February 2002

OKLAHOMA CITY, United States—Dobson Communications completed a previously announced sale of four wireless licenses and related operations in California, Georgia, Ohio and Tennessee to Verizon Wireless for approximately US$465 million. …

SAN DIEGO, United States—KTF in South Korea launched the Geleye service plan and associated handset, powered by Qualcomm’s gpsOne global positioning system (GPS) chipset and location software. KTF’s Geleye handset …

PHOENIX, United States—ArrayComm announced a licensing partnership with Kyocera to commercialize, manufacture and sell its i-Burst system worldwide. I-Burst is built on ArrayComm’s IntelliCell spatial processing smart antenna technology, which …

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—Mobile operator MTN has cited the high interconnection rates imposed by the state-owned operator Nitel as the main reason for its high retail prices. MTN’s tariff for its …

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—The third network operator in South Africa announced that it will target the youth market with the launch of its latest package called Club Chat. Cell C Marketing …

OXFORD, United Kingdom—The U.K. government has put an effective ban on the use of wireless local area networks (WLAN) within its departments because of rising security concerns. This move follows …

MOSCOW—Siemens has reportedly won the tender for equipment supplies for the construction of the second GSM 900/1800 MHz network in Belarus, which is to be operated by the leading Russian …

CHICAGO, United States—The Uzan family, owners of Turkish wireless carrier Telsim, warned the lawsuit recently filed against them by Motorola and Nokia could force them out of business. The Uzans …

PHOENIX, United States—After years of quiet work, Space Data finally officially announced its plan to operate as a carrier’s carrier by using weather balloons to offer wireless services to vast …

SAN DIEGO—Qualcomm Inc. has named Anthony Thornley as its new president and chief operating officer and William E. Keitel as its senior vice president and chief financial officer. Thornley was …

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission filed a petition for a writ of certiorari Wednesday afternoon to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit claiming the court “inappropriately …

LONDON—Vodafone Group signed a partner agreement with Finish mobile operator Oy Radiolinja to cooperate in developing, marketing and offering international products and services. Under the agreement, Radiolinja will promote Vodafone’s …

LAGOS, Nigeria—The chosen bidder to take a controlling stake in Nigeria’s Nitel was given an extra six weeks to make its final payment after missing the original deadline. Investors International …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden—A new Swedish company announced its formation to vie for the fourth GSM license that Sweden’s telecom regulator PTS plans to award by mid-2002. Edge Mobile said it will …

KIBBUTZ EYAL, Israel—Israeli company Eyal Microwave said it received a new order from a Korean manufacturer for cdma2000 1xEV-DO 1800 MHz power amplifiers. The US$4 million order follows EMI’s approval …

LUXEMBOURG—SK Telecom has selected Mach for the provision of its roaming and clearing services. Mach said it will support SK Telecom in the implementation and development of its inter-standard roaming …

DUBLIN, Ireland—Vodafone Fiji is using short message service (SMS) software from Ireland’s Xiam. The announcement follows a trial of the software during the 2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament. The …

LONDON—Cable & Wireless announced it has signed BT Cellnet, the U.K. business of mmO2, as a commercial customer of its mobile data roaming service, Cable & Wireless GPRS Roaming Exchange …

LONDON—The Wireless Village standards group released its version 1.0 specifications for wireless instant messaging, prompting a range of new product and service announcements from Wireless Village members. The standards group …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Ericsson said it plans to lay off about 300 workers in Norway as part of the company’s overall cost-cutting strategy. Most of the job cuts will affect the company’s …

TAMPERE, Finland—Tahoe Networks said it is helping European operators create mobile data service business models that will reverse the decline in average revenue per user (ARPU) through a six-month educational …

BOSTON, United States—According to a new report from Strategy Analytics, Samsung will fall below Siemens in 2002 global cellular market share results, and Sony Ericsson may push Samsung down even …

SWINDON, U.K.—Lucent Technologies said it has completed successful tests for Internet Protocol (IP) virtual private networks (VPN) using Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) equipment. “The secure IP VPN connections will …

ARLINGTON, Virginia, United States—Iridium Satellite announced the five satellites it launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on 11 February have ascended into their assigned orbits and are fully functional. The …

MURRAY HILL, New Jersey—Lucent Technologies introduced its MiLife Intelligent services gateway to enable mobile operators to develop and deliver enhanced voice and data services for third-generation (3G) networks. “With the …