Developments in Global Telecommunication

Asia/Pacific

China Telecom, the country’s smallest mobile operator, plans to launch an MVNO called CTExcelbiz in Australia this month. CTExcelbiz will target the Chinese population living in Australia, as it currently does for those living in the U.K. and France.

Europe

Telecom Italia Foundation and the Umberti Veronesi Foundation, a provider of grants for scientific research, have partnered to launch Well Up. The app, which can be downloaded at no cost for Android and iOS, educates users about their potential health risks and the steps they can take to prevent health-related problems. Users can receive information about nutrition, physical activity, check-ups and vaccines via the app.

Latin America

Mexican telecom company América Móvil has entered into a partnership with taxi app Uber to bring Uber’s service, which enables users to summon a car, to several countries in Latin America. In Mexico América Móvil’s mobile operator Telcel will offer its subscribers an Uber discount of MXN 150.00 (US $10.64) when they first use the app.

Middle East/Africa

Middle East mobile solutions provider Souktel has partnered with Bayt.com, the region’s leading career site, to launch an SMS service for professionals across Egypt. Users will be able to pose questions and receive answers regarding career advice via SMS. Egypt has a mobile penetration rate of over 100 percent; however, only 6 percent of Egyptians own a smartphone. This new service will ensure that non-smartphone users will have access to this information.

North America

U.S. mobile operator Verizon Wireless has partnered with SpiderCloud Wireless, a provider of scalable small cell enterprise radio access network (E-RAN) systems, to bring the first dual-band 4G small cells to its business customers. (Dual-band refers to small cells that pack two LTE bands into one node.) The solution addresses the need of providing reliable coverage and capacity inside buildings. Verizon has been trialing SpiderCloud’s multiband devices with its business customers for several months.

The above item appeared in a recent issue of The Tarifica Alert, a weekly resource that analyzes noteworthy developments in the telecoms industry from around the world. To access all of the latest articles and issues or to speak with the research team: http://www.tarifica.com/contactus.aspx