Roundup: Multi-Choice, Movilnet, Nokia, Telmex-ULP

Barbadian pay TV provider Multi-Choice has chosen content protection partner Conax to secure its roll-out of digital TV services, according to a statement. Conax has also secured two new contracts in the Caribbean region in the last few months, further establishing the solutions provider's security footprint. Multi-Choice TV offers digital pay-TV services over an MMDS - DVB-C wireless Microwave network. The Conax content security solution will strengthen the existing digital TV platform with subscription, pay per view and on-demand services. *** Venezuelan state-owned mobile operator Movilnet deployed more than 4,000 base stations in the country serving 14.8mn customers by end-2011, the company said in a statement. Of the base stations, 1,453 are CDMA, 1,427 GSM, 615 UMTS and 605 EV-DO. This compares to the 1,212 antennas installed by Movilnet's former private owner, Verizon. State telco Cantv and its mobile unit were re-nationalized in 2007. *** Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has sold its 1.5 billionth series 40 mobile phone to a female customer in the Brazilian city of São Paulo, the company announced. Nokia said this represents a historic moment as it continues its strategy of connecting the next 1bn people. The 1.5 billionth mobile phone was a Nokia Asha 303, a touch screen handset with Qwerty keypad designed for web browsing, social networking and gaming, which features pre-installed entertainment and applications such as Angry Birds Lite. The first Series 40 phone was the Nokia 7110 developed in 1999. Since then the series has evolved into "smartphone lite" devices, adding features typical of smartphones to lower-cost handsets. *** The Universidad de La Punta ( ULP) university in Argentina's San Luis province has contracted Telmex and Tecnored to expand the broadband of its information highway (AUI) and acquired equipment to boost its WiFi network. Following the handing out of 50,000 computers last year as part of the computers for schools program Todos los Chicos en la Red, demand for connectivity grew in the province. ULP's rector Alicia Bañuelos said that school children in provincial capital San Luis and town Villa Mercedes would receive 39,000 netbooks and would register the largest increase in connectivity.