2002

LONDON-As expected, Vodafone Group plc has acquired Vivendi Universal’s 50-percent stake in the two companies’ mobile portal joint venture Vizzavi for $140.6 million. Vivendi was forced to sell the stake …

WASHINGTON-A debate is simmering at the Federal Communications Commission that could result in wireless carriers having to pay incumbent local exchange carriers significantly more to carry calls on the ILEC …

BEIJING-The number of China Unicom’s CDMA subscribers broke the 2 million mark on 15 August, according to the company. On 10 June, Unicom counted 1 million CDMA users, showing a …

DUSSSELDORF, Germany-Gloomy news from German company MobilCom has furthered the expectation of delayed UMTS service in Europe and Germany specifically. The company, which is partially owned by France Telecom, released …

RESTON, Virginia, United States-According to new findings from ComScore Networks, the audience for the wireless Web is becoming big enough that digital marketers should stand up and take interest. According …

SAN DIEGO, United States-U.S. operator Leap Wireless International has retained UBS Warburg to help the carrier explore new sources of financing and restructuring for its debt and said it will …

DALLAS-MetroPCS Inc., which offers a fixed-price unlimited local calling service in Miami, Atlanta and Sacramento-Calif., plans to roll out a new general market and Hispanic advertising campaign beginning next month …

ROME-The Open Mobile Alliance-a massive, overarching wireless standards group formed in June-released its first set of technical specifications for public review, covering the increasingly popular area of content downloading. In …

ISTANBUL, Turkey-Nortel Networks said it will supply Turkish wireless operator Aycell with base stations, related equipment, project management, technical support, training, repair and return, and other engineering and customer services …

WASHINGTON-Aloha Partners on Thursday still had the highest bid on the table at the end of six rounds of bidding for the 700 MHz C- and D-blocks license auction. Aloha …

HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Corp. and LM Ericsson announced a rash of multimedia messaging service deals, further solidifying the companies’ leadership in the MMS infrastructure space. Nokia said it will provide its …

HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia announced a rash of multimedia messaging service (MMS) deals, further solidifying the company’s leadership in the MMS infrastructure space. Nokia said it will provide its MMS product to …

NEW DELHI, India-The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has decided to approach the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) regarding the government-owned fixed-line opereator BSNL’s tariff structure for its …

TOKYO and DUBLIN, Ireland-Mobile operators around the globe are feeling the negative effects of scam efforts by third-party companies. Operators and regulatory agencies alike are beginning to fight back against …

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STOCKHOLM, Sweden-Sweden’s First AP Fund said it would subscribe to L.M. Ericsson’s $3.14 billion one-for-one rights issue, commenced Aug. 15. First AP Fund owns 1.3 percent of Ericsson’s shares. Previously …

SUNNYVALE, Calif.-Royal Philips Electronics released its new ProntoLite personal remote-control software for devices using Palm Inc.’s operating system, which allows users to control up to 10 devices, such as TVs, …

SAN DIEGO-Antenna manufacturer Ethertronics announced Techmove Electronics will sell its patented antenna technology to wireless operators and handset manufacturers in Korea. According to the agreement, Techmove will sell Ethertronics’ entire …

BUDAPEST, Hungary-Hungarian telecommunications authority HIF reported the country’s wireless penetration rate increased from 57.6 percent in June to 59.1 percent in July, and is expected to rise to 70 percent …

BEIJING-China’s second-largest television producer, Konka Group, reported a net profit of 24.2 million yuan (US$2.93 million) in the first half of the year, up from a loss of 190.96 million …

BEIJING-China’s largest mobile operator China Mobile Communication Corporation (CMCC) has awarded contracts to Ericsson to supply equipment for its multimedia messaging service (MMS) centers and peripherals in Shanghai and Guangzhou. …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-The Colombian Communications Ministry announced that with the increase of 320,000 new cellular phone users in the second quarter of this year, the current market of cell-phone owners …

TOKYO-Yozan, a venture business in Tokyo, is going to launch a new service combining PHS, wireless local area network (WLAN) and paging, the firm announced. According to Yozan, the new …

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA-A 10.3-percent lift in revenue from mobile services to A$3.24 billion (US$1.7 billion) failed to return an increase in overall revenues to Telstra, which in the year to June …

TOKYO-The Japanese government is going to submit a revision bill for the current telecom law during the next Diet session, governmental sources said on 28 August. The government is planning …