Good news for holidaymakers and business travellers, with Vodafone cutting the cost for calling, texting and using the internet while abroad.
For 3 a day, pay monthly customers can opt in for the Vodafone EuroTraveller, which means their standard UK price plan will apply when using their phone from another European country.
Customers will be charged only as and when they use the phone rather than at an ongoing daily rate, with no additional cost to sign into the scheme. That’s not all folks: sign up to Vodafone EuroTraveller and customers will no longer be charged for receiving calls or texts while abroad either.
From 1 July, Vodafone is set to reduce call rates to 28.8p a minutes and 8.9p per text message, but the EuroTraveller 3 a day option will still be an attractive option.
Customers can opt in for Vodafone EuroTraveller by calling 5555 or by visiting vodafone.co.uk/eurotraveller.
Have you signed up to Vodafone EuroTraveller? We want to know.
Telecom and Northpower Fibre partner to deliver Whanarei UFB - Scoop
MEDIA RELEASE
12 June 2012
Telecom and Northpower Fibre partner to deliver UFB services to Whangarei
Telecom announced today it has signed a wholesale services agreement with Northpower Fibre to deliver fibre-based services to the Whangarei region.
The agreement will enable Telecom and Gen-i to help Whangarei homes and businesses realise the full benefits of ultrafast broadband and create economic value for Northland.
Northpower Fibre is the Government’s partner responsible for delivering a fibre network in Whangarei, as part of the national Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) initiative.
Darren Mason, Northpower Fibre CEO, said the UFB initiative is a significant project for Whangarei and is a major opportunity for Northland to lead from the front as the first region in New Zealand to embrace the opportunities that ultrafast broadband brings.
"An open access fibre network like ours is a huge enabler and will be a great tool for businesses, schools, hospitals and individuals - providing faster data transfer, ease of video conferencing, a greater array of services and improved efficiencies,” said Mason. “Fibre is the future and will be invaluable for the local economy. Our partnership with Retail Service Providers such as Telecom/Gen-i allows us to take advantage of this opportunity.”
Acting Telecom CEO Chris Quin said that Telecom and Gen-i are looking forward to working closely with Northpower Fibre to deliver great outcomes to businesses in Northland.
“Whangarei is at the centre of economic activity in Northland. Our partnership with Northpower Fibre will ensure that we continue to deliver on the objectives of the Government’s UFB investment,” said Quin.
“UFB is a crucial element of the overall network that will enable Whangarei businesses and government agencies to boost productivity, increase efficiencies, reduce costs and be more flexible. It powers solutions such as video conferencing, online collaboration tools and cloud computing,” added Quin.
“These technologies allow organisations to adopt new ways of working and support a more mobile and flexible workforce, creating more employment opportunities, which is essential for the economic development of Northland.”
“This can only happen if we have strong partnerships with local fibre companies such as Northpower Fibre.”
Quin said that Telecom is working closely with Northpower Fibre to integrate its new input products into Telecom’s national, end-to-end fibre-based network
Telecom is looking forward to working with Northpower Fibre to trial bit-stream services for residential customers.
- ends -
About Northpower Fibre
The Whangarei Local Fibre Company Ltd - Northpower Fibre – was one of the first companies contracted by the Crown, in late 2010, to undertake an Ultra-Fast Broadband fibre network build. By June 2014, Northpower Fibre will have taken fibre past the doors of almost 20,000 premises in and around Whangarei township.
About Gen-i
Gen-i is at the forefront of helping customers take advantage of the convergence of technology and telecommunications, and the new opportunities this makes possible. Gen-i works alongside its 2,700 corporate, government and business customers to deliver seamless hosted and integrated ICT solutions. A member of the Telecom New Zealand Group, Gen-i achieves this with the support of 2,700 highly skilled people in 19 locations across New Zealand and Australia. For more information on Gen-i, visit www.gen-i.co.nz
Prosecutor Seeks Indictment for Telecom Italia in SIM Fraud Case - Bloomberg
A Milan prosecutor filed a request to indict Telecom Italia SpA (TIT) and three former executives in connection with SIM-card fraud at the domestic mobile phone unit, according to a court document.
The prosecutor will seek to charge Telecom Italia because it failed to prevent the alleged crime and it benefited from it, according to the indictment request. The prosecutor is also seeking to indict former Chief Executive Officer Riccardo Ruggiero and ex-managers Luca Luciani and Massimo Castelli with obstruction of regulatory activity, the document showed. This crime carries a maximum jail sentence of eight years.
Milan Prosecutor Alfredo Robledo is trying to prove that the executives allegedly inflated Italian wireless client numbers to boost the company’s market share. The prosecutor alleges Telecom Italia’s executives unlawfully renewed more than 5 million pre-paid SIM cards close to their expiration date by recharging 1 euro cent each, according to the documents. The allegedly inflated market share was then communicated to Italy’s communications regulator, prompting the offense. The probe is reviewing the period between 2006 and 2008.
A judge will set a preliminary hearing to review the request.
Luciani and Castelli held positions at Telecom Italia in the period under investigation, including head of marketing and sales and director of operations at the domestic mobile business, respectively. The preliminary investigation was completed in April, prompting Luciani to step down as head of Telecom Italia’s Brazilian unit on May 5.
“The recent conclusion of complex and lengthy investigations regarding past management of Telecom Italia Mobile in Italy has generated growing noise, which did not benefit either Luca’s image as a manager or our company, so we decided to part with Luca,” Chairman Franco Bernabe said in a May 10 conference call.
Lawyers for the three men weren’t immediately available for comment. A Telecom Italia spokesman wasn’t immediately reachable for comment.
Telecom Italia fell as much as 4.5 percent to 69.85 euro cents and traded down 4.2 percent as of 5:13 p.m. in Milan, giving it a market value of 12.8 billion euros ($16 billion).
To contact the reporters on this story: Chiara Remondini in Milan at cremondini@bloomberg.net; Sonia Sirletti in Milan at ssirletti@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net
Macquarie Telecom adds flexibility for growth - The Australian
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Bouygues Telecom Teams Up With Devicescape to Offer Customers Free Automatic Connection to Over 8 - PR Inside
SAN BRUNO, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 06/11/12 -- The new service is based on Devicescape's virtual network of WiFi hotspots. This is the largest virtual network in the world, with over 8 million free public hotspots that are curated to guarantee quality and bandwidth. The service is activated when a Bouygues Telecom customer's Android smartphone is within range of one of the hotspots. The switch is automatic and transparent to the user. With this new service, Bouygues Telecom offers its customers a better mobile Internet experience, complementing its 3G+ network and providing speeds up to 42 Mbit/s(1).
As the Devicescape virtual network comprises millions of hotspots around the world, Bouygues Telecom customers can also use it outside France for bandwidth-hungry applications such as video, social media or web surfing, all without any extra cost.
The new service joins the exclusive B-WiFi application, available shortly to all Bouygues Telecom and B&YOU customers with Android smartphones. The application provides smart management of 3G+ and WiFi networks, automatically connecting the phone to the best available network. Olivier Roussat, Chief Executive Officer of Bouygues Telecom, said: "France has one of the world's most dynamic telecommunications markets, characterised by extremely rapid growth in high-speed mobile networks, massive take-up of smartphones and high-volume data allotments in most mobile plans. Our partnership with Devicescape lets us accommodate growing data traffic on our networks more efficiently and offer our customers an enhanced mobile experience and, above all, free mobile data abroad. The speed at which Devicescape is expanding its network of virtual hotspots was a key factor in our choice, since we can make this solution immediately available to our customers, so they can use it during the summer vacation."
John Lillie, Vice President, EMEA of Devicescape, said: "The very nature of the French market pushes operators to be innovative and pioneering in order to attract and retain their customers. By providing WiFi access for its customers wherever they are, Bouygues Telecom gains a major competitive advantage."
About Devicescape
Devicescape, The WiFi Offload Company™, connects more devices to more WiFi hotspots than any other offload service because Devicescape manages the largest virtual network of hotspots worldwide. Devicescape, which serves mobile operators with advanced WiFi solutions, is headquartered in California, privately held by leading venture capital companies including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, August Capital, JAFCO Ventures, and Enterprise Partners. Online at www.devicescape.com : ctt.marketwire.com/?release=897158&id=1696723&type=1& .. .
About Bouygues Telecom
As a full-service electronic communications operator (mobile, fixed, TV and internet), Bouygues Telecom stands out for its innovative offers and award-winning customer relations, serving its 10.9 million mobile customers and 1.3 million fixed broadband customers, which including more than 1.5 million corporate and professional customers.
Bouygues Telecom is committed to continually enhancing the customer experience: 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 launched the first fixed/mobile convergence offer for corporate customers.
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 invented mobile telephony 2.0 with B&YOU, the first SIM-only offer available exclusively online.
Bouygues Telecom's mobile network covers 99% of the population. Its 3G+ network provides mobile Internet access for 94% of the population, up to 3.6 Mbit/s and up to 42 Mbit/s in the largest towns and cities.
In 2012, Bouygues Telecom was once again awarded with "NF Service" certification by French standards agency Afnor Certification for the service quality of its customer relations centres for its consumer and corporate activities (mobile and fixed).
A distribution network of 650 Club Bouygues Telecom stores, 2,000 customer advisers, 2,500 sales advisers and its websites combine to ensure optimum customer service.
(1) Maximum theoretical downlink speed. 50% of the French population covered by 30 June 2012. Full details available at bouyguestelecom.fr.
Press contacts:
Devicescape
Joe McNamara
+44 (0)208 408 8000
Devicescape@emlwildfire.com : 
Bouygues Telecom
Alexandre Andre
+33 (0)1 39 26 62 42
aandre@bouyguestelecom.fr :
REFILE-REUTERS SUMMIT - M&A could help telcos close Europe's network gap-Kroes - Reuters UK
(Fixes garbled text in third paragraph)
* EU proposal on fiber networks in "coming weeks"
* Kroes supports consolidation if not bad for competition
* More network investments needed to spur Europe economy
By Leila Abboud and Claire Davenport
PARIS/LONDON, June 11 (Reuters) - Europe's top technology regulator Neelie Kroes supports consolidation as one way to create a handful of strong cross-border telecom leaders, which can invest more in mobile and broadband networks to close the gap with the United States and Asia.
Speaking on Monday at the Reuters Technology and Media Summit, Kroes also said a long-awaited proposal on how member states should encourage investment in ultra-high speed fiber broadband networks will be released in the coming weeks.
Such fiber deployments have been slow in Europe as telecom operators have been weakened by anemic consumer demand, sinking revenue and tougher competition from new players such as Apple Inc (AAPL.O).
"Europe needs to get back to the driver's seat of the digital society, like we were a decade ago with third-generation mobile technology," said Kroes in an interview.
"Having a few pan-European operators that are strong in the cross-border market would not necessarily be bad for competition," said Kroes, adding that protecting consumers was about more than just ensuring a giv en nu mber of operators in each country.
"It can make sense ... and be good for investment and innovation."
Kroes is a tough-talking former liberal Dutch politician who was Europe's top anti-trust official from 2004 to 2009. She now serves as Europe’s commissioner for the "Digital Agenda".
Her comments come as Europe's telecom sector has entered a period of turbulence, in which shares of leaders such as Telefonica SA (TEF.MC) and Deutsche Telekom AG (DTEGn.DE) have hit lows not seen in a decade.
RISING COST
Europe's telecom sector is chasing ways to meet the rising cost of keeping pace with technological advances and customer demands, with tie-ups and co-operation deals the order of the day.
The arrival in Europe of emerging markets billionaire Carlos Slim, who has scooped up a stake in Telekom Austria AG (TELA.VI) and mounted a raid on Dutch telco KPN (KPN.AS), is also ramping up the pressure for consolidation.
Buildouts of fourth-generation mobile networks have begun in some countries such as France and Germany, prompting operators to seek network-sharing deals to share the investment burden.
But Europe remains far behind Japan, Korea and the United States, where such technology is already commonplace. The European Union had just a quarter of Japan’s 20 million fibre customers at the end of 2011, despite its much larger population.
Yet Kroes maintained the European Union was still on track to meet its target of connecting 50 percent of households to high-speed broadband by 2020, one of a series of ambitious goals for the technology sector.
Telecom operators grumble that Brussels' heavy-handed approach to regulating everything from international roaming to mergers has sapped their ability to invest.
The fiber proposal has been brewing as the latest battleground since last autumn, and Kroes says the EU will make its position "crystal clear" in coming weeks.
Kroes floated a proposal in an October speech to a telecom industry conference, that countries ratchet down the price that such ex-monopolies such as France Telecom SA (FTE.PA) or Deutsche Telekom rent out their old copper networks to rivals to spur investment in faster fiber networks.
SIMPLY CRAZY
That sparked the instant ire of chief executives in the audience, including Telecom Italia SpA (TLIT.MI) CEO Franco Bernabe, who called the idea "simply crazy," arguing it would only make it tougher for them to invest in fiber.
Such fiber buildouts won't be profitable for decades, sector executives say, while companies have to justify their performance to investors quarter by quarter.
Kroes hinted that the commission's proposal on fiber would be flexible enough to take into account differences between various countries. The commission will not release a fully-fledged recommendation in the coming weeks, but will set out principles on what companies and investors can expect on fiber.
"We don't aim to deliver higher or lower copper prices, nor to mandate the switch-off of any technologies," Kroes said.
"We want to give economically sound principles to countries' regulators to help them set regulated copper prices, and we are identifying the most appropriate costing methodologies."
Alternative telecom companies that compete with the ex-monopolies, such as upstarts like France's Iliad SA (ILD.PA) and Italy's Fastweb SpA (FSWBF.PK), support Kroes' idea of lowering copper fees since it would reduce their costs and spur investment.
They also argue the incumbents built copper networks when they were state-owned so shouldn't make excess profit from them today.
Analysts say funding for fibre is in suspense as investors remain wary and telecom operators wait to see how the Commission will regulate prices.
"You cannot ask pension funds to put money into something that has an eight-year payback with no guarantee that the rules won’t change in a way that destroys any return,” Robin Bienenstock, a European telecoms analyst, said.
Kroes promised clarity would come soon, but signaled she did not believe that telecom operators could not afford to invest.
"It is not a matter of lack of cashflow, there is money available in the sector," she argued.
"I have the feeling that some of the players have been a bit spoiled - to speak in a direct Dutch way - and they would prefer to continue in old way. But that will not give Europe’s economy a boost."
(Additional reporting by Gwenaelle Barzic, Kate Holton and Georgina Prodhan; Editing by David Holmes)
((leila.abboud@thomsonreuters.com)(+33 1 49 49 51 82)(Reuters Messaging: leila.abboud.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)(Twitter: @labboudles)) Keywords: MEDIA TECH SUMMIT/KROES
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