Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » France Telecom SA http://pulse2.com Sat, 26 May 2012 21:27:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 European Telecom Companies Want Google, Facebook, and Apple To Chip In For Network Costs http://pulse2.com/2010/12/08/european-telecom-companies-want-google-facebook-and-apple-to-chip-in-for-network-costs/ http://pulse2.com/2010/12/08/european-telecom-companies-want-google-facebook-and-apple-to-chip-in-for-network-costs/#comments Wed, 08 Dec 2010 20:20:58 +0000 Amit Chowdhry http://pulse2.com/?p=39230 Continue reading →]]>
France Telecom SA, Telecom Italia SpA, and Vodafone Group Plc are arguing that Apple Inc., Google Inc., and Facebook Inc. should chip in to help pay for the billions of dollars that is spend on network investments.

“Service providers are flooding networks with no incentive” to cut down on their costs said France Telecom CEO Stephane Richard. “It’s necessary to put in place a system of payments by service providers as a function of their use.” Richard had mentioned the issue at the Le Web conference in Paris, France. The cost of building these bigger networks may outweigh revenue gains for the wireless companies.

I do not feel sympathetic for these companies because they already charge a premium on data network usage. What are your thoughts? Should tech companies like Google and Facebook that offer free services be responsible for helping telecom companies build their networks? Leave a comment.

[Bloomberg]

]]> http://pulse2.com/2010/12/08/european-telecom-companies-want-google-facebook-and-apple-to-chip-in-for-network-costs/feed/ 0 Polish Actors Hired To Stand In Line For Apple iPhone 3G http://pulse2.com/2008/08/21/polish-actors-hired-to-stand-in-line-for-apple-iphone-3g/ http://pulse2.com/2008/08/21/polish-actors-hired-to-stand-in-line-for-apple-iphone-3g/#comments Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:26:53 +0000 Amit Chowdhry http://pulse2.com/?p=4979 Continue reading →]]>
Consumers of the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone lined up in front of stores by the hundreds when the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G was released in the United States.  However, in Poland several actors and actresses are being paid to line up in front of the stores that will start selling the iPhone tomorrow.

“We have these fake queues at front of 20 stores around the country to drum up interest in the iPhone,” according to a spokesman with Orange, a subsidiary of France Telecom SA (ADR) (NYSE:FTE) in an interview with Reuters.  In the opening weekend, telecomm provider AT&T (NYSE:T) did not have to worry about whether it would the iPhone 3G would sell on the opening weekend or not.  On the opening week, one million iPhone 3Gs were sold in the U.S.

There weren’t any lines at the T-Mobile Era stores.  Should Apple be concerned?  Probably not.  Consumers will probably wait till the stores open and then start crowding.

Related Link:
1. Reuters

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