Business Mobiles & Business Mobile Phones

Everything Everywhere, the oddly named joint venture between Orange and T-Mobile, is apparently considering taking legal action over changes to the Long Term Evolution (LTE) auction in 2011.

The 2011 mobile broadband spectrum will be concentrating on selling the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands as well as re-farming spectrum in the 900MHz band, which is used for 2G services.

The problem was that Vodafone and O2 exclusively owned the 900MHz spectrum. So, the last government arranged for the mobile phone operators to release some of the 900MHz in return for 800MHz and 2.6GHz slots. Everything was rosy, Everything Everywhere – until the new coalition government scrapped the plans.

The largest contract electronics maker in the world by revenue, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. has reported strong profits, mainly due to the fact that demand for Apple products has risen. Hon Hai produces the Apple iPad and iPhones and has benefited from a surge in sales.

However things aren’t all roses for the electronics maker. The Foxconn International Holdings arm of Hon Hai has reported a dip in profits. Foxconn manufactures mobile handsets for companies such as Dell and Nokia and low sales means low profits for the manufacturer. Of course, the recent stories about worker suicides and poor working conditions may not have helped profits either.

Google is on a spending spree of epic proportions at the minute. Far from an acquisition a month, the internet company seems to be heading for one or more a week and its latest is start-up company SocialDeck Inc.

SocialDeck Inc. is a social games company which has already produced several Facebook games which are known for simultaneous play over multiple devices. The company has also produced games for the Apple iPhone and BlackBerry mobile devices.

This latest Google acquisition highlights what we’ve already come to suspect – that Google will very soon be a serious contender of global phenomenon Facebook.

Internet service provider Telefonica has said that large data transmitters – like Google for instance – should be charged as the internet doesn’t have endless capacity and space.

There has been a massive data explosion recently which is due to the rise in tablet devices, smartphone mobiles and wireless internet traffic. Service providers are having trouble with networks that are stretched to almost breaking point.

Although large data transmitters like Google are not currently charged, many of the service providers are now leaning towards levying a charge – providers such as Vodafone and Telefonica.

The ban on Research In Motion’s (RIM) BlackBerry mobile in India has been suspended for 60 days whilst the Indian government tests new solutions and searches for more compromises with RIM.

RIM and the Indian authorities have come to something of an impasse over legal access to things like corporate email and communications however, access to instant messaging is pretty much a done deal and the Indian authorities will be implementing and testing these solutions during the 60 days.

Apart from the impasse, things seem to be going quite well in India, which is no doubt a relief to RIM as things settle down and it can get back to business.

PC maker and telecoms equipment provider Intel has broadcast its acquisition of Infineon’s wireless chip solutions business for $1.4 billion (around £907.9 million).

The wireless chip business of Infineon provides the baseband radio chips which feature in the Apple iPhone mobile – a definite coup for Intel which has desperately tried to break into the lucrative smartphone market over the past couple of years.

Despite the Atom chip from Intel being used in netbooks and being adapted for smartphone mobile use, the Atom chip hasn’t really taken off. However, the new Infineon acquisition has given Intel a much-needed opening.

Mobile phone operator Nokia and phone system manufacturer Siemens have announced that they may be interested in private equity investment for the Nokia Siemens Networks joint venture.

Nokia Siemens Networks provides networking equipment however, since its inception three years ago, it has been a massive financial burden on both Nokia and Siemens.

This is the first ever time that both companies have considered selling a stake of the business to a private equity company. However, Siemens and Nokia will be waiting until the economic downturn truly lifts before considering any companies.

TrueMove, a mobile operator in Thailand, has gained quite a few fans after being hilariously honest when it comes to mobile phone bills and calling phone numbers abroad.

The TrueMove website warns customers about the bill they could receive should you attempt to listen to your voicemail abroad:

‘Voice Mail and Call Forwarding services are active even when you roam abroad. Charges for received calls and calls to Thailand may cause a heart attack.’

Absolutely brilliant – and of course, quite true if you’ve unknowingly accessed your voicemail obsessively and have a dodgy ticker…