Magenta Mobil: Mobile Operators’ Tariffs All Look the Same

First it was mobile operator O2, or rather Telefónica, that named its tariff portfolio after the company colour, simply calling it “Blue”. In October 2012 Vodafone followed with its Red tariffs. And now guess what Deutsche Telekom plans to unveil at IFA 2014?

Exactly! They plan to rename their tariff portfolio after that wonderfully pretty, unmistakable and terribly intrusive colour, magenta. More on the new Magenta Mobile tariffs can be found, among other places, at Teltarif via the following link.

— Read more http://mobil.teltarif.de/telekom-magenta-mobil-neue-tarife-flatrate/news/56814.html

Well Explained: The Galileo Disaster

Teltarif explains the problems of the Galileo project very clearly in this article. It is not only about how the two satellites ended up in the wrong orbit, but also where the fundamental problems of this billion-euro money pit lie. Final quote:

Politicians should therefore ask themselves whether it might not be wise to pause once more, look at what has already been achieved and consider whether the remaining objectives could be achieved more cheaply through a new tender. Ultimately, it does not matter who supplies the satellites or who launches them. What matters is that the EU ultimately has 100 percent control over the satellites!

The full article is available at the following link.

— Read more at http://www.teltarif.de/galileo-satellit-navigation-gps-glonass-fehlstart/news/56778.html

Provider-Independent SIM Cards Already Possible in the Netherlands

If device manufacturers such as Samsung and Apple included SIM cards with their devices that were not tied to a specific provider, the mobile communications business could change fundamentally. The Dutch regulatory authority has opened up possibilities for this.

— Read more at http://www.golem.de/news/soft-sim-sim-karten-ohne-provider-bindung-kommen-1403-105168.html

Study Provides Insight into the Distribution and Behaviour of Fans on Social Media

WebXF analysed the Facebook fan pages and Twitter channels of seven major German brands. For the first time, the study provides transparency about the distribution and behaviour of fans and shows brand managers which options Facebook and Twitter actually offer for strategic brand communication.

— Read more https://www.adzine.de/2014/03/webxf-liefert-daten-zur-social-media-ausrichtung-von-marken-social-media-marketing/

Bitkom Calls for Rural Broadband Expansion to Be Financed with Spectrum Auction Proceeds

Bitkom is calling for proceeds from future spectrum auctions to be invested in network expansion, for example broadband rollout in rural areas. The full article is available on heise.de; see below. I found the following passage particularly interesting:

Following the liberalisation of the market, the federal government has received more than €60 billion from telecommunications providers through spectrum auctions.

That is quite a sum accumulated through GSM, UMTS, WiMAX and LTE auctions. And in 2016, the GSM frequencies are due to go under the hammer again. The finance minister is probably rubbing his hands already.

— Read more http://heise.de/-2085489