Digicel survives Haiti disaster

Mobile operator Digicel Group says its network in Haiti is still providing domestic and international phone service after a major earthquake devastated the country, reports The Wall Street Journal.

"We've lost one senior manager and we are trying to account for all of our staff at the moment," says Digicel Group chairman and owner Denis O'Brien.

O'Brien says the Digicel Haiti's main office in Port-au-Prince survived the quake, although it will be several days before the company is able to determine the full extent of damage to its telecommunications infrastructure. The company's engineers are trying to add capacity to the network to address traffic congestion problems.

Verizon Wireless is revamping its existing wireless data prices and is considering implementing a usage-based billing model for its upcoming 4G wireless services, says CNET News.

Verizon will tweak its wireless data plan for '3G multimedia' phones so subscribers will pay the same price as customers using smartphones. The wireless operator is considering implementing usage-based billing for services plans to introduce with its upcoming 4G wireless network.

The mobiles services company is looking to find the sweet spot in wireless data pricing, as the company's revenue base shifts toward data and away from voice services, in a bid on how best to maximise its profitability.

South Korea's mobile carrier SK Telecom released details on an aggressive plan to reinforce its smartphone line-up after its market share was eroded by Apple's iPhone, reports AFP.

SK Telecom says it would try to win more than two million new smartphone users this year by offering models based on Google's Android operating system.

"Based on the Android operating system, we will adopt various mobile platforms to increase our smartphone line-up," says Ha Sung-Min, president of SK Telecom's mobile network operator division. By 2013 SK Telecom will have 25 smartphone models, or 40% of its total handset offerings.