BlackBerry Removes Upgraded Twitter App from Own App Store:

BlackBerry has been forced to remove an updated version of one of its own apps following user complaints.

The company had updated its in-house Twitter app to include tighter integration with its own BBM platform, but the software suffered numerous problems leading to customer complaints.

Version 10.2.2 of the Twitter app included new features, such as BBM connectivity, timeline photo previews, and better search and reply functions.

"Twitter version 10.2.2 has been removed from BlackBerry World due to user reported issues," the company said in a blog post. "We are actively investigating and will provide an update here when Twitter 10.2.2 has been reposted."

The company asked users to roll back to the earlier version 10.2.1.

Syria Has the Lowest Average of SMS Rates in the Arab World:

Within the Middle-East region, Syria has the cheapest average SMS rates, followed by Iraq, while Morocco and Lebanon have the highest -- according to research from the Arab Advisors Group.

The research shows that the rate of SMS including taxes in Morocco is the highest. Morocco's highest rates are followed by Lebanon, Qatar, Mauritania, Kuwait, Algeria, Libya, Jordan, Egypt, UAE, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Oman, Bahrain, Yemen, Tunisia, Iraq, and Syria.

The report covers 52 cellular operators in 19 countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, and Yemen.

"The Arab Advisors Group's regional analysis shows that the average rate of national SMS including taxes for the studied Arab cellular operators is US$ 0.057 for postpaid and prepaid subscriptions, while the average rate of international SMS stands at US$ 0.162 for postpaid and US$ 0.159 for prepaid subscriptions." Ms. Hiba Rabadi, Arab Advisors Group Senior Research Analyst, noted.

"The average international SMS tariffs are 2.848 times the average national SMS tariffs for postpaid customers, and are 2.845 times the average national SMS tariffs for prepaid customers." Ms. Rabadi added.

China's 4G Subscriber Base to Exceed 30 Million by End of 2014:

China is expected to end next year with at least 30 million 4G subscribers, according to the Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Miao Wei.

He also said that the industry is expected to invest around US$16.5 billion developing its LTE based 4G networks during 2014.

He was speaking at the ministry's annual work conference, Xinhuareported.

The minister said that the investment in 4G services would make up almost one-third of China's total investment in mobile communications next year.

South Korea to Quadruple Mobile Broadband Radio Spectrum:

The South Korean government has outlined plans to quadruple the amount of radio spectrum made available to the mobile network operators by 2023.

The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said it plans to add a bandwidth of 1,190MHz on top of the current 390MHz that the networks have access to.

As an interim step, the ministry plans to add 20MHz bandwidth in 2.6GHz band and 40MHz bandwidth in 2.5GHz band by 2015.

The country had 26.5 million LTE subscribers at the end of October, and 19.7 million 3G subscribers.

There were just over 8 million 2G users, and the legacy 2G networks will be closed down next April to release capacity for the higher speed services.

US Spies Able to Hack into Apple IPhones:

The USA's spy agency has been accused of targetting Apple's iPhone's with malware that enables them to remotely activate the devices without the users knowledge.

According to leaked documents shared by security researcher Jacob Appelbaum and German news magazine Der Spiegel, an NSA programme enabled the spies to intercept text messages, access contact lists or activate the smartphone's microphone and camera.

The malware is best installed by the spies having physical access to the handset, which they are apparently able to do by intercepting deliveries from online purchases. Even without physical access, they are claimed to be able to deliver some malware functionality via over-the-air updates.

Due to the scale of the apparent hacks into the Apple software, the security researcher Jacob Appelbaum said that either the NSA is sitting on a trove of software bugs that it is exploiting for its own purposes, rather than notifying the software firms that their code is not secure -- or it worked in cooperation with Apple to leave backdoors in its own software.

The leaked documents were not due to be declassified officially until 2032.

Telenor Raises Stake in Indian Subsidiary to 74 Percent:

Norway's Telenor has increased its stake in its Indian subsidiary to 74 percent following an investment of around Rs 1,000 crore.

"Telenor Group confirms that subsequent to receiving approvals, it has made additional investments in India. With this, Telenor Group's ownership in the Indian company Telewings now stands at 74%," it said in a statement.

Telenor originally formed Telewings in partnership with Lakshdeep Investments & Finance, , a company controlled by Mr. Sudhir Valia.

The intent by Telenor to raise its stake to 74% was always clear from the moment that it set up the joint-venture. The company holds licenses in six circles.

Telewings offers services under the Uninor brand in India.

Small Indian Tower Operator Put Up for Sale by Owners:

A small Indian telecoms towers owner is reported to have been put up for sale by its owners.

Ascend Telecom was set up in 2002 and is backed by TVS Interconnect Systems and the New Silk Route private equity investors to provide passive infrastructure.

"Ascend is now talking to various investment bankers and will soon appoint one or two of them to scout for buyers," an unnamed source to the Economic Times newspaper.

The company owns around 4,500 towers which should be worth around US$400 million.

The company is thought to have struggled against the vastly larger rivals, most of which are backed by the mobile networks. The company tends to operate with a tenancy ratio of just 1.6 per tower, compared to an estimated break-even ratio needed of 2.5 tenants per tower.

Warid Telecom Launches Mobile Banking Service:

Pakistan's Warid Telecom and Bank Alfalah Limited have launched a Mobile Financial Service (MFS) by the name of 'Mobile Paisa'. The soft launch of 'Mobile Paisa' has been announced with the tagline "Chalta Rahey Pakistan".

'Mobile Paisa' is initially being launched with support for payments of utility bills and a  money transfer facility.

Monet is the technology provider who partnered with Fundamo - a mobile platform provider, to utilize its technology and offer branchless banking solutions to banks in Pakistan.

Speaking about the service, Warid Telecom's Chief Commercial Officer, Mr. Younas Sheikh said, "Mobile Paisa has been designed keeping in view today's financial needs. This service will provide a secure channel for daily financial transactions such as money transfer and payment of utility bills."

Monet financial cloud solution has the capability to host multiple banks completely secure and independent from each other. The platform technology and operations have been audited by independent auditors and SBP as well.

LG expands 'Knock' as standard feature in L series II:

LG Electronics (LG) announced that its Knock feature (formerly known as KnockOn) will be included as a standard feature in the company's key mobile devices in the future while its line of L Series II smartphones will receive Knock through a global Maintenance Release upgrade starting in January 2014. Knock was first introduced in LG G2 as a convenient way to turn the smartphone on and off by tapping twice on the display since the power button was located on the back of the phone.

Then Knock was featured in a tablet for the first time with the LG G Pad 8.3 followed by the G Flex curved smartphone, which also shared the rear button design of the G2. A version for LG's best-selling L Series II was developed to offer the feature to as many customers as possible after the company noticed a positive reaction of audiences to this new feature.

Airtel offers Facebook access in 9 Indian regional languages:

Indian telecom service provider Bharti Airtel will provide its prepaid customers with access to Facebook at no extra cost in nine regional Indian languages. The offer is available across India. During a limited period, Airtel customers are given 30 MB per month to access Facebook at no cost. Airtel's mobile customers who are Facebook users on the mobile (browser or app) are able to do social networking activities in their language. Existing Airtel mobile internet customers can connect with their friends by visiting the Facebook mobile site.

Federal judge says NSA phone data collection legal:

A federal judge in New York has ruled that the National Security Agency's phone-tracking programme is legal. US District Judge William Pauley issued the decision, saying the programme "represents the government's counter-punch" to eliminate al-Qaida's terror network by connecting fragmented communications, AP reports. In the ruling, the judge noted the September 11 terrorist attacks and how the phone data-collection system could have helped investigators connect the dots before the attacks occurred. He said the government learned from its mistake and "adapted to confront a new enemy: a terror network capable of orchestrating attacks across the world", and the data-collection programme was part of the adjustment. The ruling dismissed a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union against the NSA programme. The ACLU said it plans to appeal.

Samsung Develops Industry's First 8Gb LPDDR4 Mobile DRAM:

Samsung Electronics says that it has developed the industry's first eight gigabit (Gb), low power double data rate 4 (LPDDR4), mobile DRAM.

The 8Gb LPDDR4 is fabricated on 20-nanometer (nm) class process technology, and offers 1 gigabyte (GB) on a single die, which is the largest density available for DRAM components today.

In addition, Samsung's new 8Gb LPDDR4 uses a Low Voltage Swing Terminated Logic (LVSTL) I/O interface, which was originally proposed by Samsung to JEDEC and has become a standard specification for LPDDR4 DRAM. Based on this new interface, the LPDDR4 chip will enable a data transfer rate per pin of 3,200 megabits per second (Mbps), which is twice that of the 20nm-class LPDDR3 DRAM now in mass production. Overall, the new LPDDR4 interface will provide 50 percent higher performance than the fastest LPDDR3 or DDR3 memory. Also, it consumes approximately 40 percent less energy at 1.1 volts.

"This next-generation LPDDR4 DRAM will contribute significantly to faster growth of the global mobile DRAM market, which will soon comprise the largest share of the entire DRAM market," said Young-Hyun Jun, executive vice president, memory sales & marketing, Samsung Electronics.

With the new chip, Samsung said that it will focus on the premium mobile market including large screen UHD smartphones, tablets and ultra-slim notebooks, and also on high-performance network systems.

McAfee Forecasts Growth in Mobile Ransomware and Security-Aware Attacks in 2014:

McAfee Labs has released its annual 2014 Predictions Report, analyzing 2013 trends to forecast the threat landscape for the coming year.

In 2014, McAfee Labs expects to see the rapidly growing mobile platform draw the lion's share of threat innovation. Ransomware is expected to proliferate on mobile devices, as virtual currencies such as Bitcoin fuel the growth of ransomware across all platforms. Attacks using advanced evasion techniques will come of age, with enhanced capabilities to identify and bypass some sandboxing and other local security measures.

Social platforms will also be used more aggressively to target the finances and personal information of consumers, and the intellectual property and trade secrets of business leaders.

"With target audiences so large, financing mechanisms so convenient, and cyber-talent so accessible, robust innovation in criminal technology and tactics will continue its surge forward in 2014," said Vincent Weafer, senior vice president of McAfee Labs. "The activity in mobile and social is representative of an increasing 'black hat' focus on the fastest growing and most digitally active consumer audiences, in which personal information is almost as attractive as banking passwords. The emergence and evolution of advanced evasion techniques represents a new enterprise security battlefront, where the hacker's deep knowledge of architectures and common security tactics enable attacks that are very hard to uncover."

Airtel offers free pre-paid mobile access to Facebook in nine Indian languages:

Bharti Airtel will offer free access to social networking site Facebook in nine regional Indian languages to its prepaid customers across the country for a limited period, the company said on Friday.

"...it will offer free Facebook access in 9 regional Indian languages to its prepaid customers across India," Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

The company said its customers who are Facebook users on the mobile (browser or app) will be able to access Facebook in Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

According to Airtel, existing mobile internet customers on Airtel can immediately start connecting with their friends by visiting the Facebook mobile site m.facebook.com. Customers accessing the mobile internet for the first time need to register at m.facebook.com to avail of this special offer.

"A limited period offer, Airtel will allow customers to access Facebook free of cost with a cap of 30MB per month to add joy to the festivities," the statement added.

The company said the interface is compatible with feature, Java, Android, iPhone & Windows devices alike.

Digital note making app Evernote embraces paper:

Evernote is one of the most popular note-taking applications on mobile devices. The five-year-old Redwood City, California-headquartered company has had a phenomenal growth globally and, of late, in India too. With the tagline 'We help the world remember everything,' it has constantly innovated, expanding the scope of the 'note' from mere digital text to photos, voice, webpage and even handwritten ink notes.

Evernote's GM, Apac, Troy Malone, was in Bangalore recently, and spoke of the new features and growth in India.

BlackBerry Co-Founder Sells More Shares in the Company:

BlackBerry co-founder, Mike Lazaridis has sold more of his shares in the company, raising US$26 million according to a stock market filing.

That was also the last time he had to report a share sale, as his stake in the company has now been reduced to below 5 percent, which is the threshold for having to report such matters.

The sale of the shares also quashes the last vestige of rumours that he might lead a takeover attempt for the company.

According to the stock market filing, he sold around 3.5 million shares in two separate transactions last week.

Vodafone Eying Possible Bid for British Satellite TV Broadcaster:

There are increasing rumours that the soon to be cash rich Vodafone may launch a takeover bid for UK based satellite broadcaster, BSkyB.

BSkyB shares have been rising on the rumours which have been swirling around the stock market for the past week or so.

Although BSkyB is best known as a satellite TV company, it also owns a substantial ISP and landline services division, which was recently boosted by the acquisition of Telefonica O2's ISP business.

The broadcaster has 10.4 million paying subscribers, of which around a third also take the company's internet and phone line services.

The combination would enable Vodafone to offer bundled mobile, landline, internet broadband and television services to its customers.

BSkyB has a market capitalisation of around US$22 billion, but is facing pressure from a recently resurgent British Telecom which has invested heavily in broadband services, and is now behaving increasingly like a Cable TV provider.

The company is 39.1% owned by News Corp, with the rest listed on the London stock exchange. Any takeover bid would almost certainly have to have prior approval from News Corp before being announced.

The move is also being reported as a possible defensive move by Vodafone to grow the size of the company in order to fend off a possible hostile takeover bid by AT&T following the disposal of its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless.

Korean Networks Fined for Offering Illegal Handset Subsidies:

South Korea's mobile networks have all been fined for breaching regulations banning excessive handset subsidies.

The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) imposed a combined fine of KRW 106.4 billion (US$100 million) on the three networks for offering the illegal subsidies.

SK Telecom was fined KRW 56 billion, Korea Telecom was fined KRW 29.7 billion and LG U+ was fined KRW 20.7 billion.

It's the largest fine issued by the regulator for this specific breach of the regulations, although this time the regulator did not impose a week long ban on signing up new customers as it has in the past.

The fines cover infringements that took place between May 17 and July 16 and between Aug. 22 and Oct. 31st 2013.

The networks were found to have offered handset subsidies ranging from KRW380,000 to KRW 430,000 -- far in excess of the KRW 270,000 that the regulator permits.

TCS Insurance Launches Mobile Telematics Solution:

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), a leading IT services, consulting, and business solutions organization, today announced the launch of TCS Insurance Telematics Solution, a mobile application that turns consumers’ smartphones into mobile telematics devices. Facilitating usage-based insurance (UBI) practices that more closely align consumer driving patterns and habits with auto insurance premiums, the TCS Insurance Telematics Solution minimizes the need for a separate, potentially expensive, telematics device provided by the insurer.

“Telematics data has the potential to radically change the way auto insurance is underwritten, and smartphone-based data acquisition presents a lower barrier for consumers than other methods,” said Matthew Josefowicz, managing director at Novarica, a research and advisory firm focused on insurance technology strategy. “While some early adopters built their own telematics capabilities internally, insurers are increasingly turning to partners to help manage data capture and analysis in this important area.”

Now, auto insurance companies can leverage a customized version of the TCS Insurance Telematics application available for iOS and Android devices. Consumers will be able to track driving habits and adopt safe behaviors that save them money. By leveraging telematics data for underwriting and actuarial processes, insurers can segment customers based on risk score, perform life time value analysis and, ultimately improve product pricing and strategy.

Telecom Egypt Denies Plans to Sell 45% Stake in Local Vodafone Subsidiary:

Telecom Egypt has refuted reports that it is looking to sell its 45% stake in Vodafone's local subsidiary to Saudi Telecom.

The company issued a statement stating that the report in the Al Rainewspaper that it was looking to sell the stake was incorrect.

Despite the denial, the majority government owned landline operator saw its shares surge on expectation of the sale.

Telecom Egypt has been expected to consider a sale of its stake in Vodafone Egypt as part of its plans to launch its own MVNO, which would be a competitor to Vodafone in the country.

Apple Fined for Price Fixing in Taiwan:

Apple has been fined by Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission after it was found to have interfered in the pricing and distribution of its smartphones in the country.

The company was fined NT$20 million (US$670,000), which can rise to NT$50 million if it continues the breaches it was accused of.

The Commission found that Apple had been telling the country's mobile networks how much to charge for its iPhones, and also asked them to adjust their prices in a coordinated manner.

Suppliers directing retailers how to set prices is illegal in Taiwan.

"Through the email correspondence between Apple and these three telecom companies we discovered the companies submit their pricing plans to Apple to be approved or confirmed before the products hit the market," the Commission said in a statement.

The complaint relates only to sales of Apple's iPhones. There are no plans to investigate other Apple products at the moment.

UK May Permit Smartphone Photos of Cheques to Be Presented at Banks:

The UK government is opening a consultation to speed up payments by cheques by allowing a smartphone app to send a photo of the cheque for processing by their bank.

The technology is not new, and is already used in the USA, but will need regulatory approval to be permitted for use in the UK.

It would however still take up to two days to process the digital cheque, although that is an improvement on the up to six days that they currently take.

One option out of several being consdiered in the consultation is to bring forward legislation to speed up cheque processing, enabling banks to process images rather than paper as they do today. Consumers may also be able to take a picture of their cheque on their smartphone and send it to their bank with Barclays planning to introduce mobile cheque deposit next year.

Customers without smartphones will be able to use similar technology at cashpoints or branches or continue to pay in paper as they do now.

'Cheque imaging' does not require a hard copy of the cheque to be present at every stage of the paying-in process. That means that time spent transferring it between different banks and central clearing depots is saved as well as reducing the overall costs.

Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Sajid Javid, said: "We want to see more innovation so that customers see the benefits of new technologies. That is why we're creating a new payments regulator and why we are going to consult on speeding up the cheque clearing process."

Former Korea Telecom Chairman Questioned by State Prosecutors:

Korea Telecom's former Chairman, Lee Suk-chae has been questioned again by state prosecutors investigating allegations of graft and malpractice at the company.

He resigned last month following raids on company offices by investigators looking into the allegations.

He has been questioned already over claims that he set up a slush fund by inflating the wages of several unnamed executives at the company. He is all accused of forcing through investments in favoured suppliers, even though the products offered lead to known losses for the company he headed.

There also claims that he forced through the sale of nearly 40 office buildings at below market rates, causing financial losses for the telecoms company.

The allegations were sparked by a complaint filed earlier this year by a consumer rights group.

China Issues Licenses to Private Companies to Resell Mobile Services:

China has made the long expected announcement that will permit private companies to resell mobile phone services in the country through MVNO agreements.

The country's Industry and Information Technology Ministry (MIIT) granted licenses to 11 companies to start trials of reselling selected mobile services.

The ministry described the move as an important part of restructuring and reform in the telecom industry.

"This will help competition and innovation while offering more choices and better services to consumers," the statement said.

In a slight reversal of how most countries operate though, the license applicants have to secure a resale agreement with one of the mobile networks, and then apply for a license.

Spindle Inks Patents and Micro-Lending Agreements with IPayMobil:

Spindle and iPayMobil have joined up to offer micro-lending services to merchants as part of Spindle's existing payments product suite. Merchants will be able to offer Spindle's free, downloadable mobile wallet app to their customers to facilitate credit approvals.

In addition, iPayMobil will license seven of its ecommerce patents to Spindle to augment its product and service offering to merchants. These patents include virtual currency and gaming, the processing of transactions by bridging customers and merchants within a network, micropayments, pre-paid stored value accounts, and cloud services for digital content.

The iPayMobil micro-lending service deployed through Spindle's commerce platform is targeted for release in the first quarter of 2014, and will be offered to MeNetwork's 400,000 mobile application consumers. This will be followed by the integration with the Yowza!! platform, which Spindle recently announced plans to acquire. This will further extend the micro-loan offer to an additional 1.4 million consumers who have already downloaded the Yowza!! application.

"Our ability to offer an alternative micro-lending service with significantly reduced transaction and loan costs is consistent with Spindle's mission to empower small to medium-size merchants to compete in the fast-growing mobile ecommerce market," explained Andrew Ling, president and chief executive officer of iPayMobil.

MPOS Vendor Aquires EWallet Provider WeXpay:

The mobile point of sale vendor, I Love Velvet says that it has just acquired WexPay, a provider of a refillable virtual prepaid credit card.

This move further expands the New York based company's position as the international market leader in the prepaid payment industry.

Patrick Bouaziz, CVO of I Love Velvet Inc., on the deal: "This expansion will enable I Love Velvet Inc., offer world-wide customers full secure turnkey solutions that provides a superior end-to-end experience, from the management of selling through the final payment."

WexPay supports more than 300 websites and over 8,500 point-of-sales locations in France. Bruno Ballan de Ballanse, will step into the role of Managing Director.

Australian Court Orders Apple to Improve After-Sales Service:

Apple has been ordered to improve its after-sales policies after an Australian consumer rights group secured a court order against the company.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said that it took action following an investigation into Apple's consumer guarantees policies and practices, and representations about consumers' rights under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

The ACCC said was concerned that Apple had made a number of false or misleading representations to a number of consumers regarding their consumer guarantee rights, including that Apple was not required to provide a refund, replacement or repair to consumers in circumstances where these remedies were required by law.

The ACCC was concerned that on occasions these representations may have arisen from Apple staff and representatives misapplying Apple's policies, including its 14 day return policy and its 12 month limited manufacturer's warranty. The ACCC was also concerned that Apple staff were directing consumers with faulty non-Apple manufactured products purchased from Apple, to the manufacturer for resolution of the consumer's concerns.

UK Privacy Regulator Warns About Mobile Apps Collecting Personal Data:

The UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is warning consumers to protect their personal information when downloading mobile apps, ahead of the busiest day of the year for app downloads.

Last year 328 million apps were downloaded on Christmas Day alone and many people will have the latest tablet PC or smartphone at the top of their Christmas list this year. An online survey carried out by YouGov for the ICO this month found that 59% of adults in the UK have downloaded an app. This figure is likely to increase over the festive period.

But the survey also found that 62% of people who have downloaded an app are concerned about the way apps can use their personal information. The survey found 49% of app users have decided not to download an app due to privacy concerns.

ICO Principal Policy Advisor for Technology, Simon Rice, said: "Apps do all sorts of weird and wonderful things, helping someone chat with their friends, find a local restaurant or see what's on at their local cinema. However, they often work by using personal information. This can include information you would not normally choose to give out to a stranger, such as the contact details of friends and relatives and details of your location."

Market for AMOLED Light-Emitting Materials Set to Surge in 2014:

With a flood of new competitors set to initiate or increase the production of active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) panels next year, demand for materials used to make AMOLEDs is forecast to rise by nearly 27 percent in 2014.

The global market for AMOLED light-emitting materials will expand to $445 million in 2014, up from $350 million this year, according to the new report from IHS. While growth next year will moderate compared to the 49 percent rise in 2013, the market will swell by about $100 million in 2014.

"South Korea's Samsung Display has successfully pioneered the AMOLED business during the last five years, attaining major success in the market for smartphone panels ranging in size from 3-inches to 5-inches," said Doo Kim, principal analyst, display component and materials research. "Now other panel manufacturers are seeking to cash in on the expanding demand for AMOLEDs in smartphone, televisions and other products. This phenomenon will spur the continued increase in sales of materials used to create AMOLEDs in 2014."

The organic light-emitting materials utilized in AMOLED panels can be largely divided into two categories: common functional layer materials and color-emitting materials.

Optus Introduces World's First TD-LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation Network:

Australia's Optus says has successfully begun testing the future of its 4G Plus network by activating the world's first TD-LTE Advanced carrier aggregation. Optus announced it achieved single user peak speeds of over 160 Mbps on its commercial 4G Plus network in early December.

Today's announcement follows earlier tests of the potential of the 4G Plus network, that demonstrated a site throughput of over 500 Mbps, when utilising the bulk of Optus' 2300 TD-LTE spectrum.

"This is the first time in the world that 4G carrier aggregation has been introduced into a live TD-LTE network; not in a lab, but on a fully operational, commercial network," said Vic McClelland, Managing Director of Optus Networks.

"Our abundant spectrum holdings in the 2300 MHz band; new technologies like carrier aggregation; and our 4G Plus TD-LTE network are the foundations of the Optus network of the future."

CWC Invests US$50m to Upgrade Mobile Data in Panama:

Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) has upgraded its mobile data network in Panama City and Colon as the first part of a US$47.5 million programme to meet growing demand for data-based services.

CWC, which trades in Panama as Cable & Wireless Panama (CWP), launched high speed mobile data services in 2011. Usage of mobile data on its network increased by nearly 1,000% between 2011-2013.

The upgrade has increased network capacity in areas where there is high demand for mobile data, enabling CWP customers to upload and download mobile data up to 20% faster. It has also improved the experience customers will have making mobile voice calls.

Having completed the upgrade in Panama City and Colon, engineers are now rolling out the programme to the rest of the country.

CWP's revenue from mobile data usage was US$97 million in 2012/13, representing 31% of mobile revenue (2011/12 - 22%).

Half of Zambia's Mobile Phones Face Disconnection on New Year's Day:

Zambia is facing the potential to have around half its mobile phones cut off on New Year's Day as a SIM card registration deadline approaches.

The regulator says that of the country's 10.3 million active mobile lines, just 5.3 million have been registered with the mobile networks.

Around 5 million are still unregistered, and it looks unlikely that they could all be processed before the midnight deadline at the end of this year.

The Deputy Minister of Transport, Works, Supply and Communications Panji Kaunda said that MTN has registered 2,590,737, Airtel has 2,166,667 recorded and Zamtel has 606,689.

The regulator and government have both already ruled out extending the deadline.

Once the deadline passes, any unregistered SIM card will still be able to send messages for a short period of time, but all inbound messages will be blocked, as will voice services.

Huawei Aims to Double 4G Revenues in 2014:

Huawei expects that revenues from its 4G sales will double next year to at least US$4 billion, David Wang, president of Huawei Wireless Network, told reporters in Shanghai.

This year the company expects to have sold around US$2 billion worth of LTE based network equipment.

Huawei had signed 241 LTE deployment contracts in total up to the end of last month and says that it has deployments in nearly half of the 244 commercially launched LTE networks worldwide.

The company claims 110 deployments, compared to 100 from Ericsson, making it the largest winner of LTE contracts by contract volume. Financial volume was not compared.

Moody's: China Mobile's Sale of IPhones is Credit Positive:

Moody's Investors Service says that China Mobile's right to sell iPhones on the Mainland is credit positive for the Chinese mobile telecommunications carrier.

Moody's expects that such sales will help China Mobile improve its market positions in the growing areas of 3G and 4G services, while slowing the pace of decline in its average revenue per user (ARPU).

China Mobile's market share for 3G services has been smaller than its overall mobile market share of over 60%, although it maintains the largest share.

As of November 2013, its 3G market share was 45%, while its two major competitors -- China Unicom and China Telecom -- had the shares of 30% and 25%, respectively.

This situation is largely because of the intense competition in 3G services, as well as China Mobile's use of TD-SCDMA. This is a home-grown technology and was initially incompatible with major manufacturers' handsets, including Apple's iPhone.

UAE Networks Ready for MNP Launch Next Week:

Both of the UAE's mobile networks, Etisalat and Du, are ready to launch the Mobile Number Portability Service through the opening of a central clearing house.

The telecoms regulator, the TRA gave both operators a deadline to prepare their commercial offerings and sales channels to start with the actual transfer for subscribers' starting Monday, December 30, 2013.

Currently, the UAE has a mobile phone penetration rate of 181% and a smartphone penetration rate of 73.8%

The regulator said that there is no doubt that the availability of MNP will enhance competition in the local telecommunications market immediately.

Telkom South Africa Sells Subsidiary Companies:

South Africa's dominant landline operator, Telkom has sold its Pan African business, iWayAfrica and Africa Online Mauritius through a private sale to Gondwana International Networks.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

iWayAfrica was formed as the result of the amalgamation of MWEB Africa and Africa Online in 2007 when MWEB Africa was purchased by Telkom.

Telkom's Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Sipho Maseko, said, "This transaction is one of many initiatives that will contribute to our own turnaround, allowing us to focus on our core South African fixed-line and mobile operations. We are also pursuing several other initiatives in a coordinated manner to restore Telkom's financial health."

Maseko said that Telkom has struggled to drive growth and profitability in the iWayAfrica business since it was acquired.

"Several years of poor performance of the iWay Group has resulted in continued negative EBITDA contribution to our Group."

The iWayAfrica business operates in eight countries on the continent offering terrestrial wireless and VSAT services to business and residential markets as well as via its channel partners in many other countries on the continent.

Japan's Softbank Talking to Banks for T-Mobile USA Takeover Bid:

Japan's Softbank is said to be holding meetings with banks to raise funds for a possible purchase of T-Mobile USA.

A merger of Sprint and T-Mobile in the USA has been mulled for some weeks, and as Sprint's majority shareholder, any deal would need Softbank's financial clout.

SoftBank's CEO Masayoshi Son was reported to have held talks with at least five banks to finance a possible bid, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources.

He is said to be looking to raise around US$20 billion to buy Deutsche Telekom's 67% stake in T-Mobile USA.

When Deutsche Telekom agreed a merger of its T-Mobile division with MetroPCS it agreed not to sell any of its shares on the stock market for 18 months, but a clause allows a trade sale of its entire stake to a new buyer.

Deutsche Telekom hasn't held any talks with Son or Sprint on its stake in T-Mobile, said two of the people, though the German company is said to be open to selling it.

Fitch Maintains Tele2 Russia on Rating Watch Evolving on Shareholding Uncertainty:

Fitch Ratings has maintained Tele2 Russia Holdings's ratings, including its Long-Term Issuer Default Rating of 'BB+', on Rating Watch Evolving (RWE) on uncertainty over its longer-term capital structure and strategic shareholding situation.

The proposed terms of cooperation with Rostelecom suggest that this company will only acquire a minority 45% stake in a joint business with Tele2 Russia which will likely lead to a downgrade, however, other options remain available. The RWE is likely to be resolved once there is more clarity on these issues.

Tele2 Russia is a successful regional mobile-only operator in Russia with a lean and efficient business model. It is uniquely positioned as a mild price discounter. Tele2 Russia's ratings were placed on RWE following its acquisition by Russian Bank VTB from Tele2.

VoLTE Testing Will Be Key to Service Rollouts:

Voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE) is predicted to grow tremendously through 2016, making it imperative for operators to test the new service at all layers to ensure quality of service (QoS), according to the latest report from Heavy Reading.

"Mobile networks with high demand from heavy users are looking to solidly embrace VoLTE technology," says Denise Culver, research analyst with Heavy Reading Insider and author of the report. "Demand is mainly being driven by customer requirement for both voice and data and the operator's ability to provide this with LTE services."

It's important for operators to test VoLTE at various layer levels to ensure the QoS prioritization of the voice element is accurate, Culver says.

"The increasing capacity requirement on the management layer, plus the addition of applications, means QoS optimization for VoLTE is a two-dimensional challenge in which both layers need attention," she continues. "As mobile carriers continue to build out their VoLTE network, the importance of testing each level of those networks to ensure the highest level of quality will become a valuable instrument in distinguishing themselves in the competitive marketplace."

Pakistan's PTCL Makes Offer to Buy Warid Telecom

Pakistan's PTCL says that it has submitted a binding offer to buy local rival mobile network, Warid Telecom, although it has not disclosed how much it has offered to pay.

The brief announcement was made through a letter to the Karachi stock exchange.

Warid Telecom has been put up for sale by its UAE based owner, the Abu Dhabi Group, who are reportedly seeking bids in the region of US$1 billion for the company.

PTCL is itself controlled by another UAE based company, Etisalat.

Both PTCL and China Mobile had previously expressed an interest in buying the company, although China Mobile later dropped out.

T-Mobile USA to Offer Free Data Usage for Facebook Mobile Website:

T-Mobile USA is to offer free access to the Facebook mobile website to all its low-cost customers, even if they don't sign up to a paid-for mobile data tariff.

The company's existing prepaid mobile brand, GoSmart Mobile will offer the free unlimited internet access to Facebook and Facebook Messenger from next month.

"Once again, T-Mobile is shaking up the wireless industry by offering unlimited Facebook for GoSmart customers with no strings attached," said Doug Chartier, senior vice president of T-Mobile`s GoSmart Mobile brand.

Nearly half of all Facebook users access the site from their mobile phones, according to Facebook.

Since its introduction last March, GoSmart has attracted hundreds of thousands of wireless customers with no annual contract plans that require no credit checks starting at $25 per month.

Digicel Buys Pan-Caribbean Submarine Cable Network:

Digicel has reached an agreement with the Guadeloupe-based Loret Group and with Caribbean Fibre Holdings to acquire a submarine fibre network across the Caribbean region.

Digicel said that it will acquire Middle Caribbean Network, Southern Caribbean Fibre, Antilles Crossings and a number of related assets from Global Caribbean Fibre.

This deal will provide Digicel with a wholly owned submarine fibre optic cable network of approximately 2,100km providing capacity from Trinidad to Guadeloupe.

Digicel has also entered into a transaction with Global Caribbean Fibre and Global Caribbean Network to provide submarine fibre capacity from Guadeloupe to Puerto Rico with onwards connectivity to the mainland United States.

In total, Digicel has secured access to a robust network comprised of 15 submarine segments with a reach of some 3,100km across the Caribbean region. Digicel will also have extensive onwards capacity on other submarine networks connecting locations such as Miami, Paris and New York.

Are Consumers Feeling Tablet Fatigue?:

Consumers are buying tablets at a furious pace, yet approximately two-thirds of U.S. adults still don't own one, according to a report from Pew Internet Research. Tablet makers such as Samsung, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and others are vying for those un-tableted consumers and the market is now awash with a dizzying array of sizes, features and price points. Such choice can mean it's a great time to be a consumer, but some analysts warn that buyers may be wearying.

"There may be a bit of tablet fatigue," said Mike Feibus, principal analyst, TechKnowledge Strategies. "Tablet development has slowed; it has plateaued."

That fatigue may be attributable, in part, to a market that was once defined by the Apple iPad moving to a new phase of fragmentation with multiple operating systems, app ecosystems and use cases.

"We've got kid tablets, we've got TV tablets, we've got ruggedized tablets, we've got tablets that just stick on the wall," said Ben Bajarin, principal at tech analyst firm Creative Strategies. "We are seeing this market segment."

As the market splits into segments, new niches are emerging, pulling consumers in a variety of directions.

Fitch Affirms Motorola Solutions' Debt with a Stable Outlook:

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Motorola Solutions debt rating at BBB and said that the outlook is stable. The rating actions affect approximately $2.5 billion of total debt.

The ratings and Outlook reflect Fitch's expectations for improved operating performance over the intermediate term, including a resumption of pre-dividend annual free cash flow (FCF) of more than $500 million. Fitch expects low single digit organic revenue growth, supported by a strong backlog of business in government and the anticipation of gradually improving enterprise spending.

Ongoing restructuring actions should support operating profit margins at near current record levels in excess of 15% over the intermediate term. Fitch expects Motorola Solutions' operating profit margin will reach 17% in 2014 but believes the company achieving its 19% target will require continued restructuring and a favorable sales mix, given lower gross margins of and expectations for a growing services business.

Credit protection measures to remain solid for the rating, driven by Fitch's expectations for consistent debt and profitability levels. Fitch forecasts total debt to operating EBITDA will end 2013 at 1.5 times (x) and remain below 2.0x over the intermediate term. Operating EBITDA to gross interest expense should remain comfortably above 10.0x.

Japanese Mobile Device Market to Grow Despite Slump in Android Sales:

Japan mobile device market is predicted to reach 55.9 million units with year-over-year growth of 7.1% in 2013, according to IDC.

IDC Japan expects the market will continue to grow over the next five years, reaching 63.3 million units in 2017. The growth will be largely driven by smartphones and tablets, which are expected to expand to 37.5 million and 10.1 million units respectively in 2017.

According to IDC's Japan Quarterly Mobile Device Tracker, the total shipment of domestic mobile devices fell to 12.97 million units in the third quarter of 2013 (3Q13), declining -4.8% year over year. Smartphone shipments experienced a sudden slowdown in 3Q13, dropping to 6.9 million units, which represents a year-over-year decline of -13.7%.

The slowdown was mainly due to a sales slump in Android-powered smartphones.

In contrast, the tablet market recorded another healthy quarter, growing 63.9% year over year to 1.8 million units. Sales of low-price tablets and 4G tablets to both consumer and commercial markets, helped by huge sales subsidy by operators, kept demand stable throughout the quarter.

Ooredoo Launches 3G Services in Algeria:

Ooredoo says that it has launched its 3G network in Algeria this week, just hours after it was granted a 3G license by the regulator.

Coverage is initially available in ten major cities across the country. Customers will however need a second 3G-enabled number from Ooredoo, and add it to their existing SIM card.

Joseph Ged, CEO, Ooredoo Algeria, said: "We're proud to say that our 3G network went live within 10 days of finalising the licensing process and within twelve hours of receiving final approval from the regulator."

Ooredoo now offers customers a range of weekly, monthly and special mobile Internet packages, including a new "Unlimited Internet data offer", the first of its kind in Algeria.

OTT Service, Viber Evades Saudi Arabian Ban:

The OTT calling app, Viber appears to have circumvented a ban imposed on it by the Saudi Arabian regulator following reports that users are now able to download it within the Kingdom.

The app was banned earlier this year after the regulator demanded the ability to monitor phone calls made over the service. At the time the company said it was working on a way around the ban, but hasn't commented in the recent reports.

A spokesman for the regulator confirmed that the service is still banned in the country, and while "there may be some illegal way to get around the ban, the commission is dealing with that,"

They expect to re-impose the ban as soon as possible.

Although other calling apps, such as WhatsApp and Skype are also not compliant with the regulations, only Viber has been banned so far.

LTE Dominance Raises Qualcomm's Baseband Share to Two Thirds in Q3 2013:

The global cellular baseband processor market grew 10.3 percent year-over-year to reach $4.9 billion in Q3 2013, according to Strategy Analytics.Strategy analystics estimates that Qualcomm, MediaTek, Intel, Spreadtrum, and Broadcom captured the top-five revenue shares spots in the cellular baseband processor market in Q3 2013. Qualcomm maintained its dominance with 66 percent revenues share, followed by MediaTek with 12 percent revenue share and Intel with 7 percent revenue share.

According to Sravan Kundojjala, Senior Analyst, "Qualcomm's baseband revenue share increased to 66 percent in Q3 2013, thanks to its stranglehold on the LTE baseband market. Over the last four years,Qualcomm spent $14 billion on R&D, which helped the company to gain over 95 percent revenue share in the LTE baseband segment. While Qualcomm's LTE baseband technology and market share leadership are unquestioned, we believe that certain competitors' products are production-ready and have the potential to take share from Qualcomm in 2014, especially in the mid-to-low tier."

According to Stuart Robinson, Director of the Strategy Analytics Handset Component Technologies service, "Strategy Analytics believes that Broadcom has the potential to emerge as a key LTE alternative to Qualcomm in 2014. Broadcom is still a minor player in the baseband market and cannot afford any missteps as the year 2014 is shaping up to be an important one for the company. Strategy Analytics believes that only a successful LTE execution in 2014 will secure the long-term outlook for Broadcom's Mobile & Wireless Business division."

Pakistan to Offer 3G Licenses Next March:

Pakistan's Telecom operators could finally auction off the country's long delayed 3G licenses next March, and will permit the use of 4G services at the same time.

The government has been announcing and canceling 3G license auctions since at least August 2009 though.

The PTA's Chairman Syed Ismail Shah told Bloomberg News that the regulator has hired a consultancy to advise it on how to proceed with the auction.

"The licences will be technology neutral and will be offered through an open bidding," Shah said. "It will not only be for 3G, they can introduce any other advance technology including 4G."

The auction is expected to raise between US$1.2 to US$2 billion for the government, according to a previous budget statement.

Some 30Mhz of spectrum will be offered, which is likely to restrict the number of winning networks, and could push up the price in a competitive auction.

MTN Sells Tower Assets in Rwanda and Zambia to IHS:

South Africa based MTN Group has agreed to sell its tower portfolios in Rwanda and Zambia to IHS Holding for an undisclosed amount.

Under the terms of the deal, MTN will sell a total of 1,228 mobile networks towers to IHS's subsidiaries in Rwanda and Zambia, comprised of 524 and 704 towers respectively.

The sale of the towers builds on two previous deals with IHS in Cameroon and Côté d'Ivoire, for a total of 1,758 towers.

Under the agreements, IHS will acquire and operate the towers and related passive infrastructure and will invest in a build-to-suit program to support MTN's future requirements in both countries. MTN Rwanda and MTN Zambia will become the respective anchor tenants on the towers for an initial term of ten years.

IHS will market services on the towers in Rwanda and Zambia, promoting tower sharing and colocation with other users.

The transactions bring the total number of towers in IHS's portfolio to 10,500.

BlackBerry Bleeds Red Ink As It Posts $4.4 Billion Loss:

Blackberry, which describes itself as "a global leader in wireless innovation" has posted a net loss of US$4.4 billion for the three months to the end of November.

The loss was primarily due to a non-cash, pre-tax charge against long-lived assets of US$2.7 billion and an inventory write down of US$1.6 billion. There were other reconstructing cost of US$266 million.

Excluding the charges, the company would have still posted a loss of US$354 million.

Revenues also more than halved -- falling by 56% to US$1.2 billion. The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 40% for hardware, 53% for services and 7% for software and other revenue.

During the quarter, approximately 4.3 million BlackBerry smartphones were sold through to end customers, although that included shipments recorded the previous quarter. Of the smartphones sold, approximately 3.2 million were BlackBerry 7 devices.

"With the operational and organizational changes we have announced, BlackBerry has established a clear roadmap that will allow it to target a return to improved financial performance in the coming year.

Smartphones Accounting for 4 out of 5 NFC Devices As Expectation for NFC-Enabled Devices is Raised

Building on the monument gained last year, smartphones will continue to account for the majority of NFC shipments in 2013 as volumes jump by 129%, according to ABI Research.

However, importantly for the future of NFC, this trend is set to decline from 2014 onwards as attach rates in other categories, including computing products, peripherals and speakers, digital cameras and printers, domestic appliances and automotive, increase more rapidly. Consequently, smartphones will decline from a peak of 80% of all NFC device shipments this year to less than 60% in 2017 as these other product categories see greater adoption of NFC.

An addition to ABI Research's NFC Market Data is a new analysis by smartphone tier as well as by the different mobile, consumer electronics, and non-consumer device categories. This segregates the market by high-, mid- and low-tier smartphones featuring NFC. Currently the greatest level of adoption is in the mid-tier category, where approaching half of smartphones are NFC-enabled. This is to be expected as the high-tier smartphone category is heavily influenced by Apple, which remains the notable exception for NFC adoption.

Practice director, John Devlin, comments, "Much has been made of Apple's decision not to add NFC and prioritize Bluetooth Low Energy for the time being. However, ABI Research's latest figures show that, in terms of connectivity, NFC is increasingly being adopted in an expanding range of products and will continue to grow. This has been triggered by current levels of smartphone adoption and we don't see this trend reversing. In addition, the volume of announcements and agreements relating to the launch of NFC-based payment services in all regions indicates that there will be another wave of interest in 2014-15. This is reflected in our forecast for SWP SIM Cards next year, with volumes expected to increase by 140% in 2014."

Cross-platform Social Messaging Apps are Making Social Networking Increasingly Competitive:

The rise of cross-platform social messaging apps will increasingly threaten the influence and stickiness of conventional social networks in 2014 and beyond. ­ It is a potentially transformative trend that will see increasing numbers of app developers looking to re-orientate their social integration strategies to facilitate messaging and content sharing with communities outside of Facebook, Twitter and other more established social networks.

"Cross-platform social messaging apps have become hugely popular, particularly among younger demographics, and the leading services have continued to grow their user bases at impressive rates into what are now sizeable communities," said Canalys Senior Analyst Tim Shepherd. "It is important to understand that consumers are not using these services solely as a free-to-send alternative to SMS and MMS. They also are increasingly where users turn for group messaging, and for sharing photos, links and other content, and are the communities where their friends and contacts are most easily and verifiably reachable. While features vary, cross-platform messaging apps are essentially bare-bones social networks in their own right. It is reasonable to assume that as a user's social interaction and engagement with these services grows, it will often leave a correspondingly diminished level of engagement and interest in services such as Facebook. Social networking companies will need to respond to this competition with a renewed focus on the quality of the user experience they offer, and look to add value through feature innovations and enhancements, or else risk user attention being wholly or partially lured away."

Jolla Starts Smartphone Sales in Europe:

Finnish smartphone manufacturer, Jolla says a new batch of its smartphones is now available to order via its website for customers across Europe. This is the launch of Jolla's online shop, starting with the EU countries, Switzerland and Norway.

The company said that new customers can expect to receive their Jolla smartphone in two to four weeks.

Earlier this year Jolla had two highly successful pre-order campaigns that both sold-out.

"Sales of Jolla smartphones are off to a great start and it is time to move on to the next phase by offering a new batch of Jolla smartphones to new customers across Europe," says Tomi Pienimäki, CEO of Jolla.

Previously ordered devices are all being shipped to EU customers by Christmas, whereas the shipments of new orders will begin in early January.

"After solving some technical logistics issues all the shipments to pre-order customers in the EU will be shipped by Christmas. We want to thank all of our valued customers for their great support and patience to make this happen," continues Pienimäki.

Jolla will also be opening a webpage where customers can discuss and vote on which features they would like to see in future smartphones, report issues and submit ideas.

USA Based CDMA Network to Shut-Down:

Regional USA based CDMA network operator, Revol Wireless has announced that it will be closing down its mobile phone service, and will terminate all customer accounts next month.

The company will continue to operate as a Sprint reseller though, and will rebrand its own retail stores under the Boost brand.

Revol Wireless are being encouraged to migrate to the Boost service before their lines are cut at midnight on the 16th January 2014.

The future of the company has been in doubt for some time. In September 2011, its lenders took ownership of the company after it was unable to repay US$150 million of debt it had taken out in 2005.

Last month, it announced that it would sell its radio spectrum assets to Sprint, which put the future of the wireless network in some confusion. The company has notified its customers of the shut-down by letter and text message.

Rostelecom Shareholders Advised to Vote Against Mobile Spin-Off Plans:

A Russian organisation that advises small shareholders on how to vote in issues has advised its members not to support the planned merger of the Tele2 and Rostelecom mobile networks.

The Investor Rights Protection Association says that it disagrees with the valuation applied by Rostelecom to its mobile assets, which under the plan it would split off and merge with Tele2 Russia.

The Association was also concerned that the spin-off plan could delay a further stock market listing for the company, which is currently expected to take place by 2016.

The shareholders are due to vote on the matter at the end of this month.

Gowex Deploys Wi-Fi Network in New York City Businesses:

A municipal Wi-Fi network operator, Gowex says that it has deployed a Wi-Fi network in New York City that is based in 500 local business properties.

The We2 Social Wi-Fi platform includes the NetVertiser device and the We2 Merchant mobile application. Together they allow businesses to provide Wi-Fi, create geolocated ads and promotions, message directly with customers, and review real-time business insights.

The We2 initiative is backed by the New York City Economic Development Corporation. The merchant hotspots add to the more than 2,000 outdoor access points Gowex already has operating in the city.

As part of the NYCEDC sponsorship, businesses enjoy free and unlimited use of the NetVertiser device and We2 application, and free advertising for the first 6 months.

"The response to the We2 and NYCEDC offer for merchants has been incredible, and we're excited for business owners to experience this revolutionary new kind of Wi-Fi with geolocated advertising, customers messaging and real-time data," said Carlos Gómez, We2's CEO.