Huawei today announced that it has been selected by Telekom Srpske to deploy its UMTS/HSPA network and packet switch (PS) core network in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to Huawei, the agreement represents a breakthrough with Telecom Serbia Group in the mobile infrastructure arena.

The new 3G network will enable Telekom Srpske to offer high-speed mobile broadband communications, such as high-speed mobile internet and other advanced multimedia services. With Huawei's 4^th Generation NodeB and SingleRAN solution, Telekom Srpske can upgrade its network in the future.

"We are very glad to join hands with Huawei and to extend collaboration into the mobile field," said Mr. Predrag Culibrk, CEO of Telekom Srpske. "By introducing Huawei's leading HSPA/UMTS solution, Telekom Srpske will be able to rapidly launch 3G services and our customers can enjoy a fast and reliable multimedia mobile network wherever they want."

Yan Linxiang, managing director of Huawei's Serbian office said: "We are delighted that Telekom Srpske has placed their trust in Huawei. With our state-of-the-art mobile solutions and proven record, we are confident of quickly deploying a robust, high-quality network across Bosnia and Herzegovia that will help Telecom Srpske further strengthen its market position."

Sharpcards, a rich media messaging specialist, today announced it has struck an exclusive deal with Sony Ericsson Iberia.

The deal means that Sharpcards' enhanced mobile messaging application (EMMA) will be integrated into the main messaging menu of new Sony Ericsson handsets in Spain and Portugal, allowing users to send Ecards almost as easily as a text.

Users will have instant access to premium branded Ecards developed in partnership with top media owners such as Disney, Hallmark, King Features and Cartoon Network. The service enables a richer, more intimate way of communicating with friends; they can now express their emotions with more feeling than a simple text message or phone call.

Ecards are dynamically updated to give customers access to time-relevant and seasonal content as well as everyday favourites for fun and flirting.

Will Walsh, CEO said: "To be embedded on Sony Ericsson devices across Spain and Portugal is very exciting. Sharpcards is shaping the way for emotional messaging and we're proud to be partnering with Sony Ericsson to deliver a truly compelling alternative to SMS."

Magnus Ahlqvist, General Director of Sony Ericsson Iberia added, "Sony Ericsson is a very young and dynamic brand that enjoys a great reputation within the Spanish market thanks to its continuous innovation. The new agreement with Sharpcards fortifies this strategy to offer to our users this type of added value on our handsets."

Wider availability of wireless broadband networks, proliferation of ‘smart' converged devices, and broadening ranges of mobile connectivity solutions will foster growth of ‘unwired enterprises', a new report from Juniper Research has found. In particular approximately 80% of business mobile devices will be operating via 3.5/3.9G networks by 2014, it says.

By that time, 722 million business mobile connections will be in use worldwide; this will represent an overall increase of almost 60% over the forecast period covered by the report.

Throughout, handsets will dominate, accounting for upwards of 70% of business devices in the latter part of the period. However, businesses will increasingly make use of embedded and plug-in wireless modems (so-called ‘dongles') via laptop PCs and the new generation of netbooks to increase the effectiveness of employees in the field.

Future Mobile Enterprise report author Andrew Kitson believes that the rapid evolution of mobile computing devices is of particular relevance. "By the end of 2009, portables will account for around 60% of annual PC sales, suggesting that businesses are placing less emphasis on desktop machines and investing on combined laptop-and-phone packages for employees. As 3G networks proliferate, so it will become more cost effective to replicate the desktop solution with a wireless device." And with dongles proving to be easy to lose or damage, so businesses will increasingly turn to inexpensive notebooks incorporating wireless accesses.

Other findings include:

• Usage of wireless dongles is losing ground to usage of devices with embedded wireless modems and will peak in 2010/2011
• The number of enterprise portable computers with embedded wireless connectivity will grow by more than 300% between 2008 and 2014
• Annual portable computer shipment volumes will exceed 300 million by 2014, accounting for over three quarters of all computer shipments that year
• Revenues generated by mobile enterprise service usage worldwide will grow to $247 billion by 2014

Zed, a mobile content company, has announced the acquisition of Player X, a mobile media company specializing in Operators Portal Management, games and mobile TV & Video. Player X is said to compliment Zed's offering as a publisher and aggregator working with the top tier operators around the world to offer a portfolio of content together with an extensive games portfolio.
 
Through the acquisition, Zed says it strengthens its position as a ‘one-stop shop' for carriers. The company's combined offering will include some of the best known music labels, media companies and sport franchises. This combines with an extensive portfolio of in-house multiplatform premium games.
 
Javier Pérez Dolset, founder and CEO of Zed Group commented "This acquisition signals a very important milestone within our business strategy as Zed is committed to consolidating its position as developer, publisher and aggregator of multiplatform content", he added, "Working with Player X, one of the key players in the mobile content industry, we are able to help consumer brands and carriers to create and deliver the best Premium content. This acquisition reinforces our strategy to continue our expansion into storefront and portal management for carriers across the world".
 
Player X has established master aggregator agreements with major mobile operators including O2 UK, Orange World, Telefónica Móviles, and Vodafone Global among others, providing them with the latest games, mobile TV, movie and sports media content. The company also works with global brands including SONY Computer Entertainment Europe, Paramount Digital Entertainment and FremantleMedia, to distribute mobile content. Furthermore, Player X is one of the key players in the mobile gaming industry, helping carriers to build and manage their gaming portals.
"Joining the Zed Group is a fantastic opportunity to be part of the Zed vision to lead the digital entertainment market. Player X will to continue to distribute premium content and deliver services for carriers and content partners as well as drive the games portal management business together with Zed", said Tony Pearce, Player X CEO.

Through this acquisition, Zed adds two operating divisions to its existing portfolio: video on demand and mobile TV. This comprehensive offering of content turns Zed into the one-stop-shop "Mobile Enabler" providing carriers and content partners a full service of content production and distribution expertise.

Openet, a provider of Transactional Intelligence for the network service providers, today announced the immediate availability of FusionWorks Policy Manager 2.5. The release extends communication service providers' ability to manage libraries of policy rules, minimise network latencies, and implement updates to subscriber-specific policies.

Operators are implementing increasingly complex policies within their networks to protect their subscribers and implement new business models.  These policies cover a range of strategic issues like fair usage, and new engagement and business models such as dynamic service tiers.  Operators need a more robust capability to effectively define, deploy, and administer these policy initiatives.

FusionWorks Policy Manager 2.5 enhances the ease with which policy decisions are created and implemented.  The new enhancements enable operators to:

* Easily define policy rules using a template-driven graphical workflow tool;

* Visually associate complex rule sets, including detailed chaining of multiple rule sets;

* Test new and updated policies with a robust Rules Simulator to assess the impact of potential changes on the network, service level agreements and the subscriber experience;

* Dramatically reduce network latencies involved in policy control decisions by actively deploying in-line policy caching.

"FusionWorks Policy Manager continues to lead the industry in flexibility, power, and performance.  Policy Manager 2.5 is a direct response to the needs of our Tier 1 customers, and positions Openet dramatically ahead within this market," said Joe Hogan, CTO of Openet.  "By deeply integrating Policy Manager with Openet's FusionWorks suite of real-time charging, rating and balance management products, Openet provides a comprehensive solution for realising new business models while maintaining control of increasingly valuable network resources."

Built on Openet's FusionWorks Platform, Policy Manager 2.5 is scalable and convergent across all type of networks.  In conjunction with its charging solution, Openet provides the core expertise across both sides, enabling its Tier 1 customers to utilise one vendor and one Policy and Charging controls architecture. This enables operators to capitalise on future business models by leveraging policy management's ability to control network resources to maximise customer satisfaction and revenue streams.

Sybase 365, a subsidiary of Sybase, a specialist in mobile messaging services, today announced it will team with Swisscontact, the Swiss Foundation for Technical Cooperation, a leading global development organization, to provide sustainable development of Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) and Mobile Money for the Unbanked (MMU) services in emerging markets.

"In order to build a favourable environment for end-to-end MMT and MMU solutions, regulatory, technological, financial and educational challenges need to be resolved," said Matthew Talbot, Vice President, mCommerce, Sybase 365.  "The cooperation between Sybase 365 and Swisscontact will help address these challenges by combining commercial with social interests and delivering innovative mCommerce solutions for millions of mobile users."

The number of mobile phone subscribers is expected to reach 5 billion by 2012, largely due to growth in emerging markets. In absolute terms, this is also the potential size for mobile money opportunities, as all mobile phones are capable of sending and receiving data via SMS.  The uptake for mobile money services in emerging markets will be driven largely by domestic or cross-border person-to-person fund transfers.  Today, less than 15% of the population in emerging markets has access to bank accounts, while mobile phones provide access to basic financial services and micro finances for both the unbanked and the under banked.  One in 10 people around the world undertake remittances and 70 percent of migrant workers remit funds on a regular basis.

"With the mobile phone expected to be the single most transformative technology for development in emerging markets, mobile money services have the potential to integrate all consumers into the formal financial sector." said Ulrich Merkes, Global Topic Leader, Information & Communication Technology (ICT) at Swisscontact. "By promoting private economic and social development in Asia, the Middle East and Africa through advisory services, training and continuing education, Swisscontact aims to empower local communities, ultimately leading to sustainable economic development and growth." 

BuzzCity, a provider of global wireless communities and consumer services, today announced the release of the BuzzCity White Label Ad Service-a powerful management tool for mobile web site publishers that run large-scale mobile advertising programs.  The system allows publishers to tap into the powerful infrastructure behind the BuzzCity Global Mobile Advertising Network, stress-tested with the delivery of more than 20 billion mobile ads.
 
The BuzzCity White Label Ad Service is a turnkey service that enables mobile internet site owners to sell their own ad inventory while avoiding the large cash outlays and long-term commitments of having to build their own ad serving infrastructure.  The state-of-the-art technology underlying the service allows companies to tap into the infrastructure behind a global mobile advertising network and take full control of their ad sales. 
 
For most mobile web site owners, simply running ads directly from an established advertising network works well for monetizing mobile internet traffic.  But on fast-growing and popular mobile sites, the BuzzCity White Label Ad Service can help sell higher paying ads and generate revenue by optimizing campaigns to suit specific business needs. 
 
Additionally, when mobile internet site users have unfilled or unsold ad inventory, the BuzzCity White Label Ad Service will run advertisements from the BuzzCity Global Mobile Advertising Network-drawing from a network that serves more than 3 billion mobile ads per month.  This relieves publishers of any excess ad inventory, and allows them to take advantage of maximum revenue possibilities.
 
"The BuzzCity White Label Ad Service represents the first time that advertisers running large scale advertising campaigns can easily tap into the infrastructure of a major global mobile advertising network with low start up costs and no investment in back-end infrastructure," said KF Lai, BuzzCity CEO.  "Part of BuzzCity's mission is to encourage the growth of the mobile internet and mobile internet advertising through innovative products and services that empower mobile publishers and advertisers alike.  This a significant step forward in this regard."
 
The product is available now to customers around the world and represents the latest addition to BuzzCity's mobile advertising offerings.  The company's BuzzCity Global Mobile Advertising Network, on which the BuzzCity White Label Ad Service's underlying technology is based, now includes more than 2,000 mobile internet publishers in 200 countries globally.