Telecom

The European parliament and EU nations have agreed new rules to improve the rights to European mobile phone and Internet users, and offer more protection against illegal Internet porn and copyright abuse. EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding announced the compromise deal, reached late Thursday, after European governments agreed to EU parliament demands to balance a crackdown on illegal downloaders with broader rights for Internet users. Following a "strong request" from the parliament, and after lengthy negotiations, the future rules state that any national measures regarding restrictions to access to Internet services and applications must be "appropriate, proportionate and necessary within a democratic society." Reding ... Read Full Story

This 38-page report will give you a complete snap-shot of South Africa’s telecom environment, providing you with all the information you need to be successful in this market. It initially defines the country’s economic and political environment keeping you abreast of any events that could impact the business environment in the near future. It then provides an overview of the country’s regulatory environment, including information on regulators, ministries and the liberalisation status of each telecom markets. In this section, you will also come across the country’s WTO commitments as well as the latest regulatory events. The telecom statistics and forecast section for 2005-2014 is ... Read Full Story

Telecom Italia said on Thursday it had agreed to sell its Hansenet German broadband business to Telefónica of Spain for €900m ($1.3bn), ending months of haggling over price. The sale will allow Telecom Italia to reduce its €35.5bn of net debt and is another step in the operator’s move to concentrate on its core markets of Italy and Brazil. The company said it also meant it would “make further tapping of the bond market unnecessary” to refinance debt The purchase by Telefónica marks another expansion step by the Spanish operator as it seeks to mount a stronger challenge to Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone in ... Read Full Story

Agreement on EU Telecoms Reform paves way for stronger consumer rights, an open internet, a single European telecoms market and high-speed internet connections for all citizens Late last night (at 0:45), the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers reached an agreement on the EU Telecoms Reform, after intense negotiations brokered by the European Commission. The reform, proposed by the Commission in November 2007 substantially strengthens competition and consumer rights on Europe’s telecoms markets, facilitates high-speed internet broadband connections to all Europeans and establishes a European Body of Telecoms Regulators to complete the single market for telecoms networks and services. Following the endorsement of ... Read Full Story

New report tackles the issues resulting from OSS/BSS complexity and examines how four CSPs solved these problems using Ontology's OSS/CAD.London, November 4, 2009 – Today, Ontology Systems announce a custom report that describes the challenges faced by service providers as they undertake efforts to improve both OSS/BSS processes and solutions.  It examines the unique approach offered by Ontology Systems that can rapidly and inexpensively utilize existing systems and data to further those efforts, ease the... Read Full Story