The UMTS Forum said it welcomed proposals by the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity Conference Preparatory Group (APG) for adoption of the 2520-2670 MHz band to support the terrestrial component of IMT-2000. APG proposed that administrations make up to 160 megahertz of additional spectrum available for IMT-2000.AustraliaVirgin...
NEW DELHI, India-Countries in Asia and Southeast Asia specifically hit by economic crisis in the late 1990s are on the recovery path, paving the way for exponential growth in the wireless industry in the next two years. Early signs of this fast-track growth are...
DENVER, United States-Qualcomm is putting a financial stake in the ground to push CDMA technology in Europe.Qualcomm announced plans to acquire U.K.-based Tellit Communications, a cellular handset design and manufacturing company with expertise in NMT 450 technology. The purchase price is around US$20 million,...
SEOUL, South Korea-Korean mobile telecom carriers are looking to stake out the biggest share in the fast-growing wireless Internet and data market, shifting from a voice-oriented strategy.The explosion of the Internet and mobile-phone use is driving the convergence of the two high-tech media, offering...
Things are going well for most mobile companies around the globe. Penetration rates are increasing, subscriber numbers are reaching all-time highs and wireless data holds future promise for the industry. The last year has been especially profitable for wireless handset manufacturers.Nokia reported its strongest...
MONTREAL-The transmission was delayed 20 minutes because the test PC had crashed. And the picture quality, to put it kindly, was choppy. Nevertheless, in February, Rogers AT&T Wireless and Ericsson Canada made the first wireless phone call in North America to be carried over...
HandsetsPhilipsPhilips introduced several new handsets. The Ozeo GSM dual-band mobile phone offers a new user interface and a large LCD display with five text lines. The carousel icon screen feature simultaneously displays up to five visual icons representing the phone's functions and features. The...
TOKYO-The number of Japanese PHS subscribers expanded in the December-January time frame, demonstrating that the long-ailing PHS business is starting to revitalize.The number of PHS users in the country has decreased for the last few years since hitting a high of 7 million in...
Motorola and Psion agreed to build products, expected to be released in the first half of 2001, using a new platform from Symbian. Symbian announced a wireless computing platform for handsets and other devices. Quartz is a reference design for pen-based wireless devices. It...
HANOVER, Germany-Until demand for Wireless Application Protocol handsets increases, L.M. Ericsson won't manufacture WAP handsets in volume, the company said at CeBIT 2000.Carriers have criticized manufacturers for being too slow in shipping WAP phones in volume. Ericsson President Kurt Hellstrom said at a news...
With the Federal Communications Commission's Phase II enhanced 911 compliance deadline quickly approaching, U.S. cellular and personal communications services carriers actively are evaluating systems for locating 911 callers. Because they also need to increase customer loyalty and revenue per subscriber, carriers are assessing whether...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission rejected L.M. Ericsson's wireless 911 call-completion plan as deficient, but gave the Swedish phone manufacturer a three-month extension to comply with new rules that kicked in Feb. 13.The FCC said that while new 911 wireless rules encourage innovation and flexibility,...
Rural cellular carriers have been reaping generous roaming revenues from nationwide operators since the advent of one-rate plans, but investors in recent weeks have been concerned that this trend is slowing.Rural cellular stocks, which recorded spectacular gains in 1999, have taken a hit since...
Most conversations regarding the wireless Internet in the industry today revolve around Wireless Application Protocol technology, but several companies are bucking this trend-aiming to extend Internet content to wireless phones using alternative means to WAP.Providing them the opportunity to do so is WAP itself....
ROME-NEC Corp. announced an agreement with Telecom Italia Group to work together in technical trials for Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems.NEC, which supplies handsets to Telecom Italia Group, will provide both infrastructure systems and handsets to help understand UMTS capability, with the aim to offer...
Application developers looking to break into the increasingly popular wireless Internet industry will soon have an ally on hand to guide them through the maze of technologies, specifications and ever-multiplying players in this space-a start-up Internet destination called AnywhereYouGo.com.The Web site, to be launched...
ScandinaviaMillicom International Cellular S.A., a worldwide cellular telephone and telecommunications company, said it sold 900,000 class B shares from a total of almost 6 million class A and class B shares held in NetCom AB, a provider of telecommunication services in Scandinavia, the Baltics...
General Packet Radio Service technology is a powerful proposition for Global System for Mobile communications operators anxious to comb in the huge revenues packetized wireless Internet access promises. That's why they want GPRS handsets this year.Product delays have been part of the wireless industry...
PALM SPRINGS, Calif.-Speaking at a Goldman Sachs Technology Symposium, the head of Texas Instruments Inc.'s wireless business unit said the company expects last year's accelerated pace in the market for wireless phones to continue into this year.Gilles Delfassy, vice president and manager of TI's...
Although some rumblings continue over Geoworks Corp.'s licensing program for Wireless Application Protocol technology, WAP-related announcements continued making news at last week's GSM World Congress in Cannes.Phone.com Inc. announced it formed a WAP interoperability testing lab, a software upgrade preview center and the latest...
CANNES, France-Motorola Inc. and Turkish Global System for Mobile communications operator Telsim announced they signed a $1.5 billion contract calling for Motorola to provide infrastructure, handsets and associated services to expand the countrywide GSM network in Turkey.The contract also calls for Motorola to implement...
VERNON HILLS, Ill.-Telular Corp. announced it has entered into a non-exclusive worldwide patent license agreement with Andrew Corp. to manufacture and sell a docking station for digital cellular handsets using Telular's patented interface technology.Telular noted it has received an initial license fee of $1...
CANNES, France-At odds with some in the wireless industry, the keynote speaker at the GSM World Congress 2000 is not a proponent of convergence. In fact, Keith McCurdy, chief executive officer of Experts-Exchange.com, said convergence is not happening and wireless professionals should promote moving...
CANNES, France-RangeStar Wireless introduced three new antennas for wireless handsets that the company said it believes will revolutionize antenna technology.RangeStar unveiled a wideband Code Division Multiple Access embedded antenna designed to work with third-generation technology. Weighing in at 1 gram, the new antenna enables...
