PTCL sale to Etisalat dead
Looks like Etisalat finally figured out that it bid way too much for PTCL and has now backed out. Earlier another Arab bid ran out of steam when Kanooz al Watan backed out of its bid for KESC.

Will Singtel come back to the table?


http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/business/2005/October/business_October566.xml§ion=business
- posted @ Monday, October 31, 2005

 
U.K. police arrest two linked to computer espionage case
This is a followup to the previous post about custom trojans. Of course the advise to "anti-virus software up-to-date" is self serving. Most anti-virus will not detect custom trojans.

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London police have arrested two computer consultants who are believed to be part of an Israeli industrial espionage scandal in which malicious software was used to steal corporate secrets.
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The Metropolitan Police arrested Michael Haephrati, 41, and his wife Ruth Haephrati, 28, in London last week on allegations of computer hacking, a police spokesman said Tuesday.

According to several media reports, the two are thought to be part of a group of software programmers and business executives being investigated by Israeli police for industrial espionage. Michael Haephrati allegedly created a type of malicious software program, known as a Trojan horse, which was sent to corporate computers via an e-mail attachment and then used for spying, the reports said.

Although the Met spokesman declined to comment on the espionage allegations, he confirmed that London police have received a provisional extradition request by Israeli authorities.

The couple is currently being held and due to appear in court on Friday, the spokesman said.

Israeli police authorities weren't immediately available to comment on Tuesday. However, investigators told the Tel Aviv-based Haaretz newspaper earlier this week that they have arrested 18 people in relation to the case.

Meanwhile, e-mail security firm MessageLabs warned Tuesday that it is no longer uncommon for companies to receive these kind of targeted malware attacks. Security researchers are advising companies to keep their anti-virus software up-to-date.
- posted @ Monday, October 03, 2005

 
China's ZTE plans WiMAX trial in Pakistan
Mike Clendenin
EE Times
(09/19/2005 8:55 AM EDT)

TAIPEI, Taiwan — WiMAX will soon be touching down in Pakistan.

China’s ZTE Corp. said Monday (Sept. 19) it would launch a trial run in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, of its beta equipment for the fixed wireless service. The trial will begin next month, through local provider Telecard, and include an installation of one six-sector base transceiver station and 17 receivers.

Telecard will target telephone service for residents, online services for enterprises, broadband services for hotels and wireless backhaul for Wi-Fi services at Islamabad's airport.

"This is the first trial of its kind for ZTE in Pakistan where DSL coverage is extremely limited," said James Jiang, of ZTE's American R&D center. "The success of this trial will be of great significance for WiMAX expansion overseas, in particular in South Asia, Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific markets." Along with Huawei Technologies, ZTE is one of China’s largest telecom equipment makers, posting sales of $4.1 billion last year. It has three WiMAX R&D centers in China and the U.S. with more than 400 R&D personnel dedicated to WiMAX operations.

The company said it hopes to carve out a niche in offering services and hardware in Asia for the relatively new technology.
- posted @ Saturday, October 01, 2005