Saudi Telecom Company (STC) has selected Alcatel-Lucent to conduct an end-to-end Long Term Evolution (LTE) trial, to begin in the second half of 2010. This trial will enable STC to test the performance of LTE-based services and assess the related business models across the kingdom.

“As a major operator, STC is committed to providing its customers superior service. It is clear to us that LTE has evolved to being more than just a promising technology,” said Zeyad Al-Otaibi, STC’s vice president networks.  “As STC and Alcatel-Lucent are both on the edge of innovation, we are confident that this trial will help us fulfill our customers’ needs for innovative mobile broadband services.”

The vendor will provide an end-to-end integrated solution including LTE base stations (eNodeBs), the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), IP service routing network elements, operation, administration and maintenance (OAM) systems, as well as a range of professional services.

Outside of its domestic market in Saudi Arabia, STC is present in Kuwait, Bahrain, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, and South Africa with a global subscriber base of 100 million, as of March 2010.

Following the close of applications on Friday to bid in India’s 3G auction, the telecoms regulator has announced nine bidders will compete in the upcoming auction, with a further 11 contesting the broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) confirmed the nine companies as follows: Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar, Tata Teleservices, Etisalat, S Tel, Videocon, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular and Aircel.

The two state-run operators, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) have already received 3G licenses, and will be required to pay a license fee based on the result of the auction for private licenses.

The 11 bidders for the BWA licenses are Tikona Digital, Qualcomm, Tata Communications, Vodafone-Essar, Idea Cellular, Bharti Airtel, Aircel, Spice, Augere, HFCL, and Reliance Communications.

Three 3G slots and two BWA slots will be up for grabs in most of the 22 telecoms service areas. The 3G auction is scheduled for April 9, followed by the BWA auction two days later.

The percentage of Bahraini households having fixed broadband reached 62 per cent with more than 109,000 residential customers as of Q2 2009, states a market indicator report released by Bahrain’s regulator yesterday. Total Internet subscribers across the kingdom totalled almost 140,000, equating to an Internet penetration level of 12 per cent. Approximately 40 per cent of broadband subscribers had speeds of 1Mbps or more.

Other figures released by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority show that as of the second quarter of last year, mobile penetration slightly decreased from 130 per cent in 2008, to 118 per cent. Mobile subscribers reached nearly 1.4 million, of which 83 per cent were prepaid customers.

Fixed lines increased during the period from 220,000 to 230,000 representing a penetration rate of 20 per cent. The proportion of households with a fixed line remained steady at 78 per cent, the same as in 2008.

International traffic grew rapidly between Q2 2008 and Q2 2009 increasing by 50 per cent, with the bulk of international minutes (87 per cent) originating from mobile.

About 72 per cent of international calls were made to South Asian countries (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Philippines, and Sri Lanka) in the second quarter of 2009. Revenues originated from calls to South Asian countries represented 45 per cent of the total revenues during the quarter.

Zain has extended its ‘Zap’ mobile banking service to Ghana, making it the group’s seventh African operation to offer mobile wallet services. Zap is already implemented in Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda.

Philip Sowah, country manager for Zain Ghana at the launch of Zap mobile banking services

Currently 80 per cent of the Ghanaian population is unbanked, meaning traditional financial services are too remote or unavailable to the majority of citizens. Zap will allow Zain customers to top-up airtime, send and receive money, and pay for goods and services using their mobile phone.

Additionally, the m-commerce facility is compatible with Zain’s One Network roaming platform, which gives subscribers the flexibility to move across geographical borders and still be able to access their Zap accounts and make transactions in exactly the same way as they can in their home country.

The Zain Group currently provides mobile voice and data services to over 70 million customers as of 30 September, 2009 with a commercial presence in 23 countries. The group is currently in exclusive talks until March 25 with Indian giant Bharti Airtel to sell Zain’s African operations, excluding Sudan and Morocco. Bharti Airtel offered a sum of US$10.7 billion.

Zain Africa, formerly branded Celtel, includes approximately 42 million subscribers and represents around 58 per cent of the operator’s customers as of the end of the third quarter 2009. Bharti Airtel is India’s largest operator and has almost 125 million subscribers across India.

The Enterprise Mobility Solutions business of Motorola has announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Interior, expanding its partnership with the Abu Dhabi Police to provide a range of solutions and managed services.

The MOU includes the development of applications, deployment of devices, fixed and mobile broadband connectivity and maintenance for an end-to-end video security system in order to enhance situational awareness for the force’s personnel.

The signing follows a successful pilot project, which commenced at the end of February this year, showcasing Motorola’s mobile closed-circuit television (CCTV) solution for Abu Dhabi Police. During the first phase of the pilot, which is planned to run until August 2010, Motorola will provide Abu Dhabi Police with an integrated mobile broadband solution to enable enhanced video security operations across the force’s vehicles and personnel, in addition to supporting any Internet Protocol (IP) applications.

A core aspect of the solution is the inclusion of the MOTOLocator solution, which enables location-based video surveillance from police in the field back to the control room. The advanced suite of applications also enables operators at five command and control centers in Abu Dhabi to view, interact and respond to high resolution, real-time streaming video from police vehicles and personnel in the field. This enables police on the ground to make fast decisions as situations unfold and to therefore respond appropriately.

MOTOLocator can also be used to cost-effectively connect other applications used by the Abu Dhabi Police including fixed camera installations, automated speed tracking of vehicles, facial recognition and automatic license plate recognition. As the project progresses, National ID, electronic passports and fingerprint reading capabilities will be also added.