• Ericsson signed an agreement with the Irish operator Meteor Mobile Communications as the sole supplier for its WCDMA/HSPA network including microwave transmission. Under the terms of the contract, Ericsson will supply a WCDMA/HSPA radio access network and a new microwave transmission network. Ericsson has been the sole supplier to Meteor for GSM core and radio access equipment since 2004. In the new contract, Ericsson will supply Meteor with microwave transmission equipment and WCDMA/HSPA radio access equipment to extend the existing network.
• UK-based CSR launched its seventh generation BlueCore silicon, which integrates Bluetooth v2.1+EDR, Bluetooth low energy, eGPS, and FM transmit and receive technologies on a single chip. BlueCore7 includes CSR’s proprietary AuriStream voice CODEC, which produces the quality of a fixed line call, when using a Bluetooth connection, and is capable of a 30% reduction in power consumption.
• Indian mobile software and services firm Tanla acquired an 85% stake in Openbit, a Finnish m-payments specialist, for $18.6 million in an all-cash transaction. Tanla said the purchase could help it broaden its payment options beyond operator-based systems and serve more customers in international markets. Openbit has billing agreements with nearly 90 operators in more than 30 countries and with all major credit cards worldwide. It also has been installed on over 20 million Symbian-enabled Nokia handsets.
• Qualcomm promoted Enrico Salvatori to senior vice president and general manager of Qualcomm Europe. In this role, Salvatori will have day-to-day responsibility for managing Qualcomm’s business operations and business development efforts throughout Europe. Salvatori joined Qualcomm in 2002 as senior director of technical marketing, helping to spearhead Qualcomm’s efforts in Europe. In 2004, he was promoted to vice president of operations and assumed his current role of vice president and general manager for Qualcomm CDMA Technologies in 2006.
• Nokia appointed Suresh Vedula to the Head of Business Mobility in India. In his new role, Vedula will be responsible for the overall operations of Enterprise Solutions Group in India, including a broad range of business-focused products and solutions as security infrastructure, software and services. Vedula has more than 18 years of experience in the industry and prior to this appointment Vedula worked with British Telcom.
