August 2003

TOKYO-Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has brought chip maker Fujitsu Corp. down to “junk” status, owing to the company’s poor earnings. “Given Fujitsu’s weak earnings base, it will likely take …

TOKYO-NTT DoCoMo Inc. said it will begin a new service Sept. 1 called Melody Call, which enables subscribers to set 15 seconds of music and voice content as ring tones …

LONDON-Worldwide wireless local area network hardware revenue topped $608 million during the second quarter, according to Infonetics Research’s quarterly worldwide market share and forecast service, “Wireless LAN Hardware.” The company …

DALLAS-Nokia Corp. said it has been selected to be the sole supplier of the GSM network for Viaero Wireless in Colorado and Nebraska. Nokia will supply a complete system, which …

MCLEAN, Va.-A precedent-setting ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., could change the course of ongoing and future patent infringement lawsuits afflicting the …

RICHARDSON, Texas-Telecommunications power infrastructure provider Valere Power announced it has received $17 million in its C financing round, following a $6 million investment from JPMorgan Partners. Valere will use the …

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-Nvidia Corp., a visual processing solutions provider, completed its acquisition of MediaQ Inc., which provides graphics and multimedia technology for wireless devices. MediaQ was founded in 1997 to …

WASHINGTON-A federal judge in New York said Aug. 12 that a consolidated group of lawsuits against major players of the wireless industry can go forward to determine whether the carriers …

Sprint PCS affiliate Horizon PCS Inc. has filed a lawsuit against Sprint alleging wrongful conduct in its relationship and business dealings with Horizon. Horizon asserts claims under the federal Racketeer …

WASHINGTON-President Bush said he intends to nominate Michael Gallagher to head the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a key policy unit the administration wants to merge with other technology agencies. …

ORLAND PARK, Ill.-Andrew Corp. announced its global positioning system antenna will be used in the 2004 Lincoln Aviator luxury Sports Utility Vehicle’s navigation system. With GPS capabilities, the car will …

WASHINGTON-Sources say a consortium with investors from Iraq, the United States, South Korea and the United Kingdom has applied to construct U.S.-engineered CDMA mobile-phone networks in Iraq, despite indications the …

HOUSTON-Crown Castle International Corp. said the quarterly dividend on its 12 3/4-percent senior exchangeable preferred stock will be paid Sept. 15 to holders of record as of Sept. 1 at …

WASHINGTON-The long-awaited rules governing telecommunications competition are a good-news/bad-news story for the wireless industry. The good news is that the Federal Communications Commission said mobile-phone carriers can have access to …

PARIS-Qualcomm Inc. has sold its equity interest in Technicolor Digital Cinema to Thomson, a provider of video technologies, products and services and parent of Technicolor, making Thomson sole owner of …

CALGARY, Alberta-Cell-Loc said it will cut 56 percent of its staff, although no management positions will be affected. The staff reduction will begin in the next five weeks, according to …

OTTAWA-Canada’s nationwide operators plans to unite to agree on common standards for roaming and interoperability among Wi-Fi hot spots they operate with their next-generation mobile networks. The operators, Bell Mobility …

LONDON-Symbian Ltd., which designs operating systems for smart phones, said its Symbian OS unit shipments grew in the first half of the year to 2.68 million from 230,000 in the …

ASPEN, Colo.-Two Federal Communications Commission officials put wireless communications technology to use when stormy weather trapped them in a gondola in Aspen during the Progress & Freedom Foundation’s Aspen Summit …

ATLANTA-Intec Telecom Systems said Ukrainian Mobile Communications (UMC) will use Intec’s Inter-connecT billing solution to help it charge other carriers for using its network facilities. “This new agreement will help …

COLUMBIA, Md.-The engineers at the Federal Communications Commission have completed their examination of various proposals to solve the interference problem experienced by public-safety agencies in the 800 MHz band. And …

LONDON-Vodafone Group plc announced it agreed to sell Japan Telecom Co. to an affiliate of RHJ Industrial Partners, a Ripplewood Holdings L.L.C. fund. Japan Telecom will receive $2.2 billion for …

DENVER-Wireless broadband communications services provider USURF America Inc. will acquire broadband Internet access service provider Pipeline Networks of Colorado L.L.C. The acquisition will include Pipeline’s operating assets and approximately 500 …

TOKYO-NTT DoCoMo Inc. announced it will limit the number of e-mail messages users can send to 1,000 per day, beginning Oct. 20. The company said the move is part of …

Claiming the phrase “push to talk” as its property, Nextel Communications Inc. has filed a lawsuit against Verizon Wireless for using it in its advertising campaign launched recently for Verizon’s …