SYDNEY, Australia-Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) Ltd. joined three Australian mobile phone incumbents in securing spectrum in the 1800 MHz band. Proceeds of the spectrum auction totaled more than $809.5 million for the Australian government, with One.Tel Ltd., Telstra Corp. and Vodafone AirTouch plc also receiving...
Com-Net EricssonCom-Net Ericsson Critical Radio Systems Inc. will introduce several new products at the International Wireless Communications Expo in Las Vegas ranging from trunked and conventional radios to a new voice-over-Internet Protocol product. The Panther 300P portable and Panther 300M mobile conventional radios will...
FinlandL.M. Ericsson will supply a fully integrated solution for a third-generation Global System for Mobile communications system, including the company's General Packet Radio Service system, to Finish operator Alands Mobiltelefon Ab. The contract includes a mobile network solution integrating GSM and 3G with Ericsson...
SAUDI ARABIAL.M. Ericsson and Saudi Telecommunications Co. signed a letter of intent for a major expansion and upgrade of STC's existing Global System for Mobile communications network in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The agreement, valued at more than $300 million, calls for Ericsson...
PARIS-Nortel Networks announced that U.K. operator One 2 One recently signed a series of orders valued at $100 million for expansion of the carrier's national Global System for Mobile communications network. The orders include General Packet Radio Service equipment for commercial launch later this...
SigmaOneSigmaOne Communications Corp., a provider of location systems and services for wireless carriers and the wireless Internet, reported the development of the company's wireless location system for Global System for Mobile communications carriers in the United States and Europe. Designed to operate as either...
HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Corp.'s mobile phones division introduced four new phones covering a broad range of services and uses at CeBIT 2000 in Germany.The 9110i Communicator, an upgraded version of the 9110, is a Wireless Application Protocol-enabled phone that continues to support Internet browsing and...
NEW ORLEANS-Siemens AG announced it will re-enter the U.S. mobile-phone market in 2001, about two years after it left the market unable to compete with rapidly falling handset prices in the United States.Siemens always has maintained its exit from the U.S. market was a...
ANKARA, Turkey-The Turkish government announced the time frame for auctioning two new wireless telephone licenses. The tender for two Global System for Mobile communications licenses is scheduled for March, Reuters reported. Each is expected to bring $650 million.The government also plans in April to...
BEIJING-China Unicom and Qualcomm signed a landmark agreement in February, paving the way for Chinese manufacturers to get CDMA production licenses. Unicom wants to build a 10 million-line CDMA network this year and is evaluating 12 bidders to supply the equipment.But barely a week...
The UMTS Forum said it welcomed proposals by the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity Conference Preparatory Group (APG) for adoption of the 2520-2670 MHz band to support the terrestrial component of IMT-2000. APG proposed that administrations make up to 160 megahertz of additional spectrum available for IMT-2000.AustraliaVirgin...
NEW DELHI, India-Countries in Asia and Southeast Asia specifically hit by economic crisis in the late 1990s are on the recovery path, paving the way for exponential growth in the wireless industry in the next two years. Early signs of this fast-track growth are...
DENVER, United States-Qualcomm is putting a financial stake in the ground to push CDMA technology in Europe.Qualcomm announced plans to acquire U.K.-based Tellit Communications, a cellular handset design and manufacturing company with expertise in NMT 450 technology. The purchase price is around US$20 million,...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-The new cellular strategy of Mohamed Ibrahim, telecom leader and chief executive officer of Mobile Systems International Cellular Investment Holdings (MSI Cellular), includes a plan to create a pan-African wireless network covering the whole of Africa from Cape Town, South Africa, to...
British Telecom and AT&T said they are beginning trials to test roaming services for high-speed Internet phones. The tests will involve General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology and partnerships with wireless operators SmarTone of Hong Kong and Taiwan's FarEasTone. The trials will begin in...
ItalyNEC and Telecom Italia Mobile said they have agreed to work together in technical trials in March for Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems. Siemens also will cooperate in the trial. NEC will provide infrastructure and handsets. A series of further trials will be based around...
TEL AVIV, Israel-In a country like Israel where the number of mobile phone lines surpasses fixed lines (2.9 million compared with 2.8 million), where there's intense competition among the three carriers and churn is high (sometimes 60 percent), and where price is less and...
AlcatelChina. For GSM network extensions in Jilin, Zhejiang, Ningxia and Shaanxi provinces.Value: US$80 millionGermany. With T-Mobil for a network extension.Value: US$71.2 millionKosovo. With the Kosovo Post Office and Telecommunications for a GSM Network with a 30,000 capacity.Value: UndisclosedSri Lanka. With Celltel Lanka for a GSM network contract...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-With four operators competing nationwide, Chile boasts a wireless client base that grew 175 percent during 1999, thanks to the implementation of calling party pays. CPP also has facilitated a wireless-penetration rate that is now almost 15 percent.When CPP was launched in...
IBM and AT&T announced an alliance to offer wireless data services to their business customers. Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed. The companies said they expected significant opportunities for wireless services linking corporate information systems with a wide range of portable computer...
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados-While plans for a second cellular license in Trinidad and Tobago remain stalled by a court action, Jamaica has reaped another windfall with a second license going to Irish company Mossel Ltd.Mossel, based in Dublin, bid US$47.5 million to operate a GSM 900...
DENVER, United States-SBC Communications said it will convert the remaining Ameritech wireless properties it owns from CDMA technology to TDMA technology.SBC and Ameritech merged last year and sold 20 Ameritech cdmaOne wireless properties in the United States, including Chicago and St. Louis, to GTE...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-The wireless market in Tanzania is gaining momentum with Vodacom's pending rollout of a new GSM network. The new entrant is no small force to contend with and is likely to cause a few ripples.Vodacom South Africa, with 2.7 million subscribers at...
International roaming is a key selling point for all three digital cellular standards. The GSM community in particular often claims that roaming capability is not only a prime factor in the widespread acceptance of GSM but also a reason for its introduction in the...