STOCKHOLM, Sweden-The first official mobile call on the Global System for Mobile communications 400 frequency band was made during a GSM 400 conference in Budapest, Hungary, according to L.M. Ericsson.The equipment used to perform the call was Ericsson prototype infrastructure and Nokia dual-band GSM...
While carriers publicly push ahead with their third-generation technology migration plans, behind the scenes, some may be evaluating technology conversions that could be more cost effective in the long run.Sources close to AT&T Corp. say the nationwide telecommunications carrier is technically studying Code Division...
Lucent Technologies Inc. will be noticeably absent when the Personal Communications Industry Association kicks off its 2000 showcase next September in Chicago.The infrastructure vendor has told PCIA it plans to stop exhibiting at its future shows in North America, opting instead to invest its...
HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Corp. said it began its first shipments of the 7110 Wireless Application Protocol handsets. The GSM 900 and 1800 handsets are WAP version 1.1 compliant, according to a Nokia spokesperson. The first deliveries will be to Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill.-Kuwait Mobile Telecommunication Co. awarded a $30 million contract to Motorola Inc. to expand its Global System for Mobile communications cellular network.Motorola's Network Solutions Sector will deploy its latest Horizon GSM infrastructure to provide extra capacity for up to 60,000 cellular subscribers....
ALLENTOWN, Pa.-Lucent Technologies Inc.'s Microelectronics Group and Mobicom Corp. said they are working together to build and deliver wireless handsets to China's Global System for Mobile communications market, estimated at more than 29 million subscribers. Lucent will supply for Mobicom's handsets its Sceptre GSM...
The Federal Communications Commission once again must address rules surrounding the now-defunct pioneer's preference process, a program riddled with controversy throughout this decade.Omnipoint Corp. and VoiceStream Wireless Corp. last week filed an opposition to Qualcomm Inc.'s petition that the FCC deny the carrier's request...
At the last World Telecom conference in 1995 in Geneva, the fledgling new cellular networks in South Africa had a total of 250,000 subscribers. The growth since then has exceeded all expectations and abided by no predictions. EMC World Cellular Database quotes a current...
The fundamental shift in the wireless industry from technology to applications in the four years since Telecom '95 is evident in Nortel Networks' changed theme for its exhibition. In 1995, it was "Nortel-A World of Networks," which Peter MacLaren explained was designed to address...
CDMA handsets were the No. 1 selling handset in the United States during the first quarter of this year, with sales of 3.2 million units, according to Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner Group Inc. TDMA handset sales were at 2.8 million units in...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-Most cellular operators now recognize that to ensure their businesses continue to experience breakneck growth, they must compete more directly with fixed operators. According to industry analysts, this battle for the telephone user will take place over the provision of voice and...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Six cellular phone companies, including a consortium led by South Africa's MTN, have been prequalified by Kenya's Communications Commission to bid for a second mobile phone license in the country.However, mixed signals about deregulation are being conveyed by Kenyan Transport and Communications...
The biggest challenge for wireless operators during the next four years most likely will be obtaining additional spectrum, according to Keith Radousky, director of engineering, BellSouth Cellular Corp. "(Wireless) data is going to take off similar to how it took off in the wireline...
Alcatel's recollection of 1995, the year of the last Telecom show, was of GSM coverage being patchy in most European countries, with network designers basing their plans on handsets with power outputs of 8 watts, which appears very strange in comparison with today's situation....
U.S. TDMA operators must make some critical decisions about competing in the wireless data market during the next year as they witness their CDMA counterparts begin to launch circuit-switched data services on a large scale.TDMA operators-which in the late 1980s banked on Cellular Digital...
NEW YORK-Cellular terminals have come a long way in the quarter century since Motorola introduced its handheld DynaTAC mobile phone, a clunky device that weighed nearly 0.9 kilograms and measured 0.09 cubic meters (35 cubic inches). To be sure, the days of weighty loads...
DUBLIN, Ireland-There has been much debate over the future of satellite-based communications. Indeed, regular readers of the financial press might wonder if it has any future in the new millennium as they follow stories of operational difficulties, disappointing subscriber figures and financial restructuring and...
NMT 450 operators are to decide by early October whether to push forward with three digital mobile-phone standards that include CDMA technology, which could give cdmaOne technology its first entrance into Europe.The NMT MOU Digital Interest Group (DIG)-an assembly of operators tasked with evaluating...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-The phrase on everyone's lips within the cellular industry at Telecom '99 will be value-added services, a world apart from the talk at the 1995 exhibition. This simple dictate is being touted as the only way for operators to achieve the future...
HONG KONG-China Unicom is still seeking to end more than 30 China China Foreign (CCF) joint ventures it has formed with foreign companies, including France Telecom, Sprint Corp., Telecom Italia, Bell Canada, Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, Metromedia International, Daewoo Corp., and several Hong Kong companies,...
AustraliaACCC, Australia's corporate regulator, rejected Telstra Corp.'s proposed terms and conditions for other carriers to interconnect with its analog and digital mobile networks. The decision followed another decision by ACCC to reject Telstra' proposed terms and conditions for interconnect with its fixed network. Mobile...
Several global telecommunications players announced alliances or considerations for mergers during the last few weeks.AT&T and British Telecom announced a strategic alliance designed to create seamless mobile communications services worldwide.AT&T's and BT's new alliance, named Advance, will provide a new mobile global account services...
Ake Persson confirmed that at the time of Telecom '95, the telecommunications business seemed a simpler industry than that of today. "We viewed it as either a fixed or mobile world-period," he declared.But unlike some of his colleagues in the industry, he is candid...
