Four individuals were arraigned Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey, on charges they smuggled tens of thousands of counterfeit Apple and Sony products from China for sale in the U.S., the Justice Department said in a statement. Charged in a 31-page indictment with importing and trafficking illegal goods were Andreina Becerra, 30, a Venezuelan national; Roberto Volpe, 33, an Italian national; Jianhua Li, 40, a Chinese national; and Rosario La Marca, 52, an Italian national, DOJ said. They’re also accused of international money laundering to cover their tracks, DOJ said. The indictment estimates the defendants smuggled in more than 40,000 fake Apple and Sony goods between July 2009 and February 2014 that would have fetched more than $15 million in sales had they been the genuine articles. No information was available Thursday on whether the four defendants entered pleas, and attorneys for the four didn’t comment.
American Tower completed a deal with Bharti Airtel to acquire about 4,700 communications sites in Nigeria, it said in a news release Wednesday.
Broadcom signed memoranda of understanding with Chinese companies, including two for the development of Ultra HD equipment, it said in a news release. Its joint development agreement with Inspur Group, a systems integrator, is aimed at fashioning a new DOCSIS 3.0 Ultra HD set-top "that can power an entire digital home system,” Broadcom said Thursday. The goal of a separate pact with Beijing-based pay-TV operator StarTimes is to jointly define and develop set-top offerings for Africa, Broadcom said: “Both sides will invest engineering resources to develop a series of low-cost set-top boxes and high-end Ultra HD home gateways.”
General Cable said it agreed to sell its Asia Pacific operations -- made up of businesses in Australia, China, New Zealand and Thailand -- to MM Logistics for about $205 million in cash, according to a news release Friday. The sale is expected to close in Q3 and includes an estimated $30 million in preliminary net cash.
Mobilicity accepted a $440 million (Canadian) (US$354 million) takeover bid from Rogers Communications, Rogers said Wednesday in a news release. Mobilicity has been under creditor protection since April 2013. To win regulatory approval, Rogers said it plans to sell some of Mobilicty’s spectrum to Wind Mobile. Rogers also said it has completed the previously announced acquisition of Shaw's AWS-1 spectrum. Mobilicity, originally formed as Dave Wireless, emerged as a competitive carrier after buying spectrum in Canada’s AWS auction. “We're basically adding multiple lanes on our wireless highway in three key markets overnight," said Guy Laurence, CEO of Rogers. "This means faster speeds and better quality for our customers as they use more and more mobile video." Rogers said the deals will give it more spectrum in Alberta, British Columbia and southern Ontario. The Mobilicity deal is subject to various government approvals.
The use of a promotional model for demos doesn't constitute a "permissible use" under drawback rules permitting refunds of customs duties for unused goods, Customs and Border Protection ruled. CBP said in the just-released May 28 ruling, HQ H258306, that demos of Anritsu network testing devices before sale go beyond incidental usage and don't qualify as unused merchandise. Anritsu is a Japanese manufacturer of network test and measurement equipment for the telecom industry. The company's U.S. sales personnel generates interest in Anritsu products through the use of promotional models imported into America. The company lets potential customers test the models, either through letting the prospect take a device home or within a lab setting, said CBP.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative removed Paraguay from its 2015 Special 301 Watch List after the U.S. signed an intellectual property rights (IPR) agreement with the country Thursday, USTR said in a statement. The agency plans an out-of-cycle review of Paraguay in the near future, the statement said. USTR released its most recent edition of the Special 301 Report in late April (see 1505010009). Paraguay has "stepped up its efforts to strengthen IPR protection and enforcement" over the past 18 months, said USTR.
Telco Cuba filed an application Wednesday with the FCC International Bureau to operate as a resale carrier for Cuba. A subsidiary of Amgentech, Telco Cuba said it plans to offer a variety of communications services, including VoIP and direct SMS messaging in the U.S. and between the U.S. and Cuba. Several telecom companies, such as Sprint, have started moving into the Cuban market since the recent shift in U.S. policy (see 1506150070).
SoTel Systems is expanding into the Latin American region through the acquisition of the international business operations of Teleswitch in Miami, a news release from SoTel said Tuesday. SoTel is an international provider of business communications equipment, products and services, including domestic VoIP service, it said. The new division of SoTel will operate as Teleswitch International, the release said.
Chinese consumers (65 percent) tend to prefer to shop in brick-and-mortar stores, while those who buy online, generally 30-somethings, do so to avoid crowds and to find the best bargain, said CEA Chief Economist Steve Koenig in Shanghai last week at CES Asia. He presented results of an online survey of 3,000 Chinese consumers along with half-hour conversations. Seventy-two percent had a smartphone that’s six months to two years old and 66 percent own a wearable that’s less than a year old, Koenig said. Fifty-seven percent said they replace their smartphone every two years and 63 percent plan to replace their wearable every two years, Koenig said. Forty-six percent buy a new smartphone to replace a non-working model, while 43 percent buy to upgrade to a newer model. In TV viewing, 36 percent of Chinese consumers spend their time watching live content, 20 percent view digital video files, 16 percent watch VOD, 10 percent view streamed content and 10 percent use a DVR, Koenig said. The cutoff age for predominantly live versus DVR content is 40, he said.