Mobile operator strategy N57

Tele2 (Sweden) has launch the first worldwide free mobile TV service, called TV channel Tango.TV (TTV). The service is available on 3G mobile handsets.

Telenor launches commercial mobile service in Pakistan, one year after being awarded the license.

Telecom Italia has announced a 90% national broadband coverage in Italy by the end of the year.

Thai AIS will invest some $310m to build the first phase of its 3G network deployment.

Alcatel, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, France Telecom, H3G, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Nokia, Philips, Siemens, STMicroelectronics, Thales, TIM, Telefonica Moviles Espana S.A. and Vodafone  have formed the eMobility Technology Platform for mobile and wireless communications. The platform is targeted to develop Europe’s leadership in wireless communications and services.

Turkcell has launched its EDGE network upgrade.

In India, mobile tariffs dropped 58% in 4Q04.

VP Telecom (Vietnam) will build a nationwide CDMA network, and start commercial service in 2Q05.

Orange (UK) launched a new business service for location solution providers. The service, called Cell ID, is an alternative to GPS for location solution providers to accurately track device location in real-time. ETS is the first to test the product. Cell ID is said to be able to track assets to within 550m.

Teliasonera is now promoting new packages without handsets, in order to reduce the cost of the services (no subsidies on the handset, no phone maintenance and less marketing expenses).

Iridium (yes, still alive!) is planning to introduce a group-call push-to-talk (PTT) voice and data service. 

Teleglobe has launched a Digital Video Broadcast/IP (DVB/IP) satellite platform covering the African continent.