1998

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Iridium, the first GMPCS (Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite) system is set to become commercial worldwide on 23 September, but will not have a signal over South …

OXFORD, United Kingdom-The United Kingdom likes to portray itself as a pioneer in cellular. Certainly it was early on the scene, with two analog TACS (Total Access Communications System) networks …

The Australian Communications Authority has invited applications for an auction of previously unsold 800 MHz and 1.8 GHz PCS spectrum. Bids closed on 31 August for the partial privatization of …

MELBOURNE, Australia-The Australian government has been forced to abandon plans to fully privatize Telstra Corp. in the face of a threatened revolt by members of its coalition partner, the National …

LONDON-Vodafone Group plc announced plans to buy the national GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) network in New Zealand for about US$369.1 million. Vodafone Europe Holdings BV reached an agreement …

OXFORD, United Kingdom-Conferences are an integral part of the mobile communications scene, an ideal platform for catching up with the latest developments and a chance to meet old friends and …

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-The long-awaited launch of cellular service in Botswana is expected to have a huge impact on the country’s communications and business sector. Botswana’s small population of 1.47 million …

Total paging subscribers in the United States will reach 68.9 million by year-end 2002, according to The Strategis Group report “The State of the U.S. Paging Industry: 1998.” Of that …

WASHINGTON-The U.S. Federal Communications Commission plans to re-auction returned C-block PCS (Personal Communications Services) licenses 23 March, 1999. The FCC will use the same eligibility rules used for the original …

OXFORD, United Kingdom-Unseemly and ongoing disputes over intellectual property rights seem to have hijacked the current debate about third-generation (3G) cellular. Posturing by radio manufacturers continues to dominate the news …

JERUSALEM, Israel-Afraid of scaring Israeli consumers, wireless carriers operating in this nation of 2 million cellular phone users are awaiting the arrival of a third player, Partner Communications Co. Ltd., …

GSM in Central and Eastern Europe 8-9 September Prague, Czech Republic IBC UK Conferences Ltd. Tel: (+44) 171-453-5493 Fax: (+44) 171-636-1976 www.ibc-uk.com/prague 2nd European Mobile Radio Congress 14-16 September Prague, …

WASHINGTON-Almost 500 years after Columbus visited, Portugal and Spain are back on Latin American shores; this time, it isn’t sugar cane or gold they are after, but rather the potentially …

BEIJING-In its latest proposal to gain entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO), China offered on 24 July to open gradually its paging and mobile phone operating services to foreign …

BEIJING-China Telecom announced it signed up its 20 millionth mobile phone customer, a police officer named Zhang Qinghua in the scenic city of Hangzhou, at precisely 8: 45 a.m. on …

JERUSALEM, Israel-In the southern town of Ashkelon stands a larger-than-life black marble grave stone that is as much a monument to the teenager buried in the plot as it is …

Chances are slim to none that U.S. mobile phone operators will agree on one standard for the next generation of mobile phone services. Already fragmented with three different digital standards-cdmaOne, …

Wireless carriers in the United States have been focusing a great deal of attention on a government mandate concerning emergency calls made from wireless phones. The United States has in …

L.M. Ericsson Argentina. With Telecom Personal to expand its D-AMPS/AMPS network. Value: up to US$77 million Argentina. With Telefonica Comunicaciones Personales to expand its D-AMPS IS-136/AMPS network. Value: US$45 million …

What does the acronym MoU mean? MoU stands for Memorandum of Understanding, of course-as in the GSM MoU Association. Any European cellular operator could tell you that. Except today, some …

The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association in July released a consensus white paper on wireless number portability stressing the wireless industry should be treated differently than the wireline industry. Current requirements …

WASHINGTON-The Mexican government will auction new frequencies for paging, narrowband PCS (two-way paging), trunking and point-to-point microwave. The auctions are scheduled for late 1998 and early 1999, depending on the …

MEXICO CITY-Grupo Iusacell announced a restructuring and recapitalization plan aimed at increasing liquidity of its public shares, providing proceeds to pay for PCS (Personal Communications Services) licenses in northern Mexico …

WANDEL & GOLTERMANN RadMan is a personal safety monitor introduced by German company Wandel & Goltermann that measures electric and magnetic fields in any direction. RadMan monitors the limit values …

If all goes as planned, Iridium L.L.C.’s vision of a global wireless phone network-based on a constellation of 66 low-earth-orbit satellites interconnected to several terrestrial-based networks-will begin commercial service on …