STOCKHOLM, Sweden-L.M. Ericsson announced plans to acquire Advanced Computer Communication, a California-based vendor of remote access and internetworking products, for about $285 million in cash.The purchase is congruent with Ericsson's acquisition strategy focused on small- to medium-sized companies, and its focus on carrier-class solutions...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-L.M. Ericsson signed a $300 million frame agreement with Telcel to expand the wireless operator's 800 MHz network and create a dual-band/dual-mode system by building the country's first 1900 MHz network, said Ericsson.Telcel recently won a 1900 MHz licenses in each of Mexico's...
WASHINGTON-A powerful Senate resolution that was to promote third-generation wireless harmonization was thoroughly diluted by U.S. backers of European-based mobile phone technology last week, a bizarre turnabout that drew a mix of new faces into the escalating controversy and further muddied the waters for...
Sweden-based L.M. Ericsson said it has found no reason to believe the current W-CDMA 3G standard chosen by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute would infringe on any valid intellectual property rights claimed by Qualcomm Inc.In fact, CEO Sven-Christer Nilsson's comments to the Japanese press...
I need your help.The next few weeks at RCR and everywhere else in the wireless industry are going to be crazy. It's too late to try to clean off my desk, but I'd like to be able to file away some questions that keep...
WASHINGTON-The Mexican government will auction new frequencies for paging, narrowband PCS (two-way paging), trunking and point-to-point microwave. The auctions are scheduled for late 1998 and early 1999, depending on the service, according to the Comision Federal de Telecomunicaciones (Cofetel), Mexico's regulatory agency.Earlier this year,...
JERUSALEM, Israel-In the southern town of Ashkelon stands a larger-than-life black marble grave stone that is as much a monument to the teenager buried in the plot as it is to the cell phone he loved to cradle: the stone, in fact, is a replica...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-The long-awaited launch of cellular service in Botswana is expected to have a huge impact on the country's communications and business sector.Botswana's small population of 1.47 million people was seen as a main reason for the delay. Proposals for cellular can be...
Across most of the world's regions, carriers and analysts are claiming prepaid cellular a resounding success. Along with calling party pays, it is considered one of the leading contributors to current subscriber growth.Some carriers now are getting more than half of new subscribers through...
WASHINGTON-The third-generation wireless debate took a dramatic turn last week as a key Clinton administration official questioned whether the United States should follow Europe's lead in allocating massive 3G spectrum, and an industry schism erupted that could have Motorola Inc. going its own way.Motorola,...
BellSouth Wireless Data L.P. marks its re-entry into the paging market this week with the commercial debut of its two-way Interactive Paging Service.The service uses the new Inter@ctive 950 pager designed by Research In Motion. RIM's wearable, two-way pager features a variety of improvements...
U.S. factory sales of telecommunications equipment during the first half of the year rose by 13.1 percent compared with last year, to more than $36.6 billion, said the Telecommunications Industry Association. TIA's figures were based on statistics compiled by the Electronic Industries Alliance Market...
L.M. Ericsson head Sven-Christer Nilsson told the Japanese press late last week his company will continue negotiations with Qualcomm Inc. and said it is ready to reach some form of compromise over intellectual property rights to third-generation technology.Ericsson spokeswoman Kathy Egan said the company...
The CDMA Development Group formed an interest group within the CDG that will focus on Latin America. The CDG said the interest group builds on the success of similar organizations within the CDG. Other interest groups focus on the Asia Pacific region and wireless...
WASHINGTON-In perhaps the strongest signal to date of congressional concern about U.S. global competitiveness in the future third-generation mobile phone market, Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) pressed the Clinton administration to outline the steps it is taking to ensure American technology is not snubbed by...
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.-Ericsson Inc. last week introduced a snap-on wireless modem that allows users to browse the Internet and send or receive faxes and e-mail without cable hookups or a phone line.The DI 27 eliminates the need to connect a personal computer modem...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-Ericsson Radio Systems announced it bought telecommunications consulting company Edgecom for an undisclosed amount.The acquisition effectively splits Ericsson's consulting activities from its sales and installation activities. Edgecom will be owned by ERS and run as a commercially independent company of the Telecom Management...
Watching a cellular handset manufacturer that was once on top of the market exit from the U.S. handset business has broken Mal Gurian's heart.The one-time president of Oki telecom, since renamed Oki Telecom Inc., considered the company his family."We had all the top people...
NEW YORK-Sirf Technology Inc., a Santa Clara, Calif., company established in 1995, announced agreements last week with Ericsson Inc., Hitachi America Ltd. and Nokia Corp. designed to propel the use of global positioning system technology in wireless devices, including cellular phones."Sirf's objective has always...
Joining a slew of other industry captains abandoning ship for various reasons, Ericsson Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Bo Hedfors last week decided to set sail for Motorla Inc.Beginning Sept. 8, Hedfors will serve as corporate vice president and president of Motorola's Network...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-L.M. Ericsson and wireless operator Mannesmann Mobilfunk GmbH began a live trial of adaptive antenna technology-both downlink and uplink-on Mannesmann's Global System for Mobile communications network in Germany.Adaptive antenna technology is designed to improve performance both to and from the phone by reducing...
Flexibility may be coming to a base station near you.Most base stations today are built to accommodate only one or two wireless technologies, but a relatively new concept may allow carriers to reconfigure base stations to support a variety of standards and applications.Software radios...
WASHINGTON-The head of the Federal Communications Commission told RCR last week he believed assurances he received from Europeans that they would not discriminate against American companies on third-generation wireless standards were lacking.FCC Chairman William Kennard said the assurances were not "sufficient because basically what...
Qualcomm Inc. said it has clarified its stance with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute on intellectual property rights it claims to own for W-CDMA technology.In January, ETSI chose W-CDMA technology, based on a Global System for Mobile communications platform, as a third-generation technology choice...
