TOKYO-Matsushita Communications Industrial, the leading cellular vendor in Japan, is putting the final touches on its new third-generation (3G) mobile terminals for NTT DoCoMo. NTT DoCoMo, Japan's leading mobile carrier, is scheduled to launch its 3G services by the end of May, earlier than...
TORONTO-The move was surprising but not totally unexpected. After many denials, U.S. carrier AT&T Wireless finally announced last November it is switching from TDMA wireless technology to the rival European-developed standard GSM technology. Moving in lock step, Rogers AT&T Wireless of Toronto, Canada's largest...
TOKYO-Mobile Internet shopping is no longer a futuristic idea, but a daily practice, at least for early adopters in the browser phone-advanced nation of Japan.The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications estimates the Japanese mobile-commerce market will expand from 4.2 billion yen (US$35.8 million) in...
While the wireless community continues to search for the killer application that will make wireless Internet access mandatory, the mysterious application may be as simple as following the model set out by the wired Internet.Eric Harber, vice president of marketing and business development for...
In rhythm with an economy on the retreat, telecommunications giant Lucent Technologies Inc. seems to be on the decline.Against a background of outsized estimates, employee downsizing, technological miscues and a haunting investigation of its accounting practices, the company's credit rating suffered downgrades from two...
NetCom Technologies Inc. announced it has changed its name to VelociTel Inc. to reflect the rapidly expanding wireless industry. The company also announced a new corporate structure. The five existing NetCom subsidiaries-Alvar Architects Inc., National Site Development Inc., ComNet TelCom Construction Inc., Spectrum Technologies...
According to recent reports, wireless gaming is spreading nearly as fast as computer viruses pretending to be pictures of tennis stars. By 2005, more than 200 million wireless phone users in the United States and Europe, 80 percent of all wireless customers, will play...
TOKYO-Japan's largest wireless operator, NTT DoCoMo Inc., is expected to set prices for the sale of new shares early next week, according to Reuters. The offering is expected to raise as much as $7.5 billion.The issue is expected to be as much as 460,000...
TOKYO-Japanese wireless operator NTT DoCoMo Inc. said it was adding Internet services to its second-tier personal handyphone system, in an attempt to cut into a market dominated by its rival KDDI Corp.NTT said the service will offer faster transmission speeds, as high as 64...
AT&T Wireless wasted little time in exploiting its relationship with Japan's NTT DoCoMo in an attempt to jump start its wireless Internet offerings. AT&T, which received nearly $10 billion from the Japanese telecom giant, signed an agreement with DoCoMo and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc....
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands-In a move that could further i-mode's push into Europe, Telecom Italia Mobile said it will jointly develop and introduce a new mobile Internet concept for the pan-European market with KPN Mobile and its Japanese partner NTT DoCoMo.TIM said the joint venture...
TOKYO-The millennium bug was squashed in most industries around the world, with one exception in wireless.Due to a Y2K glitch, short message service (SMS) messages on some types of terminals used by Japanese wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo's customers were eliminated. About 400 complaints about...
As industry spends billions of dollars on spectrum and banks on a future driven by third-generation wireless phones and mobile commerce, there is every reason to believe the serious business of tomorrow is actually child's play.While wireless executives with sweaty palms write checks to...
TOKYO-Japanese wireless phone operator NTT DoCoMo plans to borrow $10.3 billion from five banks to pay for its 16-percent investment in U.S. operator AT&T Wireless Services Inc., according to a report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.To pay for the loan, NTT...
In an age of customer-service fumbles and a plethora of services, high-tech wizards dream of bundling as the lightning rod to greater revenues. So far, theory has proved superior to practice. But optimism may yet triumph.Unlike in the past when AT&T's monopoly reigned, competition...
At the end of each year, the RCR Wireless News editorial staff looks back on the new events that made RCR headlines and decides which were the most significant, industry-impacting stories of the past 12 months. Here are our picks for 2000 in chronological...
TOKYO-KDDI, the sole cdmaOne operator in Japan, has been expanding its international roaming services, fully using its universally standardized cdmaOne technology.In January, KDDI launched international roaming services in Canada in cooperation with Telus Mobility, a major Canadian carrier. Canada will become the fifth country...
TOKYO-KDDI, the second-largest carrier in Japan, has decided to launch its third-generation (3G) services based on High Data Rate (HDR) technology. KDDI will launch its HDR services initially using the 800 MHz band, the spectrum in which it provides second-generation (2G) services.KDDI is scheduled...
TOKYO-NTT DoCoMo has been gearing up its global strategy, concluding one investment agreement after another. Since December 1999, it has invested in carriers in Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Britain.At the end of November 2000, DoCoMo announced another big deal with a U.S. carrier,...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-Despite the promotional efforts of developers and mobile operators, the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) was roundly condemned by industry observers as being "unfit for purpose" during most of last year. The technology suffered from all the ills associated with pushing an unstable...
Chris Gent has had quite a year.For the chief executive of Vodafone Group plc, 2000 began with a hostile takeover of Mannesmann AG, parent of its rival Orange plc, and continued with a spending spree for third-generation licenses across Europe. The year also marked...
The strategic alliance announced between NTT DoCoMo and AT&T Wireless Inc. is fairly simple on the surface, but may have long-term implications for the global wireless industry.DoCoMo will invest about $9.8 billion in AT&T preferred stock for a 16-percent equity share in the company....
TAIPEI, Taiwan-Taiwan's TransAsia Telecommunications said it is in talks with Far Eastone Telecommunications to sell a mobile-phone stake, according to international press reports.U.S.-based SBC Communications owns 43 percent of TransAsia.The Financial Times also reported NTT DoCoMo is set to buy 20 percent of KG...
NEW YORK-When NTT DoCoMo began planning for what would become its wildly successful i-mode service, Japan's largest telecommunications company turned to a journalist with an undergraduate degree in French literature."I-mode is now a mega hit, but I was pushed into the valley many times....
