2002

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Mobile network operator Vodacom announced it will assist students in schools throughout South Africa and the region to become computer literate following the opening of the E-Learning Resource …

SCHAUMBURG, Illinois, United States-Shares of Motorola rose slightly after the company reported promising second-quarter results. Discounting charges of nearly US$3.5 billion taken during the second quarter, Motorola said it had …

HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia mobile-phone sales rose in the second quarter, but infrastructure sales lagged considerably behind totals recorded for second-quarter 2001. Nokia also lowered its handset sales figures once again. The …

TOKYO-Omron, a pioneer of automated control equipment, developed what the company called a next-generation ticket gate system that lets mobile-phone users go through gates without train tickets, the firm announced. …

BEIJING-The packet data service node (PDSN) manufactured by Lawton Development passed testing by China’s Ministry of Information Industry (MII). The equipment will be used in the upgrade of China Unicom’s …

NEW DELHI, India-The Taiwan-based Comtrend Corporation, a solutions provider to telecom companies, will market wireless instant messaging solutions from New Delhi-based ACL Wireless Limited in Taiwan. The two companies announced …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-TIM Digitel is the new name for Digitel, the third cellular operator in Venezuela, which in its first year of operations has attracted 300,000 customers. A one-year transition …

JAKARTA, Indonesia-Indonesia’s slow growth of 2.5-generation (2.5G) services has not inhibited Indonesia’s government to begin preparations for the country’s 3G regulatory framework. Tulus Rahardjo, the country’s director of frequency arrangement …

HONG KONG-GSM operator SmarTone has launched a “picture mail” service that enables multimedia messaging service (MMS) phone users to send messages combining pictures, text, voice and music. Using either the …

DUBLIN, Ireland-BAE Systems and Marconi Mobile have been chosen as the preferred bidders for a major contract with the British armed forces for the provision of a secure wireless communications …

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.-Air2Lan is going to provide wireless local area network connectivity throughout the Southeast using the Vernier Networks System, the companies announced. The Vernier Networks System authenticates WLAN users, …

KIHEI, Hawaii-Maui Sky Fiber announced The Ritz-Carlton Kapalua will offer Maui Sky Fiber’s broadband services to its resort guests. Maui Sky Fiber is in the process of deploying an islandwide …

REDMOND, Wash.-Wayne M. Perry, a member of AT&T Wireless Services Inc.’s board of directors since last July, resigned Wednesday. Perry said he decided to resign to focus on serving as …

SAN JOSE, Calif.-Globalstar awarded a contract to Space Systems/Loral for the design and future construction of its 2 GHz satellite system, the company said. Financial terms of the contract were …

LOS ANGELES-Moviso, Motorola, VoiceStream and GetMoreMojo.com have aligned to wirelessly promote the soon-to-be-released Austin Powers flick “GoldMember.” The joint solution allows Austin Powers fans to personalize their mobile phones by …

HAYWARD, Calif.-Wireless enterprise company AvantGo Inc. announced it scored its second patent, one that covers technology for the synchronization and customization of XML-based Web services, applications and data. Patents have …

CHESTERFIELD, Miss.-While industry leaders have knocked around the idea of a killer application in wireless for years, a new report from Datacomm Research Company and Phoenician Ventures pegs it squarely …

MANILA, The Phillipines-Despite the influx of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)-capable handsets and free service from operators, it will take some time to lure Filipinos to surf the Web via …

JOHANNEBSBURG, South Africa-MTN South Africa announced its General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) pricing strategy and some of the initial applications that will be available at the time of commercial launch. …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-Mobile operator Smartcom PCS, owned by Endesa of Spain, sued BellSouth through the Chilean government’s Antimonopoly Resolution Commission on the grounds of disloyal competition. This suit is based …

BEIJING-China’s Ministry of Information Industry (MII) released mobile subscriber statistics for the first half of the year. At the end of June, China had 176.16 million mobile-phone users. The number …

MELBOURNE, Australia-The Australian Communications Authority (ACA) announced it will allocate, by auction if demand dictates, the remaining 3.4 GHz band of the radio-frequency spectrum. Licenses in the 3.4 GHz band …

DUBLIN, Ireland-Vodafone Group announced it will launch the “Sha-mail” service in Europe in the fourth quarter. The company revealed its plans to begin marketing the new camera-enabled phones in seven …

TOKYO-Shipments of mobile phones with cameras surged from 6 million units in 2001 to 23 million units in 2003 in Japan, according to a survey conducted by a research institute. …

HELSINKI, Finland-Telenor, the Oslo-based semi-state-owned telecom operator, rejected on 17 July speculation by market analysts that the company is anxious to re-open consolidation talks with the newly merged Telia-Sonera. Jon …