UMTS

MADRID, Spain-Spain’s Telefonica plans to spin off its mobile-phone business before the fall, published reports indicate. Analysts value the unit at as much as $71.3 billion. Telefonica reported about 9 …

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil-Jim Murrell, chairman of the North American GSM Association, could not use his Global System for Mobile communications phone last week in Brazil during Telecom Americas 2000. …

PARIS-The French government said it will issue this month calls for tender for four Universal Mobile Telecommunications System phone licenses, Reuters reported. The third-generation licenses will be granted through a …

REDMOND, Wash.-British Telecommunications plc, AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and Microsoft Corp. announced they plan to work together to create high-speed data applications for mobile devices domestically and abroad. Under the …

A growing number of operators, vendors and analysts are not convinced EDGE technology will make significant inroads in Europe. “In Europe, I’m not expecting a major deployment of EDGE,” said …

European regulators this year will auction, grant or selectively tender 70 to 80 licenses. It’s a double-edged sword for the incumbent operators, which in many places have to compete for …

Bids for each of the five Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses in the United Kingdom reached or topped $3 billion last week. All 13 original bidders are still are in …

PARIS-France Telecom announced it will take a 28.5-percent stake in Germany’s MobilCom, which provides mobile, wireline and Internet services, for about $3.6 billion. The German company has about 2 million …

The Operators Harmonization Group-which began work more than a year ago as a loosely tied consortium of four operators trying to end the global debate over third-generation technology standards-is now …

MADRID, Spain-A Vivendi-led consortium and Spain’s three incumbent mobile phone operators won Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses in Spain. The third-generation licenses were awarded through a selective tender process. The …

Furious bidding between Vodafone AirTouch plc and Orange plc on the final day of last week’s Universal Mobile Telecommunications System auction in the United Kingdom drove the top bid for …

After one week and 16 rounds of bidding, incumbent operator Orange plc led all third-generation license bids in the United Kingdom with a $632.9 million bid for License B. The …

The UMTS Forum said it welcomed proposals by the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity Conference Preparatory Group (APG) for adoption of the 2520-2670 MHz band to support the terrestrial component of IMT-2000. APG …

The U.K. government in March began the auction of five licenses, with one license exclusively reserved for a player currently not represented in the U.K. market. The 13 bidders each …

Handsets Philips Philips introduced several new handsets. The Ozeo GSM dual-band mobile phone offers a new user interface and a large LCD display with five text lines. The carousel icon …

ROME-NEC Corp. announced an agreement with Telecom Italia Group to work together in technical trials for Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems. NEC, which supplies handsets to Telecom Italia Group, will provide …

LONDON-The U.K. government said it qualified all 13 applicants for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses to bid in a March auction. “I am delighted that we have been able to …

Public skirmishes over third-generation technology died last year when the wireless industry embraced a harmonized CDMA-based standard, but old feelings between camps die hard it seems. The CDMA Development Group, …

CANNES, France-As European governments craft plans to grant third-generation licenses, some GSM and future UMTS carriers fear a few of the stipulations regulators are putting on potential 3G licensees. Representatives …

Thirteen groups have applied to bid in the United Kingdom’s auction of third-generation mobile-phone licenses. The U.K. government by March plans to auction five licenses, with one license exclusively reserved …

Siemens and NEC announced a joint venture to develop infrastructure equipment for third-generation systems. The joint venture, in which Siemens will hold 51 percent and NEC will hold 49 percent, …

Competition in the wireless personal digital assistant space will be heating up soon, as Casio Computer Co. Ltd. and Siemens’ Communication Devices division have announced a strategic alliance to jointly …

PARIS-French cellular operator Cegetel will work with Nortel Networks to develop third-generation services based on the Universal Mobile Telecommunications Services standard, according to the equipment maker. The deal is subject …

Latin America Millicom International Cellular S.A. said MIC Latin America recently commenced offering dial-up Internet and e-mail services to its mobile telephony customers in Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and …

MURRAY HILL, N.J.-Lucent Technologies Inc. has taken a page from Ericsson Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc., each of which now dominate in certain areas of telecommunications infrastructure provision, said Richard …