T-Mobile Czech Republic Reduces Prices of “Podnikatel” Plans
(Prices in Czech Koruna – CZK) In an attempt to focus on the needs of small businesses, T-Mobile Czech Republic is enhancing its offer on ‘Podnikatel’ credit-based Tariff plans by reducing per-minute call charges by up to 30% or CZK 1. With this reduction, T-Mobile hopes customers will have more credit for other services such [...]
MTS Russia Offers Automatic Top-Ups for Pre-Paid Subscribers
(Prices in Russian Rubles – RUB) Russian mobile operator MTS has begun to offer an automatic payment system for pre-paid mobile top-ups. The system provides subscribers with the ability to top-up their mobile phones directly by debiting their bank accounts. The new service, called ‘Auto-Payment,’ allows users to make automatic money transfers to their mobiles [...]
Mexico’s Telecom Market Expands With Further Competition
It was recently announced that the Mexican cable TV operator Megacable will start offering mobile services during the third quarter of 2010, in partnership with Telefonica Mexico. The new deal with Telefonica will likely be welcomed by Mexican regulators, who want to see increased competition in the country’s mobile and fixed-line markets, currently dominated by [...]
MetroPCS Launches Long Term Evolution (LTE) in the United States
MetroPCS has launched the country’s first commercially available LTE network, as well as the first LTE enabled mobile phone, the Samsung Craft. MetroPCS’s service will initially be available in Las Vegas and will expand to remaining MetroPCS cities throughout 2010 and 2011. US consumers will be able to experience 4G LTE services by selecting one [...]
Safaricom Kenya Unveils New Post-Paid Rates
(Prices in Kenyan Shillings KES) Post-paid subscribers of Kenyan operator Safaricom will be charged a flat rate of KES 3/minute for making calls. The introduction of this new rate, which follows Safaricom’s launch of a new tariff plan for post-paid subscribers, will apply for both ‘on-net’ and ‘off-net’ calls. Per-second billing will also apply to [...]
NTT Docomo Subscriptions to “iD Mobile Credit Payments” Service Tops 15M in Japan
(Prices in Japanese Yen) Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo announced that subscriptions to “iD”, its branded platform for using postpaid electronic money with DoCoMo handsets and compatible credit cards, has topped 15M users in Japan as of the end of August. NTT’s “iD” service was launched in December, 2005 and has steadily grown in subscribers. The [...]
Wal-Mart & T-Mobile launch Family Mobile MVNO
(Prices in USD $) The US retail giant Wal-Mart has announced that it plans to launch a branded MVNO with support from T-Mobile USA, which will be branded under the Wal-Mart Family Mobile brand. The MVNO service is set to go-live on the 19th of September and will consist of a $45 family plan with [...]
Tuenti Will Become an MVNO in Spain from October
Spanish giant Telefonica is expected to launch its own MVNO service in October, under the brand name “TuentiMovil”. Tuenti, the Spanish social networking company (usually known as “The Spanish Facebook”), was acquired by Telefonica for €70M in early August. Telefonica’s goal is to expand their reach into Internet-based communication technologies. Already registered with the telecoms [...]
Bharti Airtel to Outsource IT Operations in Africa to IBM
Telecom Operator Bharti Airtel has selected global technology giant IBM to manage computing technology and services that power Bharti’s mobile communications networks in Africa. The operator has presence in 16 countries where they serve around 72 million users. The outsourcing deal, with a duration of 10 years, is aimed at improving the efficiency of Bharti’s [...]