Telecom Asia articles from February 2002

Telecom Asia archives from February 2002

Telecommunist China. (Inside Line).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... During a recent sojourn in the old Chinese capital of Xian, and at the unlikely location of the Famen Temple, Inside Line received a lesson in the importance of the "open society". There among the Tang Dynasty horses, scrolls and porcelain was...

Dumb uses for smart ID cards.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... In the wake of the 11 September terrorist attacks, the US Congress has become increasingly enamored with the idea of issuing chip-enabled national ID cards that could store all sorts of identifying data, from the carrier's birth date and Social...

FOMA needs coverage and capacity upgrade. (First Mile).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Two months after its commercial launch, NTT DoCoMo's third-generation FOMA service is performing reasonably well -- when users can get a connection, that is. A report from Gartner Group assessing DoCoMo's W-CDMA service says that FOMA's...

DECT: the new "world standard" for cordless? (Telecom Asia, January 1995). (Resend: flashbacks, updates and nostalgia).(European cordless telephone)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... SYNOPSIS: The initial success of DECT, the European cordless telephone standard, as a wireless PBX technology could lead to success as a WLL technology and, with planned interworking with GSM, could become the de facto standard for cordless...

Subsea bandwidth players look for a model: will subsea cable get its groove back? It will take a couple of years to soak up the excess capacity, experts say. Meanwhile, the search goes on for new sustainable business models. (News Analysis).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... When submarine cable execs got together for their annual session at the annual Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) event last month, there was only one topic: "the mess" the once-booming industry finds itself in. "We are in a...

Asia's two-horse race. (News Analysis).(submarine cable merger)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Asian submarine cable is becoming a two-horse race, following Reach's acquisition of Level 3's Asian assets. In a deal announced just before Christmas, Reach said it would take over Level 3's Tiger cable system and 40 Gbps on the Japan-US cable...

New call for Telstra clamp: with the national election over, yet another debate over Telstra's future is underway. (News Analysis).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Australia's competition watchdog has begun the new year with a call for more powers to control dominant Telstra Corp, rekindling a debate that complicates government plans to fully privatise the A$128 billion carrier. Australian...

Trident goes virtual in Hong Kong: Asia's entrepreneurs are testing the MVNO waters. (News Analysis).(Trident Telecom Venture)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... On the first day of 2002, Hong Kong saw its first virtual operator, Trident Telecom Venture, get into the territory's already crowded mobile market. The start-up, along with mobile reseller China Motion Telecom and external FTNS licensee,...

Mabuhay looks to Asian content distribution: ambitious Philippine player Mabuhay is stalking major markets. Stakes are high, and opportunities are hard to come by. (News Analysis).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Video, and not IP or data, will be the major focus for Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corporation in 2002. Mabuhay intends to leverage Agila's advantage as the only Asian satellite in the US Permitted Space Station List to forge...

Corrections.(Brief Article)(Correction Notice)
February 1, 2002... Telecom Asia incorrectly reported in our Asian 3G roundup in the December 2001 issue that the Malaysian government has set a price of $50 million for each of the three licensesr. The actual price was $13.16 million, or R50 million. Telecom...

Nokia.(volume shipment begins for AT and T Wireless and Cingular Wireless)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... * Nokia begins volume shipment of 800 MHz and 1900 MHz GSM/EDGE network infrastructure to the US for customers AT&T Wireless and Cingular Wireless, both of whom are on course to migrate their existing GSM and TDMA infrastructure to EDGE. Nokia...

Australia Japan Cable.(service begins)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... * The Australia Japan Cable officially starts service with the transmission of customer data over its 12,000 km, 640 Gbps system. One of the biggest shareholders in the cable is Telstra, whose regional joint venture with PCCW, Reach, recently...

Nortel Networks.(fourth quarter financials)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... * Nortel Networks posts a 4Q01 net loss of $1.8 billion including acquisition and restructuring costs on sales of $3.46 billion. Pro forma loss for the period was $506 million for the quarter. Nortel expects tough times in the first quarter of...

Teleglobe.(signs agreement with China Telecom)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... * International network operator Teleglobe, now a part of Canadian incumbent operator BCE, claims to be the first foreign company to establish an IP-VPN interconnection inside China by signing an agreement with China Telecom to interconnect...

Ericsson and Samsung enter into a worldwide patent licensing agreement.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... * Ericsson and Samsung enter into a worldwide patent licensing agreement under which Ericsson grants Samsung a non-exclusive license to develop, manufacture and sell 2G and 3G subscriber and infrastructure equipment under Ericsson's patent...

InterDigital Communications.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... * Wireless technology vendor InterDigital Communications has been elected as a member at large and as a Council member of the TD-SCDMA Forum, an international association of wireless technology developers and equipment producers formed to...

Avaya.(projects loss in quarter)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... * Lucent spin-off Avaya issues a shock profit warning for its first quarter earnings, saying it expects a net loss of between 9 to 11 cents per share -- as opposed to a previous industry consensus estimate of a net profit of 7 cents per share.

Motorola.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... * A US district court orders Motorola to pay up on a $300 million loan guarantee it issued for bankrupted satellite phone company Iridium to Chase Manhattan Bank and other investors who together lent $800 million to Iridium in 1998. Motorola...

Beijing: China will set up four integrated telecom carriers to provide full telecoms services.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Beijing: China will set up four integrated telecom carriers to provide full telecoms services, including fixed line, mobile, broadband and other basic telecoms to increase cross-services competition in the industry, according to the official...

Beijing: China Unicom commercially launches its long-awaited CDMA network.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... * Beijing: China Unicom commercially launches its long-awaited CDMA network. Two days later, it scales back the launch to a three-month trial "to better fulfill its commitment to the users". During the trial, Unicom will gather feedback from...

Shanghai: China Netcom is deploying resilient packet ring (RPR) platforms from metro optical Ethernet vendor Luminous Networks in nine cities.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Shanghai: China Netcom is deploying resilient packet ring (RPR) platforms from metro optical Ethernet vendor Luminous Networks in nine cities, including Shanghai, Dalian, Guangzhou, Foshan, Shunde, Mianyang, Quanzhou, Shaoxing, and Jiaxing,...

Hong Kong: OFTA confirms it will fully liberalize its fixed network market in January 2003.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Hong Kong: OFTA confirms it will fully liberalize its fixed network market in January 2003, putting no set limit on new licensees. However, OFTA says that only players serious on rolling out their own networks will be given FTNS licenses --...

Hong Kong: China Motion Telecom and Ericsson sign a MoU to develop a GSM-based mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) business in Hong Kong.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Hong Kong: China Motion Telecom and Ericsson sign a MoU to develop a GSM-based mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) business in Hong Kong. Ericsson will become China Motion's preferred MVNO solution partner, and provide front-end solutions...

Bangkok: Korea's KT Corp. signs a deal to deliver Ethernet switches, DSLAMs and ADSL modems to Thai ISP Thai System Integration Company (Thaiit).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Bangkok: Korea's KT Corp. signs a deal to deliver Ethernet switches, DSLAMs and ADSL modems to Thai ISP Thai System Integration Company (Thaiit). KT Corp also agrees to provide its online content, services and products to Thaiit.

Jakarta: incumbent operator Telkom is planning to build a core IP network linking some 94 cities across the country.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Jakarta: Incumbent operator Telkom is planning to build a core IP network linking some 94 cities across the country. The network, built on Cisco 7600 Internet Routers, will dramatically increase Internet access speeds in the country and enable...

Kuala Lumpur: the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) launches a nationwide inspection and investigation on all telecommunication towers and antenna structures across the country.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) launches a nationwide inspection and investigation on all telecommunication towers and antenna structures across the country. The MCMC says that the study is necessary,...

Mumbai: Hughes Tele.com is to offer ADSL service in India using Eicon Networks broadband modems.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Mumbai: Hughes Tele.com is to offer ADSL service in India using Eicon Networks broadband modems. Hughes Tele.com has 110,000 and residential lines in ten cities in Maharashtra and Goa.

New Delhi: the Indian government is accepting applications for international telephony licenses.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... New Delhi: The Indian government is accepting applications for international telephony licenses. India is scheduled to open its international telephony sector from 1 April ending state-owned VSNL's monopoly. No limit will be imposed on the...

Tokyo: wireless technology vendor InterDigital Technology Corporation (ITC) signs separate royalty-licensing agreements for its core 3G wireless technology with NEC and Japan Radio Company.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Tokyo: Wireless technology vendor InterDigital Technology Corporation (ITC) signs separate royalty-licensing agreements for its core 3G wireless technology with NEC and Japan Radio Company. The NEC deal also resolves a royalty dispute aver a...

Tokyo: NTT Communications officially launches commercial services on its new nationwide optical mesh network.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Tokyo: NTT Communications officially launches commercial services on its new nationwide optical mesh network, using switches supplied by intelligent optics pioneer Sycamore Networks.

Seoul: senior government officials from South Korea and Japan agree to launch a forum for the development and standardization of fourth-generation (4G) mobile services.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Seoul: Senior government officials from South Korea and Japan agree to launch a forum for the development and standardization of fourth-generation (4G) mobile services. The first meeting of the forum is scheduled for later this year. 4G mobile...

Seoul: the merger of SK Telecom and Shinsegi Telecomm receives official but conditional approval from the Ministry of Information and Communications.(SK Telecom Company Ltd.)(Shinsegi Telecomm Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Seoul: The merger of SK Telecom and Shinsegi Telecomm receives official but conditional approval from the Ministry of Information and Communications, which limits market spending to a certain percentage of total revenue, and requires...

Seoul: Telecoms service provider and KEPCO subsidiary PowerComm is planning to become the first operator in the country to deploy an all-Ethernet metro area network.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Seoul: Telecoms service provider and KEPCO subsidiary PowerComm is planning to become the first operator in the country to deploy an all-Ethernet metro area network, and is currently using routers from California MAN-focused start-up Riverstone...

Singapore: Pacific Internet is to trial broadband Internet access across the Singapore power grid with powerline technology.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Singapore: Pacific Internet is to trial broadband Internet access across the Singapore power grid with powerline technology, promising at least 4.5 Mbps in bandwidth. It will conduct a commercial trial with Singapore Power beginning in the...

Singapore: the IDA begins a review of the city's international settlement regime, a result of the rise of voice over IP and least-cost routing.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Singapore: The IDA begins a review of the city's international settlement regime, a result of the rise of voice over IP and least-cost routing. The IDA says in a discussion paper the consultation would examine where market and technology...

Sydney: a team at the Immunology Center at St Vincent's Hospital begins what it claims is the world's first study on the long-term effects of prolonged mobile phone use.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Sydney: A team at the Immunology Center at St Vincent's Hospital begins what it claims is the world's first study on the long-term effects of prolonged mobile phone use, using a transverse electro magnetic (TEM) cell device from Telstra...

Sydney: SingTel Optus' chief financial officer and deputy chief executive Norman Gillespie resigns and will leave the company at the end of this month to "seek new challenges.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Sydney: SingTel Optus' chief financial officer and deputy chief executive Norman Gillespie resigns and will leave the company at the end of this month to "seek new challenges," he says. Optus is now conducting a worldwide search for a...

Caught in the loop: liberalization has revolutionized Asian telecoms, but competitive carriers and regulators still don't know how to break open the local loop. (Cover Story).(Industry Overview)
February 1, 2002... Remember the 90s? Those heady days of telecoms deregulation, where in country after country, the introduction of private competitors collapsed prices, sparked innovation and revolutionized the mindset of an industry hitherto lorded over by...

Having it both ways: transactions on the edge: growing interest in Web services -- modular building blocks to develop service-based Web sites -- may prove beneficial delivery networks. Digital Island's 2Way Web Service is the first to put an emphasis on transaction-based modules and -- more crucially -- make them work out on the edge. (Content).
February 1, 2002... Despite the horrors of the dotcom blowout, the concept of the Web as a place to do business hasn't died. No one's stopped talking about e-commerce and e-business as viable models, and people haven't stopped spending money online. The...

Bringing telecoms to paradise: set against the vastness of the Pacific Ocean are some of the planet's smallest countries. Most are far-flung island communities where communications is a vital input. Stuart Davies, chief executive and managing director of Cook Islands Telecom, and president of regional body PITA, explains to group editor Robert Clark the difficulties of deploying telecommunications in paradise. (One-To-One).(Interview)(Industry Overview)
February 1, 2002... Telecom Asia: If you could sketch a picture of the telecommunications industry as it exists in the Pacific islands, how many islands are members of your association, and what sort of telecom deployments do they have? Stuart Davies: The...

Creating their own private Internet. (Dotconomy).(pre-network complexes)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... At the height of the Internet boom, several building owners in Hong Kong came up with the idea of an Internet-enabled building. The rationale was that all those cashed-up dotcoms would need all the connectivity they could get to do whatever it...

Integrated broadband platform for enterprises. (Premiere: latest products and services).(Proteus from Garuda Networks)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Garuda Networks, a California-based startup, has launched a product that integrates voice, video and data communications capability into a single box. The product, Proteus, is designed from the ground up to supply voice, video and data...

Real-time prepaid rating and charging system. (Premiere: latest products and services).
February 1, 2002... CMG has launched what it says is the industry's first real-time rating and charging system for prepaid messaging services and content. The product, called Prepaid mCharger, enables operators to generate new revenue streams by allowing the...

Acterna adds new option to mobile phone tester. (Premiere: latest products and services).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 1, 2002... Acterna has released a new option for its testing platform for GSM and GPRS mobile phone production, 4400M. Leveraging its digital signal processor (DSP) add-on board, the turbo option speeds up the transmitter measurements without reducing...

Antenova and CCL to jointly market advanced antenna solutions. (Premier: latest products and services).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Smart antenna developer Antenova and radio frequency (RF) products consultancy Cambridge Consultants Ltd. (CCL) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly market advanced antenna solutions to the fast-developing wireless...

NetScreen adds four integrated security products. (Premier: latest products and services).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... NetScreen Technologies, a developer of ASIC-based Internet security systems and appliances, says it has extended its line of integrated security products with launch of four new appliances. These include the NetScreen-208, NetScreen-204,...

Signal analyzer for W-CDMA FDD measurements on base stations and terminal equipment. (Premier: latest products and services).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The signal analyzer FSIQ for W-CDMA from Rhode & Schwarz is now equipped with new functions to perform all-important W-CDMA FDD measurements, the vendor says. Of the new applications the most important is the determination of the power in...

Software improves VoIP quality. (Premier: latest products and services).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Global IP Sound, Inc. (GIPS), has announced the availability of GIPS SoundWare, a suite of software specially designed to address the sound problems facing address quality of service (QoS) problems in VoIP network, such as packet loss, delay,...

Sunday head steps down. (Telecom Career).(Craig Ehrlich)(SUNDAY Communications Ltd.)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Craig Ehrlich, the outspoken managing director at Hong Kong GSM 1800 operator Sunday Communications, has left the company to pursue personal interests. Ehrlich, who remains on the company's executive board, has been replaced by Bruce...

Malaysian watchdog taps new technical head. (Telecom Career).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has appointed Encik Zamani bin Zakariah to head its technical division, succeeding Datuk Hod Parman, whose contract with the commission expired recently. Zamani, 47, was chief...

Hutchison S and M director goes to Thai operation. (Telecom Career).(Hutchison Telecommunications Ltd.)(sales and marketing)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Stephen Ngan, deputy managing director and sales & marketing director at Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong), has been appointed chief operating officer of Hutchison Whampoa Group's Thailand wireless operation. Ngan joined Hutchison...

C2C gets new CEO. (Telecom Career).(Tsunekazu Matsudaira )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... SingTel's majority-owned subsidiary C2C has appointed Tsunekazu Matsudaira as its new chief executive officer. Matsudaira takes over from the covering CEO, Lira Shyong, who will retain his position as C2C's chairman and his responsibilities...

Founding executive returns to Lucent as CEO. (Telecom Career).(Patricia Russo)(Lucent Technologies Inc.)(chief executive officer)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Lucent Technologies has named Patricia Russo as president and chief executive officer. Russo, 49, succeeds Henry Schacht, 67, who will serve as chairman of the company. Russo, who was one of the founding executives who helped launch...

Siemens appoints new Singapore head. (Telecom Career).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Siemens has named Guenther Braeuning senior vice president and new head of its Information and Communication Networks (ICN) group in Singapore, replacing Christian Unterberger, who has taken up a new portfolio in Munich. Having worked in...

Promotions at Yes TV Asia. (Telecom Career).(Lanny Huang)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Yes Television Asia has promoted Lanny Huang to general manager, commercial services, and Nigel Harper to general manager, technology, respectively. Charlene Lai has been appointed the company's content manager.

Motorola Malaysia head quits. (Telecom Career).(Dato' Ramli Abbas)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Dato' Ramli Abbas, vice president and country manager at Motorola Malaysia, has retired. Abbas has worked for Motorola in Malaysia and the US for 28 years and was the first Malaysian to be appointed vice president and country manager for...

Tahoe Networks names worldwide sales SVP. (Telecom Career).(senior vice president)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Tahoe Networks has appointed Tony Miranzadeh as senior vice president, worldwide sales and field operations.

New CFO for Datacraft Japan. (Telecom Career).(chief financial officer )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Datacraft Asia has named Philip Chu as the company's new chief financial officer and regional director for Japan. He succeeds Victor Yung, who resigned from the company at the end of January.

Video captures corporate eye: since the computer got up to speed with processing full-color screen refreshes at an acceptable rate, videoconferencing has promised the ability to see the other person on the telephone line. That reality is here today. (Telecom Corporate).
February 1, 2002... The idea of videoconferencing is that users will no longer be restrained by the limitations of language when describing the color or composition of a photograph, they can simply hold it up to the camera and "Hey Presto", someone on the other...

America's telecom gift to the world. (Telecom Planet).(heavy investment from Primus Telecommunications, Level 3 Communications)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... If you believe the anti-American left, the United States is responsible for every ill under the sun -- degradation of the environment, excessive reliance on fossil fuel, global disparities in wealth and the rise of Islamic terrorism under...

Espionage.(United States spying on China)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... ESPIONAGE: Last month, the US found itself in hot water again over another plane designed to spy on China -- which also just happened to be President Jiang Zemin's aircraft. The US-built Boeing 747-300ER jet, which was never used...

Closure.(Space Systems/Loral Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... CLOSURE: Space Systems Loral has finally settled its long-running dispute with the US State Department, arising from a 1996 launch failure that destroyed an Intelsat satellite in which SSL is alleged to have given the Chinese sensitive...

Privacy.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... PRIVACY: New technology-based security initiatives introduced in the US since 11 September will be hard to rescind, warns Marc Rotenberg, president of Washington lobby group EPIC. Point in case: the linking of the US state driver's license...

Reconstruction.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... RECONSTRUCTION: At last month's Tokyo conference on reconstruction assistance for Afghanistan, Asian Development Bank president Tadao Chino presented a "preliminary needs assessment" on the war-torn country's socioeconomic situation. Prepared...

Fiberless.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... FIBERLESS: Free-space optics technology has found a key proving ground with private enterprise networks, according to a new Yankee group report. Once touted as a cost-effective way for telecoms operators to extend the reach of their metro fiber...