operator

SANDTON, South Africa-A wave of liberalization and privatization is transforming the cellular market in Africa. Countries riding high on this tide include South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Mauritius, C”te d’Ivoire, Kenya and Uganda. Pyramid Research predicts that only Angola, Burundi, …

Cameroon Cameroon is privatizing its two cellular phone networks. The first network is the newly created GSM concession, which was purchased by France Cable Radio but has not yet been built. The second network is the existing cellular phone network …

Just four years ago, no one knew the Web’s popularity would be so explosive. Today, vendors and carriers are realizing its power and are crafting networks around it as they move into the third generation and beyond. “Even in 1995, …

WASHINGTON-Reps. Thomas Davis (R-Va.) and James Moran (D-Va.) last week introduced legislation to foster nondiscriminatory telecommunications access to federal government buildings, bolstering competitive prospects for fixed wireless carriers. The bill mirrors one introduced in June by Sens. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), …

WASHINGTON-A new Senate report concludes most wireless carriers and other telecom service providers are not endangered by year-2000 computer glitches, but lawmakers warned that inadequate preparation by rural telcos, local 911 emergency dispatchers, small businesses and foreign nations could have …

NEW ORLEANS-Aquis Communications Group Inc. is in the process of buying bankrupt paging carrier SourceOne Wireless Inc. of Chicago. John Adiletta, Aquis president and CEO, said his company first entered into a management agreement with SourceOne in August, an arrangement …

Moving on its promise to step up promotion of Time Division Multiple Access technology worldwide, the Universal Wireless Communications Consortium said it recently met with Chinese government officials to promote TDMA technology. “This was an introductory meeting for different organizations …

Qualcomm Inc. last week asked the Federal Communications Commission to deny Omnipoint Corp.’s request to transfer its New York personal communications services license to VoiceStream Wireless Corp., a move that clouds the companies’ efforts to complete their $1.7 billion merger …

The U.S. cellular adoption level is fast approaching 30 percent-not bad. However, it’s also a long way from the penetration rates we see in Europe, particularly in the benchmark countries of Scandinavia. Will the United States match Finland with a …

The need to add a wireless play in global telecommunications alliances became clearer last week as AT&T Corp. and British Telecommunications plc announced a strategic alliance designed to create seamless mobile communications services worldwide. “In general, we’ve seen a lot …

If you want clout in Washington, the only thing better than being a top board member of either of the two largest wireless trade associations is not being a member of the two largest wireless trade associations Ask Nextel Communications …

MONTREAL-Telesystem International Wireless Inc. announced its Global System for Mobile communications subsidiary in Romania, named MobiFon S.A., surpassed the 500,000 subscribers mark after only 28 months of commercial operations. MobiFon also is the first mobile operator in Romania to launch …

Bell Atlantic Mobile purchased six 10-megahertz personal communications services licenses from Rivgam Communications L.L.C. to increase voice capacity and prepare for the onslaught of high-speed data applications. The cellular operator purchased D- and E-block licenses in Buffalo, N.Y., Philadelphia, Atlantic …

Every day does not produce news about the 3G standards process; it just seems that way. The basic reason, as Jimmy Durante once succinctly put it: “Everybody wants to get into de act.” There seems to be consensus that if …

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Iridium L.L.C.’s recent financial restructuring and voluntary bankruptcy filing are not expected to have a financial impact on Iridium Africa, said Iridium Africa’s chief operating officer, Thomas Alabakis. Iridium Africa is an independent company wholly owned by the …

U.S. TDMA operators must make some critical decisions about competing in the wireless data market during the next year as they witness their CDMA counterparts begin to launch circuit-switched data services in large scale. Time Division Multiple Access operators-which in …

All around the globe, developing countries are loosening governmental controls and opening markets to competition. Nowhere, perhaps, is this trend more prominent than in the burgeoning telecommunications industry, where the explosion in data access and digital technology brings the global …

HELSINKI-Finnish operator Sonera said its High Speed Circuit Switched Data network would be ready to begin offering services to data customers today. Handsets for the networks are not yet available, but expected to be delivered later this year. Depending on …

SANAA, Yemen-The government of Yemen issued a tender for two Global System for Mobile communications licenses. The closing date for receipt of the bid application is Dec. 5. Yemen currently has only one cellular operator. Teleyemen, which operates Total Access …

The Wireless Application Protocol made strides in Sweden, Germany and Finland last week, adding to its gaining momentum in Europe. In Germany, Nokia Corp. and Deutsche Bank have agreed to develop new mobile banking services based on the WAP that …

Handsets Nokia Nokia announced a new NMT 450 analog handset, to be available in the third quarter, that features true 3-volt technology and the Nokia NaviKey concept. The Nokia 640 weighs 195 grams and has a standby time of up …

More than 660,000 U.S. and Canadian customers subscribed to GSM wireless service in the second quarter of 1999, according to the North American GSM Alliance. This brings the total number of GSM customers in North America to 4.2 million. Canada …

Ericsson signed a US$100 million contract with Diginet Americas to build out Diginet’s fixed wireless networks throughout Latin America. The agreement makes Ericsson the preferred supplier to Diginet to provide ATM and IP-based equipment and services for the first pan-Latin …

MELBOURNE, Australia-New mobile operator Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) unveiled plans to release next year a CDMA mobile phone that charges users for calls made within a “local zone,” usually bounded by the home, at the flat-rate cost of a local call …

DUBLIN, Ireland-National industry regulators have one of the most difficult jobs in the telecommunications world and face criticism from consumers, network operators and government. But the role of the regulator in the European mobile communications sector has been made even …