2003

WASHINGTON-L. Paul Bremer, head of the U.S.-led occupational authority in Iraq, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week that mobile-phone licenses in the war-torn country are close to being issued. Bremer’s remarks came in response to questioning by Sen. …

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.-TelASIC Communications said it has rolled out what it calls the world’s first cost-effective wideband radio chipset, baseFlex, which supports major standards, including GSM, GPRS, EDGE, IS-95, CDMA, W-CDMA, CDMA2000 and North American TDMA. “The combination of data …

WASHINGTON-Universal service was a hot topic in Washington last week with two House panels hearing testimony, a think-tank seminar and an ad campaign by TracFone Wireless. “The Federal Communications Commission’s proposed change would impact every landline and cell phone, charging …

WASHINGTON-The California Public Utilities Commission again will postpone a vote on a controversial bill of rights for telecom consumers, increasing prospects for either major changes to the current draft or the introduction of alternative proposals that may be more to …

WASHINGTON-The House telecommunications subcommittee passed the E911 Implementation Act of 2003, changing the rural provisions and making it possible for public-safety answering points to go forward with Phase II wireless E911 implementation even if a state has used 911 funds …

FRANCE Nortel Networks Ltd. has won a $200 million, 15-year GSM-Railway contract with French railway operator SNCF. The new system will handle all voice and data communications for train operations within 15,000 kilometers of track and replace the existing analog …

A new wireless local area network standard is being developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-the 802.11n protocol. According to the standards body, the new 802.11n protocol will raise the effective throughput for wireless LAN to at least …

SAN FRANCISCO-Cellular-phone users are uniting via the Cellular Telecom Users Alliance Inc., a newly formed organization that plans to negotiate cell-phone rates on behalf of its members. The group hopes to bargain low rates from carriers in exchange for bringing …

Cingular Wireless L.L.C. moved even closer to completing its previously announced deal to acquire 34 PCS licenses from bankrupt license holder NextWave Telecom Inc. following approval of the $1.4 billion deal by NextWave’s bankruptcy court last Thursday. The court’s approval …

LONDON-ITU Secretary-General Yoshio Utsumi has been accused of “atrocious financial management” and threatened with dismissal, according to a report in the respected Swiss business magazine L’Hebdo. The revelations come just two weeks before the opening of the International Telecommunication Union’s …

CAMBRIDGE, U.K.-Wireless operators have less than 24 months to define, design and implement new charging architectures for mobile data services, according to a new report from U.K.-based consulting firm Analysys. Existing billing systems are not prepared to meet the requirements …

COSTA MESA, Calif.-SkyFrames Inc. is enlisting the help of companies interested in joining its effort to provide U.S. military personnel in Iraq the ability to communicate with their families during the holidays. The company has so far received technical and …

Nokia Corp. said it will reorganize the company into four divisions to focus on convergence, new mobility markets and growth. The four segments include mobile phones, multimedia, networks and enterprise solutions. The reorganization, the most far-reaching in a half decade, …

BASKING RIDGE, N.J.-Avaya Inc. said it has entered into an agreement with Vista Information Technologies Inc. to acquire its software tools and service business units. “These acquisitions will enhance Avaya Global Services delivery of end-to-end design, implementation and management services …

A new wireless local area network standard is being developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-the 802.11n protocol. According to the standards body, the new 802.11n protocol will raise the effective throughput for wireless LAN to at least …

Motorola Inc. will miss out on the critical camera-phone rush during the holiday season, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless said. Jim Gerace, a spokesman for the nation’s largest carrier, said Motorola delayed the introduction of its new camera phone for …

PARIS-Alcatel Corp. said it will supply a $23 million network to Kazakhstan’s second-largest mobile operator Kar-Tel. The upgrade will increase the operator’s transmission capacity and double its overall network capacity. The contract includes a complete base station subsystem, operation and …

BRASILIA, Brazil-Brazil’s lower house social and family safety commission has approved a bill to create rules for the installation of wireless communications towers. The bill calls for wireless operators to share towers in urban areas, construct them 30 meters high …

WASHINGTON-It looks like 50 million Americans who were looking forward to Wednesday to have an uninterrupted dinner with their families will have to wait because the wildly popular do-not-call list was declared unconstitutional on the same day that Congress raced …

SAN FRANCISCO-Cellular-phone users are uniting via the Cellular Telecom Users Alliance Inc., a newly formed organization that plans to negotiate cell-phone rates on behalf of its members. The group hopes to bargain low rates from carriers in exchange for bringing …

Operating system consortium Symbian signed a development agreement with Japan’s leading mobile operator, NTT DoCoMo Inc. The agreement gives NTT DoCoMo access to Symbian OS source code and the right to deliver extended versions of this code to phone manufacturers …

CHICAGO-The U.S. Department of Labor has sued wireless company Meade Communications Inc., of Berkeley, Ill., for failing to remit employee contributions and loan repayments to the company’s 401(k) plan. The lawsuit alleges that the company and James Hartmann, president of …

Wireless enterprise company Research In Motion Ltd. announced it turned the corner and posted a profit for its second quarter-a major move for the company but one still overshadowed by its legal wrangling with NTP Inc. Indeed, the legal issues …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission Wednesday rejected Northrop Grumman Corp.’s request for broadband spectrum to support emergency and homeland security wireless applications. Northrop Grumman filed a petition April 21 seeking expedited treatment by the FCC on its request for an additional …

OTTAWA-U.S. Cellular Corp. said it will use Spotwave Wireless Inc.’s SpotCell adaptive repeater to provide in-building coverage. The repeater will allow U.S. Cellular to provide wireless coverage in entire buildings or targeted areas of up to 100,000 square feet. “SpotCell …