Microcell Telecommunications Inc. said it completed the final phase of its 1998 expansion in Canada with the launch of Fido personal communications services in London, Ontario. The PCS service, operating on the Global System for Mobile communications platform, expands the Fido footprint to 16 million pops.
Lucent Technologies Inc. and Vodafone Ltd. announced plans for a technical trial of wideband Code Division Multiple Access, the third-generation technology proposed by Europe and Japan for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System. Results of the joint trials to assess the performance of W-CDMA will be provided to standards bodies, including the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, the UMTS Forum and the GSM MoU Association to assist in finalizing 3G standards. Lucent expects to deliver prototype equipment for the trial to Vodafone by the end of the year, when service trials will begin, the companies said.
Rostov Electrosvyaz launched fixed wireless service in the Rostov region of southern Russia, said Northern Telecom Ltd., which provided the cdmaOne network infrastructure as part of a 1997 contract. The communications provider implemented the Code Division Multiple Access network to target residential users and small businesses in areas where its wireline service is not available.
LHS Group Inc. said it signed a five-year agreement with Tess S.A., the cellular operator which was awarded the B-band cellular license for the interior state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, to provide its Business Support and Control and Web Server Center. The customer-care and billing solutions initially will support a subscriber base of 400,000 on Tess’ Time Division Multiple Access network. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
