France
Brightpoint Inc. subsidiary Brightpoint France SARL, entered an agreement with Motorola S.A. France, a subsidiary of Motorola Inc., to distribute Motorola wireless communications handsets in France. Financial terms of the agreement were not released.
Italy
Nokia announced it will provide Wireless Application Protocol and General Packet Radio Service network technologies to Italian operator Blu for its mobile Internet service launch. The deal also includes the Nokia 7110 Web-enabled phone. The company did not say when commercial service is expected.
Japan
Wireless-assisted global positioning system provider SnapTrack Inc. and Itochu Techno-Science Corp., a computer systems distributor, announced an agreement to provide Japanese carriers with SnapTrack SmartServer-enabled wireless location platforms. The agreement calls for Itochu Techno-Science to integrate SnapTrack’s software into its carrier-class mobile positioning server, allowing Itochu Techno-Science to use its personal location technology and provide technical support to operators that purchase the system.
Canada
Bell Canada’s wireless division, Bell Mobility, will deploy Fourelle Systems Inc.’s Venturi service to enhance the performance of its Digital DATA to Go service. Fourelle said that by compressing and decompressing data in real time, Bell Mobility customers should expect two to three times the speed of a regular wireless Internet connection with their service.
Sierra Leone
Millicom International Cellular received a nationwide license to provide cellular service in the Republic of Sierra Leone. The Ministry of Transports and Communication awarded frequencies of two times six megahertz for the Global System for Mobile communications 900 network. MIC said it plans to roll out the network in Freetown, the African state’s capital, with a population of 1 million people.
