WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission last week adopted proposed rules that should make it easier for users of global mobile phones and pagers to cross international borders. The rules implement a memorandum of understanding that was signed by the United States and other countries within...
The Wireless Application Protocol effort gained momentum last week at the GSM World Congress in Cannes, France, with several Global System for Mobile communications carriers and handset manufacturers announcing WAP-compatible products.Nokia Corp. announced both a WAP-compatible handset and an agreement with France Telecom Group...
COLUMBIA, Md.-Tecore said it plans to deploy its AirCore platform prepaid solution in Nigeria for cellular operator Bourdex Telecommunications.The Tecore system will connect to Nitel, the public switched telephone network, and will interface to Bourdex Telecom's existing Advanced Mobile Phone Service cellular network. Bourdex...
WASHINGTON-The House last week overwhelmingly passed wireless E911 and privacy bills, leaving it now to the Senate to move on the two measures that will curb eavesdropping on the 68 million mobile phone users and help save lives of emergency callers."Thousands of lives could...
WASHINGTON-Wireless Technology Research Chairman George Carlo has informed federal regulators that five cell-culture studies under his purview raise questions about possible bioeffects from radio-frequency radiation emitted from mobile phones.Carlo, according to sources, told federal regulators of the findings at a Feb. 9 meeting at...
Italy-the location of some of Shakespeare's finest plays-last week became the setting for the largest telecom drama to occur in European history.The players: Olivetti Spa-A smaller operator that just two years ago was on the verge of bankruptcy. It enters the scene today as an...
SONY ELECTRONICSSony Electronics introduced a new alphanumeric pager with a synthesized tuner, generic-over-the-air programming capabilities and the company's Jog Dial operation, called the MP-7001. The generic-over-the-air programming technology, or GOTAP, is an advanced feature of the Motorola Inc. FLEXsuite protocol. Sony also released the...
CANNES, France-Motorola Inc. added to the proliferation of so-called world phones last week at the GSM World Conference with a series of announcements introducing a new line of mobile phones designed for global roaming.The first handset is a tri-band phone that can function on...
CANNES, France-CNN Interactive last week announced at the GSM World Congress its CNN Mobile service, a mobile telephone news and information service using a platform it co-developed with Nokia Oy. The service will allow consumers to get text-based CNN news on their handsets, and...
WASHINGTON-The Clinton administration, in a controversial move that could undercut sensitive U.S.-Sino trade talks and disrupt Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's visit to Beijing this week, last week killed a $450 million satellite deal between Hughes Electronics Corp. and the Asia-Pacific Mobile Telecommunications consortium...
WASHINGTON-William Kennard, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, last week urged state regulators to get involved in the upcoming proceeding on calling party pays."We need your input on this," said Kennard at the Winter Meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.CPP is...
WASHINGTON-In potentially a major breakthrough in the gridlocked third generation mobile phone controversy, U.S. and European wireless executives here last week agreed to pursue a framework for an umbrella Code Division Multiple Access standard that combines common elements of competing CDMA technologies and gives...
While the fourth quarter typically is the most competitive quarter of the year for mobile phone operators, a recent pricing study from Robinson-Humphrey Co. L.L.C. concludes that increased industry competition did not lead to dramatic price declines in the fourth quarter.The study found overall...
Increasingly, for wireless regulators, striking a policy balance on issues affecting competition, consumer safety and law enforcement is a big challenge. Owing in part to converging technologies and changing markets, these issues are more complex than ever. Answers are not readily apparent, and what...
NEW ORLEANS-The Universal Wireless Communications Consortium and the GSM North American Alliance announced plans to work to achieve interoperability between TDMA and GSM technology, a move that could facilitate national and global consolidation among carriers with incompatible technologies and in particular allow SBC Communications...
NEW ORLEANS-Imagine you are in a horrible accident on a dark road, late at night. Your airbag deploys but you are unconscious, alone, so how will emergency personnel-or anyone for that matter-help you?Or imagine something less horrible-your auto maker has just developed new software...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission's decision late last year to entertain waiver extensions of the October 2001 date for automatic location identification rollout has mushroomed into a huge controversy that pits wireless carriers, public-safety officials and E911 vendors against each other and threatens to further...
Canadian controversy, ehWhile the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association and its patrons were whooping it up last week in New Orleans, Canada was working itself into a frenzy over an issue that once was big in the "lower 48" before folks here succumbed to battle...
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill.-PrairieComm Inc. announced Mitsubishi Wireless Communications Inc. selected PrairieComm's Time Division Multiple Access chipset for use in MWCI's recently announced T200 tri-mode TDMA handset.PrairieComm said its two-device TDMA chipset includes the PCI3601 digital baseband processor and the PCI3602 mixed signal processor. The...
In the first product announcement resulting from its acquisition of Starfish Software Inc., Motorola Inc. introduced a personal organizer accessory designed to clip on to the back of other StarTAC phones at Wireless '99 this week called the StarTAC Mobile Organizer.The 2.3 ounce device...
WASHINGTON-Wireless E911 and privacy bills breezed through the House Commerce Committee last week, setting the stage for votes on the House floor by month's end.The bills, passed by the House telecommunications subcommittee on Wednesday and by the full committee on Thursday, inject a higher...
WASHINGTON-In an embarrassing political blunder that lends insight into the tricky third-generation wireless debate, Sen. Chuck Robb (D-Va.) last week joined two fellow Finance Committee members in urging the Clinton administration to use renewed Super 301 trade authority to make Europe open its market...
WAYNE, Pa.-TruePosition Inc. announced Advanced Mobile Phone Service/Code Division Multiple Access modules are expected to be available for trials with the series 2 TruePosition Wireless Location System in the second quarter.TruePosition said it has developed techniques for use with its series 2 System that...
JapanTu-Ka Phone Kansai Inc., based in Osaka, Japan, said it selected Brite Voice Systems and Marubeni, a large Japanese trading company, to launch an intelligent network-based version of BriteDebit, Brite's prepaid service. Brite said it will help Tu-Ka Phone Kansai with all aspects of...
