September 2003

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission has entered into an agreement with the state of Michigan to use its 800 MHz public-safety communications system towers for a study on the impact of towers on birds. “This agreement promotes FCC Chairman Michael Powell’s …

STOCKOLM, Sweden-L.M. Ericsson said it has signed a contract to embed its Bluetooth platform in the products of STMicroelectronics. The platform, which is known as Q-E1, offers such features as fast connection times, enhanced voice quality and advanced frequency hopping …

SOMERS, N.Y.-Wireless enterprise giants IBM Corp. and Research In Motion Ltd. announced they will more tightly integrate their corporate access servers, a move the companies said would give BlackBerry users expanded access options. The companies said the new development and …

NEW YORK-Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. held a product showcase in New York to display its advanced electronics equipment from televisions to camcorders and took the opportunity to show off two high-end new phones, including a mobile phone/miniature TV. Samsung officials …

MUNICH, Germany-Siemens AG announced it won a contract with Germany’s E-Plus to expand its GSM/GPRS network. The two-year contract is worth a “two-digit million euro amount,” Siemens said. Siemens will install GSM base stations and necessary components to offer GPRS …

LONDON-Lucent Technologies Inc. said it has signed a three-year contract to assess and analyze the performance of European mobile operator MmO2’s GSM and GPRS networks in Germany, Ireland, the Isle of Mann and the United Kingdom. “It is important to …

SAN JOSE, Calif.-Intel Corp. said it has unveiled enhancements for its solutions for wireless notebooks, cell phones, personal digital assistants and other handhelds. The chipsets include Dothan, which is the code name for the next Intel Pentium M processor; Sonoma, …

LA JOLLA, Calif.-The threat of spam on wireless devices continues to drive new industry products, with startup DigiPortal Inc. and stalwart Nokia Corp. both announcing new anti-spam products. Although so far the issue has seen little attention in the United …

WASHINGTON-The question of whether government can or should be able to forecast technology development in an attempt to solve a problem was on display in two venues this week. “We need to be very careful about how the federal government …

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.-Sprint Corp. unveiled an outline for a three-year growth and cost-reduction plan designed to save the company more than $1 billion per year. The plan is linked to Sprint’s recently announced initiative to realign its operations from the …

SAN MATEO, Calif.-The San Mateo, Calif., Police Department is now using Tropos Networks Inc.’s metro-scale Wi-Fi mesh network for law enforcement activities. With Tropos’ equipment, the police force has created a Wi-Fi hot zone in downtown San Mateo, giving officers …

BONN, Germany-Lucent Technologies Inc. said German mobile-phone operator e-Plus deployed the latest version of its MiLife SurePay line of prepaid and postpaid technology. E-Plus has been using Lucent’s SurePay for prepaid service since 2002, Lucent said. The new version allows …

AUSTIN, Texas-Traq-wireless released a new professional services offering aimed at helping enterprises take advantage of wireless local number portability. The service allows enterprises to analyze service providers so they can make decisions based on the savings potential of switching providers. …

SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. said it has worked with China Unicom to complete the first phase of a comprehensive GSM1x technology trial. The technology allows GSM carriers to deliver cdma2000 1x voice, data and other applications. “The phase-one trial was a …

BELLVUE, Wash.-Microsoft Corp said it has added the enhanced version of its 802.11g Wi-Fi solution to its suite of wireless products. The decision follows its earlier announcement not to unveil the Wi-Fi product until a standard was ratified, a step …

LONDON-Following its announcement Monday to launch a new Microsoft-powered smart phone from Motorola, Orange today launched Palm Inc.’s Treo 600 in the United Kingdom France and Switzerland. Orange said it developed the device with U.S. personal digital assistant maker Handspring …

MUNICH, Germany-Siemens AG said it plans to sell $3 billion of bonds in the United States to enhance its investments in the country. The vendor said it aims to establish a debt shelf in the United States, according to Heinz …

NEW YORK-Due to the recent issuance of new stock by Dobson Communications Corp., AT&T Wireless Services Inc.’s stake in the rural operator has dropped from nearly 12 percent in June to less than 4 percent as of late August, according …

TOKYO-NTT DoCoMo Inc. said it plans to offer FOMA video-phone handsets beginning Oct. 1, allowing users to make international video phone calls and 64 kilobit per second data transmissions to the United Kingdom with technology partner Hutchison 3G U.K. The …

SINGAPORE-Five Asian companies joined the collaboration between the Singapore telecom regulator and Intel Corp. to help solve the challenges of hot-spot roaming. The initiative will work to develop standards for global seamless Wi-Fi connectivity. The companies include China Mobile; Singapore’s …

Wireless enterprise company Visto Corp. announced another financial transaction, this time the acquisition of the intellectual property and technology assets of wireless e-mail company Jarna Corp. of Menlo Park, Calif. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Visto said …

In a further promotion of its text messaging services, AT&T Wireless Services Inc. announced plans to expand its services globally to allow users to send messages to subscribers in China, Germany, Philippines, Singapore, the United Kingdom and a variety of …

HUNT VALLEY, Md.-Tessco Technologies will sell and distribute products from Alcoa’s AFL Telecommunications through its “Your Total Source” customer solution. “Our key goal is to become a ‘virtual superstore’ for our customers by providing them with a total source of …

WASHINGTON-High-power, star power and political power were on hand Wednesday when actor George Clooney lent his support for the Calling for 211 Act. Clooney acknowledged that getting funding for the $200 million in annual matching grants contemplated by the act …

WASHINGTON-The Communications Workers of America today applauded a federal court’s dismissal of a contempt-of-court charge brought by Verizon Wireless against CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen. “This action by Verizon Wireless is nothing short of another attempt to regulate and …