Orange, T-Mobile merger set back

UK regulatory authorities may stop the deal between Orange and T-Mobile going ahead because of the dominance it would give the two firms in the mobile phone market, reports Computing.co.uk.

According to a report in the Guardian, the government is working with five of the UK's main wireless network providers to impose limits on the amount of spectrum each operator can own.

The Office of Fair Trading will probably have to ask the EU if it can investigate the deal because Deutsche Telekom owns T-Mobile, while France Telecom owns Orange.

Nokia Siemens Networks has bagged Unitech Wireless' contract to supply GSM network for its operations in six circles including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, states SiliconIndia.

Nokia Siemens will be responsible for network operation and maintenance as a part of the managed services contract with the mobile operator. Uninor is the brand name of Unitech Wireless, a joint venture of real estate major Unitech and Norwegian service provider Telenor. Telenor holds 67.25% stake in the joint venture.

"Our partnership with Nokia Siemens Networks will help us pursue our model in these six circles as well," says Stein Erik Vellan, MD, Unitech Wireless.

Google finds itself subjected to scrutiny by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after the government body was alerted to the search-engine giant's Google Voice service blocking telephone calls from consumers to certain rural areas with inflated access charges, says eWeek.

Google Voice lets its users funnel their work and personal phone calls to a single number, and provides other services such as automated voice mail transcription and GOOG-411 integration. The Web-based phone management service is an updated version of GrandCentral, which Google acquired in July 2007.

According to Reuters, some 20 US House lawmakers have asked the FCC to investigate Google Voice's call-blocking to those rural areas. AT&T had also brought the issue to the government's attention.