1999

ATHENS-Smart Tourist Guide is the latest offering from Greek cellular operator Telestet. With the new offering, callers can dial 1230 within 500 meters of any one of 18 popular Greek …

MELBOURNE, Australia-Someone is just settling into a film or play, conversing intimately in a restaurant or addressing the ball at the first hole-and a mobile phone ring interrupts. While usually …

BUCHAREST, Romania-Until recently, the dominant system in European paging was POCSAG. POCSAG paging networks, designed and installed 20 years ago, are now significantly overloaded and have reached the end of …

SINGAPORE-As Vietnam’s mobile phone market tries to recover from the effects of the Asian economic downturn, increasing damage is being caused by regulations and business practices that heavily favor national …

The Americans are at it again. Letters from the U.S. Secretary of State to the European Commission are demanding the commission put pressure on ETSI to prioritize development of CDMA …

NEW YORK-Wireless carriers can only imagine scaling back their costly call-flooded customer support centers and slashing the overhead that comes with them. And wireless users long to regain those wasted …

BANGALORE, India-Foreign investors are reconsidering their investments in India, with press reports naming several European and U.S. companies lining up to back out of operations there. Swisscom, the Switzerland-based telecommunications …

The second mobile satellite company in less than a month filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a U.S. court at the end of August. ICO Global Communications Holdings and three …

DUBLIN, Ireland-National industry regulators have one of the most difficult jobs in the telecommunications world and face criticism from consumers, network operators and government. But the role of the regulator …

TOKYO-Nissan Motor Co., a major shareholder in nine Japanese cellular companies, will sell all its stakes to Japan Telecom Co. (JT) and DDI Corp. and withdraw from the second-generation cellular …

Dear Editor: I just received your July-August issue of Global Wireless and read with great interest the article on pages 22-23 titled, “Middle East: Region Sees More Hints of Privatization.” …

More than 660,000 U.S. and Canadian customers subscribed to GSM wireless service in the second quarter of 1999, according to the North American GSM Alliance. This brings the total number …

BANGALORE, India-Posting a negative growth in its subscriber base, India’s paging industry has plunged into a deep crisis. During the last fiscal year the country’s subscriber base shrank by 100,000 …

HONG KONG-Paging subscriber numbers continue to fall in Hong Kong, while the popularity of cellular keeps rising as stiff competition among the six cellular carriers drives down tariffs close to …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-PCS arrived in South America a year ago, and various signs already point to its success. Already, one PCS operator in Chile has surpassed the number of subscribers …

ATLANTA-Satyam Enterprises Ltd., a regional partner of LHS Group Inc., said Global System for Mobile communications operator Fascel Ltd. in Gujarat, India, selected LHS’ client/server-based customer-care and billing system, BSCS, …

NEW YORK-WinStar Communications Inc. said it received a spectrum grant for Hamburg and Cologne, Germany. The company paid a nominal license fee for these grants, which are in the 26 …

Sprint PCS said when it launches its wireless Web services in late September, customers could have access to the Internet in as fast as five to seven seconds. 3Com Corp. …

SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. and Autotrac Comercio e Telecomunicacoes S.A. of Brazil formed a joint venture to bring the OmniTracs mobile information management system to Argentina. The OmniTracs system provides two-way …

NEW YORK-Bell Atlantic Corp. said Sept.1 it will merge its Carrier Services and Telecom Industry Services groups to enhance the level of service to other telecommunications carriers and improve efficiency. …

Everywhere you look it seems wireless companies are declaring bankruptcy. Iridium, NextWave and Metro PCS all are trying to beat their way through the complex jungle of Chapter 11 bankruptcy …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission will ask a federal appeals court to review its decision that eliminated FCC rules on how telecommunications carriers use information about their customers. The U.S. Court …

WASHINGTON-Geotek Communications Inc. creditors blasted the proposed antitrust settlement between the Justice Department and Nextel Comm-unications Inc., while government lawyers continued to fight to limit the creditors’ participation in the …

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio-Horizon Personal Communications Inc., an affiliate of The Chillicothe Telephone Co., expanded its management agreement with Sprint PCS to include 15 new markets in the Shenandoah Valley, northern West …

Adding to the mounting woes of the mobile satellite services industry, ICO Global Communications reportedly filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late last week. Reuters news service broke the story, …