Mobile Phones

WASHINGTON-Nextel Communications Inc., in a move possibly signaling capacity problems that may be forcing the already highly leveraged wireless giant back into acquisition mode, is negotiating with the Justice Department to lift a 1994 antitrust consent decree. “We have had …

Corsair Communications Inc. joined the ranks of companies hoping to capitalize on the Federal Communications Commission’s mandate on wireless 911. The company, whose product history is in the fraud-prevention arena, is developing a network-based system for wireless location. Phase II …

GLOBECOM SYSTEMS Globecomm Systems Inc. announced commercial availability of its Systems Explorer II Portable Satphone, a satellite phone system that uses Integrated Services Digital Network technology. Explorer II is made in the United States and weighs 32 pounds. The system …

The massive popularity of 3Com Corp.’s PalmPilot personal digital assistant has spurred several mobile communications companies to develop wireless solutions for the product. The most recent application is from Mitsubishi Wireless Communications Inc., whose Personal Mobile Communications Division recently announced …

WASHINGTON-Under even the most abnormal of normal circumstances, it usually is possible to handicap odds for passage of wireless legislation before Congress adjourns. But these are not normal times. An American president is under siege, and the global stage is …

BUENOS AIRES-Lucent Technologies Inc. signed a $52.5 million contract with CTI Movil of Argentina to provide equipment, services and software for another expansion of CTI Movil’s Advanced Mobile Phone Services network. Under CTI Movil’s “Millennium Project,” as the expansion has …

Political turmoil and economic problems around the world have delayed tenders and auctions of mobile phone spectrum in some countries. At least three Latin American countries-Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela-have put on hold plans to grant wireless concessions. “In all three …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden-L.M. Ericsson signed a $300 million frame agreement with Telcel to expand the wireless operator’s 800 MHz network and create a dual-band/dual-mode system by building the country’s first 1900 MHz network, said Ericsson. Telcel recently won a 1900 MHz …

While the short-term forecast for wireless operators in financially troubled parts of the world could be turbulent, carriers remain optimistic the wireless industry will weather the current financial crisis without many lasting repercussions. Stock markets around the globe-in Europe, Japan, …

WASHINGTON-A powerful Senate resolution that was to promote third-generation wireless harmonization was thoroughly diluted by U.S. backers of European-based mobile phone technology last week, a bizarre turnabout that drew a mix of new faces into the escalating controversy and further …

With American carriers and manufacturers gallantly fighting here and abroad for global wireless supremacy and the U.S. government pocketing billions from the sale of airwaves that fuel pagers and mobile phones, some might say that saving Pvt. Wireless isn’t worth …

NEW YORK-Australia’s Optus Communications, a multiservice carrier, announced fiscal year-end results Aug. 31 that showed significant declines in operating losses compared with the prior year. Optus closed out Fiscal 1998, ended June 30, with 1.7 million wireless telephony customers, of …

Sweden-based L.M. Ericsson said it has found no reason to believe the current W-CDMA 3G standard chosen by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute would infringe on any valid intellectual property rights claimed by Qualcomm Inc. In fact, CEO Sven-Christer Nilsson’s …

An old Chinese saying may be relevant to the commercialization of CDMA mobile phone networks in China-“Those who know don’t talk, and those who talk don’t know”-at least on the record. When will Code Division Multiple Access networks be launched …

Chances are slim to none that U.S. mobile phone operators will agree on one standard for the next generation of mobile phone services. Already fragmented with three different digital standards-cdmaOne, TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) and GSM (Global System for …

OXFORD, United Kingdom-Conferences are an integral part of the mobile communications scene, an ideal platform for catching up with the latest developments and a chance to meet old friends and make new ones. But such networking opportunities have one inevitable …

BEIJING-In its latest proposal to gain entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO), China offered on 24 July to open gradually its paging and mobile phone operating services to foreign competition. Currently, foreign companies only are allowed to engage in …

BEIJING-China Telecom announced it signed up its 20 millionth mobile phone customer, a police officer named Zhang Qinghua in the scenic city of Hangzhou, at precisely 8: 45 a.m. on 18 August. In the first half of the year, China …

JERUSALEM, Israel-In the southern town of Ashkelon stands a larger-than-life black marble grave stone that is as much a monument to the teenager buried in the plot as it is to the cell phone he loved to cradle: the stone, …

The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association in July released a consensus white paper on wireless number portability stressing the wireless industry should be treated differently than the wireline industry. Current requirements state wireless carriers must implement portability by next summer, but …

The first GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) network in Zambia is scheduled to be commercial at the end of October. At its launch, Zambia will join more than 20 African countries that have GSM networks. The new operator, Zamcell, …

The Australian Communications Authority has invited applications for an auction of previously unsold 800 MHz and 1.8 GHz PCS spectrum. Bids closed on 31 August for the partial privatization of Telekom Austria. The Austrian government is looking to sell a …

SINGAPORE-One of the strongest indications Singapore’s paging market may have reached saturation was given in July when three of Hutchison Paging’s top executives quit en masse, reportedly over poor sales and disagreements over the running of the 15-month-old firm. Chief …

Wireless operators, especially those in emerging markets, will have to operate leaner to survive the second stage of a financial crisis that originated in Asia a year ago, spread to Russia more recently-and within a matter of days fanned out …

MELBOURNE, Australia-Telstra Corp., Australia’s largest communications company, announced it is getting out of the paging business. It hopes to complete the sale to Link Telecommunications Pty. Ltd. by October, giving Link about a two-thirds share of the market. Telstra made …