EL DORADO, Venezuela-The government of Venezuela plans to delay a tender for a new cellular license until after the country's May 28 political elections, Reuters reported. The process has been delayed since November 1998.Telcel, owned 78 percent by BellSouth Corp., dominates the Venezuelan wireless...
China Unicom's planned deployment of Code Division Multiple Access technology remains delayed as Unicom works on sorting out the paper work with both the Ministry of Information Industry and the State Development Planning Commission, vendors in China say.Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji recently told reporters...
WASHINGTON-In a development that further muddies the waters for wireless buildout and holds implications for radio-frequency radiation safety litigation, a judge on a divided federal appeals court ruled the antenna siting provision in the 1996 telecom act is unconstitutional.Judge Paul Niemeyer ruled the antenna...
NEW YORK-Randy Ostler, mobile computing marketing manager for Texas Instruments Inc., Dallas, called his company's new collaboration with Microsoft Corp., Redmond, Wash., a "declaration of independence for software developers."The agreement will open TI's digital signal processors to the legions of software developers writing applications...
WASHINGTON-In a development that complicates future wireless e-commerce and diminishes Democratic presidential front-runner Al Gore's high-tech luster, a congressionally-mandated advisory panel in Dallas last week failed to reach two-thirds majority agreement on key Internet tax policy issues.Blame is being directed at the Clinton administration,...
An unspecified number of U S West shareholders filed a lawsuit against Qwest Communications International Inc. March 17, alleging Qwest deflated U S West stock prices through its recent merger negotiations with Deutsche Telekom AG, which are now defunct.The suit, filed in U.S. District...
NEW YORK-The American wireless marketplace needs a healthy dose of innovation jump-started by foreign intervention to drive user penetration, said Hans R. Snook, chief executive of Orange plc.At the moment, Orange is otherwise engaged, so it cannot put momentum into this immodest proposal straight...
VANCOUVER, British Columbia-Sierra Wireless SRL, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sierra Wireless Inc., entered into a joint development agreement with Matsushita Electronic Components Co. Ltd. and a supply agreement with Panasonic Canada Inc.The agreement with Matsushita calls for both companies to work together to...
The Personal Communications Industry Association announced another initiative last week to turn the association around in the midst of dwindling membership and public-relations problems surrounding its annual trade show.PCIA said it is repositioning and renaming its annual conference and trade show PCIA GlobalXChange to...
WASHINGTON-Motorola Inc. said it will maintain some service to the Iridium satellite system for a limited period of time to allow subscribers in remote regions time to obtain alternative communications.The company did not give a specific time limit. To continue service, though, Iridium L.L.C....
WASHINGTON-As Congress mulls tax breaks and legislative changes to bring advanced telecommunications to rural Americans who lawmakers fear will be left behind in the Information Age, a new report finds many rural telcos are financially strong enough to borrow from commercial sources other than...
SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. and Hitachi have amended Hitachi's existing Code Division Multiple Access licensing agreement.With the amendment, Hitachi's CDMA agreement has been expanded to grant the company a license under Qualcomm's essential CDMA patent portfolio to develop, manufacture and sell infrastructure and subscriber equipment...
MIAMI-Microsoft Corp. unveiled a prototype of what the company see's as the future in wireless communications at its annual Latin America Enterprise Solutions Conference in Miami.During the keynote address, by company chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates, Microsoft took some time to deliver...
DULLES, Va.-Orbcomm Global L.P. announced its Mexican subsidiary Orbcomm de Mexico has become an authorized reseller of two-way monitoring, tracking and messaging services provided by three other Orbcomm business units-Vantage, Tracsat and Controlsat.The deal allows Orbcomm de Mexico to provide satellite tracking services to...
HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Corp. said it approved a dividend of 77 cents per share for 1999 with a record date of March 27 to be paid April 4.The company also approved a proposal authorizing the board to issue new shares, to repurchase shares and to...
WASHINGTON-The Senate Commerce Committee is expected shortly to approve the renomination of Federal Communications Commission member Susan Ness, but the Clinton Democrat's future is anything but clear.At last Wednesday's confirmation hearing, Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), head of the communications subcommittee, said Senate Commerce Committee...
PARIS-France Telecom announced it will take a 28.5-percent stake in Germany's MobilCom, which provides mobile, wireline and Internet services, for about $3.6 billion. The German company has about 2 million wireless subscribers.In connection with the deal, the companies said they will create a joint...
NEW YORK-In a series of transactions, paging carrier Metrocall Inc., Alexandria, Va., has turned over 45-percent control of the company to AT&T Wireless Services Inc., Aether Systems Inc., PSINet Inc. and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc.For a collective investment of about $51 million...
The Personal Communications Industry Association stands at a huge crossroads, once again trying to reinvent itself. Though it may have had its best fiscal year in history in 1999, PCIA has structural problems. It's a painful time for the association, which recently eliminated 10...
JP Systems Inc. announced it will transfer its experience in connectivity solutions for wireless devices to expand into a wireless application service provider model.As a mobile ASP, JP Systems said it can offer complete wireless data solutions for carriers, enterprise customers and wirelessly enabled...
NEW YORK-New York City's Silicon Alley has spawned MobileSpring Inc., an incubator for developing companies that deploy Web-based services to mobile communications devices.Mark Caron, president and chief executive officer of MobileSpring, was a co-founder of Omnipoint Communications.i-Hatch Ventures, a New York City venture-capital firm...
HONG KONG-Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. announced it sold part of its stake in Vodafone AirTouch plc for net proceeds of about $5 billion.The stake was sold through an agreement with Goldman Sachs Equity Securities (UK) Ltd. and Deutsche Bank A.G. of London.Prior to the transaction,...
HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Corp. reported that Asian operators M1 and Cable & Wireless HKT Mobile Services successfully carried out a General Packet Radio Service roaming signalling trial between two GPRS core networks supplied by Nokia."This important step demonstrates that we can support cross network roaming...
LAS VEGAS-The Industrial Telecommunications Association, or a subsidiary thereof, "needs to do everything it can to participate" in the upcoming auction of the guard-band spectrum, said ITA President Mark E. Crosby.The Federal Communications Commission will auction off 104 licenses in the 700 MHz band...
