TOKYO-Chubu Telemessage Inc., a beeper carrier based in the Nagoya metropolitan area of central Japan, will shut down its business by March 2000. The carrier's subscribers-109,000 at the end of September-are expected to be taken over by NTT Tokai Mobil Communications Network Inc., the...
DUBLIN, Ireland-Northern Ireland is a complex country with an intriguing cellular industry. As part of the United Kingdom, it is covered by the same mobile networks (BT Cellnet, Vodafone AirTouch plc and Orange plc) as the rest of the United Kingdom. Yet those three...
Some confusion exists in the wireless industry over whether mobile-phone-component shortages are affecting the handset supply in the United States.Major handset suppliers say they aren't struggling with component shortages, but one major carrier said its lower subscriber additions in the third quarter were caused...
CanadaMicrocell Telecommunications Inc. in a preview to its third-quarter results, to be released in mid-November, said it acquired 54,815 new subscribers during the third quarter. This represents a 77-percent year-over-year increase compared with third-quarter 1998, said Microcell, and brings its total base to 459,392.The...
The first satellite for the Asia Cellular Satellite (ACeS) mobile telephony and data services communication system is scheduled to be launched in November from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, according to the satellite's manufacturer Lockheed Martin. The ACeS System is owned by Bermuda-based ACeS...
ATLANTA-A BellSouth Corp.-led consortium won a $26 million license to provide nationwide wireless communications service in Guatemala. BellSouth and its Panama-based partner, Multi Holding Corp., expect to begin service in Guatemala, the largest Central American nation with a population of 11 million, by mid-2000.Guatemala...
The recession enveloping Colombia is having strong effects on the wireless industry. Cellular carriers, in particular, saw first-half 1999 losses and declining user numbers. And the future will include competition from new PCS licensees.Colombia, which is experiencing its worst recession in at least 50...
"Long live Global Wireless newspaper." That's what one of our readers wrote to me in a letter recently (see facing page), and I liked it so much I decided to borrow his words. So at risk of sounding a bit repetitive, I'll echo that...
BEIJING-Tough times lie ahead for equipment suppliers and operators with the establishment of China Mobile expected to slow equipment purchases and with China Unicom still struggling to end its China-China-Foreign contracts and feverishly trying to secure alternative financing.With China Mobile still in its infancy...
WASHINGTON-The U.S. wireless industry was rocked on 10 August by revelations that iDEN operator Nextel Communications had entered into an agreement with federal government officials to allow Nextel to buy bankrupt NextWave Telecom's PCS licenses.NextWave was one of the top bidders in the U.S....
CameroonCameroon's Camtel and Camtel Mobiles are scheduled to be privatized in 2000. Camtel is the incumbent state-owned cellular carrier and operates a GSM 900 network, which had just over 5,100 subscribers as of early this year. A second carrier, operated by France Cfbles et...
TEL AVIV, Israel-Just as the cellular fight in Israel intensified with the latest marketing campaigns, the Ministry of Communications announced it may license a fourth and maybe a fifth provider by the end of next year.Deputy Prime Minister and Communications Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer recently...
DUBLIN, Ireland-Capacity constraints are an issue for almost every cellular operator, and some have turned to frequency-hopping techniques as an answer. But while these systems have increased capacity, their effect on data traffic has been less widely investigated.Any system that claims to increase the...
BUCHAREST, Romania-A subsidiary of Canada's Telesystem International Wireless (TIW) won the third Czech Republic mobile telephone license in September. The price tag for the GSM 1800 license was fixed at US$29 million.The license requires Cesky Mobile, the TIW subsidiary, to cover 37 percent of...
BUCHAREST, Romania-The recent licensing of a third mobile operator in the Czech Republic has established more competition in the country's wireless market than in the wireline arena. In addition to three cellular licenses, the country has one RDS and two ERMES paging operators, the...
AlcatelPoland. With Formus Polska to supply and implement its broadband wireless access network in Poland.Value: US$126 millionEricssonCanada. With Rogers Cantel to build a third-generation network as an evolution to the carrier's existing TDMA network.Value: US$340 millionChina. With China Unicom for the third phase of its GSM...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-The four-week license hearings for the third cellular operator in South Africa held in September and October offered some of the best theatrical presentations ever seen on the African continent.For the sake of transparency, the hearings were held in public, and six...
HONG KONG-Even though the Chinese paging market is teeming with around 1,700 operators, the market remains heavily regulated. Even paging operators in the well-heeled southern and southeastern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang continue to face the same strict regulations as their counterparts...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-Following guidelines laid out during the PCS auctions in Argentina, mobile phone operator Miniphone ended operations on 1 October. Its 800,000 customers were divided between operators Unif
The next round in the fight to popularize voice paging has begun, this time in Latin America. Mexican paging operator RadioFlash this year became the first carrier to launch a voice paging service over a FLEX network using speech compression technology from OmniVoice Technologies.RadioFlash...
During the last five weeks, merger and acquisition announcements have flooded the telecommunications arena. Carriers in Asia, Europe and North America continue to jockey for positions in an industry that promises to exclude players without multinational footprints.Telia/TelenorThe merger of Telia of Sweden and Telenor...
VeloCom Inc., which recently won "mirror" licenses to operate competitive telecommunications networks in Brazil, said it has acquired the Latin American assets of Argentina-based SLI Wireless S.A. and Brazil-based Taquari Participacoes S.A., in return for stock. The move gives VeloCom interests in telecommunications companies...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-Most foreign investment in the wireless market in South America has been directed at Brazil, Argentina and Chile in recent years based on their high wireless demand. However, several other countries in the region are experiencing strong wireless user numbers as well.Paraguay,...
Finland. Sonera began offering High Speed Circuit Switched Data services to its data customers 6 September, but without available handsets. Sonera said it wanted to be ready when handsets are available later this year.France. At Telecom '99 in Geneva, Alcatel, French carrier SFR/Cegetel, Phone.com...
