BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—According to a recent study by Pyramid Research, the price Movicom BellSouth of Argentina might pay for a 3G license would be US$207 million. This way the government might reach its original goal of attaining US$800 million for the auction of four...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—European cell phone operators will see Bluetooth-enabled devices generate revenues of US$2 billion by 2006, claims a new market study conducted by Pyramid Research. The short-range wireless technology is, according to the company, only months away from making an impact on Western...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-South American countries Argentina and Chile are waiting for the United States to select its third-generation (3G) frequencies before beginning their own 3G auctions. The regulatory authorities of both countries expect 3G auctions to take place early next year, although they might...
China Mobile Communications Corp., the largest wireless operator in China, recently announced plans to create a wireless Internet setup much like NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service in Japan, but the company faces some significant challenges due to a cash-strapped population, cloudy government regulations and network...
LONDON-The market for mobile services in the Middle East continues to show strong growth, with the ever-increasing number of new cellular operators barely keeping pace with growing customer numbers. An eventful first-quarter 2001 has seen new network expansion projects, a host of new value-added...
DENVER, United States-While some countries in Latin America are moving forward with advanced wireless networks, Central American nations are not likely to see commercial next-generation systems any time soon. Mass-market demand for data services remains weak due to low incomes, and market development lags...
Only a year ago, prospects for the GSM standard in Latin America seemed dim. At that time, Chile's Entel PCS and Venezuela's rural operator Infonet were the only operators offering GSM-based services in Latin America, and only a handful of other operators in Bolivia...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Operators in the Middle East are focusing on extending coverage and considering networks upgrades. The region offers enormous potential, considering the cellular penetration is only 3.5 percent-very low in comparison with world standards. However, penetration rates in some single markets exceed 30...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Israel is determined not to be shaken from its pristine position of having one of the highest cellular penetration rates in the Middle East by the current unrest in the region."Penetration in Israel is growing steadily at a double-digit rate for next...
SANDTON, South Africa-The wave of liberalization and privatization that has been sweeping the African economic markets has spread to communications, revealing rich untapped potential for future investment.Cellular markets have been the area's most dynamic telecoms sectors, with extraordinarily high growth rates and numerous new...
NEW YORK-Mobilestop.com, the newborn Internet offspring of Strax Inc., a Miami-based wireless phone and accessory distributor, launched its Web site this month and plans operations on four continents within a year. The company intends to be a one-stop shopping and information site for all...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Wireless local loop (WLL) is currently the most popular access technology to supply basic voice connectivity to subscribers in the rural areas of many African nations. It is an expensive option and difficult to implement, but offers the most effective way of...
SINGAPORE-After two years of bad debts and line terminations, wireless operators in the economically worst-hit Asian nations of Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia can finally look forward to better times ahead.Analysts say economic recovery combined with the growing acceptance of prepaid will help...
LONDON-The main trends in the Middle East wireless industry for the current year were highlighted back in March with calls from senior industry professionals for greater private-sector participation and the introduction of competition in this steadily expanding market.Speaking at the plenary session of the...
After nearly two years of fits and starts, the government of Argentina finally awarded six personal communications services licenses for a total consideration of about $850 million.The government awarded two PCS licenses each in the northern and southern regions of Argentina, as well as...
China Unicom, which received the go-ahead from the Chinese government earlier this year to deploy cdmaOne technology, will gain control of four experimental Code Division Multiple Access networks operated by China Telecom Great Wall.Great Wall was a source of concern for the Chinese government...
TOKYO-Yoshiaki Shioda, senior manager for NEC, recently visited Kirgiz, a republic south of the Commonwealth of Independent States, to help local people get connected with each other.In Kirgiz, only one out of every 100 people have access to a telephone, and locals occasionally have...
SAO PAULO, Brazil-Anatel, Brazil's telecommunications regulatory agency, announced the auctions for the remaining two mirror licenses would be delayed from March 11 to April 23. The two licenses, for the regions of Tele Centro Sul and Sao Paulo, are being awarded to establish competition...
SINGAPORE-Over the last few months, British Telecommunications plc has been on a buying spree that would put any seasoned shopaholic to shame-chalking up a bill of more than US$1 billion in the Asia-Pacific region alone.Having kept a relatively low profile in Asia for the...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-As Africa enters the threshold of the African Renaissance and progresses toward privatizing and liberalizing its telecommunications sectors, powerful alliances are being forged in the wireless arena."The rapid privatization of the telecommunications sector in east African countries and southern Africa is attracting...
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-The number of cellular and personal communications services subscribers in Southeast Asia will grow from more than 8.5 million this year to more than 19.8 million by 2003, according to a Pyramid Research study, titled "Wireless Markets and Strategies in Southeast Asia."The introduction...
More legal issues have fallen in the way of Venezuela's plans to tender a personal communications services license earlier this month.Conatel, Venezuela's telecom regulatory agency, was set to tender a license by Nov. 4, but protests from three cellular operators have stalled the process...
AustraliaNorthern Telecom Ltd. announced it will build a turnkey nationwide cdmaOne Code Division Multiple Access wireless network for Telstra Corp., Australia's primary telecommunications provider, in a buildout project valued at more than $200 million. Telstra's decision was much-anticipated in the wireless industry as it...
Political turmoil and economic problems around the world have delayed tenders and auctions of mobile phone spectrum in some countries.At least three Latin American countries-Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela-have put on hold plans to grant wireless concessions."In all three markets, the concessions are up in...
