OXFORD, United Kingdom—The 50 short message service (SMS) content channels being offered by the German cell-phone operator D2 Vodafone are being seen as the precursor for other service providers looking to encourage mobile data traffic use. The Yankee Group claimed that D2 is the...
WELLINGTON, New Zealand—Econet Wireless New Zealand, a subsidiary of Zimbabwe-based Econet Wireless, said it will enter New Zealand's duopoly mobile market. Econet Wireless formed a partnership with New Zealand company Hautaki, which holds third-generation spectrum.Hautaki has given Econet Wireless New Zealand access to the...
LONDON—U.K. telecom regulator Oftel imposed price controls on the country's four mobile operators, saying British consumers would save $1.2 billion during the next four years. The controls will reduce revenues for the carriers by about $884 million, Oftel said.The controls are less stringent than...
NEW YORK—Any plans to take the J-Phone wireless business of Japan Telecom public must wait until the performance of its parent improves, said Chris Gent, chief executive of Vodafone Group, which recently announced its offer to acquire a controlling interest in the Japanese carrier."Chairman...
Any plans to take the J-Phone wireless business of Japan Telecom Co. Ltd. public must wait until the performance of its parent improves, said Chris Gent, chief executive of Vodafone Group plc, which recently announced its offer to acquire controlling interest in the Japanese...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—By the end of 2003, Chris Gent, the chief executive officer of Vodafone, expects 3G handsets to be available that will enable its customers to seamlessly roam between the two main 3G standards. The company is reported to have requested handset manufacturers...
WOODBURY, N.Y.-Comverse today announced Swedish mobile carrier Europolitan Vodafone will trial Comverse's multimedia messaging service over its GPRS network.Comverse's announcement comes a week after the company released the results of a study it conducted to determine user interest in multimedia messaging services. The company...
LONDON-Vodafone Group plc launched an advertising campaign, featuring television, movie, print and outdoor media. Each version of the campaign will feature the carrier's "How Are You?" tagline. The campaign started on national television in the United Kingdom and on Pan-European television Sept. 1, with...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—While it's been generally accepted within the industry for some time, Vodafone's public admission that its third-generation (3G) network would provide much lower data speeds than originally anticipated is being seen by some industry analysts as a ploy to squeeze equipment manufacturers....
LONDON—Vodafone Group plc launched its first global advertising campaign, featuring television, movie, print and outdoor media. Each version of the campaign will feature the carrier's "How Are You?" tagline.The campaign started on national television in the United Kingdom and on pan-European television 1 September,...
WOODBURY, New York, United States—Comverse announced Swedish mobile carrier Europolitan Vodafone will trial Comverse's multimedia messaging service over its General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network.Comverse's announcement comes a week after the company released the results of a study it conducted to determine user interest...
LA JOLLA, Calif.—Bitfone Corp. released the company's flagship product, iBroker, in an effort to tap into the growing multimedia messaging market.Bitfone said its product allows users to send multimedia content using pictures and animations stored on a carrier's database, or users can wirelessly access...
LONDON—Vodafone Group plc launched its first global advertising campaign, featuring television, movie, print and outdoor media. Each version of the campaign will feature the carrier's "How Are You?" tagline.The campaign started on national television in the United Kingdom and on Pan-European television Sept. 1,...
HONG KONG-On the face of it, Hutchison Whampoa is a great success story. The company is among the leading international wireless operators and part of the giant Cheung Kong (Holdings), which in May announced after-tax profits of US$8 billion on a market capitalization of...
BUCHAREST, Romania-Most countries in Western Europe have awarded third-generation (3G) licenses at high fees to a few operators. Companies are expecting revenue from the services within a decade, according to consulting companies.A report from the UMTS Forum released in April said users of 3G...
DUBLIN, Ireland-The recent decision of the European competition commissioner to sanction raids on U.K. and German mobile operators as part of investigations into collusion over roaming charges came as little surprise to most industry observers. It is becoming increasingly difficult for operators to explain...
AlcatelParis. With Orascom Telecom for the supply and installation of GSM solutions in the Middle East and Africa.Value: Undisclosed. Brazil. With Telemar for a GSM 1800/GPRS network in Brazil.Value: US$275 millionMoscow. With ZAO SMARTS for GSM 900 MHz solutions to extend networks in the...
A U.S. federal appeals court rejected a Federal Communications Commission filing asking that it not be required to return personal communications services licenses to bankrupt carrier NextWave Telecom Inc. NextWave, however, will probably not gain control of the licenses for some time and the...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Nokia Corp. said it has signed a UMTS contract to deliver core network and radio access for Europolitan Vodafone.Nokia will begin deliveries this month and will launch the network next year, according to the agreement.
STOCKHOLM—Ericsson said it intends to claim 20 percent of the CDMA market by 2004, even as it identified five carriers as its major customer focus. The carriers include Vodafone Group plc of the United Kingdom, France Telecom SA, Deutsche Telekom AG, Telefonica SA of...
DUESSELDORF, Germany—German prosecutors are investigating whether executives of Vodafone Group plc and Mannesmann received illegal compensation from the companies' US$180 billion merger, according to the Associated Press.Prosecutors said in a statement they were looking at both Vodafone executive Chris Gent and former Mannesmann executives,...
TOKYO—The board of directors for the four J-Phone Communications Co. Ltd. companies; East, Central, West and Japan Telecom, agreed to merge their companies into a single J-Phone structure.The merged company, to be named J-Phone Co. Ltd., is expected to provide faster decision-making processes, increased...
