CASTRIES, St. Lucia-Caribbean mobile-phone operator Digicel Group said the government of St. Lucia has approved its acquisition of Cingular Wireless L.L.C.'s operation on the island, which is home to about 166,000 people. Digicel, a GSM carrier, has plans to acquire Cingular's operations in Bermuda...
LONDON-Third-generation subscribers now number more than 50 million, according to the UMTS Forum. The group said UMTS/W-CDMA subscribers account for about 33 million of that total worldwide. The group said it based its figures on published industry statistics and internal data from its membership.Japan...
Sprint Nextel Corp. added a third music service to its offerings, launching 20 channels of streaming audio from Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. The No. 2 pay-radio service is powering Sirius Music, which includes 19 channels of pop, rock, hip-hop, country, jazz and electronica. The...
BRUSSELS, Belgium-The European Commission approved Siemens AG's plan to offload its mobile-phone operations to Taiwanese electronics company BenQ Corp. The commission said there wouldn't be any effect on European competition because BenQ will enter the market against such stalwarts as Nokia Corp. and Samsung...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-NEC Corp. said it will use L.M. Ericsson Mobile Platforms' new U250 W-CDMA chip in its line of mobile phones for Europe. NEC previously used Ericsson Mobile Platforms' U100 chip.Ericsson Mobile Platforms, along with Qualcomm Inc. and others, has scored several key W-CDMA...
MILPITAS, Calif.-Globalstar LLC. has signed on with New Horizons Telecom Inc. to construct a new satellite gateway that will enhance satellite voice and data services throughout Alaska and the Yukon region.The gateway will be located in Wasilla, Alaska, and is expected to be operational...
NEW YORK-The New York 3G Partnership, a broadband radio services spectrum licensee in New York City, and wireless broadband software developer Adaptix Inc. are set to trial all-Internet Protocol Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple access pre-WiMAX systems in Manhattan in early 2006.The technology is based...
Cingular Wireless L.L.C. announced it will be the exclusive U.S. vendor of Motorola Inc.'s new Rokr E1 device, the company's long-awaited iTunes-capable phone. The device, which is available today for $250 with a two-year service plan, stores up to 100 songs from Apple Computer...
T-Mobile USA Inc. again showed that size is not what's most important to customers as the industry's smallest nationwide operator posted the highest customer satisfaction performance results across all six regions in the J.D. Power and Associates 2005 U.S. Wireless Regional Customer Satisfaction Index...
L.M. Ericsson outlined its vision for third-generation evolution, saying that the growing demand for mobile content and the handset's role as a media channel will pave the way for faster deployment of 3G and High-Speed Downlink Packet Access technology. As part of that vision,...
WASHINGTON-Meeting the statutory deadline, the Federal Communications Commission said late Tuesday it conditionally granted TracFone Wireless Inc. forbearance from rules requiring carriers participating in the Lifeline program to own facilities. TracFone is a prepaid wireless services reseller.Additionally, the FCC will begin consideration of TracFone's...
NEW YORK-Verizon Wireless signed a fixed-rate promissory note permitting the carrier to borrow, repay and re-borrow up to $9 billion from parent company Verizon Communications Inc., with a maturity date of Aug. 1, 2009. The carrier said amounts borrowed would bear interest at 5.8...
TEL AVIV, Israel-Wireless broadband solutions provider Alvarion Ltd. said it is filling commercial orders and shipping its WiMAX-ready BreezeMAX PRO customer premises equipment, which includes Intel's PRO/Wireless 5116 broadband interface chip.The company said BreezeMAX is Alvarion's WiMAX-ready platform that uses OFDM technology for advanced...
SEATTLE-Entertainment publishers Mforma Group Inc. and Glu Mobile are using tomorrow's NFL season opener to tout their latest sports-themed wares.Mforma has teamed with CBS SportsLine.com and the NFL on an updated offering that allows fantasy football players to manage their rosters from their handsets....
TOKYO-NTT DoCoMo Inc. reported that Cellcom Israel Ltd., the country's largest wireless carrier with 2.5 million subscribers, launched i-mode service in Israel on its GPRS network.Five handsets were launched with the service, which is offered in English and Hebrew. The handsets include the NEC...
Embattled prepaid wireless service platform provider Boston Communications Group Inc. has granted preferred stock purchase rights for its shareholders in an effort to stave off any possible takeover attempt. The rights, which will trade automatically with the underlying common stock, may be exercised only...
SEOUL, Korea-Nortel Networks Ltd. and LG Electronics Co. Ltd. have won contracts to provide broadband wireless communications for KTF, Korea's second-largest wireless carrier. Nortel said it will provide High-Speed Downlink Packet Access-based access equipment, while LG will furnish a UMTS core network solution.The deal...
HAMPSHIRE, United Kingdom-Mobile TV subscriptions could reach 65 million worldwide by the end of 2010, according to a new report from Juniper Research.The report predicts streamed services will account for 56 percent of customers and 51 percent of revenues during that timeframe. However, the...
CLINTON, Miss.-SkyTel, a unit of MCI Inc., launched a vehicle-tracking device targeted at parents of teenage drivers.The SkyTel SkyGuard device, which is about the size of a bar of soap and connects to the car's power source, uses wireless and global positioning system technologies...
VERNON HILLS, Ill.-Telular Corp. said it has received purchase orders totaling $22.9 million from Latin American wireless operators in Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela.The company said the orders are for CDMA 1x, TDMA and GSM/GPRS fixed cellular products. Telular said it has...
PALO ALTO, Calif.-Linux software vendor Trolltech announced it appointed wireless entrepreneur Juha Christensen to its board of directors. The move further expands Christensen's touch and influence in the wireless industry.Christensen gained notoriety in wireless when Microsoft Corp. hired him away from OS vendor Symbian...
JACKSON, Miss.-Regional wireless operator Cellular South, which claims to have been operational in some of the hardest areas of Mississippi hit by Hurricane Katrina Aug. 29, said that as of Sept. 6 it was handling more than 7 million minutes of daily use on...
UPPER SADDLE RIVER, N.J.-Wireless mesh networking chipmaker Zensys A/S continued to gather momentum this week, adding two companies to the list of backers for its Z-Wave technology.Monster Cable Products Inc., which produces consumer electronics for cars, offices and homes, said it will work with...
PARIS-Realeyes3D, which specializes in hand-written messaging and camera-phone applications and services, said it raised $9.3 million in venture capital in an oversubscribed second round of financing.Atlas Venture and Partech International led the round. The companies joined first-round investors Siemens Acceleration in Communications and I...
