Egypt's offline, Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK)'s busy in China and Nokia Networks modernizes part of O2's UK network.
Engineers at consultancy Renesys Corp. confirmed late Thursday that Egypt had all but disconnected from the Internet on the eve of what was expected to be a day of serious anti-government rioting. Renesys's blog stated: "Approximately 3,500 individual BGP routes were withdrawn, leaving no valid paths by which the rest of the world could continue to exchange Internet traffic with Egypt's service providers." Commentators have noted the significant part played by social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter in the unrest to date. (See Egypt Unplugs From the Internet.)
Its smart-phone market share may be under pressure, but life goes on for handset giant Nokia: It has done a deal with two leading Chinese ISPs, SINA Corp. and Tencent Inc. , allowing them to integrate Nokia's Ovi Maps mapping product into their respective social networking sites, SINA's microblog and Tencent's QQ. (See Nokia Teams With Chinese ISPs and Elop Promises Nokia Will Change Faster.)
Earlier in the week Euronews reported that Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) was sprucing up Telefónica UK Ltd. 's 3G network in the north of the country; now rival equipment vendor Nokia Siemens Networks has announced it's taking care of the south, deploying its Flexi Multiradio Base Station and Radio Network Controller to expand capacity and coverage. (See NSN Revamps O2 in Southern UK, Signs of Growth at Nokia Siemens and Euronews: Jan. 26.)
Deutsche Welle reports that the telecom regulator of Kosovo, the fragile Balkan state, has decreed that the age of the anonymous pre-paid SIM card is over, and that as from Feb. 28 all existing SIMs must be registered or their owners face disconnection. Some commentators fear, however, that the move will have dire consequences for the security of personal data.
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