DENVER-Qwest Wireless last week filed to change its Enhanced 911 Phase II solution from a network-based solution to an assisted Global Positioning Satellite-or hybrid-solution.Qwest in November was one of the 14 carriers to file with the Federal Communications Commission for a network-based solution. Fifteen...
Major hardware and software vendors are teaming up to reinforce their strengths and shore up their weaknesses as the wireless industry marches to the third-generation of Internet services.Involved in marriages and talks of marriages are Nokia Corp., Lucent Technologies Inc., Nortel Networks, Mitsubishi Electric...
Smart-phone company NeoPoint Inc. quietly closed its doors late last month, apparently exiting the industry it lit up only a few short years ago with its advanced phone/personal digital assistant offering.While the company hadn't yet filed as of Friday in the bankruptcy court that...
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.-Executives of Motorola Inc. and the Personal Communications Industry Association sparred over the future of paging and device-makers' support for it at last week's Southeastern Communications Association "Wireless Messaging 2001" conference held here."Although we have seen some decline this year, early on...
As part of the carrier's $4 million investment in its Wyoming network, Verizon Wireless launched digital service in Laramie, Wyo. Previously, the carrier only offered analog service in the area. Verizon Wireless also reported the upgrade of its digital network in the area around...
Heinz Corp.Heinz Corp., which provides services to wireless carriers, has promoted Rick Vogt to senior project manager. In his new position he will be responsible for Heinz's projects for Cingular Wireless. Vogt has been with Heinz for about a year, and most recently supervised...
NEW YORK-Siemens Carrier Networks L.L.C., Boca Raton, Fla., is testing the first iteration of its new SURPASS hiQ softswitch with several American carriers. The softswitch is part of a migration path toward broadband, packet-switched network architecture.Softswitch acts like the brains of a network, containing...
With four big CDMA infrastructure contracts ramped up last week by China Unicom, the country's second-largest operator, the Asian nation is on pace to race past the United States as the biggest wireless market in the world.The contracts, penned with Lucent Technologies Inc., L.M....
BRAZILTranscrypt International Inc.'s subsidiary, EFJohnson Co., has been awarded a $2 million contract to supply its LTR-Net communication system to the State of Santa Catarina Police Department in Brazil, linking the majority of Brazil's large metropolitan areas.IRELANDThe offer that UBS Warburg Ltd. made on...
If the economy is going south for both vendors and operators in the United States, part of the solution may lie in going south, literally.According to a Strategis Group study conducted on international roaming focusing on TDMA technology, there is huge market potential in...
For the introduction of its initial wireless data offering, Leap Wireless International Inc. went back to its roots. The flat-rate, all-you-can-talk carrier will launch the first channel of its Telephone Entertainment Network, in Chattanooga, Tenn., where the carrier debuted its Cricket wireless voice service...
NEW YORK-With up to seven competitors in some large markets, price wars have begun that are not sustainable as a long-term business case for carriers, telecommunications executives said last week at the "Kagan Wireless Telecom Summit.""Verizon missed its additions significantly. When the big guys...
In addition to the variety of toppings available for your morning latte, Starbucks Coffee Co. soon will be offering its customers high-speed wireless Internet access.The Seattle-based coffee giant last week announced a five-year strategic relationship with Compaq Computer Corp. to provide its retail stores...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-Uncertainty related to the future of Scandinavian mobile prepaid calling plans, less preferred here than in Western Europe generally, is largely due to the struggle to migrate customers to more expensive products and emerging technologies that could fundamentally change the relationship between vendor...
The alliance between Sony Corp. of Japan and L.M. Ericsson of Sweden is giving the two companies hope they have a chance to trump Nokia Corp. as the supreme player in the mobile- phone market. But similar alliances in the past have been failures.After...
Brandishing Korea as a model, the CDMA Development Group looks at the future of its technology through rose-tinted lenses.With the battle for market share boiling up over the next generation of technologies and the wideband CDMA protocol gearing up for dominance, last week the...
SAN DIEGO-Leap Wireless International Inc.'s Cricket, a flat-rate, all-you-can-talk, local wireless service, appears to have kept the company afloat during first-quarter 2001, according to financial reports released last week.Leap reported that during the first quarter, its Cricket service grew to just more than 339,000...
As the apparent economic slowdown continues to shake up Wall Street and dislodge stocks, many in the wireless industry are holding their breath to see whether the situation is grave enough to cause consumers not to jump on-or jump off of- the mobile bandwagon...
Voice services are a tricky subject for wireless operators. While voice is regarded as the one true killer application for wireless carriers, many are forced to nearly give away voice service to keep up with the ultra-competitive wireless market.
While carriers try to differentiate their...
Players throughout the wireless industry are waiting for the Federal Communication Commission to determine the fate of the current spectrum-cap rules.If the caps are kept in place-an idea favored by most of the small wireless operators-the wireless industry landscape is expected to remain the...
Leap Wireless International Inc. completed its acquisition of personal communications services operating licenses covering 2.8 million pops from CIVS IV License Sub I L.L.C., a joint venture between Cook Inlet Region Inc. and Voice-Stream Wireless Corp. Leap also completed its previously announced acquisition of...
NEW YORK-Rural carriers, with operating histories often many decades old, appear poised at the forefront of the strategy for long-term growth based on bundled or converged services.Seeking to be the one-stop-shop location for their customers, these companies have in place or have plans to...
Two U.S. companies are taking their respective technologies to the Australian market, following third-generation spectrum purchases in the country last month.Qualcomm Inc. paid $79 million for 10 megahertz of paired spectrum in all capital cities through a company called 3G Investments (Australia) Pty. Ltd....
GroupServeGroupServe announced Tom Stroup, president, will also take on the role of chief executive officer. Stroup's first task as CEO will be to oversee the commercial product launch of GroupPort. Stroup will also oversee the company's business development, strategic alliance and product development efforts....
