2001

CHICAGO-US Unwired Inc. said it will buy its competitor IWO Holdings Inc. for $459 million in stock, making it the largest Sprint PCS affiliate, coverage-wise. Analyst Ric Prentiss of Raymond James said the move is a good one because it …

WICHITA, Kansas-IFR Systems Inc. announced it was chosen to provide test equipment for the United Kingdom’s $2.4 billion BOWMAN tactical communications program. The program will provide secure voice and data communications that will serve as the major enabling technology for …

While wireless handset sales worldwide are expected to continue to climb during the next several years, those sales are expected to be driven more by replacement handsets purchased by current wireless customers than handsets purchased by new wireless customers, according …

WAYNESBORO, Va.-Continuing its sale of what it calls excess spectrum, Ntelos Inc. signed two separate definitive agreements to sell certain personal communications services licenses. The first agreement calls for Ntelos to sell a 10-megahertz D-block license for the Altoona, Pa., …

WASHINGTON-2002 offers the wayward wireless industry a chance to begin to redeem and redefine itself. But it won’t be easy, and survival skills will be essential. Indeed, with economic sluggishness persisting here and abroad, the industry is not totally in …

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.-Semiconductor provider Conexant Systems Inc. made a series of major announcements, including a merger with Alpha Industries Inc., the separation of its business into three companies and improved sales for the first quarter. Conexant said it would merge …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden-Tele2 announced a mobile virtual network operator agreement in Germany with Viag Interkom. Tele2 will use Viag’s mobile network to provide the air interface for Tele2’s fixed-line customers. The agreement will allow Tele2 to offer combined fixed and mobile …

LOS ANGELES-Purchasers of Brightpoint Inc. common stock have filed a class action lawsuit against the company, alleging false and misleading statements were made regarding the financial condition and state of the company. Law firm Weiss & Yourman will represent the …

HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia has completed a location-based technology trial test, which it claims was successful. Nokia and mobile carrier Radiolinja used Nokia’s enhanced observed time difference positioning technology in Radiolinja’s GSM network, demonstrating positioning accuracy between 50 and 100 meters. The …

Nokia Corp. continued its massive open mobile architecture standards push last week by signing up some of the world’s largest infrastructure and application server vendors, including BEA Systems Inc., Borland Software Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp., Oracle and Sun Microsystems …

PALO ALTO, Calif.-In an effort to debunk criticism of the move and rally stakeholders, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Compaq Computer Corp. released a detailed, 50-page document outlining the benefits of the proposed merger between the two companies. The companies’ release comes …

Representatives from the wireless industry are being asked to testify against Microsoft Corp. in the ongoing antitrust lawsuit against the computer software giant, each with new insight into how Microsoft is allegedly muscling into new markets and resisting cooperating with …

DALLAS-Wireless software and applications developer JP Mobile Inc. announced it acquired the assets of Isovia Inc., which provided mobile software applications for field services and sales personnel. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. “Businesses today are demanding mobile …

WASHINGTON-Amidst much political rancor, legislative wrangling and finger pointing, Congress adjourned on Thursday without passing an economic stimulus package that could have helped wireless carriers invest in their networks and operations. At various points throughout the fall, wireless carriers were …

SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. announced it will launch gpsOne-enabled handsets and their associated position location service plans from KDDI Corp. in Japan this month. Qualcomm’s gpsOne technology is integrated on its MSM3300 chip, which is included in the handset. The chip …

BEIJING-Motorola Inc. announced it won a $95 million contract to supply wireless equipment to China Mobile Communications Corp. According to the contract, Motorola will expand China Mobile’s GSM-standard networks in Beijing and Sichuan Province during 2002. The deal brings the …

Boingo Wireless Inc. launched with plans to provide wireless Internet access at speeds up to 11 Megabits per second in major hotels, airports and coffee shops. Founded by Sky Dayton, the founder and chairman of EarthLink, the company will use …

MADRID, Spain-Vodafone Group plc completed live international roaming calls using the UMTS 3GPP wireless standard between Vodafone’s operations in Madrid, Spain, and J-Phone in Tokyo. The calls were made with a Qualcomm Inc. MSM5200 chipset-based handset using SIM technology from …

Qualcomm Inc. announced it signed memoranda of understanding to provide its Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless technology to several wireless operators around the world. BellSouth in Guatemala, Telcel-BellSouth in Venezuela and Vesper in Brazil will now receive products and services …

WALL, N.J.-Centennial Communications Corp. added 11,300 wireless customers in its U.S. operations during its second quarter ended Nov. 30, compared with a loss of 12,100 customers during the same quarter last year. The carrier ended the latest quarter with 513,900 …

This sad story could have involved any wireless carrier and anybody, but the phone Lazaro Leiva allegedly talked on while driving a Ford Explorer last March happened to be connected to a Nextel Communications Inc. network. Leiva, according to the …

A new organization is being created to represent the views of American GSM and TDMA wireless carriers as they convert to third-generation wireless technologies such as GPRS, EDGE and W-CDMA. The new, as-yet-unnamed organization hopes to launch early next year. …

TOKYO-NTT DoCoMo, the leading mobile carrier in Japan, announced it will purchase additional shares of AT&T Wireless Inc. to maintain its current stake in the U.S. mobile carrier. NTT DoCoMo last year acquired a 16-percent stake in AT&T Wireless, aiming …

TAIPEI, Taiwan-Taiwan will hold Asia’s first third-generation license auction after seven companies showed interest in five licenses. Seven consortia will begin the bidding process in January, with licenses expected to be awarded by the end of the month. Minimum bids …

Shortly after Motorola Inc. reconfirmed its guidance for fourth-quarter sales and revealed another 9,400 jobs will be eliminated during the next year, the company boldly predicted it will increase its share of the global handset market from approximately 15 percent …