2002

MILAN, Italy—Dutchtone’s 1.2 million customers will now be able to download a wide range of music tracks and personalized messages through a deal among the Dutch wireless carrier, electronic music …

WASHINGTON—The Personal Communications Industry Association laid off five people on Wednesday, reducing its staff to 47 people after a similar reduction of nine people last October. While PCIA is “extremely …

BEIJING—Vodafone Group plc plans to invest $35 million in China Mobile subsidiary Aspire Holdings to acquire a 9.9-percent stake. Vodafone already has a 2-percent share in China Mobile (Hong Kong). …

LONDON—The owners of Vizzavi Europe, a mobile portal formed in May 2000, announced a revised revenue model, along with the departure of the company’s chief executive officer (CEO) and a …

MADRID, Spain—Radical changes at Telef

LONDON—Jordanian operator Fastlink has unveiled its countrywide commercial General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) service. The service will enable post-paid customers to have always-on connections to the Internet via their mobiles. …

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—The South African government has sold its 20-percent stake in mobile operator M-Cell to Ice Finance, a Dutch investor, for US$475 million. The sale was seen as a …

HELSINKI, Finland—Nokia said it has begun what it calls the first volume shipments of commercial GSM/Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) hardware by any vendor to the United States. …

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia, United States—The local multipoint distribution services (LMDS) provider formerly known as Advanced Radio Telecom (ART) emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and will change its name to First …

CHICAGO—A U.S. District Court judge ordered Motorola to pay US$300 million to Chase Manhattan Bank to satisfy part of a loan the bank made to Iridium before the satellite phone …

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DENVER, United States—Mexico’s Grupo Salinas has secured a cellular license in Nicaragua after delays in finalizing the deal. Reuters reported the Mexican company’s Nicaraguan operation, PCS de Nicaragua, is authorized …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—The National Telecommunications Council of Ecuador announced that it will auction three wireless local loop (WLL) licenses on 15 April. The companies that are interested can purchase the …

CHICAGO, United States—Motorola plans to lay off 20 percent of its 600 executives between next week and April as part of ongoing job cuts in the company. “While our sales …

HELSINKI, Finland—Nokia said it has launched a TDMA/GSM phone model, which will enable roaming in the United States, Europe and other parts of the world. Nokia believes it is the …

Murray Hill, New Jersey, United States—Lucent Technologies has appointed a returning executive, Patricia Russo, as its chief executive officer (CEO). She replaces Henry Schacht, 67, who will now serve as …

BOSTON, United States—The Yankee Group expects the deployment of new technologies to drive handset sales between 2002 and 2005, with Asia leading the way, especially China. The research firm said …

RESTON, Virginia, United State—Nextel Communications entered a licensing agreement with Qualcomm for the further development and deployment of Qualcomm’s QChat software, which is designed to provide push-to-talk functionality on CDMA …

MADRID, Spain—Telef

ROCHESTER, New York, United States—Eastman Kodak Company announced it will spin off its wireless business into a company called Appairent Technologies, which will develop technology for the wireless transmission of …

LAS VEGAS, United States—In his keynote at the 2002 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates detailed his company’s new wireless strategies, which include …

LONDON—Hutchison 3G UK partnered with BBC Technology to manage the production of Hutchison’s audio-visual content to be available in its third-generation (3G) service. BBC will process and edit content for …

MOSCOW—Russian Communications Minister Leonid Reiman said the Arabic Thuraya satellite communications company is likely to get a license in Russia if it fulfills all the necessary requirements. “I believe Thuraya …

OXFORD, United Kingdom—The U.K. government is calling on cell-phone operators and terminal manufacturers to rapidly improve the security features of handsets to halt a steep increase in street crime involving …

OXFORD, United Kingdom—In an effort to stimulate the use of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)-based services, Telia Mobile has become the first cell-phone operator to offer GPRS roaming throughout the …