2001

BRUSSELS, Belgium—The European Commission (EC) has published new safety standards on electromagnetic fields for mobile-phone manufacturers. The limits, which “will not expose users to excessive electromagnetic waves,” will apply to mobile phones market within the European Union, an EC statement …

COPENHAGEN, Denmark—TDC said it is seeking to take control over Polish cellular operator Polkomtel, according to international press reports. It currently holds 19.6 percent of the carrier.However, the Danish company said it would likely achieve the takeover through an alliance …

HELSINKI, Finland—Nokia Corp. has agreed with Twentieth Century Fox International to offer its mobile-phone users in Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom screensavers and logos of the movie Planet of the Apes through the Club Nokia Web site.“We are pleased …

SAN JOSE, California, United States—Analyst firm Gartner Dataquest said worldwide semiconductor revenue this year will be $168.1 billion, a 26-percent drop from last year.“There are few signs of growth in design wins. Component prices and lead times are still low, …

SILVER SPRING, Maryland, United States—Wireless service provider IMC WorldCell announced it now offers Iridium Satellite phones and service, expanding WorldCell coverage to hard-to-reach places across the globe. Traveling WorldCell customers can rent Iridium Satellite handsets before their departure and have …

SAN DIEGO, United States—Device makers Hanwha and Synertek have signed a memoranda of understanding to port Qualcomm’s Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless platform to their handheld devices.“More than 3,300 developers have downloaded the free BREW software development kit since its …

SUFFERN, New York, United States—Acticon Technologies, Suffern, N.Y., developer of PC card modems and other PCMCIA form factor communications, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Ositech Communications Inc., a Canadian company headquartered in Guelph, Ontario.PCMIA is the acronym for …

FALLS CHURCH, Virginia, United States—Motorola said it has sold its Integrated Information Systems Group to defense contractor General Dynamics for US$825 million in a deal expected to close within 60 days.The Motorola unit, which employs 3,000, hopes to make US$830 …

TABY, Sweden—Aspiro has agreed to deliver GlobalDining’s mobile restaurant directory and reservation network to its customers throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia.According to Aspiro, the agreement, which is subsidized entirely by participating restaurants, will for the first time provide …

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—Telecom Personal presented a signed agreement with Lotus to enable its cellular clients to access various mobile services based on WAP from their terminals. This will allow corporate users to have instant access to their company’s intranet information …

NEW YORK—Celltick Technologies, an Israeli interactive mobile broadcasting solution developer founded in March 2000, received US$10 million in follow-on venture financing it will use to accelerate marketing in Europe and Asia, the company said 8 August.Celltick is trialing its technology …

LONDON—Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC) has announced it has awarded a joint contract to Swedish telecom heavyweight Ericsson and Finnish mobile giant Nokia. Under the terms of the deal the two companies will undertake a project to expand the kingdom’s mobile-phone …

LONDON—Saudi Business Machines (SBM), the general marketing and services representative for IBM WTC in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, announced it has completed the installation of the largest-ever computer project in the Middle East.The completed project has been designed to …

NEW YORK—KPMG will conduct a survey to measure smart card use in North America, according to a 6 August announcement of The Smart Card Alliance, formed earlier this year by the combination of the Smart Card Forum and the Smart …

LOS ANGELES-Oberthur Card Systems announced that with $3.3 million, it has acquired the remaining 50 percent of Rapsodia Software from French customer relationship management company, Prosodie. “We set our sights a while ago on making the shift from being a …

BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom-Mobile-phone maker Sendo today announced it signed an agreement with Italian telecommunications operator Wind Telecomunnicazioni, which calls for Wind to sell Sendo’s S200 phones through its retail outlets in Italy. This is up-start Sendo’s fourth major carrier agreement.

ASHBURN, Va.-Comsearch announced it has been selected for the fourth consecutive year as the official frequency coordinator for the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association for its upcoming Wireless I.T. & Internet show. Comsearch uses its frequency analysis software, IQ.Clear, and …

MILAN, Italy-Control of Italy’s largest telecom company, Telecom Italia, has changed hands, with Pirelli, an Italian tire and cable company, and Edizione, the holding company for the Italian Benetton family, buying a 23-percent stake in Olivetti for about $6.1 billion. …

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla.-Wireless messaging is now officially history. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History selected Motorola Inc.’s PageWriter 2000 as part of the museum’s permanent collections. Introduced Sept. 10, 1996, the PageWriter was the world’s first two-way text messaging, …

It was a pretty violent descent. The plane was being tossed around like an ice cube in a cocktail shaker. I decided there was only one safe course of action. I blacked out. Coming round in the airport terminal, it …

Even the last bastion has been hit. The heat of the economic slowdown is choking contract electronics manufacturers that help the major original equipment manufacturers make their phones and infrastructure equipment. The scourge of high inventory levels with the OEMs …

VANCOUVER, British Columbia-Telus Corp. completed the sale of its directory information services business to Verizon Information Services, a Yellow pages and online directory provider. Telus said it would use the $527 million in gross proceeds to pay down debt and …

WALTHAM, Mass.-BTC Mobility, a division of The Bermuda Telephone Co. Ltd., introduced Wildfire Communications Inc.’s voice-activated personal assistant service to its customers in Bermuda. The Wildfire service allows users to manage their mobile communications using voice commands, including taking messages, …

CAMPBELL, Calif.-Horizon 3, a systems integration company, announced it will partner with Luna Communications, a wireless networking solutions company, to broaden its services, product portfolio and presence. Horizon 3 will now deliver a range of Luna’s existing products and services …