Every day does not produce news about the 3G standards process; it just seems that way. The basic reason, as Jimmy Durante once succinctly put it: "Everybody wants to get into de act."There seems to be consensus that if "convergence" or "harmonization" is good, then...
U.S. TDMA operators must make some critical decisions about competing in the wireless data market during the next year as they witness their CDMA counterparts begin to launch circuit-switched data services in large scale.Time Division Multiple Access operators-which in the late 1980s banked on...
Intense pricing competition in the Code Division Multiple Access handset market may put the squeeze on Qualcomm Inc.'s fiscal fourth-quarter results, some analysts said last week.Qualcomm's stock fell $23.50 to $168.69 Wednesday amid concerns over margins in its mobile-phone business. Shares rebounded somewhat Thursday...
SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. announced the U.S. District Court in San Diego has granted the company's motions for summary judgment in its long-standing litigation with Motorola Inc. over patent-infringement claims associated with Motorola's StarTac handset.Qualcomm said the San Diego court granted the motions that said...
HONG KONG-The CDMA Development Group announced it expanded automatic roaming services throughout Asia.Code Division Multiple Access operators Hutchison Telecom in Hong Kong, Japan's DDI Corp. and IDO and Shinsegi Telecomm in South Korea have signed agreements to provide comprehensive automatic roaming service for subscribers...
COSTA MESA, Calif.-The CDMA Development Group said cdmaOne subscriber growth increased 171 percent from June 1998 to June 1999, reaching nearly 35 million global subscribers."cdmaOne experienced significant worldwide growth during the first six months of 1999, giving cdmaOne presence on virtually every continent," said...
NEW YORK-AAPT Ltd. announced last week it awarded Samsung Electronics of South Korea a $205 million turnkey contract to design, construct, operate, maintain and provide systems integration services for its new Code Division Multiple Access network in Australia.The carrier plans to launch commercial CDMA...
Ericsson Inc. said last week its displacement from AT&T Wireless Services Inc. as the majority vendor hurt the company and conceded part of the reason it lost AT&T Wireless contracts was because of problems supplying equipment throughout the year."It hurts," said Gary Pinkham, vice...
HandsetsNokiaNokia announced a new NMT 450 analog handset, to be available in the third quarter, that features true 3-volt technology and the Nokia NaviKey concept. The Nokia 640 weighs 195 grams and has a standby time of up to 80 hours and talk time...
Ericsson signed a US$100 million contract with Diginet Americas to build out Diginet's fixed wireless networks throughout Latin America. The agreement makes Ericsson the preferred supplier to Diginet to provide ATM and IP-based equipment and services for the first pan-Latin America fixed wireless broadband...
MELBOURNE, Australia-New mobile operator Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) unveiled plans to release next year a CDMA mobile phone that charges users for calls made within a "local zone," usually bounded by the home, at the flat-rate cost of a local call (about 20 Australian cents)....
SINGAPORE-As Vietnam's mobile phone market tries to recover from the effects of the Asian economic downturn, increasing damage is being caused by regulations and business practices that heavily favor national carrier Vietnam Posts & Telecommunications (VNPT) at the expense of foreign competitors, industry observers...
The Americans are at it again.Letters from the U.S. Secretary of State to the European Commission are demanding the commission put pressure on ETSI to prioritize development of CDMA standards for Europe.The demands have, quite rightly, been robustly rebuffed.Never mind that the European Commission...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-PCS arrived in South America a year ago, and various signs already point to its success. Already, one PCS operator in Chile has surpassed the number of subscribers held by a traditional cellular operator in the country. In addition, payment of US$1.273...
BEIJING-China Unicom has big ambitions. That's no big news. When it was established in 1994, the company hoped to capture one-third of the mobile phone market and a 10th of the fixed-line market by 2000. However, today it has less than a 2-percent market...
AustraliaThe Australian government will auction a further 30 megahertz of paired spectrum in the 1.8 GHz band early next year. The auction, which will be conducted by the Australian Communications Authority (ACA), is expected to reap up to $200 million (US$130 million). The government...
AustraliaLeap Wireless International announced that it is selling its wholly owned Australian subsidiary, OzPhone Pty. Ltd., to an affiliate of AAPT Ltd., Australia's third-largest telecommunications company, for Australian $25 million (US$16.3 million). OzPhone holds licenses covering 6 million potential customers in numerous regions. The...
Wireless industry members agree smart phones will become a critical differentiating factor for handset vendors and mobile-phone operators within the next two years, but the proliferation of these devices remains relatively unknown.For handset providers, smart phones represent an opportunity to extend their products, boost...
Motorola Inc. said it filed counterclaims against Qualcomm Inc., the latest punitive move in a more than two-year dispute between the companies that is brewing in a San Diego U.S. district court.Motorola claims Qualcomm breached two clauses of agreements signed between the companies in...
SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. announced its participation in high-speed packet data trials on Korea Telecom Freetel's Interim Standard-95B Code Division Multiple Access technology network.Qualcomm's MSM3000-based CDMA handsets will transfer data over KT Freetel's advanced network at speeds of up to 64 kilobits per second. The...
CALGARY-Cell-Loc Inc. said it completed the first phase Code Division Multiple Access trial of the Cellocate System PCS/CDMA, after three months of testing.Results of the digital wireless location testing include an accuracy of 90 meters root mean square, with the majority of "locates" occurring...
CUPERTINO, Calif.-DSP Communications Inc. said it signed a licensing agreement with Cadence for Code Division Multiple Access data software.The agreement allows Cadence to integrate DSPC's CDMA IS707A protocol software, which will enable higher rate data services and support for Internet browsers, circuit data and...
Two Code Division Multiple Access carriers launched limited data services last week that involve linking wireless phones to laptop computers via a cable, allowing the phones to act both as a voice device and wireless data modem.Such a solution has been available from Global...
BOSTON-Smart cards are poised to move beyond their role in identifying Global System for Mobile communications subscribers, due to momentum outside wireless and beyond U.S. borders.The challenge both for telecommunications carriers and for smart-card manufacturers is to harness these forces or risk losing their...
