOLM/PARIS — Telecoms network operators are expected to spend more on equipment for the second straight year in 2014, with China and Europe bringing a fresh spurt of growth as service providers need to build out high speed 4G mobile broadband networks.

Market research group Gartner sees global sales of network equipment to carriers rising 6 percent to $85.4 billion this year, up from 3 percent last year. Asia, excluding Japan, should grow 7 percent, and Europe and North America 6 percent.

Specialist telecoms forecaster Dell’Oro is less bullish but still expects 3 percent growth, compared with 2 percent in 2013.

The predictions are good news for Europe’s network equipment makers – Sweden’s Ericsson, Finland’s Nokia and Franco-American group Alcatel-Lucent – but analysts do not expect a softening of brutal price competition with low-cost Chinese rivals.

Nor will all the vendors fare the same. China Mobile’s huge roll-out of 4G will be more of a boon for domestic firms Huawei and ZTE that won two thirds of the work. But China is a mixed bag for Ericsson, Alcatel and Nokia, boosting sales but dragging on margins since sales there commanded lower prices.

In Europe, Ericsson and Huawei are best positioned to benefit from growth because they are major suppliers to Vodafone, which is due to spend 7 billion pounds under its ‘Project Spring’ program by March 2016 to increase the speed and coverage of its networks.

“Ericsson has higher exposure to Europe, so that will largely offset the weight from China contracts and protect the margins, while Alcatel-Lucent is more at risk because of its smaller scale in Europe,” said Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu.

U.S. slowdown

Analysts are less certain how much United States operators will spend this year as market leaders Verizon and AT&T have largely finished building their 4G networks, leaving them to add further capacity when customer demand requires it.

However, others want to catch up on 4G to compete. Third-largest operator Sprint plans to spend $8 billion this year and next on a major network upgrade. Backed by Japan’s Softbank, Sprint chose Alcatel, Nokia and Samsung as suppliers, dropping long-time vendor Ericsson.

T-Mobile US, which is owned by Deutsche Telekom, also spent $3.3 billion in January to buy mobile spectrum from Verizon to beef up its coverage.

Gartner predicts North American operators will spend 9 percent more on mobile gear this year, from 6 percent last year. But investment bank UBS expects capital expenditures on mobile networks to rise only 1 percent and Bernstein sees it as flat.

Gartner analyst Akshay Sharma said Sprint’s plan showed that upside surprise was possible. “That could be a game changer, if you are all of a sudden spending billions on network roll-outs,” he said.

However, if Sprint and T-Mobile merge, as sources have said Softbank is currently working on, it could throw operators’ network investment plans into question.

Europe could also grow faster than expected if Telefonica, Telecom Italia and Deutsche Telekom react to Vodafone splashing out on its networks.

“Vodafone is putting pressure on everyone. We could end up with a pretty good year in Europe in mobile equipment,” said Exane BNP Paribas analyst Alexandre Peterc.

Prices fall

Despite a positive outlook for growth, few executives or investors expect an end to a decade-long price war launched by the Chinese vendors when they were trying to conquer foreign markets. Industry leader Ericsson’s margins have dropped below 10 percent from more than 20 percent in 2005, while Alcatel-Lucent has posted an annual profit only once – in 2011 – since it was formed in a transatlantic merger in 2006.

Although some price pressure has faded as Huawei has stopped fighting for market share to focus on margins, equipment prices look set to keep falling, according to a UBS survey of purchasing managers.

Some 42 percent of respondents expect telecom equipment prices to drop even more than usual over the next year, whereas 30 percent expected a “typical” decline of 10 to 15 percent. This was a shift from the last survey when 80 percent expected prices to fall at their normal rate or less.

Nokia’s network equipment business NSN could sacrifice margins to win contracts this year because it needs to boost revenues, which analysts say fell by around 17 percent last year.

“They will be aggressive, but I don’t think it will totally kill pricing in the sector, because there simply aren’t enough new contracts up for bid this year,” said Exane’s Peterc.

Nokia is first to report earnings for the fourth quarter and full year, on January 23, with Ericsson following a week later and Alcatel-Lucent two weeks later, on February 6.

source: interaksyon.com

In muted fashion, new iPhones make Philippine debut

MANILA, Philippines — Unlike in the last two years when they tried to outdo each other in terms of the grandiosity of their launches, fierce rivals Smart Communications and Globe Telecom chose to quietly introduce Apple’s new iPhones in the country and just channel the money intended for staging the events in assisting the survivors of Typhoon Yolanda.

Both Smart and Globe decided to scale down the public unveiling of the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c, although the PLDT-owned mobile operator held a mid-day press briefing at Fullybooked in Bonifacio Global City to formally announce the post-paid plans for the units.

The iPhone 5s (16GB, 32GB, 64GB) and iPhone 5c (16GB, 32GB) will be offered under Smart Postpaid’s Freedom Plan, All-In Plans 500, 800, 1200, 1800, and 2500; iPhone Plans 999 and 2499; and UnliData Plans 1500, 2000, and 3000.

Subscribers can enjoy premium perks and services when they avail of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c with Smart Infinity Plans 3500, 5000, and 8000.

Subscribers can get any color of the iPhone 5c (16 GB) for P1,499 a month with the iPhone Plan 999 (P999 monthly service fee plus P500 device amortization via credit card). iPhone Plan 999 already comes with 40 free call minutes, 100 free SMS, and unlimited data connection.

For those who need more free voice and text credits, the iPhone 5c (16 GB) can be availed with an UnliData Plan 1500 with a P2,500 cash-out. The UnliData Plan 1500 comes with unlimited data connection plus 60 free all-net minutes and 120 free all-net SMS.

Meanwhile, those interested in the iPhone 5s can get the 16GB model for only P1,799 a month with the iPhone Plan 999 (P999 monthly service fee plus P800 device amortization via credit card).

The iPhone 5s (16GB) is also available at UnliData Plan 2000 with a P2,500 cash-out. UnliData Plan 2000 comes with unlimited data connection plus 150 free all-net minutes and 200 free all-net SMS.

For Smart Infinity subscribers, the iPhone 5s (16GB) at Plan 5000 comes with 2 VIP tickets to Wicked or P14,000 worth of gift certificates. Plan 8000 subscribers meanwhile get both the iPhone 5s (32GB) and iPhone 5C (16GB).

Kathy Carag, head of Smart’s postpaid business group, said existing Smart Postpaid subscribers who wish to subscribe to an iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c package but are still under contract may opt for Smart’s WipeOut program where they can upgrade to an iPhone without waiting for their active contract to expire.

At the event, Smart also launched its online reservation and service application page.

Globe, meanwhile, also launched its iPhone postpaid plans, including an upgrade program dubbed as Globe iPhone Forever that allows new and existing subscribers to swap their current devices with an iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c, allowing them to get a new iPhone every year for free or with minimal cashout.

source: interaksyon.com

NSA intercepts Google, Yahoo traffic overseas - Washington Post report

SAN FRANCISCO -- The National Security Agency has tapped directly into communications links used by Google and Yahoo to move huge amounts of email and other user information among overseas data centers, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

The report, based on secret NSA documents leaked by former contractor Edward Snowden, appears to show the agency has used weak restrictions on its overseas activities to exploit major US companies' data to a far greater extent than realized.

Previously reported programs included those that allowed easy searches of Google's, Yahoo's and other Internet giants' material based on court orders.

But since the interception in the newly disclosed effort, code named MUSCULAR, occurs outside the United States, there is no oversight by the secret intelligence court.

The Post said the operation gained access to a cable or switch that relayed the traffic through an unnamed telecommunications provider.

"We are outraged at the lengths to which the government seems to have gone to intercept data from our private fiber networks, and it underscores the need for urgent reform," said Google chief legal officer David Drummond.

Google said it had not been aware of the program, although it recently began speeding its efforts to encrypt internal traffic.

Like other companies, Google and Yahoo constantly send data over leased and shared or exclusive international fiber-optic telecommunication lines as they synchronize information.

The newly disclosed program, operated jointly with the United Kingdom's Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ, amassed 181 million records in one recent 30-day span, according to one document reported by the Post. It could not be learned how much of that included material from US residents, how the agency redacted data on them or how much of the information was retained.

'Valid foreign targets only’

An NSA spokesperson said in a statement the suggestion in the Post article that the agency relies on a presidential order on foreign intelligence gathering to skirt domestic restrictions imposed by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and other laws "is not true."

"The assertion that we collect vast quantities of US persons' data from this type of collection is also not true," the statement said. "NSA is a foreign intelligence agency. And we're focused on discovering and developing intelligence about valid foreign intelligence targets only."

Asked at an event in Washington about the latest report, NSA Director General Keith Alexander said that he had not read it but that the agency did not have unfettered access to the US companies' servers.

"I can tell you factually we do not have access to Google servers, Yahoo servers," Alexander said at a Bloomberg Government conference. "We go through a court order."

He did not directly address whether the agency intercepts such traffic in transit. The NSA is known to tap undersea cables.

A Yahoo spokeswoman said, "We have strict controls in place to protect the security of our data centers, and we have not given access to our data centers to the NSA or to any other government agency."

Yahoo in January will begin encrypting users' email as it moves to the company, but it declined to say whether it would go further and keep email encrypted as it moves within Yahoo.

The report is likely to add to growing tensions between the US intelligence establishment and the tech companies, which have been struggling to assure customers overseas that they need not fear US spying.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said he would ask for an administration briefing on the program because millions of US residents could have had their communications monitored daily.

"I will be asking whether this report is accurate, what legal authority the government is using, and how they are protecting the privacy rights of law-abiding Americans," the Vermont Democrat said.

source: interaksyon.com

Engineers working to fully restore Sun Cellular mobile services in Bohol, Cebu

Operations of Sun Cellular in Bohol and Cebu—which were hard-hit by a major earthquake this morning—have been affected, the company said in a statement.

However, engineers are “working to normalize services shortly,” said Smart Communications Inc., which acquired Sun Cellular, in a statement.

Smart also said that its mobile phone service in Bohol and Cebu remains “remains largely operational despite the damage inflicted on some cell sites and network facilities by the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that hit Central Visayas early this morning.”

Since electricity is unavailable in parts of Bohol and Cebu, Smart will be “deploying generator sets to power key cell sites and keep mobile phone and internet services running,” the company said in an announcement.

“We are also setting up free call services and free mobile phone charging stations in affected towns and municipalities to assist residents as well as emergency agencies involved in rescue and relief operations,” it added.

Smart Communications Inc. is the mobile phone unit of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), which is led by Manuel V. Pangilinan, who also chairs TV-5.

source: interaksyon.com

Be prepared in an emergency with the SpareOne Plus phone

MANILA, Philippines - The recent flooding in many areas due to heavy rainfall in Luzon has, more than ever, made disaster preparedness a must.

Aside from being aware of flood-prone locations, it is important to have life-saving skills in any environment. Emergencies can happen anytime, anywhere, and there is a real need to be well prepared. When disaster strikes, much depends on survival skills and communication is a tool of extreme importance.

How many times has one been caught in a typhoon or similar disaster where there is no power and no way to recharge cellphones? A hurried text saying “low batt” seems not to bring relief or calm the fear of the person receiving the message. On the contrary, it tends to add anxiety. The SpareOne phone is the simple solution to this dilemma. It is the only phone in the world with a battery that will last for up to 15 years if unused. Take note that ordinary cellphone batteries lose their charge over time even if they are powered off. Not so with the SpareOne phone. It is powered by one battery, the Energizer Ultimate Lithium L91 (included in the package).

For 15 years, one can keep the phone in your car’s glove compartment, in a kitchen drawer, or any other accessible place in an emergency, and it will be ready for use. Once the phone is used, it provides 10 hours of talk time, which can last a long trip on one battery.

The SpareOne Plus emergency phone is simple yet packed with all the features needed for a backup phone. It is contained in a waterproof bag that is floatable and submersible, with talk-through containment and extreme temperature operation, providing you a communication lifeline when all else is potentially destroyed.

It has a LED torchlight (flashlight) which provides up to 24 hours of continuous light, as well as an SOS torchlight that will flash in Morse code to show a call for help in times of distress.




The SpareOne phone has a panic siren that will aid in attracting attention. It is location and alert services-capable. Through a Web interface, the user can locate the SpareOne Plus and emit an alert by e-mail and/or text message to designated recipients.

Its one-touch, large emergency services button is ideal for daily emergency and medical situations, and no SIM is required for emergency numbers. With a SIM, one can also pre-program up to nine numbers of family and friends.

Emergency preparedness has to be simple yet functional. This is where technology plays a critical role through life-saving devices. The SpareOne phone is simple, easy to use, and has many features that make it several tools in one. When all else fails, you can depend on the SpareOne phone to be your communication lifeline to the world.

For more information, visit www.filnippon.com, e-mail at sales@filnippon.com or call +63(2) 893-2142.

source: philstar.com

Skype marks 10 years of shrinking the world

STOCKHOLM — If David Huang had left his native Taiwan for Sweden a generation ago, he would have taken a giant leap into the unknown.

Now, with the help of Skype, the 35-year-old businessman is able to reach relatives from his Stockholm home as easily as if they lived around the corner, and not half a world away.

“Skype has made work easier, but more important than that, it has enabled me to talk to my family whenever I feel like it,” he said.

Internet messaging service Skype, which celebrates its 10th anniversary on Thursday, has shrunk the world in profound ways that few could have foreseen in 2003.

A total of 300 million users make two billion minutes of online video calls a day. And in the surest sign of success, the brand name has been turned into a verb – a rare distinction shared by the likes of Xerox and Google.

In another sign of success, Skype has spawned competitors with a host of similar technologies, most importantly Apple’s FaceTime.

But revolutionary as Skype’s technology may seem, it didn’t start completely from scratch but built on existing communication technologies.

“We already had cheap international calling using the Internet,” said Martin Geddes, a leading Britain-based telecommunications consultant.

“The significance of Skype was and is the ‘Wow!’ experience of high definition voice, and the sense of ‘being there’ with your distant friends and family in a way not possible before.”

Skype was launched in late August 2003 by two Scandinavian technology entrepreneurs, Niklas Zennstroem of Sweden and Janus Friis of Denmark, who expanded on existing peer-to-peer networking technologies.

Skype, which allows its online users to make high-quality calls to each other anywhere in the world for free, quickly took off, bringing the world closer together in an age when globalisation and intercontinental travel pulled more families apart than at perhaps any other time in history.

“I’m touched by the ways people use Skype, from an active duty soldier meeting his baby girl for the first time… to just the simple, extraordinarily ordinary instances,” said Elisa Steele, Skype chief marketing officer.

These simple instances, she said, include “a mum and daughter being able to see and talk to one another in a way that feels like they’re just sitting across the kitchen table from each other. Our greatest achievement lies in these moments.”

While Skype helps people to stay in touch with those they already know, it also enables new connections to be formed.

One example was early this year, when students aged between 11 and 15 from Woodham Academy in Britain and Merton Intermediate School in Wisconsin carried out a cross-Atlantic dance contest.

“For a lot of them, I think they’d been in a small-town mentality where they hadn’t really gone out as far as they might have wanted to into travelling,” said Woodham assistant head teacher Jon Tait.

“They had seen films from abroad, but to actually physically speak to these kids in America was absolutely brilliant. It was amazing.”

Skype isn’t for humans only. At Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, Texas, orangutans Mei and Mukah are rewarded for completing tasks by being allowed to communicate via Skype with orangutans in other zoos.

The question many ask however is: Is it possible to make money on a business offering free calls? US software maker Microsoft thought so, paying $8.5 billion for Skype in 2011.

In the 12 months ended on June 30, Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division, which includes Skype, reported operating income of $848 million, up from $380 million the year before.

Within just a decade, Skype moved from being nowhere to being everywhere. Could the reverse also be true? In an era of rapid transformation, could it be gone again in another decade? It’s hard to imagine, according to observers.

“It’s not going to go away. It’s going to be utilised and put into more and more devices, videophones, devices for your kitchen, tablets as we mount them on cabinets,” said Michael Gough, author of the book “Skype Me!”

“I can see for example a home automation scenario, where you have a tablet in your kitchen, an Xbox connect in your living room, and you can literally be on a video call and it will follow you around the house. I can actually see that occurring.”

source: interaksyon.com

EU proposes end to roaming charges in radical mobile shake-up

BRUSSELS — Europe’s Digital Agenda commissioner Neelie Kroes on Thursday proposed a radical shake-up of the mobile phone services market, including an end to roaming charges long denounced by consumer groups.

Kroes said the EU should show the way forward, creating a real single market for telecoms to deliver benefits which will boost economic growth and jobs.

Looking ahead to the 2014 EU elections, Kroes called on European Parliament lawmakers to show “citizens that the EU is relevant to their lives.

“I want you to be able to go back to your constituents and say that you were able to end mobile roaming costs,” she said, referring to the surcharges levied by telecoms operators when a customer uses a mobile phone or tablet outside their home country.

Kroes said she would also be pressing for “real action on cybercrime” and guaranteeing Internet neutrality.

The measures if agreed, would be implemented by 2015 or 2016.

“Markets must function, devices must function, networks must function and investment needs to happen … we can’t afford today’s countless, needless, artificial obstacles placed in the way,” Kroes said.

source: interaksyon.com

PLDT borrows $300 million to refinance debt

MANILA - Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co has borrowed $300 million from foreign banks to refinance existing debts.

On the sidelines of the Philippine Investments Forum 2013, Annabelle Chua, PLDT treasurer on Wednesday, said the fresh loan was signed last January.

Last November, PLDT borrowed P6.20 billion. It also raised P8.80 billion worth of fixed-rate corporate notes to a group of primary institutional lenders to refinance its existing debts.

At end-September, PLDT's total debt stood at $3.1 billion, including the $500 million owed by Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc (Digitel), which PLDT acquired in 2011. Digitel operates Sun Cellular.

In the first nine months of 2012, PLDT's net income fell by 6 percent to P28.7 billion from the previous year's P30.6 billion.  For the third quarter alone, its profit slipped to P9.21 billion from P9.32 billion a year ago.

Consolidated service revenues rose 12 percent to P126.24 billion from P112.27 billion in 2011. In the third quarter, service revenues climbed to P41.52 billion from the previous year's P36.65 billion.

InterAksyon.com is the online news portal of TV5, a member of the PLDT group.

source: interaksyon.com

US says won’t sign ITU telecom treaty in current form

DUBAI — The United States, Britain and Canada on Thursday refused to sign a new global telecommunications treaty, warning it would provide a mandate for governmental regulation of the Internet, potentially ending 11 days of fractious talks in Dubai.

In pre-written statements, the three countries informed a summit of the International Telecommunications Union of their decision, with Denmark, the Netherlands, and Kenya making similar announcements.

The summit chairman broke up the meeting for an hour of private negotiations to try and revive the treaty, but with the United States announcing a press conference at 1900 GMT it seems Washington is in no mood for compromise.

“It’s with a heavy heart and a sense of missed opportunities that the U.S. must communicate that it’s not able to sign the agreement in the current form,” said Terry Kramer, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. body.

“The Internet has given the world unimaginable economic and social benefit during these past 24 years. All without U.N. regulation.”

The United States and its allies have fought to ensure the new treaty, which is being revised for the first time since 1988, only applies to traditional telecommunications.

A large bloc of countries led by Russia supports adding language to the treaty that could open the door to more regulation of cyberspace on issues from spam, security and the assignment of addresses to web pages.

The U.S. bloc’s coordinated snub followed a vote that approved an African proposal to add a sentence in a treaty relating to human rights.

Western delegates believe this effectively reintroduced a contentious proposal that said no country should be allowed to unilaterally deny another country access to communications networks.

“We prefer no resolution on the Internet at all and I’m extremely concerned that the language just adopted opens the possibility of Internet and content issues,” Simon Towler, head of the British delegation, said after the Africa proposal was passed.

The treaty was scheduled to be signed at 1330 GMT on Friday.

source: interaksyon.com

Globe GoIDD promo at P1.50 per minute

MANILA, Philippines - Globe Telecom launched its newest and most affordable IDD offer that allows subscribers to make IDD calls for as low as P1.50 per minute.

Globe GoIDD is the latest bulk IDD promo exclusively available to Globe prepaid subscribers calling the US Mainland, Canada, China, Hawaii, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand. The IDD offer is available for only P200 valid for 30 days.

Globe prepaid subscribers can make as much as 133 minutes of voice calls, or close to 2.5 hours, making it the most affordable per minute IDD rate in the country today.

Registration to the promo can either be via text where subscribers can text GOIDD200 to 8888 or via the self-service menu *143#, where subscribers can choose “All-Time Fave Promos” and then “International Call and Text Promos,”and then “GOIDD” to avail of the offer.

To call using GoIDD, dial the standard IDD dialing sequence, which is 00 + Country Code + Area Code + Phone Number for a landline number, and 00 + Country Code + Mobile Number of a mobile number. Upon successful registration, users will be provided with 133 call minutes, valid for an entire month. A P1 maintaining balance is required to use the promo.

“Globe Prepaid welcomes GoIDD as the latest addition to our roster of international services that offer the most competitive per-minute call rates, giving subscribers great value for their hard-earned money,” said KD Dizon, head of Globe Prepaid. “With Globe GoIDD, connections between families and friends remain solid despite the distance. Staying connected is now a cinch with Globe GoIDD, making international calling easy and affordable at a price that’s within easy reach among Filipinos.”

    The promo is ongoing until Feb. 28, 2013.

     For information,  visit www.globe.com.ph/go-idd

source: philstar.com

AT&T Upgrade Fee Is a Poke in the Eye

I recently had to buy a new phone after my 3 year old iPhone 3GS became unusable. AT&T Wireless, as usual, stuck me with an upgrade fee – this time it went from an annoying and distasteful $18 to a ridiculous $36.

Like usual, I called and asked that it be waived. The lady told me it was not even possible in her computer system to do so.

A few minutes later she told me her job would be in jeopardy if she waived it.




 I asked her, “so lying to your customers doesn’t put your job in jeopardy? You just told me you weren’t even able to do it.”

Caught in a lie, she muttered something about if she did it, a manager would see and she’d get in trouble, but if I’d like, she could let me talk to a supervisor. She also said she could give me a $25 credit right now.

Rather than take this any further and risk a fist-sized hole in my drywall, I took my $25 credit.

Please pardon my rant, but AT&T Wireless must not think I’m a valued customer when they stick me with an “upgrade” fee for the privilege of being a customer for another two years.

As a longtime customer who has spent over $10,000 with this company, I am very put off when asked to pay a fee SIMPLY FOR BEING A CUSTOMER.

What the Heck is an Upgrade Fee?

Upgrade fee? Seriously?

I’m not upgrading anything. I bought a lower grade phone.

I am asking to continue to give you money every month for the next two years, not to move into your basement.

Hell, they should call me and thank me for being a customer, not charge me a fee.

There AT&T, are you happy? After getting $10,000 from me, you had to shake out another $11.

If you need $11 that bad, should I even trust your company?

If You Are Going to Extract Money From Your Customers, Be Smarter About It

Look, if you really need to recover more money from customers because the price of “upgrading” has gone up (SIDE RANT: Maybe the reason your cost of signing papers for customers is going up has something to do with the army of frat bots I saw with iPads strapped to their hips last time I was in your store).

If I’m correct, Verizon Wireless doesn’t charge an upgrade fee. I suspect that this is not because they don’t like money, but because they are smart enough to just sneak it into the price of their phones or plans, or whatever other way they are using.

Which is my point.

If you have an increased cost of doing business, RAISE YOUR PRICES. Don’t hide behind some silly “upgrade fee.”

That puts you in the company of those late-night infomercials selling a ten-dollar product with twenty-dollar shipping and handling.

Say what you want about AT&T vs Verizon – at least Verizon pretends to care about their customers, or maybe more shocking, they realize that treating a customer right is good business in the long run.

How to Get AT&T Upgrade Fee Waived

If you’ve never had your AT&T Wireless upgrade fee waived, just call in and ask. I don’t think the employees in the store have the power to do so.

Even if you’ve had it waived before, call anyway. They at least deserve to know how you feel about their fee.

They may have to escalate you to a supervisor or manager, or they may offer you a credit for a smaller amount in the hopes you will be tired of fighting and relent.

Most likely they will waive the fee for you.

It has worked for me almost every time.

source: marriedwithdebt.com

China’s Huawei, ZTE should be kept from US: draft Congress report

WASHINGTON — China’s top telecommunications gear makers should be shut out of the U.S. market because potential Chinese state influence on them poses a security threat, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Intelligence Committee said in a draft of a report to be released on Monday.

U.S. intelligence must stay focused on efforts by Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp to expand in the United States and tell the private sector as much as possible about the purported espionage threat, the panel leaders said, based on their 11-month investigation of the pair.

Employee-owned Huawei is the world’s second-biggest maker of routers, switches and other telecommunications equipment after Sweden’s Ericsson. ZTE ranks fifth.

The broadside comes as Huawei mulls a possible initial public offering, sources said, as part of a possible effort to overcome suspicions that have all but blocked its U.S. efforts, including business combinations.

Huawei spokesman William Plummer rejected the committee’s allegations in a statement emailed to Reuters.

“Baseless suggestions otherwise or purporting that Huawei is somehow uniquely vulnerable to cyber mischief ignore technical and commercial realities, recklessly threaten American jobs and innovation, do nothing to protect national security, and should be exposed as dangerous political distractions from legitimate public-private initiatives to address what are global and industry-wide cyber challenges,” he said.

For its part, ZTE released a copy of the letter it sent to the committee, stating it “profoundly disagrees” with the claim that it is directed or controlled by the Chinese government.

“ZTE should not be a focus of this investigation to the exclusion of the much larger Western vendors,” it said.

ZTE’s Hong Kong-listed shares fell as much as 3.4 percent early on Monday, lagging a 0.2 percent drop in the benchmark index. Its shares down 2.4 percent at 0229 GMT after news of the company’s earlier response to the U.S. committee.

It was not immediately clear whether the blackballing would curb mobile phone sales that both companies do with customers such as Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile EVEVE.UL.

The panel’s draft report faulted both companies for failing to satisfy the committee’s requests for documents to allay its concerns, including detailed information about formal relationships or regulatory interaction with Chinese authorities.

U.S. companies mulling purchases from Huawei should “find another vendor if you care about your intellectual property; if you care about your consumers’ privacy and you care about the national security of the United States of America,” panel chairman Mike Rogers said in comments broadcast Sunday night on the CBS News program “60 Minutes.”

Rogers and the committee’s top Democrat, C.A. Ruppersberger, have scheduled a 10 a.m. Eastern time (1400 GMT) news conference to release the final, unclassified version of their report.

“Credible allegations”

The panel said it had received credible allegations from unnamed industry experts and current and former Huawei employees suggesting Huawei, in particular, may be guilty of bribery and corruption, discriminatory behavior and copyright infringement.

The committee plans to refer such allegations to the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security, according to the draft made available to Reuters.

“U.S. network providers and system developers are strongly encouraged to seek other vendors for their projects,” it said.

The document cited what it called long-term security risks supposedly linked with the companies’ equipment and services. But it did not provide detailed evidence, at least not in an unclassified version.

A classified annex provides “significantly more information adding to the committee’s concerns,” the draft said.

Based on classified and unclassified information, Huawei and ZTE, which are both based in Shenzhen, China, “cannot be trusted to be free of foreign state influence and thus pose a security threat to the United States and to our systems,” it said.

Huawei and ZTE are rapidly becoming “dominant global players” in the telecommunications market, which is intertwined with computerized controls for electric power grids; banking and finance systems; gas, oil and water systems and rail and shipping, the document said.

ZTE’s US telecom infrastructure equipment sales last year were less than $30 million.

In contrast, two of the larger Western vendors alone had combined U.S. sales that topped $14 billion, ZTE told the committee in its September 25 letter, an apparent reference to Espoo, Finland-based Nokia Siemens Networks NOKI.UL and Paris-based Alcatel Lucent.

“It seems self-evident that the universe of companies examined by the Committee is so small as to omit most of the equipment actually employed in the U.S. telecom infrastructure system,” the letter said.

“Means, opportunity, motive”

Huawei and ZTE may not be the only companies that present a risk to U.S. infrastructure, the committee’s draft report said, but they are the two largest Chinese-founded, Chinese-owned companies seeking to market critical network equipment to the United States. Beijing has the “means, opportunity and motive” to use them to its own ends, it added.

Top executives of both told a committee hearing on September 13 that their companies would never bow to a hypothetical Chinese government effort to exploit their products for espionage, equating any such move with corporate suicide.

“Huawei has not and will not jeopardize our global commercial success nor the integrity of our customers’ networks for any third party, government or otherwise,” senior vice president Charles Ding testified at the time.

The draft showed that the committee is calling on an interagency government group that reviews national security implications of foreign investments to block acquisitions, takeovers or mergers involving Huawei and ZTE.

In addition, it said Congress should give thorough consideration to legislation seeking to expand the role of the interagency group, known as the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States, to include purchasing agreements.

U.S. intelligence officials have publicly denounced China as the world’s most active perpetrator of economic espionage against the United States.

Huawei has marketed its network equipment in the United States since last year. It has sold to a range of small- to medium-sized carriers nationwide, particularly in rural areas. It has marketed mobile phones through a broader range of U.S. carriers, for the last four years.

source: interaksyon.com

Ericsson in pole position to buy Nokia Siemens unit: report

STOCKHOLM — Ericsson, the world’s top mobile network infrastructure supplier, is in pole position to buy the business support systems (BSS) unit of rival Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), Dow Jones Newswires reported on Monday.

In addition to Ericsson, U.S. telecoms equipment maker Amdocs is also interested in the BSS unit, which provides billing and charging systems for telecoms operators, Dow Jones quoted a source familiar with the matter saying.

A source familiar with the situation told Reuters the unit was among assets NSN was considering selling, but could not confirm a deal was imminent.

Ericsson and NSN, a joint venture between Nokia Oyj and Siemens AG, declined to comment. Amdocs was not immediately available for comment.

NSN is in the middle of a slimming program that will also cut 17,000 of the group’s workforce – or almost a quarter of the total – in an effort to improve its finances.

Sweden-based Ericsson has been expanding rapidly in BSS and operations support systems (OSS), last year buying Telcordia in the United States for $1.1 billion.

A recent survey by consultancy Gartner ranked Ericsson top globally by revenues in OSS and BSS services, including sales acquired with Telcordia.

NSN made a profit of 27 million euros on a non-IFRS basis in the second quarter on sales of 3.3 billion.

source: interaksyon.com

PLDT expands coverage of 100Mbps fiber Internet service

MANILA, Philippines — Telecom provider Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) is expanding its ultra-fast home Internet service to other posh villages in Metro Manila, the company announced Tuesday.

Under the PLDT Fibr brand offering, the telco’s fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) Internet service enables download speeds of up to 100Mbps, or about a hundred times faster than the average download rates in the Philippines.

Initially available in upscale villages such as Ayala Alabang and Forbes Park, PLDT said it is expanding the service to cater to the following areas: East, West, North, and Northeast Green Hills, Acropolis, Green Meadows, La Vista, and Valle Verde in Quezon City; Alabang Hills, Alabang 400, and Hillsborough in Alabang, Muntinlupa; and Dasmariñas Village, San Lorenzo Village, and Urdaneta Village in Makati.

An 8Mbps plan from the service costs P3,500 per month, while a 15Mbps plan is available for P6,500 a month. A 100Mbps plan is also available for P20,000 a month.

Unlike cable Internet, which shares bandwidth among nearby customers, PLDT Head of Home Business Ariel Fermin said PLDT Fibr provides a “dedicated broadband connection” to every subscriber through its use of fiber-optic cables.

Fiber Internet uses fiber optic technology, which transmits data via light signals sent through hair-thin strands of pure glass. Instead of the usual copper going to the homes of customers, thin fiber optic cables will be used.

“All PLDT Fibr plans are equipped with an Optical Network Unit (ONU) Modem, which has a fiber optic cable connection that delivers its enviable ultra-high speed feature,” Fermin added.

The new platform will be able to deliver simultaneously voice, video and data services at much higher speeds and larger capacities than DSL or cable technologies, PLDT added.

The expansion of the service comes as the telco nears completion of the installation of 50,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable nationwide, part of its P67-billion network modernization program.

Just recently, the telco announced the completion of the $400 million Asia Submarine-Cable Express, touted as the largest-capacity international submarine cable system in the country, which links Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore through a fiber optic cable.

The completion of the undersea cable system brings the telco’s local landing stations to three, enabling it to efficiently deliver bandwidth-heavy applications requiring Internet access the likes of VoIP, IP-based data, and other multimedia content.

source: interaksyon.com

Data of 8.7 million South Korean telecom subscribers hacked

SEOUL — KT Corp., South Korea’s No. 2 wireless service provider, apologized on Sunday after personal data of millions of mobile phone subscribers was hacked.

It is the latest in a string of large-scale personal information hacking cases in one of the world’s most wired countries. Police said two computer programmers had been arrested for hacking personal data of about 8.7 million KT subscribers. KT claims a mobile service subscription membership of 16 million.

Police were also investigating seven others suspected of having purchased and used the hacked KT data, which included names, resident registration numbers and phone numbers. “We deeply apologize for worrying you,” KT said in a statement. The company said it had blocked any further illegal access to data.

The hacking began in February. In November, more than 13 million subscribers of Nexon Korea Corp, a leading game developer, fell victim to a hacking attack.

Months before the Nexon Korea case, information of up to 35 million users of an Internet portal and blogging site operated by SK Comms, the country’s top mobile service provider, was attacked by hackers from China.

source: interaksyon.com

China’s Huawei, ZTE face EU action on telecom subsidies: FT

The European Union is set to launch a major trade case against China’s biggest telecom equipment makers, arguing that they have benefited from illegal government subsidies, the Financial Times said.

The EU told member states it had been gathering evidence for an anti-dumping case against Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp, saying that they had obtained illegal government subsidies and sold products in the EU below cost, the newspaper said, quoting unidentified EU officials and executives.

Once the EU determined that China was acting illegally, Huawei and ZTE, the world’s No.2 and No.5 telecom equipment makers, could be subject to punitive EU tariffs, the FT said.

ZTE declined comment, while Huawei had no immediate comment.

Huawei and ZTE compete globally in the telecom equipment business with European vendors such as Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Siemens-Nokia.

Earlier in May, the EU’s Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said the EU was planning new trade defenses to counter subsidies and dumping by trading partners, such as China.

China is the European Union’s second biggest trading partner after the United States and the bloc is China’s biggest trade partner, with trade between the two forecast to hit a record high of 500 billion euros ($397 billion) this year.

But the relationship is tense. De Gucht has in the past complained that China subsidies “nearly everything”, making it hard to compete.

article source: interaksyon.com