RAN Vendors

Europe's beleaguered telecoms equipment and handset vendors are forecast to report minor improvements in their forthcoming second-quarter results, reports Dow Jones Newswires.

Ericsson has denied reports suggesting its cooperation with South Korea, announced yesterday, will lead to investment of US$1.5 billion in the country over the next five years and an increase in its local employee headcount from 80 to 1,000.

Cellular News notes that Singaporean operator StarHub will launch a commercial HSPA+ service from tomorrow, with devices provided by Huawei.

Chinese vendors are reportedly the big winners in China Mobile's third-round 3G network expansion tender worth CNY8.6 billion (US$1.26 billion). According to Reuters, ZTE has won 34 percent of the deal for the latest supply of TD-SCDMA kit, whilst Huawei grabbed 22 percent and Datang won 21 percent.

Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, has reported considerably stronger-than-expected second-quarter results, due in part to strong sales of its Atom chip for netbooks and other mobile computers, reports the Financial Times.

Nokia, the world's largest handset vendor, reported a 66 percent annual decline in net profit for second-quarter 2009 but claimed that demand in the overall mobile device market is "bottoming out."

Thai mobile operator TOT has approved a THB1.7 billion (US$50 million) plan to upgrade 500 1900MHz base stations owned by subsidiary Thai Mobile to offer 3G services in Bangkok by the end of this year, reports Telegeography, citing the Bangkok Post.