MILAN, Italy-Ratings agency Standard & Poor's raised its long- and short-term corporate credit ratings on France Telecom S.A. to BBB from BBB- and A-2 from A-3. It also raised its long-term corporate credit rating on Orange S.A., France Telecom's mobile subsidiary, to BBB from...
PARIS-France Telecom subsidiary Wanadoo said it will start offering its eXtreme Wi-Fi wireless broadband service for consumer and small businesses beginning May 19. Wanadoo said the service will be compatible with Orange Hotspots and that it plans to introduce a prepaid offering later this...
LISBON, Portugal-Portuguese wireless operator TMN announced it will begin selling a phone using Microsoft Corp.'s Smartphone operating system though a partnership with oil and gas company Galp Energia. The companies said they will offer a range of wireless data services, including information about Galp...
LONDON-European wireless carrier Orange has delayed the release of a new version of its SPV smart phone using Microsoft Corp.'s software. The phone is now scheduled for a release sometime in the summer.An Orange spokeswoman couldn't immediately offer a reason for the delay.The new...
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.-Treo maker Handspring Inc. reported a dismal quarter, with sales of its unique personal digital assistant/mobile phone failing to meet company hopes.However, the company hinted at a major new product announcement, and reported a new deal with European operator Orange to develop...
MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, United States-Treo maker Handspring reported a dismal quarter, with sales of its unique personal digital assistant (PDA)/mobile phone failing to meet company hopes.However, the company hinted at a major new product announcement and reported a new deal with European operator Orange...
In the sweepstakes of third-generation (3G) contracts, smaller equipment vendors hope to outplay the bigger names by taking advantage of their product strengths and delays in Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) rollouts.Companies like Motorola, Nortel Networks and Lucent Technologies are at the low ebb...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-In what is being seen as an ill-disguised attempt to combat the European coverage afforded by Vodafone, three of Europe's largest cell-phone operators have clubbed together to offer their business subscribers common services and a simplified tariff structure.The three operators, T-Mobile, Telef
The promise of the converged wireless device is a reality, although exactly what it will look like is still being debated.Those in the industry have long preached the inevitable marriage of computers and mobile phones, and the current selection of high-end devices seems to...
DUBLIN, Ireland-Ongoing concerns regarding the effects of mobile-phone mast radiation on public health in France has encouraged SFR and Orange France to suspend the operation of antennas on top of a school in Yvelines.The operators were quick to point out that there is no...
PARIS-Orange announced Friday it will sell its 26.6-percent stake in Italian operator Wind to Enel for $1.37 billion plus a $210 million shareholders' loan to be repaid to Orange.The price is subject to a post-closing upward adjustment should Enel dispose of all or part...
LONDON-U.K. company AePONA said it signed a three-year agreement with Orange to supply its open services access product. The product allows mobile operators to simplify the creation and management of different services, features and functions, said AePONA.The product provides standard interfaces to various systems...
OSLO, Norway-An increasingly strident campaign to keep third-generation (3G) telephone masts out of protesting communities won surprising backing from Sweden's regulator National Post and Telecom Agency (PTS), which now seems resigned to achieving less than 100-percent national 3G coverage.PTS information chief Katarina K
REDMOND, Wash.-Action Engine, whose customers include Orange SA and MmO2, has closed a $15.5 million Series C round of venture financing, led by Baker Capital and including Cascadia Capital LLC, Intel Communications Fund, OVP Venture Partners, Northwest Venture Associates and Spangler Ventures.The new financing,...
PARIS-France Telecom and Orange France have entered into an agreement to deploy their Wi-Fi hot spots at 900 Accor hotels, including Sofitel, Mercure, Libertel, Suitehotel, Ibis, Etap and Formule 1.Among the 50 hotels targeted for hot-spot deployment during the first half of this year...
HELSINKI, Finland-Sweden's telecom regulator PTS has confirmed the receipt of a "written submission" from mobile operator Orange requesting transfer of its third-generation (3G) license to a new subsidiary company in Sweden. The PTS has described the petition as "strong and considered," a view not...
NEW YORK-Despite what he called, "one of the greatest brand launches ever and excellent results in brand awareness," the Cingular Wireless name has "not delivered," said Stan Sigman, chief executive officer, at last week's Merrill Lynch & Co. "Communication Conference".The top five reasons consumers...
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-Computer hackers could use a text message to crash a Nokia Corp. 6210 mobile phone, said security company @stake Inc. in a security advisory.Attackers can manipulate the parameters of a vCard electronic business card so that if the information is sent to a...
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.- Bill Nguyen, the entrepreneur who sold Onebox.com (now Openwave Systems Inc.) to Phone.com for $850 million, is back at the head of wireless e-mail company Seven, just in time to see the company score European wireless giant Orange plc as a...
CANNES, France-Operators and vendors alike expressed a quiet optimism for the upcoming year as the GSM community gathered for its annual global meeting last week in the south of France. The event focused less on when wideband CDMA launches would occur in Europe and...
CANNES, France-Wireless operator Orange released sales figures and details about its business-oriented SPV device-the first wireless device to use Microsoft Corp.'s Smartphone operating system-and announced plans to offer a modified SPV aimed at consumers.Orange said it has sold 40,000 of its SPVs since it...
CANNES, France-L.M. Ericsson flexed its muscles within and outside the 3GSM Congress with a series of announcements from interoperability testing to deals with carriers and content providers as well as a former semiconductor partner.The Swedish vendor signed a contract to supply UMTS gear to...
CANNES, France-Wireless multimodal platform and solution provider Kirusa is demonstrating its multimodal technology at the 3GSM World Congress taking place this week in France.Kirusa's technology allows wireless users to use voice and visual input and output at the same time on mass-market mobile-phone devices....
LONDON and PARIS-Two European telecommunications companies announced expansions of their GPRS Roaming Exchange programs.Cable & Wireless said it expanded its service into the Asia-Pacific region by connecting additional operators within the Vodafone Group. Cable & Wireless said it has now connected 30 operators to...
