WASHINGTON-When it comes to spending money to open doors and change hearts and minds in official Washington, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association is King of the Hill.As a wireless trade association, CTIA is without peer-a lobbying juggernaut. Money appears to be no object. In...
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...
NEW YORK-The irony inherent in the proliferation of communications devices and technologies is the difficulty of getting them to interact with home base.Therein lies a business opportunity for MobileSys Inc., a Mountain View, Calif., start-up that provides middleware. Its mission is to serve as...
"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...
GENEVA-Globalstar officially announced at Telecom '99 a phased launch of its mobile satellite service. The phased launch begins with user trials, followed by a soft launch that will allow the company to work out quality issues. Commercial service should begin in early 2000, Globalstar...
CanadaBell Canada offered to purchase for cash up to 15.8 million of the outstanding common shares of Aliant, the largest telecommunications company in Atlantic Canada, at a price of US$18.40 per share. Such an acquisition would give Bell Canada, which already owns about 41...
Low-earth-orbit satellite voice provider Globalstar L.P. has reduced the number of handsets expected to be available at the end of the year from 70,000, as announced in September, to between 35,000 and 50,000.Globalstar spokesman Mac Jeffery said the lower figures do not represent manufacturing...
Telstreet.com announced it offers wireless phones, service and accessories online. "Telstreet.com takes responsibility for the entire customer experience from buying to fulfillment to delivery of the order," said Terry Dwyer, president and chief executive officer of Telstreet.com. "Consumers are guaranteed to find the wireless...
There was a time, not so long ago, when reasonably priced voice service with decent coverage delighted most wireless subscribers. But subscribers soon were demanding the same features-like voice mail, caller ID and three-way calling-offered on wireline phones.These features, previously known as enhanced services,...
HarrisHarris Corp. previewed its ClearBurst 2.5/3.4/10.5 GHz point-to-multipoint system, the newest addition to the Harris broadband wireless access product line, which is intended for deployment by public service providers as well as private network operators. The ClearBurst product offers a solution for delivering Time...
German manufacturer Siemens AG invested a 15-percent stake in San Diego-based Neopoint Inc., the maker of a CDMA smart phone that integrates a personal digital assistant and mobile phone.The investment will give Siemens much-needed expertise in Code Division Multiple Access technology. The vendor's U.S....
HAUPPAUGE, N.Y.-Audiovox Communications Corp. said it is expanding its international sales and operations and introducing three new Global System for Mobile communications handsets as well as a dual-mode, dual-band Code Division Multiple Access handset with Web browsing capability."We are dedicated to developing GSM internationally...
DENVER-VeloCom Inc., which recently won mirror licenses to operate competitive telecommunications networks in Brazil, said today 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...
News that the world's largest chip maker, Intel Corp., plans to purchase mobile-phone chipset maker DSP Communications Inc. for $1.6 billion in cash left some analysts concerned last week that CDMA innovator Qualcomm Inc. may wreak havoc on the benefits.DSPC licenses Code Division Multiple...
GENEVA-Globalstar officially announced at Telecom '99 a phased launch of its mobile satellite service. The phased launch begins with user trials, followed by a soft launch that will allow the company to work out quality issues. Commercial service should begin in early 2000.User trials...
The Big Three handset manufacturers-Nokia Corp., L.M. Ericsson and Motorola Inc.-continue their reign over the global wireless handset arena, together controlling more than two-thirds of the market.Nokia has emerged as the clear leader of the three. Analyst firm Herschel Shosteck Associates Ltd. estimates Nokia...
Qualcomm Inc. said it tried to purchase Interim Standard-661 handsets from Omnipoint Corp.'s stores in New York, but was told the carrier only offered Global System for Mobile communications service phones.This evidence should show the Federal Communications Commission that Omnipoint has not substantially deployed...
WASHINGTON-With only eight months before the World Radiocommunication Conference in Turkey, U.S. spectrum policy for third-generation wireless systems is on the verge of meltdown as the Clinton administration and industry continue to clash without a resolution in sight."The interests of the U.S government and...
The popularity of wireless may be contributing to an industrywide shortage of some components used in mobile devices, although device manufacturers may not be feeling the effects just yet.After suffering through a slump during the last several years that was characterized by an oversupply...
SAN DIEGO-Sprint PCS said it selected Qualcomm CDMA Technologies to provide infrastructure for trials of third-generation wireless technology based on the 3G Code Division Multiple Access 1x multicarrier mode of the IS-2000 Release 0 published standard.The technical trials, scheduled to begin during the first...
The Federal Communications Commission once again must address rules surrounding the now-defunct pioneer's preference process, a program riddled with controversy throughout this decade.Omnipoint Corp. and VoiceStream Wireless Corp. last week filed an opposition to Qualcomm Inc.'s petition that the FCC deny the carrier's request...
SAN DIEGO-Leap Wireless International Inc. said it ceased support of two Russian operations in which it holds noncontrolling minority interests.According to Leap, the boards of directors of Transworld Companies, a group of companies that have been trying to establish a domestic long-distance business in...
After months of denying any plans to sell its wireless handset division, Qualcomm is publicly relenting to the pressures of severe competition from Asia and the likes of Nokia and Motorola."With increased competition, parts shortages and industry consolidation reducing margins in consumer products, Qualcomm...
NMT 450 operators are to decide by early October whether to push forward with three digital mobile-phone standards that include CDMA technology, which could give cdmaOne technology its first entrance into Europe.The NMT MOU Digital Interest Group (DIG)-an assembly of operators tasked with evaluating...
