Two international carriers announced plans for a roaming agreement for Wi-Fi hot spots. Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo Inc. signed a public wireless local area network inter-roaming agreement with Swedish mobile operator TeliaSonera AB. The agreement includes more than 570 locations between the two carriers in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, France, the United States, the United Kingdom and Thailand.
NTT DoCoMo Inc. also signed another international i-mode licensing deal, marking the carrier’s 13th such operator agreement. Singapore’s StarHub Ltd. will launch i-mode services in Singapore by the fourth quarter over its 2.5- and third-generation networks, the carriers said. DoCoMo will provide expertise in patents, branding, marketing, knowledge and technology for the service. With this agreement, i-mode services will be available in 22 countries and regions.
Siemens AG won a contract to supply carrier MmO2 with Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystems. Siemens said it plans to install several IMS network elements and services in MmO2’s networks. The operator expects its first IMS services to be push-to-talk, chat, and instant and multimedia messaging.
Norwegian carrier Telenor said it will restructure its organization and management. The restructuring will concentrate Telenor’s mobile and fixed activities in the Nordic region under one management. Morten Karlsen Sorby has been named to oversee the carrier’s mobile and fixed communications in the Nordic region. Telenor Chief Executive Officer Jon Fredrik Baksaas said the move will allow him and the rest of the management team to focus on growth areas in the carrier’s international wireless portfolio.
In a contract valued at about $30 million, Ethiopian Telecom Corp. selected Nokia Corp. to expand its GSM and GPRS networks. Under the deal, Nokia will supply and deploy core and radio equipment. Deliveries should begin in February, and the carrier expects to complete the network expansion in May.
