Mobile Phones

Britain’s Department of Trade and Industry cleared British Telecommunications plc to raise its stake in Cellnet above 60 percent and said the company can bid in auctions for third-generation mobile spectrum. According to Cellnet’s Telecommunications Act License, which allows the …

Samsung Telecommunications America Inc. plans to introduce a new series of Code Division Multiple Access phones this week at Wireless ’99 in New Orleans, including the company’s first CDMA tri-mode handset. According to Peter Skarzynski, vice president of wireless sales …

As if the wireless industry didn’t have enough to worry about with local zoning boards, citizen activists, organized labor, environmentalists, Civil War buffs and the National Park Service, now it has to deal with Tom & Ray. An industry public-relations …

WASHINGTON-Support continued to mount last week for flexible rules that would give wireless carriers options for contributing to the federal Universal Service Fund and a fair chance at replacing monopoly landline telephone as subsidized providers of basic telephone service to …

SAN FRANCISCO-Telstra MobileNet in Australia said strong December growth and increased migration of subscribers from analog to digital service increased its customer base to approximately 2.2 million Global System for Mobile communications customers and about 1 million analog customers. Telstra …

As the end of the millennium approaches, it is worth pondering whether the recent bout of mergers and acquisitions are precedents to some colossal event of biblical proportions or merely defensive strategies of companies safeguarding themselves against falling commodity prices, …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden-L.M. Ericsson introduced its new T 28 dual-band mobile phone based on Global System for Mobile communications technology. The phone’s functions include voice control, automatic world clock and new batteries that use lithium polymer technology. The phone also includes …

WASHINGTON-The Commerce Department, amid administration warnings that a return to U.S. protectionism would hurt U.S. firms and exacerbate global financial troubles, last week said commercial wireless carriers “constitute a thriving industry sector in the United States that has enormous growth …

Finland-based Nokia Corp. continued to put pressure on its competitors with mobile phone sales that more than doubled for the fourth quarter, while its Swedish counterpart L.M. Ericsson saw its mobile phone sales fall 3 percent for the fourth quarter. …

Zetron Zetron Inc. launched the Model Z907 PCS Fault Finder, which provides fast notification of power amplifier and antenna problems at personal communications services sites. The PCS Fault Finder monitors forward radio-frequency power and antenna return loss in the 1.8 …

NEW YORK-L.M. Ericsson announced several endeavors that will provide handsets with increasing degrees of global utility. The Swedish-based manufacturer said it is forming a “groundbreaking initiative” with four companies to create the “geostationary mobile satellite standard,” or GMSS. Participating with …

NEW YORK-Home Wireless Networks, a Norcross, Ga., company in which Lucent Technologies Inc. has invested, Friday announced the commercial availability of a wireless home/office data and voice communications distribution system. Its function is to provide small-business customers with secure voice …

After years of slowly gathering the needed partnerships with cellular operators across the country, Cellemetry L.L.C. today can offer its cellular control channel transmission technology across more than 90 percent of the country. In mid-December, the company signed with Houston …

Tanzania Inmarsat announced Tanzania became its 85th member country. Adolar B. Mapunda, managing director of the Tanzanian Telecommunications Co. Ltd., signed the Inmarsat Operating Agreement at the International Maritime Organization’s office in London at the end of 1998. Tanzania is …

WASHINGTON-The U.S. wireless industry, responding to the global proliferation of media coverage of mobile phone health concerns and to Internet-savvy activists, is leading an effort to create a worldwide information-sharing network to counter negative publicity. The Wireless Industry Global Information …

WASHINGTON-The Clinton administration, invoking powerful references to the World Trade Organization, competition and convergence, last week said the European Commission’s response to U.S. concerns about potential trade barriers to third-generation mobile phone standards fell short, and urged Europe not to …

The Australian Communications Authority has decided to require pre-selection for calls originating on a fixed network and terminating on a mobile network. The ACA, which is responsible for regulating telecommunications and radio communications in Australia, said fixed-to-mobile services should be …

Ameritech Corp. said it plans to invest $3 billion in capital in its communications networks in 1999. Approximately $2 billion will be targeted at enhancing the company’s core communications networks, with half of the total supporting data networks. An additional …

WASHINGTON-Federal Communications Commissioner Susan Ness last week added her voice to the growing drumbeat of U.S. opposition to European Union moves that could block the import of third-generation mobile phone technologies and limit harmonization of similar standards. “A major concern …

In the Top 20 Wireless Resellers list (Jan. 11), Discount Cellular Inc. and The Mobile Phone Co. were listed wrong. The companies are agents for Omnipoint. Discount Cellular also is an agent for Powertel and Sprint PCS and a reseller …

Qualcomm Inc. may be ready to sell off its handset division as competition in the cdmaOne handset business intensifies and costs increase. Sources say Qualcomm is in discussions with Siemens Wireless Terminals concerning the sale of Qualcomm’s cdmaOne handset division. …

Welcome to 1999 and woe to pols that haven’t discovered the digital age. No wonder House Commerce Committee Chairman Tom Bliley (R-Va.) counts cellular privacy as a top priority in the 106th Congress. Analog cellular phones are wrecking political careers …

WASHINGTON-Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard last week said he would consider further wireless deregulation and intends to streamline operations, objectives that could help defuse plans on Capitol Hill to reform the agency this year. Kennard came under fire in …

NEW YORK-The United Kingdom started off 1999 with a bang, becoming the first country to implement local number portability for wireless telephony customers. All four cellular operators-Orange plc, Vodafone Group plc, Cellnet and One 2 One-had agreed to license amendments …

The nation’s largest independent cellular carrier last week entertained bids from two potential acquirers in what could become a global bidding war. AirTouch Communications Inc. last week confirmed it was in discussions with Bell Atlantic Corp. for a possible tie-up …