With the aim to become the first operators in the world to launch 4G, TeliaSonera has signed contracts with Ericson and Huawei and by 2010; the 4G network would be rolled out commercially.

It won't be wrong to say that this contract has made an important step in the evolution of TeliaSonera to the next generation network.

For the initial 4G City network in Stockholm, Ericson has been chosen by TeliaSonera, while for the initial 4G City network in Oslo, Huawei has been selected. Furthermore, it has also been learnt that the evaluation of suppliers for its 4G networks in the Nordic and Baltic countries are said to be on.

Asia's second-largest foreign telecoms operator, Telenor has scrapped its plans for a share issue to fund an Indian mobile operator, Unitech Wireless, following stiff opposition from shareholders. The firm said that it has also stopped dividend payout for 2008 and
2009.

The Norwegian telecom operator said that it would now arrange funds through debts and other financial modes. It has signed a loan worth Rs 8 billion Norwegian Krone that would be used to finance the Unitech Wireless deal.

India's largest CDMA operator, Reliance Communications (RCOM) announced financial results for the third quarter ended December 31, 2008. The company reported marginal increase of 2.7 per cent in net profit during the period.

The Anil Ambani-promoted company reported significant decline in revenue from the wireless and broadband business segments.

Leading telecom giant, Vodafone got no respite from the Supreme Court for the petition, it filed in SC, challenging show-cause notice issued by the income-tax department. The Supreme Court dismissed the special leave petition and directed it to reply show cause notice given by income tax department.

Indian telecom sector continued to register growth in third quarter as well despite unfavorable conditions of financial market following global slowdown. It emerged as one of the fastest growing field of Indian economy by posting growth rate of 2.84 per cent last month. Telecom industry added 10.66 million new subscribers in December according to an official statement by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

An announcement was today made by Tata Indicom that they have entered in a partnership with Indusgeeks Solutions Private Ltd, according to which it will extend its ongoing "Suno Dil Ki Awaaz" campaign into the virtual world.

An interactive 'virtual competition' involving Virtual World and Talent Hunt would be launched by Tata Indicom with the aim to compliment the initiative.