Headlines for: 21 Nov 2008

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Nepal’s national telecoms regulator, the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), has launched a consultation on developing a rural telecom development fund in the country. On its web site, the NTA has announced it is preparing a concept paper for the di...

Russia's Communications Minister Igor Shchyogolev said yesterday that the government in Syria is considering allowing a Russian mobile operator into its market, Reuters reports. Speaking at the Russian-Syrian Intergovernmental Commission, Shchyogolev is q...

BNamericas is reporting that Mexican telco Marcatel plans to take part in the country’s planned spectrum auction as it looks to extend its services to broadband and 3G; Mexican regulator Cofetel is planning to auction 3G spectrum in the 1.9GHz and 1.7GHz-...

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) yesterday denied the Canadian Association of Internet Providers’ (CAIP) request that Bell Canada cease the internet traffic-shaping practices (a.k.a. bandwidth throttling) it has adopt...

Spanish news source Cinco Dias is reporting that Telefonica has held talks with multiple German broadband operators with a view to acquisitions as it looks to strengthen its position in the country. Citing a statement by Telefonica’s CFO, Santiago Fernand...

Spanish mobile operator Vodafone has announced the launch of a bundled service including ADSL and pay-TV, in conjunction with Digital Plus, a subsidiary of Spanish media group Prisa. The new package is available immediately, with prices starting from EUR2...

Clearwire shareholders voted yesterday to approve the deal, first announced in May, that will merge the company’s WiMAX operations with the Xhom WiMAX unit of Sprint Nextel. The shareholder vote and regulatory approval mean the deal is on track to close b...

The National Authority for Communications (ANC) has said that tenders for two additional licences to use the 3.6GHz-3.8GHz frequencies, which will allow the introduction of WiMAX technology, may be submitted until 5 February 2009. Previously, the proposed...

Speaking at a conference in Spain, Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao revealed that the company was interested in establishing a presence in Nigeria. 'It doesn't take a very sophisticated analysis to see it is one of the very few large markets with decent GDP, a...

According to Telecompaper, Freenet and mobile subsidiary Debitel will cut 1,000 jobs as part of the integration of the latter into the former. Freenet acquired the MVNO earlier in the year in a deal worth EUR1.6 billion (USD2.6 billion). Freenet has sough...

Hutchison Whampoa’s Italian mobile unit 3 Italia has released a statement denying it has held secret talks regarding the possibility of disbanding the company and selling off its various assets. Earlier this week the Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore...

Indonesia's second largest telecoms group Indosat has drawn down the entire USD450 million loan provided to it by a syndicate arranged by ING Bank and DBS Bank, Antara News reports. It is understood the telco requested USD150 million in September this yea...

According to Reuters, Norwegian telecoms group Telenor will wait until mid-January 2009 before finalising a decision on whether it will proceed with a rights issue to fund expansion in the Indian market. The report comes after indications at the beginning...

Brazil’s president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva yesterday approved a change to the country's telecoms law, BNamericas writes citing local press as saying. As reported in CommsUpdate earlier this week, the industry regulator Anatel approved changes to telecom...