RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil-Oi, the new GSM operator owned by fixed-line operator Telemar, entered the country's mobile market on Tuesday, offering the country's first GSM and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) service. The service launched in 10 states in the northern, northeastern and eastern...
Send press releases of new products for consideration for future "Products" updates to Global Wireless Products Handsets/devicesSony EricssonSony Ericsson Mobile Communications introduced several new handsets, including the T61d, T600, ...
BEIJING-Mobile-phone operator China Unicom has introduced promotional offers in at least 10 Chinese cities to attract subscribers to its fledgling CDMA network. Unicom originally positioned its CDMA services as a high-end alternative for rival China Mobile's and the company's own GSM services, but consumers...
HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia reduced its sales growth target for the second half of this year from 15 percent to 10 percent, but maintained its earnings target for the year of 80 cents per share.Nokia also maintained its belief that its total market volume of handsets...
WARREN, N.J.-Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C. unveiled its long-awaited plans to launch its mobile virtual network operator service this summer. The company, which is a joint venture between U.K.-based Virgin Group and U.S. wireless operator Sprint PCS, said it will offer prepaid service targeted to...
HELSINKI, Finland-The shortage of UMTS terminals in Finland's retail market is seriously hindering the construction of third-generation (3G) mobile networks. 3G license holders are warning that delays can be expected in the rollout of 3G networks."While the situation in Finland has not reached a...
OXFORD, United Kingdom and DUBLIN, Ireland-Looking to become the first company to launch third-generation (3G) services in the United Kingdom, Hutchison 3G has denied press reports that it is quietly slipping the launch date due to fears of handset shortages and technical problems. The...
JAKARTA, Indonesia-The slow development of third-generation (3G) services around the world has influenced mobile operators in Singapore to re-think the urgency of launching 3G services in the city state.In contrast to the recent decision of SingTel Mobile, which delayed the 3G equipment tender award...
TOKYO—NTT DoCoMo Inc. said it plans to roll out a dual network service, allowing its FOMA third-generation service subscribers to use the same phone number for both their FOMA service and PDC service, beginning next month. The plan should help alleviate some of the...
DUBLIN, Ireland—Cellular operators need to market mobile entertainment applications more aggressively if many more games applications developers are not to go out of business. This is the view of international telecommunications consultancy BWCS, which claims developers will be forced under unless operators are more...
BEIJING—Qualcomm Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Irwin Jacobs expects China Unicom's CDMA network to have 3 to 4 million users by the end of the year. Subscribers are slow to migrate from the GSM network to the CDMA network because they need to...
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands—The GSM Association and the Bluetooth Special Interest Group Inc. say they are working together to educate their members on the applications that will accrue from interoperating both technologies."Short-range wireless technologies such as Bluetooth provide valuable consumer benefits that are expected to...
Permit issues could delay operator rolloutsHELSINKI, Finland-PTS, Sweden's telecom regulatory authority, appears to have accepted the general position adopted by operators that meeting the 2002 deadline for rollout of third-generation (3G) services will not be feasible. The position taken by PTS is significant, as...
BEIJING—Datang Telecom has cut the price of its CDMA handsets by 20 percent to 1,980 yuan (US$239.22). They are the first CDMA handsets in China priced below 2,000 yuan (US$241.63).China Unicom Vice President Lu Jianguo predicted the CDMA service will start to boom when...
MELBOURNE, Australia—Vodafone Australia will move to prevent stolen mobile phones from being reconnected from the end of December. Telstra announced in April it would stop reconnections as of 15 August. Both mobile carriers will block stolen handset codes through implementing International Mobile Equipment Identity...
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...
BEIJING—The China Sports Press Association has selected CDMA handsets from Ningbo Bird to be the official mobile phones for Chinese journalists covering the 2002 World Cup finals.The company provided its C58 CDMA handsets to more than 100 Chinese media organizations.
NEW YORK—A new alliance with Korea Digital Satellite Broadcasting is part of an overall plan for LG Telecom to compete successfully with South Korea’s two larger wireless operators, said Yong Nam, president and chief executive officer.In late April, Martin Lee, chief financial officer, told...
DUBLIN, Ireland—The imminent launch of the XDA, an O2-branded mobile device manufactured specifically for that operator, is clear evidence that European operators are demanding more input into handset development. However, it is more likely to be an extreme but isolated example of operator control...
TOKYO—KDDI, the second-largest operator in Japan, announced that in cooperation with SK Telecom in Korea it launched an image data transmission service between users of the two operators. It is the first international image data transmission service, according to KDDI.Users of the service, called...
WHEATON, Md.—The Shosteck Group believes the replacement rate for handsets will increase from its low point this year, but will remain below peak levels experienced in 1999 and 2000.According to the firm's new study, "The Adoption of High-end Phones, Part I: A Forecast for...
