29 / 113
remained in a narrow range between
54% and 57%. Cable’s share of the
broadband pie increased to 41%,
compared with 39% in each of the
previous two years.
In the report, released 17
th
June,
Pew associate director of research
John Horrigan wrote, “Broadband
adoption [in the US] appears
to have been largely immune
to the effects of the current
economic recession.” According
to
cellular-news.com
(2
nd
July), the
Iranian daily newspaper
Poul
reported that a new tender would
be held to find a strategic investor
to launch the country’s third
mobile network.
Iran’s telecom minister Mohammad
Soleimani was quoted as saying
that the Zain Group, of Kuwait,
which was offered the third
operating license in May, had “not
fulfilled obligations.”
Zain had appeared to be about
to pick up the combined 2G/3G
concession after the government
in Tehran withdrew it from
Emirates-based Etisalat, which
in January had won a tender with
local partner Taameen Telecom,
a company owned by the Iranian
Social
Security
Organization
that serves more than 30 million
Iranians through pension funds.
According to state officials,
Etisalat’s license award was
cancelled on grounds of lateness
in the payment of fees and
failure to meet required collateral
commitments.
Nokia Siemens Networks, of
✆
✆
Finland, announced on 29
th
June
that it had completed the first
phase of a network upgrade for
Vodafone Essar, the subsidiary in
India of the British mobile operator
Vodafone Group Plc.
Nokia – which is Vodafone Essar’s
infrastructure partner in a total
of 12 regions – spent ten months
upgrading the network in Assam,
Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu
and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh,
North East, and Orissa.
According to the vendor, over
80% of the operator’s traffic in
the country is now carried over
infrastructure set up by Nokia
Siemens Networks.