Bharti Airtel Reaches 195 Million Customers -- India + Africa

Bharti Airtel reported continued rapid growth in its Indian networks and in the properties across African recently acquired from Zain. All together, Bharti Airtel is serving 195 million customers across 19 countries across Asia and Africa.


In a statement, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharti Airtel Limited, said "Bharti Airtel continues to maintain its leadership position in India and generate healthy free cash flow. Our 3G services will be available across India, starting with launches in the current quarter. We are also redefining the accessibility and affordability levels across Africa through innovative business models. With the imminent launch of the Airtel brand in Africa, the customers will experience the power of a unified brand across our 19 countries. We are delighted that the new path breaking global partnerships announced recently will enable us to strengthen our leadership position across Africa.
http://www.airtel.com

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Huawei to Acquire Option's 4G RF Silicon Division

Huawei has agreed to acquire M4S, Option's wholly owned 4G RF semiconductor company. The transaction is part of the cooperation agreement announced last month by the two companies to facilitate the development of innovative mobile broadband solutions in Europe. The acquisition was valued at EUR 8 million at the time.


M4S is currently working on a state-of-the-art 4G radio frequency chipset.
http://www.option.com
http://www.huawei.com

• Option is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium.



• Multi Mode Multi Media Solutions (M4S) was a spin-out of IMEC, a world-renowned research center in
  electronics in Leuven, Belgium.

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Verizon Mobilizes FiOS TV with Flex View App

Verizon is mobilizing its FiOS TV service with the introduction of Flex View, which lets customers take video programming outside of the home and view it on various portable devices, including a growing number of compatible smartphones, tablets and laptops. The new feature is now available to most FiOS subscribers and will be in all FiOS markets by the end of the month.


The service allows content download so that titles are viewable on the mobile device even when there is no Internet connection. At launch, Verizon will have 1,400 movie titles and this library is expected to top 2,000 titles by year-end and at least triple that by next year, including TV shows.


There is no additional subscription fee required to use Flex View.


"Verizon is taking the triple play to the triple screen, making on-the-go video programming quick and easy," said Shawn Strickland, vice president of consumer strategy and planning for Verizon. "This is a valuable extension of our FiOS TV VOD service, enabling customers to rent or purchase video programming and enjoy it anytime, anywhere - even outside of Verizon service areas. On planes, trains and automobiles; in hotel rooms and waiting rooms; at work or at play - you name it - Verizon's new Flex View capability puts video content at customers' fingertips."


The Flex View Mobile app is currently supported by the following mobile devices: Blackberry Storm2, HTC HD2, HTC Imagio, HTC Touch Pro2, LG VS750, DROID 2 by Motorola, DROID X by Motorola, Samsung Omnia II, Archos 605 Wi-Fi Portable Media Player and Toshiba Satellite T230.


Subscribers can authorize Flex View on up to five devices per account, including mobile devices, PCs or laptops, and FiOS TV set-top boxes (all set-top boxes in the home count collectively as one device).


In addition, Verizon plans to provide customers with access to their personal content - including photos, videos and music - through Flex View. Customers can upload their personal content from digital cameras, mobile phones, home storage, the Internet and more by using Media Manager. Once the content is uploaded, the customer will be able to access it on the TV screen, online or on select mobile devices.
http://www.verizon.com

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Ikanos Announces Public Offering

Ikanos Communications announced plans to sell, subject to market and other conditions, shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering. In connection with the offering, the company expects to grant the underwriter a 30-day option to purchase additional shares of common stock. All of the shares will be offered by the company.
http://www.ikanos.com

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Huawei Selected for Wireless Network in Bangladesh

Grameenphone, Bangladesh's largest mobile operator and a subsidiary of Telenor, has selected Huawei to provide a large-scale capacity expansion and enhancement of its Next Generation SingleRAN network. Under the deal, Huawei will deploy its SingleRAN solutions for Grameenphone's mobile network and install thousands of 4th Generation base stations across Bangladesh. The deployment includes Huawei's SingleCORE, SingleEPC, ngHLR (next-generation home location register), and IP STP (signaling transfer point) solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.huawei.com
http://www.grameenphone.com/

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ST-Ericsson and Nokia Develop TD-LTE Devices for China Mobile

ST-Ericsson and Nokia announced TD-LTE demonstration devices for China Mobile. The prototypes include a TD-LTE Nokia Booklet containing ST-Ericsson's M700 TD-LTE modem. The company have been partners in TD-LTE work since late 2009.


ST-Ericsson said its LTE modems can download data at speeds of up to 100 Mbps.

"Although LTE is still in its infancy, this sophisticated technology has the potential to bring a raft of compelling high-speed multimedia services to hundreds of millions of consumers all over the world," said Heikki Koivu, Vice President, TD-SCDMA Business Team, Nokia. "Our co-operation with ST-Ericsson will enable us to demonstrate LTE capable devices and experiences as TD-LTE is developing towards commercial maturity.:http://www.st-ericsson.com

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Aviat Networks Debuts All-Packet 4 Gbps Trunking Radio

Aviat Networks introduced an all-packet trunking radio designed to support up to 4 Gbps of aggregate data throughput. The new WTM 6000 microwave system features built-in Ethernet switching, link aggregation and traffic prioritization and Quality of Service controls. The compact indoor architecture can accommodate up to 16 radio channels in a single sub-rack. It provides optional support for NxSTM-1 traffic, enabling operators to maintain legacy TDM services without having to use circuit emulation.


The WTM 6000 supports 256QAM Adaptive Coding and Modulation (ACM) to enable operators to achieve higher link capacities with smaller antennas, which in turn reduces tower loading and infrastructure costs. The WTM 6000 will be introduced in the 4 to 13 GHz frequency bands to enable paths in well in excess of 50 miles.


Two different solutions are now available for link protection. In addition to the traditional N+1 protection, where one standby radio channel is used to protect up to seven active transport channels, the IP architecture of the WTM 6000 now enables the option for bonding of multiple radio channels together, using Ethernet Link Aggregation, to provide full wire-speed Gigabit throughputs. In the event that one radio channel fails, the integrated switch can prioritize important traffic to be maintained over the remaining bandwidth. This enables costs savings by eliminating the standby protection channel.


Commercial availability is expected in the early part of 2011.


"The Aviat Networks WTM 6000 represents the next-generation microwave solution for high-capacity, long-haul all-IP and hybrid trunking applications, all with fiber-like speeds," says Shaun McFall, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Aviat Networks. "As a leading provider of trunking microwave solutions around the world, we are excited to introduce this major step forward to enable operators to introduce efficient high-speed IP transport into their backbone microwave networks."http://www.aviatnetworks.com

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Cisco Posts Revenue of $10.75B but Cites "Air Pockets" in Sales

Cisco reported first quarter net sales of $10.75 billion, net income on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis of $1.9 billion or $0.34 per share, and non-GAAP net income of $2.4 billion or $0.42 per share. Net sales grew 19.2% compared to a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 13.3% compared to a year earlier.


In its quarterly conference call, the company said it hit some "air pockets" in its sales forecasts and momentum during the quarter due to weakness in public sector spending, which represents 22% of the company's overall business, and the cable business. However, Cisco said its "big picture" outlook remains the same.


"Cisco delivered solid financial results, during a challenging economic environment. While we have seen capital spending moderate in some areas of our business, our execution in the areas we can control and influence speak to the success and relevance of the company's strategy," said John Chambers, chairman and CEO, Cisco. "Our position in the market, including continued product innovation, market share momentum and operational excellence, positions us for growth and flexibility well into the future as we strengthen our role as a trusted business partner to our customers."


Some highlights for the quarter:

• Cash flows from operations were $1.7 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2011, compared with $1.5 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2010, and compared with $3.2 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010.



• Cash and cash equivalents and investments were $38.9 billion at the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2011, compared with $39.9 billion at the end of fiscal 2010.



• Public sector spending was weak, especially in Europe.



• Cisco cited challenges in some sectors of its service provider business, especially its traditional cable business in North America, which is under pressure and orders are down significantly. The IPTV set-top business is expanding internationally.



• The company noted growing order volumes for its ASR 5000 (Starent) product line.



• Book-to-bill ration is below one.



• Looking ahead to Q2, Cisco expects revenue growth of 3-5% year over year. For the fiscal year, Cisco expects growth of 9%.



• Product margins were 64%. Service margins were 65.7%.



• Supply chain constraints are still tight but have been alleviated.



• At the end of the quarter, Cisco had 72,600 employees -- up by 1,900 over the past quarter.

http://www.cisco.com

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SingTel's Mobile Customer Base Reaches 368 million

As of the end of Q3 2010, the SingTel Group served 368 million mobile customers in 25 countries, an increase of 35 per cent or 94.4 million from a year ago. The network footprints cover more than 2 billion across Asia and Africa.


http://www.singtel.com

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DISH Begins Selling Google TV Solution for $179

DISH Network has begun offering a Google TV solution priced at $179.


The Logitech Revue device provides search capabilities and the variety of content on the Web integrated with DISH Network's onscreen programming data, DVR and Video on Demand content. DISH Network's Google TV solution requires a DVR integration service of $4 per month and is compatible with DISH Network ViP series HD DVR satellite TV receivers including the ViP 622, ViP 722 and ViP 722k.


"Only DISH Network customers will have access to the most fully-featured Google TV experience available, which includes our unique pairing protocol for simultaneous search capabilities across Web and DVR content, as well as DISH Network's VOD programming," said DISH Network Chief Marketing Officer Ira Bahr. "Customers can now surf the Web, check email, interact with social media, and find additional online television content all from the comfort of their living room sofa."http://www.dish.com

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