http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/062909-north-korean-3g-network-hits.html
http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=29107
Verizon Wireless is jumping into long-term evolution (LTE), launching its first networks this year, while AT&T is taking a little more time, planning its rollout in 2011 and upgrading its 3G network in the interim. In Japan, there’s a similar story. NTT DoCoMo is as gung ho over LTE as its Verizon, but Softbank Mobile appears to be in no hurry.
Why are some operators rushing forward with LTE while others are content to wait? One simple explanation is the distinction between CDMA and UMTS service providers: CDMA operators, with no migration path remaining on their 3G networks, are proceeding immediately to 4G, while UMTS providers, with plenty of upgrades left for their high-speed packet access (HSPA) networks. That’s only a partial explanation, though. It’s true many CDMA providers—Verizon, Sprint, KDDI, MetroPCS—have been quick to adopt LTE, but in Canada Telus and Bell Mobility have opted to deploy HSPA networks to compliment their CDMA networks. Meanwhile, HSPA operator DoCoMo will have one of the first LTE launches in the world, followed by Nordic operators TeliaSonera, Tele2 and Telenor.
There is currently to maximum limit on the number of SIM cards a mobile user can hold. With six telecoms service providers already operating in the country, and Gtel Mobile to start services in July, some users hold more than one SIM card with different operators. The ministry’s new decree is a move to manage unregistered pre-paid mobile subscribers, preventing mobile-phone harassment and spam messages.
Telesom's Zad service means that people can send money to friends and relatives or pay bills just using their phones.
The self-declared republic of Somaliland is much more peaceful than the rest of Somalia.
But the telecommunications and money transfer sectors have thrived across the country, despite the conflict which has raged for the past 18 years.
Telesom deputy director Mohamud Aden Ahmed-Hadeed told BBC Somali that the service would improve the lives of people and help develop the country.
"They can have access to their accounts with a Pin number and they can send money to anywhere, anytime. People can pay their bills or buy things from shops," he said.
A similar system was launched in neighbouring Kenya in 2007, with a network of more than 7,000 agents - mostly shopkeepers.
Somalia's conflict has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee the country.
They use an informal, trust-based money transfer system known as "hawala" to send money back home.
And the lack of a government since 1991 has not prevented several mobile phone companies from setting up their businesses.
Aid agencies estimate that some four million people - a third of the population - need food aid.
http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=28993
In its State of the Mobile Web, April 2009 report, Opera Software, makers of the mobile web browser Opera Mini have some interesting things to say about the mobile web in Africa.
* The top 12 countries using Opera Mini in Africa are South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Zambia, Tanzania, Cote d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Namibia, Ghana and Gabon.
* Some numbers regarding Africa from April 2008 to April 2009:
o overall page views in the top 12 countries listed increased 422%;
o overall unique users in the top 12 countries listed increased 169%;
o overall data transferred in the top 12 countries listed increased 348%.
* Kenya leads the top 12 countries in page views, with each user browsing 372 pages on average each month.
* Nokia and Sony Ericsson handsets are dominant in Africa, but Samsung is a significant exception, boasting the most popular phone used by Opera Mini users in South Africa, as well as Zambia, Namibia and Gabon.
When using Opera Mini data is compressed to just a fraction of its true size, so the mobile Web experience is fast and responsive for consumers, while reducing strain on operator networks. This is clearly the reason that it is such a popular mobile web browser in Africa.
http://mlearningafrica.net/2009/06/01/the-mobile-web-is-growing-in-africa/
A new SMS and email notification service is helping local government agencies reach citizens when and where it will do the most good: As soon as possible, and wherever that citizen happens to be.
Depending on whether agencies in a selected location are participating (currently, nearly 1,000 agencies have signed on since the company's launch in March), users can sign up at the Nixle website to subscribe to emails, web alerts, and text messages about community issues from tornado watches and traffic accidents to local robberies and fugitives on the loose. Nixle moreover provides a painless way for local agencies to transition into modern times and notify community members of critical details in ways that will have an immediate impact.
"Any tool that helps us improve public safety is worth using," Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel is quoted as saying in a Nixle press release. "People rarely go anywhere these days without access to a cell phone or the Internet. With Nixle, we're always able to relay important information, thereby improving the community's quality of life."
Users can add as many locations as they like to receive alerts for different areas; for example, I know of several female relatives who would be more than happy to know of police alerts in the various towns I travel to and worry/overreact accordingly.
New communications services are made possible through the installation of a second switching centre interconnecting the rural satellite VoIP network to the national telephony network. These services are available to new customers based in remote/rural areas and to existing customers migrating from the existing TRAC network (Telefonia Rural de Acceso Celular—Rural Telephony with Cellular Access) to the satellite-based VoIP network.
