TeliaSonera and Huawei Launch World’s Fastest Commercial Mobile Broadband Network with Huawei’s 4G/LTE Solutions

TeliaSonera and Huawei Launch World’s Fastest Commercial Mobile Broadband Network with Huawei’s 4G/LTE Solutions


Huawei, a leader in providing next-generation telecommunications network solutions for operators around the world, and TeliaSonera, the largest telecoms operator in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries, today jointly announced the deployment of the world’s first LTE commercial network in Oslo, Norway. These 4G services offer maximum speeds of up to 100 Mb/s and are approximately 10 times faster than existing 3G networks.

TeliaSonera’s customers will be the first in the world to enjoy simultaneous mobile broadband services such as high definition (HD) video conferencing in mobile environments and a variety of HD video programs via multiple terminal devices; applications that cannot be realized in current 3G networks.

Mr. Kenneth Karlberg, President and Head of Mobility Services TeliaSonera, said: “We are very proud to be the first operator in the world to offer our customers 4G services. Thanks to the successful cooperation with Huawei, we can offer 4G to our customers in Oslo earlier than originally planned.”

As a leading provider of end-to-end 4G/LTE solutions, Huawei delivered both network infrastructures and services to TeliaSonera, such as access network, core network, operation support system, and network planning and optimization. Its field proven fourth-generation base stations and SAE (System Architecture Evolution) solution ensure the stability of the network and enable fast deployment.

Yu Chengdong, President of Huawei Europe, said: “In partnership with TeliaSonera, Huawei began this journey eleven months ago to introduce the world’s most advanced mobile broadband technology to the residents of Oslo. This milestone, which was achieved in a short period of time, reflects Huawei’s unwavering commitment towards accelerating the commercialization of LTE/SAE solutions. Operators such as TeliaSonera, are now able to to fully realize economic benefits from the many new applications that can only be made possible with ultra broadband services.”

To date, Huawei has constructed over 25 LTE commercial and trial networks and has made more than 3,300 LTE/SAE contributions to 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project).
About Huawei

Huawei is a leader in providing next generation telecommunications networks, and now serves 36 of the world’s top 50 operators, along with over one billion users worldwide. The company is committed to providing innovative and customized products, services and solutions to create long-term value and growth potential for its customers.

Currensee Launches Members-Only Marketplace & Rewards Program

Provides Trusted Source for Trade Collaboration and Forex Products and Services

Currensee, Inc. (www.currensee.com), the first Forex trading social network connecting traders from around the world based on real-time trades, today announced the launch of the Currensee Marketplace, the trusted source for Forex products and services available exclusively for members of Currensee. Offerings include training and coaching from Forex experts, professional-level research, e-books, newsletters, and trading tools from industry leaders such as Candlecharts.com, The Hansen Finance Group, FX Tech Strategy, and many others.


Currensee brings trust and transparency to Forex trading collaboration by sharing real-time information on the actual trades its members are making. The Currensee Marketplace introduces a new way for Forex traders to connect with reputable products and services and gives members the comfort of knowing they are buying from a reliable source. The Marketplace also provides Currensee partners the opportunity to offer their professional products and services to the trader network. The revenue generated in the Marketplace creates an additional revenue stream for Currensee and supports the continued offering of free trade collaboration and membership in the Currensee trader network.

"I am very excited to be working with Currensee," said Toni Hansen, CEO and President of the Hansen Finance Group and Trading From Main Street. "I've had many clients over the years ask me to recommend a community where they can share their knowledge and learn from other traders, all while easily seeing and evaluating the performance of the members of that network. Currensee is the only site I have ever come across that provides such a pure form of social networking for traders online. The innovative potential Currensee offers those in the Forex industry for connecting on both a personal and business level is impressive."

The Marketplace is powered by Currensee Bucks, a unique rewards program, which gives members the opportunity to earn "Bucks" by actively participating in the trader network. Members earn Bucks for activities like inviting friends to join, creating discussions and polls, and linking new accounts. They also earn recurring Bucks on trading activity when they make Currensee their Introducing Broker. Once a member has a Bucks balance, they can redeem their Bucks to purchase any of the products and services available in the Marketplace. Members also earn additional Bucks rewards every time they make a purchase in the Marketplace. As a special launch promotion, Currensee is offering 30 Bucks to any member who joins by visiting www.currensee.com/bonusbucks by November 30, 2009. Bonus Bucks can be used in the Marketplace through December 30, 2009.

Retail Forex traders take their trading seriously and are constantly looking for ways to improve their knowledge and skills by purchasing Forex-related items. According to a February 2009 New York Traders Expo survey, excluding commissions, one-fifth of attendees spend more than $200 per month on trading services (such as feeds, software, chat rooms, newsletters, mentoring), and over one-third spend $50-200 monthly.

"The Marketplace is the trusted source for Forex traders who are looking for reliable products and services to incorporate in their trading experience," said Dave Lemont, CEO of Currensee. "Traders are always asking us for recommendations, and we created the Currensee Marketplace connect our traders with reputable Forex-related products and services. We are excited to give back to our traders in the form of Bucks rewards, and our Marketplace is an exciting step for Currensee and our members."
About Currensee

Currensee brings trust and transparency to retail Forex trading. The Currensee social trading network connects retail Forex traders from around the world, so they can share and collaborate on actual trading information in real-time. The unique Currensee social indicators aggregate the wisdom of the network and provide a new approach to Forex market analysis and trade decision-making. Currensee supports a wide variety of Forex brokers and education partners and is a member of the National Futures Association. Currensee is funded by North Bridge Venture Partners, and the company is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. For more information, visit us at www.currensee.com.

CPF to cut back on farming in 5-year plan

       Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc (CPF),the SET-listed flagship of Charoen Pokphand Group, has mapped out a fiveyear business restructuring plan to reduce its dependence on farm business.
       "The bird flu outbreaks in 2004 largely affected our poultry farms, forcing us to revise our business model," said Adirek Sripatak, CPF's president and chief executive officer.
       Over the next five years, CPF's core businesses will engage in three main industries: feed, food, and farming. The company will equally weight the industries to avoid possible business risks,he said.
       The restructure aims to increase revenue from the food sector to 30-33% of the total from 18% at present. Animal feed already generates 35% which would be maintained.
       Farming revenue, particularly from chicken and duck farms, would be pared from 47% to one-third as well. Sales from this sector stood at 156.23 billion baht in 2008.
       Mr Adirek said CPF would outsource products from certified contracted farms instead, which would also prevent risk from fluctuating world commodities prices.
       Mr Adirek revealed last year he wanted to remodel CPF to emulate ConAgra, one the largest packaged-food companies in the US, and said its 8-billion-baht animal and farm complex in Nakhon Ratchasima would be its last production hub.
       Revenue from the food sector has grown rapidly in recent years thanks to brand-building efforts and new products.
       Ready-to-eat items such as shrimp wonton soup have increased sales to 32 billion baht this year.
       Mr Adirek said that next year CPF planned to invest 4 billion baht locally and overseas.
       US$30 million is set for the pig business in Russia, and $65 million is to build shrimp- and aqua-feed manufacturing plants in the Philippines.
       In Thailand, the investment will focus on the expansion of its distribution shop, CP Fresh Mart, which has over 500 outlets, as well as building more shrimp wonton production plants.
       CPF projects the investment will drive its sales to 160 billion baht this year despite the strong baht, as the company leveraged imports and exports and hedged the exchange rate to prevent risk.
       CPF reported third-quarter net profit of 4.116 billion baht, up 50.8% from 2.728 billion year-on-year. Its ninemonth net profit was 8.08 billion baht.
       CPF shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 9.70 baht,down 10 satang, in trade worth 656.2 million baht.

Loxley counts on synergy

       Trading firm Loxley will be expanding its retail arm by capitalising on its 12,000 two- and three-digit online lottery kiosks to double its yearly earnings of Bt5 billion to Bt10 billion in 2014.
       Loxley's executive vice president Suraphand Bhasitnirandr said yesterday the company saw a great business opportunity in expanding its retail business through its existing online lottery kiosks nationwide.
       The firm currently distributes 20 consumer product brands, and believes its 10 to 15 per cent average growth in the consumer segment can be boosted further if products could be sold via its online lottery kiosks.
       It has also developed a model to help lottery operators sell its products, and expects at least 20 to 30 per cent of the 3,000 lottery sellers to jump at the chance.
       The company distributes products including cooking oil, UHT milk, snacks, canned tuna to name a few.
       The company has four business units, namely trading, technology, service and joint ventures. Loxley's trading arm has contributed 45 per cent of its total sales of Bt10 billion.

Unilever pays $1.8bn for Sara Lee brands

       The consumer goods giant Unilever agreed yesterday to pay 1.275 billion ($1.87 billion) for Sara Lee's personal-care brands like Sanex and Radox to reinforce its global lead in deodorants and skin cleansing.
       The Anglo-Dutch Unilever Plc/NV is buying a business with 85% of its sales in Europe, while Sara Lee will now look to sell its household goods business separately as it launched a $1 billion share buyback programme.
       The deal marks the first major acquisition for Unilever's new chief executive Paul Polman, while Sara Lee's CEO Brenda Barnes is now half-way through a planned sell-off of non-core business aimed at focusing the US group on food and drink.
       "The Sara Lee brands enjoy strong consumer recognition, offer significant growth potential and are an excellent fit with Unilever's existing business," said Polman in a statement.
       Unilever says Sanex, Radox and also Duschdas brands will complement its Dove, Axe and Rexona at slightly lower prices and strengthen its European business in key markets such as Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain,Italy and Denmark.
       Sara Lee said the brands sold accounted for 55% of the profits from its businesses up for sale, and added it had seen significant interest in its household brands including Ambi Pur air fresheners,Kiwi shoe polish, Vapona insecticides and its non-European cleaning brands.
       "We intend to use proceeds from the divestiture to invest for growth in our core business and to repurchase stock,"Barnes said in a Sara Lee statement.
       The US group also reiterated that it intended to maintain its current quarterly dividend of 11 cents for the next four quarters regardless of the timing of disposals.
       Credit Suisse analyst Charlie Mills said the price Unilever was paying of 10 times core operating profit, or EBITDA,"is not huge by industry standards which reflects the fairly disparate collection of assets which also include Brylcream hair gel.
       "We're not convinced that this is the greatest collection of assets but another acquisition shows Unilever still moving from the back foot (cost cutting and disposals) to the front foot (volume growth and acquisitions)," he said.
       Sara Lee put its household and personal-care business up for sale earlier this year, and it was expected by analysts to break up the wide-ranging business to make a sell-off easier.
       The Sara Lee brands being acquired by Unilever generated annual sales in excess of 750 million with EBITDA of 128 million for the year ending June 2009. The overall Sara Lee business up for sale had annual sales of 1.5 billion.The deal is subject to regulatory approval and consultation with European employee works councils.

Betagro to sell green products

       Betagro Group, one of Thailand's leading food producers and exporters, has enhanced its green profile by forming a partnership to market energy-saving products for the livestock industry in local and export markets.
       B. International and Technology Co,a unit of Betagro, yesterday entered an agreement to exclusively distribute Kooling Max, a liquid product from Earth Concept Co, a Thai manufacturer and distributor of natural cleaning materials.
       Used with a cooling pad in the ventilation system at livestock farms, Kooling Max lowers temperatures, thereby cutting water consumption, electricity bills and animal mortality, said Cherdchai Sinsarng, general manager of B. International and Technology Co.
       "At an experimental test, the capacity would bring down operating costs for chicken by 0.50 baht per kilogramme,or 2% to 3% over about six weeks of raising," he said.
       B. International plans to sell about 20,000 litres of Kooling Max next year to earn about 15 million baht in revenue.
       Although this is a minor contribution to the company's expected revenue of more than 300 million baht this year, B.International sees good prospects for the product from the strong growth in the livestock industry in Thailand and many Asian countries.
       The company plans to tap this growth by distributing the product abroad together with other farm product ranges,such as ventilation controllers, cooling pads and silo weighing scales.
       Many Asian countries have made substantial investments in livestock businesses to meet growing domestic and export demand, said Nopporn Vayuchote, Betagro Group's executive vicepresident.
       Neighbouring countries' many recent investments in raising chicken and swine feature advanced equipment and technologies - especially in Vietnam, where Indonesian investors have set up a giant modern pig farm business, he said.
       Kooling Max will reduce energy use in line with a green marketing concept and conform with international rules on animal welfare, he said.
       The product has been warmly welcomed by big farm operators including Charoen Pokphand Group, and the resulting energy savings would raise the competitiveness of the Thai livestock industry, he said.
       Betagro Group expects its sales this year to increase to 50 billion baht from 45 billion in 2008.
       The company plans to inject about 3 billion baht next year into projects including setting up more Betagro Shop outlets, due to reach 50 stores by the year-end, and new investments in readyto-eat food.

BETAGRO GAINS FROM ITS BQM PROGRAMME

       The Betagro Group, the country's leading integrated agribusiness enterprise, is set to benefit from Bt100 million in annual cost reductions, thanks to the Betagro Quality Management quality-control programme launched a year ago.
       The group has also received 100-per-cent repeat orders from its trading partners. Prices for its export products are quoted 30-per-cent higher than the market price, and stocks at port destinations have dropped significantly, thank to increasing demand.
       BQM, which enables complete quality testing, is part of the group's efforts to become one of the top manufacturers of safe consumer foods through its full compliance with all international standards and ability for its products to be tracked 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
       This unique standard of quality control, also called BQM 24/7, will be showcased this weekend when the group attends the world's most important food and beverage fair - Anuga, in Cologne, Germany.
       Chief operations officer Vasit Taepaisitphongse said the group would extend the BQM method to its local trading partners, so that they can improve their own operations.
       "Our BQM standard will assure customers about our food safety and help us achieve our three-year target of 15-per-cent annual growth on average," Vasit said.
       He said the group formulated its unique quality-control system in the face of rising quality requirements from importers, particularly supercentre giants like Tesco.
       "Each customer has its own specific standards, so we wanted our standards to surpass anyone's requirements," he said, adding that the group's cost reduction would also help its bottom line.
       Executive vice president Suthep Tirapipattanakul agreed BQM had helped the company reduce costs, including by reducing product rejects from 1 per cent to 0.1 per cent.
       BQM has also encouraged the group to focus more on premium products, which now accounts for 75 per cent of its production. Plans are afoot to produce only premium products in the near future.
       The programme has been successfully applied in its chicken farm and all processing lines. Next up will be its swine operations, with full implementation expected by next year.
       Sanon Liawpairoj, commercial director for poultry, said the group's chicken exports reached 33,000 tonnes in the first nine moths of the year, against a full-year target of 46,000 tonnes. Export volume will increase to 55,000 tonnes next year.
       The group exports to the European Union (55 per cent) and Japan (45 per cent).
       Vasit said the group had targeted revenue growth of 10 per cent next year, to Bt55 billion.