Thomson Cirpack soft switches have been purchased by Americatel, an affiliate of Chile' s national telecommunications carrier Entel, and service provider in Guatemala , Honduras , Peru and El Salvador..

Andrew Corporation has won a strategic multiyear contract from a Tier 1 operator in the Middle East for a major geolocation system deployment...

Cable & Wireless Panama first started providing GSM services in 2003. By 2005, it was catering to 64,000 mobile subscribers and seeing a 35% increase in GSM service revenue from the previous fiscal year...

Roamware has launched its advanced roaming services across 12 mobile networks owned by the Cable & Wireless International Communications Company in the Caribbean region...

DigiLinea, the specialist VoIP service provider to the US-Hispanic and Latin American markets, has announced the availability of new unlimited calling plans to the USA and Latin America for clients residing in Central America...

The Arab world's largest communications network is set to overhaul its customer services. Convergys has signed a contract with Saudi Telecom Company, which provides mobile, landline, data, and Internet services...

Users of mobile phones in Brazil will experience less interference if spectrum is allocated efficiently. The GSM Association has advised Brazilian regulator Anatel that it can build on its already successful spectrum policy if its allocation of the IMT-2000 core band in Brazil is consistent with global standards.

Pakistan has won this year's GSMA Government Leadership Award, which recognises exceptional work by governments globally in the field of mobile communications policy...

First National Bank has selected Clickatell to extend its inContact alert service to Namibia . inContact immediately alerts customers of any transactions on their bank accounts via a text message to their mobile phones...

Two Indian mobile operators, Airtel and Idea Cellular, have agreed to use fastmobile Inc fmX software technology to support a series of message service trials. fastmobile designs and supplies integrated messaging and content services for mobile network operators: the fmX platform is to be used in trials exploring the impact of mobile communications in developing countries...

Reuters in India has reported a ministerial speech claiming that the country, the world's fastest growing mobile market, could be adding between 6-8 million new users each month once networks reach all potential rural customers. The comments were made by Telecommunications Minister Dayanidhi Maran at 3GSM Barcelona .

Openmind Networks is deploying its SMS personalisation system called My SMS with the Bahrain Telecommunications Company. My SMS enables Batelco to introduce innovative solutions to its customers by offering them new, value-added services based on the most successful non-voice service to date, namely, SMS...

Mobile Telecommunications Limited of Namibia has signed a five-year exclusive contract with Motorola Limited for the supply of GSM/GPRS/EDGE and Canopy access network equipment...

Almost 30% more people (25 million) in Sub-Saharan Africa would have mobile phones if it was not for the unpredictable and short-term approach to regulation in many countries in the region, according to a PriceWaterhouse Coopers study published by the GSM Association (GSMA).

Nokia has won a new MSC Server System contract with Telefónica Móviles Ecuador , which operates under the movistar brand, to enable more cost efficient voice service. Telefónica's subsidiary in Ecuador marks a new customer for Nokia and strengthens cooperation with Telefónica Móviles.

Kuwaiti owned Mobile Telecommunications Company Group (MTC), the largest GSM operator in the region, is to bid for the third GSM licence in Egypt . Mohamed Eid, MTC Country Manager Egypt, has stressed the advantage of winning the contract: employment opportunities for many Egyptians based on a high-quality local labour force.

In a deal valued at US$1.332 billion, MTC has acquired from Sudatel 61% of Sudanese mobile operator Mobitel. Mobitel currently has almost 2 million customers, up 70% in the last year. Funding for this new transaction was secured following the capital increase from an equity rights issue of US$2.3 billion.

Wataniya Telecom today opened the first High Speed Downlink Packet Access network in the Middle East and Africa region, thereby making it the first operator in these two areas to offer mobile services beyond 3G.

Nokia has reached a five-year managed services agreement to run Hutchison Essar's network operations in nine circles in India . Nokia will assume the operation of Hutchison Essar's networks in Gujarat , Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Uttar Pradesh (East and West), Rajasthan, Haryana and West Bengal , thus allowing the operator to better focus on its customers and core activities...

Just three and a half years after it first arrived in Brazil , GSM is now used by more than 50% of Brazilian mobile phone users. According to the Brazilian regulator Anatel, of the 86 million people with mobile phones in Latin America 's largest country, more than 44 million are connected to GSM networks.

Agilent Technologies Inc is celebrating a US$14.5 million order with India 's primary communications service providers Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Tata Teleservices Ltd to provide operator support  services solutions...

Mexican communications company IUSAcom and New York-based Vistula Communications Service Inc have signed a deal to provide Voice Over Internet Protocol communications services...

First the Soviets built a telephone system in Afghanistan. The Chinese did too. The two weren’t compatible.  Afghan Telecom is the company ordered to sort it all out. It is using expertise from Globecomm Systems.  Michael Schwartz learns more...

Afghan Telecom has announced that its new District Communications Network has recently gone live...

After evaluating a number of sites in India , Nokia will locate its new Global Networks Solutions Centre in Chennai...

Turkey' s largest mobile communications operator, Turkcell, has selected Visto Corporation's Mobile with ConstantSync technology to deliver mass-market push mobile email services to a customer's wireless device of choice...

Nokia and Telefónica Móviles will be supplying a complete GSM system deal to Telefónica Móviles Colombia which includes GSM radio access and the MSC Server System (MSS)...

Work on the East African Submarine System (EASSy) is likely to start early next year. The World Bank is willing to offer finance. After all, the Internet and mobile-based commerce can change people's lives. Michael Schwartz says lessons can be learnt from a predecessor.