[May 20, 2013] AME Info, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, telecommunications briefs Tweet May 20, 2013 (AME Info - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- SAUDI CONSUMER WATCHDOG SAYS MOBILE CHARGES AMONG THE HIGHEST WORLDWIDE: According to a study by the Saudi Consumer Protection Association (CPA), mobile call charges in the kingdom are among the highest in the world, at around 35 halalas a minute compared with the world average of seven halalas a minute, Arab News has reported. The CPA urged the local telecoms operators to restructure their fees to reflect real prices, and said it would publish a fair price for calls, after taking into account details such as the income of citizens, inflation and the real cost of the communication. OMANTEL INKS BGG SUBMARINE CABLE DEAL: Omantel has signed an agreement for another submarine cable to enhance the reliability of international connectivity between the sultanate and the rest of the world, Muscat Daily has reported. The 'Bay of Bengal Gateway' submarine cable system (BBG) will span approximately 8,000km and connect six countries via landing points in Barka (Oman), Fujairah (UAE), Mumbai and Chennai (India), Rathmalana (Sri Lanka), and Penang (Malaysia) and Singapore. Commercial operation of BBG is set to start by end of the fourth quarter of 2014. It will offer an ultimate design capacity of 28 Tbit/s and is designed to provide upgradable transmission facilities by adopting the state-of-the-art 100 Gbit/s technology. ANDROID, WINDOWS PHONE MARKET SHARE RISE, IOS , BLACKBERRY'S DECLINE: According to a survey by IDC, Google's Android mobile operating system gas boosted its lead in the global smartphone market over Apple in early 2013, while Microsoft's Windows edged into third place, AFP has reported. Android has captured at 75 percent market share in the first quarter, compared with 59.1 percent in the same quarter a year ago. Apple's iOS garnered 17.3 percent of the first quarter market share this year, including 37.4 million shipments. Unlike Android, iOS decreased its share compared to last year. The first quarter of 2012 saw iOS with a market share of 23 percent and 35.1 million shipments. Microsoft's Windows Phone posted the largest year-over-year and moved past BlackBerry into third place, accounting for 3.2 percent of the market and seven million shipments. BlackBerry OS' market share stood at 2.9 percent for the first quarter with 6.3 million shipments, down from the 6.4 percent market share and 9.7 million shipments in 2012, the report said. SAMSUNG SAYS GALAXY S4 SALES TO 'EASILY' REACH 10 MILLION THIS WEEK: Samsung Electronics co-CEO Shin Jong-kyun has said the company's Galaxy S4 is on track to easily surpass its predecessor's sales record, Korea Times has reported. "We are confident that we will pass more than 10 million sales of the S4 next week. It is selling much faster than the previous model S3," Jong-kyun said. ___ (c)2013 AME Info (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) Visit AME Info (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) at www.ameinfo.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]