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...
BRAZILTranscrypt International Inc.'s subsidiary, EFJohnson Co., has been awarded a $2 million contract to supply its LTR-Net communication system to the State of Santa Catarina Police Department in Brazil, linking the majority of Brazil's large metropolitan areas.IRELANDThe offer that UBS Warburg Ltd. made on...
In a dramatic move to bolster its value and trim debt, British Telecom said last week it would spin off its wireless unit, BT Wireless, as a separately traded company, and temporarily suspend dividend payments. The telecom giant said it expects the moves to...
If teens remain `talkaholics' and have fun doing it, Voyant Technologies wants to provide the fuel.With an instant voice-messaging solution in a next-generation environment, the company thinks it is ready to bring new spice to voice communications when it launches the product by the...
LONDON-Vodafone Group said it agreed to sell its 100-percent equity stake in Austrian telecommunications company tele.ring for an undisclosed amount to U.S.-based Western Wireless International. Vodafone said the value of the net assets being disposed represents less than 1 percent of Vodafone's net assets.The...
LONDON-Vodafone Group plc has agreed to pay $6.9 billion total for British Telecommunications plc's interests in Japan and Spain.The sale includes BT's 20-percent stake in Japan Telecom and its 20-percent stake in J-Phone Communications, JT's mobile subsidiary, making Vodafone the largest shareholder of JT...
TOKYO-Vodafone Group, the largest mobile carrier in the world, announced in May it will acquire British Telecommunications' (BT) entire stake in Japan Telecom Group (JT) for 652.3 billion yen (US$5.4 billion). Following the deal, Vodafone Group will hold a 45-percent stake in Japan Telecom...
GENEVA-How the mighty have fallen. British Telecommunications (BT), once ranked among the world's most powerful carriers, is finding itself buckling under a crippling mountain of debt in a climate where raising equity in the telecom/information technology (IT) sector has hit an all-time low. In...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-The announcement by NTT DoCoMo of a five-month delay to its wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) launch must have been music to the ears of Irwin Jacobs, the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Qualcomm. While the major wireless operators in Europe have remained...
