China Mobile Tests Voice Over LTE in Guangzhou:

ZTE says that it has helped China Mobile deploy voice over LTE (VoLTE) services on the operator's commercial TD-LTE network in Guangzhou, as a step to a wider nationwide rollout.

The VoLTE services on China Mobile's network supports enhanced Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (eSRVCC) switching for seamless handovers to non-4G networks.

The VoLTE deployment in Guangzhou was also enabled by a newly-built IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) system provided by ZTE.

"The successful demonstration of VoLTE service speeds up the development of the entire industry ecosystem," said Mr. Sha Yuejia, Vice President of China Mobile. Mr. Sha and Ms. Wang Xiaoyun, general manager of the Technical Department of China Mobile conducted video calls as they experienced the VoLTE service in a vehicle in the urban area of Guangzhou. They also witnessed the capabilities of ZTE's eSRVCC solution when voice calls were seamlessly handed off from 4G networks to third-party 2G networks, a key to future commercialization of the service.

The successful VoLTE deployment by China Mobile was completed using network systems and terminals used from different vendors, which shows the feasibility of eSRVCC for all networks of China Mobile.

ZTE Ships Home-grown LTE Modem in USB Dongle:

ABI Research reports that ZTE is shipping a home-grown LTE modem inside one of its own LTE USB dongles.

The ZTE ZX297502 is a second-generation LTE modem from ZTE.

Jim Mielke, VP of engineering at ABI Research, comments, "ZTE recently announced the WiseFone 7510 LTE modem for release early this year but the 7510 is a third generation LTE chip. The first generation was mainly a prototype; the second generation was the first real production chip and is certainly the basis for the 28nm 7510 scheduled to be released early 2014."

The ZX297502 is strictly a modem baseband; it is accompanied by ADI and ACP transceivers, and a TI power management unit (PMU).

ZTE Says It Will Listen to Customers in the Future:

ZTE has unveiled a new, consumer-centric global mobile device strategy, lead by the recently-announced Global Head of Mobile Devices, Mr. Zeng Xuezhong.

However, the strategy seems basically "listen to customers" and nothing that would be generally considered to be different from any other company was announced.

In fact, saying that they are now customer centric raises valid questions as to who they thought they were making products for in the past.

"This new strategy builds upon the great success we've already achieved by working with carriers to develop products," said Mr. Zeng in a statement. "We're now incorporating more insights directly from consumers and focusing more intently than ever before on the needs and wants of our end users around the globe, in order to develop a wider range of excellent devices at affordable prices."

Sony Mobile Reportedly Working on Microsoft Based Smartphone:

Ongoing rumours that Sony Mobile may launch a Windows Phone based smartphone have been given a boost from fresh reports that it is indeed working on such a device.

Citing two unnamed sources, The Information wrote that Sony Mobile could be launching a Windows phone as soon as the middle of this year.

Now that Micorsoft is buying Nokia, it is seen to need to expand the range of handset manufacturers supporting its WP software lest it end up becoming a single platform OS.

Microsoft has been reportedly in talks with ZTE and HTC in recent months, with the issue of lowering the cost of the OS being the main topic of negotiation.

ZTE Shuffles its Senior Management Around:

ZTE has announced that its Mobile Devices division is to operate as an independent unit of the company, to be headed by Mr. Zeng Xuezhong, Executive Vice President of ZTE.

Mr. Zeng was previously in charge of ZTE's operations in China. Mr. He Shiyou, Executive Vice President of ZTE and the former head of terminals, will remain as an Executive Director of ZTE.

Mr. Pang Shengqing, Senior Vice President of ZTE, has been appointed as head of ZTE's enterprise business while Mr. Zhao Xianming, Executive Vice President of ZTE, has been appointed Chief Technology Officer of ZTE.

"In 2014, the company is excited about the opportunities in enterprise and mobile devices, and the organizational changes will strengthen our capabilities in these areas," said Mr. Hou Weigui, Chairman of ZTE. "Telecommunications and technology are intensely competitive industries, and it is vital that we constantly renew ourselves in order to excel."

"It is important for the company to become faster, more entrepreneurial, more youthful and more focused," said Mr. Shi Lirong, President of ZTE. "We need to execute changes in our strategy, our organization and our culture in a responsive and timely way."

Huawei to launch 4G service in Ethiopia:

Ethiopia's state-run Ethio Telecom said on Thursday it had picked Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's second largest telecom equipment maker, to roll out a high-speed 4G network across the capital Addis Ababa.

The introduction of the service is part of a $1.6 billion deal signed in July and August between the Ethiopian firm, Huawei and ZTE, China's second-biggest telecoms equipment maker, to expand mobile phone infrastructure throughout the Horn of Africa country.

Ethio Telecom's head of communications,Abdurahim Ahmed, said, "In terms of allocation, Huawei will be responsible for the expansion of 4G in Addis Ababa, including other mobile services - the 2G, 3G, IP and the like." 

Abdurahim said the allocation plan was finalised on Wednesday.

"It is expected to benefit more than 400,000 subscribers. Within an eight-month period, the expansion project of Addis Ababa, including 4G, will be completed."

The deal, signed by ZTE in August and Huawei a month before, will enable Ethiopia to double subscribers to more than 50 million by 2015 and expand 3G service throughout the country.

Both firms will split their work along 13 expansion areas.

The contract was awarded under a long-term loan package to be paid over a 13 year period with an interest rate of "less than 1 percent", Abdurahim said.

Africa's rapidly expanding telecoms industry has come to symbolize its economic growth, with subscribers across the continent totaling almost 650 million last year, up from just 25 million in 2001, according to the World Bank.

Ethio Telecom is the only mobile operator in the country of more than 80 million people, among the last remaining countries on the continent to maintain a state monopoly in telecoms.

The government has ruled out liberalizing its telecoms sector, saying the 6 billion birr it generates each year is being spent on railway projects. Ethiopia plans to build 5, 000 kilometre of railway lines by 2020.

ZTE Won 3G-LTE Deployment Contract in Namibia:

Telecom Namibia said that it has awarded a US$46 million contract to ZTE to build a unified mobile network that will provide it's mobile subsidiary, Leo with a transformed 2G/3G/4G networks. Deployment is starting with immediate effect.

The contract entails the designing, planning, supply, delivery and implementation of GSM and LTE network infrastructure for Leo and Telecom Namibia.

Frans Ndoroma, Telecom Namibia Managing Directors, said, "This will result in a major enhancement of Leo's network quality and efficiency, enabling improved customer experience and richer applications on the mobile platform, and strengthening Leo's competitiveness."

Ndoroma said the deal is worth U$46 million and involves the rollout of base stations in three phases. This includes a number of road coverage sites throughout the country as well.

In terms of the contract, the project will deliver a converged switching platform for both fixed and mobile service with an IMS (IP multimedia systems) core for personal multi-media communications.

Ndoroma said building the Group's network on an IMS core platform will give customers a big advantage in terms of price and quality of service adding: "With this unique platform we will optimise time, resources, and results on all IP communication services - from fixed and mobile phone calls to Internet access, from social networks to email," he said.

Ethio Telecom Closed to Sign Network Upgrade Contract with Chinese Vendors:

Ethiopia's state-owned monopoly telco, Ethio Telecom is reportedly close to signing a major network upgrade contract with either ZTE or Huawei.

The company first revealed that it was in talks with unnamed bidders for a network upgrade contract last December. It was also announced at the time that the contract would include LTE coverage in the capital city, and HSPA+ in the big cities by 2015.

It was also recently reported that the contract would include the stripping out of decade old Nokia supplied equipment in the capital city.

"We are now poised to start the expansion. We are almost on the final stage on dealing with  ZTE and Huawei," Debretsion Gebremichael, Ethiopia's deputy prime minister and minister of communications and technology told the Reuters news agency.

"In a few weeks we will conclude the agreement and we will start the expansion," he added.

Abdurahim Ahmed, head of Public Relations with Ethio Telecom has previously said that the company aims to double its subscriber base to 40 million as part of the network upgrades.

Huawei and ZTE Won $1.6 Billion Network Upgrade Contract:

Ethiopia's state-owned monopoly telecoms network had awarded a huge US$1.6 billion network expansion contract to be split between Huawei and ZTE.

According to reports, Huawei has been allocated a US$700 million contract, which by inference means that ZTE won a larger share worth US$900 million, although that hasn't been confirmed by either company.

The mobile network also has not issued a statement about the contract at the time of writing.

The contract is to boost capacity on the network to 56 million subscribers, reaching 85% of the population, and also deploy LTE services in the capital city, Addis Ababa.

Talks with potential bidders for the expansion contracts started last December, and were understood to have been reduced to the two Chinese suppliers by last month. It was also recently reported that the contract would include the stripping out of decade old Nokia supplied equipment in the capital city.

The government recently rejected calls to break the state monopoly and allow competition into the market, citing the need for higher profits from the telcoms company to subsidise an unrelated railway project

Angola leads the way with 4G mobile services:

Angola is leading the way with a new generation of mobile network technology. A $100m upgrade to the mobile phone network means that Angolans will benefit from high speed mobile downloads using the 4G services well ahead of most of Europe and US.

The 4G technology will be launched in Luanda and Cabinda in addition to 15 further populous centres.  Provider Movicel aims to have a subscriber base of between 4.5m to 7m by 2013 including 30 more cities. Movicel has partnered with Chinese company ZTE who will also advise on the $1bn upgrade of Movicel’s entire system.

The 4G upgrade is a key part of Angola’s infrastructure investment and is seen as vital to keep pace with an economy that has expanded 8% in the last year alone.

The technology is also a further step towards diversifying away from Angola’s historic reliance on the petrochemicals industry and an opportunity to educate and empower local people with new skills. The majority of the technical team behind the upgrade will be Angolans and ZTE have committed to transferring knowledge, skills and experience.

Mobile telecom operators in Angola - Movicel and Unitel

 

 

 

The mobile telecom operators in Angola are

Angola Telecom Operators
Angola Telecom (Movicel)
Unitel

Angola has 7.5m mobile phone subscribers in total, making it one of the  largest mobile telecoms markets in Africa.

Movicel is a mobile operator with shares of government (Angola Telecom (18%), Correios Telegrafos de Angola (2%)), Porturil (40%), Modus Comicare (19%), Ipang (10%), Lambda (6%)
Movicel has a subscriber base of around 2.5m.

Unitel is a private operator with shares of Mercury (Sonangol group) (25%), Group GENI(25%), Vidatel (25%), Portugal Telecom (25%). Unitel started services in March 2001.

With more than 6 million customers, Unitel is the leader in market. Unitel is roughly twice the size of Movicel and offers GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, international roaming and 3G

Angola is eyeing 4G even before the US and Europe. 

 Angola is developing technologically very rapidly as compared to other African countries. Movicel has parterned with ZTE for 4G technology.