CRTC investigation prompts Rogers to stop throttling gamers

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has closed its investigation into Rogers Communications’ internet traffic management practices, concluding that Rogers has addressed its concerns regarding its slowing down (so-called ‘throttling’) of certain types of internet traffic. The regulator reviewed a complaint from the Canadian Gamers Organisation, and following an enforcement action being launched, Rogers changed its traffic management measures, and announced that its traffic shaping policy would be phased out for all customers by December 2012

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OVETEL CRTC investigation prompts Rogers to stop throttling gamers

UzACI investigation throws a spanner in the works

Following reports earlier this week that the Uzbek telecoms regulator was considering revoking the licence of Russian-backed cellco MTS Uzbekistan over quality of service issues, the provider has said that the watchdog’s activities are now interfering with its operations. According to Dow Jones, MTS announced that the running of its Uzbek subsidiary was being hampered by an investigation carried out by the Uzbekistan Agency for Communications and Information (UzACI). The company said in a statement: ‘These measures are being conducted with the violation of the current law of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which creates risks for MTS Uzbekistan's continuation of work on schedule and may make further activities of MTS in this country more difficult.’

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OVETEL UzACI investigation throws a spanner in the works

Telcos face USD280m fines for under-reporting revenues

Indian telcos Reliance Communications (RCOM), Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Tata Teleservices (TTSL) are expected to face penalties for under-reporting revenues, reports India Today. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will next week issue notices for the telcos to pay a combined total of INR15.94 billion (USD279.5 million) in fines, following an investigation into the companies’ earnings between 2006 and 2008. Earlier this year, the government had ordered an external audit of the telcos’ books to ensure that they had shared the correct revenue with the exchequer.

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OVETEL Telcos face USD280m fines for under-reporting revenues

USD18.4 billion class action against cellcos permitted by Supreme Court

A CAD19 billion (USD18.4 billion) class action suit alleging that mobile operators profited from unfair fees has been allowed to proceed by the Supreme Court of Canada. Reuters reports that the court declined to hear an appeal by the cellcos, including Rogers, Bell and Telus, against the lawsuit which claims that the operators engaged in ‘unjust enrichment’ in charging ‘system access fees’ or ‘licence administration fees’ on top of regular monthly fees. The extra fees have been largely phased out, but the suit seeks damages for around 20 years during which they were in place.

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OVETEL USD18.4 billion class action against cellcos permitted by Supreme Court

CAT to finish cable construction this year; fibre service ‘On Net’ to launch in Q4 in ten provinces

Thai state-owned telco CAT Telecom has begun construction of additional submarine cables worth THB2.7 billion (USD85 million) in the Gulf of Thailand, and expects the project to be completed this year, reports Future Gov Asia. The previously announced cable building programme is aimed at adding data bandwidth capacity and connectivity between the southern and central parts of the country as well as meeting the international data transmission demands of Thailand and other countries in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)

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OVETEL CAT to finish cable construction this year; fibre service ‘On Net’ to launch in Q4 in ten provinces

CityCell’s switch from CDMA to GSM pending licence renewal

Bangladeshi CDMA-based mobile operator CityCell plans to invest an initial USD200 million in switching to GSM technology, pending regulatory permission, reports local newspaper The Daily Star. CityCell, backed by Singapore’s SingTel, will have to pay USD90 million for 5MHz of wireless spectrum in the 1800MHz band for providing GSM services, as it currently operates with 10MHz in the 800MHz CDMA band.

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OVETEL CityCell’s switch from CDMA to GSM pending licence renewal

BWB slams brakes on A1, Yesss! deal; new phase review could take five months

A1 Telekom Austria's planned acquisition of mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Yesss! from counterpart Orange faces an extended review by Austria's federal competition authority, Bundeswettbewerbsbehorde (BWB), delaying Hutchison Whampoa’s previously agreed EUR1.4 billion (USD1.87 billion) takeover of the France Telecom-Orange owned unit. The BWB issued a statement this week indicating that the mooted combination of A1 Telekom Austria and Yesss! would have negative consequences for the domestic wireless market in general and consumers in specific, who would likely face higher prices

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OVETEL BWB slams brakes on A1, Yesss! deal; new phase review could take five months