Austria
Nokia Corp. will supply its MetroHopper Radio, a wireless access link antenna using the 58 GHz frequency band for transmission, for base station access to Austrian mobile operator Max.mobile. Nokia said the agreement also includes a full range of professional services.
China
Ericsson Inc. signed five contracts valued at $176 million to expand China Unicom’s GSM 900 networks in five provinces in China: Jilin, Sichuan, Jiangsu, Anhui and Hubei. Ericsson said its two key manufacturing joint ventures in China, Beijing Ericsson Mobile Communications Co. Ltd. and Nanjing Ericsson Mobile Communications Co. Ltd., will supply the equipment and services. The expansion projects are scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.
China’s Fujian Mobile Communications Corp. and Nokia Corp. launched a GPRS network, compliant with the SMG31 standard, in the city of Fuzhou, in Fujian province. Nokia said the SMG31 standard enables the core network to cope with equipment from other vendors, as well as providing the ability to roam between operator networks.
Mexico
Glenayre Technologies Inc. and Mexican personal interactive communications company Movil@ccess are launching commercial two-way wireless messaging service in Mexico. The first of the ReFLEX-based networks was installed in Mexico City, with similar networks planned for Monterrey and Guadalajara. Movil@ccess plans to purchase quantities of Glenayre’s @ctiveLink two-way wireless messaging modules, designed to work with the Handspring Visor personal digital assistant and Access Link II two-way wireless messaging device.
Philippines
Nokia Corp. signed a $300 million agreement with Smart Communications Inc. to expand Smart’s nationwide GSM network in the Philippines. Nokia will install dual-band GSM 900 and GSM 1800 equipment, including mobile switches and its UltraSite base stations designed to support EDGE and wideband CDMA. Nokia will also supply upgrades for additional GPRS capabilities enabling Smart to introduce mobile Internet services.
