Sierra Wireless has announced the addition of Microsoft Corp. to the WirelessReady Alliance. Alliance members, including wireless device manufacturers, software application vendors, and wireless and value-added enterprise service providers, work together to deliver wireless data solutions to the mobile computing market. "As a global...
SEOUL, South Korea-As South Korea postponed plans to select a third and final third-generation (3G) mobile service operator, the government's enthusiasm for a viable bidder is greater than ever. But potential bidders seem unimpressed, putting the 3G license itself into doubt.The Ministry of Information...
TOKYO-Targeting one of the most advanced mobile markets in the world, foreign and local venture capitalists are pouring money into Japanese mobile companies.H&Q Asia Pacific, one of the oldest and largest venture capital firms focused on the Pacific Rim, has invested approximately 1.7 billion...
NEW DELHI, India-The Indian government has opened the floodgates to wireless technology by allowing fixed-line service providers (FSPs) to offer wireless local loop (WLL) and satellite-enabled telephony services. The duopoly regime in basic services also ended, and most major cellular companies have joined the...
GENEVA-Despite a subdued initial public offering (IPO) that saw the company reap a modest US$9 per share-near the bottom end of an already hastily reduced US$8.7 to US$10 range-the future is looking good for Orange, the former U.K. operator that now forms the cornerstone...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-Early in 2001, several countries in South America have changed their tariff schemes with the objective of reducing the existing gap between the cost of fixed calls and cellular tariffs. In general, cellular calls cost more than landline calls in the region,...
BUCHAREST, Romania-Mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) are a new and hopeful concept in the European communications market. The region's mobile market is growing, with strong potential for new operators.The largest problem faced by European operators hoping to break into new markets is limited available...
UTICA, New York, United States-Nearly two years since cessation of hostilities on 10 June, 1999, numerous roadblocks still stand in the way of any attempt to restore and expand telecommunications network services in post-war Kosovo. In a province roughly the size of Jamaica, with...
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados-Barbados has identified wireless and the Internet as the first segments of its telecommunications market to be opened to competition. A three-phase timetable announced by the government anticipates full liberalization by 2002.Minister of International Business Reginald Farley, who has responsibility for telecommunications, tabled...
MELBOURNE, Australia-Cable & Wireless Optus established a subsidiary, Agility Networks, responsible for rolling out Australia's first tail-end broadband wireless network using local multipoint distribution system (LMDS) technology. The new company's role was confirmed late last year after Optus paid US$19.7 million for 500 megahertz...
DENVER, United States-While some countries in Latin America are moving forward with advanced wireless networks, Central American nations are not likely to see commercial next-generation systems any time soon. Mass-market demand for data services remains weak due to low incomes, and market development lags...
Mobile computing company Psion shook the European wireless market-and sent its stocks rocketing to a new 27-month low-with news that it is dropping out of the running in the smart-phone industry and cutting its work force. The company now plans to focus on industrial...
TOKYO-Matsushita Communications Industrial, the leading cellular vendor in Japan, is putting the final touches on its new third-generation (3G) mobile terminals for NTT DoCoMo. NTT DoCoMo, Japan's leading mobile carrier, is scheduled to launch its 3G services by the end of May, earlier than...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-A year after the launch of mobile Internet services in South America, almost all the cellular telephony operators are offering Internet services, although exclusively in the major cities of the region and without generating profits.Entel PCS of Chile is the most advanced,...
WASHINGTON-The Bush administration has proposed to delay key spectrum auctions and to phase out past Internet programs, as components of the president's US$1.96 trillion budget that signals the White House's desire to improve spectrum management and its intention to end corporate telecom subsidies.Bush's spectrum...
Mobile phones are an effective comfort blanket for many people. The knowledge that help and support is just a phone call away no matter where you are is incredibly reassuring. Help and support is not limited to the owner of the phone, of course....
The fact that the telecom sector, including the mobile industry, is shivering in the cold right now after months of basking in the sun of favor from the financial community is certainly not breaking news. It seems no category-broadband wireless, mobile Internet, manufacturers, carriers,...
DUBLIN, Ireland-Having paid handsomely for their licenses at a time when wireless auctions were the flavor of the month around Europe, wireless local loop (WLL) operators face an uncertain future. Capital has dried up as the financial markets review their strategy toward telecommunications, customers...
DENVER, United States-To know what the broadband industry is going to do tomorrow, just look at what the cellular industry is doing today.Year after year, several key cellular carriers and vendors have systematically acquired or merged with competitors to form vast corporations offering diverse...
Dear Editor: Peter Angelos, the U.S. attorney leading several lawsuits against the mobile-phone industry, has helped to effectively outlaw products from asbestos to breast implants, and only the vast deep pockets of the tobacco industry have prevented him from doing the same to cigarettes. Now...
TORONTO-The established Canadian wireless fraternity scooped up most of the available spectrum licenses contested in the February auction. All told, Industry Canada's auction for wireless spectrum in the 2 GHz band raised US$964 million for federal coffers.Rogers Wireless and Bell Mobility were the two...
HONG KONG-Hutchison Whampoa bought Motorola's 25-percent stake in Hong Kong operator Hutchison Telephone for US$120 million. Hutchison now owns 81 percent of the Hong Kong carrier.If Hutchison sells any of the Motorola shares during the next two years, Motorola will get half the profit....
WASHINGTON-Huawei Technologies is reportedly suspected of violating U.N. sanctions by supplying Iraq with fiber optic cable to improve its air defense capability.The Washington Post, citing Western and Asian sources, said Western officials have asked Beijing to investigate whether Huawei was the supplier of fiber-optic...
