February 2003

MELBOURNE, Australia-Wireless communications services provider SkyNetGlobal announced this week the transfer of its assets to Telstra will proceed in quarterly payments during the next two years. According to SkyNetGlobal, Telstra …

TOKYO-KDDI, the second-largest mobile operator in Japan, announced it will terminate communications service via Iridium in the second half of February due to complaints lodged by customers. According to KDDI, …

OSLO, Norway-Norway’s Ministry of Transport and Communication made a surprising intervention Thursday, halting a Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority (PT) ruling granting sub-operators cheap access to Telenor’s short message service …

BEIJING-China Unicom plans to expand its CDMA network capacity to 40 million by year-end and add 13 million new subscribers to its existing base of 7 million CDMA users. The …

TOKYO-Index, a leading Japanese mobile content service provider, won a total of 2 million yen (US$16,600) in funds from Dentsu and NEC, the firm announced. Index issued 1,140 new shares …

BEIJING-China could produce close to one-third of all handsets manufactured in the world this year, according to Shao Chunguang of the China Center for Information Industry Development (CCID), who was …

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Mobile network operator MTN Nigeria announced it has broken the 1 million subscriber barrier, the first network operator in the country to achieve this. In addition, the company …

TOKYO-NEC Mobiling, an NEC Group company, announced it will launch a printing service for photos taken by mobile phones. It will be a mobile-phone version of the once-popular print club. …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-The court case Telef

BEIJING-China mobile handset users sent close to 6 billion short message service (SMS) messages and more than 1 million multimedia message service (MMS) messages during the week-long Chinese New Year …

S

OXFORD, United Kingdom-In an unexpected decision, Orange has named U.S. citizen Solomon Trujillo as its chief executive. Finance Director Simon Duffy announced his resignation following the chief executive appointment, which …

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Nigerian mobile and fixed-line operator Globacom said it estimates its GSM network will cover 74 cities across the country within six months of launch. A Globacom spokesman said …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-The finalized fusion of Celcaribe and Comcel was announced 13 February, after the acquisition in December last year of the Colombian Atlantic coast operator Celcaribe from Millicom International …

LEDBURY, U.K.-Companies across the industry are investing in mobile music services according to a recent report from BWCS. “Many of the leading players we spoke to for this report are …

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.-InterDigital Communications Corp. will demonstrate its W-CDMA air interface solutions at the upcoming 3GSM World Congress in Cannes, France. The demonstrations will feature InterDigital’s Wideband Time Division …

TAIPEI, Taiwan-Symbian Ltd. will provide Taiwanese vendor BenQ Corp. with access to Symbian’s operating system source code, allowing BenQ to develop Symbian OS phones, according to a recently signed agreement. …

DENVER-Qwest Communications International Inc. has restated its financial results for 2001 and 2000 following an internal review. Qwest said its revenue for full year 2001 was $18.37 million, down $1.325 …

SAN DIEGO-LG Mobile Phones said Verizon Wireless has begun retailing its new VX2000 tri-mode phone for $70, as part of a two-year service agreement, through the carrier’s direct sales channels …

SAN MATEO, Calif.-Beatnik Inc., which provides structured audio software solutions for mobile devices, said Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P. is using its Beatnik Audio Engine in its new Symbian OS …

WOODBURY, N.Y.-Comverse has introduced InSight, a value-added services environment that integrates voice and data with a multimodal interface and also disparate messaging and communications platforms. The Comverse Technology unit said …

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.-Mobility Electronics Inc. and Snapperfish Ltd. have teamed up to offer Quickoffice/SnapperMail, which lets users of handheld computers running on the Palm operating system receive, view and edit e-mail …

DALLAS-Under a $20 million contract announced Feb. 12, Dallas-based Navini Networks will deploy a non-line-of-site wireless broadband network for IntroWeb, headquartered in Hengelo, the Netherlands. IntroWeb will use Navini’s Ripwave …

DALLAS, Texas-Nortel Networks Ltd. said it has demonstrated a 30-fold increase in UMTS radio capacity, using new multiple input, multiple output and multibeam smart antenna technologies. “Using these innovations, Nortel …

WASHINGTON-A Texas man who publicly blamed cell phone use for distracting his driving has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of criminally negligent homicide in connection with an …