November 2001

TOKYO—NTT DoCoMo said it discovered a software glitch in about 1,500 FOMA N2002 third-generation (3G) handsets causing the phones to malfunction when accessing some Web sites using certain site construction …

BELLEVUE, Washington, United States—MobileGIS announced the availability of GeoMobilIT, its single platform for development and deployment of location-based services. According to MobileGIS, the new platform geographically covers the entire Earth; …

BEIJING—The number of mobile-phone subscribers in China increased to 136 million in the first 10 months of the year. The country also has 175 million fixed-line subscribers. China Mobile’s fixed-asset …

WASHINGTON—The Department of Justice and Black Crow Wireless both signed the NextWave settlement papers on 27 November. Congress is expected to shortly take up implementing legislation. A bankruptcy court must …

JAKARTA, Indonesia—Malaysia Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the country’s telecom regulator, announced a program to educate Malaysian consumers on their rights. The objective is to create a more informed society …

BEIJING—China’s Minister of Information Industry Wu Jichuan confirmed plans to split fixed-line carrier China Telecom into northern and southern parts, but denied that new mobile licenses would be issued related …

PHILADELPHIA—XO Communications Inc. announced it is fighting bankruptcy by accepting an $800 million investment that will put Mexican telecommunications company Telefonos de Mexico SA de DV and buyout firm Forstmann …

OXFORD, United Kingdom—Despite the sluggish European phone market, Toshiba announced it plans to market Taiwanese-made handsets in Europe to boost sales beyond Japan and the United States. The company, which …

HELSINKI, Finland—The research and development (R&D) divisions of Nokia and France T

OSLO, Norway—Norway’s Telenor Mobile said it will open its third-generation (3G) network on 1 December according to its license conditions. The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System network (UMTS) will initially cover …

MOSCOW—The Russian military are to abandon the 900 MHz band in the coming two years, and the government said the process will be financed by mobile carriers, which will get …

WASHINGTON—Opportunities for wireless carriers to more quickly depreciate the amount of wireless equipment installed between Sept. 11, 2001, and Sept. 11, 2002, excluding towers stalled as the House and Senate …

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SEATTLE, United States—Brazil’s Varig Airlines will launch an e-mail and Web service using technology from Tenzing Communications next year. Varig, South America’s largest airline, installed the service on the first …

REDWOOD CITY, California, United States—SkyGo has been chosen to provide Japan Mobile Communications (J-Mobile) with the wireless marketing technology to deliver advertisements across J-Sky, J-Phone’s mobile Internet service. J-Mobile, a …

WLIA adopts privacy policyWASHINGTON, D.C.—The Wireless Location Industry Association (WLIA) has adopted a new privacy policy based on the Federal Trade Commission’s Fair Information Practices policy. “No public policy issue …

PARIS—Alcatel said it was awarded a contract by Djibouti Telecom to supply a turnkey GSM network with a 25,000-subscriber capacity. The value of the contract was not disclosed. The network …

MUNICH, Germany—Polish mobile operator PTC-Era has chosen a location-based services platform from Siemens and SignalSoft for delivery via Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and short message service (SMS). PTC-Era is the …

SANTIAGO, Chile—Nortel Networks partnered with Smartcom PCS to complete its first call using cdma2000 1x equipment. “We are advancing on our plan to expand the coverage of our network and, …

LISBON, Portugal—Portuguese mobile carrier Optimus and equipment vendor Nortel Networks have completed live calls using Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) technology, according to a statement. Nortel Networks said both companies …

HONG KONG—Hong Kong’s six mobile operators announced interoperator short message service (SMS) will become available beginning 3 December. Hong Kong’s telecom regulator, the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA), hailed …

CARACAS, Venezuela—Venezuelan telecom company Cantv said it received offers for 39.7 percent of the company’s outstanding shares in its buyback offer. The company launched the offer to thwart a hostile …

BEIJING—Nokia has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Zhejiang Provincial Government of China to establish a new research and development (R&D) center to focus on software development and platform …

SINGAPORE-The number of mobile-phone subscribers in Singapore is finally shrinking following a cleaning by the major mobile-phone operators. SingTel Mobile and MobileOne (M1) have in the past few months closed …

BEIJING—NEC is having talks with Matsushita Communications Industrial to explore details of establishing an advanced cellular phone handset joint venture focusing on the Chinese market. “Consideration is under way to …