TOKYO—J-Phone, a subsidiary of Vodafone Group, announced that it will launch third-generation (3G) service in Japan on 30 June. NTT DoCoMo which launched the FOMA 3G service on 1 October, is scheduled to expand its service area to all major cities around the country...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—The U.K. government is calling on cell-phone operators and terminal manufacturers to rapidly improve the security features of handsets to halt a steep increase in street crime involving cell-phone theft. The Home Office released figures that showed more than 700,000 phones were...
LONDON—The owners of Vizzavi Europe, a mobile portal formed in May 2000, announced a revised revenue model, along with the departure of the company's chief executive officer (CEO) and a reduction in 100 jobs across Europe.Vodafone Group and Vivendi Universal said their joint venture...
BEIJING—Vodafone Group plc plans to invest $35 million in China Mobile subsidiary Aspire Holdings to acquire a 9.9-percent stake. Vodafone already has a 2-percent share in China Mobile (Hong Kong).Hewlett-Packard Co. will increase its investment in Aspire to 7 percent, a stake valued at...
NEW YORK—The U.S.-based Wireless Advertising Association announced it will merge with the United Kingdom-based Wireless Marketing Association in order to foster the mobile marketing industry and protect the interests of consumers, the new group said.The new group, which will run under the new Mobile...
LONDON—Vodafone Group plc said it began global payment trials in the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy. The trials are intended to test the global carrier's payment platform.Full commercial service, which allows customers to make purchases with mobile devices, for the three countries will begin...
MADRID, Spain-Vodafone Group plc completed live international roaming calls using the UMTS 3GPP wireless standard between Vodafone's operations in Madrid, Spain, and J-Phone in Tokyo.The calls were made with a Qualcomm Inc. MSM5200 chipset-based handset using SIM technology from the J-Phone network, and completed...
PARIS—France has set 16 May as its deadline for candidates to submit bids for two remaining third-generation (3G) licenses. Winners will be announced by the end of September.This year's attempted sale of four 3G licenses ended with only two licenses being awarded due to...
COPENHAGEN, Denmark—Danish carrier TDC Mobile has partnered with Vodafone Group to develop and market international roaming products and services to international travelers and corporate customers.The first service to be offered to TDC's customers during the first quarter of 2002 will be Vodafone's Eurocall, a...
TOKYO—Vodafone Group announced that its Spanish and Japanese subsidiaries completed what it called the world's first third-generation (3G) roaming call.The call was made between an executive of Vodafone Spain, formerly called Airtel, and an executive of J-Phone Company in Japan using a Japanese single-mode...
MADRID, Spain—Vodafone Group plc completed live international roaming calls using the UMTS 3GPP wireless standard between Vodafone's operations in Madrid, Spain and J-Phone in Tokyo.The calls were made with a Qualcomm Inc. MSM5200 chipset-based handset using SIM technology from the J-Phone network, and completed...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—Hutchison has signed a crucial network sharing deal with British Telecommunications' former wireless division, mmO2. The agreement will allow Hutchison's subscribers to make and receive calls using mmO2's second-generation (2G) network when out of range of its own third-generation (3G) network. The...
AUCKLAND, New Zealand—Vodafone New Zealand selected Nortel Networks to provide a packet backbone network that will connect Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington and allow the carrier to offer new secure services to more than 1 million subscribers.The US$2.8 million contract will provide Vodafone New Zealand...
BEIJING—Two regulations banning foreign investment in China's telecom carriers will be abolished on 11 December, when China effectively joins the World Trade Organization (WTO).The two regulations are the "Provisional Regulations on the Administration of Examining and Approving Telecommunications Business" issued on 11 September, 1993,...
BUCHAREST, Romania—Albania's newest mobile telephone operator, Vodafone Albania, said it is building out its network at record speed. Vodafone Albania has extended its coverage since its August launch and is expected to cover 72 percent of the population within the next six months.Vodafone-Albania launched...
NEW YORK—Vivendi Universal has deployed MyNetonomy , developed by U.S.-based Netonomy, as the portal through which customers can purchase, activate and personalize services on Universal Music Mobile (UMM).Launched commercially in late September, the service delivers Vivendi Universal's music-oriented content over the GSM network of...
HELSINKI, Finland—Nokia won a contract from Vodafone Hungary as its sole supplier for a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network. The system is expected to be operational in December.Nokia is Vodafone Hungary's sole GSM supplier as well.Allgon reports job cutsTABY, Sweden—Allgon announced its Business...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—While Europe's major cell-phone operators remain cautious about their launch plans for third-generation (3G) services, Hutchison Whampoa, which owns 3G licenses in the United Kingdom and Italy, has confirmed deployment plans for September 2002. According to Canning Fok, group managing director of...
WOODBURY, N.Y.—Comverse has been chosen to provide its unified messaging solution to Portugal's Vodafone, a mobile operator that has 2.6 million cellular customers and holds 35 percent of the market share in the country.Comverse's solution gives consumers a "one-stop" communications account with which they...
HELSINKI, Finland—Nokia Corp. says that it has won a contract with Vodafone Hungary to supply its complete GPRS core network as well as the upgrade of both the existing radio access network and the network management system."The system will help drive the growth of...
BEIJING—U.K.-based Vodafone opened a representative office in Beijing on 9 November. Foreign operators must have a representative office for three years before they can set up a joint venture with a Chinese carrier after China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Vodafone wants...
BELLEVUE, Washington, United States—InfoSpace and Vodafone Australia announced they are extending their business agreement in a move to continue to work together to offer wireless Internet services in Australia.The companies began working together in April of last year and have since introduced Wireless Application...
