May 2000

NEW YORK-The GSM Congress convened its plenary meeting in Santiago, Chile, April 25 amid anticipation that the number of Global System for Mobile communications customers worldwide will reach 300 million …

Gary Hermansen, former senior vice president and general manager of Glenayre Technologies Inc.’s consumer products group, left the company to become chief executive officer of start-up firm Brightmail Inc. Hermansen …

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-Intel Corp. is expected to announce the formation of its Intel Wireless Competence Center in Beijing to promote wireless Internet technology in China, Reuters reported. The center will …

InfoSpace Inc., a provider of infrastructure services for Web sites and devices, said wireless Internet opportunities continue to represent the company’s biggest opportunity and fastest-growing area. Within that space, InfoSpace …

BRAMPTON, Ontario-Nortel Networks Corp. reported company revenue increased during first-quarter 2000,. from $4.2 billion in 1999 to $6.3 billion. Including acquisition-related costs and one-time gains and charges, Nortel recorded a …

STUTTGART, Germany-The Mobile Electronic Signature Consortium announced another 11 organizations have joined its effort to define a worldwide standard for mobile digital signatures, bringing the total number to 25. The …

Phone.com Inc. fired the first shot against Geoworks’ claim that it holds intellectual property rights to Wireless Application Protocol technology by suing the company. Geoworks claims its patent concerning a …

DENVER-U S West Inc. reported first-quarter financial results ending March 31 that showed its wireless services added almost 135,000 new subscribers during the quarter and an average revenue per user …

SEATTLE-U S West Inc. customers now have wireless access to the company’s Internet e-mail and personal information management services due to a joint effort with VirtualTek Corp., a developer of …

WASHINGTON-A divided federal appeals court in Atlanta ruled wireless carriers and Internet firms do not have the same right as other telecom service providers to access utility poles on a …

CAIRO, Egypt-Orascom Telecom (OT), which owns stakes in Egypt’s largest mobile provider, agreed to buy 80 percent of Telecel International, a pan-African telecommunications company that holds 12 GSM licenses in …

DUBLIN, Ireland-After decades of tight state control, Eastern European telecommunications markets are waking up to the reality of telecommunications liberalization. But even though many of these countries accept that liberalization …

In March 1999, when Ericsson and Qualcomm ended their intellectual-property-rights deadlock over CDMA patents and jointly agreed to support approval in standards bodies of the tri-mode CDMA third-generation standard, industry …

Bulgaria KPN Telecom and Greece’s Ote raised their offer to US$600 million for a 51-percent stake in Bulgarian Telecommunications Co. The companies previously offered US$510 million, Reuters reported. If the …

Throughout the world, wireless providers tend to suffer from a common myopia: Too many carriers see their customer care operations as a simple safety net for agitated customers. While this …

ISTANBUL, Turkey-The International Telecommunication Union said its member countries have reached a treaty agreement for changes to international allocations of radio-frequency spectrum and all associated regulatory provisions. The treaty is …

After eight weeks and 150 rounds, NTL Mobile said enough and dropped out of the U.K. government auction for five Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses. The withdrawal left only five …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden-Swisscom Mobile chose L.M. Ericsson as the sole supplier of its packet-based General Packet Radio Service solution, allowing data services and Internet applications over the existing digital Global System …

WASHINGTON-With the House up for grabs this fall and a slew of high-tech bills pending before Congress, the high-tech lobby is flexing its muscle on Capitol Hill and shaping the …

MADRID, Spain-Telefonica reported reaching an agreement with Orange plc and Sonera Corp. to apply for the Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service license in Germany through a consortium in which Telefonica InterContinental …

ANNAPOLIS, Md.-TeleCommunication Systems Inc., a developer of network applications enabling the delivery of Internet content to wireless devices, filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an …

NEW YORK-Sony Corp. has licensed the Texas Instruments Open Multimedia Application processing engine and Symbian’s EPOC software platform for Sony’s next generation of wireless handsets. Sony selected the two technologies …

WASHINGTON-A majority of the Telecommunications Resellers Association members have voted in support of changing the group’s name to the Association of Communications Enterprises, virtually guaranteeing the name change. “The response …

BERWYN, Pa.-Triton PCS Inc., which markets its service under the SunCom brand name, completed the second phase of its network construction by launching digital wireless service in eight additional Southeastern …

RESTON, Va.-TRW Inc. formed a strategic partnership with Wireless Inc. to develop and market high-speed, broadband wireless Internet access equipment. The partnership includes licensing TRW’s SpitFire point-to-multipoint access technology. The …