Vodafone has agreed to acquire 100% of ZYB, a privately-owned company based in Denmark which operates a social networking and online management tool enabling mobile phone users to back-up and share their handsets' contact and calendar information online. The acquisition will be made for a cash consideration of Eur31.5 million.

The acquisition of ZYB is said to be a further advance in the implementation of Vodafone's Total Communications strategy which is claimed to be delivering new revenue growth around fixed broadband, mobile advertising and a rich set of internet services that integrate the mobile and PC customer experience. ZYB fits into this strategy by enhancing the range of communications services Vodafone can provide to its customers, it says.

ZYB is claimed to be unique amongst social networking sites as it is designed with the mobile device at its heart, allowing customers to share information and messages between their friends and colleagues who are held in their mobile phone's address book.

ZYB increases communication choices for customers enabling them to send messages and images from their PC to multiple mobile devices in their mobile community, as well as taking advantage of the functionality of an instant messaging service.

Pieter Knook, Internet Services Director for Vodafone Group, said: "Vodafone understands that the core of any customer's personal and business network is the set of contacts they hold on their mobile phone.

"Using a web portal as a link between the PC and the mobile device, ZYB provides an interactive way for people to nurture, contact and develop their relationships with their most important friends and colleagues and builds links with those contacts' wider networks. This is Web 2.0 in action.

"This acquisition is consistent with our strategy of delivering products and services which meet our customers' total communications needs."

Tommy Ahlers, CEO of ZYB, added: "I am delighted that ZYB is to join Vodafone, the world's largest international mobile community.

"Vodafone and ZYB share the same vision: to create a new mobile experience that builds on the convergence between the mobile and PC – and one which works on both platforms.

"By joining a company with Vodafone's global reach, ZYB has more opportunities to bring to the mobile a further advance to the rich and interactive communications experience which people already recognise via the internet on their PC."

ZYB will remain based in Denmark and upon acquisition will be incorporated into Vodafone's Internet Services Division.

Ericsson has signed an agreement with the Swiss operator Sunrise Communications to expand its WCDMA/HSPA network. The deal will bring high-speed mobile broadband coverage to Sunrise subscribers in a number of cities across Switzerland.

Under the three-year agreement, Ericsson will be the key supplier of radio access network equipment to expand the existing WCDMA/HSPA network of Sunrise. The expansion will increase network capacity and speed and allow Sunrise to extend its mobile broadband offering across the country.

Ericsson will also provide services including support, spare parts management and training. Network deployment and integration has already started. The contract builds on earlier Ericsson deals that saw the introduction of HSPA across key Swiss cities in 2006-2007.

Henning Dickow, Chief Technical Officer at Sunrise, says: "This deal reflects our strong partnership with Ericsson. This network expansion will allow existing and new customers to enjoy the fastest mobile broadband speeds available and reaffirms our position as a leading provider of cutting-edge services."

Stefan Koetz, Head of Ericsson Switzerland, says: "We are pleased to continue our partnership with Sunrise. This expansion contract reinforces Ericsson's technology leadership and will help Sunrise tap into new regions across Switzerland, meeting growing customer demands for the latest mobile broadband services."

Telefónica Europe has delivered like for like revenue growth of 6.4% in the first quarter, with growth of 5.3% in operating income. Its customer base is now said to be at 42.8 million (+8.8% year on year) with almost 3.5 million customers added.

In the UK, O2 grew revenue 12.6% and OIBDA 13.1%, while O2 Germany's performance continued to improve, with positive revenue growth for the first time in 4 quarters (+1.5%) and net mobile customer additions of 536,000, over 3 times the figure for the same period last year;

Telefónica O2 Czech Republic maintained its momentum in the Czech mobile market with 5.1% growth in mobile service revenues and reduced fixed line losses year on year (74,000 in Q1 2008 vs. 115,000 in Q1 2007).

The group says it has continued to build on and broaden its product portfolio: customer base of almost 900,000 retail DSL and IPTV customers across Europe; over ¾ of a million wholesale DSL customers; mobile broadband launched in UK, almost 40,000 mobile broadband customers already in Ireland.

The group reported total mobile data revenues amounted to €903 million in the first quarter, with non-SMS data revenue of €205 million, growth of 40.6% year on year.

Matthew Key, Chairman & Chief Executive of Telefónica Europe, commented: "Telefónica Europe has delivered a strong start to the year, with like for like revenue growth in the first quarter of 6.4% and 5.3% growth in operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA). Over the past 12 months we have added almost 3.5 million customers across Europe (including over 2 million mobile contract customers), growth of 8.8% in competitive markets. Part of our success has been in anticipating customer needs and delivering propositions that customers value  – for example, our Simplicity tariff in the UK offers flexibility and our lowest pay monthly rate, an attractive choice for customers in the current economic climate

"In the UK we outperformed the market again, posting revenue growth of 12.6% for the quarter and adding 206,000 net contract customers, 2½ times the figure for the first quarter last year. Despite a slowdown on the high street, we are currently seeing no evidence of significant change in our customers spend or usage, but continue to monitor behaviour. Growth in 12 month rolling ARPU of £13 year on year in the UK illustrates that we are successfully focusing on higher value customers.

"In Germany, there are signs we are regaining our momentum with positive revenue growth of 1.5% in the quarter,  Mobile service revenue also showed an encouraging trend, as expected, with a decline of 0.9% year on year in the first quarter, compared to a decline of 6.5% in the fourth quarter 2007. We were very pleased with net additions of 536,000 mobile customers during the quarter, over 3 times the figure for the first quarter last year, although the market continues to be challenging, with blended monthly ARPU down 13.4% year on year. Our Fonic brand has continued its success attracting over 320,000 customers in just 7 months and we will continue to expand our distribution channels. Our Telefónica Deutschland DSL business continues to perform well, with a 3 fold increase in unbundled lines to 845,000 and 38.2% growth in fixed wholesale revenues.

"The Czech Republic business delivered group revenue growth of 1.6% in the first quarter, with 5.1% service revenue growth in the Czech mobile business, which added 33,000 customers in the quarter, compared with a decline of 23,000 in Q1 last year. The percentage of contract customers in the base now stands at 44.7%, compared to only 40.6% at the end of March 2007. In the fixed line business, the total number of ADSL lines stood at 587,000 at the end of March, growth of 16.7% year on year.

"In a competitive market O2 Ireland traded well in the quarter, adding 17,000 customers in total, with 19,000 on contract, a significant improvement on last year. O2 Broadband, our wireless mobile broadband solution, continues to have good traction in the market, offering a real alternative to fixed broadband in the home in a market that is under penetrated and has good growth potential."

The global market for Mobile Web 2.0 will be worth $22.4bn in 2013, up from $5.5bn currently, according to a new report by Juniper Research. Embracing social networking & User Generated Content (UGC), mobile search and mobile IM (Instant Messaging), Mobile Web 2.0 provides a framework for delivery of collaborative applications, further enhanced and contextualised via LBS (Location Based Services).

In its latest report – ‘Mobile Web 2.0: Leveraging ‘Location, IM, Social Web & Search' – Juniper says it examines how a fundamental shift in Internet usage patterns is shaping Mobile Web development, driving subscriber adoption and forcing structural changes within the industry. At the core of this evolution is the user as a creator and consumer of content (i.e. the prosumer), and the ‘social web' – which describes a wide variety of social computing tools enabling users to develop detailed Web identities, create online communities and communicate with like-minded individuals.

"Combining the power of the social network map – namely: ‘who I know, how I know and where I know' – with that of mobility, presents the greatest opportunity for revenue generation of any of the applications as defined within Juniper's Mobile Web 2.0 framework," states Ian Chard, Juniper Research Analyst and author of the new report. "The phone is carried with us most of the time and contains a huge amount of personal data, making it a logical extension for the social network and a host of other collaborative Web 2.0 applications being mobilised."

Other findings from the reportare said to include:

– Total global revenues for mobile social networking/UGC will rocket from $1.8bn in 2008, to $11.2bn in 2013, accounting for 50% of the market, while growth in mobile search and mobile IM will be more measured
– Service revenues will account for the lion's-share of total Mobile Web 2.0 revenues, although mobile advertising represents a significant opportunity
– Far East & China, Western Europe and North America dominate the global market for Mobile Web 2.0, but will be surpassed by the developing regions over the forecast period
 
Despite the new opportunities for players across the value chain, Mobile Web 2.0 creates fresh challenges over and above those typically associated with mobilising Internet applications. MNOs must adjust to advertising-sponsored strategies and accommodate partnerships with Web-based players, while device manufacturers and technology vendors must somehow find the means to stitch together what is at present, a highly-fragmented market. Any player in Social Web is also subject to regulatory measures concerning privacy and data retention, says
Juniper.

Ceon Corporation has announced that Nordisk Mobiltelefon AB (NMT), a provider of mobile broadband services covering Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Poland and Ireland, is operational with the Ceon Product Control Center (PCC) product lifecycle and catalogue management software solution.

Ceon PCC is the centralised product management system at NMT as well as the operational product catalogue that is referenced by various order capture front-ends. NMT is utilising the PCC Order Negotiator Web Services API (ON API) to integrate PCC with the CRM, Web Shop and Reseller Ordering applications. The ON API executes defined product configuration and validation rules as part of responding to product content requests from the ordering front-ends, and calculates quotes for given product configurations as well.

"Ceon Product Control Center is a enabling us to rapidly, in some cases in a matter of hours, define and launch new offerings", said Thomas Norberg, CIO of Nordisk Mobiltelefon. "The PCC product modelling approach, the integration facilities, and the alignment of PCC with our standards-based systems architecture has allowed us to complete the initial deployment and integration of PCC within months."

"The initial phase of the implementation has involved integrating PCC with our ordering systems. Subsequent phases will leverage PCC to support fulfilment and billing processes as well."

"Being operational at Nordisk Mobiltelefon is a significant milestone for Ceon, and we are pleased with the rapid progress we have made this year in completing multiple deployments of our Product Control Center application ," said Peter Burke, CEO of Ceon.  "We look forward to continuing to support Nordisk achieve its business objectives through the subsequent phases of deployment and delivery of enhanced functionality in future releases."

The latest survey of GSM/EDGE network deployments by GSA, the Global mobile Suppliers Association, is said to highlight the continuing expansion of GSM/EDGE networks and services across the globe. The survey results are summarized in a new EDGE Fact Sheet, confirming that EDGE networks are now commercially launched in 147 countries, compared to 113 countries in May 2007.

EDGE is now widely available throughout Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. For example, EDGE is now available in several new markets in Africa. Throughout the world, many operators have made significant investments to enhance the capacity and coverage of existing networks, often extending EDGE capabilities to their full GSM coverage area.

The GSA survey identified 363 EDGE network commitments in 165 countries (May
2007 = 287 commitments, 142 countries), including 313 EDGE commercial network launches in 147 countries (May 2007 = 223 launches, 113 countries).

A major driver for EDGE deployments is the capability provided to network operators to offer high speed Internet access to their customers. Over 60% of HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) network operators have also deployed EDGE for service continuity and the best user experience of mobile broadband services.

GSM/EDGE, a software enhancement to GPRS networks, is a mature global technology supported by a well developed ecosystem. The number of EDGE enabled user devices, including phones and PC datacards/modems, is estimated to have more than doubled in the same period to over 1,200 products now launched. The first commercial EDGE network was launched in June 2003. Over 75% of GPRS operators have since committed to the EDGE enhancement, delivering significant data traffic and revenue growth.

Ericsson and Dell have teamed up to allow Dell's next-generation laptops that to support seamless roaming on tri-band HSPA mobile broadband networks. Dell will offer built-in HSPA mobile broadband modules from Ericsson beginning in Q2 2008.

HSPA is the world's most widely deployed mobile broadband technology, with more than 185 commercially deployed networks available around the world serving more than one billion subscribers.

"Consumers are increasingly utilizing notebooks to access the high-capacity services that they have typically experienced only through a wired or WiFi connection," said Mats Norin, Vice President, Mobile Broadband Modules, Ericsson. "We are excited to work with Dell to give consumers and business users the freedom and flexibility to access internet in the way they want it, wherever they are.

"Dell's model is uniquely capable of putting the technology and wireless service in customers' hands. Teaming with Ericsson to offer built-in HSPA in our laptops ensures Dell delivers on the basic assumption that one can access critical information anytime, anywhere, with the speed and rich content that we have all come to expect," said John Thode, Vice President Small Devices, Dell Consumer Group.

Ericsson's mobile broadband modules provide the end user with a solution for broadband access on-the-go. Said to be seamlessly integrated with and optimized' to work within the notebook, the built-in mobile broadband module is also claimed to provide superior downloading and uploading performance and takes less power from the battery.

BT has today announced a new managed network solutions agreement with O2 that will see BT Wholesale provide and manage high speed connectivity between the majority of O2's base stations and its core national network in the UK.

Under the terms of the five-year agreement, BT will design and deliver a cost-efficient and flexible solution that enables O2 to manage the predicted increases in network traffic caused by new bandwidth-intensive handsets, reducing the need to invest heavily in significant and advanced network upgrading. 

The agreement takes advantage of BT's new 21st Century Network-enabled Ethernet service. The new, next generation, carrier class service provides communications providers with scalable bandwidth to meet increased demand flexibly, with costs matching actual traffic and revenue increases. This agreement is sadi to allow O2 to avoid capital investment risk, while benefiting from the economies of scale and national reach that BT Wholesale offers.

Nigel Purdy, Head of Networks Engineering, O2 UK said: "In working in partnership with BT Wholesale, we have a solution that takes care of our growing access and bandwidth needs while enabling us to realise greater cost efficiencies. It allows O2 customers to experience a better mobile broadband experience and significantly reduces our access transmission whole life cycle costs."

Sally Davis, chief executive of BT Wholesale, said: "Communications providers want to secure revenue growth from new services without risking upfront capital and operational investments.

"Consumers are increasingly using mobile devices to access and send data such as photos, video, gaming and high speed web browsing.  These bandwidth-hungry applications put considerable strain on backhaul networks. BT is able to design, tailor and manage the access network and cater to the demands that O2's customers are increasingly putting on the network."

Bubble Motion, a specialist in 'voice SMS', has announced an agreement with Turkcell, the mobile communications provider in Turkey, to launch its voice SMS service, KonusGonder.

The partnership means that all Turkcell subscribers will be able to record and send short voice messages to their friends, families or business contacts, in a similar manner to sending text messages. BubbleTALK is said to offer a more instantaneous, personal and language-agnostic alternative to text messaging, mobile email, and traditional mobile voice calling.

Turkcell plans to use the KonusGonder service to provide an innovative and unique Value-Added Service to its subscribers. The introduction of the BubbleTALK service is claimed to have been attractive to mobile operators because of its simple, revenue-generating service which eliminates the need for any additional network infrastructure.

"Turkey is a large, rapidly-growing market, so working with Turkcell, one of the most progressive and well-respected operators in the region, is an important step in establishing our market leadership, as we have in other regions," stated Bill Crawley, Vice President, Sales at Bubble Motion.

Cenk Serdar, Chief of Value Added Services at Turkcell, commented: "Turkcell is one of the most innovative operators in the world and has always recognized the benefit in working with innovative partners. With Bubble Motion we have been able to jointly bring voice SMS to the Turkish market in a very short timeframe. Our customers love to talk and love to send messages, so voice SMS is the perfect complementary product to sit alongside our very popular text SMS service. Early indications and user testing show that voice SMS will be very popular in Turkey and will be a real hit with our customers."

Thomas Clayton, CEO & President of Bubble Motion commented: "We are excited to announce this deal with Turkcell, and begin our aggressive expansion into Europe.  This is the latest in a series of partnerships for us, helping operators differentiate their offerings with a unique, popular service and enabling consumers to communicate more efficiently and impactfully while they are mobile."