telecom

Nokia is bringing its Lumia 800 and 610 smartphones to the booming Chinese market.

The Nokia 800C will be the first Lumia phone and the first CDMA Windows Phone to reach Chinese consumers. Carried by China Telecom, the 800C will make its debut in April at a contract-free price of 3599 RMB ($571). Buyers can pick up the phone at Nokia brand stores, China Telecom's Tianyi FlyYoung distribution chain, and other retail outlets.

"We're excited to introduce our first Lumia smartphone, the Nokia 800C, to this important market with our exclusive launch partner, China Telecom," Nokia … Read more

A record number of smartphones will jump on the LTE bandwagon before the year is over.

Eyeing a "breakout year" for 4G technology, Strategy Analytics expects LTE phone shipments to grow 10-fold in 2012, rising to 67 million units from just 6.8 million last year. The push is being driven across the entire industry.

"Multiple operators and multiple phone vendors will be launching dozens of LTE models across numerous countries worldwide," Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Mawston said in a statement. "LTE has quickly become a high-growth, high-value market that no operator, service developer, device … Read more

The five largest European carriers could face an antitrust inquiry for meetings they've allegedly held since 2010.

The Financial Times, citing sources, reported that Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, and Vodafone have been holding so-called "E5" meetings since 2010 to discuss a host of issues they face. Financial Times' sources say that the company's top executives discussed everything from Apple and Google to mobile payments.

Those meetings have apparently not gone unnoticed in Brussels, where the European Commission confirmed to CNET today that it has "requested information" from the carriers, as well … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--Where do the largest telecommunications companies in the world want to be in in the future? In the cloud.

We've all heard this schtick before: Carriers don't want to be the purveyors of dumb pipes. Their equipment suppliers--namely, Cisco Systems and Alcatel-Lucent--also don't want them to be dumb pipe operators. The reason is simple: There just isn't much money in being dumb.

Smart is the way to go.

But for telecommunications giants, what does it mean to be smart? For the CEOs of Deutsche Telekom, Alcatel Lucent, and Cisco Systems, who spoke as part of … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--Not everything is rosy in the wireless industry.

That's an unusual thing to say during the kickoff keynote address at Mobile World Congress, the world's largest wireless confab. Yet that's exactly what Franco Bernabe, CEO of Telecom Italia, said during his prepared remarks today.

"I don't want to say we're an industry with problems," Bernabe said. "We're still growing and we have a lot of opportunities. But we have a lot of challenges we need to face."

Bernabe was joined by China Mobile CEO Li Yue, Vodafone CEO Vittorio … Read more

Welcome to our 1,000th episode of The 404 Podcast! It's an exciting mile marker for the show, so we commemorate it with Wilson Tang--remember that guy?

This episode is packed with stories guaranteed to induce Wilson's chuckle that we miss so dearly.

And since we all know how much Wilson worships Apple, we're talking about a bunch of Idiots paying for a $0.99 service that adds a "Sent From My iPhone" signature to the end of every going message, YouPorn getting caught with their collective pants down, Google adding concert listings to their search results, and an ugly YouTube trend that takes advantage of self-conscious teenagers.… Read more

T-Mobile is looking to ramp up its rollout of 4G LTE service in the U.K. this year.

Operating under the umbrella of Everything Everywhere, a company jointly owned by Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom, T-Mobile and Orange will kick off the first trials of 4G over the 1800MHz band across Bristol in the U.K. this April.

The new trial follows a live customer test of 4G over the 800MHz band that took place in the rural area of Cornwall in September. That initial test was a success. However, running 4G over the 1800MHz band can provide better coverage at a lower cost, … Read more

China Telecom will begin selling the iPhone 4S beginning March 9, ending China Unicom's three-year run as the device's exclusive seller in China.

The big country's third largest carrier will start taking preorders for the 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models beginning March 2, with sales to commence a week later, the company said in a statement. Pricing will start as low as free for 16GB model with a contract. China Telecom had previously announced it would soon begin selling the smartphone but gave only a vague timetable.

The phone is currently available in China only through China … Read more

Telephone service in Mexico is run by a monopoly that is overcharging customers billions of dollars, according to a new report by the Organization for Co-operation and Development (OECD).

"The lack of telecommunication competition in Mexico has led to inefficient telecommunications markets that impose significant costs on the Mexican economy and burden the welfare of its population," say the report's authors.

The culprit companies, America Movil (mobile phones) and Telmex (fixed lines), are owned by the world's richest man--Carlos Slim. According to Forbes' list of top billionaires, Slim's net worth is $74 billion; next … Read more