www.mobilenewscwp.co.uk IND
Nokia drives X range with India’s biggest operator
• Partnership with Bharti Airtel a ‘good fit’ for manufacturer in third-largest smartphone market By Pádraig McGarrigle
Nokia has continued with its push of the Nokia X range in emerging markets by partnering with Indian operator Bharti Airtel to give 500MB of 3G data to device owners for three months after purchase. The Windows Phone handset, which allows developers to easily port over Android apps, was launched at Mobile World Congress as part of Nokia’s plans to leverage the strong brand recognition it enjoys in the developing world. Recent IDC data said that India
TUR
Turkey’s PM accused of ‘fascism’ for banning Twitter and YouTube
Turkey’s Prime Minister wants
his government’s
ban on Twitter access to be reinstated after the country’s constitutional court found the ban to be in violation of human rights. Tayyip Erdogan had banned the social network for two weeks in late March/early April claiming citizens had complained that some content posted on the site had breached privacy laws. “The constitutional court’s ruling on Twitter did not serve justice.
This ruling
should be corrected,” he told a parliamentary meeting of his AK Party.
Erdrogan is no fan of social media and has previously said he will “wipe out” Twitter, a site
AUT
Tschuden quits Telekom Austria over America Movil’s involvement
Telekom Austria’s chief financial Tschuden
officer Hans will exit the
company at the end of next month after reportedly falling out with fellow board members over the involvement in the company of America Movil. Latin America-based America Movil,
dissolve” his contract on May 31. He has held the chief financial officer’s role at the company for more than seven years, so this represents a significant departure for the company.
owned by
billionaire Carlos Slim, is one of the largest telcos in the world and holds around 27 per cent of the Austrian operator’s stock through its investment vehicle Carso Telecom, after increasing its shareholding in January. Tschuden had a contract to
2017 but a statement from the group’s supervisory board said it had agreed to “prematurely
Tschuden: ‘No puppet’
Sources close to the situation told Reuters that
America
Movil “probably wanted their own man or woman” on the board, and that
Tschuden
“does not allow himself to be dictated to by others – he’s no puppet”. Movil has been making
plays for more influence over Telekom Austria and recently made a shareholder agreement
with the state
holding company OIAG, which holds around 28 per cent of the company’s stock. If their stakes were pooled, a mandatory offer for the remainder of the company would be forthcoming as their shares would rise above the 30 per cent trigger point.
used by more than 10 million people in Turkey. He is unhappy that audio recordings, allegedly of him and family members discussing how to hide large amounts of money, are being shared on the site.
Illegal One week after the Twitter ban, YouTube users were unable to access that site in a repeat of the action against the video- sharing social network that saw it banned for two years in 2010. This ban was also ruled illegal by the constitutional court but has so far not been lifted. The government was able to block the websites after it passed a bill in early February that allowed it to restrict access without seeking a court
was the third largest smartphone market and Nokia’s partnership with the country’s largest operator is likely to be a good fit for the soon to be Microsoft- owned Finnish handset maker. As the price points between feature and smartphones
are
tumbling, many more users are choosing the latter.
Nokia X range: ‘Tremendous’ smartphone adoption in India
There are three handsets in the range: the Nokia X (priced at €89), the X+ (€99) and the XL (€109). All sit on the bottom rung of the smartphone market that is fiercely fought over in India. Nokia executives had previously told Mobile News that
USA
AT&T hiring extra 3,000 staff to cope with demand
America’ second-largest mobile telephone carrier AT&T will hire 3,000 additional employees over the next few months, according to the company. The firm says the positions,
which will be added across the US, will help it to cope with “increased customer demand”. “Our customers expect a high
Erdogan: Allegations
ruling. It also required ISPs to store web users’ data for two years and make it available to the authorities.
During a debate before the passing of the bill, opposition MP Hassan Oren accused Erdrogan of “trying to implement fascism”.
level of service when they walk into our stores, so we are investing in our workforce to ensure we are providing just that,” said AT&T Mobility president of retail sales and services Paul Roth. Shares in AT&T grew by more than 10 per cent in March as the company’s shareholders approved a new scheme to buy
SLV
Deutsche Telekom eyes Telekom Slovenije deal
Deutsche Telekom is said to be considering a bid for state-owned Slovenian operator Telekom Slovenije, according to several reports. Barclays and JPMorgan Chase
have been appointed to act as advisers on any offer for the mobile operator valued at around €950 million (£783 million) at the time of going to press. Eastern European governments
are selling off state assets to reduce debt
and Slovenia’s economy
minister Metod Dragonja hopes to have a deal in place by the end of this year.
Deutsche Telekom, which has a joint venture with France Telecom for the EE network in the UK, has already purchased a number of European carriers over the past year.
It purchased Polish fixed-line operator GTS Central Europe
for €546 million in November and also took full control of its T-Mobile Czech unit in an €800 million deal in February. It also reportedly offered to buy the Greek government’s 10 per cent stake in Hellenic Telecommunications Organization. Many
major European
operators are shelling out big sums at the moment as they want to bundle “quad-play” packages of mobile, fixed-line, broadband and pay-TV as competition intensifies in the mobile sector. In the US, Deutsche Telekom is
believed to be looking to offload T-Mobile US, the country’s fourth- largest carrier, to SoftBank-owned Sprint. The deal is fraught with complexities as a previous $39 billion (£23 billion) takeover bid by the second largest US operator AT&T was blocked by US competition authorities.
back up to 300 million shares. The shares would be worth around $10.5 billion at the company’s current market capitalisation. It is the third similar scheme since it began repurchasing stock in 2012. The company has bought back around 775 million shares over that period.
The share price has also been helped by the company reporting revenues of $33.2 billion for Q4 2013, an increase of 1.8 per cent year-on-year. This figure was helped by
the addition of more than two million new wireless and high speed broadband connections at the firm, which is also America’s largest fixed-line telco.
the
the phones will bring mapping technologies and apps to many people in the developing world for
first time. They also
claim that many people’s first Microsoft ID could be created on a Nokia X device. “India is
witnessing a
tremendous growth in smartphone adoption. This offer will enable customers to make the most of their new Nokia X device,” said Bharti Airtel chief executive (data and devices) Kartik Sheth. The offer is only available
on the first Bharti Airtel SIM placed in a Nokia X handset after purchase.
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