Google's NFC service, Google Wallet, has launched in the US and is expected in the UK in the next few months.
James Richards, director of mobile at Intelligent Environments, a banking software provider, said businesses were rushing to enter the mobile payments market. "Consumer appetite to use the ever-ubiquitous mobile device to make payments and manage money is alive and kicking," he said.
Intelligent Environments said around half of smartphone owners would make NFC payments if the service was available. "Businesses need to provide compelling and intuitive mobile applications that bring convenience and simplicity to consumers' lives," Richards said.
NI star opens new 3G pitch in Castlecaulfield - tyronetimes.co.uk
THE opening of the new Castlecaulfield 3G pitch was the hottest event in the district last week with huge crowds of footballers and supporters descending on the normally quiet village.
The facility was officially opened by local Northern Ireland international Niall McGinn and the Mayor of Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council, Cllr Kenneth Reid, during a glorious evening of sunshine and high temperatures.
The event was attended by MLAs, Councillors, local Church leaders and huge numbers of the community that reflected the support for this project and event.
After the cutting of the ribbon, committee member Glenn Ferry welcomed everyone to the evening and asked the Mayor and Jayne Moore from Sport Northern Ireland to say a few words on the project, its impact and benefit for everyone in the local area.
Mayor Kenneth Reid said: “As a Council Dungannon and South Tyrone are delighted to have been associated with this project since its inception both in leasing lands for the 3G pitch and in awarding a grant of £15,000.
“The official opening was a showcase of Aughintober Regeneration Partnership’s dedication and hard work and was a fabulous evening for one and all. I congratulate everyone involved - this 3G pitch provides a state of the art sporting facility at Castlecaulfield and an excellent template for future development.”
Jayne Moore of Sport Northern Ireland added: “Our investment of £235,667 for this 3G synthetic pitch falls well within the Strategy for Sport. Sport Northern Ireland hopes this facility will plant the seeds for grass-roots development of sport, and encourage the local community to take part in sport, as well as nurturing a wealth of rising talent.
“It has been a pleasure to work with the Aughintober Regeneration Committee, in particular, I’d like to thank Ian Cuddy, Glenn Ferry, Dennis Kelly and Walter Cuddy. It has been a fruitful and enjoyable partnership and we have all delivered a high quality, and much needed facility for Castlecaulfield and surrounding district. The real hard work starts now in filling this excellent facility day and night and I would encourage everyone to give Aughintober Regeneration their support and custom.”
After the official opening, it was time to get the Charity tournament and entertainment underway.
With the tempting smell of burgers filling the air and families enjoying the face painting, chocolate, ice cream and a full range of children activities, the scene was set for a night of high drama.
With over 50 teams, 82 matches, spread over seven pitches, it was a busy evening for the organisers but after two and half hours of some excellent football, the ‘Goal Getters’ finished up as champions, defeating ‘Goat Storm’ in a tense, sudden death penalty shoot out.
Local club side ‘Dungannon Tigers’ triumphed in the plate competition by defeating the ‘Toon Army’ in the final and ‘Fake Madrid’ tasted victory in the junior competition after a busy playing schedule on Pitch 1.
Aughintober Regeneration Chairman, Ian Cuddy, concluded: “The support we have received for our opening and charity tournament has been very humbling for us in Aughintober Regeneration with a long list of people and businesses giving freely of their time and resources. To see over 500 people enjoying a night of football and friendship in the village is what this project is all about and to raise some funds for the Alzheimer’s Society and the local hospice is an added bonus.”
He continued: “I would like to thank Sport NI, our local Council, the committee and members of Aughintober Regeneration, players, referees, supporters and all those who came along on the night to make the event a real success.”
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Only court can alter 3G deals with CAT, says True - Nation - Thailand
True Corp said yesterday that only the court could order a change to its 3G partnership contracts with CAT Telecom.
But True welcomes bilateral talks with CAT to seek a way out of the problems related to the deals.
True has asserted that the contracts are legal.
Adhiruth Thothaveesansuk, managing director for mobile business of True Corp, said the CAT-True contracts were partnership agreements. If anyone wants to change them, it can only be done by way of a court decision.
"We've operated the service under the partnership with CAT. By principle, the contractual parties have to collaborate to provide the service. If one of the contractual parties has done anything that obstructs the service provisioning, this might be regarded as breaching the contract, which could hurt both parties. Now we're continuing the business as usual and more customers are still signing up with us," Adhiruth said.
The service is operated by Real Move under the TrueMove H brand.
CAT and True are in talks to seek a resolution to these problems, so both sides have to wait for the result, which is expected soon, he said.
According to CAT, one of its proposals is to buy back the third-generation cellular networks from BFKT.
Last week the Information and Communications Technology Minis-try asked CAT to suspend any activities related to the 3G service under the True Corp partnership, pending the completion of the probe of the deals by authorities. CAT and True's subsidiaries Real Move and Real Future signed the deals in January last year.
Real Move has yet to receive any order from CAT to suspend the service, Adhiruth said.
Real Move has 1.7 million customers. It aims to have 13,500 3G base stations set up this year. It has installed 5,500 already, which should increase to 7,000 next month.
He said TrueMove had also informed CAT that it would discontinue the 3G service trial and would have its 3G customers roam with Real Move afterwards. Both Real Move and TrueMove are True's cellular flagships.
Under the deals signed early last year, CAT, Real Future and Real Move were to collaborate to provide the 3G service on the 850-megahertz spectrum. CAT has procured 3G-HSPA (high-speed packet access) equipment from Real Future's BFKT (Thailand) to generate 3G bandwidth capacity for wholesale and resale. CAT has agreed to use its 850MHz spectrum only with BFKT HSPA equipment. CAT has also wholesaled 3G bandwidth to Real Move.
The deals have attracted scrutiny by authorities over their legality.
The Senate anti-corruption committee was the first to conclude this February that parts of the deals might violate the law. It found that CAT's agreement to allow BFKT (Thailand) to procure telecom towers and signal systems on its behalf to generate 3G bandwidth, and CAT's apparent granting of authority to BFKT to manage the 850MHz spectrum on its behalf, might contravene Article 46 (2) of the frequency law.
The committee also took the view that BFKT, which is part of the True Group, breached Article 45 of the Frequency Allocation Law as it does not have a business licence to provide this network rental service. The committee had sent its report to the National Anti-Corruption Commis-sion (NACC).
In March, the ICT Ministry's committee tasked with probing the deals' legality came up with five irregularities in the ways the deals were made. It also sent its findings to the NACC for further investigation. The NACC committee that also separately probed the case on its own concluded this month that some state officials involved in the deals had been negligent.
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True ploughs ahead with 3G expansion - Bangkok Post
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True Mobile Group, the third-generation mobile unit of True Corp, insisted yesterday it will move ahead with its 3G network expansion as planned despite legal threats and uncertainty.
True is open to any solution, including CAT buying the deal back, says Mr Adhiruth.
The country's third-largest mobile operator said it is ready to compromise on possible future amendments to the 3G network contracts with its concession owner CAT Telecom. But changes in the terms and conditions of the contracts must not invalidate the contracts.
"If CAT asks us to change conditions in the event of a default on the contracts, a negotiation will be set up to seek a compromise," said Adhiruth Thothaveesansuk, managing director of True Mobile Group.
"But if we fail to reach a compromise after deliberations, True will have no choice but to seek a final resolution from the courts before making any changes.
"We have to comply with all the requirements in the contracts. We are open to any solution, even if CAT wants to buy back the deal from True."
Under the agreement, True is committed to build 13,500 3G base stations by the end of this year with a planned investment of 40 billion baht.
True, through its 3G operating unit Real Move, expects to install more than 7,000 base stations by June.
Real Move has 1.7 million 3G subscribers under the True Move H brand. Some 60% are new customers while 40% moved from True's 2G mobile service. The company has 50,000 customers using Hutch's CDMA network service.
Mr Adhiruth admitted the company's 3G network expansion plan might not go as planned in the second half if CAT refuses to ask for permission to import 3G equipment from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).
"If we cannot get an import permit in time, True will fail to achieve its target of 4 million subscribers this year," he said.
Real Move's attempt to quickly expand its subscriber base hit another snag after the NBTC declined to award the remaining 1.75 million mobile-phone numbers out of the 3.5 million allotted to CAT, which will pass on most of the numbers to Real Move. The regulator's rejection followed CAT's refusal to pay the overdue total mobile number fee of 6 million baht to NBTC for the first lot of 1.75 million due in April.
CAT said it wanted to hold back on the payment pending the probe into the legality of the True-CAT deal.
Real Move signs up between 200,000 and 300,000 new subscribers per month.
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