Mobile Phones

Startel, a wireless network operator in Chile, launched digital service on its network using Interim Standard 136 Digital Advanced Mobile Phone Service technology provided by L.M. Ericsson. The new digital services are being introduced initially in Santiago and later will …

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill.-Motorola Inc.’s Cellular Infrastructure Group signed a contract to expand a cellular network in Brazil operated by Telecomunicacoes de Parana S.A. The agreement, which Motorola values at $132 million, calls for Motorola to deploy an Advanced Mobile Phone …

HERNDON, Va.-Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. Ltd. and Comsat RSI Plexsys Wireless Systems formed a purchase agreement and product development alliance. Terms of the agreement call for Hyundai to purchase nearly $5 million of Plexsys’ PlexCell series of Code Division Multiple …

Globe Telecom selected Nokia Corp. to supply infrastructure equipment and wireless local loop subscriber terminals for a fixed telephone project in the Philippines. Nokia’s Global System for Mobile communications infrastructure and PremiCell WLL equipment will be used in the initial …

DENVER-While presidents from eight countries discussed pertinent topics such as arms control, peace in Bosnia and the global economy, Denver-area wireless carriers worked behind the scenes to provide handsets and equipment to some 5,000 reporters and scores of others associated …

BRISTOL, England-Orange plc is introducing a number of communications services packages that address multiple user groups. The new services, which will be available within the next month, include simultaneous voice and text messaging with a number of users, conference calling …

Western Wireless Corp. said things are running smoothly in Hawaii since it launched the nation’s second personal communications services network there more than one year ago. But in the eyes of consumers, it may be a different story. The company, …

Cable & Wireless plc, the United Kingdom’s second-largest telecom group, has agreed to sell the Chinese government a minority interest in Hongkong Telecom. In return, the Chinese will offer Cable & Wireless the opportunity to be a major foreign investor …

The privatization of Brazil’s cellular telephone industry appears to have moved forward in recent weeks with the announcement of the sale of the country’s first B-band concession. But while one Brazilian analyst’s reaction to the announcement was: “Everything’s on track,” …

NEW YORK-After more than two years of effort, standards for interoperability of smart cards for U.S.-based personal communications services received approval May 30. “It represents a breakthrough. This is one step forward in the same direction of a universal phone …

Motorola Inc.’s Cellular Infrastructure Group and Coral Systems Inc. reached an agreement to allow Motorola to offer its customers Coral Systems’ FraudBuster fraud management system as part of its IN2 Solution Center. FraudBuster is designed to detect and manage fraud …

NEW YORK-Competition from personal communications services companies in the United States is proving to be good news for wireless carriers and their stocks, David A. Freedman, managing director of Bear Stearns & Co. Inc., New York, said June 4. “If …

WASHINGTON-A merger between long-distance giant AT&T Corp. and local telco stalwart SBC Communications Inc. would raise wireless competition questions and face legal and regulatory hurdles that could prove insurmountable, according to antitrust policy experts. At $50 billion, an AT&T-SBC marriage …

The Portuguese government said it plans to open a tender for a personal communications services license this month and issue a third mobile phone license by the end of this or early next year. “The specification of the bidding is …

NEW YORK-Surfing the Internet from a wireless Global System for Mobile communications handset is about to get easier and smarter, according to Nokia Inc. and TeamWare, a unit of Fujitsu Ltd. The Finnish handset manufacturer and the Japanese software developer …

Globalstar L.P. announced at a signing ceremony it has placed purchase orders by the partners that comprise Globalstar’s limited partnership for 35 Globalstar gateways to be installed around the world. The contracts, totaling approximately $275 million, represent a further commitment …

WASHINGTON-The head of the wireless industry’s cancer research project last week cautioned against reading too much into preliminary findings from a new Finnish study that mobile phones are free of health risks. Dr. George L. Carlo, chairman of Wireless Technology …

HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Telecommunications signed a contract with Mobilix, a subsidiary of the France Telecom Group, to supply a new Digital Cellular System 1800 MHz network in Denmark. Mobilix won a license to operate the Danish DCS 1800 mobile phone network …

NEW YORK-Following a six-month jail sentence imposed May 23 on a cellular phone caller who killed another motorist, the British government said it will consider whether to outlaw outright mobile phone use by drivers while their vehicles are in motion. …

Today is the deadline to submit bids for a Digital Cellular System 1800 MHz license in Austria. A winner could be announced next month. The tender was announced about two months ago, at which time Waltraud Augesky, a commercial specialist …

TAMPA-GTE Telecommunications Services Inc. signed a contract to provide its Access Services clearinghouse system to PrimeCo Personal Communications L.P. GTE also will provide its RoamerXchange database management system to PrimeCo, which operates a Code Division Multiple Access personal communications services …

Groups led by AT&T Corp. and Telia of Sweden are among those that recently purchased bidding packages from the Argentine government, which plans to award two 1900 MHz personal communications services licenses this fall. Interested companies must present initial offers, …

German cellular service provider T-Mobil awarded a contract to Lucent Technologies Inc. to expand T-Mobil’s Global System for Mobile communications network. Lucent values the agreement at more than $30 million. T-Mobil’s D-1 network currently serves 2.5 million subscribers. According to …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden-L.M. Ericsson said it received an order from Russia’s Vimpel Communications for equipment to expand the operator’s Digital-Advanced Mobile Phone Service network. Ericsson values the contract at $54 million. The seventh expansion of the VimpelCom network will allow the …

WASHINGTON-The United States is honing preparations to press for additional global mobile satellite spectrum at the World Radiocommunication Conference this fall in Geneva, but prospects appear more promising for big low-earth-orbit mobile phone systems than for little LEO data systems. …