In a regular series, Mobile World Live‘s Asia Editor Joseph Waring provides a regional roundup of news snippets:

Philippines to ban mobile phones in banks
A lawmaker in the Philippines has submitted a bill that would make the use of mobile phones in banks illegal and offenders subject to a hefty fine. A ban on handsets has been bank policy for some time, but the representative said it has not been strictly enforced, the Inquirer reported.

The “Cell Phone in Banks Prohibition Act” aims to prevent criminal activity and also covers the use of laptops, tablets and radio transmitters, which could be “exploited for illicit activities”. There is an exemption, however, for medical workers during emergencies.

Coolpad targets Indonesia with $100 phone
China’s Coolpad is targeting Indonesia’s booming smartphone market and plans to market its Andromax G2 through a deal with Smartfren Telecom. The smartphones, priced at about $100, are made by Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific and already have been shipped to Indonesia, the Jakarta Post said.

Operator Smartfren, which has 12 million mobile connections and about a 4 per cent market share, aims to sell 200,000 units in Q3, the Post said.

About four million smartphones sell each month in the country.

iPhone 6 to launch in Thailand on 31 Oct
Apple will release the iPhone 6 in Thailand on 31 October, with pricing range from THB25,500-37,300 ($780-1,140).

The Bangkok Post reported that the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 with 16GB will sell for THB25,500 and the 128GB version will go for THB33,400. The 5.5-inch 6 Plus starts at THB29,400 (16GB) while the 128GB model will be THB37,300.

The new iPhones are expected to be available in Macau and South Korea on the same days.

Ericsson signs 4 deals with Airtel and Idea
Ericsson has had a busy week in India, signing deals with the country’s largest operator Bharti Airtel and number three Idea Cellular.

The agreement with Airtel covers both 4G networking equipment and a self-care system that allows its prepaid customers to top up their data plans between midnight and 6am.

Idea Cellular, with 141 million connections and a 15 per cent market share, has tapped Ericsson for a real-time charging system for postpaid subscribers and a network platform that enables it to deliver broadband services over a unified IP transport layer using VPNs.

Ericsson signed a five-year deal in August to manage Vodafone India’s prepaid charging system.

KT signs NFV deal with Alcatel-Lucent
KT has signed an agreement to collaborate with Alcatel-Lucent on a proof-of-concept for the vendor’s evolved package core, NFV management system and SDN platform. The collaboration forms part of KT’s efforts to develop its ‘Giga Network’, in which NFV will underpin the development of a new architecture to increase efficiency and lower costs.

Hong-Beom Jeon, head of KT’s technology infra laboratory centre, said the arrangement will help it create converged services for the ‘Gigatopia’ era and develop new revenue generation models.