Vodafone to delay 3G plans due to handset shortageVodafone Group plc said it might delay the launch of its third-generation network until 2003 due to a shortage of handsets. Vodafone confirmed its was cutting back the deployment of 3G base stations in the United...
GREECEGreece has awarded three Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses, one less than it had planned, when a fourth bidder failed to emerge. The country's three incumbent operators, CosmOTE, owned 59 percent by OTE; Panafon Vodafone, owned 55 percent by Vodafone Group; and Stet Hellas,...
BRUSSELS, Belgium-The European Commission made surprise raids on nine mobile operators in the United Kingdom and Germany last week to investigate alleged price fixing, according to international press reports. The commission was reportedly looking for evidence of collective fixing of consumer retail prices and...
British Telecommunications' wireless unit, BT Wireless, slipped from the No. 2 wireless operator in the United Kingdom during the second quarter, falling behind perennial leader Vodafone Group and new runner up Orange SA.BT Wireless added 301,000 customers in the United Kingdom during the quarter,...
WOODBURY, N.Y.-South African carrier Vodacom, part of the Vodafone Group, selected Comverse to provide its 5 million-customer base with call-return service, which allows users to easily return voicemail calls."Vodacom's Callback represents another useful service that Comverse has added to its current voicemail boxes, which...
AustraliaTelstra Wholesale and Vodafone Australia announced a new three-year generic access agreement deal that they said will replace previous agreements and further enhance the ongoing relationship between the two companies. The new agreement, which takes effect immediately, is for transmission and interconnect products.CanadaSiGEM Inc.,...
Just beating a federally mandated deadline, Verizon Wireless sold off its Chicago interests in PrimeCo Personal Communications last week to a telecommunications investment group led by Southern California-based Clarity Partners L.P. Other members of the investment group include Pacific Capital Group Inc., Trimaran Capital...
Telia sells remaining Vodafone sharesSTOCKHOLM, Sweden-Telia said it sold the remaining 66.5 million Vodafone shares it owned for about $147.1 million.When Irish telecom operator Eircom disposed of its mobile business, Eircell, Eircom shareholders were offered Vodafone shares as consideration. Telia, which indirectly holds 14...
MELBOURNE, Australia-Most of the major telecommunications carriers to have successfully bid at the recent Australian 2 GHz spectrum auctions plan to adopt wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) for third-generation (3G) services.Cable & Wireless Optus and Vodafone operate GSM digital mobile services; Hutchison has a CDMA network. All...
HELSINKI, Finland-There is an old saying in Norway that declares "true arrogance is a city inhabited by Swedes." However generalized and over the top that expression may be in the 21st century, it still retains general currency status as to how Sweden's Nordic neighbors,...
DUBLIN, Ireland-Opinion is divided on the identity of the "killer applications" that will allow operators to make a return on their significant investments in General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and third-generation (3G) technology. But while operators develop prototype services and grapple with technical difficulties...
AlcatelChina. With China Unicom for CDMA equipment for a national network.Value: US$157 millionChina. With Gansu Mobile, Shanxi Mobile and Ning Xia Mobile for GSM expansion contracts.Value: UndisclosedThailand. With CP Orange for a nationwide GSM 1800 MHz network.Value: US$332 millionDatangChina. With China Unicom for CDMA equipment for a...
SEATTLE, Wash.-Wireless carrier Vodafone UK said it is collaborating with software giant Microsoft Corp. to launch the Vodafone OfficeLive which provides corporate customers access to personal information management systems anytime, any place and from a variety of mobile devices. The solution will offer corporate...
Verizon Wireless is considering either using wideband-CDMA technology as its third-generation network standard or adding the technology to its CDMA-based network. Company spokespeople assert the move is not new-or news-but it is nonetheless representative of the murky realm of 3G wireless issues and carriers'...
A few years back RCR Wireless News ran a story that said AT&T Corp. was exploring-just studying the possibility, mind you-of implementing a CDMA overlay onto its TDMA network, and we incurred the wrath of AT&T CEO John Zeglis.My, how times have changed.Today carriers...
As European telecom companies pant under spectrum's debt burden and fret over possible third-generation rewards, a market research firm thinks the future is worthy of the torture."Mobile operators will share in a mobile voice and data market of $1.5 trillion-with cumulative 3G revenues exceeding...
WOODBURY, N.Y.-Comverse, a unit of Comverse Technology Inc., announced its Intelligent Short Message Service Center (ISMSC) was selected by Airtel Mobil, a mobile operator in Spain and part of the Vodafone Group.Airtel will implement Comverse's short message service solutions, which is based on a...
FRANKFURT, Germany-In a win for new entrants in Germany's mobile market, RegTP, the German telecom regulator, said it would allow the country's six Universal Mobile Telecommunications System license holders to share parts of their new 3G networks. The ruling will certainly ease the cost...
Deutsche Telekom's recent acquisition of U.S.-based GSM operator VoiceStream Wireless Corp. again showed the ever-shrinking nature of the wireless industry. Including United Kingdom-based Vodafone Group plc's partial ownership stake in Verizon Wireless and Japan's NTT DoCoMo's interest in AT&T Wireless Services Inc., international telecommunications...
Monopoly claims on Microsoft Corp. might go out the window in the wireless space as major vendors, developers and operators expect to leverage both the software giant's .NET and Java 2 Enterprise Edition platforms for third-generation Web services, according to industry watchers."The evolution to...
NEW YORK-Vodafone Group plc introduced international roaming for its prepaid mobile-phone customers on its networks across Europe. The service, already available to Vodafone's postpaid customers, follows the launch of Vodafone Eurocall and Home Services international prepaid roaming services.The new international prepaid service, introduced recently...
Worldwide rollout of next-generation wireless services went 2 for 1 last week as both Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo and U.K.-based Vodafone Group plc introduced handsets for high-speed data services, while Finnish operator Sonera said it was delaying its rollout due to a lack of...
After a year in which its global customer base increased from 53 million customers to a staggering 83 million customers, U.K.-based Vodafone Group plc said it will turn its attention this year from rounding up more subscribers to making money off the ones it...
Most in the wireless industry are convinced that for wireless Internet access to succeed wireless operators have to tear down their current walled-garden plans that limit customer access to a set number of wirelessly enabled Web sites. Some wireless operators have heeded said advice...
