Mobile phones offer freedom, convenience and portability-as long as the battery works. In Cupertino, Calif., Tropian Inc. is developing technologies it hopes will breath new life into the problem of the dying cellular phone."Tropian has fundamentally redesigned key radio-frequency circuits of cell phones to...
CHICAGO-In the second quarter of this year, more than 660,000 U.S. and Canadian customers signed up for Global System for Mobile communications wireless service, reported the North American GSM Alliance L.L.C."This brings the total of GSM customers in North America to 4.2 million," said...
FranceFrance Telecom said it signed a partnership agreement with the Sonae group in Portugal. The two already have a working relationship as stakeholders in Optimus, the third mobile operator in Portugal. The new partnership would be held 43.33 percent by France Telecom and 56.67...
Two Code Division Multiple Access carriers launched limited data services last week that involve linking wireless phones to laptop computers via a cable, allowing the phones to act both as a voice device and wireless data modem.Such a solution has been available from Global...
BOSTON-Smart cards are poised to move beyond their role in identifying Global System for Mobile communications subscribers, due to momentum outside wireless and beyond U.S. borders.The challenge both for telecommunications carriers and for smart-card manufacturers is to harness these forces or risk losing their...
HELSINKI-Primatel, the new Global System for Mobile communications 1800 mobile operator in Hungary, selected Nokia Corp. to supply its GSM 1800/GSM 900 network, said Nokia.Nokia will supply a complete GSM 1800/GSM 900 system, including equipment and services. Primatel expects to start commercial service by...
Phone.com Inc.'s Unwired Universe conference attracted about 1,100 attendees from 29 countries, twice the number expected by conference planners.The conference was designed to act as a meeting point for vendors, carriers and application developers interested in Wireless Application Protocol technology. Several WAP-related announcements were...
Having made partners of most wireless handset OEMs with its T9 Text Input technology, Tegic Communications Inc. said it plans to make customers of wireless carriers with a new instant messaging application, as yet unnamed.The current desktop version of Tegic's instant messaging notifies Internet...
CHICAGO-The North American GSM Alliance elected VoiceStream Wireless President Bob Stapleton the group's new chairman.Stapleton served as president of Western Wireless Corp. from 1992 to 1999. He also has been president of VoiceStream Wireless since its formation in 1994. Stapleton succeeds Don Warkentin, president...
CUPERTINO, Calif.-Morphics Technology Inc., a privately held company that designs and sells software-programmable/hardware-configurable semiconductor products for the wireless industry, raised $13.5 million in its second round of equity financing.The funds raised through the latest round of financing will be used to complete initial product...
A U.S. Court of Appeals Friday ordered the Federal Communications Commission to grant Qualcomm Inc. a pioneer's preference license, ending the seven-year battle between the commission and the cdmaOne innovator.Qualcomm had been waging a seemingly uphill battle with the FCC over its quest for...
FRAMINGHAM, Mass.-Ericsson Inc. selected Natural MicroSystems' products and services for the first integrated wireless network that enables carriers to combine dispatch and group communications within their standard Global System for Mobile communications infrastructure, said Natural MicroSystems.Ericsson said it selected the open telecommunications approach to...
NEW YORK-The government of Portugal said its sale of a 13.5-percent equity stake in Portugal Telecom plc and an associated share rights issue raised $1.62 billion.Contributing to the capital raised was the concurrent one-for-10 rights issue to existing PT shareholders. This allowed them to...
ELite Logistic ServicesElite Logistic Services Inc. introduced its PageTrack control module, a wireless automotive security, control and monitoring solution. The system uses SkyTel Communications Inc.'s two-way ReFLEX network, the ReFLEX CreataLink 2 XT two-way data transceiver from Motorola Inc. and global positioning system technology....
Pannon GSM Tavkozlesi RT, Budapest, Hungary, was expected last week to place privately about $123 million in euro-denominated bonds it plans to use to refinance outstanding debt.Pannon, which operates a Global System for Mobile communications 900 network, has about 450,000 customers, or about 40...
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill.-Motorola Inc.'s Network Solutions Sector and RadioMobil of the Czech Republic signed a contract to deploy a General Packet Radio Service system on RadioMobil's Paegas Global System for Mobile communications network.The initial GPRS network will cover the major cities of Prague and...
NEW YORK-In a move apparently intended to get ahead of the crowd, Hutchison Telecommunications Australia Ltd., Sydney, announced July 12 it plans to sell 29.5 percent of the company in a $215 million initial public offering next month.The Australian branch of Hong Kong-based Hutchison...
YAOUNDE, Cameroon-France Telecom signed a concession agreement for Global System for Mobile communications wireless phone service in Cameroon, to be operated by Yaounde-based Societe Camerounaise de Mobiles.SCM will build a GSM network, enabling service in both Yaounde and Douala, by the end of the...
Portugal Telecom announced the consortium, Medi Telecom, won the second Global System for Mobile communications license in Morocco.The Medi Telecom consortium, led by Telefonica and including Portugal Telecom, the Moroccan groups Banque Marrocaine du Commerce Exterieur and Afriquia, offered $902 million for the license,...
GREENVILLE, S.C.-Lucent Technologies Inc. has one of its first contracts in the United States for Global System for Mobile communications equipment.The company announced a $45 million supply contract with Carolina PCS I L.P. to build a personal communications services network in South Carolina, North...
Latin AmericaCellular/personal communications services handset shipments to Latin America showed a significant technology shift from analog Advanced Mobile Phone Service to digital Time Division Multiple Access technology during the first three months of 1999, according to results from The Strategis Group's report, "Strategis dataBank...
Qwest Communications International is pursuing an acquisition of U S West in competition with another bidder, Global Crossing.Microsoft announced in mid-May a US$600 million investment in Nextel Communications, the leading trunked radio operator in the United States. The deal is to give Nextel customers...
The government of Yemen has announced it will issue a tender later this year for a second mobile telephone service provider to run a GSM system. The incumbent cellular provider, Teleymen, had 17,800 subscribers on its TACS/CDMA networks as of year-end 1998 and is...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-The technology standard TETRA has come up trumps in a feasibility study conducted by Finnish company Omnitele.The consultancy had been appointed by the South African Regulatory Authority (SATRA) in February to explore the feasibility of licensing one or more third-party operators to...
