vodafone

Vodafone, one of the larger carriers in the world, is bringing a mobile-payments service to its customers next year.

The companies announced the plans today, saying that CorFire -- the mobile-commerce arm of SK C&C, a South Korea-based IT service provider -- will deliver the technology behind it. According to CorFire, Vodafone customers will be able to make payments from their smartphones, just as customers do with competing services, like Google Wallet.

The deal could be a major opportunity for CorFire, since Vodafone has over 406 million customers in 30 countries around the world.

However, CorFire needs to … Read more

The United Kingdom's telecom regulator Ofcom has approved an application made by Everything Everywhere to run the nation's first 4G service.

Ofcom's approval means that the parent company of Orange and T-Mobile is now allowed to rebrand its 1800MHz existing spectrum to offer 4G services in the U.K. Following a consultation, the telecom regulator believes the decision will result in "significant benefits to consumers, and that there is no material risk that those benefits will be outweighed by a distortion of competition."

EE has been issued a license which is valid from September 11. … Read more

The world's first update to Android 4.1, also known as Jelly Bean, was pushed back by Vodafone Australia because the new iteration of the operating system wasn't up to the country's standards for emergency phone calls.

The update was supposed to give Nexus S users with the carrier the latest version of Android. The Next Web first reported on the issue.

"We've just been advised that the roll-out the of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update to Vodafone Australia customers has been delayed," the carrier said in a blog post. "At this … Read more

Former T-Mobile USA chief executive Philipp Humm has joined Vodafone Group, after leaving the company less than 24 hours ago.

The Deutsche Telekom-owned company issued a statement yesterday announcing Humm's immediate departure.

This morning, he was named Vodafone Group's chief for northern and central Europe division.

Humm's departure was sudden and unexpected to those outside the company, despite internal memos suggesting it had been in the works for some time. Humm's family stayed in Europe as he took on the T-Mobile USA chief executive's role in 2010, and said he planned to return to reunite … Read more

EU regulators are looking into competition concerns surrounding a joint venture in mobile payments by Everything Everywhere, Vodafone and O2.

The UK's biggest cellular operators said in June that they were creating a clearing house for mobile payments, which would act as an intermediary between advertisers, banks and retailers. However, Three complained to the European Commission that it had been shut out of the deal.

Although the commission did not cite Three's complaint, it did say in its announcement of the investigation late on Friday that there are "potential competition concerns in the nascent markets of mobile … 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--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

With just a day left before Apple's official announcement, another indication of an upgraded iPhone 4 has popped up.

The latest comes from Vodafone Germany, which lists the iPhone 4S on its Web site. In addition, the options include a higher capacity model with 64 gigabytes of memory. The listing was discovered by iPhone-Ticker.de and reported by AppleInsider.

The listing also shows a lower-capacity 8-gigabyte iPhone 4 model. That follows the pattern of Apple taking its older model and positioning it as its low-end product. It previously sold the iPhone 3GS for $99 before dropping the price to $… Read more

London-based Vodafone has put up a new teaser site in the Australia region allowing for users to register to get information about "this year's biggest smartphone release," which the carrier says is "coming soon to Vodafone."

BGR, which picked up on the site this morning, suggests it's a tease for Apple's next iPhone, which a recent report suggested is being unveiled next week.

Vodafone began carrying Apple's iPhone in 10 countries beginning in early 2008. That deal marked the first time Apple began selling its smartphone through two different operators in the … Read more