Telecom companies from around the world are dashing to the Asia Pacific region as they begin to find willing sellers that need cash to expand their telecommunications services."It's definitely a buyer's market right now because of the economic conditions in the market," said Edward...
DALLAS-Protection One Mobile Services Group said it will provide mobile emergency response and other live operator and automated services on Visteon Automotive Systems' new vehicle emergency messaging system, called VEMS.VEMS combines Global System for Mobile communications location-identifying technology via satellite and cellular telecommunications networks...
The personal handyphone system market in Japan is ready for improvement, but analysts say it will take big commitments from carriers and differentiated marketing to jump-start demand.PHS subscriber numbers steadily have fallen for more than a year as the country's operators pushed the limited-mobility...
Horizon Personal Communications Inc. launched its personal communications services network in seven basic trading areas in Ohio and West Virginia, under an affiliate agreement with Sprint Spectrum L.P. Horizon, which is an affiliate of The Chilicothe Telephone Co., has a management agreement with Sprint...
WASHINGTON-Iridium L.L.C. has activated its global paging and messaging network, about two weeks after the commercial launch of its global satellite phone system.Messaging tests have gone well, and Motorola Inc. and Kyocera Corp., which make the Iridium pagers, are shipping the devices to the...
Nextel Communications Inc. is testing nationwide pricing plans that fall in line with high-end one-rate plans offered by national mobile phone competitors.Analysts say the company quietly is rolling out the plans, which eliminate long-distance fees, to test the market's demand for nationwide pricing."This is...
LOS ANGELES-Bell Atlantic Mobile announced it will begin phased introduction of high-speed wireless data capabilities over its existing cdmaOne network in 1999.The next-generation wireless services are based on cdma2000 third-generation enhancements provided by Lucent Technologies Inc."With Lucent as our technology partner, we intend to...
BEIJING-Six wireless operators with 11 networks is the daunting choice offered to Hong Kong's techno-savvy consumers.The mobile phone scene here is a lot brighter than one would have expected just one-and-a-half years ago, with the territory's hand-over to the People's Republic of China on...
China has been considered a mountain of opportunity for mobile phone infrastructure vendors, but signs today indicate a bleaker outlook as Chinese officials seem to have soured on cdmaOne technology and have banned certain foreign joint ventures in telecommunications projects.Vendors say China presents a...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission this week will vote to consider lifting the 45 megahertz spectrum cap, revamping relocation rules for 2 GHz mobile satellite operators and auctioning spectrum mandated by Congress-three controversial issues with broad implications for future terrestrial and space-based wireless systems that...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-L.M. Ericsson said it and Swedish operator Telia will conduct further trials of business communication services, providing Global System for Mobile communications wireless connectivity over Internet Protocol-based enterprise networks.The test of Ericsson's GSM on the Net combined GSM and IP technology uses small...
Aggressive digital pricing plans are quickly driving the migration of customers from analog service to digital service, say analysts."We attribute today's successful migration directly to rate plans combined with solid products," said Richard Siber, head of Andersen Consulting's wireless practice in Boston. "The features...
SAO PAULO, Brazil-Despite its drive for a competitive and liberalized market, Brazilian regulatory agency Anatel finally succumbed to market pressures and postponed to Jan. 15, the tender of licenses to operate one long-distance and three fixed-line "mirror," or competitive, companies because of the financial...
The main goal for the American Mobile Telecommunications Association is regulatory flexibility or more accurately-one-size-does-not-fit-all. AMTA President Alan Shark has been fighting the good fight with the Federal Communications Commission to convince it traditional specialized mobile radio is not the same thing as commercial...
PARIS-Alcatel said a plan to reorganize its telecom business into market segments aims to address the rapid evolution of markets and recent stock-market turmoil.The telecom sector will be organized into three segments: The Network Business Group will focus on the full network operator market....
AirNet Communications Corp. has struck a chord with smaller personal communications services licensees and is working on grabbing the attention of A- and B-block PCS operators.Melbourne, Fla.-based AirNet, a Global System for Mobile communications infrastructure pro-vider, has four GSM-1900 deployments completed with five additional...
Frustrated by the lack of cooperation in Europe over convergence of third-generation technology, some U.S. cdmaOne operators have vowed to push ahead aggressively with cdma2000 technology."Negotiations have gone on long enough," said Keith Paglusch, senior vice president of technical services and network operations with...
A Texas electric company has asked the Federal Communications Commission to revoke personal communications services licenses owned by PrimeCo Personal Communications L.P.Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc. has accused the PCS carrier of failing to honor its commitment to relocate all of the power company's...
Sprint Corp., citing poor market conditions, said it is postponing its planned public offering of its Sprint PCS venture.The Kansas City, Mo.-based long-distance carrier said it will continue to evaluate market conditions and may proceed with a public offering later. The carrier hoped to...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-Technor International Inc. subsidiary, CellPoint Systems AB, agreed to allow French Global System for Mobile operator France Telecom Mobiles to test and evaluate its GSM positioning technology for the French market.To date, the technology has been used only in Sweden and South Africa,...
AirTouch Communications Inc. reportedly is close to awarding a new contract to Nortel Telecom Inc. to replace existing Motorola Inc. Code Division Multiple Access equipment in Los Angeles.Industry sources indicate the two still are negotiating terms of the contract. The sticking point is AirTouch...
LISLE, Ill.-United Kingdom mobile phone operator Cellnet will deploy Tellabs EC Duo 8000 echo cancelers in 13 switching centers to eliminate background noise from mobile phone calls, Tellabs announced.
EDI Telecom Ltd. and Tadiran Telecommunications Ltd. announced they signed an agreement under which the two will merge in a stock-for-stock transaction.Mobile Systems International, United Kingdom, and U.S.-based Metapath Software Corp. announced the two companies are merging. Both companies provide software-based applications and services...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-Cellular penetration rates now exceed 50 percent in Finland. But real penetration rates are much higher if you ignore the very old and the very young. Pretty well every Finn who can walk and talk now has a mobile phone.Amongst Finnish youth,...