May 2000

BUCHAREST, Romania-The Moldova republic, a former Romanian region, is a small country with a population of 4.3 million and a small economy. The mobile market is not currently dynamic, reflecting …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-In tone with the wave of competition that has taken Argentina by storm, Nextel has decided to extend its iDEN digital wireless services network, connecting Buenos Aires with …

SANDTON, South Africa-Nigeria’s promising telecommunications environment has been clouded by the government’s failure to accelerate the licensing of GSM operators. Nigeria, with one of the lowest teledensities in the world, …

BUCHAREST, Romania-Due to the analog transmission and the lack of value-added services, NMT 400 systems in Eastern Europe-which enjoyed great success during the last two decades-have suffered in recent years. …

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 …

South Korean mobile phone carrier Hansol M.com said talks to sell a controlling stake in the company to either Korea Telecom or the LG Group had broken down. The problems …

TOKYO-J-Phone Group, Japan’s second-largest mobile phone company, plans to merge its nine member firms into three companies later this year. The announcement follows the company’s application for a third-generation license …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

TOKYO-In early February, some 300 telecom experts from 25 nations in the Asia-Pacific region met in Tokyo to compile their proposals for WRC-2000. Based on the five-day meeting, the Asia …

GENEVA-Despite the best efforts of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Secretary General Yoshio Utsumi, the reform process designed to drag the 135-year-old telecommunications standardization body into the 21st century has once …

SAN ANTONIO-SBC Communications Inc. reported increased first-quarter growth driven by expansion in its data communications, wireless and international operations. Operating revenue was up 6.5 percent from $11.8 billion in the …