Wireless Asia articles from May 2002

Wireless Asia archives from May 2002

Driving mobile data. (Unwired).
May 1, 2002... The 1999-2001 period waxed hot for a number of high-concept technologies, one of them being the wireless car. For some reason named "telematics", this is another sector that has since managed to keep below the radar. The last press release on...

Niche player shoots into the black: Taiwan's FITEL has found a profitable niche in the saturated Taiwan market by targeting youth with high-speed and value on a PHS platform. Robert K. Carter reporting from Tapei. (News Analysis).
May 1, 2002... Although it may rely on an unpopular technology, FITEL is gaining popularity with its PHS service among subscribers who want fast and affordable mobile data access. Despite the skepticism that PHS was an inferior alternative to GSM and...

MMS arrives in Asia: Hong Kong CSL has launched its MMS service, with more to come, but many cellcos remain cautious about MMS being the next killer app. (News Analysis).
May 1, 2002... MMS (multimedia messaging service) made its Asian debut at the end of March courtesy of HKCSL, the 60-40 mobile venture between Telstra and PCCW, which launched its MMS service supported by Sony Ericsson's T68i handset. The CSL launch is...

DoCoMo's latest 3G terminal: it's a router: DoCoMo adds a wireless router to its 3G product line as it searches for profitable services in the face of slowing subscriber growth and new 3G competition from KDDI. (News Analysis).
May 1, 2002... NTT DoCoMo's latest FOMA terminal isn't a handset or a PDA or data card--it's a 3G router. The F2611 terminal is a wireless hub/router capable of supporting up to four PCs or laptops with 10Base-T connections. Geared for SOHOs and...

AIS to take stake in TOT 3G cellular project: moves are afoot by the giant Shin Corporation to get to get a toehold in 3G after a backtrack by Shin's founder, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Joruwan Ngamman reports from Bangkok. (News Analysis).
May 1, 2002... Shin Corporation subsidiary Advanced Info Service (AIS) is poised to take a major role in the operation of a new mobile phone service now run by two state-run carriers, the Telephone Organization of Thailand (TOT) and its minority partner, the...

Qualcomm discovers an error in its cdma2000 1x Mobile Station Modem (MSM) MSM5100 and MSM5105 chipsets and system software that "could result in certain performance issues of wireless devices using those chipsets", the company said in a terse statement. (Movements).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Qualcomm discovers an error in its cdma2000 1X Mobile Station Modem (MSM) MSM5100 and MSM5105 chipsets and system software that "could result in certain performance issues of wireless devices using those chipsets", the company said in a terse...

Ericsson posts a greater-than-expected first-quarter net loss of $289 million, with sales down 26%, and orders for new equipment down 40%. (Movements).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Ericsson posts a greater-than-expected first-quarter net loss of $289 million, with sales down 26%, and orders for new equipment down 40%. Ericsson also expects an overall loss for the rest of the year, and plans to slash 20,000 positions by...

Nokia posts an 863 million euro ($769 million) net profit for the first quarter of 2002, compared with $975 million for the first quarter last year. (Movements).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Nokia posts an 863 million euro ($769 million) net profit for the first quarter of 2002, compared with $975 million for the first quarter last year. While net sales were down 12%, mobile phone sales were 7% lower, while the margin actually...

Siemens signs an agreement to adopt 3G handset technology developed by rival Motorola in an attempt to accelerate handset availability. (Movements).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Siemens signs an agreement to adopt 3G handset technology developed by rival Motorola in an attempt to accelerate handset availability. The first Siemens 3G terminals equipped with Motorola's i300 platform are expected to be available in early...

Siemens IC Mobile takes a 5% stake. (Movements).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Siemens IC Mobile takes a 5% stake in the Symbian joint venture for 22.8 million euros.

NTT DoCoMo licenses its i-mode technology to French cellco Bouygues Telecom. (Movements).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... NTT DoCoMo licenses its i-mode technology to French cellco Bouygues Telecom, which plans to introduce i-mode service in its markets in the next 12 months.

California-based company Aicent officially commences its GPRS Roaming Exchange (GRX). (Movements).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... California-based company Aicent officially mences its GPRS Roaming Exchange (GRX). Cellcos participating in GRX include China Mobile, Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Cellular Corporation, Far EasTone, KG Telecom, Hong Kong CSL, Hutchison Telecom (Hong...

Inmarsat commercially launches Swift64, a new service that provides private corporate jets with circuit-switched ISDN data speeds of 64 kbps, allowing passengers to send email, transfer files and access video streaming. (Movements).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Inmarsat commercially launches Swift64, a new service that provides private corporate jets with circuit switched iSDN data speeds of 64 kbps, allowing passengers to send email, transfer files and access video streaming. Swift64 leverages...

Beijing: China Unicom's CDMA network moves from trial to full commercial status with 800,000 users--over half of which were transferred from the former Great Wall network. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Beijing: China Unicom's CDMA network moves from trial to full commercial status with 800,000 users--over half of which were transferred from the former Great Wall network. Subscriber growth has improved thanks to more handset availability and...

Beijing: Global VoIP carrier ITXC signs an agreement with China Mobile to exchange international phone traffic over ITXC's global Internet-based telecommunications network. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Beijing: Global VoIP carrier ITXC signs an agreement with China Mobile to exchange international phone traffic over ITXC's global Internet-based telecommunications network. The agreement allows ITXC customers to offer better IDD rates to China...

Beijing: Ericsson and China Unicom sign CDMA expansion contracts worth $55 million. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Beijing: Ericsson and China Unicom sign CDMA expansion contracts worth $55 million, covering the Jiangsu, Anhui, Sichuan, Yunnan, Henan, Heilongjiang and Liaoning provinces.

Shenzhen: Qualcomm and ZTE Corporation sign a cdma2000 1xEV-DO design transfer agreement. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Shenzhen: Qualcomm and ZTE Corporation sign a cdma2000 1xEV-DO design transfer agreement. Under the agreement, Qualcomm will transfer certain cdma2000 1xEV-DO infrastructure designs to ZTE, who will have the rights to utilize the technology in...

Hong Kong: mobile operator CSL partners with So-net HK, Sony's Hong Kong broadband service, to deliver Japanese mobile content over the carrier's GPRS network. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Hong Kong: Mobile operator CSL partners with So-net HK, Sony's Hong Kong broadband service, to deliver Japanese mobile content over the carrier's GPRS network. The new "So-net Mobile Service" will offer color mobile content covering fashion,...

Hong Kong: Pacific Century CyberWorks launches 802.11b Wi-Fi broadband access service in 50 retails outlets across Hong Kong. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Hong Kong: Pacific Century CyberWorks launches 802.11b Wi-Fi broadband access service in 50 retails outlets across Hong Kong. The service is initially limited for PCCW's Netvigator customers with a price of HK$3 for 10 minutes.

Hong Kong: Diversinet, Ericsson, Gemplus, Hewlett-Packard, Hongkong Post and Intel submit a mobile certificate trial solution to the Hong Kong m-Cert Implementation Forum (HKMIF), which was formed by Hong Kong's six cellcos to develop and implement a single mobile digital certificate (m-Cert) standard to promote mobile commerce in Hong Kong. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Hong Kong: Diversinet, Ericsson, Gemplus, Hewlett-Packard, Hongkong Post and Intel submit a mobile certificate trial solution to the Hong Kong m-Cert Implementation Forum (HKMIF), which was formed by Hong Kong's six cellcos to develop and...

Bangkok: new GSM operator TA Orange said it had acquired more than 200,000 subscribers since launching commercial GSM services in early March--mainly via massive handset discount. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Bangkok: New GSM operator TA Orange said it had acquired more than 200,000 subscribers since launching commercial GSM services in early March--mainly via massive handset discount offers for TelecomAsia's fixed-line customers who signed up for...

Jakarta: Singapore Telecom reveals that it will pay $429 million for an additional 12.7% stake in Telekomsel, bringing its total stake to 35%. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Jakarta: Singapore Telecom reveals that it will pay $429 million for an additional 12.7% stake in Telekomsel, bringing its total stake to 35%. Incumbent telco Telkom will hold the remaining 65%. The deal is scheduled to close by mid-year....

Tokyo: KDDI says it will begin a field test of 3G mobile phones that will double as credit cards, in partnership with four credit card companies, later this year. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Tokyo: KDDI says it will begin a field test of 3G mobile phones that will double as credit cards, in partnership with four credit card companies, later this year. The handsets will utilize UIM cards storing credit card data that allow users to...

Tokyo: NTT DoCoMo chief executive Keiji Tachikawa says the company expects to sign up 30% fewer new subscribers in its new fiscal year, which started last month, as mobile growth in Japan slows. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Tokyo: NTT DoCoMo chief executive Keiji Tachikawa says the company expects to sign up 30% fewer new subscribers in its new fiscal year, which started last month, as mobile growth in Japan slows. DoCoMo signed up 4.76 million new subscribers...

Seoul: the Ministry of information and Communication will include cellular phone numbers and Internet addresses of subscribers alongside fixed line numbers in Korea's telephone directory beginning in July. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Seoul: The Ministry of information and Communication will include cellular phone numbers and Internet addresses of subscribers alongside fixed line numbers in Korea's telephone directory beginning in July. The MIC will revise current...

Taipei: Far EasTone reports a 65% growth in net income of NT$ 6.66 billion in 2001. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Taipei: Far EasTone reports a 65% growth in net income of NT$ 6.66 billion in 2001, on revenue increases of 7% compared to 2000,

Taipei: FITEL says it had 270,000 subscribers by mid-March 2002 on its PHS service using equipment provided by US-based UTStarcom, following its initial deployment in Taipei. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Taipei: FITEL says it had 270,000 subscribers by mid-March 2002 on its PHS service using equipment provided by US-based UTStarcom, following its initial deployment in Taipei. The company says 80% of its subscribers appear to be high-end users...

Melbourne: Telstra is to expand its CDMA mobile phone network to another 132 towns in Australia under a federal government-funded initiative. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Melbourne: Telstra is to expand its CDMA mobile phone network to another 132 towns in Australia under a federal government-funded initiative. Its coverage area will grow to 1.3 million square kilometers, making it the second biggest digital...

Sydney: Telstra Mobile will begin blocking mobile phones reported as lost or stolen from its mobile customers. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Sydney: Telstra Mobile will begin blocking mobile phones reported as lost or stolen from its mobile customers from 15 August as part of a campaign to combat mobile phone crime.

Kabul: Afghanistan launches its first digital cellular network through Afghan Wireless Communications Company (AWCC), a joint venture between the communication ministry and US-based Telephone Service International. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Kabul: Afghanistan launches its first digital cellular network through Afghan Wireless Communications Company (AWCC), a joint venture between the communication ministry and US-based Telephone Service International. The GSM network was supplied...

Manila: the National Telecommunications Commission gives rival operators Globe Telecom and Digitel one month to resolve problems. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Manila: The National Telecommunications Commission gives rival operators Globe Telecom and Digitel one month to resolve problems with the proposed interconnection of their mobile networks.

New Delhi: Hutchison, SingTel, AT&T and First Asia Pacific--all of whom are investors in Indian cellcos--reportedly send separate letters to Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee, urging him to intervene in a tribunal decision allowing basic telecoms operators to offer limited mobility services. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... New Delhi: Hutchison, SingTel, AT&T and First Asia Pacific--all of whom are investors in Indian cellcos--reportedly send separate letters to Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee, urging him to intervene in a tribunal decision allowing basic telecoms...

Singapore: Cellco M1 reports a pre-tax profit of S$131 million ($70.96 million) for 2001, up 64% from 2000, as well as 1 million+ customers and a 35% market share. (News map: around Wireless Asia).(Mobile One)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Singapore: Cellco M1 reports a pre-tax profit of S$131 million ($70.96 million) for 2001, up 64% from 2000, as well as 1 million+ customers and a 35% market share. M1 also appoints ABN AMRO Bank as the lead arranger and underwriter for a...

Corporate apps or mobile games: the battle for 3G: corporate or youth? Business apps or infotainment? That's the choice facing 2.5G and 3G operators. Sure, both segments are worth targeting, eventually. But scarce capital and a need for focus means cellcos must choose now. (Cover Story).
May 1, 2002... You've built out your 2.5G network and you've got a 3G system on the drawing board--but one small headache. Just who is it for? is it going to be for tech-savvy teens constantly swapping photos and MP3 flies? Or will it be corporate road...

Have WLAN card, will travel: roaming the hot spots in comfort: public WLANs may be a hit with users, but for wireless ISPs, unprofitable is the word. But GSM operators thinking about getting into the WLAN business have a crucial advantage over the indies--a worldwide roaming infrastructure that's built and paid for. (Tech Focus).
May 1, 2002... The rising popularity of public wireless LANs over the last 18 months may come as a surprise to security experts lamenting over 802.11b's flawed encryption algorithms that made headlines last year, but it probably comes as no surprise to anyone...

Moving the bases: InterDigital sees brave new world in TDD and FDD: once a broadband fixed wireless player, InterDigital has reinvented itself as a core technology provider. Comparisons to Qualcomm are obvious, but chief operating officer Charles Rip Tilden tells global technology editor John C. Tanner, how InterDigital differs. (1_2_1).
May 1, 2002... Wireless Asia: How is InterDigital doing financially since it shifted gears to concentrate on licensing? Charles Rip Tilden: The company's actually doing quite well. We're in better financial shape, and we've been healthy for a long time,...

Mira, Mira, on the wall, can mobile phones do it all? (Street Wise).
May 1, 2002... When IBM first came up with the notion of the wearable computer several years ago, they also came up with the idea of a portable hard disk drive. The vision was to allow a user to take everything on a computer and take it everywhere. The...

Revenue growth--the new name of the game. (Wheel Of Industry).
May 1, 2002... Its official! Subscriber numbers are no longer important--the new name of the game is revenue growth. While the customer bases of digital networks in some 42 countries across the Asia-Pacific region have grown from ground zero over the past...

SIP toolkit for 3G systems. (tools).
May 1, 2002... Radvision has released its new SIP Toolkit, version 2.1, with support for 3G wireless networks and high availability. The SIP protocol, which the 3GPP is incorporating into W-CDMA, provides a framework for call control services, next-generation...

Beta tools for mobile .NET. (tools).
May 1, 2002... Microsoft has released the beta version of .NET Compact Framework, Microsoft's XML-based mobile application platform technology for mobile devices. The .NET Compact Framework is a subset of the .NET Framework, and shares the same programming...

Better message management. (tools).
May 1, 2002... Finnish messaging management company First Hop has launched a messaging manager that allows dynamic service portfolio management across mobile messaging technologies, including SMS, Smart Messaging, EMS, and MMS. Mobile operators can define...

Mobile VPN software. (tools).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Internet security company WatchGuard Technologies has released mobile user VPN software for Windows XP with built-in personal firewall and encrypted VPN configuration files.

SMS rating solution. (tools).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Apps developer Network365 and Am-Beo, a provider of rating and revenue chain management solutions for the communications industry, have developed a rating solution for SMS services. The solution, AppRate, allows operators to separate a sequence...

SMS toons. (out now).(Globe Telecom and FunMail launch new service)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Philippines cellco Globe Telecom and FunMail have launched FunTXT, an SMS service enabling users to send each other cartoons such as South Park and Garfield that are selected based on the user's message. Both companies say the service was a...

Mobile vending goes commercial. (out now).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... NTT DoCoMo, Coca-Cola (Japan) and Itochu Corporation have nationally launched Cmode, a service which allows consumers to make purchases from compatible "Cmo" branded vending machines. Items on offer for "Club Cmode" members include tickets to...

KDDI 1x launches with new handsets. (out now).
May 1, 2002... After a number of delays, KDDI launched its cdma2000 1x service last month in 33 municipalities, including Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. The five new color-screen handsets launched with the service feature built-in cameras, MIDI-based music and...

MMS in Hong Kong. (out now).
May 1, 2002... Hong Kong CSL, the mobile venture between Telstra and PCCW, has launched what it claims to be Asia's first MMS service. The new service allows 1010 and One2Free mobile customers to send and receive multimedia messages. The service, which will...

Handwritten SMS. (out now).
May 1, 2002... Vodafone Sweden has launched Notera, a GPRS service suite that allows handwritten notes to be converted to digital messages and sent as email, SMS or fax via Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones supplied by Sony-Ericsson. The base technology is from...

New video mail phones for J-Phone. (out now).
May 1, 2002... Japanese mobile operator J-Phone has launched two new mobile phones from Matsushita Communication Industrial Co (Panasonic) and Toshiba for its "video mail" service in which users can record short video clips and send them to friends. J-Phone...

iTAP licensing deal. (deals).
May 1, 2002... Motorola has licensed its iTAP keypad text entry technology to Taiwan electronics manufacturer Compal Communications. Compal will use iTAP technology in the mobile phones it builds for Motorola and other mobile handset vendors as a way to...

Prepaid top-ups on the go. (deals).
May 1, 2002... SIM card and solutions provider Bluefish Technologies and mobile payment company Zaryba have partnered to introduce a mobile payment solution called Zaryba TopUp, which enables prepaid mobile phone users to refill their prepaid accounts...

SMS ordering platform. (deals).
May 1, 2002... Mobileway and OrderMotion have unveiled a co-developed platform that provides small and medium-sized direct commerce businesses with SMS-ordering capability, allowing customers to order physical goods using text messages. Businesses call back...

How Wi-Fi will help 3G's eventual success. (Lynch).
May 1, 2002... There's nothing journalists and commentators like more than a good sporting match. And that's why it's no surprise that in the light of 3G's teething problems, some pundits are declaring that relatively lower-cost and easily-deployed public...

Cellular sex scam! (Short message: around the wireless industry).
May 1, 2002... Police in Tokyo arrested three executives last month for allegedly running a mobile phone scam that duped callers into calling pre-recorded sex lines. The scam exploited the tendency of mobile handsets to display the originating phone...

SMS 1, dumb kidnappers 0. (Short message: around the wireless industry).
May 1, 2002... The popularity of SMS continues to grow, according to the latest stats from the GSM Association, which says that 75 billion messages were sent globally in Q1 2002--a 50% increase from the same quarter of 2001. For a woman in Malaysia, one of...

Consumer confidence matters. (Short message: around the wireless industry).
May 1, 2002... As short message reported here last month, 2001 was not a good year for the mobile handset market, with sales down 3.2% globally. If you want to know when things will get better for the handset sector, you might try checking your local consumer...

Global battery charging. (Short message: around the wireless industry).
May 1, 2002... If you haven't been keeping Up with cell phone battery charger technology, here's the latest--a charger that needs no power outlet. Created and manufactured by Electric Fuel--the same company that pioneered zinc-air disposable mobile phone...

How mobile can you get? (Short message: around the wireless industry).
May 1, 2002... Here's something for the mobile executive who has everything: a mobile office on wheels. Designed by Scott Jones, who in the late 1980s invented computerized mass-user voice mail (which is what allows service providers to offer voice mail...