MELBOURNE, Australia-The Australian government has called an urgent review to end speculation about the future of analog mobile phone coverage in regional and remote areas of the country. The analog system, based on the AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone Service) standard, was earmarked for closure...
DENMARKMobilix, a France Telecom subsidiary, has begun offering services on its DCS 1800 network.GERMANYLucent Technologies Inc.'s Microelectronics Group acquired Optimay GmbH, a privately held software-development company based in Munich. Optimay, which will become a subsidiary of Lucent Technologies International, develops software products and services...
MELBOURNE, Australia-Australia's long-awaited PCS spectrum auctions began at the tail end of April with nine bidders vying for 230 lots in the 800 MHz and 1800 MHz spectrum bands.Marking a key stage in Australia's long-term plans to establish a fully competitive market, the PCS...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Egypt will work together with South Africa in both the private and public sector to provide telecommunications aid to the African continent, announced Hosni Mubarak, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, at the African Telecom '98 conference in May.Mubarak was not...
CASABLANCA, Morocco-For Morocco, 29 June 1997 marked a point of no return for the country's telecommunications industry-a turning point that changed forever the way telephony is looked at in the country. Morocco's lower house that day approved a bill liberalizing the telecom industry.The bill...
LONDON-The United Kingdom's Office of Telecommunications announced it has ended its restrictions on how mobile phone operators may market and distribute airtime and products.The new regulation, which will go into effect after a year-long transition period, will give Orange, One2One and two other smaller...
In response to a dispute between Redstone Network Services Ltd. and Vodafone Group plc, the U.K.'s Office of Telecommunications released a consultative document on personal numbering costs, which provides analysis and preliminary conclusions on the issue.Redstone, a personal numbering services operator, complained to Oftel...
BERKSHIRE, England-Vodafone Group plc announced its parent company, Vodafone Europe Holdings BV, acquired 8.5 percent of CV Gemeenschappelijk Bezit Libertel from ING Bank Corporate Investments BV.The transaction gives Vodafone a 70-percent stake in Libertel, while ING will keep the remaining 30 percent. Libertel controls...
Nine companies are set to bid in the Australian personal communications services spectrum auction April 14, amid uncertainties surrounding the auction process and an economic crisis gripping many nations in the Asia-Pacific region.The Australian Communications Authority will auction 10 PCS licenses in the 1800...
SAN FRANCISCO-A consortium in which AirTouch Communications Inc. holds a 30-percent interest won a nationwide cellular license in Egypt, expanding AirTouch's reach into the Middle East for the first time, the company said.The consortium, called Misrfone-meaning Egypt phone-expects to launch service using Global System...
LONDON (AP)-Three British telephone companies charge customers too much to place calls to mobile phones, a regulator said Thursday as he ordered a monopoly investigation of their pricing."Mobile phones are an increasingly important part of everyday life," said Don Cruickshank, Britain's director general of...
NEW YORK-Although his company recently completed field trials with Qualcomm Inc., Vodafone Group plc Chief Executive Officer Chris Gent believes next-generation wireless technology, rather than Code Division Multiple Access technology, is the solution to network capacity expansion in areas where high customer use warrants...
NEW YORK-The Telecommunications Executive Leadership Council, a group of 18 executives, is working with Deloitte & Touche L.L.P. and The Economist to analyze factors critical to success in the next century.The council has met twice, most recently in February, to identify key issues for...
DENVER, United States-Determined to penetrate Europe with the Interim Standard-95 (IS-95) protocol, U.S.-based Qualcomm Inc. announced in February its United Kingdom trial of a cdmaOne/GSM hybrid network was a success.The announcement occurred just prior to the CDMA Development Group's early March statement that the...
In the summer of 1989, one of my favorite bands, the B-52s, released an album with the big hit-tune "Roam," in which singer Kate Pierson encouraged listeners to "roam around the world." Well, it took me nine years, Kate, but I finally took you...
The Australian Communications Authority will auction 10 personal communications services licenses totaling 230 megahertz sometime in April, and the Australian Communications Authority is encouraging U.S. companies that currently use digital Advanced Mobile Phone Service and Code Division Multiple Access technologies to apply. Those companies...
While Global System for Mobile communications technology networks currently have more subscribers, technical and competitive advantages will propel Code Division Multiple Access into a market-leading position by early 2003, concludes a recent study by Datacomm Research Co.The 208-page "CDMA Wireless Business Opportunities" challenges the...
NEW YORK-Like Sam Ginn, its chairman and chief executive officer, AirTouch Communications Inc. is on a roll, aided by those two key components of success-good luck and good timing.Ginn arrived in New York Feb. 4 from San Francisco to meet "the Street," just behind...
European Telecommunications Standards Institute members last week reached a consensus agreement for a third-generation mobile phone standard, incorporating two major proposals that were on the table. The agreement came after members failed the day before to reach the 71-percent consensus vote required to approve...
SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. announced it has completed a six-month field trial with Vodafone Ltd. demonstrating the compatibility of a Code Division Multiple Access base station in an existing Global System for Mobile communications network.The trial proved the technical feasibility through integrating an unmodified GSM...
NEW YORK-Hong Kong Telecommunications Ltd., the dominant carrier in the Chinese territory, signed a binding agreement Jan. 1 to purchase Pacific Link Communications Ltd. for $623 million. Pacific Link is the fourth-largest mobile telephone operator in Hong Kong.Hongkong Telecom said the acquisition will add...
LONDON-Racal Telecom announced it has signed an agreement with U.K.-based Vodafone Distribution Ltd. to provide the corporate market with an integrated package of mobile and managed fixed voice and data services.Through the alliance, Racal will provide Vodafone with data, voice, messaging, private circuits and...
NEW YORK-Telstra Corp. Ltd. debuted with a bang Nov. 17 on the Australian Stock Exchange, and trading began on the New York Stock Exchange a day later.The hugely oversubscribed initial public offering of 4.3 billion shares of common stock in the country's largest telecommunications...
BETHESDA, Md.-Personal communications services provider American Personal Communications, which operates as Sprint Spectrum in the Washington, D.C., area, announced international roaming agreements covering six new countries in European countries.The agreements are with Mobilkom in Austria, Tele Danmark in Denmark, Telecom Italia in Italy, Telia...
