BICS has been selected by Russian mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) as its signalling provider for its group companies. Both companies ran a trial in July this year, when MTS began using BICS as the global signalling gateway for its subsidiary companies in Russia, Ukraine, Armenia and Uzbekistan to ensure that its 95 million customers had service to its network when roaming. The companies have now entered in to a definite agreement as signalling partners.
US-based carrier solutions provider Patton has signed a deal with Sistems Enterprise Communications (SEN) as a value-added distributor and systems integrator to deliver converged-IP and legacy communications solutions across the Central American and Caribbean regions. According to local media reports, the partnership enables SEN to offer Patton’s 1000 US manufactured products for carrier, enterprise and industrial networks to customers and enables operators to maintain new converged-IP and TDM communications infrastructures.
TeliaSonera has partnered with Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) to modernise its radio network which includes capabilities in GSM, 3G and LTE services. Under a two-year agreement, NSN will use its platform to develop TeliaSonera’s operations in Finland. Its customers in Helsinki already have access to super fast mobile broadband because of an earlier agreement with NSN, and now this service will extend nationwide.
NTT Singapore has upgraded its high-speed IP backbone connection between ASEAN and Europe to offer better bandwidth capability and faster connectivity. The link, connecting Singapore with PoPs in London through NTT’s Global IP Network, offers bandwidth of 10Gbps and the company says this is almost 65 times larger than its previous capability of 155Mbps, before the upgrade was implemented. Customers in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand will now be able to receive and transmit data with a network latency of 200 milliseconds or less.
According to media reports, Dutch-based cable operator CAI Harderwijk is constructing a fibre-network between the Dutch regions of Harderwijk and Hierden. Implementation commenced yesterday, and it will take approximately two years to complete the network. CAI customers will continue to provide its services to its 16,000 subscribers via an existing coax network until the fibre is completely laid.
Interconnection service provider Neutral Tandem is to deploy PSX voice softswitch technology in partnership with Sonus Networks through its London-based Telehouse data centre. As a result, it expands the company’s commitment to international voice services, in addition to its interconnection capabilities of TDM and IP. The Telehouse London data centre provides a neutral interconnection point for companies that operate in the European markets, providing real time solutions.
China Mobile has selected mobile backhaul and signalling solutions provider Sevis Systems to provide A.bis optimisation technology across 1100 sites in China. The Sevis system is built for mobile backhaul, including redundant power supplies, hot swappable modules and enhanced clocking for IP backhaul. The service also supports GSM voice and provides bandwidth optimisation. China Mobile put Sevis through rigorous testing before selecting the company ahead of other partner vendors, including Ericsson, Nokia Siemens, Huawei, Alcatel Lucent, Motorola, Nortel and ZTE.
Russian telecoms provider Rostelecom has completed the full acquisition of mobile services provider CJSC Volgograd-GSM after acquiring the remaining 50% stake in the company for approximately $80 million. The deal will enable Rostelecom to provide GSM mobile service in Volgograd covering 33 districts in the region, covering over 2.6 million inhabitants, and approximately 90% of the market share. The company will be fully integrated with Rostelecom’s mobile asset base.
Rogers has announced plans to extend its LTE network to Toronto on 28 September 2011. The company first launched LTE services in Ottawa in July and claims to be the first company to launch LTE services in Canada. It has also announced plans to roll out wireless devices to accommodate LTE network capability in the next few months, with Canada and Ottowa the first cities to enjoy the capability. Roger’s LTE devices are expected to reach download speeds of up to 100Mbps.
CDN provider EdgeCast Networks has announced a joint initiative with OpenDNS and Google to speed up internet access by improving the process of handling DNS (domain name system) requests. The enhancements announced will aim to embed a portion of the end user’s IP address into the initial DNS request. EdgeCast said this enables delivery networks to accurately assess the end-user location and to direct them to the content server that will perform best for them.
