Telefónica O2 Germany and Telmap announced at MWC that from March, they will provide complete turn-by-turn navigation with ADAC live traffic information on mobile phones.

The navigation solution powered by Telmap is a comprehensive search, mapping and navigation solution including real-time, turn-by-turn in-car navigation with 3D maps and clear voice instructions pronouncing street names, live traffic reports with alternative route options and a dedicated guidance mode for pedestrians. O2 will benefit from the Telmap localized and customized solution using the dynamic content deck that allows dynamic integration and offering local and premium content to their subscribers making the service relevant to the German market. The solution is server-based therefore the route data and the required maps and content are not stored on the device but automatically downloaded from a server on a per need basis. Telmap navigation guides users as reliably and easily as any portable navigation system.

"Thanks to Telmap, navigation on the mobile device has become extremely simple", explains René Schuster, the CEO of Telefónica O2 Germany. "Users do not have to take care of troublesome and expensive upgrades of their comprehensive mapping material anymore. In addition, there is no need to use several different devices any longer. "

"This is a clear statement by a leading Tier 1 Operator on the importance of LBS as well as the active role Operators will play in the LBS arena," said Oren Nissim, CEO "Telmap will continue to empower Operators to offer rich and competitive location solutions that are fully integrated with the Operators strategy and infrastructure as part of their core services."

The service is available for all consumers from subscribers with tariff plans to pre-paid customers from end of March. O2 is making mobile navigation accessible for its consumers by embedding the application on all GPS-enabled devices and is ready for consumers to use immediately.

fring, the application that lets allows internet communication over mobile internet on mobile devices, today announced that, only 2 months after its launch, its mobile video calling usage rates are already a substantial percentage of its users' mobile internet calls. Video over Internet calls account for more than 40% of fring's global call traffic, on supported devices, and more than 60% of its call traffic throughout top Western European countries, where fring mobile video call usage doubles the leading PC-based video call services.

fring launched the world's first fring and Skype mobile video calls last November, enabling users to conduct video calls to other fringsters as well as with Skype contacts over their device's Wi-Fi or 3G internet connection. This video feature is embedded within the fring application that enables free voice calls to other fring users, Skype and GTalk buddies as well as friends on regular phone lines via Skype-Out and hundreds of popular SIP services.

fring video calls solve many challenges that previously prevented significant uptake of GSM video call services. fring video is fully integrated into the whole social communication experience whereby users communicate with friends on all their favorite social networks – able to see their online presence, chat with them, upgrade to a voice call, and now, enjoy a full video calling experience. Understandably, the majority of fring's mobile video calls are international – something that was unheard of over the GSM network due to a lack of rate clarity. With fring, all communication is free over Wi-Fi, or on their data-plan. Finally the convenience of being able to receive as well as make video calls from a mobile device while the other person is on their phone or their PC, anywhere around the world, is a compelling use case that has made fring an instant mobile-video success.

Avi Shechter, Co-Founder & CEO of fring: "fring is proud to revive mobile video calls. Since introducing the world's first fring and Skype mobile video calls over internet last November, fring has been providing users the video call experience they enjoy on their PC, on the go."

Shechter continued, "The overwhelming usage of fring video calls is another testament of user demand for the Internet communication choice from their mobile devices, and we will continue pushing the innovation envelope to bring users more choice, richness and always-on connectivity of Internet communications, to the convenient mobile interface."

Following fring's video call success, fring is ramping up the number of devices that support video calls over internet to include all Symbian 9.2 & 9.3 Nokia devices such as the popular E71, immediately available for download. This comes as an addition to the already supported N95, N95 8G, N83, N97, 5800 and other Nokia touch-screen S60 devices and the iPhone and iPod touch.

Huawei today showcased the world's first HSPA+ smartphone powered by Android at MWC. The U8800 smartphone will be commercially available in the third quarter of 2010, and able to support high-speed Internet access, which is faster than existing 3G smartphones.

The U8800 uses the Android 2.1 operating system, and integrates HSPA+ capabilities to support downlink speeds of up to 14 Mb/s. This speed allows users to download a 400Mb feature-length movie within thirty seconds. The smartphone will feature a 3.8-inch wide screen, providing users with a broader field of vision and allowing them to take full advantage of a multitude of features and Internet applications.

Kevin Tao, CEO, Huawei Device, said: "The customized Android smartphones reflect our long-term investment to develop high-end devices which enable operators to deliver enhanced and differentiated mobile services. Android being open to third party programs means that operators can add a number of various applications to the phone. The U8800 enables operators to provide tailor-made, stylish and affordable smartphones to their subscribers."

Huawei also showcased three additional Android-powered devices at the conference.

U8300
Aimed at the youth market, it incorporates popular social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter, a Qwerty keypad, and is ergonomically designed to ensure that hours of chatting online can be done in comfort. The U8300 is available in three bright colors: green, yellow and purple.

U8100/U8110
Entry-level smartphones, these two handsets have 2.8-inch wide QVGA touchscreens and a dual camera with 0.3 mega pixels in the front and 3.2 mega pixels in the back. Through WiFi and bluetooth, users can easily access the Internet and transmit data to each other. These two smartphones will be launched in Europe in the second quarter of 2010.

SmaKit S7
The SmaKit S7 has a 7-inch wide screen with a resolution of 800 x 480. It supports information-sharing across screens to present the same content simultaneously on computers, mobile phones and TV screens. The SmaKit S7 tablet allows users to easily access local information, visit social networking websites and shop from online application stores. To provide end-users with an integrated home solution, Smakit S7 can be connected to home gateway, TV or Android handsets.

CDMA wireless giant also comes into the GSMA fold, backs VoLTE initiative

Dick Lynch, Verizon CTO, was always going to be hard pushed to trump his show-stopper announcement at last year's MWC event when he revealed the names of the wireless giant's LTE suppliers.  And so it proved to be.

Nonetheless, he was confident that the LTE rollout timetable he set last year – going live in 25 to 30 US markets by the end of 2010 – was still on track.

"In Boston and Seattle, we're in phase 4 [the final phase] of trials," said Lynch at a press conference hosted by the GSMA. "All our suppliers have worked well together and there is no doubt that we will not make our LTE launch."

Lynch added that he expected between eight to ten LTE devices (all dongles) to be available at launch.

Verizon's LTE RAN partners are Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson. Starent Networks (now owned by Cisco) is the packet core vendor, while Nokia Siemens Networks and Alcatel-Lucent have been selected as key suppliers for the IP Multi-Media Subsystem (IMS) network.

Despite all the hype surrounding LTE peak rates in excess of 300Mbps (in lab conditions), Verizon's launch speeds will be much more modest.  Verizon says its service will offer an average downlink data speed of between 5Mbps and 12Mbps at launch, while the average uplink speed is projected at between 2Mbs and 5Mbps. A major contributing factor to the lower speeds is Verizon's 700MHz spectrum, which it is using to roll out LTE nationwide in the US (700MHz is more suited to wide area and lower-speed coverage than higher frequencies).

Accompanying Lynch's assurances on LTE rollout was the announcement that Verizon Wireless, along with KDDI and China Telecom (two other major CDMA mobile operators) has become a member of the GSMA Association.  The CDMA and GSM camps, once bitter 2G enemies, are both moving in the same direction (LTE) and so it makes sense to collaborate on standardisation efforts going forward.

A key part of this collaborative effort will be on standardising the delivery of voice and SMS over LTE. To that end, the GSMA announced Monday that it has adopted the work of the One Voice Initiative (done by a collaboration of major mobile operators and suppliers) ‘to drive the global mobile industry towards a standard way of delivering voice and messaging services for LTE'. The Voice over LTE (VoLTE) initiative has the backing of more than 40organisations from across the mobile ecosystem, says the GSMA.

"I hope this announcement will put an end to the [negative] rumours of voice and SMS over LTE," says Alex Sinclair, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer at the GSMA.

Airwide Solutions, a provider of next generation mobile messaging infrastructure, applications and solutions, today announced a Real-Time Loyalty & Profiling Solution that will enable mobile operators to drive incremental lifetime value across the subscriber base, including hard-to-reach prepaid customers. Airwide's Real-Time Loyalty & Profiling Solution leverages a new partnership with Business Logic Systems (BLS), a specialist provider of real-time prepaid marketing campaign automation and customer loyalty solutions, and enables mobile operators to stimulate top-ups and usage, reward loyalty and reactivate dormant subscribers.

In the maturing mobile market, operators need to create more value from their entire customer base, but especially from their prepaid subscribers.  However, targeting this segment has always been notoriously difficult due to lack of customer information and contact details, which makes traditional marketing nearly impossible and very expensive.  Airwide's Real-Time Loyalty & Profiling Solution gives operators the ability to quickly and easily access, analyse and act upon event data in real-time to create a targeted, two-way dialogue with subscribers, via mobile messaging. Using the unique RealTime Prepaid Marketing Engine from BLS, in conjunction with Airwide's AirGate MultiMessaging next-generation messaging gateway, the new solution enables operators to quickly and profitably reach the entire customer base, increasing the lifetime value of subscribers and proactively managing their prepaid base. 

"Operators have sophisticated mechanisms to market to and manage their relationships with postpaid subscribers. Yet in most cases the majority of their subscriber base is prepaid, and there is little visibility to these subscribers, and traditional marketing methods do not work.  This is increasingly causing significant business problems including increasing churn and lost revenue as operators have no meaningful relationship with these subscribers", said Jay Seaton, CMO of Airwide Solutions. "Airwide's new Real-Time Loyalty & Profiling Solution offers operators unique capabilities for building a two-way, personalized and multichannel dialogue that will build meaningful ongoing relationships with prepaid subscribers with timely and relevant offers, communication, prompts, rewards and activations, driving up recharge revenues, stimulating service usage and increasing customer retention."

"Prepaid customers are notoriously fickle and as they continue to grow in numbers and importance, mobile operators must successfully market to these subscribers to help increase their life time value," commented Tim Yates, CEO, Business Logic Systems.  "Traditional CRM methods such as mail and outbound calling are ineffective and costly.  By leveraging Business Logic Systems' technology together with their mobile messaging technology Airwide can help mobile operators proactively reach prepaid customers, turning inactive users into loyal customers and encouraging occasional users to top-up regularly."

Unlike other solutions, which are tied to specific billing or charging systems, the Airwide Real-Time Loyalty and Profiling Solution focuses on real-time and interactive campaign management from a messaging perspective, leveraging the power and number one market share of the AirGate MultiMessaging next-generation messaging gateway for easy multi-channel integration with any existing messaging infrastructure.  By employing messaging for immediate, high-impact and ubiquitous campaigns operators have an unparalleled means of boosting revenue from all subscriber populations.

The Airwide Loyalty & Profiling Solution is being demonstrated at Airwide's stand at Mobile World Congress.

Orange today announced it is to become a key partner to Microsoft in Europe for the Windows Phone 7 Series, extending its long-term partnership to deliver a range of phones in 2010 with smarter design and software integration that are optimised for Orange customers.  Planning to launch later this year on a range of handsets in France, UK, Spain, Switzerland and other markets Orange and Microsoft are working more closely than ever before, sharing platform, service and network innovation to give Orange customers a simpler, richer experience on Microsoft Windows Phones with specialised customer support.

The companies are continuing to work together to customise Windows phones by integrating Orange and Microsoft services into one easy-to-find window on the 7 Series. For the first time, Orange plans to combine its SIM and network authentication with Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Series to create a single customer "ID", simplifying sign-in and eliminating the need to register for multiple accounts.

This move would allow Orange customers on 7 Series handsets to enjoy single sign-on access to Microsoft services such as Xbox LIVE and Zune Music, alongside a range of Orange services which are seamlessly integrated within the Windows Phone 7 Series platform. Depending on which market, Orange services are expected to include Orange TV and Orange Navigation and access to exclusive, localised content such as the national football league in France (Ligue 1). 

Together with the Windows Phone 7 Series, the extended Orange and Microsoft partnership will also see joint collaboration that goes beyond devices, delivering enhanced customer care services to help customers get more out of their phones.

Olaf Swantee, SEVP of Orange's global mobile business, comments: "We have a long-standing and successful relationship with Microsoft, having introduced the first ever SmartPhone together back in 2002.  Eight years on, our collaboration continues to bear fruit as we look to bring Orange Windows Phone 7 Series customers more than just a phone, but a full end-to-end multimedia experience that will give them enhanced access to content and dedicated in-store support. This partnership we are planning with Microsoft, sharing service capabilities expert customer assistance, is just part of how Orange is working with the industry to revolutionise customer care and bring mobile multimedia to everyone."

"People want a phone that focuses on what matters most to them, works on their behalf and simplifies common tasks. They want a phone that helps manage and organize all of the information that is constantly swirling around them.  Windows Phone 7 Series brings together related content from the web, applications and services into a single view to make life easier," said Andy Lees, senior vice president of Mobile Communication Business at Microsoft. "We are excited that Orange will use Windows Phone 7 Series to offer differentiated services and added value to their customers throughout Europe with their dedicated care package."

Green Hills Software, independent supplier of embedded software solutions, has announced the INTEGRITY Multivisor, a multicore hypervisor for ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processors. The INTEGRITY Multivisor is built on INTEGRITY, the high-reliability RTOS and the only technology certified by USA's National Security Agency to EAL6+ High Robustness – the highest level of security ever achieved for any software product.

The INTEGRITY Multivisor unlocks the performance potential of multicore designs, reduces OEM costs through processor consolidation, increases battery life by facilitating intelligent multicore power management, enables new usage models such as dual operating system personalities on a single device, and reduces cost and time-to-market for platform suppliers and OEMs by reusing proven versions of multimedia operating systems, such as Android and Linux.

"The Cortex-A9 processor delivers unprecedented performance-efficiency for an upcoming generation of connected mobile devices," said Gordon Jones, vice president of Green Hills Software's Embedded Virtualization Business Unit. "However, taking maximum advantage of a multicore platform requires a systems software solution that can securely consolidate disparate workloads: controlling peripheral access, minimizing power consumption across cores, and providing flexible APIs for sophisticated new usage models."

"We welcome the development of the INTEGRITY Multivisor which delivers a powerful systems software foundation optimized for the Cortex-A9 MPCore processor," commented Eric Schorn, vice president of marketing, Processors Division, ARM. "The Green Hills Multivisor is a valuable addition to the range of optimized solutions available to Cortex-A9 licensees through the ARM Connected Community ecosystem."

Today at Mobile World Congress, Sicap, the Swisscom owned mobile solutions specialist, and Wincor Nixdorf, the leading Automated Teller Machine (ATM) manufacturer and IT solutions provider to the retail banking sector, unveiled ATMs specially designed for unprecedented mobile money services, including cash-in / cash-out transfer facilities. Jointly designed and developed by Sicap and Wincor Nixdorf to install in rtail outlets or offsite prime locations, the machines are set to kick-start the usage of ATMs for mobile network operators and mark an important evolution in how mobile customers interact with their operator.

"Being first to market with an m-transaction ATM confirms our pioneering spirit, our server-side expertise and our ability to deliver user-friendly services in their regional context. We are proud to partner with Wincor Nixdorf as a reputed leader in ATM technologies to achieve this." said Jürgen Samuel, Sicap CEO.

Mr. Stefan Auerbach – Executive Vice President of Wincor Nixdorf Banking added that "mobile money solutions powered by Wincor Nixdorf financial services expertise will give operators a clear competitive advantage and customers a consistent and worthwhile service experience. With its expertise in the network operator market, Sicap is an ideal partner for Wincor Nixdorf to expand our successful multichannel software approach to the benefit of mobile carriers."

The ATMs have initially been configured for three high-demand solutions: mobile cash remittance, cash topup and self-service subscription management. Sicap and Wincor Nixdorf have jointly pioneered design and development of the three solutions whereby Wincor Nixdorf manufactures the ATMs and their server-based software, while Sicap architects and implements the service to the operator environment.

Bridgewater Systems, the mobile personalization company, today announced Bridgewater's Radio Access Network (RAN) congestion solution. It extends the Bridgewater Policy Controller with a new RAN Congestion module that together combine real-time cell site congestion information with subscriber entitlements to deliver enhanced services.

Mobile operators are facing RAN congestion challenges as a result of increasing 3G penetration, widespread adoption of new smart devices, and increasing use of bandwidth intensive applications. In many urban centers, it is estimated that 80% of network traffic is managed by only 10% of cell sites. This has resulted in service degradation for mobile subscribers attached to congested cell sites.

Bridgewater's new RAN congestion solution addresses these challenges and includes the following components:

        –  The new RAN Congestion module for the Bridgewater Policy
           Controller receives dynamic cell site information from congestion
           probes, usage analyzers, and Deep Packet Inspection from leading
           vendors.

        –  The market leading, 3GPP Release 9 compliant Bridgewater Policy
           Controller uses a dynamic session database to identify subscribers
           on the congested cell site, including their profile, usage, and
           state information. It then applies real-time network, application,
           and subscriber policies to adjust service levels. When congestion
           subsides, the Policy Controller receives a congestion notification
           and regular service levels are restored.

    –   The solution offers several benefits for mobile operators:

        –  Manage RAN congestion in real time on a per cell site, per
           subscriber, and per application basis. Operators can adjust
           subscriber service levels based on service entitlements and
           dynamic cell site conditions.

        –  Increase customer loyalty by applying policies in real time that
           ensure a consistent and positive experience. For example,
           customers attached to a congested cell site can be prioritized
           based on service plans, customer value, personal preferences, or
           application type.

        –  Drive incremental revenues with tiered and usage based service
           plans that guarantee service levels. Target subscriber segments
           with real-time upgrades when the network is congested such as a
           service plan upgrade, a bandwidth boost, or Wi-Fi access.

Stephen Chau, Chief Technology Officer, SmarTone-Vodafone said: "SmarTone-Vodafone's successful deployment with Bridgewater has allowed us to deliver an unbeatable customer experience including personalized service tiers, guaranteed service levels, and network policies that ensure fair usage and reduce network congestion."

David Sharpley, Senior Vice President, Bridgewater Systems added: "Bridgewater's new patent-pending RAN congestion solution addresses a major challenge faced by mobile operators worldwide. By combining real-time visibility of individual cell site congestion with dynamic policy control and subscriber data, Bridgewater is providing a compelling and innovative solution that can improve customer loyalty and reduce congestion."