Few would argue that it is important to ensure that your network is strong, reliable and quickly restorable. However, the debate centers on how to build a network that isn’t too costly to deploy or operate.

With 80% of a telecommunications build being spent on labor, it is critical to the containment of deployment costs that a thorough analysis of how to control labor costs be undertaken. A deployment will require a staff of planners, engineers, field crews and construction forces that are knowledgeable about the type of services to be offered and how they are to be delivered.

European Union lawmakers are seeking to further ratchet down the fees mobile operators charge users when they travel abroad, according to a draft plan seen by Reuters, taking aim at a lucrative source of industry profit.

France Telecom will double its investment in fiber networks in 2012 to $395-$460 million and won't scale back its broadband ambitions because of intensifying competition in its home market, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

A U.S. Senate antitrust panel is planning a hearing to discuss Verizon Wireless's multibillion dollar deals to buy wireless airwaves from cable operators and let them resell its mobile service, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The U.S. Justice Department's antitrust division is also looking at the two deals, which critics oppose because they would mean that companies that are rivals in some businesses, like cable and Internet, would become allies in the wireless business.

India's Supreme Court ordered on Thursday telecoms licenses issued under a scandal-tainted 2008 sale be revoked, striking a decisive blow against corruption that plagues the country and roiling the world's second biggest cellular market. The ruling applies to 122 licenses held by eight operators but potentially affects fewer than 5% of users in a fiercely competitive market crowded with more than a dozen players.

The wireless technology known as 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) is expected to claim the lion’s share of wireless infrastructure capital spending next year as mobile carriers migrate to that next-generation standard, according to a report by information and analysis provider IHS.

On Monday, Siemens AG announced it will buy RuggedCom Inc, a maker of data communications networks systems, for about $381 million in cash, to improve access to markets in North America and the Asia-Pacific region.

Last week, the SARTRE project completed its first demonstration of vehicle platooning, which is a convoy of vehicles where one professional driver in a lead vehicle drives the entire line of other vehicles.

Service enablement services (SES), the software layer between the network and vertical applications, are set to become a key differentiator in the machine-to-machine (M2M) market and achieve a total market value of $2.2 billion worldwide by 2014, up from a modest $350 million in 2011, according to the latest study by analyst firm Beecham Research.

On Wednesday, Numerex Corp, a provider of machine-to-machine (M2M) products and services, announced the launch of Numerex FAST 3.0, Numerex's cloud-based M2M platform, which now enables expanded service features and capabilities. FAST 3.0 now includes three service delivery options which can be accessed independently or as a fully integrated solution: Network as a Service (NaaS); Platform as a Service (PaaS); and Software as a Service (SaaS).