March 2002

BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom—Smart-phone maker Sendo announced it teamed with Tao Group to include Java technology in the company’s new Z100 smart phone. The move is especially interesting because Sendo is …

FRANKFURT, Germany—Ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Marconi plc to Ca from B2 in its unsecured bond, while the company’s senior implied rating dropped to Caa3 from B1. “The …

MUNICH, Germany—Siemens AG won a contract to supply the UMTS network for Tele2 in Norway. The contract value was not disclosed. Deliveries and installations will begin in May in Oslo, …

HAMAMATSU CITY, Japan—Yamaha Corp. said it will provide ring tone download services to Hutchison Telecommunications Ltd. customers throughout Hong Kong. The new service, expected to be available March 28, will …

DUBLIN, Ireland—Ireland’s Office of the Director of Telecom Regulations received bids from three wireless operators for its four third-generation mobile licenses up for sale, including one “A” license covering 80 …

TORONTO—Telesis said test results show its Overdrive Mobile Mail Accelerator increases the speed of GPRS wireless data networks by as much as 1,500 percent, while also providing customer cost saving …

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands—KPN Telecom said the charges made against it by the European Commission regarding mobile call termination fees do not “take full account of the complexities of the …

MONTREAL—Canadian wireless operator Bell Mobility launched its cdma2000 1x network in Montreal with plans to extend coverage in major urban centers across Quebec this summer and in its national coverage …

HELSINKI, Finland—Whatever the ultimate outcome of Telia’s strategic Scandinavian union with Sonera, the net effect will certainly not be a merger of equals. The boards of Telia and Sonera have …

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission said that it is returning 85 percent of the deposits made when the agency re-auctioned the PCS C- and F-block licenses originally won by NextWave Telecom …

MANILA, The Philippines—Mobile-phone operators need lots of creativity to be a step ahead of the competition, according to Napoleon Nazareno, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Smart Communications, one …

NEW YORK—Kurt Hellstroem, Swedish equipment maker Ericsson AB’s chief executive, said his company is not optimistic about a sales rebound this year, adding that the vendor expects sales to remain …

WASHINGTON—The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association on Wednesday hailed the wireless priority access agreement signed by VoiceStream Wireless Corp. by calling on the federal government “to free up the additional …

SAN FRANCISCO—Motorola Inc. says it is demonstrating an application with Visionics Corp. and Wirehound L.L.C. that will enable law enforcement officials to identify criminals through facial recognition. “The application, developed …

ORLANDO, Fla.—Agilent Technologies Inc. is going to resell and develop solutions using Cramer Systems’ line of inventory and automated provisioning applications, Cramer announced. Agilent will incorporate these applications as core …

TOKYO—Japanese wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo Inc. and its eight regional companies reduced interconnection fees with other telecommunication operators retroactively from April 1, 2001. The carrier said the reduction was necessary …

TEL AVIV, Israel—Ceragon Networks Ltd. announced it will deploy its FibeAir wireless backhaul system on Sonofon’s cellular network in Denmark. “This agreement marks our third major cellular win in Scandinavia,” …

HERZELIA, Israel—Comsys Communications and Signal Processing Ltd. are partnering with Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd. to develop software platforms for EDGE mobile terminals, Comsys announced. Comsys specializes in digital signal processing …

WATERLOO, Ontario—The BlackBerry is going to Asia under a deal between the maker of the wireless e-mail and mobile-phone device, Research In Motion Ltd., and Hong Kong wireless carrier Hutchison …

BOSTON—Telecom Media Networks, an industry practice of the Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Group, announced it has integrated Netonomy’s MyNetonomy e-Care and e-Commerce solution with Portal Software’s Infranet convergent billing …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Nordic telecom operators Telia AB and Sonera Corp. announced plans to merge through an all-stock transaction, creating a combined company with 2001 revenues of $7.9 billion. Sonera shareholders will …

TORONTO—In a move to cut its costs and provide savings for its customers, 724 Solutions announced that Computer Sciences Corp. will resell its software applications, provide systems integration and manage …

BUCHAREST, Romania—Nortel Networks said it signed a contract with Connex to deploy packetized voice and data networks using Nortel’s softswitches and multiservice switches. “Connex will become the first service provider …

VIENNA, Va.—Motorola University, which provides corporate training and strategy consulting, announced mobile software provider mPortal Inc. will define and develop prototype mobile extensions to Motorola University’s Six Sigma products. MPortal …

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—Openwave Systems Inc. announced it sold its Mobile Access Gateway version 5.1 to new Brazilian wireless carrier Telemar. Telemar will license Openwave’s technology for its new Oi wireless …