DUBLIN, Ireland—Ireland's Office of the Director of Telecom Regulations received bids from three wireless operators for its four third-generation mobile licenses up for sale, including one "A" license covering 80 percent of the country's population and potentially extra spectrum to carry mobile virtual network...
LONDON—Hoping to counter competition from Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo Inc.'s i-mode service, U.K.-based Vodafone Group plc is planning to roll out a more graphically enhanced version of its Vizzavi Web portal in Europe, according to Reuters.Vodafone's current Vizzavi site, which it jointly owns with...
BUCHAREST, Romania—Nortel Networks said it signed a contract with Connex to deploy packetized voice and data networks using Nortel's softswitches and multiservice switches."Connex will become the first service provider to leverage G729, an internationally accepted voice compression standard in a wireless network," said Nortel...
JAKARTA, Indonesia—Vodafone New Zealand recently announced the purchase of management rights for 5 megahertz of third-generation (3G) spectrum from TelstraClear.TelstraClear, the new name after a merger between TelstraSaturn, a subsidiary of Australia's Telstra and Clear Communications in December 2001, completed the deal with Vodafone...
TOKYO—J-Phone, Vodafone Group's carrier in Japan, announced that the number of users of J-Phone's popular mobile photo service exceeded 4 million. J-Phone launched the service with handsets that include built-in cameras called "Shamail"—"sha" means "take a picture" in Japanese—in November 2000. Sharp, a leading...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—Having heard that T-Mobile plans to launch third-generation (3G) services in 20 German cities during the third quarter, Vodafone D2 responded this week by announcing plans for a 3G service later this year in a number of large German cities. However, Viag...
TOKYO—KDDI, the second-largest operator in Japan, will launch its third-generation (3G) service based on cdma2000 on 1 April, the carrier announced.In Japan, NTT DoCoMo launched FOMA 3G services in October 2001, and J-Phone, a Vodafone Group company, is planning to launch its 3G service...
LONDON—Vodafone Group subsidiary Vodafone Global Products and Services signed an agreement with Siemens to supply a global location enabling server platform allowing Vodafone and third parties to create location-enabled applications.Vodafone said the service will support customers when roaming and allow them to control the...
BOSTON, United States—The state fixed-line operator Telecom Egypt has invited bids to build Egypt's third cellular GSM network on the 1800 MHz frequency band. The closing date for proposals has been set for 25 March.Private companies currently operating cellular networks in Egypt include the...
TOKYO—NTT East, a regional operator of NTT Group, said it will launch an 11 Megabits per second (Mbps) wireless local area network (LAN) service in March or April at the earliest. Using the 2.4 GHz band, NTT East will provide the high-speed service for...
Global interest in the U.S. cellular market is high. And with consolidation expected in the United States and around the world in coming months, U.S. carriers that are owned by foreign companies could be impacted by their partners’ interests and strategies around the globe.The...
CANNES, France—The mobile industry put on a brave face last week at the annual 3GSM World Congress here, with few signs of the financial downturn the industry is currently enduring showing through to the exhibition halls or the company-rented yachts that line the harbor...
HELSINKI, Finland—Elisa Communications, Finland's second-largest carrier, has entered a long-term collaboration with Vodafone in the area of mobile telephone services. The initiative will boost the Vodafone group's market position in the Nordic region.The collaboration includes an option allowing Vodafone to participate in future potential...
CANNES, France—A new initiative, "European Friends of 3GPP" (EF3), was founded at this week's 3GSM World Congress to fund the organization and support of 3GPP meetings in Europe.Alcatel, Ericsson, Lucent Technologies, Nortel Neteworks, Siemens and Vodafone signed letters of intent to join the initiative...
CANNES, France—MapInfo has been chosen by Vodafone D2 to provide the technology platform for its location-based D2-NightGuide Premium WAP service.MapInfo's miAware technology platform will offer navigation and routing functions for the D2-NightGuide, which offers information on clubs, cinemas, restaurants and ATMs, including distance from...
CANNES, France—The GSM Association continued to move forward with its wide-ranging M-Services Initiative, announcing the second phase of the program, broad support from the supplier community, and a series of task forces to help develop the wireless data market.The association said its phase two...
DUBLIN, Ireland—Vodafone Fiji is using short message service (SMS) software from Ireland's Xiam. The announcement follows a trial of the software during the 2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament.The software allowed Vodafone Fiji to deliver the latest information and results throughout the tournament. Users...
LONDON—About 23,000 high-end Samsung A300 mobile phones valued at approximately US$6 million disappeared from a warehouse in West London this week.Police believe the handsets were stolen by thieves with inside information on the warehouse and will likely end up on the black market. But...
BERLIN—The mobile division of Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile, has forcefully indicated that it plans to be the first to launch third-generation (3G) services in Germany. The company announced plans to deploy high-speed mobile data services in 20 German cities by the end of this year,...
TOKYO—J-Phone, the third-largest mobile carrier in Japan, announced it will launch a new e-mail service with motion pictures. According to J-Phone, which is now a Vodafone Group company, using the service, J-Phone users can send e-mail including up to five seconds of motion pictures...
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands—Dutch telecommunications giant KPN will buy the remaining 22.5-percent interest in German mobile-phone operator E-Plus that it does not already own from U.S.-based BellSouth for about US$1.06 billion in KPN stock, giving KPN full control of E-Plus.As part of the deal, KPN...
WAKEFIELD, Massachusetts, United States—The Mobile Payment Forum announced it attracted 45 new members since its launch in November.Accenture, Compaq, JP Morgan Chase, i5, Sonera and Vodafone are among those that joined the group's founding members, American Express, JCB, MasterCard and Visa.The Mobile Payment Forum...
HELSINKI, Finland—Tele2, the Stockholm-based Swedish mobile communications group, has emerged as a strong contender to secure one of Ireland's four third-generation (3G) mobile licenses. The deadline for final submission of applications to the Irish regulator is 27 March.Ireland plans to announce the winners of...
