Motorola, whose mobility business was fully acquired by Google two days ago, said its mobility business will run as a separate company in India.
“Motorola has a long-standing presence in India and the Asia-Pacific region, and that will continue. Mobility is owned by Google but will keep its operations separate,” a spokesperson from Motorola told Business Line.
There are no immediate changes in the regions and operations would continue as before, the spokesperson said.
However, Motorola Mobility's financial performance will be broken out as part of Google's quarterly results, the spokesperson said, adding that Motorola will remain a licensee of Android.
However, when asked about the number of employees in India, where Motorola has an office in Gurgaon, the spokesperson said, “We don't disclose our employee numbers in specific offices.”
Similar to its global operations, Motorola here provides mobility solutions and sells mobile handsets at different range.
For example, from low-end model like Motorola Moto Yuva at around Rs 1,100 to Motorola Xoom at around Rs 33,000.
However, the company has a tough competition from Samsung and Nokia to even local companies such as Micromax and Lava. The only model that the company had done well was through Motorola Razr V3.
When asked about the expected changes, a Google India spokesperson said as of now, they had no information apart from the global announcements made on May 22.
France Telecom Upped to Neutral - Analyst Blog - NASDAQ
We are upgrading our long-term recommendation on France Telecom S.A. ( FTE ) from Underperform to Neutral thanks to the Conquests 2015 plan, which aims to reinvigorate growth and restore profitability in the business.
France Telecom is progressing well with its Conquests 2015 plan. The company, in the midst of the first or adoption phase (2011-2013) of its five-year plan, is working on various initiatives to enhance growth in the domestic and international markets.
To drive growth in the domestic segment, France Telecom is making efforts to improve its networks and services like IPVPN access, managed services, network resources and Wi-Fi roaming. The company is also shedding underperforming European assets dueto the weak economic conditions in that region and unfavorable regulatory measures that continues to hamper its top line.
France Telecom is strengthening its footprint in the emerging markets including Eastern Europe, Africa and Middle East to boost profitability over the next few years. The company is focusing on network enhancements, cloud computing business, strategic partnerships and network-related IT services to accelerate growth in these markets.
Further, revenue is poised to recover this year owing to recovery in Côte d'Ivoire and Egypt. Better economic conditions in some international markets led to the stable revenue growth in the first quarter. The company is slowly improving from the last year's challenges as it is benefiting from the diversified portfolio and the national roaming contract signed with Iliad SA, the fourth largest mobile operator in France.
Despite the economic uncertainty and competitive pressures, France Telecom will continue to strengthen its balance sheet. The company will maintainthe net debt-to-EBITDA ratio target of 2 times over the medium term and an operating cash flow of €8 billion for this year. In addition, it will provide healthy dividends to its shareholders as it would distribute 40-45% of operating cash flow in the form of dividends in fiscal 2012 and 2013.
Nevertheless, higher VAT rates, persistently weak domestic economic conditions, labor concerns, lower mobile termination rates, unfavorable regulatory measures across its key European markets and intensifying competition from Bouygues, Telecom Italia spA ( TI ) and Vodafone Group Plc ( VOD ) might restrict the upside potential of the stock. Further, increased investments related to expansion and network improvements might accelerate the company's cost of operation, resulting in lower profits going forward.
Considering all the pros and cons, we prefer to have a neutral outlook rather than negative. France Telecom also holds a Zacks #3 (Hold) Rank for the short term (1-3 months).
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Microsoft wins patent fight with Google's Motorola unit - BBC News
A German court has ruled that Motorola Mobility infringed a Microsoft patent which allows long text messages to be divided into parts and then reassembled by receiving handsets.
It marks the first patent ruling against Google since it completed its takeover of Motorola.
Microsoft can now demand a German sales ban of Motorola products, although it signalled it would prefer a licence fee.
Google said it may appeal.
Google's chief executive had previously said that his firm bought Motorola and its patents "to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies".
Patent warsMicrosoft and Motorola have repeatedly clashed this month over a series of patent disputes.
Motorola won the right to order the recall and destruction of Xbox 360 games consoles and Windows 7 system software in Germany at the start of May.
A judge at the International Trade Commission (ITC) subsequently recommended there should also be a Xbox import and sales ban in the US.
However, another Seattle judge has ordered Motorola to hold off from enforcing any such bans until it ruled on a related complaint.
Microsoft won a separate patent victory against Motorola earlier this month when the ITC ruled that the handset maker's Android-based devices infringed an appointment scheduling patent owned by the Microsoft.
The Windows software maker has already forced other firms including Samsung, HTC and others to pay it for the use of its innovations within Google's system software.
Split textsThe latest ruling centres on a European patent named "communicating multi-part messages between cellular devices using a standardised interface".
It is designed to tackle the problem that SMS messages were designed to offer a maximum of 160 characters.
It describes a way of "fragmenting" a longer text into smaller parts and then "reassembling" it within an application on the receiver's handset.
Florian Mueller, a patent consultant who advises Microsoft, was at the ruling made at a court in Munich.
He blogged that Google could find it difficult to work around the problem if it refuses to pay a licence fee.
"Since this patent covers operating system-level functionality, the modifications 'Googlerola' would have to make to Android... would lead to significant complications," he wrote.
"Android apps that make use of Android's messaging layer would have to be rewritten, and some functionality that Android used to provide to app developers would have to be implemented by the affected applications themselves."
A statement from Google said: "We expect a written decision from the court on 1 June and upon review, will explore all options including appeal."
Motorola DEFY XT535 Arrives in Hong Kong - Softpedia
Just like most smartphones in the DEFY series, the XT535 is IP67 certified, which makes it dust and water proof (up to 1m for 30 mins). The phone’s design has been changed and now looks more like the DEFY MINI rather than the old DEFY+.
Built to last, Motorola DEFY XT535 sports a 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen display (480 x 854 pixels), which features Corning Gorilla Glass coating. The smartphone is less than 12mm thin, which makes it more than 1mm thinner than the previous Motorola DEFY+ model.
Customers living in Hong Kong can now grab the original black with stylish black dust trim version, but additional color-themes might be added in the future.
The DEFY XT535 is powered by Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system integrated with MotoSwitch user interface. The latter enables the smartphone to learn who the users talk to and which apps they use most and keeps all of that information front and center.
On the back, the device packs a 5-megapixel photo snapper with autofocus and LED flash, while in the front there’s a secondary VGA camera for video calls.
Motorola DEFY XT535 is equipped with a 1 GHz single-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 1GB of ROM and microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB).
Another strong point of the phone is the long-lasting 1650 mAh Li-Ion battery, which is rated by the manufacturer for up 12 days of standby time or up to 9 hours of talk time.
“Motorola DEFY XT 535 takes life-proof to the next level with a sharper camera, bigger screen and faster processing power.Now you can stay connected all day long, through every adventure, and share your fun with everyone who matters most to you,” said Ritchie Ma, general manager of Motorola Mobility Taiwan Limited, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Bouygues Telecom Selects Acme Packet for IMS Network - Yahoo Finance
BEDFORD, MA--(Marketwire -05/23/12)- Acme Packet® (APKT), the leader in session delivery networks, today announced that Bouygues Telecom, a leading fixed and mobile service provider in France, is deploying Acme Packet Net-Net® Session Director session border controllers (SBCs) in its IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network, supplied and integrated by Alcatel-Lucent. Acme Packet's SBCs fulfill numerous IMS functions at both the access and interconnect borders, ensuring security, interoperability, and quality in the network.
Bouygues Telecom is deploying IMS to support multiple services, including migration of existing residential voice to voice over IP (VoIP), interconnecting with other service providers and launching new services, such as visual voice mail.
The Net-Net Session Director fulfills critical IMS functional requirements at the access and interconnect borders of Bouygues Telecom's network. In the access network, SBCs provide the critical Proxy-Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF) and IMS-Access Gateway Function (AGW) for securing, interoperating, and controlling all SIP-based services to subscribers. The Net-Net Session Director provides Interconnect Border Control Function (I-BCF) and the Transition Gateway (TrGW) for controlling fixed and mobile SIP traffic at interconnect borders, encompassing both internal interconnection between Bouygues' fixed and mobile networks as well as between the IMS network and other service providers.
Bouygues Telecom is using Acme Packet's interoperability feature set that includes SIP normalization and SIP to SIP-I interworking that helps accelerate time-to-market and reduce operational costs as the network expands. Net-SAFE®, Acme Packet's security framework, provides denial of service (DoS) attack prevention, topology hiding, and access control to protect Bouygues Telecom's IMS network and ensure service availability. Other key features include accounting for billing and traffic planning, as well as admission control, routing, and quality of service marking for service level agreement assurance.
"Acme Packet's SBC is a key part of our IMS network, built to enable innovative services and deliver enhanced customer experience to our fixed and mobile customers," commented Jean-Paul Arzel, Bouygues Telecom networks director. "We chose the Acme Packet solution due to their culture of innovation, the rich functionality and scalability of its session border controllers, and the company's impressive track record in enabling trusted, high-quality VoIP, and IP interactive communication services."
"Acme Packet brings extensive experience in helping our customers build next generation communications networks," commented Mario Oliveira, Acme Packet's vice president of Europe, Middle East, and Africa, and Caribbean and Latin America sales. "Our IMS solution portfolio delivers the security, interoperability, and quality functionalities that Bouygues Telecom and leading service providers demand to be successful in their migration to end-to-end IP communications."
About Acme Packet
Acme Packet (APKT), the leader in session delivery network solutions, enables the trusted, first-class delivery of next-generation voice, data and unified communications services and applications across IP networks. Our Net-Net product family fulfills demanding security, service assurance and regulatory requirements in service provider, enterprise and contact center networks. Based in Bedford, Massachusetts, Acme Packet designs and manufactures its products in the USA, selling them through over 220 reseller partners worldwide. More than 1,600 customers in 107 countries have deployed over 16,000 Acme Packet systems, including 88 of the top 100 service providers and 41 of the Fortune 100. For more information visit www.acmepacket.com.
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About Bouygues Telecom
Created in 1994, Bouygues Telecom has 11,304,000 mobile customers and 1,241,000 fixed broadband customers, and over 1,500,000 client companies. Bouygues Telecom is committed to continually enhancing the customer experience for its mobile and fixed telephone, TV and Internet services. Each day, the company's 9,800 employees develop solutions aligned with changing customer needs and deliver efficient support.
After pioneering the mobile talk-plan concept in France in 1996, Bouygues Telecom introduced groundbreaking unlimited call plans: Millennium (1999) and neo (2006).
In 2007, Bouygues Telecom introduced the first fixed-mobile solutions aimed at professionals.
Bouygues Telecom acquired its own fixed network in 2008 and became an Internet Service Provider (ISP), launching the Bbox broadband router.
In 2009, Bouygues Telecom invented the "all-in-one" solution with ideo the first quadruple play offer in the market.
In 2010, Bouygues Telecom launched Bbox fibre, its very-high-speed offer, and began investing in fibre-to-the-home in high-density areas.
In July 2011, Bouygues Telecom introduced mobile telephony "2.0" with B&YOU, the first web-based, SIM-only call plan.
Bouygues Telecom's mobile network covers 99% of the population. Its 3G+ network provides mobile Internet access for 94% of the population.
Bouygues Telecom is the only operator to be awarded "NF Service Centre de Relation Client" certification from French standards agency AFNOR Certification for all its consumer activities (mobile and fixed). Customer relations centres, a distribution network of 630 Bouygues Telecom Club stores, and a website available 24/7 combine to ensure optimum customer service.
Acme Packet Safe Harbor Statement
Statements contained herein that are not historical fact may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements may relate to, among other things, expected financial and operating results, expected growth rates, future stock-based compensation and amortization expenses, future business prospects and market conditions. Such forward-looking statements do not constitute guarantees of future performance and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These include, but are not limited to: the amount of stock-based compensation awarded; the applicable Company stock price used to determine stock-based compensation; the exercise pattern of employee stock options; difficulties expanding the Company's customer base; difficulties leveraging market opportunities; difficulties providing solutions that meet the needs of customers; poor product sales; long sales cycles; difficulties developing new products; difficulties in relationships with vendors and partners; higher risks in international operations; difficulties managing rapid growth; difficulties managing the Company's financial performance; the ability to hire and retain employees and appropriately staff operations; the Company's cash needs; the impact of new accounting pronouncements and increased competition. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or suggested in any forward-looking statements are contained in the Company's recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in such filings.
Telecom panel seeks sale of all 2G airwaves available - Times of India
Telecom Secretary R Chandrasekhar said this was one of the two options finalised by the commission , the highest decisionmaking body of the communications ministry, at its meeting on Thursday. "Under this scenario, there will be about 20 MHz of spectrum for sale in each region," Chandrasekhar said. The telecom secretary said the other proposal was to invite bids for at least 10 MHz of 2G airwaves for sale.
"This will ensure that a maximum of two players, which lost mobile permits following the Supreme Court order, win back licences. In case there is excess demand, there will be a top-up option where another 3.75 MHz is made available, taking the total quantum of airwaves to 13.75 MHz in every region," he said.
A final decision will be taken by the panel of ministers, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee , that has been tasked with finalising the modalities of the spectrum sale. But the commission did not discuss the reserve price for the airwaves and this will be taken up at its meeting on Saturday.
Spectrum to be sold in blocks
Mobile phone companies had cried foul over the suggestion by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India ( Trai) to limit the auction process to 5 MHz this year. They had demanded that all available airwaves be put up for sale.
The Supreme Court has ordered the government to complete the auction by August 31. The telecom secretary said in both scenarios spectrum would be sold in blocks of 1.25 MHz each. "An incumbent can bid for a maximum of two blocks, or 2.5 MHz, of airwaves while a new entrant or a company that lost it permits due to the Supreme Court order can bid for four blocks, or 5 MHz," he said.
The Telecom Commission approved Trai's suggestion that spectrum held by incumbent GSM operators in the 900 MHz band be refarmed, or redistributed, among all operators through auctions, when mobile permits of these companies come up for renewal beginning 2014. "Irrespective of whether we sell 10 MHz or 20 MHz in the auctions this year, some 2G airwaves will be kept in reserve for refarming. The details will be worked out and presented to the group of ministers after the telecom department completes a study analysing all possible options," Chandrasekhar added.
The telecom secretary also said the commission had endorsed the regulator's proposal to make spectrum technology-neutral. This means all airwaves obtained through auctions can be used for providing any type of service. For instance, the 1800 MHz band that is currently used for providing 2G voice services can be used for 3G and 4G data services.
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