January 28, 2008
The Federal Communications Commission are accepting bids for their airspace in the longed for 700 MHz band. The auction is expected to generate up to $15 billion in government revenue, with companies such as Google and Cablevision vying for the airwaves. The FCC is selling the spectrum in five blocks, two of 12 MHz, one of 22, one block linked with ...
Bidding Begins for FSS Spectrum
by Rachael GrantThe Federal Communications Commission are accepting bids for their airspace in the longed for 700 MHz band. The auction is expected to generate up to $15 billion in government revenue, with companies such as Google and Cablevision vying for the airwaves. The FCC is selling the spectrum in five blocks, two of 12 MHz, one of 22, one block linked with ...
Powerline Ethernet Adaptors Recalled by Netgear
by Dave NixonNetgear has recalled its European range of XE103 85Mbps powerline Ethernet adaptors. In order to remove the need for installing additional Ethernet cables, the adaptors are designed to establish a home network over electricity cables. The issue appears to be associated with the risk that the device may overheat under some circumstances, causing a fire. The units are being recalled as a ...
Virgin Media plans broadband upgrade
by Jan HarrisVirgin Media has announced a major upgrade of its broadband service, which will start next month and should be completed by late summer. Customers on the company's 'L' tariff will receive a free upgrade from 4 to 10 Mbps, which will allow customers to download a music album in under a minute, or a complete TV show in 5 minutes. ...
Storage On The Backburner For Cisco’s Data Center
by Rohan ParkerCisco's core data center and networking fabric strategy, the Nexus switch, reported today that they will not be supporting storage customers for the coming months. Nexus is going to be the worlds fastest and densest Ethernet switch, and will start up with 1- and 10-Gbit/s Ethernet connectivity. It will also support protocols like iSCSI which require TCP/IP-related support. With a ...
Sony Ericsson targets emerging markets
by David MastersSony Ericsson is expected to launch 5-6 entry level mobile phone handsets this year, targeted at emerging markets. Production of these newly released models is to be outsourced to Taiwan-based OEMs Arima Communications and Chi Mei Communication Systems (CMCS). Total shipments from these companies is predicted at 15-18 million units, compared to the 8.5 million handsets that Sony bought from ...
January 26, 2008
Alcatel-Lucent France, a subsidiary of Alcatel-Lucent, has signed a company-wide agreement to promote home telecommuting with all the unions within the company. The agreement enables employees of the different units and sites of Alcatel-Lucent France to work from home one or two days a week if they wish. This is dependent upon their activity being eligible for telecommuting. Several trials ...
Home telecommuting for Alcatel-Lucent France employees
by Lin FreestoneAlcatel-Lucent France, a subsidiary of Alcatel-Lucent, has signed a company-wide agreement to promote home telecommuting with all the unions within the company. The agreement enables employees of the different units and sites of Alcatel-Lucent France to work from home one or two days a week if they wish. This is dependent upon their activity being eligible for telecommuting. Several trials ...
Next Generation Network built in Ukraine by Comstar
by Lin FreestoneComstar United TeleSystems, which is a combined telecommunications operator in Russia and the CIS alliance, has signed an agreement with Cisco for the delivery of equipment to build NGN multi-service network in Ukraine. Kvazar Mikro, a subsidiary of Sitronics, will act as a sub-contractor for the installation and launch of the network. Comstar United Telesystems is engaged in providing integrated ...
January 25, 2008
European regulators are debating whether Internet Protocol addresses should be protected as if they were sensitive personal data. The issue was discussed on Monday at a meeting of the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. Representatives of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and the Internet Advertising Bureau Europe, among others, were present to guard the online advertising business against ...
The protection of IP addresses under discussion
by Lin FreestoneEuropean regulators are debating whether Internet Protocol addresses should be protected as if they were sensitive personal data. The issue was discussed on Monday at a meeting of the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. Representatives of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and the Internet Advertising Bureau Europe, among others, were present to guard the online advertising business against ...
Germany faces new legal action over gaming market
by Lin FreestoneThere is speculation that the European Commission will step up legal action against Germany next week for thwarting foreign competition in the country's gaming markets. A new German law came into force at the beginning of January 2008 that bans online gaming and betting, except on horse racing. Europe's online gaming industry has condemned the ban on Web gambling as unlawful ...
LTE mobile broadband standard approved by 3GPP
by Jan HarrisThe 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has approved the final set of specifications for the Long Term Evolution (LTE) data standard, a next-generation (4G) mobile broadband standard. The 4G standard is expected to be rolled-out commercially in 2010. It is the planned successor to super-3G HSPA technologies which currently provide high-speed mobile broadband. LTE uses a radio air interface technology ...
Touch screens increasingly popular
by David MastersYe Yihao, company chairman of Elan Microelectronics, a Taiwan-based IC designer, has reported a substantial increase in orders for touch screen chips for handsets. The volume of chips shipped in January already exceeds 30,000 units. Additionally, Elan is projecting shipments of touch screen modules to exceed 15,000 units in the first quarter, a 10,000 unit increase on the previous quarter. Demand ...
Ofcom to review code of conduct for mobile content
by Jan HarrisFollowing pressure from the Children's Charities' Coalition for Internet Safety (CHIS), Ofcom is to review a voluntary code of practice for mobile content, and will publish a report on its finding in the summer. CHIS is concerned that there is inadequate control of mobile internet safety, leaving young people inadequately protected from gambling, pornography and other inappropriate content. The current, voluntary ...
January 24, 2008
Apple's iPhone component suppliers in Taiwan have indicated that Apple's projected shipments of iPhones for the second fiscal quarter, ending March 2008, has fallen by almost 50%, from 2 million to 1-1.2 million. This slashed projection is due to European sales of the iPhone being lower than expected. In the first fiscal quarter Apple shipped more than 2.3 million iPhones, ...
Low iPhone sales in Europe: Apple cut shipment targets by 50%
by David MastersApple's iPhone component suppliers in Taiwan have indicated that Apple's projected shipments of iPhones for the second fiscal quarter, ending March 2008, has fallen by almost 50%, from 2 million to 1-1.2 million. This slashed projection is due to European sales of the iPhone being lower than expected. In the first fiscal quarter Apple shipped more than 2.3 million iPhones, ...
January 23, 2008
A scheme by H2O Networks, a Newton-Le-Willows based specialist in Fibre Network deployment, is bringing super-fast broadband to UK towns by laying fibre in sewers. H2O expects the first phase of its deployment to go live this autumn, delivering speeds of around 100Mbps to consumers' homes in either Bournemouth, Northampton or Dundee. Laying fibre in sewers eliminates the need to ...
H2O brings super-fast fibre through sewer system
by Jan HarrisA scheme by H2O Networks, a Newton-Le-Willows based specialist in Fibre Network deployment, is bringing super-fast broadband to UK towns by laying fibre in sewers. H2O expects the first phase of its deployment to go live this autumn, delivering speeds of around 100Mbps to consumers' homes in either Bournemouth, Northampton or Dundee. Laying fibre in sewers eliminates the need to ...
3 megapixel cameras and smaller handsets the way forward for mobile phones
by David MastersScott Lin, Chairman of Largan Precision, has predicted that 2 megapixel camera phones are set to continue to dominate the camera phone market in 2008, whilst sales of 3 megapixel models are unlikely to see any significant increase in sales until the end of the year. However, Lin is also predicting that the sales of 3 megapixel models will ...
High-speed, wireless broadband coming to Devon
by Jan HarrisA new wireless broadband network is being installed in north Devon to help rural businesses benefit from high speed computer connections. The South West of England Development Agency (RDA) is providing an investment of £90,000 for the project, which will cost £120,000 in total. The balance of the funding will be provided by North Devon District Council and West Somerset ...
January 22, 2008
Taiwan's licensed WiMAX operators are facing the prospect of having to postpone purchases of WiMAX equipment because of a delay in government surveillance agencies to release guidelines for the monitoring of communications within the WiMAX system. Both Tatung Telecome, WiMAX operator for southern Taiwan, and WiMAX Telecom, a WiMAX licensee for northern Taiwan, have been forced to push back their ...
Fears of spying delay Taiwan’s plans for WiMAX
by David MastersTaiwan's licensed WiMAX operators are facing the prospect of having to postpone purchases of WiMAX equipment because of a delay in government surveillance agencies to release guidelines for the monitoring of communications within the WiMAX system. Both Tatung Telecome, WiMAX operator for southern Taiwan, and WiMAX Telecom, a WiMAX licensee for northern Taiwan, have been forced to push back their ...
LG and Samsung to increase sales of high price handsets
by David MastersAccording to reports in the Chinese media, this year both Samsung and LG are aiming to significantly increase sales of high-price mobile phone handsets. Samsung Electronics is aiming for shipments of handsets costing above US$200 to reach 50 million in 2008 - a quarter of the company's target of shipping 200 million handsets for the year. LG Electronics is setting ...
400,000 Belgium digital TV customers for Telenet
by Lin FreestoneFollowing a concerted campaign at the end of 2007, Belgian cable company Telenet has passed the milestone of 400,000 digital television customers. Telenet has now nearly one out of four analog television customers in Belgium, excluding the former UPC Belgium area, where iDTV was introduced only in the middle of last year. Jo Van Gorp, Telenet's Executive Vice President ...
Nokia targets emerging markets with two new handsets
by Lin FreestoneNokia has unveiled two cell phones aimed at emerging markets, which are its greatest growth area. An increasing number of people in these markets share handsets within the family, which Nokia perceives as a logical trend. Both new models feature exchangeable covers, MP3 ring tones and multiple phonebooks. The Nokia 1209 offers up to 80 languages. The Nokia 2600 also has ...
