RAN Vendors

Ericsson and Telecom Italia are trialling a new solar-powered site development.

Sprint yesterday confirmed long-running rumours it is to transfer operation of its networks to Ericsson, marking one of the industry's largest-ever and most significant outsourcing deals.

Huawei has appointed a former Nortel executive, Tim Watkins, as VP of Huawei Western Europe.

Telegeography, citing Vietnamese news source Thanh Nien Daily, is reporting that military-owned Telco Viettel will deploy HSPA mobile infrastructure for its 3G network by the end of 2009.

LG, the world's third-largest handset manufacturer, will tomorrow launch an online store for mobile phone applications, becoming the latest company to make its move in the app store market.

Ericsson is to invest US$1.5 billion in South Korea over the next five years on development of an R&D centre focused on green technology and next-generation mobile communications.

Information Week notes that AT&T and Nokia have announced a smartphone - Surge - that is aimed at text-heavy users who want to stay connected to social networks.