DENVER, United States-SBC Communications said it will convert the remaining Ameritech wireless properties it owns from CDMA technology to TDMA technology.SBC and Ameritech merged last year and sold 20 Ameritech cdmaOne wireless properties in the United States, including Chicago and St. Louis, to GTE...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-The wireless market in Tanzania is gaining momentum with Vodacom's pending rollout of a new GSM network. The new entrant is no small force to contend with and is likely to cause a few ripples.Vodacom South Africa, with 2.7 million subscribers at...
International roaming is a key selling point for all three digital cellular standards. The GSM community in particular often claims that roaming capability is not only a prime factor in the widespread acceptance of GSM but also a reason for its introduction in the...
SINGAPORE-Singapore has fast-forwarded its liberalization plans for the telecommunications sector by a staggering two years, effectively throwing the industry wide open almost immediately.The move, which comes into effect on 1 April this year, is the island state's boldest move in the communications arena thus...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-A change in the Argentine cellular telephony scene will take place in April when the current regional duopoly model is replaced by national competition among four operators.In April, Telefonica Unifon, CTI M
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Cell C, the consortium backed by Middle Eastern conglomerate Saudi Oger with CellSaf as a local partner, has been officially named as the preferred consortium for the third cellular license in South Africa. Cell C linked up with GTE shortly before the...
MONTREAL-The transmission was delayed 20 minutes because the test PC had crashed. And the picture quality, to put it kindly, was choppy. Nevertheless, in February, Rogers AT&T Wireless and Ericsson Canada made the first wireless phone call in North America to be carried over...
HandsetsPhilipsPhilips introduced several new handsets. The Ozeo GSM dual-band mobile phone offers a new user interface and a large LCD display with five text lines. The carousel icon screen feature simultaneously displays up to five visual icons representing the phone's functions and features. The...
TOKYO-The number of Japanese PHS subscribers expanded in the December-January time frame, demonstrating that the long-ailing PHS business is starting to revitalize.The number of PHS users in the country has decreased for the last few years since hitting a high of 7 million in...
The focus on the mobile industry has been enormous during the last year. Device vendors, service providers, application developers, infrastructure vendors and content providers have all been jostling to position themselves in the new value chain. Like the PC industry, control over the technology...
Much has been made of the battle for supremacy of the operating system for the wireless data terminal market. With the number of Internet-enabled wireless devices expected to outnumber PC Internet connections within a few years, people are asking, "What is going to be...
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) expects to hold an auction for the remaining narrowband PCS licenses as early as mid-2000. In preparation for the auction, the FCC plans to issue auction rules during first-quarter 2000. The FCC released proposed rules on what should be...
Motorola and Psion agreed to build products, expected to be released in the first half of 2001, using a new platform from Symbian. Symbian announced a wireless computing platform for handsets and other devices. Quartz is a reference design for pen-based wireless devices. It...
CANNES, France and HANNOVER, Germany-Visitors at the ever-expanding GSM World Congress, held in February in Cannes, France, could have mistaken the huge exhibition as focusing exclusively on Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). For the second year running, it appeared almost every exhibitor had a WAP...
DUBLIN, Ireland-The news that Mannesmann has conceded defeat in its battle with Vodafone AirTouch merely underlines the momentum behind consolidation in the European mobile communications industry. However, few observers appear concerned at the concentration of market power in the hands of a relatively small...
EL PASO, Texas-GoodBuyWireless.com announced it successfully launched its business-to-business wireless auction site and is now conducting live auctions for millions of dollars of wireless inventory.The company reported that its Web site's sellers and buyers include distributors, carriers, e-tailers, dealer/agents, and other companies that maintain...
ISTANBUL, Turkey-Hoping to cash in on the Turkish government's intention to issue official tender documents to select a third and fourth mobile operator, France Telecom S.A. has teamed up with several Turkish businesses to compete for a Global System for Mobile communications 1800 license.Those...
PHOENIX-International FiberCom Inc.'s wireless solutions division, AeroComm Inc., was designated by Bell Atlantic Mobile as the cellular/PCS carrier coordinator for New York City's Queens Midtown and Brooklyn Battery tunnels.AeroComm will coordinate with Nextel Communications Inc., Omnipoint Corp., Sprint PCS and AT&T Wireless Services Inc....
NEW YORK-According to the International Executive Demand Index, released by Korn/Ferry International, global executive demand in 1999 jumped 16 percent from the previous year."The boom in advanced technology is driving executive demand in the dot-com and telecommunications sectors," said James Boone, president of the...
The European Commission said it will extend its investigation into the proposed merger between MCI WorldCom and Sprint Corp. by another four months.MCI WorldCom and Sprint last fall agreed to a $130 billion definitive merger that will combine the second- and third-largest U.S. long-distance...
FREMONT, Calif.-ePhones.com launched SmartPhones.com, a Web site designed to provide customers with an objective resource for Wireless Application Protocol-enabled phones, the company said.SmartPhones.com features sections with links to wireless Internet-ready sites on subject areas such as entertainment, finance, sports, traffic, travel and news.Customers who...
SAN JOSE, Calif.-Datalink.net said it has received a $10 million investment from Brown Simpson Strategic Growth Funds. The investment was approved by Datalink's board of directors at a price determined by its Jan. 24 closing price.Datalink said it plans to issue 769,231 shares of...
At some point in the not-too-distant future, a "crossover" will occur with respect to how the public gains access to the Internet: More people will reach the Net through wireless devices than through wired means. Net prognosticators may disagree on exactly when that will occur,...
WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association launched the Wireless 2000 Mobile Portal just in time for its Wireless 2000 convention this week in New Orleans.The new portal, powered by i3 Mobile, will enable attendees to look up exhibitor booth numbers, check conference schedules and access...
