2002

BEIJING-The 3G Planning Group of the State Information Office of the Chinese government has discussed a proposal to waive royalties on TD-SCDMA equipment to attract more manufacturers to produce equipment …

MIAMI-Selby Communications announced at last week’s Tower Summit & Trade Show that it has secured contracts valued at $30 million with Orascom Telecom, an African and Asian GSM operator. Selby …

TOKYO-Matsushita Electric Industrial and Nokia announced they would jointly develop a platform for letting a mobile handset and an audio visual (AV) device communicate with each other. Following the agreement, …

WASHINGTON-None of the 33 mobile phones tested by the Wireless Consumers Alliance meet the Federal Communications Commission’s 911 strongest-signal rules adopted in 1999, WCA charges in a series of lawsuits …

LAS VEGAS-Eight industry players received awards at the Comdex show from Andrew Seybold’s Outlook 4Mobility for their contributions to the wireless industry. The companies include AT&T Wireless Services Inc., Digit …

HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia said Brazilian operator Oi has launched multimedia message service (MMS) using equipment from Nokia. The company said MMS accounted for three messages per user per day during the …

OSLO, Norway-Despite growing speculation that owner France T

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-NII Holdings concluded the renegotiation of its debt with its creditors, reducing it from US$2.8 billion to less than US$500 million, in exchange for 64 percent of the …

BOSTON-Verizon Communications Inc. launched wireless local area network services in the Boston area allowing businesses to purchase equipment and services using either the 802.11b or 802.11a network standard from the …

CAMBRIDGE, U.K.-ARM Ltd. and M-Systems, Kfar Saba, Israel, have signed a technology collaboration agreement under which M-Systems’ SuperMAP cryptographic coprocessors will be optimized for use with the ARM SecureCore family …

TOKYO-Japan’s four mobile-phone operators announced plans to conduct a joint study on the possible biological effects of exposure to radio waves from mobile-phone systems. The four companies-NTT DoCoMo Inc., KDDI …

LOS ANGELES-Wireless application publisher Moviso LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vivendi Universal Net USA, announced it will begin selling prepaid phone cards for buying ring tones through a lineup …

OXFORD, United Kingdom-While being bombarded by mobile operators to use more services, cell-phone users are coming under increasing pressure from other bodies not to use their handsets. In the United …

DENVER-Qwest Communications International Inc. reported president and chief operating officer Afshin Mohebbi will resign effective Dec. 31. The company said it does not plan to fill the position. “After 20 …

BEIJING, China-Lucent Technologies Inc. said it has replaced 65 of China Unicom’s CDMA base stations with cdma2000 1x in a single day in Shanghai province. The swap-out took place swiftly …

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MANILA, The Philippines-Digital Telecommunications (Digitel) expects to launch its cellular service business by the end of the month, according to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the Philippines’ telecom watchdog. NTC’s …

NEW YORK-Zingy, a New York-based mobile entertainment provider, has entered into an agreement with Microsoft Corp. to provide MSN members with access to content that includes ringtones, screen logos, group …

BOSTON-A new handset market report shows both LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics making significant strides in the mobile phone market, while other big handset players continue to suffer in a …

FRANKFURT, Germany-Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded French vendor Alcatel’s senior debt ratings to B1 from Ba1, reflecting the company’s dwindling revenue flow, the need to downsize and lack of financial …

TOKYO-NTT DoCoMo, the dominant mobile carrier in Japan, launched a mobile handset that can be used as a television remote control as well. Users of the N504iS handset, manufactured by …

OXFORD, United Kingdom-In an attempt to bring some order into the chaotic and extended fight over mobile payment standards, the European Union (EU) has stepped in and said it will …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-The cell-phone market in Argentina returned to positive indices during the third quarter of the year, when the two major operators, Unif

REDMOND, Wash.-AT&T Wireless Services Inc. reported that Michael Keith will replace Mohan Gyani as president of its Mobility Operations beginning in January. The carrier said Gyani, who has been president …

SCARBOROUGH, Ontario-Telus Mobility said it has expanded its cdma2000 1x network throughout Canada via a combination of network buildouts in Western Canada and the implementation of a reciprocal roaming and …