Shares in FranceTelecom shares soared today as investors reacted with relief to an announcement that the Gallic communications group had withdrawn a takeover bid for TeliaSonera, its Nordic rival. … more

The government has ordered China’s fast-growing phone companies to stop adding new customers in August so they can better focus on ensuring service for the Beijing Olympics, company employees said Thursday. … more

Aiming to spur competition among operators and lower phone charges for European consumers, the Commission today starts a public consultation on the future regulation of “voice call termination rates” in the EU based on a draft Commission Recommendation on termination rates. Voice call termination rates are the wholesale tariffs charged by the operator of a customer receiving a phone call to the operator of the caller’s network. Included in everyone’s phone bill, and therefore eventually paid by the consumer, these tariffs are determined by the intervention of national telecoms regulators. At the moment the decisions of the national telecoms regulators result in very divergent rates across the EU. Mobile termination rates range from €0.02/min (in Cyprus) to over €0.18/min (in Bulgaria) and are 9 times higher than fixed line termination rates (on average €0.0057/min for local call termination). This distorts competition between operators from different countries and between fixed line and mobile phone operators. The public consultation on this proposal will be open until 3 September 2008. … more

An EU-wide survey of 27,000 households has revealed the emergence of new consumption patterns in telecoms services in Europe. Technological progress and competition have brought more choice to European consumers; 24% of households have given up their fixed telephone in favour of mobile phones while 22% of them are using their computer from home to make phone calls over the Internet. In an increasing number of Member States, European households are using wireless access to connect to the Internet, via mobile or satellite networks. Meanwhile, 29% of European households buy bundled telecoms and media packages, an increase of nearly 10% since last year. Nevertheless, the top priority for consumers in this fast evolving environment remains the quality of services. … more

Vodafone is understood to be close to buying a majority stake in Ghana’s leading telecoms company for just under $1bn (£480m) as the world’s largest mobile phone company continues to hunt for growth in emerging markets. … more

Cable & Wireless is sweetening its offer for Thus by up to £27m as the two companies work on an agreed takeover that could be recommended to shareholders tomorrow morning.

Talks began late last week after the Scottish telecoms group failed in its quest for a white-knight bidder. … more

The cost of mobile phone calls could come down by as much as 70 per cent within three years if Brussels’ plans for swingeing cuts to the prices mobile operators charge each other go ahead. … more

South African Wimax Rules Wishful
THE new licences to allocate scarce wireless spectrum to the internet industry seem an example of how over-emphasising black empowerment can harm, not help, social and economic development. … more

New mobile phones being developed by Google Inc and more than 30 partners based on software called Android will arrive in the fourth quarter, a schedule that some cellular carriers and program makers are struggling to meet, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. … more

We believe that VoIP and IP Telephony (IPT) have passed the “tipping point” so that the key question now is no longer whether/when to install, but how to manage what you have installed. So today we’d like to direct our readers to a continuation of a great tutorial series that discusses the myriad factors that affect VoIP call quality performance (e.g., MOS, latency, packet loss, jitter buffer loss and ACOM), and troubleshooting methods. … more