2001

WYE VALLEY, United Kingdom—Electric Pocket Ltd. today released new versions of its BugMe! applications that include NotePack stationery templates, which the company said will allow Palm Inc. personal digital assistant users to enhance the style of their handwritten notes.Electric Pocket …

ORLANDO, Fla.-Triton Network Systems Inc.’s board of directors voted to liquidate the company, including inventory, property and equipment, and distribute the net proceeds to stockholders, Triton announced.The plan is subject to shareholder approval, but Triton estimates that assets available for …

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.—Motorola Inc. today announced it will add travel functions, including the ability to make flight, car and hotel reservations, to its Mobile Office Solution.The company’s mobile office product offers traveling businesspeople wireless access to corporate e-mail, calendar and address …

PALO ALTO, Calif.—Agilent Technologies Inc said it would slash about 4,000 workers just as it posted a third-quarter pro forma loss of $109 million compared to a profit of $158 million last year.The job cuts, which amount to 9 percent …

SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Intel Corp. and Symbian today announced they will team to accelerate software application development for wireless devices based on the Intel’s Personal Internet Client Architecture and the Symbian operating system.Symbian also announced its support for Intel PCA, Intel’s …

TOKYO—NTT DoCoMo Inc. said it has solved a technical problem disrupting operation of its Digital mova P503I Hyper mobile phone. The technical problems affected voice and e-mail reception of the i-appli compatible i-mode phones in certain areas where the handset …

OXFORD, United Kingdom—Broadband Mobile, a third-generation (3G) joint venture between Finland’s Sonera and Norway-based Enitel, has been closed down before it even started operations. The company, which paid more than US$22 million to the Norwegian government for its 3G license …

OXFORD, United Kingdom—Cell phone subscribers who make calls close to the borders of Spain or Italy could well find these calls being charged at international tariffs. Spanish or Italian cell phone operators have been accused of placing cell phone masts …

OXFORD, United Kingdom—BT Cellnet signed a licensing deal with Research In Motion (RIM) that enables it to launch a wireless e-mail service in Europe. The company said it plans to introduce RIM Blackberry products next month in the United Kingdom, …

MOSCOW—The St. Petersburg-based North-Western GSM and the Moscow-based Sonic Duo carrier, as well as six Russian regional operators merged into a new company, which would deal with the pan-Russian Megafon project of the Telecominvest holding.The deal, which market experts dubbed …

MOSCOW—The Ukrainian Mobile Communications (UMC) carrier announced the launch of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) test trials saying the system would be technically ready in the third quarter this year.“Equipment has arrived and we launched test trials,” said UMC Director …

MOSCOW—The Russian Security Council allowed the rebel Republic of Chechnya to restore wireless communications to a limited extent. The military fears that remaining armed Chechen separatists may use mobile communications for subversive operations, so the council decided to provide mobile …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—The communications secretariat and cellular operators announced that on 1 September, after dealing with the inconveniences that had forced the delay of its implementation last May, total calling party pays (CPP) would begin to apply for cellular users.CPP …

WOODBRIDGE, New Jersey, United States.—Cingular Interactive, a business unit of Cingular Wireless, introduced Canadian roaming service, allowing U.S.-based Corporate E-mail Plus and Interactive Messaging Plus subscribers to use their service in major metropolitan areas across Canada via the Rogers AT&T …

PLANO, Texas, United States—L.M. Ericsson has appointed Angel Ruiz as the president of its North American operations, according to a press statement. He replaces Per-Arne Sandstrom, who becomes the company’s chief operating officer. Ruiz, who has been executive vice president …

DALLAS, Texas, United States—WebLink Wireless said it reached a deal with Mexican wireless carrier Digitel to offer two-way messaging services in Mexico.“Expanding our two-way services into Mexico is something we are very excited about and have been looking forward to …

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas, United States—Telecommunications carrier Alltel made an unsolicited bid to buy rural operator CenturyTel for $9 billion, a 40 percent premium over CenturyTel’s current stock price.The proposed merger calls for CenturyTel shareholders to receive a choice of either …

LONDON—United Arab Emirates-based mobile satellite service provider, Thuraya, plans to expand its 100-country network as soon as next year. Chief Executive Yousuf Al Sayed anticipates another satellite, built by Boeing under a $960 million deal, to be launched by 2002. …

BEIJING—In July, China became the world’s biggest mobile-phone market. The country’s Ministry of Information Industry (MII) announced the country had 120.6 million mobile phone subscribers at the end of July, about half a million more than in the United States.China …

BEIJING—One of the major Chinese producers of mobile handsets, TCL, plans to enlarge its manufacturing plant from 5,000 square meters to 80,000 square meters to increase its annual capacity to 10 million handsets at the end of 2002. Construction of …

BEIJING—China Mobile (HK), the Hong Kong-listed subsidiary of China Mobile Communications based in Beijing, reported a 58.3-percent increase in net profits to CNY13.8 billion (US$1.67 billion) during the first six months of this year compared with the same period last …

BEIJING—Mobile-phone stores in China used to charge different prices for mobile-phone numbers depending on whether they are considered more lucky or less lucky. An ordinary number might be sold for CNY50 (US$6), lucky numbers, such as four nines or four …

BEIJING—China’s Ministry of Information Industry (MII) issued the first network connection certificate for CDMA wireless intelligent network equipment to Zhongxing Telecom for its ZXC10-IN wireless IN-offering.The network equipment has been tested by Unicom Horizon Communications, the China Unicom subsidiary contracted …

TOKYO—104 Inc., a leading mobile Internet platform provider, along with CMG Wireless Data Solution, a business unit of CMG Group, will jointly provide a platform for mobile Internet content distribution. The firms announced the agreement on Aug. 15. Based on …

COSTA MESA, California, United States—The CDMA Development Group said the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has recognized CDMA 1xEV-DO as a 3G IMT-2000 standard, adding that it will be submitted to the ITU-R SG-8 for formal approval at its November meeting.“It …