ATLANTA-Wireless infrastructure vendors made their wireless Internet plans a major priority at SuperComm here last week, introducing network solutions portfolios that, while different in makeup, have the same goal-to help wireless carriers avoid commoditization when converging with the Internet.Lucent Technologies Inc. and L.M. Ericsson...
LONDON-Sema Group plc, a worldwide Internet technology and consulting company, recently announced that Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems, a subsidiary of SBC Communications Inc., has selected both Sema Group's Short Message Service Center and Over-the-Air Activation and Programming solution.Sema Group's SMSC supports both Time Division...
NEW YORK-WebLink Wireless Inc., Dallas, will target teen-agers and twenty-somethings with a two-way messaging and e-mail service it plans to debut this summer.Subscribers who sign a year-long service contract for $15 monthly will receive an $80 rebate on the $179 retail price of the...
Comverse Network Systems introduced its Nex2Me wireless instant messaging solution, a Wireless Application Protocol and short message service suite that enables the creation of mobile communities shared by mobile and Internet users.The system will notify users when a member of their instant messaging community...
CanadaNewbridge Networks Corp. said the holders of its common shares, options and warrants have approved the plan of arrangement involving its merger with Alcatel S.A. Before the merger can close, it must be approved by Alcatel shareholders as well as receive a final order...
OKLAHOMA CITY-Dobson Communications Corp. reported it has purchased equipment and developed a strategic alliance in anticipation of launching wireless Internet services later this year.A company spokesman said Dobson will use infrastructure software and applications developed by Phone.com Inc.to provide network capabilities for its Wireless...
CANCUN, Mexico-The big push to interoperate GSM and TDMA standards is well under way, allowing customers using either standard to roam around the world and giving U.S. TDMA operators a breath of life in their ongoing struggle with CDMA carriers for domestic market share.The...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-The commercialization of mobile data services continues its headlong rush as cellular operators look to differentiate themselves in the market. The heavy promotion of an ever-increasing portfolio of data services by many of Europe's leading operators is setting the trend for others...
IsraelRiots and injuries occurred during protests against the installation of cellular masts in a Druze Arab village in March, according to international press reports. Reports said seven police officers and members of the public were injured in the riots, which are thought to be...
MEXICO CITY-Grupo Iusacell S.A. de C.V. launched its new mobile Internet service based on Wireless Application Protocol in the Mexican states of Mexico, Morelos and Hidalgo.The company reported it will offer two versions of the service. The first, Iusacell Mobile Internet 1, will be...
NEW YORK-With an estimated 5 million American customers today, prepaid wireless services have yet to fulfill their promise, but that potential is getting closer to realization.Within the next several years, analysts from The Yankee Group, the Strategis Group and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities...
NEW YORK-Despite problems the written Chinese language poses for Internet communications, China may nevertheless become the largest wireless data market in the world.China Telecom Hong Kong, which had 38 million subscribers at the end of 1999, "is closely following and preparing for wireless data,"...
Leveraging its dominance in the enterprise computing market, IBM Corp. formed a string of partnerships with leading wireless industry players designed to speed the growth of wireless Internet and e-business solutions for enterprise customers.The core of the computing giant's strategy is to give its...
SAUDI ARABIAL.M. Ericsson and Saudi Telecommunications Co. signed a letter of intent for a major expansion and upgrade of STC's existing Global System for Mobile communications network in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The agreement, valued at more than $300 million, calls for Ericsson...
CANNES, France and HANNOVER, Germany-Visitors at the ever-expanding GSM World Congress, held in February in Cannes, France, could have mistaken the huge exhibition as focusing exclusively on Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). For the second year running, it appeared almost every exhibitor had a WAP...
DENVER, United States-Attention to wireless security concerns has emerged as several internationally recognized corporate security software firms stated their intentions to concentrate on the wireless industry going forward."Everybody has made the leap that there's going to be a wireless front-end to that Internet world....
TEL AVIV, Israel-In a country like Israel where the number of mobile phone lines surpasses fixed lines (2.9 million compared with 2.8 million), where there's intense competition among the three carriers and churn is high (sometimes 60 percent), and where price is less and...
LONDON-BT Cellnet said it will be the first U.K. mobile phone operator to commercially launch General Packet Radio Service this summer. The carrier also officially launched commercial Wireless Application Protocol service.BT Cellnet's GPRS service will begin with a 500-person trial, followed by commercial service...
Attention to wireless security concerns emerged as the de facto theme of this year's RSA Security Conference in San Jose, Calif., where several internationally recognized corporate security software firms stated their intention to concentrate on the wireless industry going forward."Everybody has made the leap...
ROME-Italian wireless operator Omnitel announced a record increase in customers during 1999 with 4.22 million new subscribers, an increase of 68 percent compared with 1998. The company's total subscriber base at the end of 1999 stood at more than 10 million.Bell Atlantic is a...
TeleCommunications Systems Inc. launched a free wireless portal service called Data4Me, aimed directly at end users with the goal of increasing awareness of wireless e-mail services across multiple networks.The portal allows users to send and receive messages to and from others on the same...
UTRECHT, The Netherlands-CMG Telecommunications and Siemens Information and Communications Networks Group said they have partnered, allowing Siemens to resell CMG's short message service centers and support services to cellular network operators.
LUXEMBOURG-Millicom International Cellular S.A. released an Internet-based payment system for shopping online using Global System for Mobile communications telephones. GiSMo is a secure payment alternative to using a credit, debit or charge card, the company said.GiSMo shoppers purchase items by giving their GSM telephone...
DUBLIN, Ireland-Capacity constraints are an issue for almost every cellular operator, and some have turned to frequency-hopping techniques as an answer. But while these systems have increased capacity, their effect on data traffic has been less widely investigated.Any system that claims to increase the...
