South Africa
Electronic services company Molapo Technology said it has extended its services-level $130 million agreement with service provider TelKom South Africa. The contract will last till 2008, said Molapo. “As the economy grows and diversifies, so too has the role of TelKom,” said Essa Govendor, Telkom’s group executive.
United Kingdom
European carrier MmO2 announced it will add BlackBerry capabilities to its new Xda II mobile phone/personal digital assistant later this year. The carrier’s Xda II is based on Microsoft Corp.’s operating system and features a built-in tri-band mobile phone, games, an integrated digital camera and Bluetooth. It is one of a growing number of devices specifically branded by a wireless carrier. Under the BlackBerry offering, MmO2 said it teamed with BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. to offer Xda II users access to corporate e-mail and information through RIM’s BlackBerry service. Such technology is available through RIM’s new BlackBerry Connect licensing program.
Japan
Vodafone in Japan said it will offer its new Global Mail service, which allows users to exchange multimedia messages such as Sha-mail and Movie Sha-mail with overseas subscribers who have compatible handsets on participating networks. The service is scheduled to begin with participating networks in Spain (Vodafone Spain) and Hong Kong (Hong Kong CSL). Vodafone in Japan said it will also expand the number of compatible overseas networks in the future.
Spain
Spanish handset company Vitelcom Mobile Technology announced it plans to build CDMA handsets through a new licensing deal with Qualcomm Inc. Under the deal, Vitelcom will manufacture and distribute W-CDMA handsets for the Spanish market and CDMA2000 1x and 1x EV-DO for the Latin American market. “This CDMA licensing agreement with Qualcomm allows us to greatly diversify our product portfolio, and meet the needs of the wireless market,” said Carlos Carrero, president and chief executive officer of Vitelcom.
