Thailand: Cellcos issued with fines for delaying MNP
September 7: According to a TeleGeography article, Thailand's National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) announced that it will start imposing daily fines on each of the five mobile operators which it had ordered to launch mobile number portability (MNP) by a deadline of 31 August.
 
Brazil starts new universal service plan
September 7: Telecompaper reports that Brazil's telecommunications regulator Anatel unveiled a new plan for achieving the country's universal service targets. The PGMU III as the plan is known will cost BRL 2.1 billion, which will be invested in infrastructure and maintenance from 2011 to 2015.
 
Indonesian Operator Trials Mobile Banking for Rural Users
September 7: A Cellular-News reports says that Indonesian mobile network operator, AXIS is to support a mobile banking trial aimed at rural customers who lack basic banking services. The trial is in cooperation with the IFC and Bank Sinar Harapan Bali.
 
Somaliland to become the first cashless society
September 7: Mobilemoneyafrica.com asks, could tiny, unknown Somaliland become the first nation to become a cashless society? It is not only possible, it is almost certain. There is already a surprisingly strong base for this to happen. Thanks to a cobbled together-by-necessity system of money-transfer posts from Somaliland’s diaspora and a surging mobile banking industry, the country has to do away with cash.
 
Kenya: M-Kesho Deposits Hit Sh900 Million
September 7: Equity Bank's M-Kesho mobile banking service has so far attracted 6,000 customers with deposits worth Sh900m. The unique service which was launched in May in partnership with Safaricom enables individuals to withdraw money from their bank accounts via their mobile phone handsets.
Proprietary source: Factiva / The Nation

India: Most telcos will not leave bulk SMS business
September 3: Business Today reports that Bharti Airtel, which has the least stake in the bulk SMS business, may have become the first to exit this business but other operators like Tata (TTSL), Reliance (RCom) and Loop are not willing to give up. TTSL said, "A farmer in a village or a fisherman is today happy to receive an SMS on crop prices, weather information, etc. Any other form of public disbursement of information would have cost 100 times more."
 
Belize: BTL launches rural fixed-wireless 3G service
September 3: According to a TeleGeography article, Belize Telemedia Ltd (BTL) has launched a new fixed-wireless telephony and high speed internet service for rural customers based on 3G CDMA2000 1xEV-DO technology in the 450MHz frequency band.
 
Kenya awards govt digital information contracts
September 3: The Kenyan government has awarded contracts to digital content and software developers who will develop platforms and content to facilitate the dissemination of government services through the internet. The Kenya ICT Board announced that the seven companies have been awarded the Digital Content and Software Application Grant in the category 'Government Information Portal'.
Proprietary source: Factiva / Telecompaper Africa
 
Colombia: ETB's investor search fails over lack of bidders
September 3: Colombian state-controlled operator Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota (ETB) has stopped its investor search. ETB was planning to sell a controlling stake of 36.6 percent in the company to a new partner in a public auction scheduled for 15 September.
Proprietary source: Factiva / Telecompaper Americas
 
Honduras: Digicel, Ficohsa partner on money transfer services
September 3: Digicel Honduras has signed a partnership agreement with financial services provider Ficohsa Express. Digicel customers in Honduras will now be able to receive mobile top-ups from their friends and family in the US, via the Ficohsa Express network.
Proprietary source: Factiva / Telecompaper Americas

Uganda: Mobile Money Revolution Changing Financial Sector
September 2: According to Allafrica.com, Brandon Semanda, the Zain Uganda marketing manager says the company has about 140, 000 active clients using Zap and over 1.4 million customers with enabled sim cards. Whereas Uganda Telecom's M-sente has about 29, 510 subscribers as of August 8, 2010.
 
$400m Africa-Brazil cable planned
September 2: ITWeb reports that emerging undersea cable operator eFive Telecommunications has appointed Alcatel-Lucent to build a system that will connect the west coast of Africa to South America. It is raising the $400 million (R2.9 billion) needed for the project.
 
Cote d'Ivoire: New cell sites go live
September 2: An IT News Africa article says that Cote d’Ivoire’s first independent tower company “SWAP Technologies and Telecomms Limited” (SWAP) has gone live with its built-to-suit telecoms co-location cell sites, the first cell sites built for co-location went on air in Cote d’Ivoire in August 2010.
 
Chile: VTR Reaches Agreement with American Tower
September 2: Chilean cable operator VTR has reached an agreement with U.S. firm American Tower to rent mobile infrastructure in the country. As part of the agreement, VTR will sell 140 mobile antennas it had already deployed to American Tower, which will then rent to VTR its mobile infrastructure in the country.
Proprietary source: Factiva / IHS Global Insight

Sri Lanka: SLT’s far-north network extension enters service
September 1: TeleGeography reports that Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) has commissioned its high speed fibre-optic backbone cable linking the former war zones in the northern Jaffna peninsula with the rest of the country. SLT said its expanded fibre-optic network will improve customer access to advanced broadband services, help businesses expand and enable all telecoms service operators to increase their operational coverage in the north.
 
Costa Rica: Sutel calls for wireless licence bids
September 1: According to TeleGeography, Costa Rica's telecoms regulator Sutel has called for written offers for spectrum blocks in the 850MHz, 1800MHz and 2100MHz bands by 5 November, in the much-delayed liberalisation of the country’s telecoms market.
 
Emerging economies find own way of using web
September 1: A Financial Times article says that consumers in the world’s largest emerging markets are developing widely diverging habits and preferences in their use of the internet, posing challenges to multinationals’ marketing strategies. China’s internet population uses the web mainly for instant messaging and online music, videos and games. But internet users in Brazil and Russia focus on search and e-mail, much like their peers in mature markets.
 
Africa: A 'Cost-Conscious' Millicom Faces Wireless Test
September 1: Investors' Business Daily reports that Millicom's fastest-growing wireless market, Africa, has a new 800-pound gorilla flexing its muscles. That would be India's Bharti Airtel, whose price cutting is making many of Africa's wireless firms — MTN, Vodafone and France Telecom among them — uneasy. But Mikael Grahne, CEO of Millicom International Cellular, says his company's lean operating machine can deal with Bharti's entry into Africa.
 
Argentina: Cablevisión to File Lawsuit Against Telefónica, Telecom
September 1: Argentina's leading cable operator Cablevisión has accused telecoms incumbents Telefónica and Telecom Argentina of unfair competition for taking advantage of the cancellation of its licence to provide broadband services in the country, El Cronista Comercial reports. Cablevisión, which has been offering broadband services using the licence of former subsidiary Fibertel, was banned from offering internet services on 19 August.
Proprietary source: Factiva / IHS Global Insight

India: BlackBerry Avoids Ban in India
August 31: Light Reading reports that Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) has managed to avoid an immediate ban on its services in India by providing the government's security agencies with lawful access to BlackBerry data. RIM has agreed to provide access to BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES) and BlackBerry Messenger Services (BBM) from September 1.
 
South Africa: Vodacom, Nedbank launch M-Pesa
August 31: According to Telecompaper, Vodacom South Africa and Nedbank have launched the M-Pesa money transfer service, developed by the Vodafone Group. M-Pesa, already available in Kenya, Tanzania and Afghanistan, allows users to transfer money from person to person using a mobile phone.
 
Are banks the bad guys in the mobile money innovation debate?
August 31: In a CGAP blog post, Sarah Rotman writes that Bill Maurer and Olga Morawczynski’s recent blog post discussed a topic that seems to be on everyone’s mind: innovation in mobile money…or the lack thereof. I’m not so convinced that there is a lack of innovation in mobile money because MNOs are partnering with banks. I’d say that there is at least as much of a lack of innovation in mobile money because MNOs are simply trying to copy M-PESA.
 
Peru: FITEL Considers US$400 Mil. to Finance Fibre-Optic Projects
August 31: Peru’s universal service fund—Fondo de Inversión en Telecomunicaciones (FITEL)—has reportedly made available some US$400 million to roll out fibre-optic networks in the country, Business News Americas reports. The government has sent a bill to Congress for approval that will allow the use of FITEL’s funds to roll out fibre-optic infrastructure in areas in the country that are not currently covered by private operators.
Proprietary source: Factiva / IHS Global Insight
 
Saudi Arabia: Mobily wins CITC contract
Saudi operator Mobily has won a contract to execute an exploratory project for the Communications and Information Technology Commission's Comprehensive Service Fund. Mobily was the only contender to have passed all evaluation criteria to win the contract.
Proprietary source: Factiva / Telecompaper Middle East

Rwanda: Huye Rural Farmers in Mobile Phone Frenzy
August 30: Rwanda's Government Supporting Daily reports that one thing characterises many of Rwanda's small business traders – over 75% own mobile phones, a gadget that intrigues them, yet facilitates their profits. While in the market place, they negotiate with their clients and take payments in one hand, while the other holds a phone. Some use the phones to call up their clients alerting them of their arrival with produce.
 
Fiji: Fantasy becomes reality
August 30: According to the Fiji Times, Digicel currently offers customers SMS registration for mobile money. The company currently has 70 agents across the country including Westpac and Post Fiji. Moves to include other agents is determined by time and the geographic location of areas.
 
Philippines: Globe powers Albay public schools with WiMAX
August 30: Globe Telecom highlighted the rollout of its WiMAX infrastructure in Albay by using the latest broadband technology to connect public secondary schools in the province to the Internet. Legazpi City High School and Daraga National High School are the first beneficiaries of the Globe Internet-in-Schools Program (ISP) in Albay. ISP is one of the programs of Globe under its flagship social responsibility arm, Globe Bridging Communities.
Proprietary source: Factiva / The Philippine Star
 
India: Telcos bank on outsourced apps to ring in revenue
August 30: In February, India’s largest telecom operator, Bharti Airtel, launched an app store, giving its consumers access to 1,250 applications. Vodafone followed, offering around 800 applications. As telecom companies play the numbers game with the applications they offer, they have now started outsourcing this to specialised application developers.
Proprietary source: Factiva / Business Standard

Thailand: Hutch finally signs interconnection with AIS, DTAC
August 27: TeleGeography reports that CDMA-based mobile operator Hutchison CAT Wireless Multimedia (Hutch), which covers Bangkok and central provinces of Thailand, has finally signed long-delayed network interconnection agreements with nationwide GSM operators Advance Info Service (AIS) and Digital Total Access Communication (DTAC).
 
Bangladesh Bank stresses infrastructure development for ICT
August 27: According to Telecompaper, Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman called upon the authorities concerned to go for massive infrastructure development for the expansion of ICT facilities, reports the Daily Star. He added that there is no alternative to infrastructure development for expansion of information and communication technology facilities in the country to implement the Vision 2021.
 
Asia to fuel next wave of subsea network growth
August 27: A Total Telecom article says that Alcatel-Lucent expects the next wave of investment in submarine cable networks to be fuelled by markets in Asia. "Asia will be the next continent; there is capacity but not enough connectivity," said Philippe Dumont, head of Alcatel-Lucent's submarine network operations.
 
Sri Lanka releases draft regulations for m-payment services
August 27: The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has drafted guidelines for mobile phone payment systems. Mobile payments will be allowed through accounts in licensed banks and registered financial services providers, as well as Custodian Account Based Systems operated by non-bank service providers. The guidelines stipulate that service providers can open e-money accounts for customers and issue e-money by accepting physical money.
Proprietary source: Factiva / Telecompaper Asia
 
Brazil: Govt Unveils 100 Cities Included In Broadband Plan
August 27: The Brazilian government on Thursday unveiled a list of 100 municipalities where its broadband program will be first implemented, in addition to 16 capital cities that had already been announced. Under the plan, a total of 1,063 municipalities should be covered by the program in 2001. Full coverage of Brazil is expected to be reached by 2014.
Proprietary source: Factiva / Agência Estado

Venezuela: Conatel reports mobile saturation
August 26: According to a TeleGeography report, Venezuelan telecoms regulator Conatel has reported that Venezuela ended the second quarter of 2010 with 29.2 million total mobile subscriptions, up by only around 100,000 from 29.1 million at mid-2009, in a market where mobile user accounts outnumber the population.
 
Philippines: Leading the Region in Mobile Data Services
August 26: Cellular-News writes that all three major operators in the Philippines use GSM, and that 3G services were introduced by Smart and Globe in 2006 and by Sun Cellular in 2008, but did not gain major traction. With smartphones and faster data speeds from HSPA stimulating adoption in 2009, 3G connections accounted for about 6% of the total market share.
 
WACS extends to UK
August 26: An ITWeb article says that the West African Cable System (WACS), set to connect SA to Europe by June 2011, will be extended from Portugal to the UK, to meet the increasing need for capacity driven by broadband services penetration.
 
Malaysia: Rural areas lagging behind with broadband
August 26: According to ZDNet Asia, Malaysia says it is on track with plans to connect half its households with broadband services by year-end, but citizens in far-flung states still feel left out. The Malaysia government is following up on its promise to connect half of the country's households with Internet broadband connection by end-2010. However, citizens in states far from the administrative capital feel that the government focus is more on the urban areas.
 
Kenya: Data could offer Safaricom respite in price war
August 26: A Reuters report says that Kenya's Safaricom can lean on data services like mobile internet and money transfers to fend off intense pressure from rivals for voice revenues that has pummelled its shares and will squeeze its margins.