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HONG KONG-In January, the Hong Kong government awarded five licenses for wireless fixed telecommunications network services (FTNS), signaling a major advance in Internet access. The licensees will use base stations …

Italy NEC and Telecom Italia Mobile said they have agreed to work together in technical trials in March for Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems. Siemens also will cooperate in the trial. …

TEL AVIV, Israel-In a country like Israel where the number of mobile phone lines surpasses fixed lines (2.9 million compared with 2.8 million), where there’s intense competition among the three …

BOGOTA, Colombia-The Colombian telecommunications sector has experienced growth over the last year despite the 1998-1999 economic recession. Although expectations that the sector would boom in 1999 were overshadowed by economic …

Things are going well for most mobile companies around the globe. Penetration rates are increasing, subscriber numbers are reaching all-time highs and wireless data holds future promise for the industry. …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-With four operators competing nationwide, Chile boasts a wireless client base that grew 175 percent during 1999, thanks to the implementation of calling party pays. CPP also has …

DENVER, United States-While Vodafone AirTouch recently advanced its merger with Germany’s Mannesmann AG, the company indicated it may look to fill in its footprint with some smaller acquisitions. In particular, …

The U.K. government in March began the auction of five licenses, with one license exclusively reserved for a player currently not represented in the U.K. market. The 13 bidders each …

DENVER, United States-SBC Communications said it will convert the remaining Ameritech wireless properties it owns from CDMA technology to TDMA technology. SBC and Ameritech merged last year and sold 20 …

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-The wireless market in Tanzania is gaining momentum with Vodacom’s pending rollout of a new GSM network. The new entrant is no small force to contend with and …

SINGAPORE-Singapore has fast-forwarded its liberalization plans for the telecommunications sector by a staggering two years, effectively throwing the industry wide open almost immediately. The move, which comes into effect on …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-A change in the Argentine cellular telephony scene will take place in April when the current regional duopoly model is replaced by national competition among four operators. In …

CANNES, France and HANNOVER, Germany-Visitors at the ever-expanding GSM World Congress, held in February in Cannes, France, could have mistaken the huge exhibition as focusing exclusively on Wireless Application Protocol …

DUBLIN, Ireland-The news that Mannesmann has conceded defeat in its battle with Vodafone AirTouch merely underlines the momentum behind consolidation in the European mobile communications industry. However, few observers appear …

ATLANTA-BellSouth Corp. closed its joint-venture agreement with KPN Royal Dutch Telecom for ownership of E-Plus, the third-largest mobile operator in Germany. The venture calls for both companies to share equal …

L.M. Ericsson introduced a mobile Internet portal solution developed for wireless networks called the Ericsson WISE Portal. WISE was designed as a single point of access for various Internet-enabled devices, …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-Foreign investment in South America’s Southern Cone telecommunications sector has increased during the past decade thanks to new globalization, privatization and liberalization politics in the region. International investors, …

OYSTER BAY, N.Y.-According to a new study from Allied Business Intelligence Inc., a technology research company, the emergence of third-generation technology will lead to a boom in the wireless data …

MELBOURNE, Australia-In a part of the world that still relies on word of mouth as a means to keep in touch, cellular communications-both digital and analog-is continuing to spread through …

Approximately 318.6 million new cellular connections will be added in Europe by 2007, of which 160 million will be Global System for Mobile communications connections, according to The Strategis Group’s …

The U.S. General Accounting Office said it is precluded from investigating the Federal Communications Commission’s procedures in granting Nextel Communications Inc. enhanced specialized mobile radio licenses in the last decade …

WASHINGTON-Yet another federal appeals court has been brought into the debacle known as the personal communications services C-block. Bankrupt PCS operator NextWave Telecom Inc. filed on Feb. 11 a petition …

BOULDER, Colo.-SCC Communications Corp. announced an aggressive deployment schedule for its Phase I wireless 911 service with more than 1,000 public safety answering points scheduled for deployment in 18 states …

Most conversations regarding the wireless Internet in the industry today revolve around Wireless Application Protocol technology, but several companies are bucking this trend-aiming to extend Internet content to wireless phones …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission last week expanded its rules regarding telecommunications relay services to include speech-to-speech services, Spanish language service and quality of service rules. TRS is a telephone transmission …