Despite a five-week service launch delay and continued handset production problems, Iridium L.L.C. finished the fourth quarter with results that beat analysts expectations.The quarter, ended Dec. 31, marked the long-awaited launch of the company's 66 low-earth orbit satellite global phone and paging system and...
Paging Network Inc. announced it is offering the Iridium World Page Service commercially in the United States as the country's exclusive paging carrier offering Iridium service.The paging portion of Iridium's 66 low-earth-orbit satellite system was activated in November, after which PageNet began beta testing...
Power ProductsPower Products Unlimited Inc. selected Ken Donofrio as its new marketing director. He will orchestrate all aspects of the company's marketing and carrier services program. Donofrio previously was director of marketing and carrier support for Cliffco Wireless.WirelessNorthWirelessNorth promoted its market development coordinator, Heidi...
Geoworks Corp. and APiON Ltd. announced they successfully completed interoperability tests of their products based on the Wireless Application Protocol. The testing process lasted several months and involved Geoworks' new Premion Interface+ graphical user interface and APiON's WAP gateway system to allow Premion-enabled handsets...
Finland-based Nokia Corp. continued to put pressure on its competitors with mobile phone sales that more than doubled for the fourth quarter, while its Swedish counterpart L.M. Ericsson saw its mobile phone sales fall 3 percent for the fourth quarter.At the end of 1997,...
ZetronZetron Inc. launched the Model Z907 PCS Fault Finder, which provides fast notification of power amplifier and antenna problems at personal communications services sites. The PCS Fault Finder monitors forward radio-frequency power and antenna return loss in the 1.8 GHz to 2.0 GHz frequency...
Just as paging carriers look to two-way paging as a means of differentiation into the next millennium, so do paging manufacturers.In the past, a one-way pager was pretty much the same all over. Even the new lines of 1.5-way, or guaranteed messaging, pagers based...
WASHINGTON-The U.S. wireless industry, responding to the global proliferation of media coverage of mobile phone health concerns and to Internet-savvy activists, is leading an effort to create a worldwide information-sharing network to counter negative publicity.The Wireless Industry Global Information Network, or WIN, held its...
Motorola Inc. said it expects to meet Wall Street's earnings expectations for the first quarter, though it remains cautious in light of last week's currency devaluation in Brazil and the semiconductor industry's recovery.Analysts say Motorola is cutting operating costs more than expected, while its...
Geoworks Corp. announced the latest stage in its continuing transformation last week with the introduction of a consulting division called the Professional Services group.The business unit was created to provide software development, strategic consulting, project management and quality assurance consulting services to the wireless...
SCHAUMBURG, Ill.-Motorola Inc. announced it licensed Citrix Systems Inc.'s Independent Computing Architecture for use in Motorola digital wireless devices.The first Motorola devices to receive this technology will be its integrated Digital Enhanced Network handsets, which combine the capabilities of a digital cellular phone, two-way...
LAS VEGAS-Topp Telecom Inc. unveiled its new $20 million national advertising campaign at the International Consumer Electronics Show last week, featuring TV ads produced by the director of the Little Caesar's "Pizza Pizza" campaign, as well as local radio spots.The company also announced Nokia...
Qualcomm Inc. may be ready to sell off its handset division as competition in the cdmaOne handset business intensifies and costs increase.Sources say Qualcomm is in discussions with Siemens Wireless Terminals concerning the sale of Qualcomm's cdmaOne handset division. Qualcomm and Siemens declined to...
Following an unannounced soft launch in November, Conxus Communications Inc. announced its long-awaited Pocketext text-messaging service is being rolled out market-by-market nationwide.The company began the service late last year in New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington D.C./Baltimore. In the coming months, Conxus said it...
ItalyThe Italian government requested a communications ministry committee be formed to oversee the auction of its planned fourth cellular license. The action marks the next step toward awarding that license, the winner of which will join incumbent operators Telecom Italia Mobile, Omnitel and the...
Motorola Inc. announced an agreement with Mercedes-Benz to incorporate a telematics system called TeleAid into all 2000 model Mercedes-Benz S-class sedans in North America.The new system will be based on Motorola's Telematics Communication Unit, which consists of global positioning system, cellular voice and data...
The International Telecommunication Union said it may look for a way to work around the
intellectual-property-right stalemate caused by Qualcomm Inc. and L.M. Ericsson over third-generation
technology.
Fabio Leite, counselor in the Radiocommunications Bureau of Geneva-based ITU, said for now Code
Division Multiple Access proposals that have unresolved...
SCHAUMBURG, Ill.-Motorola's commercial, government and industrial solutions sector announced the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement with the National Security Agency to develop a Type 1 encryption certified digital portable radio, the XTS3500, based on Motorola Astro digital radio products."The XTS3500 Type 1 portable...
LAS VEGAS-Motorola Inc. announced plans to commercially introduce the SC3160 phone, a new entry-level Code Division Multiple Access wireless phone at the Consumer Electronics Show here last week. Commercial availability in the Americas for the SC3160 is slated for the first quarter, said Motorola.Pagers...
NEW YORK-Cellcom Israel Ltd., which has about 1 million customers, reportedly is planning to go public with a stock sale in the United States.Shares of many Israel-based companies closed higher Jan. 3, following publication that morning of a local newspaper report of Cellcom's planned...
Iridium Operating L.L.C. announced it closed $1.95 billion of new financing consisting of an $800 million senior secured credit facility, a $750 million guaranteed credit facility and $400 million in vendor financing from Motorola Inc. The new facilities will replace Iridium's existing $1 billion...
NEW YORK-Electric Fuel Corp.'s consumer battery division introduced a new line of zinc-air disposable batteries for L.M. Ericsson, Motorola Inc. and Nokia Corp. cellular phones.The new line includes 2,900 mAh batteries for the Nokia 5100 and 6100 series, the Ericsson 300, 600 and 800...
Advanced Radio Telecom Corp. is offering high-speed Internet services to businesses in the Phoenix metropolitan area. More than 25 companies in the Phoenix area have signed contracts with ART. The offering combines a high-speed connection to the Internet or company intranet with enhanced services...
New Enterprise AssociatesNew Enterprise Associates, a Palo Alto, Calif. venture capital firm, appointed Nobel Laureate Arno A. Penzias as a partner. Penzias is the senior technology adviser for Lucent Technologies Inc. He has written two books, Ideas and Information and Digital Harmony. Penzias won...
