EuroTel Praha awarded Nokia Corp. a three-year frame agreement valued at almost $200 million to continue as the sole supplier to expand its 900 MHz Global System for Mobile communications network. Nokia said it will supply base stations, base station controllers and high-capacity mobile switching centers, as well as the requirements for advanced network services such as Internet access via GSM phones. EuroTel launched its GSM network in the Czech Republic in 1996. Today EuroTel has more than 450,000 customers.
Trunking operators in South Korea plan to reach 1.6 million subscribers by 2005, said the International Mobile Telecommunications Association. The trunked radio industry has been active in South Korea since 1988 when Korea TRS launched the first system, but it only operated in port areas until 1995 and saw no rapid or dramatic subscriber growth until 1996. The government during the latter part of 1996 issued one national and five regional licenses.
Several wireless companies announced the formation of the Indian PHS MoU Forum, under the full endorsement of the PHS MoU Group in Japan, to promote the benefits of Personal Handyphone System technology in India. Founding member companies include ArrayComm Inc., BPL Telecom, Fujitsu, Kalyani Sharp, NEC Corp., Rockwell International and Rodhe & Schwarz, most of which have significant contracts and field trials underway in India, the companies said.
A subsidiary of BellSouth, NECS, introduced MailPush, a service that notifies e-mail users of newly received messages via their pagers, cell phones or fax.
To avoid pages announcing unimportant e-mail messages, MailPush users can choose which messages they are notified of based on sender or subject.
CVG Ferrominera of Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela, agreed to purchase a $1.5 million Multi-Net II wide-area radio communications system from Transcrypt International Inc. CVG Ferrominera, a company that mines raw iron, plans to use the system to integrate communications among site managers, trucking units, railway transports and corporate headquarters, said Transcrypt.
