Kuoni Group signs 5-year IP Telephony contract with Orange Business Services

The Kuoni Group, one of Europe's leading leisure travel companies with headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, signed a 5-year contract with Orange Business Services for pan-European managed IP Telephony and call center services. The roll-out will start in the UK and Switzerland, and will run over the next 18 months. Kuoni intended to unify and consolidate its telephony technology and PBX systems across the countries in order to be more flexible and dynamic through virtualization. Together with technology provider Avaya, Orange Business Services won the tender based on its EMEA footprint and its competency in managed IP Telephony, call center services, and IP Telephony in general.

Telecom companies enter South-African under sea cable consortium

A consortium comprising of international telecom companies have forged an agreement to deploy the sixth fiber-optic under sea cable, serving east, west and southern Africa. Named as West Africa Cable System (WACS), the USD 600 million (Rs. 3,000 crore) worth network will help rev up South Africa's bandwidth capacity by about 120 times to around 10 terabits per second by 2011, and will also help reduce the internet tariff in South Africa. Alcatel-Lucent will render the cable system, which will run from Cape Town to the UK with landings in Namibia, Angola, The Democratic Republic of Congo, The Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Cape Verde, the Canary Islands, and Portugal, with high-speed broadband. The companies that have entered the consortium include Angola Telecom, Broadband Infraco, Cable & Wireless, MTN Group (MTNJ.J), Portugal Telecom (PTC.LS), Sotelco, Tata Communications (TATA.BO), Telecom Namibia, Telkom SA, Togo Telecom, and Vodacom.

Orange, Telkom Indonesia partner on network services

Orange Business Services and Indonesian service provider Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) have signed a contract to provide advanced network services including IP VPN to Indonesian and multinational enterprises in the country. Orange has also appointed Telkom as a distributor of its global network services for Telkom customers who are expanding in international markets. Orange Business Services and Telkom will allow enterprise customers to consolidate their voice, data and application traffic onto a single network and implement Orange business communications applications. The partners currently support organizations in manufacturing, resources, logistics, financial services, and government. The partnership reinforces Orange Business Services' commitment to deliver integrated business communications services to countries in Asia Pacific.

Virgin Media offers new email services with Google

UK cable and mobile operator Virgin Media said it will offer enhanced email services to its four million home broadband customers in partnership with Google. The operator's new email service will offer customers over 7 GB of storage and @virginmedia.com email addresses for the first time. Virgin Media's new email service will be one of the largest deployments of Google Partner Edition Apps, which allows businesses as well as individuals to use Google's communication and collaboration applications under their own domain names. Besides, greater storage, Virgin Media's broadband customers will also benefit from advanced email search, the ability to stay up to date with emails via their mobiles, anti-virus, spam, phishing filters, and up to 10 @virginmedia.com email addresses for each broadband household. Customers accessing their email through the web-based interface will also be able to take advantage of instant messaging features and organize emails into threaded conversations.

Westcon signs global distribution agreement with Cisco

Networking products distributor Westcon Group has signed a multi-year global distribution agreement with Cisco. The agreement will enable both companies to conduct cross-border transactions while allowing companies to expand in regions such as Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. The global distribution agreement provides both companies with a single contractual vehicle to manage global, regional, and local business activities with common terms and conditions. Westcon's Global Procurement System, or its global order desk, delivers automation capabilities and cross-theatre support to Westcon's Cisco-oriented reseller base. In the past, both companies transacted business through independent regional contracts.

Alcatel-Lucent signs framework agreements with China Mobile and China Telecom

Alcatel-Lucent has signed two framework agreements valued USD 1.7 billion (Rs. 8,500 crore) in total with China Mobile and China Telecom to provide network upgrades, integration, and maintenance services in 2009. Under an agreement valued approximately USD 1 billion (Rs. 5000 crore) with China Mobile, Alcatel-Lucent will provide its industry-leading GSM/EDGE solutions; TD-SCDMA wireless networking equipment; optical, microwave, and IP transmission offerings; IP service routers; application platforms; and related services. In a comparable agreement with China Telecom, valued at approximately USD 700 million (Rs. 3,500 crore), Alcatel-Lucent will supply its 3G CDMA/EV-DO networking equipment, application platforms, optical and IP transmission platforms, IP service routers, and network maintenance services to support the rollout of China telecom's 3G wireless broadband network.

China Telecom leverages Nokia Siemens to roll out 3G video streaming

Following the roll-out of third generation (3G) services, China Telecommunications Corporation (China Telecom) launched centralized 3G video streaming services across China, leveraging Nokia Siemens Network's 3G CDMA EVDO. According to the company, the centralized 3G CDMA EVDO video streaming platform can support nationwide diversified audio/video format, with quality that is 50 percent higher than the traditional 2G solution. Further, its launch will enable subscribers gain access to more extensive mobile applications like Mobile TV, video on demand, and download. As the main supplier of China Telecom's video streaming service platform, Huawei will provide unique and compelling 3G video services in the region.

ST-Ericsson's subsidiary T3G to partner China Mobile in developing handsets

ST-Ericsson's Chinese subsidiary, T3G, has been picked by China Mobile as a key technology partner for the development of its high-end and low-cost mobile handsets, supported by TD-SCDMA 3G standard. According to the terms of the deal, ST-Ericsson, a 50/50 JV between Ericsson and STMicroelectronics, will set up a new low-cost platform to support its customers to offer affordable TD-SCDMA devices to China Mobile consumers.

World's first commercial 4G/LTE site unveiled in Sweden by Ericsson and TeliaSonera

Alcatel-Lucent has signed two framework agreements valued USD 1.7 billion (Rs. 8,500 crore) in total with China Mobile and China Telecom to provide network upgrades, integration, and maintenance services in 2009. Under an agreement valued approximately USD 1 billion (Rs. 5000 crore) with China Mobile, Alcatel-Lucent will provide its industry-leading GSM/EDGE solutions; TD-SCDMA wireless networking equipment; optical, microwave, and IP transmission offerings; IP service routers; application platforms; and related services. In a comparable agreement with China Telecom, valued at approximately USD 700 million (Rs. 3,500 crore), Alcatel-Lucent will supply its 3G CDMA/EV-DO networking equipment, application platforms, optical, and IP transmission platforms, IP service routers, and network maintenance services to support the rollout of China telecom's 3G wireless broadband network.