MOSCOW-CDMA technology has been battling for a spot in Russia's mobile market for two years, but it lost the war as Communications Minister Leonid Reiman, an opponent of the technology, retained his post in the new government formed after President Vladimir Putin took office...
NEW YORK-The risks of using a cellular phone while driving "appear to be small compared to other daily risks, but are uncertain because existing research is limited and of uneven quality," a new Harvard Center for Risk Analysis report concluded.The Center, part of the...
WASHINGTON-A top-flight Baltimore law firm is expected to file a lawsuit this week claiming a malignant brain tumor diagnosed in a 42-year-old male neurologist was caused by heavy and long-term mobile-phone use.The lawsuit, likely to be filed in a Washington-Baltimore area court, is being...
WASHINGTON-While international attention is focused on Deutsche Telekom AG's $50.3 billion bid for VoiceStream Wireless Corp. and the fireworks it has set off in Congress, merger and acquisition activity in the coming months is expected to be dominated by smaller wireless transactions as large...
CALGARY, Alberta-Cell-Loc Inc.'s TimesThree and SUMedia.com Inc. unveiled e-couponing as a component of the L411 service that TimesThree demonstrated at its wireless location network launch in Calgary, Alberta.When available, customers can dial an L411 code on a mobile phone to gain access to a...
TantauTantau Software Inc. released its Wireless Internet Platform version 2, which features enhancements for back-end connectivity, content personalization and information delivery. In addition, the company announced a strategic agreement with Hewlett-Packard Co. to co-market mobile e-services solutions designed for financial institutions that combine the...
To its credit, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is taking the driver distraction problem seriously. Last Tuesday's all-day conference at the Department of Transportation was educational and enlightening, providing varied views from a broad cross section of stakeholders.The issue deserves the attention of...
WASHINGTON-On land and in air, the ever-popular mobile phone-America's favorite toy in the New Millennium-is creating headaches for government, industry and citizens, and raising serious safety questions with no easy answers.Last week, federal regulators and lawmakers zeroed in on two growing areas of concern...
WASHINGTON-Thomas Sugrue, chief of the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, has begun preparing for the likelihood that many mobile-phone carriers will not meet upcoming deadlines governing location-based 911 wireless emergency service rules.Meanwhile, Sugrue and his staff are mired in other prickly 911 policy issues dealing...
Only here, in the democratic power center of the world, could leaking and stonewalling simultaneously be art forms worthy of the Smithsonian Institution.But it's true. In fact, this is the Golden Age of leaking and stonewalling. We are blessed with a plethora of new...
TOKYO-NTT DoCoMo announced it entered arrangements with Hutchison Whampoa and KPN Mobile to cooperate on European third-generation mobile networks. The agreements cover four European markets-the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Belgium.The announcement comes as U.S. mobile-phone carriers begin to express concern about being competitive...
WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, seeking to foster better public understanding of controversial wireless health issues, will require beginning Aug. 1 that all mobile phones seeking certification include radiation exposure data.CTIA's board of directors approved the policy at its June meeting, though the trade...
WASHINGTON-The skyrocketing consumer consumption and subsequent disposal of computers, pagers, mobile phones, personal digital assistants and other electronic devices has created new environmental challenges in the Digital Age, which Europe is addressing far more aggressively than the United States.The environmental challenges are playing out...
For those people still neglecting to turn off their cellular phones in public places like movie theaters, churches and restaurants, a technology is in the works that will take the monitoring responsibilities away from the cell- phone user and automatically lower the volume of...
NEW YORK-Telstra Corp., Australia's dominant telecommunications provider, "hates to be considered an incumbent because we transitioned to a New Age company years ago," said Philip Wise, managing director of its Mobile Consumer Division.To provide a full suite of services, the company is involved in...
OWINGS MILLS, Md.-Aether Systems Inc.'s Sila Communications joint venture with Reuters signed a worldwide licensing agreement with Gemplus, a provider of smart-card solutions.The agreement means that Sila's decompression software will be embedded in a new Gemplus SIM card, allowing mobile phones in Europe to...
WASHINGTON-An uncertain wireless industry realignment could be in store as a result of Justice Department's rejection last week of the WorldCom Inc.-Sprint Corp. merger and new legislation forbidding foreign government ownership of U.S. telecommunications firms."Instead of two wireless players for international buyers, you now...
Stripped to its essence, you have to wonder whether euro pride had anything to do with European Commission antitrust chief Mario Monti's heartburn over the WorldCom-Sprint merger he helped kill. You couldn't blame him if it did, seeing that the U.S. is the world's...
WASHINGTON-The Supreme Court last week agreed to decide whether individuals who divulge illegally intercepted electronic communications are as liable as eavesdroppers themselves, setting a showdown between free speech and wireless privacy.The case has major implications for the wireless industry, which has aggressively fought in...
NEW YORK-Streaming multimedia via portable devices may be down the road a bit, but the image of a handheld computer or cellular phone as a photograph viewer already is moving sharply into focus.With a newly announced Secure Digital plug-in "people can take digital pictures,...
I am becoming a bore. I wrote about the health issue in the last edition of Global Wireless. I wrote about it in the first issue of the year. Now I am writing about it again.I make no apologies. Recent developments in the United...
MOSCOW-CDMA technology has been battling for a spot in Russia's mobile market for two years, but it lost the war as Communications Minister Leonid Reiman, an opponent of the technology, retained his post in the new government formed after President Vladimir Putin took office...
Two-way messaging equipmentMotorolaMotorola introduced its Talkabout T900 two-way messaging device, featuring a full Qwerty keyboard with a flip-top screen and a four-line, 80-character display. It supports two-way messaging, wireless Internet e-mail and on-demand information services. It also features a private-time feature, which users may...
HONG KONG-The government of Hong Kong is likely to be among the first in the Asia-Pacific region to clear spectrum and issue licenses for third-generation (3G) mobile phones, according to the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA)."While the USA and Europe may take five...
