ATLANTA-LHS Group Inc. announced it will co-develop and co-deploy an advanced customer-service, billing and financial management business support system for Iridium L.L.C.'s global mobile phone service. According to LHS, the system can process call rates and billing in all major currencies and can operate...
LONDON-Cable & Wireless Global Mobile said it reached 3.1 million customers representing a year-over-year customer growth rate of 45 percent.The company said it had strong performances in Singapore through M1 with 15-percent growth for the quarter and in Panama through Cable & Wireless Movil...
If all goes as planned, Iridium L.L.C.'s vision of a global wireless phone network-based on a constellation of 66 low-earth-orbit satellites interconnected to several terrestrial-based networks-will begin commercial service on 23 September.While the company continues to put the finishing touches on the satellite network,...
Mobile phone sales during the second quarter gave Nokia Corp. a boost when it released its second-quarter earnings July 24, while its Swedish rival L.M. Ericsson suffered a plunge in its stock prices and several ratings downgrades on news its mobile phone sales were...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-The imminent explosion of the mobile data market has been like a constant companion for the past 12 years. The technology driving this supposed market expansion may have changed over time, but the predicted boom has always been present, always just about...
LONDON-ICO Global Communications Ltd. announced last week that it filed registration statements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of $100 million worth of ordinary shares and $50 million of high-yield senior notes.ICO is a spinoff of Inmarsat, established...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission last week took the first step in efforts aimed at allowing U.S. citizens traveling abroad to carry handsets for global mobile personal communications services into foreign countries. Some countries today either confiscate or impose large import duties on these devices.More...
"We are on the verge of completing a massive system that has been 10 years in the making," remarked Dr. Edward Staiano, vice chairman and chief executive officer of Iridium L.L.C. last week at a press conference in Washington, D.C.Staiano spent about an hour...
ChinaL.M. Ericsson signed four Global System for Mobile communications contracts in China, which the company values at a total of $756 million. Ericsson will expand existing GSM networks in Shandong, Liaoning and Heilongjiang. The fourth contract calls for the company to provide a new...
DENVER, United States-If all goes as planned, the world could have as many as 10 mobile satellite communications (MSS) systems operating in the next five years. By 2002, the MSS industry could be an US$8.5 billion market.The various service providers will comprise four different...
Worldwide mobile telephony subscriber numbers will climb at triple the compound annual growth rate expected from the landline side between 1996 and 2002, according to a recently published report from the Yankee Group, "Global Trends of Cellular/PCS Markets."In 1995, global mobile telephony subscribers stood...
NEW YORK-U.S. Digital Communications Inc., Calabasas, Calif., is a classic example in action of the old saying, "when the going gets tough, the tough get going."After seven years of bad luck trying to develop and market Web TV under the name of VisCorp, the...
WASHINGTON-The United States failed once again to secure spectrum below 1 GHz for little low-earth-orbit satellites at the World Radio Conference in Geneva, but succeeded in acquiring 100 megahertz worldwide for big LEO feeder links.The only consolation for little LEOs, which also were denied...
The wireless data industry has long been considered the most optimistic bunch in the world of wireless. Each year, it seemed, was going to be "the year" the technology would rocket into mass acceptance.This upcoming year is again touted as having the potential for...
SEOUL, Korea-Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. announced it signed a contract with Intermediate Circular Orbit Global Communications of the United Kingdom to supply 2 million Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite terminals.Under the terms of the contract, Samsung will be ICO's exclusive supplier of Code...
CLARKSBURG, Md.-Ericsson Ltd. awarded a contract to Comsat Laboratories to develop a high penetration notification subsystem for ICO Global Communications Ltd., which is developing a handheld satellite phone service. Comsat values the contract at $14.4 million.The subsystems will be located at each of ICO's...
WASHINGTON-The United States is honing preparations to press for additional global mobile satellite spectrum at the World Radiocommunication Conference this fall in Geneva, but prospects appear more promising for big low-earth-orbit mobile phone systems than for little LEO data systems.The U.S. delegation, led by...
NEW YORK-South Korea's telecommunications marketplace is in the throes of a gradual but deliberate deregulation that is presenting opportunities and challenges for SK Telecom Co. Ltd., the largest wireless carrier."Korea will be almost wide open with free competition, but Korea is different from the...
NEW YORK-The successful launch May 5 of the first six of 55 planned Iridium Inc. low-earth-orbit satellites is a good omen for the fledgling global mobile satellite service industry.The success of that initial deployment after several delays would be an important but preliminary milestone...
NEW YORK-Some 32 nations, companies and professional organizations have become initial signatories of an agreement to facilitate deployment of new global satellite systems by joining the International Telecommunication Union Memorandum of Understanding on Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite.Earlier this month, the signatories met...
Globalstar Canada was granted approval by Industry Canada to provide mobile wireless services throughout Canada using the Globalstar satellite-based telecommunications system. It is the first big low-earth-orbit license to be granted in Canada, the company said.The service is part of Globalstar L.P., a system...
NEW YORK-Iridium L.L.C., which plans to launch a satellite-based global telephone service, last week registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an application to take the company public.Iridium, headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, is an indirect subsidiary of Motorola Inc., which formed the satellite...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-ICO Global Communications, a global mobile satellite communications company, awarded a contract to a consortium consisting of L.M. Ericsson, Hughes Network Systems Inc. and NEC Corp.The consortium will design, manufacture, construct and install the ground segment of ICO's network, which consists of 12...
Siemens Components Inc. introduced its Model CMY210, a GaAs MMIC that can be used for designing cellular or personal communications services handsets based on Time Division Multiple Access or Code Division Multiple Access standards. The company said it functions as an up/down converter for...
