May 1999

DENVER, United States-Canada’s telecom market saw major changes recently as its four smallest telecom companies agreed to merge into one company and Bell Canada formed a strategic partnership with U.S.-based …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has completed the re-auction of 356 PCS licenses in the United States. Licenses had to be re-auctioned after several of the original bidders were unable …

MELBOURNE, Australia-Telstra has conducted preliminary trials of its new Nortel Networks-designed CDMA mobile network amid nagging disquiet and confusion in some rural quarters about the closure of the analog network. …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-Chile, which became the first country in Latin America in 1998 to implement PCS, has just felt the tremor of three new events in its market that could …

DUBLIN, Ireland-In the wake of the phenomenal success of “ready-to-go” prepaid packages, many European mobile phone subscribers are concerned they are paying more than they need to for their service. …

Recently I have read a few opinions casting doubt on the value of the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) in today’s converging wireless and Internet industries. I consider these opinions to …

Dear Editor: There was an article by Paul Rasmussen in the March-April edition of Global Wireless that discusses the situation concerning ERMES two-way. In that article, he says some disparaging …

JOHANNESBURG-Michael Stocks, legal and regulatory general manager for MTN in South Africa, assumed the chairmanship of the GSM Association as from 1 May, taking over for Richard Midgett. Stocks is …

Press reporters on both sides of the Kosovo conflict have been castigated for not toeing the party line. In times of conflict, reporting the facts can be an unwelcome stance. …

Lucent Technologies announced three technical initiatives designed to increase capacity in TDMA equipment. The company announced a series of software enhancements developed by Bell Laboratories to increase frequency re-use; as …

SANDTON, South Africa-Telecel International, one of the most active cellular investors in Africa, split into two separate companies as from the end of April. The resulting companies are Telecel One, …

GENEVA-Late in the evening of 21 April, fax machines on the desks of night editors at Europe’s major dailies suddenly began to hum in unison, roused by a simple, one-page …

MONTREAL, Canada-Montreal-based Telesystem International Wireless, through its London-based wholly owned subsidiary Dolpin Telecom, and Motorola have established a strategic relationship for deploying TETRA in Europe. The alliance includes infrastructure and …

Moldova The Republic of Moldova, formerly a part of Romania, has reported an emerging commercial trunked radio market, with one company licensed to date, according to the International Mobile Telecommunications …

VANCOUVER, Canada-eDispatch.com Wireless Data announced recently it signed an evaluation and installation agreement with Southern Linc, under which Southern Linc will demonstrate the eDispatch.com system to customers on its iDEN …

Brazil Telemig Celular said it plans to invest R$200 million-R$220 million (US$118 million-US$130 million) during 1999 to expand its services in the state of Minas Gerais, according to the Jornal …

TOKYO-Japan Telecom (JT), British Telecom and AT&T announced 25 April that BT and AT&T each will take a 15-percent stake in JT. As a result of this strategic agreement among …

SAO PAULO, Brazil-Samsung in mid-March opened its first manufacturing operations for cellular handsets outside of South Korea. The company began manufacturing a CDMA handset for the Brazil market in Manaus, …

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-The potential bidders for the third cellular license in South Africa are determined to break the existing Vodacom-MTN duopoly. “We will be competing head-on with MTN and Vodacom …

BANGALORE, India-Although the growth of South Asia’s relatively new markets has temporarily slowed due to political and financial problems, increased competition and investment have made them extremely promising. With managed …

OXFORD, United Kingdom-If an Olympic games in cellular communications were ever staged, there is little doubt who would head the medals table. Finland would take gold in almost every event. …

GENEVA-The ferocious competition that has characterized the DM70 billion (US$40 billion) German telecommunications market since the introduction of full telecom competition a year-and-a-half ago shows no signs of abating, with …

As I write this, the community here is still in shock over events in April at a local suburban Denver high school where two students stormed the building with guns, …

BANGALORE, India-Although cellular operators in India fear revenue losses of as much as 25 percent due to a sharp increase in the monthly rental, or service charge, from US$3.90 to …

The government of India in March revealed a new telecommunications policy that aims, among other things, to rectify issues surrounding licensees of basic and cellular services, to redefine the competitive …