Biranda

A proposal to impose a cap on the amount of broadcast spectrum owned by a single operator may halt the merger of Deutsche Telekom’s UK mobile arm T-Mobile and France Telecom’s Orange.

The mobile industry was taken by a surprise when the news pertaining to the merger surfaced in early September. This merger, if finalized, will make the merged entity the largest mobile operator in Britain, garnering some 37 percent of the market share. Consumer groups are concerned, as they feel that the competition in the mobile market will reduce, leading to a possible monopoly. Industry analysts have also raised this issue with the regulators.

A recently published report of the Guardian states that plans over broadcast spectrum allocation are aligned with the government’s promise to provide 2Mb broadband to everyone in the UK by 2012. The government and the UK’s five mobile networks have been discussing the reallocation of broadcast spectrum for sometime now, in order to provide better broadband across the country.

Spectrum allocation can lead to EU regulators being asked to permit the UK authorities to look into the matter, which in turn would delay the merger. Depending upon the outcome, Orange and T-Mobile may sell some of the broadcast spectrum that they would hold jointly.

To know the current range of mobile broadband devices and offers click – compare mobile broadband – for Mobile Broadband Genie’s comparison table for mobile broadband. The website maintains a database of all the best prices and packages.

The recent announcement of a merger of Orange and T-Mobile – two major players in the mobile broadband market – to create the largest mobile provider in the UK has come as a big news to the whole telecoms industry.

According to sources, the two companies are to work separately for another one and half years, however, and by the end of the period one of the brands will prevail over the other and manage the total customer base of over 28.4 million. This merger will definitely overtake the existing providers by a considerable margin, but result in loss of jobs for hundreds of current employees at both the companies.

In response to the position of its current customers, Orange has said that there would not be any immediate changes in the plans and tariffs for the present customers. It also added that there would not be any short-term effects on its general business in the market, but there might be some changes once the deal is executed by spring next year.

However, while responding to the same, T-Mobile went into greater details and said that the new entity is undoubtedly going to be the market leader in mobile as it will not only be able to provide better and faster services but also be able to make higher investments in further research and development.

A spokesperson of T-Mobile added that the customers would be able to take advantage of excellent 2G and 3G networks. It will also lead to better performance, access to a bigger store network and a much more efficient customer service than is currently available. For an insight into the ISP’s, take look at a dedicated broadband comparison website for an overall comparison of each of the service providers’ offers and performance.

3 Mobile Broadband has always been known for putting its network coverage and strength to optimum use. In a move to create a new stream of revenue, the company has announced to sell advertisement space on its mobile broadband welcome page that comes up alongside the connection manager when a broadband dongle is plugged into the computer or laptop, and is looking for advertising partners to sign up for the deal until the end of this year.

This move comes after the same model received an overwhelming response in Austria where the company has recorded over 6% click-through rate.

3 Mobile has invited potential ad buyers to utilise this lucrative opportunity to pull the attention of its huge number of subscribers towards their products and services – for a comparison with the other mobile broadband service providers, such as the Virgin dongle, refer to the dedicated website Mobile Broadband Genie, for an overall comparison of the top service providers’ offers and performance.

Neil Andrews, Head of Advertising at 3mobile UK, defending the move and said that 3 Mobile UK has always been able to bring in new modes of mobile advertising because of its sturdy and large network that has supported all such initiatives. He further added that this move will not affect the customers in any way as these advertisements will be inconspicuous. He said that the idea is to create a dashboard complete with an advertising panel, which will display these advertisements, and if the customer wants to explore the ad further, he can click on it.

Despite all assurances by the company, there are some serious doubts about the measurement of data usage. It is certain that these ads will be data heavy, now what remains to be confirmed is whether the data used for displaying these graphics will be cut from the customer’s existing allowance or will it be over and above it.

Despite the poor state of broadband penetration in many parts of the country, Lord Carter, the Communications Minister, has now told the Telegraph that at least 25-30% of the nation would not get a fixed broadband connection because of economic considerations.

Lack of internet access in rural areas is coming in for heavy criticism from all corners. Commenting on the issue, Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, President of the Country Land and Business Association said that he is angry because rural businesses are losing out to their urban counterparts because of a lack of broadband connectivity in the rural areas. People are having to move to different locations in order to access broadband, and students who do not have access to broadband are being left behind in schools, as they cannot complete their homework on the internet. Thus, he said, the lack of broadband is causing major economic and social problems in rural areas.

With the latest announcement, the government’s commitment to ‘broadband for all’ has come under question. Although the Digital Britain report does already say that the project will have to rely on mobile broadband and satellite broadband to achieve the ‘broadband for all’ objective, more disappointments could still be in store.

T-mobile has already made it clear that it does not see a business case in taking mobile broadband to rural areas, and if other providers follow suit, the government would be left with no option but to make massive investments to fulfil its promise. As of now, the government is still hoping that through some rewards it will soon be able to persuade some operators to start providing mobile broadband in remote areas.

Convergys, which provides customer management and billing services, has recently concluded an online poll of over 2100 adults, done via the popular YouGov service over the month of February this year. The customer scorecard research has revealed some obvious details, but has packed in little surprise too.

It turns out that good customer service is rated higher than brand or mobile broadband prices for packages. The poll clearly shows that customer service is a top priority amongst users with 17% of the surveyed people saying that they were willing to pay additional charges for a fast and responsive customer service. On the other hand, only 5 percent said they would go with the cheapest rates even if it meant a not so good customer service.

It emerges that a well-trained customer service staff that can solve the problem in one go is stressed repeatedly. Anyone who has tried the customer service of these companies should echo this sentiment as it can be extremely frustrating to call multiple times and still not get a resolution to your problem.

Jean-Herve Jenn, president (international) of Convergys pointed out that good customer service is a way for operators to drive more revenue from their services as customers are ready to shell out a little bit more for exceptional service.

Clearly, it is about time that mobile broadband operators sit up and take note of what their customers have to say, now that it seems this is a good way for them to make some more money too.

Compared to some other products by Motorola the E1070 is boring. The Motorola E1070 has a outstanding feel to it, and we really liked its modern contemporary styling.

The ring-tones on the E1070 are Polyphonic, MP3 plus a vibrating alert . The display type on this mobile handset is a TFT, 256K colors. The Motorola E1070 has support for 2G GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 and 3G UMTS 2100 . The E1070 has an integrated 1.3 MP, 1280 x 1024 pixels, video, flash; secondary VGA video call camera. A WAP 2.0/xHTML compatible browser is also included. Compared to other models, the E1070 is pretty compact, fitting nicely into the pocket. If the visual appearance phone matters, you should be aware that the E1070 can be bought in, Black and Silver. At 129 g, in weight the E1070 is nice and light for a mobile phone of this type. The battery shipped with the E1070 is a Standard battery, Li-Ion 1130 mAh,. The Motorola E1070 has a battery usage of 230 hrs standby charge and talk time of 4:20. The Motorola E1070 is has bluetooth, meaning compatibility with a number of contemporary mobile accessories effortless. This mobile phone is also equipped with:

There are hundreds incentivised deals available on the internet to prospective mobile handset users. By using, for example, a site that allows you to compare mobile phones you may get a mobile phone with a free line rental offer or instant cash back, or a iPod Touch 32GB.

12 month free line rental deals have been around for some time, but most people are not aware of them. This is a quick post just to explain what they are and how you can take advantage of them.

What is a free line rental deal?

A free line rental deal is a cash back by redemption offer. The retailer offers to refund 100% of the cost of the mobile contract, thus making the total cost of the contract zero. They do this as an incentive for customers who would need a lot of inclusive minutes on their plan, but are not bothered about having the latest handset.

How do the retailers make money then?

The retailers, despite advertising deals as being free line rental make it difficult for customers to make their claim. They stipulate the claim must be made at certain times of the year. Usually more than one claim must be made. They also insist the customer produces “easily lost” documentation, such as phone bills. If you make a successful claim then the retailer loses money, clearly they do not want that to happen!

So are free line rental deals genuine?

Absolutely, but, you have to be very particular about reading the terms and conditions, and adhering to them!

There are a lot of people who take advantage of these deals to the detriment of the mobile phone companies. If you are thinking about taking out such a deal, just make sure you properly understand what you need to do to get your cash back and be rigourous in following the contract to the letter!