1999

United Kingdom British Telecommunications plc is close to a deal with Viag, the German utility, that would give it access to the Austrian telecom market and more control in Switzerland, the Financial Times reported. BT will take a 50-percent stake …

HELSINKI-Telefonica Moviles of Spain, with approximately 8 million cellular subscribers, signed an agreement with Nokia Corp. for the deployment of a General Packet Radio Services core network. Also, Nokia and the Shanghai branch of China United Telecommunications Corp. signed a …

Sprint PCS and Sanyo Fisher Co. announced the nationwide availability of the Sprint PCS SCP-4000 dual-band, Internet-ready wireless phone by Sanyo. The phone offers access to the Sprint PCS Wireless Web via an integral Web mini browser. With the optional …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden-L.M. Ericsson announced it received orders from three European mobile operators for its GSM Pro system. GSM Pro enables mobile phones to operate like two-way radios, adding group communications functions to Global System for Mobile communications technology. Switzerland’s Swisscom, …

LONDON-Cable & Wireless plc reported revenues for the six months of $7.3 billion, a 25-percent increase from the $5.9 billion reported for the same period the previous year. The company recorded earnings of $5.6 billion, or 23 cents per share, …

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.-Phone.com Inc. released beta version 4.0 of its UP.SDK software development kit, providing the wireless developer community with a Wireless Application Protocol version 1.1 compliant development environment. The SDK is available free of charge, the company said.

NEW YORK-The astounding success of NTT DoCoMo’s mobile Internet access service is a resounding note of affirmation to proponents of wireless Web services, said Crispin K. Vicars at the Yankee Group’s conference Nov. 8. By the end of September, DoCoMo’s …

The House, over protests from the White House and some congressional Democrats, last week approved legislation to make electronic signatures legal. The measure, which passed by a 356-66 margin, comes as more and more commerce moves to the Internet, which …

Dear Editor: I’d like to offer a short response to Scott Adam’s letter to the editor in your Nov. 8 edition, “Protected spectrum counters efficient use of spectrum.” I believe Mr. Adams is much closer to AMTA’s position than he …

Crown Castle International Corp. plans to acquire about 2,300 towers through a joint venture with GTE Corp. Crown Castle has a similar joint venture agreement with Bell Atlantic Corp., which is in the process of acquiring GTE. Including the GTE …

LA PAZ, Bolivia-A group led by Western Wireless Corp. won a tender to operate a new nationwide personal communications services system in Bolivia. The bid was for $15.3 million, according to the Bolivian government. Western Wireless will operate the 20-year …

GENEVA-A group of radio experts on IMT-2000, which met in Helsinki, Finland between Oct. 25 and Nov. 5, have approved a set of terrestrial and satellite radio interface specifications for IMT-2000 that will allow mobile operators to evolve their pre-IMT-2000 …

BEDMINSTER, N.J.-Bell Atlantic Mobile said it plans to introduce its Web Access service this month, designed to allow customers to obtain Internet-based content on their wireless handsets. The service will be available on Qualcomm 860 Web-enabled phones, which also will …

Dear Editor: I have been a customer of AT&T Wireless in the New York region for several years. During this time, I have utilized the service from a home base in Manhattan, central New Jersey and northern New Jersey. Over …

PARIS-In Fusio, a games development and animation provider, announced it has joined forces with Webraska, a provider of mapping and guidance services for Wireless Application Protocol phones, to create location-based games for Internet-enabled phones.

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is expected to revise wireless enhanced 911 rules that would eliminate the cost-recovery obligation that now must be met before E911 services have to be deployed. The move faced heavy lobbying from wireless carriers, two associations …

SAN FRANCISCO-Act now! GSM carriers need to deploy wireless data today, speakers told Global System for Mobile communications operators at last week’s GSM in North America conference here. Carriers need to get data applications into the hands of consumers before …

STAMFORD, Conn.-AT&T Corp. jumped from fifth to second place in Corporate Branding L.L.C.’s latest annual ranking of telecommunications companies, the firm said. Motorola Inc. retained the study’s top spot, while GTE Corp. was bumped from second to third. “Acquisitions and …

SWINDON, United Kingdom-BT Cellnet, using Motorola Inc.’s Network Solutions Sector’s core General Packet Radio Services network solution, said it successfully achieved a live GPRS data transfer call over a Global System for Mobile communications network. The call demonstrates the first …

CARROLLTON, Texas-CellStar Corp. said it signed a three-year agreement to distribute wireless phones, airtime cards and related accessories, as well as customized packaging, returns management and product repair services, for Topp Telecom Inc.

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla.-Motorola Inc. said it has added InfoBeam technology from JP Systems to the PageWriter 2000X, extending microbrowser functionality to the two-way pager to enable news, sports scores, weather forecasts, traffic reports, movie schedules and restaurant listings on the …

ICO Global Communications announced the first $150 million in interim debtor-in-possession financing offer led by Craig McCaw and his Eagle River Investments L.L.C. affiliate has been approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, as well as courts in Bermuda and the …

LAS VEGAS-Following are the winners of the tower industry’s Excellence in Business Awards sponsored by RCR and Shorecliff Communications Inc. The winners were announced last week at the 1999 Tower Summit & Trade Show in Las Vegas. Most Innovative Collocation …

WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association continued its fight to have the spectrum cap removed. In a petition for reconsideration filed last week at the Federal Communications Commission, CTIA said it was patently inappropriate for government to keep the cap in …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission last week proposed 24 GHz auction rules that would aid small businesses and possibly rural telephone companies. The FCC plan provides bidding credits of 15 percent and 25 percent to small businesses and very small businesses, …