VimpelCom Board Gives OK to Wind, Orascom Buy
Total Telecom
The board of Russian telecoms group VimpelCom Ltd. has in principle approved the acquisition of Italy’s mobile operator Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA and a stake in Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Holding SAE, daily Vedomosti reports Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.
Algeria Said to Have Formed Team to Negotiate Purchase of Orascom’s Djezzy
Bloomberg
Algeria’s government has told Orascom Telecom Holding SAE that it has formed a team to negotiate the possible purchase of the company’s local unit, a person familiar with the matter said. Talks between the government and the Cairo-based company, the biggest mobile-phone operator in the Middle East by users, may start soon, said the person, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private.
Jordan Amends Cyber Crimes Law After Media Outcry
AFP
Journalists have complained that one of the articles of the law banned sending or posting data on the Internet or any information system that involves…
Iran Launches 4,000 Telecom Projects
Tehran Times
Iran has launched more than 4000 telecommunication and postal projects worth up to 1900 billion rials (around 200 million dollars) in four provinces.
KULACOM Jordan Launches Fully Customized “Family Safe” Internet Network
Al-Bawaba
KULACOM Jordan announced the launch of its fully customized Family Safe Internet Network that allows customers to manage exactly when and how much information can enter their homes. The filtering solution is powered by NetSpark, a global provider of family-safe and workplace appropriate Internet solutions.
UAE Telecom Firms Downplay Impact of BlackBerry Ban
TMCnet
A planned ban on key BlackBerry services from Oct. 11 by the UAE regulator is unlikely to affect the results of the country’s two leading telecom companies, according to officials.
RIM Can Make Data More Accessible, But That’s A Risky Move
Wall Street Journal
Although Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM) said Monday that no “back door” exists that would allow RIM or a third party to gain unauthorized access to corporate data sent to and from the device, that doesn’t mean one can’t be built.
Ban On BlackBerry Data A Security Badge Of Honor
AFP
Security experts have said that banning BlackBerry data service in the United Arab Emirates smacks of political backlash and could be a testament to how hard it is to snoop on that network. Canada-based Research In Motion built its own platform for business customers that encrypts BlackBerry email messages and routes them in a way that keeps the data off limits from even telecom firms that carry the transmissions.
Orascom Telecom’s Algeria Unit Said to Be Prevented From Buying SIM Cards
Bloomberg
Orascom Telecom Holding SAE’s unit in Algeria is being prevented from buying SIM cards after the country’s central bank froze its money transfers and bank accounts, a person familiar with the matter said. The restrictions on Orascom, the biggest mobile-phone company by number of subscribers in the Middle East, include blocking the release of some of its equipment from customs, said the person, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Are Smart Phones Outsmarting Us?
Retail Digital
According to Jordan Robertson with the Associated Press, “Your smart phone applications are watching you — much more closely than you might like. “Lookout Inc., a mobile-phone security firm, scanned nearly 300,000 free applications for Apple Inc.’s iPhone and phones built around Google Inc.’s Android software. It found that many of them secretly pull sensitive data off users’ phones and ship them off to third parties without notification.
One of Out Every 16 Residents Affected by Blackberry Ban
Zawya
The TRA’s announcement on Sunday that Blackberry messenger, BlackBerry e-mail and BlackBerry web-browsing services in the UAE would be suspended from October 11, could affect more than 500,000 BlackBerry users in UAE, majority of which are etisalatet subscribers.
BlackBerry Smartphones Targeted by Emirati Telecom Watchdog
CanadianBusiness.com
The UAE says BlackBerry smartphones operate outside of existing national security legislation, raising questions about the devices’ legality in the Mideast business hub. The country’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said in a statement carried late Sunday on state news agency WAM that BlackBerry applications allow people to “misuse the service.”
Cheaper Internet: Next Stop, ‘Palestine’
The Media Line
Within weeks, the Palestinian Authority will be taking action which is expected to end the virtual monopoly held by the Palestinian Telecommunication Group PalTel over Internet services in its territory.
First Consortium to Build Terrestrial Terabit Cable System to Bridge East and West
Al-Bawaba
Six of the region’s leading operators have signed a Construction and Maintenance Agreement to build the RCN (Regional Cable Network) – a multi-terabit cable system stretching from the UAE through Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria into Europe. RCN will provide robust bandwidth connectivity for the region’s growing broadband community. It will also provide greater diversity for each of the operators and protect their service from disruption from damage to undersea cable systems.
UAE’s Du to Profit as Competition With Etisalat Intensifies
BusinessWeek
Du, or Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Co., probably increased profit in the second quarter as it intensified competition with the United Arab Emirates’ other state-controlled phone company.
