HELSINKI, Finland—Finland's Sonera Corp. and Hong Kong CSL Ltd. launched the world's first commercial inter-operator multimedia messaging services over Aicent Inc.'s and Sonera's GPRS Roaming Exchange networks.The service allows mobile users in Hong Kong and Finland to send MMS messages to each other and...
HONG KONG—Ericsson demonstrated cross-technology MMS over cdma2000 and GPRS technologies at this week's 3G World Congress in Hong Kong.In its demonstration, Ericsson sent MMS from a cdma2000-enabled PDA to a GPRS terminal. "This MMS demonstration further solidifies Ericsson's commitment as the only wireless vendor...
ALLENTOWN, Pa.—Agere Systems said NEC has standardized Agere's GPRS cell phone platform for new i-mode products. According to Agere, its platform, which uses hardware and software to develop and customize cell phones for high-speed data applications, reduces product development and network approval time by...
NEW YORK-Exuding good fortune in a time of stress, Texas Instruments says it expects to ramp up sales of GPRS chips by up to 50 percent in the next quarter.The company says at the moment, the chips account for 25 percent of its revenue.
LONDON—Orange SA said it accepted a UMTS license in Luxembourg following the country's "beauty contest" for licenses, making Orange a new entrant in the market when it launches a UMTS network.Last month, Tele2 said it also won a UMTS license in Luxembourg from the...
TOKYO—NTT DoCoMo Inc. said its Taiwanese partner KG Telecommunications will begin i-mode service on June 20. The operator will launch i-mode services on its GPRS network.Content from about 80 Web sites will be available for a basic monthly fee of $4.95 in addition to...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—MTN South Africa has launched its General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) service, to be available in a trial phase to its contract subscriber base prior to the commercial launch. "When we got the service up and running on more than 95 percent...
LONDON—Network operators need to focus on more than technology availability in order to see an increase in worldwide adoption of wireless services, according to a recent report from the Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA)."We are still seeing the promotion of technology for technology's sake,"...
JAKARTA, Indonesia—After offering free General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) services since last November, Indonesia's IM3 finally decided to release its GPRS price plan commencing in June.At first, IM3 decided to wait for other operators' price plans and services due to a lack of content...
BUCHAREST, Romania—Jordan's second-largest mobile operator MobileCom launched commercial General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) access for its customers over its GSM network this week.MobileCom was first registered on 21 September, 1999, with an aim to build a new, highly advanced mobile communications network and launched...
TOKYO—NEC, the leading handset maker in Japan, announced that it shipped 2.5-generation (2.5G) handsets for China Mobile. China Mobile is the largest mobile carrier in China with 115 million subscribers.China Mobile launched data service based on General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology last week....
OXFORD, United Kingdom—Finnish company First Hop claimed that a number of European cell-phone operators are conducting trials of its compression and caching technologies, which could significantly speed up the data transmission rates on General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) networks. According to Timo Laaksonen, chief...
REDMOND, Wash.—AT&T Wireless introduced a pair of nationwide calling plans designed to take advantage of the carrier's GSM/GPRS and TDMA network technology.The plans include the Multi-Band One Rate plan, which begins at $60 per month for 450 minutes, including no roaming or domestic long-distance...
BEIJING—China Mobile is to formally launch its General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) nationwide on 17 May under the brand name Monternet. The service, offering high-speed Internet and e-mail, could be interpreted as an attempt to counter the CDMA services of rival China Unicom.Subscriber growth...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Both Nokia and Ericsson said they have demonstrated what they described as the first inter-operator live demonstration of multimedia messaging service (MMS) technology with leading Chinese operators.Ericsson demonstrated its technology using its Sony Ericsson T68I handset in Guangzhou over the networks of China...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Both Nokia Corp. and Ericsson AB said they have demonstrated what they described as the first inter-operator live demonstration of Multimedia Messaging Service technology with leading Chinese operators.Ericsson demonstrated its technology using its Sony Ericsson T68I handset in Guangzhou over the networks of...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—European cell-phone operators seem in no rush to sign General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) roaming agreements with their counterparts over fears of technology mismatches. Given that GPRS services are targeted at corporate users, industry analysts are blaming this absence of cross-border roaming...
By Alejandro AlfieBUENOS AIRES, Argentina—As the economic crisis in Argentina continues, the impact is being felt throughout South America’s mobile industry.“The situation in Argentina has dramatically affected the mobile penetration in the country,” said Leslie Arathoon, Latin America Manager of Pyramid Research. “This means...
HELSINKI, Finland—Nokia Corp. said it has signed a $50 million deal to supply GSM infrastructure equipment to Thailand operator Advanced Info Service Plc."Under the agreement, Nokia will supply to AIS GSM radio and core network equipment, including Nokia UltraSite base stations, base station controller...
JAKARTA, Indonesia—General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology will not bring killer data applications, at least during this year in Indonesia, according to industry executives.Rudiantara, head of the country's cellular association, said Indonesia's cellular subscribers experienced many new short message service (SMS)-based applications last year,...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—According to one of the United Kingdom's largest cell-phone retailers, Carphone Warehouse, less than 1 percent of the 170,000 customers that purchased General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) phones signed up for the high-speed service. The company said that while GPRS phones made...
TOKYO—NEC, the largest telecom vendor in Japan, announced it will expand its procurement of mobile handsets from China to 200 billion yen (US$1.6 billion) in fiscal 2002. NEC is going to launch General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) handsets targeting the European market in fiscal...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—Telecom Personal commercially introduced its General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network, provided by Ericsson, in the city of Buenos Aires, becoming the first provider in Argentina with 2.5-generation (2.5G) services. In January, the cellular operator surprised the market by launching a GSM...
JAKARTA, Indonesia—Singapore Telecom (SingTel) embraced its Asian subsidiaries, Australia's Optus and the Philippines' Globe Telecom, to set up new roaming services for data communications. Later this year, it plans to announce similar agreements with its additional Asian subsidiaries, including PT Telkomsel in Indonesia in...
