Wireless Asia articles from October 2003

Wireless Asia archives from October 2003

A dab hand at digital radio.(Unwired)(market for digital audio broadcast)
October 15, 2003... What's small and portable, delivers multimedia to people on the go and costs less than $150? It sure ain't 3G, and it's not WLAN, either. No, we're talking digital radio here, digital audio broadcast (DAB). While DAB hasn't quite arrived...

HK cellcos defeat SARS, price cuts to return to black.(News Analysis)
October 15, 2003... Hong Kong's hyper-competitive mobile sector is back on track. Despite a difficult year with a revived price war and the SARS outbreak, most of the city's six operators moved again into profit, results posted in the recent reporting season...

Voice the key to 3G.(umts)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Low-cost voice capacity will drive the take-up of UMTS, says the Shosteck Group. The UMTS air-interface is more efficient than are the GSM-GPRS and EDGE interfaces, yet few operators are taking advantage of the capacity and cost strengths...

Telco metrics.(Insight)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Telco execs have too many metrics by which they try to track their business--up to 6,000 in one case. Yet while many of these raise red flags, few metrics tell the CEO who was responsible and how to fix the problem. Management teams should...

Data to the rescue.(arpu)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Mobile operators in all parts of the globe will be spared a steep decline in ARPU and revenue, thanks to the rise of mobile data, says the Yankee Group. Voice ARPU will continue to decline in real terms in all regions. The increase in data...

Wireless marketing.(Insight)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Mobile marketing has become an established part of the media mix for major brands, such as Coca-Cola and McDonalds, says Ovum. While SMS marketing is commonplace, new forms of mobile marketing are emerging such as SMS voting and alerts for...

Mobile micro-payments.(Insight)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Mobile handsets will replace cash and cards at many retail outlets, sparking a boom in mobile payments in the coming years, says BWCS. By 2010, "mobile proximity payments"--transactions in stores and vending machines--worldwide will be...

GSM wins Iraq cellular war.(News Analysis)
October 15, 2003... The GSM standard has taken the honors in Iraq's brief cellular war, with the US-appointed administration issuing three licenses to regional consortia on October 6. The contract was one of the most contentious facing the administration, with...

Wi-Fi widens Asian roaming footprint.(News Analysis)
October 15, 2003... The Wi-Fi roaming movement in Asia-Pacific is gaining pace, with two regional hot spot efforts now underway. Five carriers--China Mobile, MobileOne, PCCW, SingTel and StarHub--fast month joined an interworking initiative led by Intel and...

China Mobile, PCCW, M1, StarHub and SingTel join an IDA-Intel initiative.(Movements)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... China Mobile, PCCW, M1, StarHub and SingTel join an IDA-Intel initiative to set standards for Wi-Fi roaming.

NTT DoCoMo and its UK partner, 3UK.(Movements)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... NTT DoCoMo and its UK partner, 3UK, launch the world's first international mobile video calls.

France Telecom will pay 7.1 billion euros ($7.8 billion) in stock to buy minority shareholders out of its Orange mobile subsidiary.(Movements)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... France Telecom will pay 7.1 billion euros ($7.8 billion) in stock to buy minority shareholders out of its Orange mobile subsidiary. The deal is scheduled to be settled on October 24.

Vodafone Group and rival Orange announce separate deals with BT Group for access to BT's Openzone Wi-Fi network.(Movements)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Vodafone Group and rival Orange announce separate deals with BT Group for access to BT's Openzone Wi-Fi network. BT plans to roll out 4,000 hot spots by mid-2004.

Nokia is to restructure its three main businesses into four to chase new growth in software and Internet applications for handsets and mobile devices.(Movements)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Nokia is to restructure its three main businesses into four to chase new growth in software and Internet applications for handsets and mobile devices. Rick Simonson, an American, is named CFO, replacing Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who will head the...

Motorola is searching for a replacement for the departing chairman Christopher Galvin.(Movements)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Motorola is searching for a replacement for the departing chairman Christopher Galvin, who announced his retirement in mid-September, after clashing with the board over strategy.

Nortel Networks will invest $200 million in research and development in China over the next three years.(Movements)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Nortel Networks will invest $200 million in research and development in China over the next three years, including the buildup of a large new campus in Beijing.

Lucent Technologies signs more than $230 million in network expansion contracts with China Unicom.(Movements)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Lucent Technologies signs more than $230 million in network expansion contracts with China Unicom to supply cdma2000 equipment for the carrier's phase III expansion in six provinces.

Huawei Technologies and Infineon Technologies team up.(Movements)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Huawei Technologies and Infineon Technologies team up to design low-end 3G mobile phone platforms for Chinese OEMs that eschew pricey features like video in favor of cheap but popular services like text messaging.

Motorola unveils its first mobile phone powered by Microsoft's Windows software.(Movements)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Motorola unveils its first mobile phone powered by Microsoft's Windows software, with Orange and AT&T Wireless Services being the first two mobile operators to sell the phone.

Symbian signs a non-exclusive deal with NTT DoCoMo.(Movements)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Symbian signs a non-exclusive deal with NTT DoCoMo, under which, DoCoMo will use Symbian's software as one of its 3G operator platforms.

A US court rejects an appeal by the Uzans in a fraud dispute.(Movements)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... A US court rejects an appeal by the Uzans in a fraud dispute, clearing the way for Motorola to collect $4.26 billion from the prominent Turkish family.

Ericsson has no intention of leaving its mobile handset joint venture Sony Ericsson.(Movements)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Ericsson has no intention of leaving its mobile handset joint venture Sony Ericsson, contrary to speculation, board member Goran Lindahl is quoted as saying.

Beijing: China Unicom purchases 1 million cdma2000 1X handsets for 1.5 billion yuan ($182 million).(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Beijing: China Unicom purchases 1 million cdma2000 1X handsets for 1.5 billion yuan ($182 million). The color-display handsets are priced at around 1,500 yuan each and sourced from six major vendors, including ZTE, Motorola and Kyocera, Unicom...

Shanghai: China Unicom awards Nokia a $33 million contract to expand its GSM network in Shanghai.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Shanghai: China Unicom awards Nokia a $33 million contract to expand its GSM network in Shanghai. Unicom also contracts Siemens for the $84 million expansion of GSM networks in Beijing, Shandong, Liaoning and Jilin.

Shanghai: China Telecom launches aggressive limited-mobility handset subsidizes, selling PHS handsets at 78 yuan ($9.4).(Newsmap: around wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Shanghai: China Telecom launches aggressive limited-mobility handset subsidizes, selling PHS handsets at 78 yuan ($9.4), in a bid to promote PHS signups in the outskirts of Shanghai.

Hong Kong: GSM operator SmarTone triples its net profit to HK$408 million ($52.3 million) for the fiscal year ending June 30.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Hong Kong: GSM operator SmarTone triples its net profit to HK$408 million ($52.3 million) for the fiscal year ending June 30. The company also pays out a generous cash dividend of HK$3.5 per share.

Hong Kong: Peoples Telephone is set to raise HK$1.25 billion through a listing on the stock market as early as March next year.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Hong Kong: Peoples Telephone is set to raise HK$1.25 billion through a listing on the stock market as early as March next year, and plans to pay out two-thirds of earnings in dividend to lure investors.

Hong Kong: CSL steals a march on rival cellcos Hutchison and Peoples by launching Asia's first EDGE service.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Hong Kong: CSL steals a march on rival cellcos Hutchison and Peoples by launching Asia's first EDGE service. It comes ahead of Hutchison's long-delayed W-CDMA launch, as well as Peoples' EDGE service, both slated for later this year.

Hong Kong: China Unicom signs a $700 million syndicated term loan.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Hong Kong: China Unicom signs a $700 million syndicated term loan to be used for general working capital.

Bangkok: South Korean mobile phone maker Curitel will begin selling CDMA handsets in Thailand.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Bangkok: South Korean mobile phone maker Curitel will begin selling CDMA handsets in Thailand from this month exclusively for Hutchison CAT Wireless Multimedia's 400,000 subscribers, according to the Bangkok Post.

Islamabad: TeleCard contracts ZTE to expand its CDMA wireless local loop network in Pakistan for an undisclosed amount.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Islamabad: TeleCard contracts ZTE to expand its CDMA wireless local loop network in Pakistan for an undisclosed amount. The expansion will increase the network capacity to 125,000 subscribers.

Kuala Lumpur: Alcatel will invest more than $52 million in Malaysia.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Kuala Lumpur: Alcatel will invest more than $52 million over the next five years in Malaysia to develop 3G applications.

Kuala Lumpur: the merger between Celcom and Telekom Malaysia has helped Celcom regain its lead position, with a 42% market share.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Kuala Lumpur: The merger between Celcom and Telekom Malaysia has helped Celcom regain its lead position, with a 42% market share. CEO Ramli Abbas says the operator now has 4.1 million customers, 11% more than at the end of 2002.

Manila: Globe Telecom plans to issue 2.7 billion pesos ($49 million) worth of bonds.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Manila: Globe Telecom plans to issue 2.7 billion pesos ($49 million) worth of bonds to refinance debt.

Pyongyang: North Korea launches a GSM mobile service in its major cities and along its main roads.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Pyongyang: North Korea launches a GSM mobile service in its major cities and along its main roads, according to Yonhap news agency.

Seoul: LG Electronics' handset sales rise to 2.605 million units.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Seoul: LG Electronics' handset sales rise to 2.605 million units in August--up 5.1% from July, and 76% from the previous year.

Tokyo: the Japanese telecoms regulator is considering the introduction of mobile number portability in 2005.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Tokyo: The Japanese telecoms regulator is considering the introduction of mobile number portability in 2005, a ministry source is quoted as saying.

Tokyo: Vodafone KK, formerly known as J-Phone, will launch handsets with a built-in TV tuner by the end of this year.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Tokyo: Vodafone KK, formerly known as J-Phone, will launch handsets with a built-in TV tuner by the end of this year. The handsets, jointly developed by Vodafone Japan and NEC, enable consumers to watch TV on their mobile phone screens--the...

Tokyo: NTT DoCoMo and games software giant Square-Enix add two role-playing videogames.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Tokyo: NTT DoCoMo and games software giant Square-Enix add two role-playing videogames, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, to new 3G handset models expected to hit the market in February 2004.

Tokyo: NTT DoCoMo denies a report that it is bailing from the PHS business due to slow sales and high development costs.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Tokyo: NTT DoCoMo denies a report that it is bailing from the PHS business due to slow sales and high development costs. It also denies that it is seeking an alternative i-mode partner in Britain amid signs that 3 UK wasn't interested, saying...

Sydney: Telstra, Optus and Vodafone have agreed to block the IMEI of lost or stolen mobile phones.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)
October 15, 2003... Sydney: Telstra, Optus and Vodafone have agreed to block the IMEI of lost or stolen mobile phones in a shared effort to discourage theft of handsets.

New Delhi: India offers mobile services.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(remote areas )(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... New Delhi: India offers mobile services in the nation's seven remote and insurgency-plagued northeastern states.

New Delhi: Indian limited mobility operators win another legal battle.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... New Delhi: Indian limited mobility operators win another legal battle, as a tribunal rejects a petition from mobile operators seeking to restrain WLL providers from using CDMA technology for roaming.

New Delhi: a new telecom panel recommends that the cap on total foreign investment be raised from 49% to 74% and also recommends relaxing M&A merger rules.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... New Delhi: A new telecom panel recommends that the cap on total foreign investment be raised from 49% to 74% and also recommends relaxing M&A merger rules as long as each cellular zone has at least three mobile operators.

Singapore: SingTel begins a free trial of 3G services, admitting it is unsure of the demand.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Singapore: SingTel begins a free trial of 3G services, admitting it is unsure of the demand. SingTel plans a formal launch in early 2004, few months ahead of rival M1, which sets timing for 3G launch at mid-2004.

Singapore: StarHub awards Nokia a $117 million contract for W-CDMA radio access and core network.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Singapore: StarHub awards Nokia a $117 million contract for W-CDMA radio access and core network. StarHub will launch its W-CDMA network by the end of 2004 as required by its license, the company says.

Service the key to success.(Advertorial)(Advertisement)
October 15, 2003... Mobile operators nowadays are competing in a fierce marketplace, facing increasing pricing pressure and more sophisticated demands from their customers. As such, operators are setting more complicated and extensive requirements for...

The 5 essentials of 3G: how to succeed in next-gen cellular.(Special: 3G survey)(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 15, 2003... It's wait-and-see time for 3G. Outside Japan, Asian W-CDMA and cdma2000 EV/DO deployments are only just starting to gain steam; and even in Japan, despite FOMA's 1 million milestone, it is too early to judge. We do know the arrival of a...

CDMA2000: leading 3G in Asia.(3G Opinion Piece)
October 15, 2003... In many aspects related to the adoption of high-technology trends, Asia leads the rest of the world. When we look for the next hot trend in home electronics or computer games, for example, we often look towards Asia. The wireless industry has...

UMTS--gaining pace globally.(3G Opinion Piece)
October 15, 2003... "UMTS is already an unequivocal reality in Asia Pacific and European markets, with news of WCDMA network deployments and handset launches steadily gaining momentum. Approaching 120 3G licenses have now been awarded to operators worldwide, most...

Brew vs Java: cornered by success: BREW and J2ME are more complementary than competitive, but with Java getting market traction and Korea pushing WIPI, BREW is finding its critical acclaim overshadowed.(Wireless Applications)
October 15, 2003... Whatever happens in the evolution of wireless data, Qualcomm's BREW (Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless) is likely go down in history as one of the more misunderstood technologies. For a start, BREW is widely seen as a direct competitor to...

Calling all cell phones: before 3G networks evolve to all-IP, watch out for IP-based push-to-talk. The latest 3GPP spec provides for P2T over cellular and--ultimately--broadcast capabilities for graphics and video.(Wireless Tech)
October 15, 2003... The migration of cellular to end-to-end IP is crawling along nicely. On the CDMA side, 1X EV-DV has now reached the point where vendors are ready to tackle it in earnest, while on the GSM side, specs for HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet...

Cutting out the options: the GSM Association has decided that the only way to make industry standards actually act as standards is to give vendors just one way to implement the technology. CEO Rob Conway speaks to group editor Robert Clark about his "no-options" campaign and also about GSM in Iraq, rebranding W-CDMA and the great WAP wake-up call.
October 15, 2003... Wireless Asia: You've rebranded your standard as 3GSM. Isn't it a hit late for that? Rob Conway: What we have done is probably an enhancement. We have gone ahead to use the term 3GSM for all of our branding now. Myself, my colleagues and...

MMS server.(tools)(SenseStream)(DynaFit rich media content adaptation server version 1.1)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... SenseStream has announced the availability of its DynaFit rich media content adaptation server version 1.1--a carrier-class solution for the optimization and delivery of mobile multimedia content. This means that an MMS can be sent to another...

OTA device management.(tools)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Bitfone has released mProve 3.0, the latest version of its device management solution. The new version offers end-to-end feature and performance enhancements for more efficient over-the-air firmware updates.

Speech recognition.(tools)(smARTspeak XGT)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... ART (Advanced Recognition Technologies) has introduced smARTspeak XGT, its latest embedded speaker-independent speech interface solution for wireless mobile devices. XGT adds a new voice feedback ability that gives audio confirmation of...

Bluetooth integration.(tools)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... CSR chipsets are now available for use with the Symbian OS, integrating CSR's BlueCore host software with Symbian's existing Bluetooth software stack. The move reduces Symbian OS licensees' time to integrate CSR's Bluetooth solution into their...

DoCoMo backs Symbian.(deals)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Symbian signs an operator technology integrator agreement with NTT DoCoMo, which enables DoCoMo to integrate reference implementations of the specific technologies that required to deliver NTT DoCoMo FOMA 3G network services on Symbian-based...

Game Boy powered by Moto chips.(deals)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Motorola says its Semiconductor Products Sector is supplying high-speed, low-power chipsets to enable an advanced wireless adapter accessory for use with Nintendo's Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Advance SP. The 2.4-GHz RF chipset enables up to...

J2ME cross-licensing.(deals)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Sun J2ME licensees iaSolution of Greater China and Veloxsoft of Korea, form a strategic partnership to cross-license each other's complimentary technology in GSM/GPRS and CDMA areas, co-develop next-generation J2ME software solutions on W-CDMA...

Wavecom joins Symbian.(deals)(smartphone market)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Wavecom has joined the Symbian Platinum Program to enhance its offering to the smartphone market.

1x roams to Taiwan.(deals)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Asia Pacific Broadband Wireless of Taiwan joins Global Passport, the global CDMA roaming service of Japan's KDDI, which allows KDDI users to roam overseas to Taiwan and ten other destinations, including Korea, Hong Kong, the US, and China.

Smart joins Blah! community.(deals)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Brazilian VAS provider Blah!, a subsidiary of Telecom Italia Mobile, says that Smart Communications of the Philippines has become the first wireless carrier in the Asia-Pacific to join Blah!'s multi-language chat service, which is now available...

Bluetooth core license.(deals)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Ericsson Technology Licensing signs a license agreement with STMicroelectronics for Ericsson's new Bluetooth baseband core, which implements the complete range of mandatory Bluetooth 1.2 features. ST will embed the Ericsson Core Bluetooth...

MMS partnership.(deals)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... magic4 and Samsung Electronics announce a strategic industry partnership under which magic4's MMS software solutions for GSM will be embedded into Samsung mobile handsets for worldwide use, starting with the Samsung SGH-E700.

Do you 2SMS?(out now)
October 15, 2003... Yahoo! users can now exchange SMS with customers of SingTel affiliate Globe in the Philippines and Telkomsel in Indonesia. The new two-way IM-to-SMS service is an extension of Yahoo! 2SMS, which already reaches the mobile subscribers of SingTel...

IM smartphone platform.(out now)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Smartphone software developer AgileMobile.com has launched its Agile Messenger instant messenger platform for mobile phones, which provides a stable and continuous online connection for IM via mobile phones with ICQ, AOL, Yahoo! and MSN. The...

PHS enterprise.(out now)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Infonet and KCOM, a wholly owned subsidiary of KDDI, announce the availability of AirH" (pronounced "Air Edge"), a PHS-based mobile data service for enterprise users in Japan. AirH" enables users to access enterprise content at speeds up to 128...

SMS from the Web.(out now)
October 15, 2003... StarHub Mobile has reJeased WebSMS, which allows friends and contacts of StarHub Mobile customers to engage in two-way SMS communication between the Web and their handsets at the same time.

SMS/MMS apps.(out now)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Hong Kong-based Artificial Life plans to offer several new SMS and MMS services, applications and games this month and next month, as well as e-learning and a series of Chinese cultural applications. One such game is an "edutainment game" about...

Will users answer Nokia's N-Gage call? If people are busy playing on their N-Gage, they might call their friends less, or SMS less, or play fewer online games.(Street Wise)
October 15, 2003... Nokia finally launched its long-awaited N-Gage game deck last month. As the first specially designed and developed product for a specific application, the N-Gage breaks new ground by attacking a market segment traditionally controlled by...

The world's leading telecom event returns to Geneva.(Special: ITU Telecom World 2003)
October 15, 2003... The world's largest and most important telecommunications event, ITU Telecom World, comes back to Geneva, Switzerland, from 12 to 18 October. Event organizer International Telecommunication Union (ITU) expects this year's ITU Telecom World to...

The future on show.(Special: ITU Telecom World 2003)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Visitors to ITU Telecom World shows can expect to see the very latest equipment and service solution from leading carriers and vendors as well as innovative new players, and the 2003 event is no different. Without doubt, one of the focal...

Helping the world communicate.(Special: ITU Telecom World 2003)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... ITU Telecom World 2003 features forums and roundtables where delegates and conference attends will have the opportunity to thrash out some of the top issues facing the telecoms sector. This year's forum opening session sports the headline...

Spotlight on youth.(Special: ITU Telecom World 2003: advertising supplement)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... New to ITU Telecom World 2003's the forum activities this year is the Youth Forum, which is aimed at giving leaders of the future the chance to be involved in discussing and shaping future directions of telecommunications. This new...

Mobile mania.(Wireless Forum)
October 15, 2003... In French, it's called le portable or le 6, for GSM. In Finnish, it's called kanny referring to an extension of the hand. And in Mandarin, it's known as shou ji or "hand machine". It's the ubiquitous, convenient, passion-inspiring mobile...

Train hotspotting.(Short message: around the wireless industry)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Airport lounges may be where Wi-Fi hot spots have made their name, but Wi-Fi's rear prospects are on rail. A report from 8WCS says that laptop users worldwide will spend more than 12.6 billion hours on trains during 2003, compared to just...

GSM hacked again.(Short message: around the wireless industry)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... GSM has been hacked again--this time by a team of students at Israel's Technion Institute who found a fundamental error in the code in which encryption occurs only after giving high priority to call quality, and correcting for noise and...

Winding up the phone.(Short message: around the wireless industry)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Recent power outages in the US and Europe have highlighted the limitations of back-up battery power for mobile communications--and not just for base stations. A fully-charged phone may serve you well in a blackout if you don't make too many...

Don't throw that old pay phone away.(Short message: around the wireless industry)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... One of the questions raring telcos wanting to get in on the Wi-Fi craze is where to deploy the hot spots. Some telcos are looking at sites where they already have a more old-fashioned form of public access-the pay phone. Over the last...

Wake-up call.(Short message: around the wireless industry)(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... The GSM Association has declared its intention to help rid the industry of menaces such as viruses and spam, even before they become a problem. "We all know the Internet world is interesting and does wonderful things but you don't want it...