Mobile Internet Increasingly Available, but Europe Missing out on High Speed Broadband

Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, welcomed figures which show a solid increase in the availability of both mobile internet and basic quality fixed broadband lines. At the same time the Commissioner warned that Europe risked missing out on badly needed economic growth if it does not step up a gear and increase the capacity of its broadband networks. Broadband is getting faster in Europe, but very high speed connections are not yet widely available. Although 42.2 % of fixed broadband lines were at least 10 megabits per second (Mbps) in July 2011 (up from 29.2% a year ago), only 6.5 % were at least as fast as 30 Mbps and less than 1% at least 100 Mbps. The EU is not yet delivering on the 2020 high-speed targets of the Digital Agenda for Europe.

Source: Digital Agenda for Europe

ICTA announces arrival of NP in the Cayman Islands

The Information and Communications Technology Authority (ICTA) of the Cayman Islands has confirmed that a new local number portability (NP) regime – both fixed and mobile – went live this week allowing customers to move their number to a different service provider. The implementation was due in late-January 2012 but was pushed back to 20 February due to technical issues and ‘sensitive negotiations’ between the island’s principal operators – Digicel Caymans and LIME – which were involved in the committee controlling the process. The latest delay was designed to give operators more time to complete systems testing required to make porting a reality, CayCompass.com reports.

The head of ICTA, David Archbold, welcomed the arrival of local NP in the country saying that ‘by removing most of the inconvenience and reducing the costs associated with changing service providers, NP gives consumers greater choice and increases competition’. The regulator originally legislated for the introduction on number portability in December 2008 – since when local operators have been selecting and implementing the necessary systems to make it a reality. Archbold hopes the new regime will remove a ‘big disincentive’ for businesses in particular to switch service provider – by eliminating costs related to re-printing company documentation and changing advertising materials.

Both Digicel Caymans and LIME have welcomed the arrival of NP. Victor Corcoran, CEO of Digicel’s operation there, said his firm was looking forward to the opportunities and challenges of local number portability, while his counterpart at LIME, Tony Ritch, said he was pleased local number portability was finally a reality.

Source: Telegeography

SMS still ‘King’ as worldwide messaging revenues set to exceed 175 billion Euro by 2013

A new report focused on mobile messaging suggests that SMS will continue to be the cash cow of mobile data revenues for some time to come. Traffic volumes and revenues continue to confound predictions and are expected to keep growing throughout the global economic downturn. Indeed the whole mobile messaging industry worth 100 billion Euro in 2008 is predicted to be worth 175 billion Euro by 2013, 60 percent of non-voice service revenues. The report, ‘Mobile Messaging Futures 2009 – 2013’ ventures that there is nothing likely to stop continued growth of mobile messaging in the short term, driven by a cocktail of ubiquitous SMS, media rich MMS, enterprise based mobile email and youth conscious mobile IM.

Source: Portio Research

Mobile Payment Transactions May Reach $1 Trillion by 2015

The mobile ... more