Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that it has been selected by Etisalat, the UAE’s leading telecommunications service provider, to speed up the deployment of its nationwide fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network. In this multi-million Euro deal, Etisalat will utilize Alcatel-Lucent’s award-winning gigabit passive optical network (GPON) technology to connect 50,000 households and business customers.

Association of Physicians of Pakistani-descent of North America (APPNA), a US based professional association has expressed its willingness to support tele-medicine efforts in Pakistan. This was revealed by a visiting delegation of APPNA in Pakistan. According to a DAWN report, Dr. Samad (President APPNA) said that his association will sponsor a team of Pakistani American physicians who will visit Pakistan on regular basis to conduct surgeries in different disciplines which will help the citizens to save the cost of expensive surgeries.

“We will also develop a medical college and a hospital in the capital city on the lines of international standards besides extending support in the field of telemedicine’s” said Dr Samad.

Nokia Siemens Networks recently made the world’s first LTE call using commercial base station and fully standard compliant software. The successful demonstration clearly proves the readiness of Nokia Siemens Networks’ products for early commercial deployments worldwide. Standard compliant LTE network products and terminals are a precondition for commercial network rollouts and for end users to benefit from a large terminal variety from different vendors.

A spokesperson of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has said that PTA has neither formed any regulations nor it intends to monitor any personal communication including mobile phones, emails and SMS. The spokesman clarified that it was never a mandate of PTA to monitor landline telephones, mobile phones, emails and SMS hence question of freedom of expression does not arise in this particular case.

Nokia Siemens Networks will outline its vision for the future of broadband technology for mobile and fixed networks at this year’s Broadband World Forum, September 7-9, Paris, France. Acknowledging both operators’ and individual users’ needs to manage this complex paradigm, Nokia Siemens Networks will showcase an intelligent suite of tools, services and solutions at Broadband World Forum.

Worldwide mobile phone sales totalled 286.1 million units in the second quarter of 2009, a 6.1 per cent decrease from the second quarter of 2008, according to Gartner, Inc. Smartphone sales surpassed 40 million units, a 27 per cent increase from the same period last year, representing the fastest-growing segment of the mobile-devices market. The recession continued to suppress replacement sales in both mature and emerging markets.

LiMo Foundation™, a global consortium of mobile industry leaders today announced the newest round of LiMo-compliant handsets has been released to market. Developed by leading device manufacturers and LiMo members NEC and Panasonic Mobile Communications for LiMo board member NTT DOCOMO, these latest handset models offer an array of next-generation features and functionality. This announcement signals a continued expansion of LiMo’s footprint in the global mobile marketplace, as well as growing industry endorsement and coalescence around its collaborative device platform.