Vodafone

LONDON-European mobile operators Orange, Telefonica Moviles, T-Mobile AG and Vodafone Group plc signed an agreement to form a new Mobile Payment Services Association designed to deliver an open, commonly branded solution for payments from mobile handsets. The association said the …

CANNES, France-The 2003 GSM Association Awards were presented this week in conjunction with the 3GSM World Congress being held in Cannes, France. In the technology innovation category, Sharp Corp. won for the Sharp GX10 handheld and Telos Technology and Globecomm …

CANNES, France-Although much of the industry’s attention was on big-name carriers and equipment makers, wireless content providers also managed to make waves of their own during the 3GSM World Congress. Wireless technology company End2End said Vodafone Egypt will use its …

LONDON and PARIS-Two European telecommunications companies announced expansions of their GPRS Roaming Exchange programs. Cable & Wireless said it expanded its service into the Asia-Pacific region by connecting additional operators within the Vodafone Group. Cable & Wireless said it has …

NEW YORK-Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services affirmed its ‘A+’ corporate credit rating on Verizon Communications Inc. and revised its outlook on the telecommunications company and its related entities from negative to stable. S&P stated that a decline in access lines …

OXFORD, United Kingdom-If cell-phone users are a little uncertain about the complexities of using their e-mail or voice mail services, Vodafone has just made things worse. The company recently sent an e-mail to its subscribers informing them that its newly …

TOKYO-J-Phone, a Vodafone Group business unit in Japan, announced it would launch a new prepaid phone service in mid-February. The new prepaid service “enjorno” will charge up to 40-percent lower rates than conventional phone services, and handsets for the service …

LONDON-Vodafone Group plc confirmed that it is in discussions regarding Japan Telecom, its Japanese subsidiary that offers fixed-line service. Vodafone acquired Japan Telecom in stages to gain control of mobile arm J-Phone last year. Vodafone said the talks “may or …

NEW YORK-Verizon Wireless, the joint venture between Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group plc, has withdrawn plans for an initial public offering of up to $5 billion this year because it no longer needs the money to buy spectrum licenses that …

OXFORD, United Kingdom-Following last week’s decision from cell-phone operator MmO2 that it will delay the deployment of its U.K. third-generation (3G) service until the latter half of 2004, other European mobile operators provided more details of their 3G launch plans …

OSLO, Norway-Sales of handheld computing devices, including personal digital assistants (PDAs) and smart phones, rose 3.5 percent in the final quarter of 2002 in Sweden, reversing a slide that began in 2001. Swedish consultancy IT Research credited the swing to …

MELBOURNE, Australia-Latest subscriber figures for Vodafone Australia show the mobile carrier is having some success with its strategy of targeting the prepaid market with an increase of 188,000 new connections in the December quarter, bringing its customer base to about …

REDMOND, Wash.-Microsoft Corp. signed deals with Vodafone and Bell Mobility to offer its range of wireless content services, further moves by the company to expand its MSN services into the wireless world. Under the Vodafone agreement, MSN Hotmail and MSN …

CAIRO, Egypt-Ericsson AB said it has been selected by Vodafone Egypt to deliver and install its GPRS, MMS and instant messaging solutions for its “Vodafone live,” targeting more than 2 million subscribers. “We are pleased to reinforce our long-term partnership …

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-A range of big-name wireless players within the Java Community Process released what they call the road map for dealing with Java technology within the wireless industry, specifications they say will unify and harmonize the various iterations of …

FRANKFURT, Germany-Following the exit of the company’s majority shareholder, European mobile commerce company Paybox said it will shut down its consumer-oriented services-which totals 750,000 users-and will focus solely on the business-to-business market. “We deeply regret this step. We are not …

HELSINKI, Finland-Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa and Swedish venture group Investor are planning a spring launch for their so-called 3 mobile telephony service in Sweden. Company chiefs insist the new mobile service will return a profit on operations within five years. …

LONDON-The U.K. mobile landscape looks set for change after the U.K. Competition Commission recommended in a report released today that the four U.K. mobile operators reduce their mobile termination charges by 15 percent before July 25 this year. MmO2 said …

LONDON-Vodafone Group plc reported that its Vodafone Holdings GmbH subsidiary completed its acquisition of SBC Communications Inc.’s stake in Transtel S.A., which represented a 15 percent interest in Cegetel Groupe S.A. for $2.27 billion. The acquisition increases Vodafone’s interest in …

MANCHESTER, United Kingdom-Despite economic slowing and sector saturation, profitability of some of Europe’s savvy-and lucky-wireless operators is managing to improve across a desolate backdrop. Across the Continent, average revenue per user (ARPU) for most operators has been increasing at about …

HELSINKI, Finland-Telenor, the Oslo-based Norwegian state telecom company, has been stung into legal action in Portugal, following the “premature and unwarranted” closure of the Portuguese mobile-phone start-up OniWay. The legal action is intended to overturn the closure decision. Telenor holds …

LONDON-The U.K. mobile landscape looks set for change after the U.K. Competition Commission recommended in a report released today that the four U.K. mobile operators reduce their mobile termination charges by 15 percent before July 25 this year. MmO2 said …

LONDON-Vodafone Group plc reportedly has pulled out of the bidding for rival British-based wireless operator Mm02 plc’s Dutch wireless operations due to cost concerns over integrating the business into its own Dutch operations, according to the Financial Times. The report …

OXFORD, United Kingdom-While publicly denying they have any plans to offer soft porn via their next-generation networks, deals are being signed that will see an increasing level of adult services become available over European mobile networks. All of Europe’s major …

TOKYO-The number of subscribers for picture-phone services in Japan has exceeded 15 million, according to data released by carriers. The first camera phone service, Sha-mail, was initially developed by J-Phone, a Japanese business unit of Vodafone Group. J-Phone on Wednesday …