BROWSING: SmarTone

Hong KongHong Kong's Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) will use a "hybrid" method-a prequalification followed by an auction-to allocate four third-generation (3G) mobile services licenses early next year. New market entrants must compete with Hong Kong's six incumbent operators. Hutchison Telecom, Pacific Century...

AustriaAustrian mobile operator Mobilkom Austria launched wireless packet data service using a GPRS core network infrastructure solution provided by Nortel Networks through its local distributor, Austria Telecommunication GmbH. Nortel said the GPRS core network is the first in commercial service to support interoperability with...

NEW YORK-Any wireless carrier that frets about competition on its turf should consider SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings Ltd., the fourth licensee in Hong Kong.The city-state has a population of 6.9 million, of whom 4 million already are mobile customers. Serving this market are six mobile...

HONG KONG-In January, the Hong Kong government awarded five licenses for wireless fixed telecommunications network services (FTNS), signaling a major advance in Internet access.The licensees will use base stations to transmit voice, data and video signals via microwave links to rooftop antenna dishes on...

British Telecom and AT&T said they are beginning trials to test roaming services for high-speed Internet phones. The tests will involve General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology and partnerships with wireless operators SmarTone of Hong Kong and Taiwan's FarEasTone. The trials will begin in...

HONG KONG-The Hong Kong Telecommunications Authority awarded five fixed-wireless licenses and 12 licenses for long-distance services via satellite, opening further telecommunications competition.The five fixed-wireless license holders pledged a total of $360 million in the next three years. The licensees include PSINet Hong Kong Ltd.,...

Hong Kong mobile telephone operator SmarTone Communications said it is looking to secure a wireless fixed network license in Hong Kong. SmarTone is among 14 companies that have applied to the Hong Kong government for wireless local fixed telephone network licenses. SmarTone is beginning...

HONG KONG-Hong Kong mobile telephone operator SmarTone Communications said it is looking to secure a wireless fixed network license. SmarTone is among 14 companies that have applied to the Hong Kong government for wireless local fixed-telephone network licenses. SmarTone is beginning the second phase...

SINGAPORE-Mobile data is quickly taking off in many parts of Asia, with growth rates in the region comparing favorably to take-up rates in Europe and the United States, say analysts.Although overall percentages of Asian wireless subscribers that use data services are not available, Steven...

The Chinese government announced it will enforce regulations announced last year requiring all foreign-manufactured mobile phones and other telecommunications equipment to carry a government-issued seal indicating authenticity. The government said the move will help it reduce smuggled goods from entering the country. Foreign executives...

AUSTRALIATelstra will extend its CDMA network in Australia to include country locations currently covered by its GSM network but lacking in analog coverage, said the company.Hutchison Telecoms in Australia announced it will adopt the brand name Orange, the global communications brand of the Hutchison...

STOCKHOLM-L.M. Ericsson announced it is supplying a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access system to Hong Kong-based SmarTone Mobile Communications Ltd.The experimental third-generation system could support wireless Internet protocol and other packet-based wireless datacom and multimedia systems at 470 kilobits per second and faster with...

ChinaChina Telecom granted U.S.-based Cwill Telecommunications' smart antenna technology a digital Network Access License to connect its wireless PCS-band technology for WLL to China Telecom's phone system anywhere in China, said Cwill.Hong KongBritish Telecom is continuing its buying spree in Asia. In its latest...

JapanConductus Inc. announced it shipped a 16-pole ClearSite wireless subsystem to a major Japanese cellular operator for performance testing. The system will be used for testing within Japanese frequency bands for potential field deployment.SENEGALSENTELgsm launched Global System for Mobile communications 900 service in the...

CANNES, France-CNN Interactive last week announced at the GSM World Congress its CNN Mobile service, a mobile telephone news and information service using a platform it co-developed with Nokia Oy. The service will allow consumers to get text-based CNN news on their handsets, and...

The State Department late last month urged the European Commission to allow U.S. third-generation wireless equipment and service providers a fair opportunity to compete in Europe.In a letter sent to EC Commissioner Martin Bangemann Dec. 19, the United States expressed concern Europe may be...

BEIJING-Six wireless operators with 11 networks is the daunting choice offered to Hong Kong's techno-savvy consumers.The mobile phone scene here is a lot brighter than one would have expected just one-and-a-half years ago, with the territory's hand-over to the People's Republic of China on...

NEW YORK-"One of the humbling things about this business is that, for three out of four years, we are unapproachable and obnoxious, but in the fourth year we have to raise money so we grovel."That is how Ronald White, a partner in Argo Global...

L.M. EricssonBelgium. With KPN-Orange Belgium N.V. for a DCS 1800 network.Value: US$269 millionBrazil. With ATL-Algar Telecom Leste S.A. for a TDMA network.Value: up to US$350 millionEcuador. Five-year contract with BellSouth Ecuador to upgrade its AMPS network to TDMA IS-136.Value: more than US$250 millionEgypt. Contract from Misrfone to...

CHINAL.M. Ericsson signed a $50 million framework agreement to expand capacity on SmarTone's Global System for Mobile communications network in Hong Kong during the next year. SmarTone acquired an 1800 MHz license when it bought the original holder, P Plus, said Ericsson.Glenayre and the...

HONG KONGHong Kong's SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings Ltd. announced agreements with Star Telecom International Holdings Ltd. and Telecom Service Ltd. to acquireP Plus Communications Ltd., a PCS operator, for about US$95 million. The news did not come as a surprise; it has been rumored for...

KIRKLAND, Wash.-AT&T Wireless Services Inc.'s Hong Kong venture, SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings Ltd., signed conditional agreements with Star Telecom International Holdings Ltd. and Telecom Service Ltd. to acquire P Plus Communications Ltd. for about $95 million.SmarTone will gain additional spectrum through the acquisition, which will...

DENVER, United States-Market strategy has taken on a new meaning for wireless carriers in the Asia-Pacific, which are picking themselves up, dusting themselves off and looking around to see if the region's economic storm has left them shipwrecked or simply thrown off course a...

NEW YORK-Microcell Capital Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Microcell Telecommunications Inc., said it created GSM Capital L.P., an international venture-capital fund with more than $137 million committed to private-equity investment in companies developing new Global System for Mobile communications products and services.GSM Capital...