2002

TOKYO—Three Japanese carriers and three industry associations are going to set up an organization to evaluate mobile Internet content on 28 February. The organization, called Mobile Content Evaluation System Association, …

JAKARTA, Indonesia—Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (BPPN) decided to sell the assets of Pacific Satellite Nusantara (PSN) and its subsidiary Asian Cellular Satellite (ACeS) to AAA Securities for US$206 million. The …

TOKYO—J-Phone, the third-largest mobile carrier in Japan, announced it will launch a new e-mail service with motion pictures. According to J-Phone, which is now a Vodafone Group company, using the …

NEW DELHI, India—BPL Mobile, India’s leading GSM service provider, hopes to increase substantially its revenues from non-voice services with its recently launched General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) service in Mumbai. …

BEDMINSTER, N.J.—Verizon Wireless signed an agreement with Qualcomm Inc. to commercially launch applications based on Qualcomm’s Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless platform. The BREW platform will allow Verizon Wireless customers …

NEW YORK—Motorola Inc. enjoyed a ratings upgrade from Morgan Stanley to “outperform” from “neutral.” “We believe handset introductions, semi industry recovery and government sales strength could add positive cash flow …

ATLANTA—Numerex Corp. announced its new expanded long-term wireless strategy, which involves introducing products for machine-to-machine communications working over a variety of technologies. Numerex said its customers will soon be able …

BEIJING—Based on responses from 243,260 people across China, the China Telecommunications Association and Englewings Public Relations Corporation said Motorola was voted China’s most favored mobile-phone company. Nearly 84 percent of …

LONDON—General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)-based mobile Internet services are being rolled out across the Middle East, with Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) leading the way. Jordan’s largest mobile-phone …

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, Canada—Canadian vendor Redknee said it partnered with Germany’s mobile operator Viag Interkom to deploy real-time short message rating services. Redknee said Viag has enhanced its prepaid service through …

LONDON—MmO2, the mobile phone unit spun off from British Telecommunications last year, said it plans to cut 1,900 jobs in the United Kingdom and Germany as part of its restructuring …

MOSCOW—German vendor Siemens overtook Finland’s Nokia, the worldwide mobile-phone sales leader, in handset sales in Russia in 2001, according to a report by International Data Corporation (IDC), a global provider …

TOKYO—FileMaker Mobile, which allows instant database publishing on i-mode smart phones, was introduced in Japan. FileMaker includes a Mobile Groupware solution, which includes a scheduler, meeting room reservation planner, bulletin …

BEIJING—China Mobile is not satisfied with the slow adoption of its General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) services. At the end of 2001, only 1.5 million of its 145 million mobile-phone …

TAIPEI, Taiwan—Taiwan awarded five third-generation (3G) licenses following a 19-day auction that saw bid totals much higher than analysts had expected. Total bids in Asia’s first 3G auction reached T$48.9 …

TAIPEI, Taiwan—Taiwan awarded its five third-generation licenses following a 19-day auction that saw bid totals much higher than analysts had expected. Total bids in the auction—Asia’s first 3G auction—reached $1.4 …

SAN JOSE—SiRF Technology and NEC Electronics announced a licensing agreement that will integrate SiRF’s SiRFstarII GPS technology into NEC’s integrated circuits for the automotive marketplace. The companies said that the …

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario—Technology consultancy Plextec Ltd. unveiled a dual-band GSM900/DCS1800 GPRS/Bluetooth multimode PC card. The card, which comprises an always-online GPRS system combined with Bluetooth technology, enables wireless Internet access and …

BELLEVUE, Wash.—Service assurance product supplier WatchMark reported a strategic system integration partnership with European systems integrator AU-Systems to distribute WatchMark’s performance management and network visualization products to AU-System’s customers in …

CHARLESTON, W.Va.—Nextel Partners Inc. launched wireless service in Charleston, Huntington, Parkersburg, Clarksburg, Morgantown, Fairmont and the greater Central West Virginia region. In conjunction with the launch, Nextel Partners donated 10 …

HELSINKI, Finland—Sonera, the Helsinki-based telecom company, has abandoned its fixed monthly connection charge for its consumer General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) offering in a move designed to increase use of …

BOCA RATON, Fla.-SBA Communications Corp. is going to reduce capital expenditures and new tower development activities in 2002, and suspend any material new investment for additional towers, the company said. …

HELSINKI, Finland—Nokia Corp. said it will integrate Macromedia Inc.’s Flash Player into its Mediaterminal, which combines digital video broadcast, full Internet access, personal video recorder technology and gaming. The Macromedia …

NEWTON, Mass.—MoreMagic Software announced it scored $9 million in its second round of funding, which was led by Vision Capital and Battery Ventures. “These additional funds will be used to …

SAN FRANCISCO—Java-based wireless application server software provider Aligo Inc. announced it added Applied Systems Analysis & Processing Inc. and Caribou Lake Software to its Mobile Application Systems Integrators group. Applied …