Mobiles.co.uk has slashed the cost of the Nokia Lumia 710 to £99.90 with a compulsory top up of £10 on T-Mobile, Vodafone or Orange. The phone is branded but most importantly unlocked.
Still, this not only makes selling the Nokia Lumia 610 a near impossible (and utterly futile task), it also marks the first time when the Microsoft managed to bring down the cost of a decent Windows Phone Mango smartphone to under £100.
The Lumia 610 is not only more expensive but also have a worse hardware compared to the Lumia 710. Half the memory (and the inability to run Skype) combined with a much slower processor (1.4GHz vs 800MHz) plus Nokia is offering six month free of Zune Music pass to Lumia 710 owners, a freebie that's worth nearly £54 which gives you access to download, stream and listen to unlimited tracks, anywhere
Plus, it mounts a formidable challenge to the title of best value for money handset on the market against the likes of the Sony Xperia U, the Orange San Diego or the Huawei Ascend G300.
Source : Mobiles.co.uk
Telecom needs a trickle-down effect - deccanchronicle.com
The new telecom policy approved by the Cabinet will be quite a boon for the people if and when it is implemented. The Department of Telecommunication has still to work out the guidelines to put into effect this policy, which envisages one nation full number portability and one nation free roaming. There is a lot of scepticism about the actual implementation of free roaming and free number portability and it is likely that the operators will raise the base price as they are unlikely to provide anything free.
One of the objectives of the new policy is to improve tele-density so it is perplexing as to why DoT is not in favour of district-level licensing. The telecom regulatory authority had in its recommendations devoted 30 pages to why this was necessary and how it would lead to a manifold increase in tele-density.
The population at the rural level has its own specific requirements. Young rural village entrepreneurs can provide telecom services as per the needs of groups of villages at the district level, and this way telecom density can be multiplied in a short time, even before 2017 when DoT expects 70 per cent tele-density. It is, therefore, inexplicable why DoT says it will think about this later. What is wrong with now, when such a move could change rural areas and democratise the telecom industry further?
The big players are against district licensing as it would eat into their space. Perhaps DoT needs to rethink fast as the larger good should prevail over sectoral interests, and this would be in sync with the government’s inclusive mantra. Apart from this, the new telecom policy is very welcome as it brings transparency and takes away decision-making powers from the telecom minister of the day and vests it with a ministerial panel.
The other laudable provision is to make India a manufacturing hub for telecom equipment. This is a challenge as manufacturers will have to compete with China. The commerce minister is said to have expressed some apprehensions as the government would have to give local manufacturers priority and sops. The minister reportedly feels this would violate the WTO and GATT agreements. This should not be difficult to handle. The US put heavy duties on Chinese solar and wind farm equipment, which were flooding its markets. There is need to shake off diffidence and push the envelope so that the new telecom policy becomes a success.
Nokia and Microsoft hit out at Google’s latest patent claim - scotsman.com
THE bitter battle for supremacy over the mobile internet rumbled on yesterday, with Google accused of being “desperate” and just plain wrong in alleging that two of its rivals are colluding to make money from their patents.
Responding to a complaint filed by Google with the European Commission, Finnish handset maker Nokia said it had a completely separate patent strategy to that of Microsoft, its smartphone partner since early 2011. Their phones, using Windows on Nokia’s Lumia hardware, compete with Android devices running on Google software.
A Nokia spokesman said: “Though we have not yet seen the complaint, Google’s suggestion that Nokia and Microsoft are colluding on intellectual property rights is wrong.
“Both companies have their own intellectual property rights portfolios and strategies and operate independently.”
Microsoft was similarly scathing in an earlier statement, accusing Google of hi-tech hypocrisy.
A spokesman for Microsoft said: “Google is complaining about patents when it won’t respond to growing concerns by regulators, elected officials and judges about its abuse of standard-essential patents, and it is complaining about anti-trust in the smartphone industry when it controls more than 95 per cent of mobile search and advertising.
“This seems like a desperate tactic on its part.”
Google’s European complaint is the latest in a seemingly endless stream of patent lawsuits being filed worldwide as the major players seek to forge a stronghold in rapidly-expanding world of the wireless internet.
Google says Microsoft and Nokia have transferred 1,200 patents to Mosaid, a so-called “patent troll” that makes money by taking legal action over infringements on patents.
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Print this pagePhone mast bid is rejected again - thurrockgazette.co.uk
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A PHONE company’s bid to erect a mast near houses in Chafford Hundred has been refused. O2 wanted to install at 12.5m mast and cabinet in Flemming Road. The application is the fifth made by O2 in the town which has been rejected by the council.Porn film maker to send O2 filesharers warning letters - PC Advisor
Ben Dover Productions, which makes porn films, will soon be sending warning letters to O2 customers who have been suspected of illegally sharing its films on the network.
O2 was forced to pass on the customer details of 9,124 IP addresses, which had carried out illegal downloads, to the production company after it won a court order in March.
The High Court has approved the content of the letter that will be sent out, according to the BBC.
Ben Dover has said it will target users who had uploaded films to others, but not people who had just downloaded one film.
"In our first letter we seek to find out more information regarding evidence of an infringement of our copyright," Julian Becker, Ben Dover's commercial director, told the BBC.
"Depending on the response to our letters we will then decide our next action."
If recipients of the letter do not reply within 28 days, they could be found liable for the copyright infringement.
The letter is expected to advise them on what steps to take to negotiate a settlement amount, which the court has ruled should be individually agreed with each defendant.
According to the BBC, the High Court made sure that the wording of the letter was reasonable before approving it, for example, telling the company that it could not specify compensation of £700 and that it could not tell users that their internet connection would be slowed down or terminated if they did not comply.
O2 said in a statement: "We are pleased that the court has taken a robust approach and controlled the tone and content of the letter Golden Eye [the registered name of Ben Dover Productions] proposes to send to our customers.
"We are also pleased that the judge acknowledged the unique position we are in, and agreed that we have approached this issue in a reasonable way."
Telecom wars heat up in far North - Globe and Mail
Iristel Inc., one of this country’s largest voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) service providers, is gearing up for some northern exposure.
The Toronto-based telecom is set to announce Monday a strategic partnership with Ice Wireless that promises to break NorthwesTel Inc.’s grip on the home phone market in Canada’s North, while also dialling up competition in the wireless space.
Starting this summer, privately held Iristel, which operates a VoIP network in all 10 provinces, will leverage its large ownership stake in Ice to offer a new telecom service bundle to communities in the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut. The rollout of home phone and additional wireless services is scheduled to begin in Yellowknife on July 1.
“We are proud to finally be able to give Northern Canadian residents a choice when it comes to their local phone company while at the same time launch an aggressive expansion of our cellular network across the North,” said Samer Bishay, who is president of both Iristel and Ice.
Iristel already has roughly 4 million residential and business telephone numbers on its VoIP network. Its northern expansion drive comes just months after the federal telecom regulator announced it was opening up the North to local telephone competition for the first time. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission issued a decision in December that laid the groundwork for other companies to enter the market.
There are more than 107,200 people living in Canada’s three territories, according to the last census. And NorthwesTel, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BCE Inc., is the only option for the majority of residential and business customers. Iristel’s announcement suggests it is poised to be the first new entrant to offer competitive services. SSi Micro, a Yellowknife-based broadband service provider, is also preparing to offer local telephone services but has not announced a launch date.
Despite their relatively small populations and challenging terrain, the territories are brimming with opportunity for telcos due a surge of investment from mining and exploration companies. Communications networks are needed to support those businesses, along with the accompanying increase in government services, banking and e-commerce.
Ice, which is headquartered in Inuvik, NWT, operates a cellular network that covers large swaths of the Northwest Territories and Yukon. (It also has a roaming agreement with Rogers Communications Inc. that covers other parts of Canada.) Ice is eager to compete more aggressively with BCE in northern markets. It is upgrading its network to provide high-speed 3G (third-generation) data services, while broadening its wireless coverage. Ice’s new partnership with Iristel will also help lower wireless prices, Mr. Bishay said.
Moreover, expanding Iristel’s VoIP network to the territories will also give consumers access to IP services that are already common in southern Canada, such as virtual faxing. “We are making the North a next-generation network,” Mr. Bishay added.
Still, Ice and Iristel face an uphill battle.
As Ice catches up on 3G, Bell Mobility has already turned on its 4G LTE (fourth-generation, long-term evolution) network in Yellowknife and Whitehorse. BCE also operates The Source stores in all three territories, which sell Bell Mobility and its Virgin flanker brand. NorthwesTel, meanwhile, offers wireless in communities that fall outside of Bell Mobility’s coverage.
Additionally, telephone number portability is just arriving in the North, which could prove to be an initial hurdle in getting customers to switch. So far, the CRTC has only ordered NorthwesTel to provide number portability in Fort Nelson, B.C., Inuvik, Iqaluit, Whitehorse and Yellowknife within six months of a request by a competitor.
Iristel will also eventually face competition from SSi Micro, which is working furiously to enter the local phone market. SSI currently offers high-speed wireless Internet service in 56 northern communities.
“It’s a no-brainer for us to provide local voice as well,” said Dean Proctor, chief development officer of the SSi Group of Companies, noting Internet technology is the basis for new phone systems around the world.
NorthwesTel, meanwhile, is eager to defend its turf. It serves more than 110,000 residents of the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon and northern British Columbia and its operations span 4 million square kilometres.
In anticipation of competition, Paul Flaherty, president and chief executive officer, said the company is improving customer service and revamping how it sells products and services.
“We’ve been very much a product company, where almost we’re a bit more of order takers. And we need to be more of a company that is solution-focused,” Mr. Flaherty said.
On the residential side, NorthwesTel will launch a new bundle in Yellowknife on June 1, prior to Iristel’s arrival. That bundle, already offered in Whitehorse, includes TV, Internet and home phone. By signing up, consumers get discounted Internet and a cheaper unlimited long-distance package for North America.
“We’re looking very much to do more of that as we get into the future. So that is the first one of many to come,” Mr. Flaherty said.
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