Teknovis

I read that the European Parliament is introducing further caps on data roaming charges this summer, according to EU mobile data roaming charges to be capped as of 1 July.

I am not sure if the telcos will be happy about this, but I actually think that it will encourage greater usage (and hence higher revenues)!

I found the following statement particularly interesting:

She went on to say that, from 2014, the European Parliament would be delivering a “permanent solution” to the roaming issue.

I have never understood why roaming is even allowed within the EU! After all, it is a single market, and very often it is a single operator that is both the home provider and the roaming provider!

I came across Weightless today in Experience Weightlessness.

The value in machines having wireless communications has long been understood and a large market is predicted for many years. That this has not transpired has been because of the difficulty of meeting all the requirements within the constraints of the available radio spectrum. These constraints changed significantly with the advent of white space availability which provides near-perfect spectrum with free access.

However, the combination of the unique and unusual nature of that access and the very different characteristics of machine traffic compared to human traffic means that using any existing standard is far from optimal. Hence, the need for a standard designed specifically for machine communications within white space. Weightless technology has been optimised for this specific scenario and is now being delivered as a royalty-free open standard.

For more details see Weightless (wireless communications) or Weightless SIG. I see that the SIG is having its first meeting tomorrow according to First Weightless Plenary Conference!

Alcatel-Lucent is hoping to commercialise on its patent portfolio through licensing, according to Alcatel-Lucent patents ‘could make millions’.

I wondering are we moving closer to a time when companies generate patents (which are not necessarily the same as good ideas) rather than products!

Tags: Alcatel-Lucent

The software developed by two Irish companies is currently being used by the Syrian Government to monitor and block communications within the country, according to Syria regime ‘using Irish technology’.

The companies are AdaptiveMobile and Cellusys. I had a quick look at both of their web sites, and neither company appears to be publicising this! This seems strange, given how topical Syria is these days!

Perhaps these two companies are not proud of this particular sale and produce use!

Actually, if I attend Mobile World Congress this year I might visit their stands to discuss this!

Tags: AdaptiveMobile, Cellusys, Mobile World Congress

Wikipedia is going to be free for Orange users, according to Wikipedia Wants to Be Free — for Mobile Users, in Africa.

Technically it is a really simple, but I love the idea of sharing knowledge freely with people who may not otherwise have access to Wikipedia. It also has great potential for generating good press coverage.

Tags: Orange, Wikipedia

I was very surprised to read today that Openwave is going to sell all of its products and focus exclusively on its patents! See Openwave Puts Products Up for Sale.

I notice that Openwave’s web page now reads “Inventors of the Mobile Internet”, but maybe it has been like this for a while!

I have not decided yet if this is a good or bad strategy! I guess that it would be bad if Openwave pursues a patent troll approach. On the other hand, I wonder how much manufacturing Apple does (if any).

Tags: Apple, Openwave

There has been quite an amount of excitement today regarding Vodafone’s announcement that it will soon offer operator billing for Android app purchases in the Android Market. For more see Android operator billing comes to Europe, Vodafone the first to launch or the original announcement Vodafone Developer Announces Operator Billing For Android.

I think that it is a sensible move, and I image that it will facilitate more app purchasing. It is also a timely announcement, since research published today shows that Android users spend twice as much time using apps as they do the browser. See Android Phone Owners Use Their Devices For An Hour A Day.

Tags: Vodafone

Some I knew… some are new to me… but they are all interesting – 10 Fascinating Facts About Mobile Phones.

JustMobile, the Irish MVNO, is closing down. In fairness, when I think about this I am not surprised because since it started operating last October (see JustMobile) I have heard absolutely nothing about it.

Tags: JustMobile

I just read an interesting blog post on emerging telco charging models: Euro ‘Google Tax’ battle looms.

I am not sure what the author means by the following:

However, what would stop the likes of Google, the most vocal of net neutrality supporters, from avoiding those networks altogether and routing their content via less expensive or free routes, maybe even developing their own.

Is it being suggested that Google would become a 3G/4G operator? I think that this is unlikely, but I could see it rolling out unlicensed wireless infrastructure in urban areas.

Tags: Google