January 2001

MENLO PARK, Calif.-Nuance, a manufacturer of voice interface software, and OnStar, the telematics subsidiary of General Motors Corp., announced OnStar has licensed Nuance’s speech recognition software to be used in …

NEW YORK-Debt downgrades for telecommunications carriers last year outnumbered upgrades by a two-to-one margin, setting the stage for increased pressure on ratings this year, analysts for Standard & Poor’s Corp. …

ATLANTA-Just a few months after its successful initial public offering, O2wireless Solutions Inc. announced two acquisitions, which the company said will add site development and international consulting and legal services …

Finally, a glass of champagne. Nortel Networks toasted its fourth quarter with a result that matched market expectations and a robust promise for the future. Nortel, a leader in communications …

DULLES, Va.-America Online Inc. announced last week it reached a licensing agreement to develop and market a Netscape-branded version of Nokia’s WAP microbrowser for use across various mobile devices. “This …

Drought is the bellweather for venture funds these days, but not for two companies, NetSanity Inc. and AppForge Inc., which received their third and first rounds of financing, respectively. NetSanity, …

TOKYO-NEC Corp. will supply third-generation equipment to Telecom Italia Mobile, according to international press reports. The value of the contract, which is the first win for a Japanese manufacturer in …

WASHINGTON-In a move being watched closely by the wireless industry, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration proposed rules to reimburse the Pentagon and other federal agencies relocated to other frequencies …

WASHINGTON-The National Telecommunications and Information Administration said last week testing showed that ultra-wideband systems “have the potential” to operate in the 3 to 6 GHz bands even though the power …

DENVER, United States-When the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) set aside a portion of the permits up for bid in its 1996 auction of personal communications services (PCS) licenses, the …

BUCHAREST, Romania-In the early 1990s in Romania, paging terminals came to be well-known. Since then, the market has gone through a period of quick penetration, followed by market uncertainty and …

Canada Ericsson announced trials for Wireless Application Protocol technology over a TDMA network with Rogers Cantel, a Canadian wireless provider. The announcement is the first WAP 1.1 system on a …

BUCHAREST, Romania-Eastern and Central European countries began to improve and modernize their telecommunications networks more than a decade ago, after the fall of communism. A great deal of work needed …

DUBLIN, Ireland-When companies with international aspirations make their cases for being allowed to own mobile networks across a number of countries, one argument put forward is that pan-European operators will …

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Globalstar could be the last hope for global mobile personal communications by satellite (GMPCS) survival in Africa. During a heated debate at the Satcom Africa ’99 conference held …

Bulgaria Ote Telecom won Bulgaria’s third mobile-phone license for US$135 million, beating out Telecom Italia Mobile through an auction. Ote plans to partner with Bulgarian Telecommunications Co. (BTC), the country’s …

MADRID, Spain-Last March, when the Spanish government’s beauty contest awarded Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) licenses to Telef

North American GSM operators finally are presenting a united front to the rest of the world when it comes to roaming into the United States and Canada. European and other …

TORONTO-To the relief of the wireless industry, the Canadian government raised the four-year-old spectrum cap that limits the amount of radio spectrum each PCS provider may operate. Wireless carriers in …

GENEVA-With the world’s first third-generation (3G) mobile systems due to come online in Japan in less than a year, Europe’s wireless operators are gearing up for an intense round of …

DENVER, United States-XO Communications revealed plans to launch a data-centric broadband network in Western Europe as early as mid-2001. Western Europe’s early adoption of mobile technology, combined with its tight …

TOKYO-The millennium bug was squashed in most industries around the world, with one exception in wireless. Due to a Y2K glitch, short message service (SMS) messages on some types of …

SINGAPORE-Four years after it was first introduced in Japan, PHS technology finally has made some headway in the international telecommunications arena. Taiwanese paging operator First International Telecom (Fitel) recently was …

MELBOURNE, Australia-In a part of the world that still relies on word of mouth as a means to keep in touch, cellular communications-both digital and analog-is continuing to spread through …

Microsoft and Ericsson announced a joint venture to develop and market mobile Internet products. In addition, Microsoft introduced its dual-mode microbrowser, called Mobile Internet Explorer, which Ericsson will adopt into …