SINGAPORE—SingTel Mobile has halved talk time from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. to US$0.05, making it the first operator in Singapore to offer such a discount. This could start a new price war with rivals MobileOne (M1) and StarHub.Competing carriers said the offer should...
TOKYO—Vodafone Group, world's largest mobile operator, on Friday said it successfully purchased 693,368 shares, which represents 21.7 percent, of Japan Telecom. Due to the purchase, Vodafone's stake in Japan Telecom, the third-largest mobile operator in Japan, will increase to 66.7 percent. Also Vodafone's stake...
SYDNEY, Australia—Cable & Wireless Optus, Australia's second-largest mobile operator owned 52.8 percent by Singapore Telecommunications, said it would cut 250 staff and 100 contractors to reduce costs in the economic downturn and competitive wireless sector.Another round of layoffs could come in the future. The...
TOKYO—NEC said it will supply a mobile Internet platform to Taiwan's KG Telecom, which will begin its i-mode-like mobile Internet service in mid-2002. The contract value is 1 billion yen (US$8.2 million).NEC said its platform consists of gateway and service systems that provide service...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—Cell-phone operator BT Viag, the German subsidiary of BT's MmO2 mobile division, said it plans to launch Microsoft's combined Pocket PC and mobile device in early 2002. The device, which will be branded as O2 xda, will be based on Microsoft's new...
LONDON—Diederik Karsten, chief executive of KPN's mobile-phone division, intends to leave the company next month, according to a report by The Financial Times.Board director Paul Smits, who recently stepped down as group chief executive, will replace Karsten. As previously announced, Ad Scheepbouwer will replace...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—Five companies have applied to participate in the privatization of the Paraguayan National Telecommunications Administration (Administraci
TOKYO—NEC said it will supply a mobile Internet platform to Taiwan's KG Telecom, which will begin its i-mode-like mobile Internet service in mid-2002. The contract value is $8.2 million.NEC said it platform consists of gateway and service systems that provide service similar to i-mode,...
SAN DIEGO—Qualcomm Inc. says it has begun production shipment of its MSM5100 third-generation cdma2000 1x chipset and system software."The MSM5100 chipset and system software is pin-compatible with the proven MSM3300 chipset, decreasing time-to-market for handset manufacturers, and is designed with the flexibility to support...
BEIJING, China—Ericsson AB says it has signed a deal to deliver Mobitex system to Chinese operator Sky Networks Communication Group Co. Ltd. here and north of the country."This will make it the world's second largest Mobitex network for mobile Internet services after the one...
LONDON—Diederik Karsten, chief executive of KPN's mobile-phone division intends to leave the company next month, according to a report by The Financial Times.Board director Paul Smits, who recently stepped down as group chief executive will replace Karsten. As previously announced, Ad Scheepbouwer will replace...
PARIS—The standoff between the French government and mobile-phone operator SFR, which is backed by Vivendi Universal, was at least delayed this week, with SFR paying the initial US$566 million payment for its third-generation (3G) license. SFR initially withheld the first payment for its license...
BUCHAREST, Romania—Hungary's Westel began commercial General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) to its clients throughout country.Westel's GSM network is based on Ericsson system elements in about 70 percent of the country's territory and on Nortel equipment in about 30 percent of the country. Therefore, Westel's...
LONDON—Mobile virtual network operator Virgin Mobile launched a new range of short message service and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)-based wireless Internet applications built on InfoSpace's wireless platform, the companies announced.The deal is an extension of a previous agreement between the two companies. In February,...
NEW DELHI, India—The government-owned fixed-line operator, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), awarded Ericsson and Motorola contracts to build out its GSM network. BSNL is slated to launch a nationwide GSM service next year, with a projected 4 million-line capacity.Ericsson has won a US$135 million...
HELSINKI, Finland—Nokia said Birla Tata AT&T, the fourth GSM operator in New Delhi, India, chose Nokia's GSM infrastructure equipment and services. Nokia will supply a GSM 1800 MHz network, including General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) equipment.Deliveries will begin in November, with the network launch...
CARACAS, Venezuela—The board of directors of Venezuelan telecom company CANTV rejected the US$1.4 billion takeover plan of U.S.-based power company AES. CANTV called the offer unsatisfactory.CANTV, in which U.S.-based Verizon Wireless holds a 28.5-percent stake, owns 100 percent of Venezuelan mobile operator Movilnet.Venezuela's National...
LUXEMBURG—Gemplus said it partnered with Mexican operator Grupo IUSACELL to successfully trial its reusable User Identity Module (UIM), which will allow end users to roam between standards.The similar subscriber identity module (SIM) cards allow roaming only between GSM networks.
LONDON—The mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) business model has arrived in the United States.Sprint and Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group officially announced their teaming, a saga that has been in the works for several years. Virgin Mobile USA will offer its popular pay-as-you-go wireless...
BEIJING—Officials at the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) indicated they may issue up to three new mobile-phone licenses to offer increased competition to the current two operators, China Mobile and China Unicom.MII is expected to issue third-generation (3G) licenses at the end of 2002...
CARACUS, Venezuela—The US$1.4 billion takeover plan of U.S.-based power company AES for Venezuelan telecom company CANTV was approved by Venezuela's National Securities Commission. CANTV, in which Verizon Wireless holds a 28.5-percent stake, owns 100 percent of Venezuelan mobile operator Movilnet.In late August, AES offered...
HELSINKI, Finland—Nokia announced plans for a wide-ranging test of mobile commerce products and services, moves that include making secure credit card payments using a mobile phone wallet application.Nokia is teaming with IBM, Visa International, local banking and technology companies and Finnish mobile operator Radiolinja...
