NEW YORK-The Financial Accounting Standards Board, Norwalk, Conn., recently issued a proposal for public comment that would eliminate accounting for mergers as pooling of interests, which are the sum of the book value of their assets.By dollar volume of recent merger activity, particularly in...
LOS ALTOS, Calif.-Wireless Online Inc. introduced an antenna system for two-way messaging called the WOL-2000R, which it said reduces the cost of planning, deploying and operating two-way wireless messaging networks.The company said the antenna, which uses Spatial Division Multiple Access technology, doubles the range...
Analog Devices Inc. plans to introduce today a radio chipset that it calls the Holy Grail of radio receiver architectures.Called Othello, the chipset features an open market Global System for Mobile communications direct-conversion receiver, which ADI said is a breakthrough in RF technology. The...
NEW YORK-Vodafone AirTouch plc confirmed Sept. 7 its intentions to forge a mobile telephony alliance with Bell Atlantic Corp., which has refused to comment on this possibility.Other options for Vodafone include buying wireless operators in markets that would fill out the company's domestic footprint...
NEW YORK-Even amid the rapidly expanding parade of venture capital investments, the telecommunications/wireless sector of American industry stands head and shoulders above the crowd.Venture capital investments in this sector totaled $1.59 billion during the second quarter of the year, more than triple the amount...
WASHINGTON-Telesta Inc. said it will offer mobile text phone service in the United States later this year, a development that will enable hearing- and speech-impaired people to use small wireless communicators.Telesta, of Andover, Mass., said the service has been tested on mobile phone networks...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is expected this week to consider rules for the deployment of enhanced 911 automatic location identification technologies.The rules will come at an FCC Open Meeting on Wednesday, when the commissioners also will vote on whether or not to lift the...
NEW YORK-When David Finkelstein looks up at the heavens and ahead to the future, he sees low-earth-orbit satellites as galactic warriors fighting to control suburban sprawl on Earth and provide the power of Internet access to the rich and poor alike."The big social message...
TOKYO-Since last year, Japan's three Personal Handyphone System carriers have provided location services. This year, such services are expected to gain more accuracy because some carriers and venders are launching location services and systems using global positioning system satellites.Under the leadership of NTT DoCoMo,...
At the crossroads of four wireless industry trends is where Cupertino, Calif.-based Morphics Technology Inc. believes it has found an opportunity.The four factors are expensive spectrum, expensive infrastructure, the migration of predominantly voice traffic to data traffic and fractured standards. The solution, says John...
NEW YORK-North American telecommunications carriers rank below manufacturing, consumer products and financial services companies in their adoption of Internet-enabled enterprises, concluded a recent report of American Management Systems, Fairfax, Va."eCommerce in the Telecommunications Industry: Trends and Innovations" is a study based on AMS' evaluation of...
WEST POINT, Ga.-Powertel Inc. said it is introducing services that allow customers to use two telephone numbers on one wireless handset.The first, called Appear Local, allows customers to have two local phone numbers in two different area codes-on a hometown number and the other...
AT&T Wireless Services Inc. introduced new pricing plans last week that could build on the success of the carrier's Digital One Rate plan by adding more phones into the home. Bell Atlantic Mobile also introduced a group calling plan for the Southeast.AT&T Wireless unveiled...
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...
BoliviaBolivia's GOB Superintendent of Telecommunications is accepting international bids for a 20-year concessionary contract for providing PCS. Bidding documents must be submitted by 23 September. The service area to be awarded in the contract includes all of Bolivia, although the area of coverage can...
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)....
HONG KONG-Paging subscriber numbers continue to fall in Hong Kong, while the popularity of cellular keeps rising as stiff competition among the six cellular carriers drives down tariffs close to those of paging. Handsets, now in all shapes as well as prices, also are...
AustriaThe Austrian telecom control and licensing authority has started consultations with telecom providers on introducing third-generation systems. Austria must license at least one 3G standard to the UMTS specifications, according to an EU directive. The authority has not decided on the number of licenses...
SANDTON, South Africa-Tanzania has been described as one of the least-developed countries in the world per capita, yet only recently prominent local investors with international backing have described it as "Africa's rising star."Taking advice that the country needs to make its business environment more...
NEW YORK-Wireless carriers can only imagine scaling back their costly call-flooded customer support centers and slashing the overhead that comes with them. And wireless users long to regain those wasted afternoons on hold with a receiver glued to their ears only to find they've...
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...
DUBLIN, Ireland-The mobile communications market in Eastern Europe offers massive untapped potential for cellular operators and market entrepreneurs. Indeed, some companies have already taken a stake in operators there, expecting exponential subscriber growth like those experienced in countries such as Sweden, Italy and Ireland....
PCS carriers can be credited with spurring huge demand for wireless service in the United States, but they continue to struggle with brand awareness and perceptions customers have about coverage.
"It's a brand game and a consumer-marketing game," said Andrew Sukawaty, president of nationwide carrier...
SINGAPORE-After two years of bad debts and line terminations, wireless operators in the economically worst-hit Asian nations of Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia can finally look forward to better times ahead.Analysts say economic recovery combined with the growing acceptance of prepaid will help...
