APD Communications announced today that the Romanian Special Telecommunications Service (STS) has selected its vehicle locations systems, INCA devices and the Co-Ordinator fleet location management system for the Romanian emergency services. The deployment is APD's first in Romania and will enable STS to provide the Country's emergency services with a better communications network to enhance command and control as well as increase overall efficiency and worker safety.

The STS is by the law 92/96 and Government Ordinance 34/2008 the provider of ICT services for Romanian public authorities and the operator of Emergency 112 system in Romania.

APD's INCA 1 and 2 devices provide the STS with a central hub, allowing critical data to be transferred from control centres to vehicles during emergency situations.  In addition, Romania's emergency services can easily track vehicles, distribute high risk information securely as well as access dispatch systems and monitor response times in real-time.

By using APD's Co-Ordinator management system, emergency first responders – Police, Medical Services, Firefighters and Gendarmery – can access comprehensive reporting such as details of where they have been, vehicle speed and direction of travel. The integral third party interface allows APD to feed and consolidate vehicle location data across all platforms, whether they come from automatic vehicle locations systems, TETRA or GPRS-enabled radios.

Duncan Gerrard, Director of International Sales, APD, commented: "Our extensive expertise in over-the-air communications coupled with our innovative technology and established UK customer base were major factors in winning the project. In addition, this deployment has paved the way for other wins in Romania, so we look forward to the new opportunities this country has to offer."

Gl. Lt. Marcel Opris, Director of STS, said: "We had sophisticated requirements to update our communications networks and selected APD based on its reputation as a global leader as a TETRA and mobile data solutions provider. After seeing what APD's technology has to offer, we are confident that STS offers Romanian public authorities the right services and communications support, creating them the prerequisite to operate much more efficiently and to provide a much improved service in public safety. I'm sure we will have a need for other APD's offerings in the future as our existing services grow."

Global specialist in mobile roaming software and solutions, Roamware, today claimed its Voicemail Call Completion (VMCCTM) product could save European operators a potential annual bill of €150million for compliance with new EU regulations on roaming voicemail. 

The EU regulations, to be introduced next year, are targeted at ensuring that customers are not charged additional fees for receiving voice mail messages while roaming.

Although the new regulations will automatically cut costs for consumers, unless other changes are made, Roamware estimates that European operators will collectively incur an annual cost of between €130m and €150m for re-bounding international voicemail calls – known in the telecoms industry as "tromboning"

John Jiang, Roamware's CTO explains: "If you make a call to customer who is roaming but who cannot be reached because the signal is bad or they are already using the phone, two international calls are effectively made – one to try to reach the phone, and a rebound leg back to the home network voice mail box to leave the message. This is what is known as tromboning.

"In many cases," he continues, "call forwarding information critical to voice mail deposits is not carried forward on the return leg and when the caller hits the mailbox they are sometimes asked to re-enter the number of the person being called. Quite often the call is then terminated, and although no message is left, two international calls are charged."

Using Roamware's enhanced Voice Mail Call Completion (VMCC)TM service in the home network, the Roamware software recognizes the unavailable roaming mobile and deposits the call – complete with all the relevant information – straight to the home network mail box.

"We cut out the "trombone call" and ensure that roaming messages get left in exactly the same way as normal – helping operators meet their EU commitment and saving costs for both them and the consumers," says Jiang.

Roamware already provides roaming software and services to more than 90 networks in the EU region and estimates that collectively European operators would incur non re-chargeable tromboning call costs of between 130-150 Million Euros annually once the new regulations come into force. 

Abraham Punnoose, Roamware's VP of marketing and business development, says: "Roamware's solution can help operators save costs, comply with the EU regulation and provide an improved customer service for mobile roaming voice mail.

"We are seeing significant traction and interest from our existing customers and other operators both inside and outside the European region as operators realize the implication of the new EU regulations and the opportunities that exist to cut costs and improve service."

B2M Solutions, a specialist in the management of the mobile enterprise, has today announced a worldwide original equipment partnership with Syclo LLC.  The agreement integrates the core mobile device management modules of B2M's mprodigy mobile enterprise management suite into Syclo Agentry 5.1 to deliver Agentry Mobile Device Management (MDM) and is said to represent months of collaborative design and development effort.

Claimed to be the first embedded solution available, the integration with the Syclo platform facilitates control of the extended mobile enterprise in mission-critical line-of-business (LOB) environments.

Syclo has introduced Agentry MDM from B2M Solutions with the objective of reducing day-to-day management costs for large mobile deployments. With capabilities such as mobile asset management, update and patch management, and remote troubleshooting, Syclo Agentry MDM is said to help companies minimise employee downtime, maximise utilisation, simplify deployment and provide streamlined support.

"We're seeing a big shift in how our customers think about mobility," said Rich Padula, Syclo founder and CEO. "For many, mobile applications are no longer a ‘nice-to-have', but a mission-critical tool that must be always available, easy to scale and inexpensive to manage. We've done a lot of work lately to ensure Syclo meets these objectives and working with B2M has fulfilled a significant part of that strategy.  We chose mprodigy from B2M because not only is it a superior product in the marketplace but it provides us with competitive advantage."

"We are delighted that Syclo has chosen mprodigy. This is an endorsement of the close collaboration that has enabled the introduction of an embedded mobile device management (Agentry MDM) solution," said Julie Purves, Managing Director, B2M Solutions. "We anticipate going forward that this relationship and common vision will continue to deliver best-of-breed functionality throughout the entire mobile lifecycle."

Ericsson and Telefónica O2 UK have signed a multi-year managed services agreement, with Ericsson providing field maintenance and other services for the Telefónica O2 UK 2G and 3G networks.

Under the new agreement Ericsson will provide field maintenance services for radio and switch sites, spare parts management logistics support as well as optimisation and drive services and facilities engineering services for Telefónica O2 UK.
 
Ericsson and Telefónica O2 UK have a multi-year relationship for supply of mobile core network technology. This new agreement marks the first time that Ericsson will undertake day-to-day operations for Telefónica O2 UK. In addition to the new agreement with Telefónica O2 UK, Ericsson has a global relationship with Telefónica in multiple countries.
 
Mats Granryd, Managing Director, Ericsson UK, says: "We view this as an excellent step in the development of a long-term strategic partnership with Telefónica O2 UK and we are extremely honored to have been chosen by Telefónica O2 UK as its Managed Services partner. Although Ericsson and Telefónica O2 UK have enjoyed a long relationship this agreement has significantly strengthened it, bringing us much closer."

Miyowa, an end-to-end mobile messaging solutions provider, has announced the launch of the Preloaded Instant Messaging Software Client Programme, which embeds Miyowa's messaging client software onto handsets.

Miyowa has also announced that MoveMessenger has been first preloaded onto the new Sony Ericsson W595S and that it has already secured major handset brand deals for the coming months. New announcements will be made soon, the company says.

The Miyowa's Preloaded Instant Messaging Software Client Programme aims at increasing the reach and mass-deployment of mobile IM technology, as well as the adoption of rich IM services by end-users all over the world. Claimed to be a light and easy-to-port technology, the Miyowa's MoveMessenge IM technology has already been ported onto 1500 handsets over the past 18 months. Miyowa says it delivers to over 25 mobile operators worldwide with its mobile messaging solutions.

"Thanks to this program, Miyowa aims to increase acquisition of the service and targets 50% penetration, as measured today with our customers" comments Stéphane Hareng, VP Sales Operations & Business Development.

The number of HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) user devices launched in the market has risen 121% over the past 12 months, according to a new survey published today by the GSA.

The GSA HSPA Devices Survey is said to confirm that 1,605 HSPA devices have now been announced by 183 manufacturers worldwide, and is said to provide clear evidence of how the mobile broadband eco-system enabled by WCDMA-HSPA technology is both robust and flourishing. GSA has confirmed that 881 new HSPA user devices were launched over the past year, which is equivalent to more than 70 new product announcements every month.

HSPA successfully addresses all market segments, says GSA,. and there are now 662 HSPA mobile phones, including several recent smartphone launches. The number of mobile phone products has increased by more than 88% year on year, while the number of HSPA-enabled notebook products, another key segment, more than tripled in the same period to 336 models.

Excluding notebooks, almost half of HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) devices are capable of supporting peak download data speeds of 7.2 Mbps peak or higher, including 8 HSPA+ devices supporting up to 21 Mbps.

HSPA devices by market segment:

662 mobile phones, including smartphones
336 notebooks
230 USB modems
162 PC data cards and embedded modules
151 Wireless routers/gateways
27 Ultra Mobile PCs
21 Femtocells
10 Personal Media Players (PMPs)
6 cameras

The number of HSUPA-capable (High Speed Uplink Packet Access) devices quadrupled over the past year to stand at 305 products today. More than a third of HSUPA devices support 5.8 Mbps peak uplink data speeds. Navigational capabilities (GPS, A-GPS) are incorporated in 345 products, an increase of 238% over the past year.

Commenting on this latest survey, Alan Hadden, President of GSA said: "HSPA is firmly driving mobile broadband growth globally, and millions of new customers are signing up every month. Network speeds have increased and are matched by a huge choice of compatible devices for users. It is particularly encouraging to see that the number of suppliers increased by 59%, from 115 companies a year ago to 183 suppliers participating in the market today. Many of these companies are evolving their product portfolios to support HSPA+ and emerging LTE mobile broadband networks as the mainstream HSPA+ evolution path for operators."

HSPA mobile broadband systems are deployed in all the main cellular bands. While the majority operate in 2100 MHz spectrum, there has been an explosion in device availability in the lower frequency bands, including 850 MHz as widely deployed in the Americas, Australia and parts of Asia, and at 900 MHz. These bands are particularly well suited for economic wide area coverage, and improve penetration into buildings. For example, there are now 155 user devices (compared to 20 by mid-2008), which operate in the 900 MHz band, which is now being re-farmed in several countries for 3G/mobile broadband deployments by permitting deployment of UMTS900 (i.e. HSPA in the 900 MHz band) networks.

Excluding notebooks, 414 tri-band HSPA devices – i.e. 850/1900/2100 MHz – support global mobile broadband roaming.

Huawei says it has launched the world's first LTE eNodeB ready for large-scale commercial deployment. The LTE eNodeB is able to fully support a downlink rate of up to 150 Mbps in commercial LTE networks, says Huawei.

By adopting 64QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) and MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) technology with 2T2R (two transmitters and two receivers) capabilities, Huawei's latest LTE eNodeB is able to maximise the use of the ultra-wide bandwidth of LTE networks. Higher-speed connection can provide end-users with mobile data services such as high-definition VOD (Video-on-Demand) and high-simulation video conferencing. The SON (Self Organising Networks) solution of the eNodeB is able to automatically configure and optimise new cells in an LTE network.

Mr. Wan Biao, President of Wireless, Huawei, said: "It is a great milestone in the development of LTE technology. Based on our fourth-generation base station platform, this LTE eNodeB will enable operators worldwide to offer to high-quality LTE services immediately and accelerate the maturity of LTE industry."

WIN, a provider of interactive mobile entertainment and information services, today announced that its Enterprise Platform is claiming to be the first to offer text message to ‘Tweet' conversion. 

Organisations using the WIN platform will now be able to offer customers the choice of texting a ‘Tweet' which will be automatically posted to one or more Twitter feeds in addition to other mediums of choice. The Twitter feed will therefore provide a point of interaction for all customers presenting the organisation with a single customer view.

The service is claimed to have been used extremely successfully at a number of recent mashup events where a ‘video wall' displays questions and observations received directly from the audience (both inside the room and those following on the web) live to the debate and discussion.  Questions posed by event attendees and the online audience, by text are sent to a specific number which converts the text to a ‘Tweet' which is then posted to the event Twitter feed and the video wall.  Twitter users can post to the same video wall using a designated # tag.

Announcing the service, WIN CEO Graham Rivers said: "Twitter is a global phenomenon. With an estimated 10 million users world wide it is the fastest growing social network and one of the best ways for organisations to interact with specific audiences. The service, which integrates seamlessly with existing systems, provides a new and exciting channel for organisations to interact with its customers."

Rivers continues: "This latest addition to our Enterprise Platform is part of our ongoing efforts to help organisations to effortlessly communicate and ultimately interact with customers across a variety of different mediums."

Tony Fish Co-founder of mashup* says "WIN have been a long term supporter of mashup with the provision of their enterprise SMS service. Incorporating Twitter is a fantastic addition to the overall WIN offering for enterprise customers."

Newly released 3G+ and Long Term Evolution (LTE) forecasts by technology and media specialist Coda Research Consultancy are said to show that portable laptop and netbook users accessing the internet via mobile broadband will number 418m worldwide by 2017, will produce US$48bn in revenues, and will generate and consume an immense 1.8 exabytes of traffic per month – a forty fold increase over 2009.

Coda Research's report into mobile broadband via netbooks and laptops is said to show that the most significant growth will occur in the Asia-Pacific region, where users will amount to 162m by 2017. Europe will account for 94m users, and together, Asia Pacific and Europe will account for 61% of all users. The picture for LTE is even more dramatic, with nearly three quarters of worldwide LTE users coming from these two regions by 2017.

Europe will have the lowest mobile broadband user growth of all the regions surveyed. But despite this, it will still grow 135% over 2009, and Europe will have one third of all LTE users by 2017. North America will grow to 58m users overall by 2017, a 263% increase over 2009. Users from Middle East and Africa will grow to reach 48m.

LTE users accessing mobile broadband via portables will hit 38m in 2013 after a ramp up in LTE production in 2012, and will rise to 209m by 2017, a 1100% increase over 2012. Three quarters of users in Europe and nearly two thirds of users in North America will employ LTE in 2017. This contrasts with just over half of users in Asia Pacific, and 12% in Central and South America. According to Steve Smith, founder of Coda Research, "LTE take up will be greatly skewed toward European and North American markets in the short to medium term, where ARPU will be highest. However, we will also see significant take up in China, and we may also see countries like India bypass 3G altogether, and move straight to LTE."

More generally, user growth will not correspond with revenue growth, particularly in less wealthy regions of Asia-Pacific, thus significantly impacting mobile broadband ARPU. For example, revenues from Asia Pacific will grow at only 50% of the rate of users, which contrasts with 63% for Europe. The silver lining however, is that LTE ARPU will be 17% higher than for mobile broadband in general.

LTE revenues will be greatest in Europe, where they will rise by a CAGR of 47% from  2012 to 2017, and will form 83% of all mobile broadband revenues in that region. LTE revenues from North America will grow significantly more, at a CAGR of 59% between 2012 and 2017, and LTE will form 72% of its mobile broadband revenues. In contrast, LTE revenues will form only 13% of all mobile broadband revenues in Middle East and Africa.

LTE usage via portables will lead to more traffic per user than for mobile broadband in general. This will further increase pressure upon network capacity, and will hit 1.1 exabytes per month in 2017. Asia Pacific alone will take up 45% of this, whilst Europe will take up a third, and North America 17%.

Video will dominate traffic to and from portables, and will account for over half (53%) of traffic by 2017. The bad news for rights' holders is that one fifth of all traffic will be P2P. Nearly half of video traffic (47%) and nearly two thirds of P2P traffic will be consumed in Asia Pacific. This reflects the dominant position this region will play in mobile broadband usage and how mobile broadband will continue to be the sole vehicle for many people to gain broadband connectivity in developing countries such as India and China.

In summing up the report's forecasts, Steve Smith said, "Clearly, tremendous opportunities for both operators and device and component vendors exist, but the risks are significant. With enormous growth in traffic and considerable decline in ARPU, operators will need to be ruthlessly efficient. Asia Pacific is going to be the hotbed for growth, but it is a complex picture of emerging markets, developed markets and even markets that will leapfrog 3G altogether. LTE is going to be an important cushion for operators, but our research shows they will need to take into account the very different factors impacting 3G+ growth across regions and decide carefully how, when and where to market LTE."

The report Mobile Broadband and Portable Computers: Revenue, User and Traffic Forecasts 2009-2017 forms part of Coda Research Consultancy's 2009 ‘Mobilities' project.