BEIJING—China's top computer manufacturer Legend Holdings and Xiamen Overseas Chinese Electronics Company (Xoceco) agreed on 27 February to set up a joint venture to produce mobile handsets with chipset technology to be supplied by Texas Instruments. Legend is investing 90 million yuan (US$10.87 million)...
BALTIMORE—Five new lawsuits seeking a total of more than $6 billion in damages have been filed against the cellular industry, alleging use of wireless handsets caused brain cancer.The lawsuits were filed Monday afternoon in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia by the...
CANNES, France—The mobile industry put on a brave face last week at the annual 3GSM World Congress here, with few signs of the financial downturn the industry is currently enduring showing through to the exhibition halls or the company-rented yachts that line the harbor...
LOS ANGELES—Oberthur Card Systems unveiled its SIMphonIC 3G Composer, a software tool for developing and simulating applications and services on 2G and 3G UMTS networks, this week at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes.Oberthur Card Systems demonstrated three types of application development on Java...
TOKYO—Fujitsu, a leading telecom vender in Japan, and Sagem, the second-largest telecom vender in France, signed a third-generation mobile handset agreement, both firms announced 20 February. Based on the business agreement, both firms plan to develop dual-mode (W-CDMA and GSM/GPRS) smart phones by the...
RESTON, Va.—Nextel Communications Inc. reported a partnership with XSVoice Inc., an enabler of live wireless audio, to provide Nextel Online customers access to live, on-demand streaming audio.With the service, Nextel customers can use their handsets to click on a specific content category and access...
CANNES, France—Airline communications provider SITA and roaming services supplier Comfone announced they have signed a contract that will make it easier for airline passengers to pay for on-board, in-flight phone calls.Passengers will swipe SITA's AIRCOM Mobile Charging Card through onboard handsets to pay for...
JAKARTA, Indonesia—Telstra, Australian's leading mobile operator, will commence action to ban stolen mobile phones from its network as part of a broader campaign to curb incidences of mobile-phone theft. In the action, Telstra will shut down mobile phones based on international mobile equipment identity...
TOKYO—NEC, the leading handset manufacturer in Japan, is going to re-enter the U.S. mobile handset market by the end of March 2003.NEC in 2000 sold its mobile handset factories in Europe and Mexico and terminated manufacturing handsets targeting overseas markets except its Chinese factory....
MILAN, Italy—Motorola Inc. said it has unveiled five new handsets, three existing ones with enhanced technology additions and eight companion accessories at its Motorola Center.The new handsets include the Motorola V70, Motorola A3888, Motorola C330 series, Motorola T720 and Motorola A820.The Motorola V60I, Motorola...
LONDON—About 23,000 high-end Samsung A300 mobile phones valued at approximately US$6 million disappeared from a warehouse in West London this week.Police believe the handsets were stolen by thieves with inside information on the warehouse and will likely end up on the black market. But...
LONDON—About 23,000 high-end Samsung A300 mobile phones valued at approximately $6 million disappeared from a warehouse in West London this week.Police believe the handsets were stolen by thieves with inside information on the warehouse and will likely end up on the black market. But...
BERLIN—Berlin is a city undergoing a rebuilding and refurbishment program the likes of which few other cities in Europe have experienced in modern times. Against this backdrop of transformation, Deutsche Telekom used the grand opening of its high-tech offices in the city to announce...
GENEVA—Europe’s mobile users will likely wait much longer than expected for next-generation cellular, as the daunting implications of full-scale third-generation (3G) deployment are finally brought home to the region’s 60-plus operators.With many players already having committed hundreds of millions of euros to securing national...
TORONTO—Canada's Bell Mobility launched the country's first 1x wireless network in the greater Toronto area, with plans to extend the coverage throughout the year to cover most of the country.Bell Mobility said the new network will deliver "cruising speeds" of up to 86 kilobits...
BERLIN—The mobile division of Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile, has forcefully indicated that it plans to be the first to launch third-generation (3G) services in Germany. The company announced plans to deploy high-speed mobile data services in 20 German cities by the end of this year,...
NEW DELHI, India—BPL Mobile, India's leading GSM service provider, hopes to increase substantially its revenues from non-voice services with its recently launched General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) service in Mumbai.Announcing financial results for the period April to December 2001, the company said revenues from...
BEIJING—Nokia expects its handset sales in China to grow by 10 percent to 15 percent this year, the China Daily reported. Motorola leads the market, but Nokia is closing in. The company may be handicapped, because it does not have a license to produce...
HAUPPAUGE, New York, United States—Audiovox Communications and Hyundai CuriTel in Korea signed an estimated US$730 million agreement for Hyundai CuriTel to manufacture CDMA handsets for Audiovox during the next 12 months.Hyundai CuriTel was formed out of Hyundai Electronics in May 2001. The company already...
MOSCOW—German vendor Siemens overtook Finland's Nokia, the worldwide mobile-phone sales leader, in handset sales in Russia in 2001, according to a report by International Data Corporation (IDC), a global provider of technology forecasts.IDC estimated the total Russian handset market at US$560 million last year...
TOKYO—Japanese mobile carriers are emphasizing location services to combat increasing competition within the market.The mobile-phone market in Japan has been expanding rapidly during the past several years. However, the market, which now has 72.8 million subscribers including PHS users, is becoming saturated, and harsher...
BEDMINSTER, N.J.—Verizon Wireless launched its America's Choice calling plans designed to reward customers with the use of its entire network as the home calling area, large buckets of minutes and free long-distance from the plan's footprint.The carrier said the plan is available with specified...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—Having suffered more than its rivals in 2001, Siemens is claiming that 2002 will see a change in the cell-phone business that will enable it to regain market share. Last year, the company slipped into fifth place in the worldwide cell-phone rankings,...
