Mobile Phones

Mobile phones have become commonplace in our society, but they aren’t welcome every place. People increasingly have become annoyed listening to others’ ringing phones and loud conversations in restaurants, on trains and even in movie theaters. And many business owners …

WASHINGTON-The recent rash of violent events-highlighting both the life-saving capabilities and limitations of wireless technology-will serve as a powerful backdrop to this Wednesday’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing on 911 wireless legislation. The committee will hear from Mark Wildey, an emergency …

WASHINGTON-At a time when all the rage on Wall Street is about the Internet, a CEO of a major wireless company contends wireless is bigger. Speaking at a luncheon sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute, Sam Ginn, chairman and chief …

GENEVA-As any one of the tens of thousands of visitors who thronged the halls of February’s GSM World Congress knows, the latest word in GSM services is Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). If the sheer quantity of recent WAP-related announcements is …

Arch Communications Inc. and PageMart Wireless Inc. jointly announced a five-year agreement under which the companies will provide narrowband personal communications services advanced messaging, including assured message delivery and two-way messaging. The agreement involves two phases. In phase one, Arch …

The Operators Harmonization Group, an assembly of mobile phone operators from around the world, said they agreed last month in Tokyo to a baseline proposal to harmonize ITU CDMA-based third-generation technology proposals. The proposal needs further refinement, a process that …

WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association blasted Rep. Charles Bass’ (R-N.H.) pro-local antenna siting bill, saying it would undermine public safety and competition and potentially make local zoning authorities hostage to anti-tower activists. “We urge Congress not to enact the Local …

Sirius Communications Sirius Communications NV introduced the DataSat Code Division Multiple Access development system. It offers an alternative to today’s very small aperture terminal systems. It works with all existing satellite bands, and TV satellite receiver antennas may be used …

Carriers are keeping quiet about events that transpired during a third-generation harmonization meeting two weeks ago in Japan, but an independent study commissioned by Vodafone plc is seen by cdmaOne players as a smoking gun in favor of their technical …

WASHINGTON-Motorola Inc., the top American wireless manufacturer, is internally debating whether it can support what appears will be a weak U.S. position on third-generation mobile phone spectrum at the World Radiocommunication Conference next year. Motorola, according to sources, is distressed …

The U.S. Commerce Department says it provided support to CDMA vendors wanting to sell their products in China, but did not discriminate against Time Division Multiple Access technology when it encouraged China to expand Code Division Multiple Access networks during …

WASHINGTON-The previously announced Wireless Day at the Federal Communications Commission will occur June 10, said Thomas Sugrue, chief of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. “I am hopeful that (the agenda) will be devoted entirely” to wireless issues, Sugrue said, noting …

U.S. government officials pressed L.M. Ericsson Chief Executive Sven-Christer Nilsson last week to lobby the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to adopt the tri-mode CDMA third-generation standard framework agreed to at a TransAtlantic Business Dialogue meeting months ago. Government officials are …

AGOURA HILLS, Calif.-Orange continues to dominate the U.K. mobile market in terms of customer satisfaction, according to a study by J.D. Power and Associates titled, “1999 U.K. Mobile Customer Satisfaction Study.” Orange received the highest customer satisfaction index score at …

No matter that future wireless technology will do everything from make your coffee in the morning to balance your checkbook at night, the enduring value-revolutionary hallmark-of mobile phones remains their ability to facilitate real-time human communication, heretofore artificially restricted by …

Brazil Clariti Wireless Messaging, a division of Clariti Telecommunications International, announced it signed a memorandum of understanding with Acme Paging, one of the largest paging providers in Latin America. Under terms of the MoU, Acme Paging will sell Clariti’s digital …

DENVER, United States-For mobile phone operators around the world, one key question remains unanswered: What will be the demand for mobile data services? Mobile phone carriers today are attempting to answer this question as they consider what investments to make …

BANGALORE, India-Although the growth of South Asia’s relatively new markets has temporarily slowed due to political and financial problems, increased competition and investment have made them extremely promising. With managed competition in India, minimal competition in Pakistan and a highly …

DUBLIN, Ireland-In the wake of the phenomenal success of “ready-to-go” prepaid packages, many European mobile phone subscribers are concerned they are paying more than they need to for their service. This issue came to a head earlier this year in …

Nortel e-mobility services Nortel Networks introduced a portfolio of subscriber services, called e-mobility services, that provide rapid, flexible deployment of leading-edge voice and data capabilities optimized for the Internet Protocol environment. The services include Wireless Prepaid, Group Conferencing, Smart Mobile …

NEW YORK-A new pricing study released by Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. indicates U.S. mobile phone carriers battled it out for high-end wireless customers in 1998. Prices did not fall as quickly in 1998 as they did the previous year, …

DENVER, United States-The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should narrow down in about six months which frequency bands it could allocate for third-generation mobile phone services. The World Administrative Radiocommunication Conference is 14 months away, and the United States wants to …

BEIJING-In early February, China’s Minister of Information Industry (MII) was apologetic about the prospects for CDMA in his country. The customers couldn’t care less which technology is used-as long as it works, said Wu Jichuan. And with the world’s largest …

After coming off one of its worst years in history, the semiconductor industry continues to show signs of recovery. The industry finished last year with total sales of $125.6 billion, a decrease of 8.4 percent from year-end 1997 sales, according …

Wireless broadband service has finally received attention from the likes of big telecom players Sprint Corp. and MCI WorldCom Inc. The race is on to access the local market and cheaply bypass connection to regional Bell operating companies. Sprint announced …