WORLD BRIEFS

Sweden

Ortel Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Avitec AB, announced its MirrorCell family of products are being used in the Arlanda AB International Airport to provide wireless service in the underground rapid transit system that connects Stockholm, Sweden to the airport. “Arlanda Airport required superior coverage solutions that would provide guaranteed radio communications for emergency services,” said Hakan Samuelsson, managing director of Avitec. The repeater products will provide wireless coverage at the Arlanda facility to passengers, as well as police, fire brigades and other rescue services.

France

France Telecom Group launched digital cellular phone service in Denmark through its Mobilix subsidiary, one year after winning an 1800 MHz Global System for Mobile communications license in the country. The Mobilix network covers Denmark’s most populated regions, Mobilix said. Nationwide coverage will be provided through a national roaming agreement with Sonofon, which operates a GSM 900 service in Denmark. “We intend to be truly different from other services-Mobilix clients will not have to pay a fixed subscription fee, a service start-up fee or even call connection costs,” commented Mobilix general manager Monique Moulle-Zetterstrom on the stiff competition among four wireless operators in the Danish market.

United Arab Emirates

L.M. Ericsson was awarded a contract it values at close to $60 million from Etisalat to expand its 900 MHz Global System for Mobile communications network in the United Arab Emirates. The project will expand the existing Ericsson network in the Dubai and Al Ain areas and expand the existing GSM switch in Sharjah, Ericsson said. The expanded system is slated to be operational by mid-1998.

China

Qualcomm Inc. announced it signed a contract with the Beijing Telecommunication Administration for a cdmaOne wireless local loop trial in China. The agreement calls for Qualcomm to supply infrastructure equipment, subscriber terminals and deployment services for the 1900 MHz CDMA WLL trial in the Wukesong area of Beijing.

ABOUT AUTHOR