TOKYO-NTT DoCoMo has been gearing up its global strategy, concluding one investment agreement after another. Since December 1999, it has invested in carriers in Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Britain.At the end of November 2000, DoCoMo announced another big deal with a U.S. carrier,...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-Despite the promotional efforts of developers and mobile operators, the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) was roundly condemned by industry observers as being "unfit for purpose" during most of last year. The technology suffered from all the ills associated with pushing an unstable...
BEIJING-According to Beijing-based consultancy BDA, reports of the death of the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) in China have been greatly exaggerated, as 69 million people in China will be accessing the Internet over their mobile phones by 2004. China Mobile will begin charging fees...
MIAMI-Conectium, a mobile Internet solutions provider, opened facilities in Bogot , Colombia, and Buenos Aires, Argentina.The company said it is expanding its offering across the Americas to become the leading pan-regional, private-label Wireless Application Protocol portal development company.Conectium already has offices in Caracas, Venezuela,...
Digital PagingDigital Paging Co. released its new Hit plus pager, which the company said can carry three different frequencies. The pager also features a hands-on screen programming function, and has an inputted pass code option for resellers. The Hit plus, as well as all...
HONG KONG-The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is generally regarded with something between scorn and indifference in Hong Kong among industry sources, and mobile operators will not even reveal subscriber numbers for the service.This contrasts with the bullish claims of Scott Goldman, chief executive officer...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Israel is determined not to be shaken from its pristine position of having one of the highest cellular penetration rates in the Middle East by the current unrest in the region."Penetration in Israel is growing steadily at a double-digit rate for next...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-Unlike the hype that surrounded the launch of Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) services, European mobile operators are taking a conservative approach to how General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) will be commercially deployed.This time, no TV advertisements proclaim the wonders of accessing the...
DUBLIN, Ireland-Having spent vast sums on third-generation (3G) mobile licenses, operators are hoping terminals will live up to expectations. Unlike GSM, where handsets are broadly similar in appearance, it seems likely 3G handsets will come in a number of shapes and sizes to accommodate...
China Mobile began charging for wireless Internet services beginning 21 October after twice delaying the date due to slack demand for the services, particularly by many industry professionals.However, Frost & Sullivan believes wireless Internet is exactly what the Chinese people are looking for, and...
MOSCOW-Russian wireless carriers, which this year considerably expanded their client bases thanks to radically decreased prices, registered a major average revenue per user (ARPU) decrease from more than US$215 two years ago to US$36 for one Russian carrier this year. Therefore, carriers have launched...
NEW YORK-More than any other part of telecommunications, the handset business "will go through the most severe changes in the next several years," said Jeffrey Schlesinger, wireless technology analyst for UBS Warburg in New York.Slowing rates of growth in voice communications, coupled with the...
HandsetsNeopointThe company released new dual-band and tri-mode smart phones that include increased capacity for personal digital assistant functions, built-in e-mail capabilities and a NeoPad Qwerty keyboard. The dual-band NeoPoint 2000 and tri-mode NeoPoint 2600 phones hold more than 2,000 contacts, schedule, task and personal...
CHICAGO, United States-One of the first commercial deployments of Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) technology could be in Mexico next year based on presentations and interviews at the PCIA GlobalXchange event in late September. Mexico's largest wireless carrier, Telcel, plans to roll...
Seven companies set up a TD-SCDMA Technical Forum in Beijing. TD-SCDMA is a third-generation (3G) mobile-phone standard developed by the China Academy of Telecommunications Technology (CATT) and Siemens. The seven companies that set up the forum are China Mobile, China Unicom, Datang, Huawei, Motorola,...
TORONTO-Now that the C$6.6 billion (US$4.3 billion) Telus deal to acquire Clearnet Communications has been finalized, engineering issues are starting to surface.The challenge? How to combine the wireless operations of Telus and Clearnet and determine the best path for third-generation (3G) services. The new...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-A survey of U.K. businesses has found more than 70 percent have no intention of implementing the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) in the near future, while just 15 percent have already done so, and only 14 percent have plans to. According to...
MEXICO CITY-Telcel, Mexico's largest wireless operator, launched commercial wireless Internet services using Phone.com's Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) platform. The commercial service launch marks the mobile carrier's spinoff from parent company Telmex. Telcel will be part of America M
NEW DELHI, India-Total Access Communications (TAC), Thailand's second-largest mobile operator, has announced an expansion and financial restructuring with the help of its Norwegian partner Telenor, which has pumped US$260 million into the company.TAC plans to launch a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) service by the...
NEW YORK-More than any other part of telecommunications, the handset business "will go through the most severe changes in the next several years," said Jeffrey Schlesinger, wireless technology analyst for UBS Warburg, New York.Slowing rates of growth in voice communications, coupled with the lag...
BEIJING-According to China Unicom President Wang Jianzhou, prices of mobile-phone equipment have dropped to such an extent that capital expenditure per subscriber has decreased 40 percent since June last year. Fast subscriber growth is also a contributing factor.China Unicom has added 700,000 subscribers in...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-Now that NTT DoCoMo has a financial interest in a U.K. third-generation license holder, the prospect of i-mode mobile Internet services being deployed in Europe is firmly on the agenda. The Japanese operator earlier this year formed a joint venture, called 3G...
SAO PAULO, Brazil-Two issues characterized the Brazilian cellular market during the first half of the year-an increase in subscriber numbers and the rollout of more advanced services.Latin America in general saw an explosion of prepaid services, but in Brazil, prepaid subscriptions overcame all operator...
