Yearly Archives: 2003
800 MHz comments due Feb. 3
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is requesting comments on the plan submitted on Christmas Eve by the private-wireless and public-safety communities and Nextel Communications Inc....
Digitel’s Philippine license approved
MANILA, The Philippines-Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has approved a 25-year franchise application of Gokongwei-owned Digital Telecommunications (Digitel) to operate a cellular phone firm. To...
Eldorado asks wireless bureau to overturn re-auction opt outs
WASHINGTON-Eldorado Communications L.L.C. asked the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau to overturn the Federal Communications Commission's recent decision to allow winners in the re-auction of...
Samsung approves $1.2B investment in chip business
SEOUL, South Korea-Samsung Electronics said it has approved a plan rumored earlier this week to spend $1.23 billion in a plant to produce dynamic...
FCC urges wireless customers to thoroughly read contracts
WASHINGTON-Customers should thoroughly read wireless service contracts and insist on a trial period before signing up for service, said the Federal Communications Commission on...
China Telecom launches controversial mobile call-forwarding service
BEIJING-Guangdong Telecom, a provincial subsidiary of fixed-line operator China Telecom, has launched a controversial call-forwarding service in three cities in Guangdong Province whereby mobile...
Indian cellular companies slash long-distance tariffs
NEW DELHI, India-Indian cellular companies slashed mobile-to-mobile national long-distance tariffs by nearly one-third, in an obvious response to low tariff rates announced by Reliance,...
BT disposes of SmarTone stake
LONDON-British Telecommunications said it will sell its nearly 21-percent interest in Hong Kong's SmarTone for HK$1.03 billion (US$132 million) to Sun Hung Kai. The...
Samsung approves investment in chip business
SEOUL, South Korea-Samsung Electronics said it has approved a plan rumored earlier this week to spend US$1.23 billion in a plant to produce dynamic...
Nitel GSM loses US$64,000 to fraudsters
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-The Nigerian National Committee on Financial Crimes (NCFC) recently announced that it apprehended a suspect who is believed to have been involved...
Celtel Uganda to increase coverage to 38 more towns
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Ugandan mobile network operator Celtel announced the company intends to increase its coverage to include 38 more towns on its network by...
China Unicom achieves target of 7 million CDMA users
BEIJING-At year-end, China Unicom announced it had reached its target of 7 million CDMA users. The company also said it had built a CDMA...
Sony Group to launch MVNO in Japan
TOKYO-Sony Communication Network (SCN), a subsidiary of Sony Corporation, is going to launch PHS packet services and wireless local area network (WLAN) services in...
Indian cellcos slash long-distance tariffs: Price war between GSM, WLL players gears up
NEW DELHI, India-Indian cellular companies on Thursday slashed mobile-to-mobile national long-distance tariffs by nearly one-third, in an obvious response to low tariff rates announced...
U.K. operators to charge police for call information
OXFORD, United Kingdom-The upsurge in requests from U.K. police for information regarding suspects' cell-phone calls has forced operators to impose a charge for each...
TD-SCDMA availability expected in 2004
BEIJING-China's home-bred technology, TD-SCDMA, will not be available until 2004 and continued testing will hold off licenses to fixed-line operators, according to Li Shihe,...
Telefónica Móviles renegotiates debt with Ericsson in Argentina
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-As part of the restructuring of its US$867 million debt, Telef
Premium SMS rules to be tightened
OXFORD, United Kingdom-The booming market in premium rate short message service (SMS) looks likely to be hit by new regulations if proposals from the...