2002

BEIJING—China Unicom plans to significantly upgrade its paging service with new information and data services, such as e-mail. The number of paging subscribers in China is constantly dropping as more …

TOKYO—NTT Communications, a long-distance and international business unit of NTT Group, announced it would launch wireless service based on the 5 GHz band in July on an experimental basis. Under …

CALGARY—An isolated native-Indian community has obtained its first solid link—without wires—to the outside world. Quick Link Communications of Calgary, a satellite services provider, has connected the Wasagamack community to wireless …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—One of the effects of the Argentine crisis on the region is the recent rejection by Uruguay and Paraguay of the option to privatize their telephony companies. The …

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—South Africa’s third mobile network operator Cell C announced it joined forces with the Unilever Institute of Strategic Marketing and the School of Management studies at the University …

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—South African mobile network operator Vodacom announced that it has won a license to operate a GSM network in Mozambique. The expansion drive has been part of the …

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BEIJING—Qualcomm Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Irwin Jacobs expects China Unicom’s CDMA network to have 3 to 4 million users by the end of the year. Subscribers are slow …

MELBOURNE, Australia—Australia’s telecommunications industry ombudsman (TIO) has placed the country’s mobile-phone operators on notice following a spate of “unreasonable early termination fees on mobile-phone contracts” this year. Already this year, …

MANILA, The Philippines—The Philippines’ House committee on transportation and communications through its chairman Representative Jacinto Paras favors an inquiry into the planned Nextel buyout by a private consortium allegedly led …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—The Supreme Court of Chile has resolved to exclude Smartcom, owned by Endesa of Spain, from the 30 megahertz personal communications services (PCS) auction after two years of …

WASHINGTON—The Bush administration likely will not pursue a comprehensive national broadband policy, a development that could hurt industry efforts to secure additional spectrum for third-generation (3G) wireless systems. For months, …

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HELSINKI, Finland—The uphill battle to meet Sweden’s December 2003 national rollout deadline for third-generation (3G) networks has taken a significant new twist, after Sweden’s leading mobile operators assigned Stockholm-based telecom …

TOKYO—Fujitsu, a leading telecom vendor in Japan, is planning to launch a mobile carrier business renting PHS networks owned by DDI Pocket. The vender is planning to launch the service …

CHANTILLY, Va.—InTouch USA, which provides wireless handset rentals to business travelers, said it is now offering a phone that can be used in China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada and …

HONG KONG—Sprint PCS and China Unicom have formed a strategic alliance for cdma2000 services, Sprint PCS’ Bill Blessing told attendees Wednesday at the 3G World Congress here. As part of …

HONG KONG—Verizon Wireless Inc. is the first customer for Lightbridge Inc.’s Mobile Data Manager, a new service that enables carriers to allow users to self-provision data services. Mobile Data Manager …

CALGARY, Alberta—Wireless Matrix Corp. said it has received an order from Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) for 2,400 mobile base station units to be used in deployment of SAIC’s FleetOptimizer …

WASHINGTON—Telecommunications research and analyst firm The Strategis Group ceased operations today. The firm was founded in 1964 by Martin Malarkey and Archer Taylor. It was known as Malarkey, Taylor and …

ALISO VIEJO, California, United States—SMS Media Group said it signed a deal with European mobile entertainment company Jippii Group that enables SMS Media to provide its subscribers with a large …

HELSINKI, Finland—Tecnomen said it was awarded a contract valued at 700,000 euros (US$662,900) by Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) for paging system expansions in the country. Tecnomen will replace old …

MUNICH, Germany—Swedish vendor Ericsson announced the sale of its microelectronic unit to Infineon Technologies for US$379 million in stock, ending industry speculation. “This transaction makes Infineon a strategic supplier of …

NEW YORK—Motorola said it will meet or beat its guidance for the second quarter of a loss of 4 cents per share. Motorola President and Chief Operating Officer Edward Breen …

PARIS—Alcatel said it will provide maintenance and service to Austria’s Tele.ring under a three-year US$37.8 million contract. Alcatel supplied parts of the network, and the contract covers all network elements, …