The realm of wireless data is uncharted territory for most consumers, but carriers also are feeling their way through the darkness, searching for the best way to market data and Internet services to an audience with little or no knowledge of wireless outside voice.Everyone-from...
NEW YORK-In order to handle the converged communications revolution, the vision of L.M. Ericsson is the evolution of network reliability to a degree that today is only a dream on a drawing board.The so-called 10 nines, or 99.99999999 percent reliability, is a Holy Grail...
AT&T Wireless Services Inc. said it will offer two-way short messaging service later this year, giving the carrier a more seamless data offering with its affiliates.AT&T Wireless offers SMS service today and relaunched its PocketNet service, based on Cellular Digital Packet Data service, earlier...
The road to higher data speeds for wireless networks is rooted in voice technology, but Flarion Technologies, a new venture company formed by Lucent Technologies Inc., hopes to bypass that road and develop a technology rooted in data.Flarion is developing flash-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing,...
NEW YORK-Andrew Seybold offered attendees of a recent New York New Media Association meeting this twice-told tale to illustrate how mobile data badly needs an application of common sense, that least common of all the senses.The respected wireless Web guru and curmudgeon offered this...
The Third Generation Partnership Project, a standards body initially established by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to work on W-CDMA technology, last week agreed to include standards work on GSM technology as well.The organizational partners, which consist of standards-development bodies from the United States,...
AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and BT Wireless announced the first phase of their strategic alliance designed to create seamless mobile communications services worldwide for global travelers and multinational companies.The carriers nine months ago announced the alliance called Advance, which complements the companies' cooperation in...
Analysts these days are seeing rays of hope for Nokia Mobile Phone's dismal market share in the CDMA handset business.The world's largest mobile-phone manufacturer dominates the global Time Division Multiple Access and Global System for Mobile communications handset markets, but its market share in...
NEW YORK-SBC Wireless hopes to take a bite out of the Big Apple as one part of a territorial and services expansion plan accompanying combining its wireless operations with those of BellSouth Corp.With the closing of the joint venture agreement, which is expected in...
HONG KONG-The government of Hong Kong is likely to be among the first in the Asia-Pacific region to clear spectrum and issue licenses for third-generation (3G) mobile phones, according to the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA)."While the USA and Europe may take five...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-Cuba's government decreed that the new millennium begins on 1 January, 2001, and to mark the event, grand celebrations are being prepared. In tone with the decision, the country's cellular telephony company, Cubacel, is migrating its analog AMPS network to a digital...
Alcatel.Benin. With Office des Postes et Telecommunications (OPT) for a GSM network, along with fiber-optic and switching equipment.Value: US$32.8 millionKenya. With KenCell for a 50,000-subscriber capacity GSM network.Value: UndisclosedMorocco. With Maroc Telecom for mobile switching centers.Value: UndisclosedPortugal. With Portugal Telecom's TMN for a GPRS network.Value: UndisclosedQatar. With Q-Tel...
SAO PAULO, Brazil-Telecom regulatory authority, Anatel, said Brazil's personal communications services (PCS) licenses will be auctioned later this year in three geographic areas, with up to three operators in each area. The regions will be similar to the current fixed telephony regions: northeast, central-south and...
The GSM community, which has struggled to make inroads in Latin America, was ensured access to an important market as the Brazilian government granted personal communications services licenses in the 1800 MHz band.Last week's decision caught many mobile-phone carriers and infrastructure providers off guard....
HONG KONG-U.S. mobile-phone vendors are gearing up for cdmaOne sales in China despite uncertainty whether the technology will be deployed there.While China Unicom told reporters here last week it still is interested in the technology, it remained unclear when and if the company would...
TektronixTektronix Inc. launched a new Global System for Mobile communications cell analysis product, the Cell Analyzer, which combines the key functions of the Actix Abis Analyzer with Tektronix's K1205 Signaling Protocol Analyzer. Available as an add-on software package for the K1205, the new analyzer...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-BellSouth Mobility said it plans to deploy up to 56 Ericsson Datacom Inc. AXC 627 Tigris Access Servers in 28 of its mobile switching centers.The servers, part of Ericsson's Integrated Access System wireless solution, will complement an ongoing upgrade of BellSouth's Time Division...
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...
Nokia Corp. captured almost 28 percent of the world wireless handset market, shipping more than 25 million units, according to a recent Dataquest report. More than 90 million wireless handset units were shipped during the first quarter of 2000.According to those numbers, total handset...
TEMPE, Ariz.-Worldwide cellular subscribers are expected to exceed 1.2 billion by 2004, according to a market study conducted by Forward Concepts titled "Wireless2000."The report predicts the cellular subscriber base will pass the 1 billion mark in 2003, with 11 million of those subscribers having...
They may be working closer these days, but make no mistake about it, the GSM Association, the CDMA Development Group and the Universal Wireless Communications Consortium remain strong competitors.All three associations will convene this week in Las Vegas at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association's...
Unity is something more easily achieved as a goal rather than a reality. Let's face it: It's difficult to agree.Ask a husband and wife where they would like to spend this summer's vacation, and you are likely to get two different answers. Ask two siblings...
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...
WASHINGTON-Even with President Clinton's decision last week to dramatically improve global positioning system accuracy for civilians, vendors that offer a network-based E911 solution say their products are still valid.Meanwhile, mobile-phone carriers remain tight-lipped about which location-based wireless technology they will choose to meet enhanced...
