Finland's Elisa Tests LTE with NSN with 100 Mbps Downlink

Elisa, a leading Finnish communications service provider, is testing an LTE network in partnership with Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN). Elisa's pre-commercial network operates in a small area in Helsinki. The companies report mobile connections of up to 100 Mbps.


NSN notes that Elisa continues to invest in the coverage and speed of its 3G network to match the growth in the use of mobile broadband. According to a recent survey Elisa's 3G network has the widest coverage in Finland and it offers the highest data rates. The current development will enable the use of high-speed video services with mobile devices in the future. In addition, easy real-time use of the Internet with the phone will substantially improve the user experience of the customers.


"Elisa's 4G network and cooperation with Nokia Siemens Networks enable the development of new services utilizing higher data rates. Services will be available to the public when the availability of LTE terminal devices increases. Our investment in both the current 3G network and preparation for the new technology benefit our customers most. At the moment, the mobile broadband services in our 3G network cover a very large geographic area, even at speeds of 15 Mbps," says Timo Katajisto, Executive Vice President, Production, at Elisa.
http://www.nsn.com
http://www.elisa.fi

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Tiscali Joins 2010: Fibre for Italy Project

Tiscali has joined the "2010: Fiber for Italy" project, which was proposed recently by Fastweb, Vodafone and Wind with the aim of providing Italy with a single next generation optical fibre network infrastructure.


Tiscali joins the three operators promoting the project, in asking the Government and the Institutions to start the process for creating company to manage the fibre-optic network with the contribution of all telecom operators and Authorities.


As part of the plan, Tiscali is taking part in a fiber trial for the district of Collina Fleming in Rome.
http://www.tiscali.net

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ITU World Telecom Dev Conference Outlines 4 Year Plan

The fifth ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference, meeting in Hyderabad, India, outlined a road map to foster the global development of information and communication technology (ICT) networks and services over the next four year cycle.


The Hyderabad Declaration states: "Broad access to telecommunications and ICTs is essential for the world's collective economic, social and cultural development, and the building of a global Information Society. This access brings new opportunities for interaction amongst people, for sharing of the world's knowledge resources and expertise, for transforming people's lives, and for contributing to the global development agenda."


The fifth World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-10) attracted 924 participants, including 758 government delegates from 138 countries and 6 representatives from Palestine; 88 public and private sector representatives from 28 companies; 16 representing telecommunication-related entities from 7 countries; and 56 representatives from 25 regional and international organizations.


Key topics of the Hyderabad Action Plan include:

• 1. Information and communication infrastructure and technology development


• 2. Cybersecurity, ICT applications and IP-based network-related issues


• 3. Enabling environment


• 4. Capacity-building and digital inclusion


• 5. Least developed countries, countries in special need, emergency telecommunications and adaptation to climate change

"Mobile telephony has grown phenomenally, and as we approach the 5 billion mark for mobile subscriptions later this year, it is considered to be the most rapidly adopted technology in history," ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré said as he addressed the closing session of WTDC-10. "Yet, the digital divide remains -- particularly where accessibility to broadband services and the Internet is concerned. This broadband divide must be addressed by governments and industry as a priority if we are to fully utilize the capacity of ICTs to meet the Millennium Development Goals."http://www.itu.int

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France Telecom and TDC terminate Merger Agreement

France Telecom and TDC terminated their merger agreement. The announcement follows a decision by the Swiss Competition Commission on April 22, 2010 to prohibit the combination of Orange Switzerland and Sunrise Communications, which is the local operation of TDC. The companies will drop an appeal that they had filed with the Federal Administrative Court in Switzerland.
http://www.francetelecom.com
http://www.tdc.dk

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Verizon Expands its Fleet of Hybrid Vehicles

As part of the greening of its fleet, Verizon has purchased 576 Chevrolet Silverado Two-Mode Hybrid full-size pickups. The two-mode Silverado blends an internal combustion engine with battery-powered electric motors to offer an EPA estimated 21 MPG city and 22 MPG highway fuel economy.


"A major part of our sustainability strategy is to make smart use of lower-carbon alternatives to power our fleet and the operation of our high-IQ broadband networks," said James Gowen, chief sustainability officer for Verizon. "By adding 1,600 alternative energy vehicles to our fleet this year we're conserving fuel, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality in communities across the country."
http://www.gm.com
http://www.verizon.com

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NASA and Japan Announce Cloud Computing Collaboration

NASA and Japan's National Institute of Informatics (NII) are exploring interoperability opportunities between NASA's Nebula Cloud Computing Platform and Japan's NII Cloud Computing Platform. In a first demonstration, the Nebula and NII Cloud infrastructures jointly served publicly-available selections of Mars Orbiter data sets to a web application.


NASA Nebula is a Cloud Computing service developed by the agency's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, that provides high performance computing, network, and data storage services to NASA scientists and researchers. Nebula allows NASA to share and process large scientific data sets and was one of three flagship projects highlighted in NASA's Open Government Directive.


Japan's NII Cloud provides cloud platform services to Japan's academic and research community. Like Nebula, the NII cloud is developed using open source technologies. By focusing on partnerships and other joint efforts with universities and research institutions throughout Japan, as well as industries and civilian organizations, NII creates state-of-the-art information infrastructure to support education within Japan's broader academic and research community.http://nebula.nasa.gov

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150 Mbps Residential Service Comes to Chattanooga

EPB Fiber Optics, Chattanooga's municipally-owned fiber-to-the-home network,
is introducing a 150 Mbps symmetrical residential Internet service. The municipal operator has previously provided a 100 Mbps services over its fiber network. EPB expects access to the 100 percent fiber optic network will be available to everyone in its service area by the end of 2010. EPB's service area covers 170,000 homes and business and 600 square miles in Chattanooga, Hamilton County and parts of five other counties in Southeast Tennessee and three in North Georgia.
http://www.epb.net

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