Optus appoints Huawei

OPTUS has appointed Huawei and Nokia Siemens as its vendors of choice in its accelerated roll out of its nationwide 3G/ HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) network.

The company said it would use a combination of 900MHz and 2100MHz frequency ranges, and when complete the network will cover 96 per cent of the population – replicating the Optus 2G network. The 900MHz range will be used primarily in rural and regional Australia.

Optus chief executive Paul O’Sullivan said the company had completed its network upgrade in all capital cities to 3G/HSPA. The first phase of the extended upgrade is also complete, with areas in Newcastle and Wollongong already in service.

“Through our national deployment, more Australians will have access to a competitive, high quality, high speed network and will be able to choose from our array of product plans and flexible pricing,” Mr O'Sullivan said.

“Our 3G/HSPA network currently reaches 60 percent of the population, will reach around 80 percent of the population by June 2008 and is set for completion by December 2008 - 18 months ahead of schedule,” he said.


Mr O'Sullivan said Optus had adopted a multi-vendor strategy for mobile network deployments to drive better competitive and technical outcomes.

“As a result, we have awarded Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks to deliver the radio network infrastructure required for this extensive roll out,” he said.

Optus customers using the 3G/HSPA network will have access to improved speeds, of up to 3.6Mbps, on Optus Wireless Broadband modems and enabled mobile phones. They will see significant improvement in time to download and upload videos, music, maps and user generated content on their laptops and phones.

“The 900MHz range for 3G/HSPA is perfectly suited to the Australian landscape. Using this frequency, radio signals have a greater range – giving better quality and wider coverage across sparsely populated rural and remote areas,” Mr O'Sullivan said.

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Navteq owners approve Nokia deal

SHAREHOLDERS of digital mapping data specialist Navteq have overwhelmingly approved the company’s acquisition by phone company Nokia.

The completion of the US$8.1 billion (A$9.2 billion) deal is still subject to certain regulatory approvals, although the acquisition has already passed inspection by US anti-trust regulators.

More than 99 per cent of the total votes cast at the special meeting of shareholder this week, were voted in favour of the adoption of the merger agreement.

Navteq makes digital mapping software for consumer and corporate applications. It software and devices are found in personal cars as well as fleet vehicles and trucks.

While the company’s heritage is in navigation systems, it is has become a leader in location-based solutions, which made it attractive to mobile phone maker Nokia.

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Google offers US$10m Android prize

SEARCH giant Google has offered a US$10 million prize for the developers who build mobile applications for its new Android mobile phone operating system.

The company said the Android Developer Challenge was designed to support the developer community and to spark innovation on the platform. Cash prizes ranging from US$25,000 to $275,000 will be awarded to developers whose applications are picked by a panel of judges.

“We've built some interesting applications for Android but the best applications are not here yet and that's because they're going to be written by developers,” said Google co-founder and technology president Sergey Brin.

“We'd like to reward these developers and recognise them as much as possible.”

Google director of mobile platforms Andy Rubin said the company was challenging developers “to stretch their imaginations and skills” to leverage the full capabilities of this new platform and to create something amazing.

Google announced Android a week ago through the Open Handset Alliance, a group of more than 30 technology and mobile companies backing the Android open source platform.

The OHA includes Google, China Mobile, LG Electronics, Intel, eBay, Motorola, NTT DoCoMo, and Qualcom.

Last week, the Alliance released an early look at the Android SDK through a developer’s blog.

The US$10 million total in the Android Developer Challenge will be distributed equally between the Android Developer Challenge I and II. Submissions for Challenge I will be accepted from the beginning of January to March 3, 2008, and the 50 most promising entries will be recognised by end of March, with each receiving US$25,000 awards to fund further development.

These 50 entries will be eligible for more funding with a further ten awards worth $275,000 each, and another ten worth $100,000 each.

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The political mud flies over CDMA

THE possible closure early next year of the Telstra CDMA mobile phone network has become a lightening rod for political controversy in the heated election-eve environment.

Communications Minister Helen Coonan has accused Labor of abandoning rural and regional phone customers – who rely heavily on the CDMA network – because she says Labor does not support imposing a licensing condition on Telstra to keep the network open.

Telstra has said it wants to shut down the CDMA network early next year, with customers beings transferred to its new Next G phone network.

The sticking point is that government wants to hold Telstra to its promise that the CDMA would not be turned off until Next G provided “equivalent or better” coverage for Australia’s rural and regional users.

“Not only will Labor abolish the $2 billion regional Communications Fund to finance a commercial network in metropolitan areas, but now Labor will be prepared to sit back and potentially leave hundreds of thousands of thousands of regional mobile phone users stranded if Telstra’s Next G network does not provide adequate replication of CDMA coverage and services,” Senator Coonan said.

“Until now Labor has been silent on this important national network transition, but yesterday and today Labor’s communications spokesman Stephen Conroy declared that a licence condition will ‘impose costs on Telstra which provided no meaningful consumer benefit’ and that the initiative ‘actually doesn’t help consumers’,” she said.

Labor communications spokesman Stephen Conroy said Senator Coonan was misleading the public as part of a “desperate tactic” in the run up to the election.

“Labor has consistently stated Telstra would not be allowed to switch off its CDMA network unless it met its promise to the Australian public over coverage and service,” Senator Conroy said in a statement.

“Labor has continually argued for better regulation in the telecommunications sector given Telstra’s market power. However over the past 10 years the number of substantive pages of regulation has increased from 1,602 to 10,013,” he said.

“Examples of wasteful regulation that Labor opposed in parliament was the Government’s operational separation regime, which has increased costs to Telstra with no benefits to consumers.”

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YouTube to develop phone with LG Electronics

SOUTH KOREAN phone maker LG Electronics has signed a deal with Google unit YouTube to design a mobile that lets users view and upload video to the service.

LG Electronics said in a statement it the new mobile phone model would let its users upload, view and share video-clips more freely, and without having to use a computer.

Users will be able to upload video shot on the camera phone directly, without having to use a computer or separate broadband service.

“LG Electronics will unveil the mobile handset that fully supports the YouTube service for the first time in Europe in the second half of this year,” LG Electonics said in a statement.

LG Electronics signed a global strategic alliance with YouTube parent Google in March. The latest announcement is an extension of work being done under that arrangement.

YouTube is by far the world’s most popular video-sharing site, attracting more than 100 million users every day.

Google acquired YouTube in November 2006 for US$1.65 billion.

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India set for ‘phone and fun’ growth

AS global giant Vodafone completed its stunning US$11.1 billion acquisition of India’s fourth largest mobile company, talk at 3GSM – the largest mobile conference in the world – turned to the subcontinent.

Vodafone’s purchase of a 67 per cent controlling stake in Hutchison Essar focused the Barcelona conference on the growth markets of emerging economies like India and China.

A recurring theme at 3GSM had been discussion about “the next billion” – that is, the next billion handsets that will be sold around the world. And it will be India and China that drive that growth.

For Vodafone, the Hutchison Essar deal gives the company headroom to grown, and reduces its reliance on the saturated mobile markets of Europe.

India’s 1.1 billion population currently boasts a mobile telephone penetration rate of just 13 per cent. But it is growing by more than six million subscribers every month, making it the fastest growing market in the world and the focus of the industry.

China’s mobile market is relatively mature with a mobile penetration of 40 per cent, while Europe’s is a replacement market only with 100 per cent penetration.

Hutchison Essar already has a customer base in India of 23 million. But Vodafone chief executive Arun Sarin expects that to grow to 100 million in three years.

That growth would give Vodafone 25 per cent of the total market, as the Indian government forecasts that there will be 500 million mobile phones in the country by 2010.

“The next billion” handsets would be offer very different services and would be sold much faster, the 3GSM conference was told.

Convergence continues to be a critical industry theme, with most expecting much close tie-ups between telecommunications companies and entertainment companies – the so-called phone and fun leaders.

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