Nokia has ratcheted things up a notch in its battle with Apple over so-called "nano-SIMs," reports the Financial Times. Both companies are trying to get their respective designs for the miniaturized SIM cards recognized by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), but Nokia is now threatening to withhold around 50 SIM-related patents from the ETSI, which, according to the FT, would prevent anyone from building a SIM card to Apple's design, were the Californian company to win the ETSI's approval.
The European Commission has reached a preliminary agreement on reductions in roaming charges across the European Union. Under the new rules, which are set to come into force on July 1, roaming mobile users in the EU will pay no more than 29 (€) cents a minute to make a call, 8 cents a minute to receive a call, 9 cents to send a text message and 70 cents per megabyte to download data. Also, mobile users will, if they so choose, be able to sign up with a different operator specifically for their roaming needs while retaining the same phone number. (See EC Rejigs Roaming Rules and Regulators Reshape Europe's Roaming Market .)
Telefónica SA has lost its appeal against the €152 million ($202.7 million) fine imposed by European Union regulators in 2007 for wholesale-access-related monopoly abuses, reports Bloomberg.
French set-top box maker Netgem, which has been hit recently by the effects of the floods in Thailand, saw its net profit for 2011 fall 54 percent year-on-year to €10.7 million ($14.2 million). Revenue also fell, by 37 percent, but despite this Netgem plans to double sales over the next three years. (See Netgem Reports 2011 Profit of €10.7M and Will Netgem Revive the Hybrid TV Model?)
Orascom Telecom's Algerian unit, Djezzy GSM, has been fined around $1.3 billion for violations of foreign exchange regulations, reports Bloomberg. Separately, Reuters was reporting that the Algerian government had agreed to pay $6.5 billion to acquire a controlling stake in Djezzy, but the precise situation remains unclear. (See Algerian Upheaval May Be Good for Telecom.)
News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch has used the gift of Twitter to dismiss allegations that NDS Ltd. -- which he used ultimately to control -- leaked smartcard codes of ITV Digital to a pay-TV piracy website to hasten the BSkyB Ltd. rival's demise. "Enemies many different agendas, but worst old toffs and right wingers who still want last century's status quo with their monoplies [sic]," he ranted.
— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading
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