Vodafone buys Turkish mobile firm

1. Vodafone buys Turkish mobile firm

Vodafone is buying Turkey's second biggest mobile telephone operator, Telsim, for $4.5bn (£2.5bn). It outbid Kuwait's MTC to win the auction for state-owned Telsim, which holds about 25% of the Turkish market with 9 million customers.

For more on this:
- read full story from BBC News, Dec 13 2005


2. AT&T doubles up on DSL speed

AT&T on Monday introduced a DSL service designed to double download speeds for small and medium-size business customers of its hosted Web services.

For more on this:
- read full story from CNET news.com, Dec 13 2005


3. Hotmail, MSN Messenger get a boost in India

Microsoft is expanding the reach of its mobile e-mail and IM services in India. The software giant's MSN division and messaging company Mobile 365 announced Tuesday that they've reached deals with five Indian mobile service providers.

For more on this:
- read full story from CNET news.com, Dec 13 2005


4. Web-Access Version of Microsoft's Business IM Client Goes Gold

Microsoft Corp. kicked off the Interop New York 2005 show with the release to manufacturing of the Web-based version of its Office Communicator 2005 enterprise instant messaging client. Microsoft launched its enterprise IM client the same day that it unveiled its beta-test plans for Windows Live Messenger, aka MSN Messenger 8.0.

For more on this:- read full story from eweek.com, Dec 13 2005


5. AOL Tests Remote Access Service

America Online has begun testing a new service that lets users access their PC remotely from any computer that has a browser and is connected to the Internet.

For more on this:
- read full story from Yahoo! News, Dec 13 2005

6. Microsoft teams with MCI on Internet telephony

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Microsoft and telecom group MCI announced a partnership for Internet telephony allowing low-cost global calling around the world.

For more on this:
- read full story from Yahoo! News, Dec 13 2005


7. MSN and MCI do VoIP

The increasingly crowded internet telephony market just got a little more squished after Microsoft announced it is hooking up with MCI to offer PC-to-phone calling. The new service - MCI Web Calling - is to be part of Windows Live Messenger, which is due to succeed Microsoft's MSN Messenger service.

For more on this:
- read full story from theregister.co.uk, Dec 13 2005


8. BT shunts broadband support to India - 886 jobs at risk

Up to 886 jobs in the UK could be axed after BT awarded a major broadband tech support contract to an outsourcing firm in India. Staff at ClientLogic - who have manned BT's broadband technical helpdesk for all consumer and business customers for the last five years - were told yesterday that the IT services company had failed to win a competitive tender.

For more on this:
- read full story from theregister.co.uk, Dec 13 2005


9. Europe Expected to Require Keeping of Phone-Call Data

The European Parliament is expected to approve legislation Wednesday that would require telecommunications companies to keep details on their clients' phone calls, faxes and e-mail messages for six months to two years to help combat terrorism.

For more on this:
- read full story from the new york times, Dec 12 2005