October 1999

REDMOND, Washington, United States-AT&T Wireless introduced new pricing plans that could build on the success of the carrier’s Digital One Rate plan by adding more phones into the home. Bell …

France Telecom said it will sell its 2-percent stake in Deutsche Telekom next year, according to a Reuters report. France Telecom also said it expects changes in the shareholder structure …

When the clocks roll over at midnight on 31 December, the world will usher in not only a new century, but a new paradigm in the way people communicate. What …

Contrary to what many equipment developers proclaim, Hans Snook, chief executive officer of U.K.-based cell phone operator Orange, says that things were not simpler in 1995. He claims that it …

When Qualcomm’s Dr. Irwin Jacobs looks forward to the next World Telecom show, in 2003, he predicts the continuing convergence of the computer and mobile phone. Jacobs foresees a cellular …

TORONTO-Research in Motion (RIM) of Waterloo, Ontario, a small Canadian company far from Silicon Valley, has developed some of the hottest wireless technology in the world. In just a short …

TOKYO-While operators and venders successfully found a way to interconnect two different systems for third-generation services, NTT DoCoMo and its vendors are now gearing up to develop equipment for wideband-CDMA …

TOKYO-Softbank, Microsoft and Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) announced they will establish a joint company to provide wireless access line services. According to the announcement, the new joint company will …

The biggest challenge for wireless operators during the next four years most likely will be obtaining additional spectrum, according to Keith Radousky, director of engineering, BellSouth Cellular Corp. “(Wireless) data …

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Six cellular phone companies, including a consortium led by South Africa’s MTN, have been prequalified by Kenya’s Communications Commission to bid for a second mobile phone license in …

Japan Telecom (JT) plans to launch its 3G services based on wideband-CDMA in the third quarter of 2001. Koichi Sakata said JT will put an emphasis on its 3G business …

OXFORD, United Kingdom-Most cellular operators now recognize that to ensure their businesses continue to experience breakneck growth, they must compete more directly with fixed operators. According to industry analysts, this …

CDMA handsets were the No. 1 selling handset in the United States during the first quarter of this year, with sales of 3.2 million units, according to Dataquest Inc., a …

The fundamental shift in the wireless industry from technology to applications in the four years since Telecom ’95 is evident in Nortel Networks’ changed theme for its exhibition. In 1995, …

Alcatel Argentina. With Telecom Argentina for a fixed wireless access network. Value: US$99.6 million Ericsson Argentina. With Unif

Trunking The radio trunking handset base registered growth of 200 percent from 1 April 1998 to 31 March 1999, reaching 12,000 in the 25 cities where public mobile radio trunked …

Alcatel’s recollection of 1995, the year of the last Telecom show, was of GSM coverage being patchy in most European countries, with network designers basing their plans on handsets with …

DUBLIN, Ireland-There has been much debate over the future of satellite-based communications. Indeed, regular readers of the financial press might wonder if it has any future in the new millennium …

Despite the economic problems that struck Asia since Telecom ’95, Scott Erickson, vice president of Lucent’s Wireless Access Group, Asia-Pacific, sees the region as leading the wireless industry on several …

NEW YORK-Cellular terminals have come a long way in the quarter century since Motorola introduced its handheld Dyna TAC mobile phone, a clunky device that weighed nearly 0.9 kilograms and …

WHEATON, Maryland, United States-To succeed in wireless e-commerce, companies will have to invest in applications that have no pre-existing equivalent, according to “Wireless E-Commerce: Building Blocks for Success,” a new …

JACKSON, Mississippi, United States-SkyTel launched a new service, SkyTel Message Center, which notifies customers when they receive a voice mail, e-mail or fax at their office or home and then …

Talk about mega-mergers! Vodafone AirTouch secluded in talks with Bell Atlantic. BT and AT&T pushing back the boundaries of their courtship. All quoting figures of thousands of dollars per subscriber …

Looking back at Telecom ’95, Takeshi Kawada said the show has changed from an exhibition for hardware makers to one for software and services. “Today, development of applications holds the …

U.S. TDMA operators must make some critical decisions about competing in the wireless data market during the next year as they witness their CDMA counterparts begin to launch circuit-switched data …