LAS VEGAS: Operators will continue to play a vital role in the mobile value chain despite the rise of OTT players but it is imperative they alter their business models in order to remain relevant. That was the message from a conference session here this afternoon featuring representatives from US operator Sprint and messaging player Pinger.

NEW ANALYSIS: As 4G-LTE networks continue to expand across mature markets, there is evidence that device choices and usage habits are also evolving in line with the faster network speeds. As Wireless Intelligence‘s recent survey of 4G operators shows, smartphones are dominating device portfolios in these advanced markets, but it is the proliferation of 4G data devices – notably tablets – that are shaping emerging 4G trends.

3 UK, the smallest mobile network operator in the UK, has had talks with EE about pooling the two companies’ respective 800MHz assets, revealed chief executive David Dyson (pictured) in a briefing this week.

In the UK’s 4G auction, which was completed in February, 3 UK and EE each acquired 2x5MHz in the 800MHz frequency band. The two have talked about combining this spectrum, according to several reports of the briefing.

Every year the Electronic Frontier Foundation releases a report that looks at major Internet-related companies -- Internet service providers, companies with services in the cloud, and the like -- and asks a probing question: What does the company do to keep customers' personal information out of the gover

Dubai: Chip maker Intel is extending its focus on smartphones and tablets as the computer market is weakening year on year due to the cannibalisation of media tablets.

“We don’t believe that computers are dying. Now consumers are focusing more on smartphones and tablets and this is also part of a PC experience. We are trying to cover all these segments,” Khaldoun Aboul Saoud, regional manager for markets development at Intel, told Gulf News after launching the first Atom processor powered tablet running on Android platform and made by Asus.

Milan and Ashburton, England, 30 April 2013 – Leading broadband, virtual hosting and value-added specialist, NGI, and Cambium Networks™, a global provider of IP wireless access and transport solutions, today strengthened their collaboration to deploy EOLOwave access technology throughout Italy. This announcement comes at a time when NGI has just named Cambium Networks as its “Best Partner for 2013”, with plans to deliver wireless broadband innovation for residents and businesses across the country.

Geneva, 30 April 2013 – ‘Smart Sustainable Cities’ is the theme of the 8th ITU Symposium on ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change, to be held in Turin, Italy, from 6-7 May 2013.

It's official: Developers who want to push out app updates to Android users need to go through the Google Play update mechanism, according to a new update to the Google Play Developer Program Policies.

Google's move here may have been prompted by Facebook pushing out a new build directly to Android users rather than going through Google Play. Or it may have been aimed at thwarting a recently discovered malware-spreading technique that uses a bogus ad network to transform seemingly secure apps into malware.

Samsung’s Galaxy S4 is truly a successor to the S3. Almost identical in design, the S4 is lighter but has a bigger screen, more power and a longer list of innovative features.

Samsung could have changed the polycarbonate shell and design to give it more premium look and feel. But, perhaps as the S3 was the bestselling smartphone last year, Samsung did not want to fiddle too much with a winning design. Instead, the bezel on the S4 has been shrunk to increase the size of the display and, at 130 grams, it is just three grams less than S3.

Samsung has pushed back the launch of its Knox security software for Galaxy Android smartphones until summer, according to a New York Times report that claims more testing is needed before Knox finds its way into people's hands.

Knox, a beefed-up version of the SAFE business security software already found on some current-gen Samsung handsets, was first announced in February. The software was widely expected to debut inside the Samsung Galaxy S 4, which will start shipping in the next week, although Samsung never announced an official launch date for Knox.