Mobile Phones

WASHINGTON-With the legal and regulatory actions behind them, creditors for bankrupt Geotek Communications Inc. now must decide what to do with a bundle of major-market specialized mobile radio licenses it planned to sell to Nextel Communications Inc. before a federal …

Geoworks Corp. last week unveiled a licensing program to collect royalties on a user-interface method employed by the Wireless Application Protocol and Wireless Markup Language for which it says it holds essential intellectual property rights. While others have made essential …

WASHINGTON-The Clinton administration, still struggling to craft a third-generation mobile phone spectrum position for this spring’s World Radiocommunication Conference in Turkey, has organized a 15-member industry-government committee and directed it to come up with recommendations by the middle of next …

ORLAND PARK, Ill.-Andrew Corp. announced the use of its base station antenna products and services to expand Beijing Telecom Greatwall Mobile Communications Ltd.’s Code Division Multiple Access network in Beijing, China. Andrew supplied base station antennas, coaxial cables, connectors and …

ESPOO, Finland-In Nokia’s continued push to focus on new product development, the company has sold its monitor manufacturing unit in Pecs, Hungary, to Elcoteq Network Corp. The deal, announced by Nokia, follows the company’s earlier disclosure that its display manufacturing …

MENLO PARK, Calif.-Customers of the American Automobile Association of Michigan will have a little more help trying to get where they are going. GetThere.com has announced that AAA Michigan will begin using the company’s online travel booking system and wireless …

Brightpoint Inc. will continue as the exclusive distributor of Ericsson Mobile Phones in the United States, according to the company. The agreement extends Brightpoint’s distribution and sales of Ericsson wireless phones through Dec. 31, 2001, and authorizes Brightpoint to act …

SINGAPORE-Residents of Singapore can now surf the Internet without getting caught in those annoying wires. Motorola Inc. announced an agreement with SingTel Mobile to provide Motorola’s first Global System for Mobile communications tri-band Internet-access-enabled telephone-the L-series-for traditional voice calls as …

WASHINGTON-The Clinton administration, backed by telecom firms and other U.S. businesses, last week said it will launch an aggressive lobbying campaign to win congressional backing this year for China’s membership in the World Trade Organization. “This agreement is a good …

LONDON-London-based telecommunication companies are riding the wave of increased demand for wireless communications with three companies reporting strong growth in new mobile phone customers during the fourth quarter of 1999. Vodafone AirTouch plc announced it received a record 3.98 million …

NEW YORK-Calling it “a first step toward demonstrating fully open standards in General Packet Radio Services,” Symmetry Communications Systems Inc. said it will collaborate with Lucent Technologies Inc. on interoperability testing of 2.5 generation wireless network elements. Venture-backed Symmetry, based …

HONG KONG-The Office of the Telecommunications Authority, Hong Kong’s telecom regulator, is investigating reports that six mobile phone operators simultaneously raised fees on monthly service plans. The operators could be accused of breaching the terms of their licenses. The Hong …

NEW ORLEANS-While Florida State was the main story at the Nokia-sponsored Sugar Bowl, wireless communications was making its own news with the first successful completion of a two-way transmission of short messaging service using an Internet application on a Time …

MOSCOW-Russian Global System for Mobile communications operator Mobile TeleSystems CJSC and Motorola Inc. launched the first trials to deliver the Internet to mobile phone users in Russia, announced the companies. The trial relies on Motorola’s open Mobile Internet Exchange platform …

INDIANAPOLIS-Brightpoint Inc. announced it has joined the Wireless Application Protocol Forum as an associate member. According to Brightpoint, the membership demonstrates the company’s focus on providing contract manufacturing, fulfillment and other integrated logistics services to members of the WAP Forum. …

LONDON-BulletIN.net Ltd. introduced its BulletIN Corporate service, designed to notify mobile phone users when they receive office e-mail, and forward that e-mail to the phone if requested.

Mergers and acquisitions are proliferating worldwide, with the strongest mark being made in Western Europe. Carriers are scrambling to maintain their footholds, while looking to the next potential market investment. Vodafone/Mannesmann The battle between Vodafone AirTouch and Mannesmann continues, as …

During the first half of 1999, Latin America handset sales exceeded 9.8 million, according to Dataquest, a U.S.-based market research firm. Handset sales were forecasted to reach 24.5 million units by the end of 1999. Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia accounted …

The two major developers of high-speed cellular data technology, Nokia and Ericsson, have opened a public argument over which has achieved the most success in terms of contract awards. The number of cellular operators that have placed orders for high-speed …

OXFORD, United Kingdom-The principal supporters of the Bluetooth short-range wireless technology used the U.S.-based Comdex exhibition late last year to take the message of its capabilities to a much wider and more diverse audience. But despite this first public display …

Australia Telecom New Zealand acquired an 80-percent stake in AAPT, Australia’s third-largest phone company. AAPT is building LMDS and CDMA networks and resells GSM service. News Corp. said it agreed to invest a further US$127.2 million in One.Tel, increasing its …

Siemens and NEC announced a joint venture to develop infrastructure equipment for third-generation systems. The joint venture, in which Siemens will hold 51 percent and NEC will hold 49 percent, is called Mobisphere Ltd. The Reading, United Kingdom-based venture will …

At the end of each year, the RCR editorial staff looks back on the news events that made RCR headlines and decides which were the most significant, industry-impacting stories of the past 12 months. Here are our picks for 1999 …

ATHENS, Greece-The National Bank of Greece and Stet Hellas, a Greek mobile phone operator, launched a Global System for Mobile communications banking application that allows customers to access banking services via their mobile phones. Customers can view account information using …

WASHINGTON-For the wireless industry in 2000, the outlook is LOOK OUT! Wireless and the Internet have found each other. The high-tech Big Bang is not over. Creative forces are still reshaping the digital universe, but patterns are emerging. At the …