French telco Orange could pay $10.86 billion for rival operator
French state-controlled telecommunications group Orange signed a confidentiality agreement with rival conglomerate Bouygues to acquire the latter’s telecom business for a total of 10 billion euros ($10.86 billion) in cash and shares, French newspaper Le Journal...
Apple is in trouble in Italy for allegedly failing to pay taxes in the country to the tune of $347 million. According to multiple news outlets, the issue stems from a disparity in revenue reported between 2008 and 2013. It is believed in those...
Huawei '4.5G' tests with STC, Zain both clear 1 Gbps
Chinese ICT solutions provider Huawei together with Saudi Telecom Company claimed to have successfully demonstrated its so-called "4.5G" technology achieving network throughput speeds in excess of 1.59 gigabits per second.
“This exceptional milestone will have...
Ericsson and Russian telco MTS have partnered to trial 5G mobile network during global event
Russian mobile network operator Mobile TeleSystems and Swedish vendor Ericsson signed a cooperation agreement on the research and deployment of "5G" networks in Russia. The two companies plan to conduct network...
LTE-A network offers claimed access speeds up to 375 Mbps
Mobile telecom operator Ooredoo Qatar and Nokia Networks said they have launched a LTE-Advanced network in Qatar designed to offer peak download speeds up to 375 megabits per second.
The network is available in several high-traffic...
Orange confirmed it will not appeal the ruling of French regulators
French competition regulators fined local operator Orange 350 million euros ($380 million) for abuse of its market dominance as France’s former national telecom monopoly.
The regulator said in its resolution Orange had offered tariff discount...
Smartphone users represent 37% of overall subscribers
Norwegian telecommunications group Telenor surpassed 200 million mobile subscribers in the 13 European and Asian markets in which it operates. That's up from the 185.9 million subs Telenor Group counted at the end of 2014. Telenor Group said it...
Saudi operator currently controls 26% of the Kuwaiti mobile firm; deal will give Saudi Telecom a 100% stake
Kuwait's Capital Markets Authority approved Saudi Telecom Company's plan to acquire all the shares of its Kuwaiti mobile telephony operator Viva.
Saudi Telecom currently owns a 26% stake in...
Winning spectrum bidders to be announced in March
The Spanish government postponed plans to award mobile spectrum in the 2.6 GHz and 3.5 GHz bands to January 2016, according to local press reports. The Spanish authorities also said they expect to announce the winning bidders...
French telco reportedly eyeing KPN and Proximus
French telecommunications group Orange is eyeing potential acquisitions in the European market with Dutch telecom services provider KPN and Belgium telco Proximus Group among the targeted firms, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
However, the...
The telco aims to upgrade 100 telecoms towers by the end of 2015
Dannish mobile telephony operator Telenor Denmark announced the deployment of its commercial LTE+ service in the country’s largest cities. Using carrier aggregation technology, Telenor is currently upgrading a total of 430 telecommunications...
The UK regulator said spectrum auction will wait for the implications of the Three-O2 merger
U.K. telecommunications regulator Ofcom decided to postpone its planned spectrum auction for licenses in the 2.3 GHz and 3.4 GHz bands until the European Commission reaches a final decision on the merger...
The transaction is expected to be completed in Q1 2016
Shareholders of Finnish telecom equipment manufacturer Nokia approved the proposed $16.5 billion acquisition of French-based supplier Alcatel-Lucent.
Nokia has obtained all the regulatory approvals required to proceed with the proposed transaction. In April 2015, the two vendors...
Voice-over-LTE trial to initially involve 5,000 subscribers
French operator Bouygues Telecom launched a pilot voice-over-LTE service, the company said in a statement; the move makes the telco the first operator in France to offer VoLTE to users.
The carrier said the VoLTE trial involves 5,000 subscribers, including 700...
Telecom Italia plans to keep up to 20% of the infrastructure firm
Telecom Italia is looking to sell a part of its Inwit holdings, with CEO Marco Patuano noting "we are ready to send tender invitations to potential bidders for the Inwit stake." Patuano said the company expects...
The telco plans to launch the first Vodafone-branded store in the city
Mobile operator MTS Ukraine, which has recently branded its operations under the Vodafone Ukraine brand, announced it's in the process of completing the installation and testing of 3G network infrastructure in the city...
The Indonesian telco aims to reach 35 additional cities with LTE by year-end
Indonesian mobile operator XL Axiata commercially launched LTE services in the country’s capital city of Jakarta, The Jakarta Post reported. XL Axiata said it expects to reach 35 cities across the country...
Trial blends licensed and unlicensed spectrum; reached access speeds of more than 274 Mbps
Mobile operator Vodafone Netherlands said it carried out a trial delivering LTE services on a commercial network by aggregating both licensed and unlicensed bands.
The trial was carried out in cooperation with...
Agreement includes joint evaluation and research activities
Chinese information and communications technology provider Huawei and Spanish telecommunications firm Telefónica have signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding to focus on the development of "5G" technologies.
Based on the MoU, which was inked in Hong Kong earlier this month,...
The Spanish-based telecom will focus on E2E customer experience
HONG KONG – Within the next five years, Spanish telecommunications operator Telefónica will focus its efforts on the development of mobile technology in order to improve the quality of its video offering in its mobile and...
Deal includes 2G, 3G and 4G equipment and small cells solutions
Swedish vendor Ericsson and Qatar-based telecom group Ooredoo have signed a frame agreement for the supply of radio, core and transmission solutions, as well as related implementation and integration services.
The agreement also covers Ericsson's...
French operator launched ‘4G+’ in Lyon
French telecom operator Bouygues Telecom said it added 208,000 new mobile customers in the third quarter of the year, reaching a total of 11.6 million customers on its network at the end of the quarter. The company ended Q3...
Affirmed Networks supplied virtual evolved packet core
In what the communications service provider billed as a strategic move, Saudi Telecom Co. deployed a virtual evolved packet core specific to machine-to-machine services.
The vEPC was provided by Affirmed Networks and enables Saudi Telecom to provide real-time service...
Tele2 looks to reach nationwide LTE coverage by Q1 2016
Swedish telecoms operator Tele2 launched LTE service in the Netherlands, the company said in a statement.
Tele2 Netherlands said its LTE network will initially reach 92% of the country’s population, with full nationwide coverage planned by...
