3G/mobile broadband industry news from the UMTS Forum
18 June 2010
India’s Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum auction conducted by India’s Department of Telecoms (DoT) has ended with 11 companies bidding for two slots of 20-MHz capacity in the unpaired 2.3 GHz band in each of India's 22 service areas. The auction has netted the government INR257 billion (US$5.5 billion). Only one company, fixed-line service provider Infotel, has won BWA licences in all 22 service areas, paying INR128.48 billion for the spectrum. Other winners include BSNL, MTNL, Qualcomm, Aircel andBharti Aircel, Tikona Digital Networks and Augere.
US mobile chipset maker Qualcomm has won BWA spectrum in the 2.3 GHz band in four service areas in India, including Delhi and Mumbai. The vendor’s final bid reached INR49.1 billion (US$1.045 billion) for 20 MHz of unpaired spectrum in each circle (Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala). In March, Qualcomm announced its plans to find a local partner to deploy a TD-LTE infrastructure in an effort to accelerate India’s mobile broadband growth.
Finland’s Elisa, which launched a pre-commercial LTE network in a small area in Helsinki last week, has activated new Quality of Service (QoS) features on its network built by Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN). This will allow Elisa to prioritize time- and resource-critical traffic, ensuring customers receive the service they have paid for even when networks are congested. It is the first time NSN has commercially deployed its QoS differentiation solution.
Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has launched its SON (Self Organizing Networks) offering for LTE networks, enabling operators to automate LTE network set-up and operations. The SON solution improves operational efficiency by introducing automatic network configuration for handover processes, helping operators introduce new technologies and expand networks faster than before.
T-Mobile has expanded its HSPA+ network coverage to more than 25 major metropolitan areas in the US. The operator expects to make its HSPA+ mobile broadband services available to 75 million Americans the end of June. At the same time, T-Mobile has unveiled its HSPA+ capable webConnect Rocket USB Laptop Stick. The company plans to deliver HSPA+ speeds of up to 21 Mbps in 100 major metropolitan areas with backhaul in place, covering 185 million people in the U.S. by the end of 2010.
Samsung has unveiled its HSDPA-enabled Galaxy Apollo i5801 smartphone exclusively with Orange UK. The Android-powered device is aimed at the youth market with intuitive social networking and multimedia features. The Galaxy Apollo features Samsung’s Social Hub, an integrated phonebook that links contacts from across social networks, with users’ contact lists from sites, including Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, accessible on one platform. The smartphone will be exclusive to Orange UK for three months.
Japan’s Fujitsu and Toshiba have agreed to merge their mobile device units. Under the deal, Toshiba will transfer its mobile phone business to a new company to be established on 1 October, and Fujitsu will acquire a majority of the shares in the company. Following the merger, the partners have announced their aim to become the number one mobile device vendor in Japan. The fusion will allow Fujitsu and Toshiba to strengthen their handset development platforms for the Japanese market.
Belgian wireless solutions provider Option has been selected by Pioneer for a second wireless project in the Japanese market. Option's new iCON wireless USB modem will enhance Pioneer’s latest car navigation systems with mobile broadband connectivity. Each new car navigation system will be equipped with the HSPA-enabled iCON USB modem, a SIM card and a data plan from SoftBank Mobile. The solution will become available in July.
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