NEW YORK-Bolstered by their respective strengths in network infrastructure and mobile handsets, the Scandinavian giants, Ericsson Inc. of Sweden and Nokia Corp. of Finland, reported strong quarterly results last week.Nokia, which released its earnings April 27, reported profits of $822 million, a 76-percent increase...
NEW YORK-Clariti Wireless Messaging, Fort Washington, Pa., said it plans to introduce commercially a voice-mail service delivered over FM subcarrier channels by the end of this year.In the United States, the company will be the exclusive operator of its Clariti Wireless Voicemail service. Because...
Personal communications services operator Powertel Inc. reached positive operating cash flow in the first quarter and added a company-record 110,000 subscribers.The Southeast PCS company, which analysts suspect soon may be gobbled up by VoiceStream Wireless Corp., said its growth in prepaid customers helped propel...
Third-generation technology has become a sensitive issue in Japan as the U.S. government pushes for free technology choices there and Qualcomm Inc. possibly ponders applying for a Japanese 3G license.The sensitivity stems from a plethora of Japanese newspaper reports indicating that all three companies...
Just when the third-generation evolution path for CDMA operators was looking convoluted, a new proposal drafted by these carriers may unify a single path to megabit data speeds.Code Division Multiple Access carriers this week expect to submit a proposal to Third Generation Partnership Project...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is expected shortly to rule on Motorola Inc.'s 911 call processing-telematics waiver request, a filing that attracted industry support and sharp criticism from consumer and public-safety groups.Motorola last month asked the FCC for permission to build an additional 30,000 handsets...
Sprint PCS announced better-than-expected results in customer growth, revenues and cash-flow losses for the first quarter and released some long-awaited information about customers using its wireless Web offering.The nationwide personal communications services carrier said it added 831,000 net subscribers, ending the quarter with about...
Bidders in the U.K. third-generation license auction appeared to exceed their budgets last week. Bidding for the five licenses totaled an eye-popping $35 billion, and the auction will linger on into this week.The auction seems eerily reminiscent of the U.S. personal communications services C-block...
While wireless executives in North America plot in their war rooms about how to sell the wireless Web in an already highly penetrated Internet market, executives just south of the border are wringing their hands in anticipation that the wireless Internet will explode in...
Large carriers across the country are painstakenly trying to determine what wireless Internet service offerings will attract customers. Surprisingly, some small and rural carriers are on the same page.Smaller operators historically have followed the coattails of their metropolitan counterparts when it comes to deploying...
WASHINGTON-The White House is expected shortly to release a belated report advocating the integration of wireless technologies into the nation's Emergency Alert System, a policy that industry, federal regulators and Congress have not aggressively pushed despite the fact that millions of mobile phones today...
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates-Motorola Inc. and Etisalat, a Global System for Mobile communications operator in the United Arab Emirates, signed a contract extension to deploy Motorola's Horizonsystems infrastructure solutions in the U.A.E., providing additional coverage and capacity on both a macrocellular and microcellular basis.Motorola...
MADRID, Spain-Spain's Telefonica plans to spin off its mobile-phone business before the fall, published reports indicate.Analysts value the unit at as much as $71.3 billion. Telefonica reported about 9 million wireless subscribers in Spain and 10.5 million in Latin America at the end of...
BERN, Switzerland-Swisscom said it is considering spinning off its mobile division to fund Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses and networks.The operator said it has about 2.5 million mobile customers. Swisscom will retain a share majority if it floats Swisscom Mobile."The high costs of a...
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil-Jim Murrell, chairman of the North American GSM Association, could not use his Global System for Mobile communications phone last week in Brazil during Telecom Americas 2000. But depending on a decision by the Brazilian telecommunications regulatory agency later this month,...
Code Division Multiple Access technology is gaining some momentum in Europe.Lucent Technologies Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. announced they will cooperate with Hungarian Nordic Mobile Telephone operator Westel Radiotelephone Ltd. to trial CDMA 450 technology this fall in Budapest, Hungary. Lucent also announced a cooperation...
WASHINGTON-The fact that MCI Worldcom Inc. will acquire Sprint Corp.'s extensive mobile-phone network if its proposed merger is approved was completely ignored at a forum held last week by the Federal Communications Commission's Common Carrier Bureau.The forum instead focused on the impacts on the...
Adaptive Broadband Corp. was awarded a $56 million, five-year contract to provide its AB-Access fixed wireless broadband equipment to Cybertech Wireless Inc., a privately held, business-to-business Internet Service Provider.Aether Systems Inc. has acquired IFX Group plc, a European provider of mobile financial data, for...
Big business spends billions of dollars on infrastructure. No matter whether the business is an airline or a telecommunications company, the economic theory is the same. To be able to provide good service to the public over a wide geographic area requires a huge...
HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Corp. and Globe Telecom, a Philippine telecommunications company, singed an agreement to expand Globe Telecom's Handyphone service, the company's Global System for Mobile communications-based Cellular Mobile Telephone System.Under the agreement, Nokia will supply mobile switching centers, home location registers, short messaging centers,...
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute agreed last week to standardize all technologies the International Telecommunication Union has accepted for the third-generation market.RCR reported last week the European Commission planned to officially ask the European standards body to take up this work. The ETSI board...
The flurry of consolidation in the wireless industry leads the industry observer to believe a nationwide presence is a necessity to compete in this market going forward.AT&T Wireless Services Inc. raised the bar in 1998 offering its nationwide plan, the Digital One Rate plan....
It is a match made in heaven. BellSouth Corp. and SBC Communications finally ended weeks of speculation, announcing plans to create a wireless joint venture that will become the second-largest wireless operator in the United States, serving 16.2 million subscribers and reaching 175 million...
ROME-Telecom Italia Group said it won a $180 million license to operate wireless service in Peru. Telecom Italia's STET Mobile Holding N.V. won the country's third cellular license through an auction.The 20-year renewable nationwide personal communications services license is for the 1900 MHz frequency...
