December 2002

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-The two major cell-phone operators in Colombia, which operate on TDMA technology, announced they are migrating their networks to different technologies. In the case of BellSouth, the company …

DUBLIN, Ireland-As the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the awarding of the second GSM license in Ireland continues, those who advised the government at the time have been trying to …

DUBLIN, Ireland-A report in one of the United Kingdom’s leading tabloid newspapers suggested the Competition Commission has reached a decision on the fairness or otherwise of mobile call costs in …

BEIJING-Motorola is aggressively promoting its Innovative Convergence platform to local Chinese handset makers. The platform integrates mobile-phone chips with application development systems, enabling handset makers to shorten their production cycles …

BANGALORE-Motorola will expand Bharat Sandhar Nigam Ltd.’s (BSNL) cellular network in southern India according to a newly signed deal worth $33 million. According to their agreement, Motorola will install a …

SAN DIEGO-Mobile phone maker Kyocera Wireless Corp. will use software from Roxio Inc. to allow users of its forthcoming 7135 smart phone to edit and change images on their device. …

MANILA, The Philippines-The Chairman of the House committee on transportation and communications of the Philippine Congress is reported to have said he will block any move to impose taxes on …

BEIJING-Agilent Technologies has opened a research and development center in Beijing focused on developing software tools for designing third-generation (3G) devices and components. This includes testing solutions for China’s own …

HELSINKI, Finland-The Moscow-based Sistema Joint Stock Financial Corporation (Sistema) has approached several leading Finnish telecom companies and venture capital houses in search of Western technical expertise and funds to conduct …

JAKARTA, Indonesia-The recent acquisition of the Indonesian government’s 41.94-percent stake in Indosat by Singapore Technologies Telemedia (ST Telemedia) will soon change the atmosphere of the country’s mobile business. Both ST …

NEW DELHI, India-Korean giant LG Electronics launched its CDMA handsets in the Indian market on Wednesday, but said the handsets will be sold through basic service providers like Reliance Infocomm …

TOKYO-Hudson, a leading game software provider in Japan, announced it launched a new voice message service for NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode service. When a user of the i-mode service sends an …

NEW YORK-By a vote of 40-9, the city council of New York has approved a bill to prohibit the use of cell phones at public performances, including theaters, museums and …

MONTREAL-Telesystem International Wireless (TIW) and ClearWave said they reached an agreement with Emerging Markets Partnership (WMP) on the sale of the 5.68-percent stake of Romanian operator MobiFon held by ClearWave …

HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia will supply a GSM network expansion to China’s Henan MCC in a deal valued at more than US$100 million. Deliveries of GSM core and radio access network infrastructure …

TOKYO-Sega on Tuesday announced it would supply gaming software to FarEasTone in Taiwan and SmarTone in Hong Kong. Both Asian telecom companies launched game content distribution services on 16 December. …

BEIJING-Nine CDMA operators attended the CDMA Operators Summit 2002 hosted by China United Telecommunications, parent of New York-listed China Unicom. Vice President Wang Jianzhou called on the operators to increase …

PHILADELPHIA-Verizon Communications Inc. announced plans to lay off approximately 3,500 employees this week in an attempt to cut costs, according to Reuters. The layoffs come on top of 5,000 job …

MUNICH, Germany-PCTEL Inc. recently announced the availability of its new Segue Network Gateway, capable of performing routing, IP addressing, security and billing access for 802.11 networks. “We will continue to …

WICHITA, Kansas-IFR has upgraded its 2975 radio test set to include new test patterns, the ability to control 2975 tests via the Internet and the ability to test P25 trunked …

TOKYO-J-Phone said it has requested permission from the Japanese regulator to unify its regional company price plans into six national price plans and seven discount services for its PDC networks, …

WALL, N.J.-Centennial Communications Corp. reported an increase in net revenues for its second fiscal quarter ended Nov. 30 from $173.4 million last year to $180.7 million this year, a majority …

LONDON-Following on a promise he made earlier this year, Vodafone Group plc chairman and former RCR Wireless News Person of the Year Christopher Gent said he would retire from the …

ALEXANDRIA, Minn.-Rural Cellular Corp. reported its stock would be delisted beginning today and would begin trading on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board immediately under the “RCCC.OB” ticker symbol. Rural Cellular said …

CAMBRIDGE, U.K.-Market research firm Analysys has released a new report warning European operators against a price war between fixed and mobile carriers as fixed-to-mobile service substitution continues. Such a battle …