Subscribers of T-Mobile in the Czech Republic can expect advanced 3G data and multimedia services as a result of a faster mobile broadband network. The upgraded 3G network is based on the energy-efficient Nokia Siemens Networks Flexi Multiradio Base Stations and HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) technology. It is expected to be launched in Prague by the end of the year.

The agreement between T-Mobile and Nokia Siemens Networks signed this month will offer a number of benefits to customers, but in particular the availability of high-speed mobile data services. HSPA technology is one of the latest developments in 3G mobile networks. The main advantage it provides to customers is high-speed data transfers with download and upload peak rates of up to 14.4 Mbps and 5.7 Mbps respectively. Such performance will create a DSL-like user experience.

Moreover, the technology to be installed, will prepare the ground for the roll-out of the next generation of mobile networks.

"The demand for data services in the Czech Republic has been growing continually. Therefore building a 3G network is one of our priorities even in these economically more challenging times," says Roland Mahler, Managing Director of T-Mobile Czech Republic.

"Nokia Siemens Networks is one of the companies that supplies technology for the entire mobile division of the Deutsche Telekom Group, which is a guarantee that we will be able to offer the top quality services to our customers. "

"We are very pleased to extend our partnership with this important agreement," said Ralph Griewing of Nokia Siemens Networks, in charge of business relations with Deutsche Telekom. "We are also glad that our innovative solutions, like the Flexi Base Station and HSPA, will provide the Czech consumers with a fast, reliable broadband experience, offering at the same time an energy-efficient platform to T-Mobile."

Nokia Siemens Networks is also providing T-Mobile with network integration services, the NetAct network management system to monitor, manage and optimize the network and an upgrade of the core network to support advanced 3G services. The pilot operation of T-Mobile's 3G network will start in the autumn in Prague.

Deutsche Telekom International Carrier Sales & Solutions (ICSS) has launched ICSS Mobile World. ICSS says it is offering a "competitive set of mobile products combining basic and new aspiring services".

Within the set data, roaming, and messaging services, customers can choose to bundle four, three, or two services.

Customers can select the following offers:

– IP eXchange service, a premium-quality solution based on GSMA standards that promises reliable delivery of traffic while offering the flexibility to apply an appropriate level of quality. The solution includes a completely managed connection with quality of service, high flexibility, and scalability, including CPE (customer premise equipment) for fixed network access up to 2.5 Gbps or IPsec access up to 30 Mbps.

– SMS eXchange, an SMS hubbing service that provides seamless, worldwide termination of high-quality SMS messages regardless of the network and destination country. SMX offers a "one-stop shopping, one hub, one contract, one bill" solution with extended international connectivity and without additional investment to MNOs and MVNOs but also to SMS aggregators through a single interface.

– Signaling for International Roaming provides the customer with a high-quality, low-cost solution for all signaling for international roaming needs.

– MMX allows interconnection to a large number of partners and provides collection, mediation, rating, reporting, invoicing, and interworking negotiation.

In February 2009, ICSS launched SMS eXchange. In July 2009, ICSS then entered the market with the new IPX platform.

The IPX (IP eXchange) platform enables seamless convergence between different provider networks and thus interoperability among mobile network operators (MNOs), fixed network operators (FNOs), ISPs, and content and application providers. GRX traffic is supported on the ICSS IPX platform and GRX customers can be seamlessly migrated to IPX. The MMX service can be easily activated as existing service on the platform, as well.

"We are continuing to enhance our comprehensive portfolio of mobile products and offering our products and services in flexible, cost-effective bundles," Helmut Angst, Senior Vice President at Deutsche Telekom ICSS, says. "This lets our customers provide their own customers with more, new mobile services at attractive prices and thus improves competitiveness."

O2 has announced an agreement with Telmap which will see its personal navigation and mapping service made available to O2 customers on the majority of GPS-enabled handsets sold by O2.

O2 is said to have worked closely with Telmap to optimize the application for use on the O2 network and will be providing first level customer support and billing support.

Telmap's Navigator offers mapping and GPS navigation with features including in-car 3D maps with text-to-speech technology, traffic alerts with alternative route options and turn by turn directions while walking. O2 customers will also benefit from access to relevant content including places and businesses, event ticketing, restaurant listings and reviews amongst other premium services. O2 will also incorporate points of interest such as O2 Academy venues and Wi-Fi hotspots.

In addition to providing customer service, O2 will make it easy for customers to pay for the Telmap service by integrating the subscription charge onto their mobile phone bill. O2 will also offer the chance for customers to try the service for 14 days before they decide to buy.

"This is a pioneering agreement between operator and application developer which we believe will set a benchmark for future agreements," said Peter Rampling, O2's Marketing Director. "We have worked closely with Telmap to build a service wrap around the application which we believe will offer the best customer experience. Navigation is fast becoming one of the most popular mobile services and we look forward to bringing this leading application to our customers."

"This is a very important agreement for Telmap and we are excited to be starting this relationship with O2", said Oren Nissim, CEO of Telmap. "There is a strong synergy between O2, a leading, innovative operator and Telmap's innovative technology and vast experience; we believe this collaboration will allow us to deliver the best in class solution to O2 customers and for O2 to create a winning location strategy in the marketplace".   

The first new handsets from O2 with the application embedded will appear on the market in the autumn. There will be a range of subscription packages available, starting from £3.50 per month. Existing customers will also be able to download the application if they have a compatible handset. The agreement with O2 in the UK will form a framework for future agreements between Telmap and Telefónica operations globally. 

weComm, a specialist in interactive mobile data solutions, today announced that it has partnered with Livestation to deliver live TV news to mobile handsets including Android and BlackBerry devices.

Livestation already delivers live TV streaming services on iPhone for news partners such as BBC World News and Al Jazeera. weComm's wave On-Demand Mobile Application Platform, will enable Livestation to deliver live broadcasts from Livestation's global news TV partners to all leading mobile operating systems. Live TV content will be available for a monthly subscription and the service will provide access to other news formats from the same providers. The companies will distribute the service in a number of easy-to-subscribe methods including through the major mobile handset-manufacturers' application stores.

weComm's wave platform uses a client-server infrastructure to deliver  interactive mobile data services optimized to all major mobile operating systems. The technology delivers content and applications to handsets on-demand, giving the richness and interactivity of an on-device application combined with the 'flexibility and freshness' of an online service.

Matteo Berlucchi, Livestation CEO, said of the partnership: "Time to market is key for us. By partnering with weComm we can now deliver a high-quality, live TV experience very quickly to the market across the broadest possible range of smartphone devices."

weComm CEO Graham Summers: "Livestation has an extremely well targeted proposition which has clearly excited the world's leading news channels. weComm is delighted to have been chosen as the mobile partner to help Livestation exploit their fantastic service on a wider range of platforms."

Myriad, a global specialist in mobile technology with software in over 2 billion phones, today announced that it has joined the Symbian Foundation.

The Symbian platform is based on Symbian OS and software assets contributed by Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, and Sony Ericsson, including the S60 and MOAP(S) user interfaces. Portions of the source code are already being moved to open source, under the Eclipse Public License. By mid-2010, this process will be complete.

"Symbian OS is one of the most advanced smartphone platforms in the world, and its focus on amazing user experiences makes it a perfect fit with Myriad," added Simon Wilkinson, CEO of Myriad. "As global leaders in developing software for mass market phones, we look forward to bringing our software and expertise to help create a new range of exciting devices."

As a member of the Symbian Foundation, Myriad gains the immediate right to license the Symbian Foundation platform, royalty free and without source code fees, to participate in the governance of the foundation, and take part in joint marketing and branding campaigns.

Vodafone on the prowl?

O2 is reported to be on the verge of losing its exclusive deal to sell the iPhone in the UK, it has emerged this week. Vodafone is being touted as the most obvious challenger, following comments made recently by group CEO Vittorio Colao, who said that not being able to offer the iPhone had "penalised" his company.

The report in the Financial Times says that the agreement between Apple and O2 includes a two-year break close. The O2 deal began in November 2007.

The FT stressed that, while O2 will not lose the right to sell the iPhone, Apple has already held talks with one of its rivals about also offering the device from this autumn. Although no final decisions are said to have been taken, at least one of O2's rivals has been in discussions with Apple about the possibility of selling the iPhone this autumn.

Colao admitted last month that the company's UK business was being hurt because it did not sell the iPhone.

O2, Apple and Vodafone refused to comment on the speculation, as have other heavyweight contenders Orange and T-Mobile.

Orange has announced that it will offer existing customers a mobile broadband package which will cost less than £5 a month, fuelling a potential price war in the UK mobile broadband market.

For £4.89 per month, on an 18-month contract, existing Orange mobile and home broadband customers will be able to access to the Orange Internet Everywhere service, which comes with a usage allowance of 500MB and download speeds of up to 3.6mbps. As part of the package, customers will also receive a free Huawei E160e dongle.

Orange has also announced three 'Early Bird' tariffs starting at £12.72 per month on 12-month contracts. The tariffs provide customers with unlimited mobile broadband between midnight and 9am in addition to their standard data allowance of 1GB, 3GB or 10GB. It is also launching new software to alert customers when they are approaching their usage threshold. The service is open to all new and existing Orange mobile broadband customers and can be downloaded for free from the Orange website.

An automatic monthly bill cap is also being introduced by Orange which means that all Orange mobile broadband customers will not be charged more than an additional £40 a month if they go over their data allowance while using their dongle in the UK.

Radio Waves, a specialist in microwave antennas, has announced the availability of a new Radio Waves LPA Antenna, the LPA-1-18. The Log Periodic Dipole Array antenna is said to be very broad banded in nature and operates from 1 -18 GHz in a single antenna. The antenna is a directive array similar to a yagi, but covering a very broad frequency range. The LPA has 7 dBi gain which remains relatively constant across the band of 1 – 18 GHz. The LPA has a female SMA connector on the back.

Andy Singer, President of Radio Waves stated: "The new LPA-1-18 is ideal for quick deployment applications and comes complete with a mount that allows mounting for vertical or horizontal orientation. This amazing antenna is also great for those calls our distributors get for antenna requirements at "unusual" frequencies since it covers 1 – 18 GHz. By keeping a dozen of these on the shelf a distributor can be reactive to these unusual inquires."

The new LPA antenna is encased in a tough and durable radome for both commercial and extreme homeland security antenna applications.  Like all of Radio Waves antennas the new LPA antenna is made in the USA and comes with a 5-year warranty.

HSL, a mobile network operator and provider of mobile infrastructure, has today announced the introduction of the HSL 2.75G Picocell.

The picocell is claimed to deliver excellent in-building and outdoor voice quality, messaging and high speed EDGE data rates. Inexpensive IP over LAN, wireless, satellite or DSL backhaul is used by mobile operators to easily connect the picocell with the core network. 

The HSL 2.75G Picocell is targeted to include all markets currently dominated by the nanoBTS from ip.access. Furthermore, new markets will become accessible and existing markets more addressable through now being economic to service with the HSL 2.75G Picocell. The picocell can be applied in small and large scale to aviation, maritime, retail, residences, offices, underground facilities and rural locations.

Worldwide shipments will commence to customers in December 2009. 

Mobile messaging operator TynTec has been selected by UNITY Mobile to provide SMS delivery capabilities and long numbers for inbound services within UNITY Mobile's fully integrated mobile application, mobile web and SMS campaign service platform.   Under the terms of the business relationship TynTec will provide UNITY Mobile with high-quality SMS services to support UNITY's customers and channel partners in key European regions of operation.

UNITY Mobile is said to be an easy to use, web-based subscription service that enables companies to create, manage and distribute platform agnostic mobile applications, mobile websites and high-performance campaigns, and easily integrate mobile operations into existing web and digital media operations. 

TynTec was selected by UNITY Mobile to could provide customers with high quality SMS connectivity and internationally-capable long numbers to encourage interactive campaigns.  These types of campaign require performance, absolute reliability and speed to succeed, something which TynTec's carrier-grade platform enables Unity Mobile to pass on to customers.  

The deal will also allow UNITY Mobile to offer these services in more than 160 countries throughout the world, as TynTec has a unique global network footprint. 

Daniel West, CEO of UNITY Mobile comments, "A fundamental aspect of our value proposition is enabling companies of all sizes to easily and quickly integrate mobility into existing marketing, communications and enterprise operations.  Reliability and quality of service are core to this offering and TynTec allows us to offer the highest-quality SMS services and interactive mobile messaging campaigns to our customers at the best possible price."

Michael Kowalzik, CEO, TynTec, said: "The UNITY Mobile platform and solution set enables companies of all sizes enter and leverage mobility to efficiently and cost-effectively advance their businesses, and we are proud to play a part in this. TynTec's SMS connectivity and inbound services based on long numbers play a crucial role in helping deliver this to the best possible quality to make sure UNITY Mobile's customers get  the seamless, high-performance service they expect".