STOCKHOLM-Ericsson Inc. announced it signed a contract with German operator Deutsche Telekom MobilNet to implement General Packet Radio Service into T-Mobil's Global System for Mobile communications network.The technology will allow T-Mobil to offer wireless Internet and other Internet Protocol-based services at speeds up to...
The third-generation technology debate is beginning to have a negative impact on the valuation of the world's largest wireless carrier, Japan's NTT Mobile Communications, which plans to become the first carrier in the world to deploy wideband Code Division Multiple Access technology.Dresdner Kleinwort Benson...
AfricaTelecel said it has selected Nortel Networks to supply Global System for Mobile communication systems for its emerging markets in Zambia, the Central African Republic, Burundi and a fourth country to be announced later this year. The $24 million agreement calls for delivery of...
The 3G debate these days could be characterized as a global poker game-no one is quite sure who's bluffing, who holds the winning cards or who plans to fold. Whether convergence of two primary CDMA-based proposals-W-CDMA and cdma2000-is achieved depends on the actions of...
BEIJING-Chinese officials may be close to deciding how to split up China Telecom, the government-run telecommunications company.Chinese newspapers last week reported that a plan to split the company into four independent parts seemed to be on its way to gaining approval from policymakers. That...
OSLO, Norway-The Norwegian Minister of Transport and Communications Odd Einar Dorum and the Swedish Minister of Industry Bjorn Rosengren have signed a letter of intent to merge Norway's Telenor and Sweden's Telia into a new company.The agreement is conditioned upon the new company being...
Sprint Corp.'s PCS Group added about 830,000 subscribers during the fourth quarter, positioning itself to top the industry in customers additions for the second consecutive quarter.Though most carriers are slated to release subscriber numbers within the coming weeks, analysts believe the Christmas season resulted...
The union of AirTouch Communications Inc. and Vodafone plc could be a pinnacle event in the third-generation technology debate, industry experts say.The new company's economic decisions could weigh heavily on a sensitive and political debate over wideband Code Division Multiple Access technology. The two...
The reauction of C-block personal communications services spectrum is expected to be a dismal affair in March, and most small entrepreneurial businesses-which the auction was designed for-are likely to forgo bidding altogether.The Federal Communications Commission plans to reauction 134 15-megahertz and 208 30-megahertz C-block...
A clash between cellular operator Western Wireless Corp. and a rural telephone company in North Dakota could set a precedent with the Federal Communications Commission concerning wireless competition with landline service.Consolidated Telephone Cooperative, a rural landline phone company in North Dakota, last week disconnected...
FORT LEE, N.J.-MobileMedia Communications Inc., dba MobileComm, announced it is offering e-mail delivery service and single-number access for its local wireless-messaging subscribers.MobileComm said its e-mail delivery service forwards e-mail from a computer directly to the subscriber's pager. The single-number access program simplifies the paging...
The International Telecommunication Union said it may look for a way to work around the
intellectual-property-right stalemate caused by Qualcomm Inc. and L.M. Ericsson over third-generation
technology.
Fabio Leite, counselor in the Radiocommunications Bureau of Geneva-based ITU, said for now Code
Division Multiple Access proposals that have unresolved...
WASHINGTON-Rothschild Inc. this week will learn whether bulk bidders can top the $54 million fetched from bidders for Geotek Communications Inc.'s 900 MHz specialized mobile radio licenses in a bankruptcy auction late last month.Both individual bidders and bulk bidders have a chance on Monday...
Advanced Radio Telecom Corp. is offering high-speed Internet services to businesses in the Phoenix metropolitan area. More than 25 companies in the Phoenix area have signed contracts with ART. The offering combines a high-speed connection to the Internet or company intranet with enhanced services...
MEXICO CITY-Grupo Iusacell has announced plans to obtain about $60 million in equity infusions from its two major shareholders, Bell Atlantic Corp. and the Peralta Group, during the next several months."The capital will fund additional analog and network investments and handset purchases needed...
CanadaCell-Loc Inc. announced it expects to receive funding from the National Research Council of Canada's Industrial Research Assistance Program to assist in continued research and development of a Code Division Multiple Access Cellocate System. The Cellocate System is capable of locating any cellular telephone...
The introduction of digital phone technology has changed dramatically the landscape of wireless communications across the globe and put the heat on the global paging industry.Paging's old advantages of small size and cheaper service are being whittled away, as digital phones shrink in size...
LONDON-The Middle East wireless sector continues to show positive signs, with several major contracts awarded and plenty of healthy GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) activity over the past year. In addition, carriers have begun to sign on with new mobile satellite services (MSS)...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-The European paging industry entered 1998 with the loud disclaimer that it had, at long last, found its high-growth niche in mobile communications. With reports they had managed to grow the total user base by more than 50 percent during 1997, European...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Competition in the South African wireless telecommunications sector is likely to be fierce this year, with two new cellular operators scheduled to enter the arena. This will delve a blow to existing operators MTN and Vodacom, which have had exclusive preserve of...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-A seasonal increase in demand caused by an influx of visitors is a familiar phenomenon to many cellular network operators. But the increased demand is rarely overwhelming and usually is spread out in both time and space. Not so in Saudi Arabia....
BEIJING-"The investigation into China Unicom's unprincipled and wrong foreign fund-raising practices has been completed," Wang Jianzhou, director of the planning department of the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry (MII), announced at a press conference in Beijing on 1 December. That's pretty close to saying...
WASHINGTON-The story of the calling party pays (CPP) system for cellular service in Latin America has been a successful one for almost everyone involved, expect paging operators. The messaging sector has seen its subscriber growth dwindle as cellular telephony has become increasingly more affordable...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-Independent mobile dealers feel threatened in many countries in Europe.Those that have not been swallowed up by the national retail chains or taken over by a cellular network operator increasingly feel isolated and poorly served. Many now believe events surrounding the introduction...
