WASHINGTON-2002 offers the wayward wireless industry a chance to begin to redeem and redefine itself. But it won't be easy, and survival skills will be essential. Indeed, with economic sluggishness persisting here and abroad, the industry is not totally in control of its future....
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands-KPN Mobile began tests of i-mode-like services with a small group of users on Dec. 20. The carrier said it will commercially launch the service in the second quarter of 2002. NEC will supply the first i-mode handsets to KPN users....
OXFORD, United Kingdom—KPN Mobile, the financially troubled Dutch operator, will later this month start the first practical i-mode tests in Europe through its joint venture with Japan's NTT DoCoMo. The company said that some 60 national and international content sites would be made available...
RESTON, Va.—Nextel Communications Inc. entered into a co-marketing relationship with Aleph Inc., a provider of traditional and Internet-based solution for ground transportation services, allowing Nextel to offer wireless dispatch, billing and reservation management data solutions to ground transportation companies via its packet-data wireless network.Nextel...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Swedish wireless carrier Telia Mobile announced it will offer a wireless Internet service much like NTT DoCoMo's wildly popular i-mode service.Telia's service, dubbed PocketMode, features an open interface for content providers, allowing them to offer their services directly to users instead of forming...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Swedish wireless carrier Telia Mobile announced it will offer a wireless Internet service much like NTT DoCoMo's wildly popular i-mode service.Telia's service, dubbed PocketMode, features an open interface for content providers, allowing them to offer their services directly to users instead of forming...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—Sweden's largest cell-phone operator Telia has decided to share a percentage of the revenues generated by content services with the developers. The new approach for the company is based on Telia offering the content developers a "direct channel" to its 3 million...
LONDON—The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) published its fourth-quarter mobile portals survey, which includes Latin American mobile portals for the first time. Nine regional portals are featured covering Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela. GSA said the survey illustrates a general move toward...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—Cell C, the third South African mobile network operator, announced its postpaid offerings and tariffs 15 days after going live with its prepaid products. Since 17 November, the network claims to have received more than 400,000 orders for prepaid starter packs with...
NEW DELHI, India—The fate of a 4.5 million line GSM tender floated by the government-owned BSNL hangs in balance as the governmental Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is insisting on price re-negotiation. The three vendors shortlisted for the bid—Lucent, Ericsson and Motorola—have refused to scale...
LONDON—The Isle of Man's third-generation (3G) network is now live after about a six-month delay from the original scheduled launch. Manx Telecom, a subsidiary of British Telecommunication's mm02 mobile arm, is offering what it calls a "live, fully operational 3G trial network" to gauge...
SAVANNAH, Ga.—H.O. Systems launched its INQUIR.e Knowledge Management Solution which it said is designed to enhance the exchange of information, speed up strategic decision making and maximize competition among next-generation communications companies.The solution's tools include Business Intelligence, Billing Analysis, Enterprise Information Management and Communications...
CINCINNATI—Convergys Corp. and e-Payment technology provider iPIN have joined to offer a new solution covering rating, billing and e-payments.Convergys' Geneva ARM software will be integrated with the iPIN e-Payment platform and the two companies will join for marketing and sales activities. In addition, iPIN...
WASHINGTON—Cibernet, a subsidiary of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, released its new Mobile Xchange Protocol, which the company said is designed to allow customers to bill for non-voice services.Cibernet said its MXP was developed to meet the needs of mobile application developers, wireless...
HELSINKI, Finland-LPG Innovations announced that as a result of a recent partnership agreement with IBM, its fixed and mobile Internet service brokering platform, sBroker, will be integrated into IBM's WebSphere product family.Using sBroker, operators, service providers and corporations can manage third-party services, gather usage...
NEW YORK—Vivendi Universal has deployed MyNetonomy , developed by U.S.-based Netonomy, as the portal through which customers can purchase, activate and personalize services on Universal Music Mobile (UMM).Launched commercially in late September, the service delivers Vivendi Universal's music-oriented content over the GSM network of...
CINCINNATI—Convergys Corp. has released version 5.0 of its Geneva Active Revenue Management (ARM) software.Convergys said the new version of Geneva addresses the needs of its clients with new functionality and operability enhancements. For example, version 5.0 allows operators to bundle and deliver content, commerce...
RESTON, Va.-Nextel Communications Inc. launched Amdocs customer and billing platform Ensemble, which the carrier expects will improve customer service and reduce customer retention costs. The implementation is part of a seven-year outsourcing agreement between the two companies.The platform provides Nextel with a unified customer...
SAN FRANCISCO-Long-distance, credit-card and online services company Working Assets has chosen Sentori Inc. to provide its new wireless billing solution, Sentori 3G, which will be hosted by billing and revenue assurance company EUR Systems."Working Assets is constantly looking to adjust and improve service to...
DETROIT-OnStar is working with Verizon Wireless to make it cheaper for OnStar Personal Calling customers to forward calls from a handheld Verizon phone to the OnStar phones embedded in their vehicles.Also, OnStar and Verizon charges will be combined on a single bill.Today customers who...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—Having largely ignored the cellular industry until now, IBM Europe has announced its intent to become a major player by supplying services and information technology (IT) infrastructure to the major cell-phone operators in Europe and the Middle East markets. The company claimed...
BOULDER, Colo.—Intrado Inc. said it plans to expand its business into commercial data management and announced a recently formed partnership this week.The company plans to enter commercial data management by developing a National Repository Line Level Database, which it said will improve customer billing...
SAN FRANCISCO—Long-distance, credit card and online services company Working Assets has chosen Sentori Inc. to provide its new wireless billing solution, Sentori 3G, which will be hosted by billing and revenue assurance company EUR Systems."Working Assets is constantly looking to adjust and improve service...
