Orange

PARIS—France has set 16 May as its deadline for candidates to submit bids for two remaining third-generation (3G) licenses. Winners will be announced by the end of September. This year’s attempted sale of four 3G licenses ended with only two …

OXFORD, United Kingdom—The four Swedish telecom operators that acquired third-generation (3G) licenses last year will face heavy fines if they fail to complete their network deployments on time, said the Swedish National Post and Telecom Agency. A lawyer for the …

LONDON—Logica, a wireless messaging company, said it will conduct a live trial of its Multimedia Messaging Service over United Kingdom wireless carrier Orange’s GPRS network. Logica said its Multimedia Messaging Service Center enables the delivery of mobile messages containing audio, …

DUBLIN, Ireland—Logica announced a live trial implementation of multimedia messaging service (MMS) over Orange U.K.’s General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network. The trial is the first step toward full implementation, Logica said. Orange will use the trial to develop and …

MAISONS-LAFFITTE, France—Webraska announced it is going to supply Orange U.K. with upgrades to Orange’s existing multimedia location-based services. The upgraded service will allow users to be automatically located by the network rather than having to type in their address themselves, …

MAISONS-LAFFITTE, France—Webraska announced it is going to supply Orange UK with upgrades to Orange’s existing multimedia location-based services. The upgraded service will allow users to be automatically located by the network rather than having to type in their address themselves, …

HELSINKI, Finland—PTS, Sweden’s telecom regulatory organization, has warned telecom companies that secured third-generation (3G) network licenses that they risk losing these licenses in the event that they stall development plans any further. Twelve months after PTL allocated four 3G licenses, …

WASHINGTON—Verizon Communications Inc. has reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year contract with the Communications Workers of America, to be effective when the current contract expires on March 16, for employees in Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange Counties and …

LONDON—French telecommunications regulator ART has said that it will cut the price of calls from fixed lines to mobile phones by nearly 40 percent during the course of the next three years. The decision will affect Orange and SFR, the …

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, United States—Luxxon announced Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong) purchased its Mediator Streaming System, which Luxxon said will allow the carrier to demonstrate to the public the next-generation wireless streaming services at its Orange shops. “By showcasing Hong Kong’s …

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.-Luxxon Corp. announced Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong) Ltd. purchased its Mediator Streaming System, which Luxxon said will allow the carrier to demonstrate to the public the next-generation wireless streaming services at its Orange shops. “By showcasing Hong Kong’s …

BUCHAREST, Romania—According to the Swedish financial newspaper Finanstidningen, Skanska is exercising its option to sell its 10-percent shareholding in Orange Sweden, which won a third-generation (3G) license in Sweden last year. France T

PARIS—Orange said it has conducted the first voice, data and video communications on the Orange Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network in Paris, with equipment from Alcatel. The pre-commercial network carries voice communications in circuit mode and transfers data and …

NEW DELHI, India-The Thai cellular market witnessed rapid growth and intense competition during 2001. Subscriber numbers reached a landmark, crossing fixed-line subscriber numbers much earlier than expected. Tariffs are decreasing, and value-added services are generating huge revenues for operators. Next-generation …

Carriers choose low-key number portability promotions MELBOURNE, Australia-With the advent of mobile number portability (MNP) in Australia, the forecasted marketing blitz has largely failed to materialize, despite some initial predictions that mobile-phone companies would spend big to draw customers away …

Alcatel China. With China Mobile for GSM network expansion contracts by Shanghai Mobile and Jilin Mobile. Value: US$70 million Malaysia. With Telekom Cellular to expand its existing GSM 1800 MHz capacity and ready it for GPRS. Value: US$85 million Philippines. …

LONDON—Ananova, the virtual personal news assistant owned by Orange plc, and PacketVideo announced a partnership to deliver Ananova’s real-time news service to personal digital assistant users. Ananova is trialing PacketVideo’s wireless multimedia software for a potential launch of its service …

Editor’s Note: Since 1993, RCR Wireless News has chosen one person who most impacted the wireless industry that year. As part of our celebration of 20 years of covering the wireless industry, here is a look at past inductees: 1993

OXFORD, United Kingdom—Despite losing a legal appeal over the timing of its third-generation (3G) license payments, British Telecommunications (BT) said it will instigate a fresh court action restating that it and Deutsche Telekom-owned One 2 One were treated unfairly by …

OXFORD, United Kingdom—Sweden’s state-owned Vattenfall has called for the launch of third-generation (3G) services to be delayed until consumer demand can be more accurately measured. The company is also concerned that 3G equipment manufacturers will not have adequate numbers of …

PARIS—The standoff between the French government and mobile-phone operator SFR, which is backed by Vivendi Universal, was at least delayed this week, with SFR paying the initial US$566 million payment for its third-generation (3G) license. SFR initially withheld the first …

HELSINKI, Finland—Danish competition officials, reacting to confidential information of cartel arrangements within the mobile telephone sector, have staged raids on the head offices of the country’s largest mobile phone operators, including TDC, Orange, Sonofon and Telia Danmark. Regulators confirmed they …

PARIS—Alcatel said Orange conducted the first voice, data and video communications on the OrangeFrance Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile pilot infrastructure delivered and installed by Alcatel. The network, delivered and installed by Alcatel, transports vocal communications in circuit mode …

LONDON—U.K. telecom regulator Oftel imposed price controls on the country’s four mobile operators, saying British consumers would save $1.2 billion during the next four years. The controls will reduce revenues for the carriers by about $884 million, Oftel said. The …

COPENHAGEN, Denmark—The Danish telecom agency awarded four third-generation (3G) licenses for US$118 million each after receiving bids from five companies. Incumbent operators TDC Mobile, Telia Denmark and Orange each won a license, along with newcomer Hi3G Denmark. Norway’s Telenor, which …