Powertel Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Allen Smith hinted the company's national roaming rates could fall substantially in the coming months.The carrier today charges 50 cents per minute with a 25-cent toll fee for roaming outside of its Global System for Mobile communications...
Carriers are keeping quiet about events that transpired during a third-generation harmonization meeting two weeks ago in Japan, but an independent study commissioned by Vodafone plc is seen by cdmaOne players as a smoking gun in favor of their technical parameters.Major carriers from around...
BrazilClariti Wireless Messaging, a division of Clariti Telecommunications International, announced it signed a memorandum of understanding with Acme Paging, one of the largest paging providers in Latin America. Under terms of the MoU, Acme Paging will sell Clariti's digital voice pagers and wireless voice...
SANDTON, South Africa-Telecel International, one of the most active cellular investors in Africa, split into two separate companies as from the end of April. The resulting companies are Telecel One, run by the American Joseph Gatt with headquarters in the United States, and Telecel...
Lucent Technologies announced three technical initiatives designed to increase capacity in TDMA equipment. The company announced a series of software enhancements developed by Bell Laboratories to increase frequency re-use; as well as new PCS Minicell growth hardware designed to provide higher capacity for traffic-intensive...
JOHANNESBURG-Michael Stocks, legal and regulatory general manager for MTN in South Africa, assumed the chairmanship of the GSM Association as from 1 May, taking over for Richard Midgett.Stocks is the first GSM representative from Africa to be elected to the post."I am very excited...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-If an Olympic games in cellular communications were ever staged, there is little doubt who would head the medals table. Finland would take gold in almost every event. The Finns take great pride in being first.Finland has been at the forefront of...
If there is any hope second-generation CDMA technology will penetrate Europe, it may be through some struggling NMT 450 operators.The NMT MoU group, consisting of NMT 450 operators from Europe and Asia, wants members to vote at its October meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia,...
BelgiumKPN Orange launched GSM 1800 service in early April as the third mobile operator in Belgium.IrelandEsat Telecom Group confirmed it accepted an offer to acquire a pro rata share of 9 percent of Ireland's GSM operator Esat Digifone for US$57 million from International Investment...
DENVER, United States-For mobile phone operators around the world, one key question remains unanswered: What will be the demand for mobile data services?Mobile phone carriers today are attempting to answer this question as they consider what investments to make to transition to third-generation data-centric networks."The...
BANGALORE, India-Although the growth of South Asia's relatively new markets has temporarily slowed due to political and financial problems, increased competition and investment have made them extremely promising. With managed competition in India, minimal competition in Pakistan and a highly deregulated market in Sri...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-The potential bidders for the third cellular license in South Africa are determined to break the existing Vodacom-MTN duopoly. "We will be competing head-on with MTN and Vodacom for a slice of the lucrative market, believed to be worth R10 billion (US$2...
HONG KONG-Mobile number portability (MNP) has been in effect in Hong Kong since 1 March, but there is no sign yet of a switching spree among cellular customers in the territory.Offers of free handsets, free airtime, cash rewards and free services for a couple...
NEW YORK-Microcell Tele-communications Inc. is hoping Canadian regulators will follow the lead of the United Kingdom and Hong Kong in granting customers mobile number portability (MNP) as they change carriers.The Montreal, Canada-based company is the parent of a personal communications services provider with a...
Nortele-mobility servicesNortel Networks introduced a portfolio of subscriber services, called e-mobility services, that provide rapid, flexible deployment of leading-edge voice and data capabilities optimized for the Internet Protocol environment. The services include Wireless Prepaid, Group Conferencing, Smart Mobile Access, Wireless Voice-Activated Dialing, Mobile Messaging...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-The trunked radio industry in South Africa is about to experience a revolutionary change with the introduction of new technologies and standards. An entirely new market is being unlocked, and old markets are about to be reshuffled to allow for a more...
DUBLIN, Ireland-Many in the trunked radio industry view the rollout of mobile data services as the development that will drive their industry into the next millennium following the adoption last year of TETRA as the standard for next-generation trunked radio systems in Europe.However, it...
EricssonBrazil. With Tele Norte Celular for upgrade and new TDMA.Value: US$50 millionChile. With Entel PCS for GSM 1900 equipment.Value: UndisclosedChina. With Liaoning Post & Telecommunications Administration for its GSM network.Value: US$150 millionCroatia. With VIP-Net to supply base station subsystems for its new GSM network.Value: UndisclosedUkraine. With Digital Cellular...
BEIJING-In early February, China's Minister of Information Industry (MII) was apologetic about the prospects for CDMA in his country. The customers couldn't care less which technology is used-as long as it works, said Wu Jichuan. And with the world's largest GSM network, there seemed...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has completed the re-auction of 356 PCS licenses in the United States.Licenses had to be re-auctioned after several of the original bidders were unable to pay for the licenses they won in 1996 and 1997. The three largest bidders...
ChinaChina Telecom granted U.S.-based Cwill Telecommunications' smart antenna technology a digital Network Access License to connect its wireless PCS-band technology for WLL to China Telecom's phone system anywhere in China, said Cwill.Hong KongBritish Telecom is continuing its buying spree in Asia. In its latest...
GabonGabon has issued a tender for two licenses to provide GSM 900 service. The application deadline was 30 April, with the licenses scheduled to be issued at the end of May. It appears a newly created subsidiary of the Post and Telecommunications Office (OPT),...
GermanyInterDigital Communications Corp., through its subsidiary InterDigital Technology Corp., entered a worldwide, royalty-bearing Time Division Multiple Access patent license agreement with Robert Bosch GmbH of Germany. According to the agreement, InterDigital granted Bosch the license under its TDMA patent portfolio to sell telecommunications equipment...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-GSM Cellular Ltd. announced it entered into a technology license and development agreement with California-based Telemac Corp. under which GSM Cellular will launch prepaid programs in Israel, Australia, Seychelles and Namibia using Telemac Prepaid Technology.GSM Cellular said it also will work to...
