A new report from Juniper Research forecasts that, between 2009 and 2014, annual sales of low-cost mobile handsets will rise by 22% to over 700 million.

Operators and device manufacturers are increasingly looking to emerging markets, to fuel future growth. The development of very low cost handsets and devices are critical to achieving this aim.

Efforts by industry players to lower the TCO (total cost of ownership) for devices and services to below $5 are already reaping benefits in markets such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. Meanwhile, players such as Nokia are developing invaluable content-driven services that will encourage first-time mobile users to keep on using their devices and improving their standards of living.

According to the Low-Cost Handsets Report author Andrew Kitson: "With around 80% of new mobile users set to come from emerging markets over the next six years, it is essential that operators and vendors work together to dilute the price barriers associated with mobile technology and to provide ongoing support through the development of specific social and personal services, such as Nokia's Life Tools suite. However, it is clear that commercial success will only be achieved if operators adopt revolutionary new business models and if governments can be persuaded not to place excessive taxes and duties on device sales and imports."

Other findings include

• The Africa & Middle East region will account for the largest annual shipment volume by 2014, with its 166 million low-cost handsets representing 24% of all sales that year and up by 54% over the term of the forecast period
• With smartphones projected to account for 27% of mobile device shipments in 2014 (up from 13% in 2008), the market is effectively polarising into two groupings – entry-level and high-end devices: this means that the market for mid-range devices is being squeezed and vendors of such devices (such as Motorola) are suffering

Synchronica, an international provider of mobile email and synchronization solutions, has launched an affordable, industry-standard push email and synchronization middleware enabling enterprises to connect entry-level devices to their corporate networks. Synchronica Mobile Gateway Enterprise Edition is a self-care solution that works on a wide variety mobile handsets, so employers do not need to invest in a fleet of expensive new Smartphones in order to cascade mobile email down the organisation.

Synchronica Mobile Gateway Enterprise Edition is targeted at SMEs, as well as the middle/junior management layers in large enterprises where it can complement existing Smartphone-based solutions. It is available immediately from the Synchronica website and can be purchased, downloaded and deployed on a mobile phone fleet within a few hours.

The cost-effective solution provides carrier-grade security, reliability and scalability and has already been selected by a major Indian bank for its middle and junior management tiers. The bank is in the process of deploying Mobile Gateway Enterprise Edition to an initial 10,000 employees, to supplement the Smartphones used by executive staff. Synchronica now expects this approach to be replicated in other businesses.

Kathryn Weldon, Principal Analyst – Enterprise Mobility at Current Analysis said: "What makes Mobile Gateway EE different from other enterprise mobile email offerings is that it works on almost any phone in use today. This makes it ideal for today's tough economic conditions, because businesses do not need to spend a fortune on new handsets and expensive contracts to cascade mobile email through the organisation and realise productivity gains."

Carsten Brinkschulte, CEO of Synchronica added: "We felt there was a gap in the market for a low-cost, business-grade mobile email and synchronization solution that could be installed on the corporate network and managed internally as an alternative to a hosted solution. In today's climate, where the focus is on improving employee productivity and keeping costs down, an affordable self-care mobility solution hits the right spot. Our solution can cost about half as much per year as competing options and is an ideal supplement enabling Smartphone-like functionality on entry-level devices."

Mobile Gateway Enterprise Edition includes a Microsoft-Windows installer, allowing businesses to install and host it on their own servers.

Actix, a specialist in radio network performance engineering and status management and SwissQual, the independent Swiss network quality measurement company, today announced a broader agreement on cooperation. Under the agreement, Actix will provide enhanced integration and support for enterprise-grade optimization solutions featuring Diversity and QualiPoc probes and software from the SwissQual Evolution system.       

Actix will provide full support for SwissQual solutions within the existing range of Analyzer and Spotlight solutions, as well as adding new capabilities to the Actix One Enterprise suite to allow support of the highly detailed data provided by Evolution.

"This agreement is great news for our customers" said John May, CEO of SwissQual. "SwissQual is well established as the leading independent provider of network quality measurement systems, and Actix is ubiquitous in the RAN performance engineering and status management domains. We have many customers in common. Our partnership therefore ensures that our joint customers will benefit from much greater functionality and ease of use when the two solutions are combined. We look forward to working with Actix in the coming months and years to find further ways to improve the value that we deliver to our customers."

"We are very pleased to be able to enhance our existing cooperation with SwissQual," said Alex Hawker, CEO of Actix. "Swissqual is well known as a robust, reliable, and very highly specified network quality benchmarking solution, and we are happy that our mutual customers can benefit from enhanced integration and support of the data provided by SwissQual hardware. This agreement adds to the support Actix already provides for more than 100 different hardware solutions. With more than 10,000 installed users of Actix post-processing software, and a rapidly growing base of Actix One Enterprise benchmarking customers – including new customer segments in the marketing, sales and executive management teams of mobile operators – we look forward to working with SwissQual on a wide range of benchmarking and optimization projects around the world".

AIRCOM International, the leading independent network planning and optimisation consultancy, today launched the "K031 – Migration to Long Term Evolution (LTE)" training programme, its latest offering for operators looking to LTE as the platform for future mobile networks. 

The two-day training and development course is designed to help engineers and network managers understand the vast implications of evolving to LTE network architecture.   Always at the forefront of the roll out of the latest mobile technologies, in the same way AIRCOM's experience helped to train many of the tier one operators on the nuances of 3G technology, this new LTE course will be the first exposure to the technology for many operators around the world.

AIRCOM's position as a leading network consultancy means they are able to take hands-on experience and apply it in a classroom environment for the benefit of their students. The new course builds on AIRCOM's extensive experience of working with more than half the world's mobile operators, and will focus on how to resolve the issues involved in the migration path from existing 2G and 3G networks.  It will also help to clearly describe LTE's next generation network architecture. 

"As operators around the world publicly announce their support for LTE, understanding the evolution path from existing network architectures is of paramount importance," said Fabricio Martinez, Consulting Practice Director at AIRCOM International, who will be running the course. "The migration to LTE will present a considerable challenge to operators across their radio, transmission and core networks, and this course will serve an important role in helping them understand and plan for the many possible scenarios of commercial deployment."

While primarily aimed at the engineers running the network, the "Migration to LTE" course is also recommended for non-technical people, those who simply want to familiarise themselves with LTE technology.  AIRCOM will help executives understand how the different principles of network operation are applied in LTE, while clearly explaining the commercial advantages and disadvantages of HSPA+ and LTE networks. 

"When we created the course, we wanted to be sure to cover not only the technical challenges, but to help operators understand the business challenges, roll-out scenarios and deployment alternatives," continued Martinez.  "We're confident our new training and support programme will help operators make the migration to full commercial LTE networks quickly, easily and seamlessly, at the time that makes most sense for their business objectives."

More information on the "K031 – Migration to Long Term Evolution" training and development course, including the cost of enrolment, can be found at: http://www.aircominternational.com/page.php?n=233.

Ericsson has today announced an exclusive contract with 3 Italia that includes a seven-year agreement to modernize and upgrade the existing WCDMA/HSPA network with Ericsson technologies and architectures. It also includes an extension of the current managed services deal.

Under the network transformation contract, Ericsson will modernize and upgrade the existing 3G mobile broadband access and core networks, optical and radio transport, data charging, and consumer-services platforms and systems.
 
The deal also extends the exclusive managed services contract signed in 2005 for the total management of 3 Italia's multi-vendor 3G network and telecom IS&IT infrastructure. The prolonged contract runs for five years. It has a reduced financial value compared to the previous contract, as a result of the returning of some third party contracts and the implementation of the new service delivery model, enabling scale and skill synergies in the operations. Also, the optimized network is more efficient and requires less service activities. Transition and transformation costs will put pressure on margins initially but over the total contract period the profitability is satisfactory.
 
The agreement combines extensive technology modernization and network upgrade with operational process improvements and managed services, and will provide 3 Italia with a 'world-class' mobile broadband network and 'excellent operational efficiency'. At the end of the transformation and modernization process, 3 Italia's mobile broadband network will be managed by Ericsson.
 
Vincenzo Novari, 3 Italia's CEO says: "We are pleased with the successful cooperation with Ericsson. This agreement has been and will remain a reference in innovation and network development for the Italian market. With this agreement, we take a new step in meeting the demand for mobile broadband connectivity and services by Italian consumers and enterprises and make our network even more efficient in handling data traffic and ensuring better quality of experience to our customers."
 
Cesare Avenia, Ericsson's Head of Market Unit South East Europe, says: "This agreement is a continuation of our long relationship with 3 Italia. It confirms the high quality and reliability of our technologies and services and creates new opportunities for our industry, at a time when dynamism and innovation are key. We are proud to make our technology, services, know-how and experience available to 3 Italia to transform its mobile broadband network."
 
This agreement comes after a successful long-term collaboration between Ericsson and 3 Italia, which started in 2001, with 3 Italia choosing Ericsson as the main partner for its 3G core and access technology and later, in 2005, as exclusive partner for managed services of its multi-vendor network and telecom IS/IT infrastructure.

Rohde & Schwarz Professional Mobile Radio has won the bid for the installation of a digital radio system for the Saxony highway system. As part of the contract, valued at around EUR 4.8 million, prime contractor, Rohde & Schwarz Professional Mobile Radio, will replace the analog radio system operated by the Saxony highway agency with IP-based digital radio technology in line with the international TETRA standard. The new digital radio system, which will be installed along the A4, A13, A14, A17, A38 and A72 highways, is scheduled to be operational by October 2010.

With road traffic constantly on the rise, highway maintenance authorities and operations centers are forced to provide increasingly faster and more mobile services. To ensure that the operations center, regional traffic control centers and operations teams stay connected, most of the communications is established via radio. This allows the operations center to activate maintenance work, gritting and accident cleanup services on short notice. The analog technology that has been used to date is no longer sufficient for such mobile operations. By making the switch to a digital radio system, the Saxony highway agency will satisfy the growing demands for secure voice and data communications.

"Rohde & Schwarz submitted the best proposal in every aspect and offered convincing evaluation criteria such as technology value, price and service and maintenance costs," is how the Saxony highway agency explained the decision to partner with Rohde & Schwarz Professional Mobile Radio GmbH.

"We are extremely pleased to have won the trust of the Saxony highway agency with this contract. Because the ACCESSNET-T system features superior flexibility, we can adapt the call capacity and applications to the specific needs of the customer. This is also a major advantage for the Saxony highway agency," explained Dr. Georg Haubs, president and CEO of Rohde & Schwarz Professional Mobile Radio.

The ACCESSNET-T IP digital radiocommunications system will be installed along the Saxony highway system with redundant exchanges and base stations. Special applications will be integrated into the digital radio system for the Saxony highway agency, including a fleet management system, IP-based fixed network points and repeaters for providing service inside tunnels.

Mobile TeleSystems, said to be the largest mobile phone operator in Russia and the CIS, and Nokia have signed the memorandum of understanding on the direct delivery of Nokia devices to MTS' retail network. The first joint project of the two companies will be the priority sales launch of Nokia N97, Nokia's flagship mobile computer, equipped with exclusive software from MTS.

The agreement signed by MTS and Nokia at the 2009 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum provides for the direct supply of Nokia products to MTS' retail network, joint marketing campaigns to promote Nokia's handsets and a special training program for MTS' retail employees.

"This partnership agreement with Nokia is a milestone in our development of the MTS proprietary retail network. Teaming up with the world's leading maker of mobile devices will allow us to further differentiate MTS' retail network by matching cutting-edge products with tariff plans to enhance customer experience and spur the growth of data usage by our subscribers," noted Mr. Mikhail Shamolin, President and CEO of MTS.

"Nokia N97 is the flagship product which has no analogues in the world. For the first time in Russia, Nokia is launching such an important device in partnership with the largest mobile phone operator, MTS. Together with MTS, we have developed applications and widgets tailored to the Russian users," noted Mr. Niels Nielsen, Director-General of Nokia in Russia. "The primary difference of N97 from the currently available smartphones is not just the availability of touch display and QWERTY keyboard on one device, but the fact that it is a mobile computer with a range of applications that allow individual customization of the handset."

MTS has developed a number of branded applications for Nokia N97 aimed at business users that will be distributed on a free 2 GB micro-SD memory card. The sales of Nokia N97 will start on June 17 in all MTS stores in Moscow and in the flagship Nokia store. By the end of the month, the device will become available to subscribers of all mobile operators through the MTS retail network in Russia and the 30 Nokia stores in the largest Russian cities.

Huawei and TeliaSonera/Netcom have today announced the 'world's first' mobile broadband internet connection over a live commercial LTE network in Oslo, Norway. The demonstration saw download speeds to mobile devices greater than what is currently available. Based on Huawei's LTE solution, TeliaSonera's LTE network will benefit from high quality and extensive capacity to provide end users with the best mobile communication experience.

Mr. August Baumann, president of Netcom, a subsidiary of TeliaSonera in Norway, said: "We appreciate the professional implementation from Huawei and we are very pleased to make this world's first LTE session in Norway. It is a significant step in bringing our customers much closer to real fourth generation mobile broadband service. It is also a milestone in the cooperation between TeliaSonera and Huawei."

"We are proud and excited to support TeliaSonera in completing its mobile broadband connection over the world's first live LTE network," said Mr. James Chen, managing director of Huawei's Nordic Office. "The first LTE session reflects Huawei's leadership in the most cutting-edge of technologies and its ability to build LTE networks. We are well positioned to deliver a high quality network that will enable leading operators like TeliaSonera to achieve business success."

The first showcase of the live LTE network in Oslo, between a Laptop PC with a 4G modem and public internet/intranet, included downloading of high resolution photos, music, movies and mobile business applications, at a speed much quicker than most available fixed internet accesses of today.

By adopting the LTE MIMO and OFDM technologies (Multiple Input Multiple Output and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex, key radio technologies of LTE), the download peak data rate can reach 150 Mbps in one LTE cell with multiple terminals.