T-Mobile and T-Com (Germany) introduce combined fixed/mobile flat rate for € 9.95 a month until end of January 2006. Telecom New Zealand could abandon the Australian market. Its Australian unit (AAPT) should be therefore for sale. Optus, Macquarie Bank,...

Siemens may close its loss-making SBS unit, with some parts being sold off to Atos Origin and Fujitsu Siemens Computers. Cisco plans to open an R&D center in Shanghai, and invest $32m over the next five years.

Datang (China) said its TD-SCDMA system has allowed high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA). Nokia has finally succumbed to the Chinese TD-SCDMA standard siren. It will form a JV with state-owned mobile and fixed network vendor China Putian.

European telecom rules: The European Commission has sent written warnings to nine European member states for breaking European telecom rules. The nine states are: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland and Slovenia....

Enhanced Wireless Consortium for new 802.11n WiFi standard Twenty-seven Wi-Fi industry players formed a coalition to accelerate the IEEE 802.11n standard development process (not targeted before 2007) and promote a technology specification for next-generation...

Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) TSF is an NGO (non-governmental organization) that targets to bring telecommunications means in devastated regions (i.e. by hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions or tsunamis). The NGO says it can have communications...

Microsoft – Yahoo – AOL – Google We knew that Microsoft was interested in buying AOL Online from Time Warner; AOL is the Internet's second biggest network of site, with some 112 million visitors. The strategy has been disturbed by the announcement of...

Is Microsoft finally getting in the mobile market? After years of being the uninvited guest at the mobile party, left out of the original Symbian Alliance, Microsoft has struggled to get its Windows operating system (OS) accepted in mobile devices. Even...

The Japanese government plans to introduce mobile Voice over Internet telephony by 2007. SFR has secured exclusive rights in France for 3G delivery of the FIFA 2006 World Cup. Amena (Spain FT unit) could invest some $267m this year to expand its 3G network...

Motorola appoints Jose R. Figueroa as Corporate Vice President and Regional Manager of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for Motorola Networks. It also announced the appointment of Margaret Rice-Jones as corporate vice president and general manager...