The UMTS Forum said it welcomed proposals by the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity Conference Preparatory Group (APG) for adoption of the 2520-2670 MHz band to support the terrestrial component of IMT-2000. APG proposed that administrations make up to 160 megahertz of additional spectrum available for IMT-2000.
Australia
Virgin and Cable & Wireless Optus announced they will form a joint-venture mobile phone company in Australia. The company, Virgin Mobile, will be Australia’s first virtual network operator and Virgin’s second mobile phone business. Service will be launched in the third quarter of this year. Calls on the Australian service will be made and received using Optus’ GSM network. The joint venture will set its own call fees, and handsets will carry the Virgin brand.
Telstra announced it successfully made the first live General Packet Radio Service data call in Australia on the carrier’s trial GPRS network provided by Ericsson. The carrier plans to commercially launch its GPRS service later this year.
China
The Hong Kong government said all six wireless operators in the territory breached licensing conditions and contributed to anticompetitive behavior. However, a government official said it was not necessary to impose penalties against the operators because they agreed to rescind their price increases. The government investigation was launched after the operators simultaneously raised monthly charges in early January.
India
Telstra agreed to sell its 49-percent stake in Modi Telstra, a Calcutta mobile operator, to India’s Modicorp, Hong Kong’s Distacom and a fund affiliated with American International Group. Modicorp previously held 51 percent of the wireless firm.
Thailand
Shin Corp. said it will sell 16.5 million new shares to Samart Corp. in return for cash and a stake in Samart’s mobile phone unit Digital Phone Co. (DPC). The stock exchange would give Shin a 45.59-percent stake in DPC.
The merger between Shin and Samart reduces the number of players in the Thai mobile phone market to two: Advanced Info Service (AIS), which is a unit of Shin, and Total Access Communications, a unit of United Communications. In related news, Singapore Telecom announced that it increased its stake in AIS from 18.63 percent to 20 percent, following SingTel’s purchase of 3.7 million shares.
