Sierra Wireless Inc. (SWIR), a leading provider of embedded modules for mobile computing, is quickly expanding its related business vertical of industrial solutions or machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless communications services, a rapidly growing market opportunity. This new business model is emerging as a potential source of massive revenues to several wireless network operators and equipment manufacturers. According to various industry sources, globally M2M connections may exceed 200 million by 2014 with a total market valuation of approximately $57 billion.   Yesterday, Sierra entered into business collaboration with Atos Worldline, a division of Atos Origin, to provide M2M wireless solutions to the power, facilities management, retail, health, transport and manufacturing industry sectors. Atos Origin is a leading global IT services company.  With this alliance, Atos and Sierra will integrate their respective M2M services platforms of Worldline M2M and M2MOperatingPortal to offer a single global product for the M2M market.  ...

It is feared that some users of Sidekick phones have lost most of the personal information stored on remote servers manned by Microsoft (MSFT). The servers were based on Sun’s (JAVA) Solaris/Linux/Oracle (ORCL) technology.  Several versions of the phone were sold through service provider T-Mobile, which is a part of Deutsche Telekom AG (DT). T-Mobile has offered customers a $20 refund toward one month of data usage on the phone and an additional $100 through a customer appreciation card, which can be used for T-Mobile products and services, or for payment of a T-Mobile bill.  Customers have expressed outrage at the prospect of compensation, which was largely deemed to be insufficient. This was made worse by T-Mobile’s announcement that it would require another two weeks to send out details regarding the $100 claim. T-Mobile has also announced that it would probably be able ...

Euro Telecom Giants Swap Numbers, Agree Mega Merger

by Martin Denholm, Senior Editor

It’s Friday night…

French telecom firm Orange is standing at one corner of the bar, sipping a fine Bordeaux. Its German rival T-Mobile is propped up at the other, slugging down a hearty Hefeweizen.

Their eyes lock. The deal is on.

Before you know it, the two have swapped numbers and arranged to get together.

That’s the deal that has the European telecom sector buzzing at the moment, as Deutsche Telecom’s T-Mobile and France Telecom’s Orange have agreed to merge their British operations.

The result is a veritable cellular beast, boasting 24.8 million customers, vaulting it to the top of the pile in the U.K. and knocking Telefonica’s O2 into second place. The T-Mobile-Orange partnership would own almost 40% of the British mobile market and bring together two firms with combined annual sales

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Vodafone (VOD) reportedly upgraded its 3G mobile broadband network to offer maximum theoretical download speed of 14.4 megabits per second (Mbps). However, users will get a practical download speed of up to 10.8 Mbps. The upgraded service will be initially available to the customers across London, Birmingham and Liverpool and extended to the rest of UK in due course.

The world’s largest revenue-generating wireless carrier launched its 3G services in 13 countries in fiscal 2008. Vodafone’s 3G wireless broadband technology is based on High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and provides peak data rates of up to 7.2 Mbps. It spent over £14 billion ($28 billion) to obtain 3G wireless licenses in various countries, devoting nearly 40% of capital expenditure to expand its 3G network.

Vodafone continues to outpace major rivals such as Deutsche Telekom’s (DT) T-Mobile, France Telecom’s (FTE) Orange and Telefonica’s (TEF) O2 in

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Deutsche Telekom AG’s (DT) T-Mobile unit and Sierra Wireless (SWIR) recently agreed to form a joint venture to provide machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless communications in several markets. Initially, this business venture will target European markets, with special emphasis on Germany. The M2M solution will offer innovative solutions for the fleet, automotive, navigation, utility and security markets.

T-Mobile is a top worldwide wireless service provider with more than 148 million subscribers, while Sierra Wireless is a global leader for embedded wireless modules. Recently, Sierra acquired Wavecom S.A., a primary provider of embedded wireless technology for M2M communications. This acquisition has significantly diversified Sierra’s business verticals into the high-margin M2M segment.

Wavecom has a dominant market share in Europe and Asia-Pacific regions. The combined entity now offers the most comprehensive wireless data product portfolio that includes PC adapters, 2G & 3G embedded modules, M2M terminals and related software. The new

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Brightpoint Falls Below Revenue Expectations Brightpoint Inc. (CELL), a leading distributor of mobile devices and logistic services to the wireless industry, declared preliminary estimates of its second quarter 2009 financial results. The company’s revenue projection of $722 million - $727 million is significantly below our expectation of $770 million.

We believe the global macro economic slowdown had a major impact on Brightpoint’s operational volume. Management has indicated that the company managed approximately 18 million-19 million mobile devices during the second quarter, which remains almost flat with respect to the previous quarter.

We expected around 22 million of wireless devices during the same quarter prompted by the solid global customer base of the company. Brightpoint has entered into agreements with large telecom carriers and handset makers, such as like Research In Motion (RIMM), HTC Corp, Garmin Ltd (GRMN), ZTE, Nokia (NOK), Verizon Wireless (VZ) and T-Mobile

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Vodafone (VOD), the world’s largest revenue-generating wireless carrier, has reportedly launched the most advanced wireless high-speed Internet service in Greece based on the new HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access) mobile broadband technology.

The newly launched service which is also one of the first of its kind in Europe, will offer theoretical peak download speed of 21.6 megabit per second (Mbps), a significant improvement from the present download speeds of 14.4 Mbps offered by Vodafone in Greece.

The company will initially offer this advancement in the selected areas of Athens and extend the service in other areas in due course. The company recently completed commercial rollout of HSPA+ based mobile broadband service in Portugal as the first operator in that country to offer maximum download speed of 21.6 Mbps.

HSPA+, also called HSPA Evolution, represents a major advancement in 3G-based wireless broadband technologies, aimed at improving customer experience by

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Elephant Talk seeks to become a supplier of choice for Business-to-Business telecommunications and content services. By combining fixed line and wireless access services through contractual arrangements with an unrestricted number of first/last mile telecom providers, Elephant Talk is able to offer innovative Mobile, Content, VoIP and Media Streaming as well as more traditional telecom services including: Carrier (Pre) Select, Premium Rate, Shared Cost and Toll Free Services.

Such contracts have expanded the company’s footprint into sophisticated networks in over a dozen markets in Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East. Partners like KPN in the Netherlands, Telefonica in Spain, Swisscom in Switzerland, Telecom Italia in Italy, and Belgacom in Belgium have laid the groundwork for exciting partnerships to come; notably an upcoming definitive contract with T-Mobile in the near future.

Recently, Elephant Talk announced that its first Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE) platform using the antenna network of T-Mobile became operational in

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On Tuesday, Deutsche Telekom AG unveiled the first smart phone that will use Google’s new Android operating system.  The device is called the G1, sold by Deutsche Telekom’s subsidiary T-Mobile, and it looks a lot like the iPhone and other competing smart phones (well, except for the Google logo on the back).  But its the software, not the hardware, that T-Mobile and Google hope will set this new product apart. It will need to be special to crack the dominance of RIMM’s Blackberry and Apple’s iPhone in the smart phone market.  Those two companies controlled a combined 65% of the market in 2008, ahead of a long list of competitors that also includes PALM, Motorola, LG, and Samsung.

But smart phone users are savvy folks, and they’re looking for devices that will make life more efficient, and more enjoyable.  That’s where the cache of Google’s

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