India: Aircel Chooses Ericsson For 3G/HSPA Network Roll Out

Aircel, India’s leading mobile operator, part of Maxis Communications Berhad, Malaysia, has selected Ericsson to roll out its 3G/HSPA network across six out of thirteen geographic market areas. The new network will serve more than 100 million customers and will offer different services such as video telephony, mobile broadband, mobile TV, video on demand and others including music downloads, video tones, instant messaging and online gaming.

Gurdeep Singh, COO of Aircel says: “For many people in India connected for the first time, 3G mobile broadband will bring completely new types of services and benefits. We are confident that with this partnership, we will benefit from Ericsson’s global expertise of 3G deployments, and will be able to offer our customers a world-class 3G experience”.

The six Aircel circles in which Ericsson will provide are: Tamil Nadu Bihar; Orissa; Jammu Kashmir; North East; and Assam.

TDC Chooses Ericsson For Its LTE Network Upgrade

TDC, Denmark’s leading operator, has chosen Ericsson to upgrade its 4G network. Ericsson will roll out a complete 4G/LTE solution – including radio access and core network equipment – as well as managed services. This is Ericsson’s first full-scope managed service contract for an LTE/Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network. Customers will benefit from enhanced experiences when accessing data-rich services with unmatched speeds. Latency and bandwidth will be greatly improved with the new LTE network.

The contract includes radio access network with RBS 6000 series, a complete Evolved Packet Core solution as well as the full scope of managed services. The roll out of the network starts immediately.

New Zealand: Vodafone Announces 3G Network Upgrade

Vodafone announced plans to speed up its mobile 3G network in New Zealand by boosting its capability up to 28.8Mbits/s after trialing 21Mbits/s in Auckland earlier this year. In addition, the operator also plans to deploy higher speeds to rural remote areas of the country if its bid for government’s rural broadband initiative is successful. The new speeds will be rolled out first in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch by the end of 2010 while other regions will follow in 2011.

Tony Baird, General Manager of Networks said: “Rural New Zealand needs the benefits of high speed internet but also of mobility”. Baird added that Vodafone hopes to have speeds of 100Mbits/s on the network in five years from now.

VimpelCom Group and Alcatel-Lucent Launch LTE in Kazakhstan

KaR-Tel LLP, an affiliate of VimpelCom group which is offering communications services in Kazakhstan under the Beeline brand, has selected Alcatel-Lucent as its sole equipment supplier for the launch of the first live 700MHz LTE market pilot in post-Soviet territory. The new LTE network will cover the central districts of Amalty, the business capital of Kazakhstan.

VimpelCom and Alcatel-Lucent are now working to offer a range of advanced mobile broadband services, which comes in accordance with the strategic program of Kazakhstan’s development up to 2030, which aims at increasing Internet penetration in the mass market. Operation of the new network in the lower frequency band (700 MHz) allows the operator to ensure the maximum coverage more efficiently. Customers can look forward to seamless connection to the Internet while on the go, increased efficiency for business users and rich, broadband multimedia services such as high-definition video, music, multiplayer video gaming, any time any place.

Deutsche Telekom First To Deply LTE In Digital Dividend Spectrum

Deutsche Telekom has selected Nokia Siemens Networks to supply hardware, software and services for the launch of the first LTE in digital dividend spectrum in Europe later this year. The operator will use the 800 MHz ‘digital dividend’ frequency band, radio spectrum formerly used by analog TV. Deutsche Telekom will extend advanced mobile broadband services to underserved rural areas across Germany. Network launch began following the digital dividend spectrum which ended May 20, 2010.

Nokia Siemens Networks will be handling the implementation and maintenance elements of the project to ensure a rapid roll-out without interruption to existing 2G and 3G services. NSN is also supplying its Single RAN** solution with Self Organizing Network (SON) functionality based on its award-winning, energy-efficient Flexi Multiradio Base Station and network management & optimization software NetAct. In addition Nokia Siemens Networks will extend the existing subscriber data management platform for Deutsche Telekom to the LTE deployment, providing a single, unified view of all subscriber-related data.

Taiwan: Chunghwa Telecom Testing LTE In Cooperation With Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent and Chunghwa Telecom have joined forces to conduct an end to end Long Term Evolution (LTE) trial, using both the 2.6 GHz and 700 MHz bands. The trial, which will begin in October 2010, will enable CHT to test the performance of LTE-based services and multimedia applications, and assess the related business models.

Under the deal, Alcatel-Lucent will provide a unique, pre-integrated end-to-end solution including LTE base stations (eNodeBs), its Evolved Packet Core (EPC), IP service routing network elements, application portal for innovative services as well as operation, administration and maintenance (OAM) system. Alcatel-Lucent will also provide a range of professional services including project management, planning, installation, integration and commissioning, and testing.

Alcatel-Lucent has been selected so far by seven customers for commercial deployments, including two of the world’s largest service providers, and is being involved in more than 50 customer trials.

Etisalat First to deploy femtocells in UAE

Etisalat, the Middle East’s leading telecom service provider, announced the deployment of the first femtocell live project in the UAE provided by Alcatel-Lucent. Etisalat’s customers will not only benefit from improved coverage but will also enjoy increased data capacity and uninterrupted, high-quality mobile connectivity according to Khalifa Al Shamsi, Sr. VP of Marketing at Etisalat: “Etisalat has always been an innovator in bringing technologies that better serve its customers. This technology has the potential to support increased growth in the usage and consumption of data services and can play a crucial role in satisfying the explosive growth of mobile broadband usage in the UAE”, he said.

Amr El Leithy, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s business in the Middle East and Africa added: “This decision reinforces Alcatel-Lucent’s leading position in the small cell field and confirms our ability to help major service operators to deal with one of the biggest trends in wireless communications, extending indoor mobile coverage to in-building environments”.

Motorola And Nokia Announce 4G Licensing Agreement

Motorola and Nokia Corporation have entered into a 4G license agreement. Under the agreement, Motorola and Nokia have extended the companies’ existing intellectual property licensing agreement to include 4G cellular technologies, such as LTE, WiMAX and LTE-Advanced. The terms of the agreement are confidential.

Kirk Dailey, Corporate VP Of Intellectual Property at Motorola Mobility, Inc said: “We are pleased to extend our existing IP licensing agreement with Nokia to include 4G technologies and are confident this agreement will help foster continued innovation and technological advancement for the telecommunications industry. Motorola is committed to leveraging the strength of its industry-leading intellectual property portfolio for the benefit of its customers, partners, shareholders and licensees”.

Paul Melin, VP Intellectual Property of Nokia added: “We are pleased to conclude this extension of our IP licensing agreement, which is a great example of the value that Nokia realizes from our industry leading patent portfolio. This agreement also shows that the industry is making fast progress in resolving LTE licensing issues between the major patent holders. LTE has now become a key element of Nokia’s licensing program, and we expect strong returns for our pioneering development”.

India: Ericsson Named Exclusive 3G Supplier For Vodafone

Vodafone Essar, one of India’s leading cellular service providers, has chosen Ericsson to equip India’s most populated cities: Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata with latest 3G HSPA mobile broadband network. Vodafone Essar will deploy the latest technology to  deliver new type of services like video telephony, mobile broadband, mobile TV, video on demand and others such as music downloads, video tones, instant messaging, on line gaming.

Marten Pieters, Managing Director, Vodafone Essar, said, “Globally, Vodafone provides enhanced 3G experiences to a large base of customers. India is now ready for 3G, and we are committed to offer similar high-quality 3G services to our Indian customers. Ericsson is one of the specialists in this area and we view this as a very strategic alliance, in order to deliver and maintain a high quality network which customers will expect from Vodafone”.

Gowton Achaibar, Head of Region India, says: “We are extremely honoured to be chosen by Vodafone Essar for their 3G HSPA network deployment in India. The contract further strengthens Ericsson’s position as the leading mobile communications supplier in the Indian market and demonstrates yet again our long-term strategic partnership with Vodafone Essar. We are confident that our undisputed technology leadership and global experience will contribute to the rapid expansion of India’s mobile Broadband market”.

Tata Tele To Launch 3G Services By Diwali

Tata Teleservices, Indian private operator in which Japan’s NTT DoCoMo has 26% stake, has confirmed plans to launch 3G services by Diwali. The service, which is likely to be launched under the DoCoMo brand, will be launched in nine circles simultaneously. A Tata Teleservices spokesperson said: “We will be sourcing the equipment from Nokia Siemens. With our partnership with NTT DoCoMo, the inventor of 3G, we have access to a repertoire of proven products that can be customised for the Indian market”.

Tata Teleservices, which offers both GSM and CDMA technology, is present in 22 circles and will be the first private operator to offer 3G services in the domestic telecom market. Other private operators such as Reliance Communications (R-Com) are expected to launch their 3G services by the end of 2010 or early 2011.