RCR Wireless News articles from March 2004

RCR Wireless News archives from March 2004

Carrier spending set to increase in next several years.(Wireless Metrics)
March 1, 2004... Mobile carriers worldwide will increase their spending to $763 million by 2008, well up from the $262 million expected to be spent in 2004, according to research from Probe Group. Carriers are garnering revenues from their 2.5G networks and...

Hot-spot users to grow to 30M this year.(Wireless Metrics)
March 1, 2004... The number of hot-spot users worldwide will total 30 million in 2004, up from 9.3 million users in 2003, according to research from Gartner Inc. As users increase, enterprises must implement strategies for secure access to hot spots, as well as...

Lucent, Novatel Wireless supply Telefonica Moviles Espana with 3G cards.(News)
March 1, 2004... -Lucent Technologies Inc. and Novatel Wireless, Inc. announced that Telefonica Moviles Espana is offering the Merlin U53 Universal Mobile Telecommunications System Wireless PC Card Modem-jointly developed by Lucent and Novatel Wireless-to...

PTT gains global momentum.(News)
March 1, 2004... A variety of players were among the companies making announcements on the push-to-talk front, further evidence that players across the globe are gearing up to offer the service. First, Fastmobile Inc. announced a deal with Samsung...

Motorola enters OTA updating arena through 4thpass.(News)
March 1, 2004... -Motorola Inc. jumped into the already crowded market for over-the-air updating technology with the release of its Device Management System through its 4thpass subsidiary. Motorola said the technology allows wireless carriers to remotely repair...

Cannes do.(Opinion)
March 1, 2004... Byline: Tracy Ford To borrow a phrase from the auto business, the wireless industry seems to be running on all pistons. The news out of last week's 3GSM show in Cannes, France, seemed upbeat overall, despite the standard stories of: ...

Openwave announces deals with Microsoft, Motorola.(Business)
March 1, 2004... Byline: MIKE DANO Wireless Internet company Openwave Systems Inc. announced a new deal with Microsoft Corp. as well as a major sale to handset maker Motorola Inc. Openwave also announced an acquisition it said will improve its wireless...

GSMA outlines anti-theft initiative.(News)
March 1, 2004... The GSM Association and manufacturers-including Alcatel, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Panasonic, Sagem, Siemens and Sony Ericsson-announced a new strategy to reduce the theft of mobile phones at 3GSM World Congress. The GSMA and the mobile-phone...

Siemens develops standards-based wireless architecture.(News)
March 1, 2004... Siemens AG said it has developed a new standards-based mobile network architecture that simplifies and enhances performance as well as reduces cost. The vendor says it is the first to offer a comprehensive system conforming to the Advanced...

FTS announces billing contract wins.(News)
March 1, 2004... CANNES, France-Formula Telecom Solutions Ltd., which develops convergent billing and customer relationship management solutions, won contracts in Asia and Western Europe. The company said its convergent prepaid and postpaid billing and CRM...

AWS completes purchase of U.S. Cellular market in Texas.(Business)
March 1, 2004... AT&T Wireless services Inc. said it completed its $95 million cash purchase of U.S. Cellular's TDMA wireless operations in south central Texas, a market serving 74,000 customers and covering a population of more than 1.3 million people. ...

Lucent, Cisco team for VoIP solutions.(News)
March 1, 2004... CANNES-Lucent Technologies Inc. teamed with Cisco Systems Inc. to develop voice over Internet Protocol and multimedia communications solution for mobile carriers. The agreement will combine Lucent Softswitch and Cisco MGX 8000 series media...

UMTS TDD Alliance formed.(News)
March 1, 2004... Some wireless players around the world have come together to form the UMTS TDD Alliance to share information, set requirements for future solutions and foster market growth based on the UMTS TDD standard. The founding members identified...

Business Briefs.(Briefs)
March 1, 2004... L.M. Ericsson said it has signed separate deals with operators in the United States, Switzerland and Nigeria. With operator Econet Wireless Nigeria, the vendor signed a $110 million GSM expansion contract to cover such cities as Lagos, Port...

Alcatel reports mobile video deals.(News)
March 1, 2004... Alcatel scored several new mobile video deals, including an agreement with Hutchison 3G Austria for its video gateway product. Alcatel said it will offer video-streaming services for Hutchison 3G in Austria, as well as video telephony...

Senate staffer predicts passage of E911 bill by end of March.(News)
March 1, 2004... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER A key Senate staffer predicted the Senate will pass a bill in the next month to create a grant program to help deploy wireless enhanced 911 services. "A lot of members are going to engage every possible...

Spatial Wireless to trial switching platform on Hutchison.(News)
March 1, 2004... Spatial Wireless announced it will commence a market trial of Spatial Atrium, its new high-capacity distributed mobile switching platform, on India's Hutchison Essar Telecom Ltd.'s GSM network. "We look forward to evaluating the benefits...

Donahue OK'ed Wheeler bonus.(News)
March 1, 2004... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Former Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association President Thomas Wheeler's employment contract was altered to pave way for a $500,000 bonus he received from the $37 million sale of the trade group's billing...

Handset makers try to lure enterprise market with new devices.(News)
March 1, 2004... Byline: MIKE DANO Although wireless by and large caters to the consumer market, many of the industry's major mobile-phone makers zeroed in on the high-margin business user during the 3GSM show in Cannes, France. Nokia, the world's No....

Deeper lines in sand drawn in OS battle.
March 1, 2004... Byline: MIKE DANO The line in the sand is getting deeper. On one side sits the world's No. 2 mobile-phone maker Motorola Inc. and its operating system partner Microsoft Corp., a team hoping to entice Windows fans looking for a familiar...

Nextel subsidiary comes out on top in 900 MHz auction.(News)
March 1, 2004... The auction for 55 licenses in the 900 MHz band closed last week with 46 of the licenses going to a subsidiary of Nextel Communications Inc. ACI 900 Inc. was one of five winners of licenses out of 17 qualified bidders. ACI's ownership is...

Brightstar named master distribution partner for Motorola; CellStar up in 4Q.(Business)
March 1, 2004... Byline: MIKE DANO Motorola Inc. said Brightstar Corp. will serve as its master services distribution partner in the United States for mobile phones. Brightstar, which is Motorola's authorized distributor in Latin America, has been working...

Enthusiasm 'reigns' at 3GSM Congress.
March 1, 2004... Byline: DAN MEYER Despite the less-than-ideal weather conditions at this year's 3GSM World Congress in Cannes, France, the event was highlighted by the GSM industry's announcement of signing up its 1 billionth customer worldwide and the...

Aether hires strategic adviser.(News)
March 1, 2004... Aether Systems Inc. hinted at future major business moves with the appointment of strategic advisory company Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. Inc. Aether said the firm would help advise the company on possible "acquisitions of new or...

ABI predicts Wi-Fi industry growth.(News)
March 1, 2004... The Wi-Fi industry will continue to grow, driven by new equipment and innovative applications, according to a new report by Allied Business Intelligence. The firm predicted 95 million Wi-Fi networking equipment devices will be shipped in 2009....

Fast Fact.(Wireless Metrics)
March 1, 2004... i-mode has now amassed a global subscriber base of 42 million users including Japan, making it the most popular mobile Internet service in the world. Source: Cellular News, Feb. 26

Digicel takes on Cable & Wireless in Caribbean mobile market.(Wireless Metrics)
March 1, 2004... Pyramid reports that many Caribbean countries have chosen to liberalize their telecommunications sector, opening opportunities for both vendors and operators. Three players currently serve the Jamaican mobile market: Cable & Wireless...

Some on House committee want to deny Nextel 1.9 GHz spectrum.(News)
March 1, 2004... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission received some unsolicited advice from 23 members of Congress on Thursday about how not to solve the public-safety interference problem in the 800 MHz band. ...

DoJ probing PTT industry on antitrust issues with Motorola, Nextel, Verizon.(News)
March 1, 2004... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Nextel Communications Inc. and Verizon Wireless confirmed being contacted by the Justice Department in what could be the early stages of an antitrust probe of the push-to-talk wireless market. "Nextel has received...

The passion of the states.(Opinion)
March 1, 2004... In this case, the suffering is widespread, with states north to south and east to west bleeding in an uncertain economy with costly homeland security demands on governors, mayors and county officials. This too was foreseeable, as American...

Google continues to dabble in wireless with Froogle service.(Business)
March 1, 2004... Byline: MIKE DANO Google Inc. continues to dabble in wireless with the launch of a mobile version of its new Froogle shopping site. Wireless surfers can log on to http://wml.froogle.com from their phones and search for prices on almost...

McCain: Rules must change to accommodate services like VoIP.(News)
March 1, 2004... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER The Federal Communications Commission should stop trying to define voice over Internet protocol as either a telecom or information service and instead ask Congress to change the laws governing VoIP, said Sen....

Calif. legislator targets cell-phone recycling.(News)
March 1, 2004... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA A California legislator has introduced what is believed to be the stiffest mobile-phone recycling bill in the nation, a move that comes as state regulators consider adoption of a telecom consumer bill of rights that...

Cisco, Intel, T-Mobile use 3 countries to test technology combinations.(Business)
March 1, 2004... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE Three major players have come together to pilot a mobile system to allow a single wireless device to be used "everywhere'' combining GPRS, UMTS and wireless local area network technology. The three companies, Cisco...

Vendors drive toward true interoperability.
March 1, 2004... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE Comverse Technology Inc. said it can solve the interoperability gap between GSM and CDMA technologies. The company demonstrated its interoperability solution at last week's 3GSM World Congress in Cannes, France. ...

Network operators tops in provider survey.(Wireless Metrics)
March 1, 2004... The annual GNS survey interviewed professionals responsible for defining or implementing IT strategy and communications policies in multinational companies with at least 500 employees. The 2003 European survey base comprised 272 companies...

Firm offers encryption for camera phones.(News)
March 1, 2004... -Wireless application and software company Silicon Village Mobile announced a new suite of technologies the company said will allow camera-phone users to encrypt their picture messages. The technology will ensure the security of messages within...

GSM migration on verge breaking loose, backers say.(Focus)
March 1, 2004... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE From the lofts of Manhattan to the rural backwaters on the outskirts of Lagos, Nigeria, GSM technology is unveiling the modern narrative. People connect, break news, break bread, shed tears of joy and loss, carp and...

Telephone numbers one way to reform universal service.(News)
March 1, 2004... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER A proposal by FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin to base universal-service contributions on phone numbers has merit, but telecom policy-makers need to realize what the universal-service system is, said...

Wireless dismayed about proposal to increase tax on talking.(News)
March 1, 2004... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER The wireless industry reacted with amazement that a senator could call for the tax on talking to be increased to 4 percent to pay for broadband technology deployment. "This anachronistic, regressive tax...

Standards fertile ground for trade disputes.(News)
March 1, 2004... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA The Bush administration, already under fire over foreign outsourcing of American jobs and a ballooning trade deficit, is facing growing pressure from tech sectors to get tough with China and South Korea over wireless...

Late News; CTIA to start ad campaign.
March 1, 2004... The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, facing a number of new government challenges, is preparing to search for an advertising agency, Kimberly Kuo, CTIA's vice president for communications, told Advertising Age, a sister...

Stock Watch: February 26-March 4.(Wireless Metrics)
March 8, 2004... table: StockWatch: February 26-March 4 * 3 graphics: Market diary * Indices * RCR Index: see print copy.

Despite high mobile penetration, bulk of voice calls in Sweden are not carried wirelessly.(Wireless Metrics)
March 8, 2004... Only a fraction of voice calls in Sweden are carried on mobile networks even though the country boasts one of the highest mobile penetrations in the world, according to a new white paper by mobile analyst firm Northstream. Sweden's...

Qwest launches nationwide wireless through Sprint network sharing.(Business)
March 8, 2004... Qwest Communications International Inc. launched its nationwide wireless voice service for residential and small business customers as part of its network-sharing agreement announced last year with Sprint PCS. Qwest said its nationwide...

Tower players expect strong lease-ups ahead.(Business)
March 8, 2004... Byline: EMILY MOTSAY Wireless communication tower owners American Tower Corp., Crown Castle International Corp. and SpectraSite Inc. spoke at last week's Raymond James & Associates Inc. Institutional Investors Conference, where all three...

Siemens to invest in Brazil.(News)
March 8, 2004... Mobile phone maker Siemens said it will invest $40 million in Brazil to foster the development of mobile phones, cordless phones and wireless modules, a move the company said will help triple its production capacity by the first quarter of next...

Canadian carriers establish common Wi-Fi agreements.(Global Wireless)
March 8, 2004... A number of Canadian wireless operators signed an inter-carrier agreement establishing common standards for roaming and interoperability of their public Wi-Fi networks and have agreed to create a common brand identifier for Wi-Fi hot spots in...

FCC approves EV-DO phone from LG.(News)
March 8, 2004... It appears Verizon Wireless will sell a CDMA EV-DO mobile phone from LG Electronics Co. Ltd. when it launches its high-speed network this summer. The Federal Communications Commission recently approved the VX8000 EV-DO mobile phone from...

Anatel to trial Lucent CDMA450 equipment.(Global Wireless)
March 8, 2004... Lucent Technologies Inc. said it is working with Anatel to conduct a trial of commercial CDMA450 to bridge the "digital divide'' in the country. The trial follows a series of CDMA450 voice and data calls and demonstrations Lucent has...

Business Briefs.(Briefs)
March 8, 2004... Nextel Partners Inc. said it plans to open at least 30 new retail stores this year to keep up with demand for its services and to build on the 40 retail outlets the carrier has opened during the past two years. "As demand continues to increase...

Infrastructure Awards.(Wireless Metrics)
March 8, 2004... Following are mobile contracts awarded in February 2004: Alcatel Iraq. With Orascom Telecom for a GSM network in Central Iraq. Value: Undisclosed Serbia. With Telecom Serbia for a UMTS network field trial. Value:...

Littlefeet closes doors.(News)
March 8, 2004... Byline: EMILY MOTSAY Following recent financial struggles, Poway, Calif.-based Littlefeet Inc. has closed its doors for good. The company's intellectual property and its technology are now on the market, according to Brian Sagi, chief...

U.S. Carriers - 1st Tier.(News)
March 8, 2004... Editor's Note: The companies listed below represent the six first-tier wireless operators that control enough spectrum for a nationwide footprint and are ranked by their number of subscribers at the end of 2003. Subscriber additions and...

Dept. of Commiseration.(Opinion)
March 8, 2004... Byline: Jeffrey Silva You've got to feel for the President's loyal pal, Don Evans, whose colossal bureaucracy oversees everything from the health of the atmosphere to the well-being of the airwaves. Days after White House chief...

Correction.
March 8, 2004... In the "Access unveils device development solution'' story on page 6 of the Feb. 23 issue of RCR Wireless News, Access Co. Ltd.'s relationship with MontaVista Software Inc. was misstated. The companies validated Access' NetFront browser to run...

Motorola, Microsoft set to lose tax break, may gain new ones.(News)
March 8, 2004... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA The European Union began imposing tariffs on various American products in retaliation for the U.S.' failure to close an export trade tax loophole deemed illegal by the World Trade Organization that benefits Motorola...

Chinese content firm has strong IPO on Nasdaq.(Global Wireless)
March 8, 2004... Chinese wireless content company Linktone Ltd. made an impressive debut in its Nasdaq initial public offering, with share prices soaring as high as $19.50 per share. The company offers ring tones, icons, screen savers and messaging...

FTS adds another property to stable.(News)
March 8, 2004... 2004 has been a busy year for FTS Wireless Inc., a company that operates retail wireless locations that market next-generation wireless products and services and operate Wi-Fi hot spots. Last week, the company announced it plans to acquire...

Nortel inks GSM contract for Chinese railways.(News)
March 8, 2004... Nortel Networks Ltd. said it has signed a contract to provide GSM networks for the China Ministry of railways on the Quinghai-Tibet Railway. "It is also expected to be the first in Asia to use GSM-R to transmit safety data for train control,...

Psion minority stakeholder against Symbian sale to Nokia.(News)
March 8, 2004... A firm representing about 13 percent of Psion plc's shareholders said it will vote against the company's plans to sell its stake in operating system company Symbian to Nokia Corp. Phoenix Asset Management, which owns about 13 percent of...

Telefonica pursues BellSouth's Latin American operations.(Global Wireless)
March 8, 2004... BellSouth Corp. is reportedly in talks with Spanish telecommunications provider Telefonica SA about the possible sale of BellSouth's Latin American operations. The U.S.-based carrier previously acknowledged it was in discussions about the...

Bush challenges Chinese Wi-Fi security standard.(Global Wireless)
March 8, 2004... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA The Bush administration has officially challenged China's homegrown Wi-Fi security standard that industry and government leaders claim is at odds with international guidelines and commercially harmful to U.S....

Extended Systems, Intellisync settle patent dispute.(News)
March 8, 2004... Wireless enterprise and synchronization companies Extended Systems and Intellisync Corp. announced that they have mutually agreed to settle the ongoing patent infringement lawsuit initiated by Intellisync in April 2002. Intellisync was formerly...

TSI reaches beyond borders with name change to Syniverse.(Business)
March 8, 2004... Byline: MIKE DANO A quick Google of the acronym "TSI'' can turn up at least 10 different companies, all using the same three letters to sell wildly differing products and services. However, Googling the word "Syniverse'' turns up only one...

Porting process improving, but May 24 deadline looms.(News)
March 8, 2004... Byline: DAN MEYER Following a hectic first couple of months, a survey released last week of wireless retailers found that local number portability problems have diminished since the beginning of the year, while the number of porting...

Wireless chads?(Opinion)
March 8, 2004... Byline: Tina Eichner Wireless technology took its place in the election process last week. I am not referring to Motorola's Rock the Vote Mobile campaign either. Still worth noting, Rock the Vote Mobile aims to use wireless...

Martin: Rebanding not only way to fix 800 MHz interference, but may be most efficient.(News)
March 8, 2004... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin indicated Thursday there might be other ways besides rebanding to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band. "Ultimately some kind of rebanding or pulling the...

Group says USF funds should cover primary lines.(News)
March 8, 2004... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER Wireless carriers and alternative telecom carriers decried a recommendation to restrict universal service subsidies to one line per household. The Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, created...

Startup softswitch providers target second-tier players.(News)
March 8, 2004... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE As softswitch technology continues to upstage circuit-based standards, some new companies have launched forays into the space. They do not look forward to dueling the big players like Nortel Networks Ltd., Siemens...

Sprint takes PCS back inside.
March 8, 2004... Byline: DAN MEYER After nearly six years of semi-autonomous trading on the open markets, Sprint Corp. decided last week to rein in its wayward wireless division by folding in Sprint PCS' tracking stock under the company's wireline-based...

Motorola camera phone delayed again.(Late News)
March 8, 2004... Motorola Inc.'s advanced V600 camera phone suffered its second major delay, with AT&T Wireless Services Inc. pushing back the phone's introduction to late April or early May. The phone is now scheduled to ship almost five months later than...

Vendors start to pay attention to voice over WLAN.(News)
March 8, 2004... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE In two major announcements last week, Nortel Networks Ltd. and Alcatel Alsthom demonstrated the kind of attention the wireless industry is paying to voice over wireless local area networks. Alcatel said it has...

Some vendors quick to implement OMA specs, others hold off.(News)
March 8, 2004... Byline: MIKE DANO As the market heats up for wireless instant-messaging services, a handful of vendors are touting their rapid implementation of the Open Mobile Alliance's IM specifications as a way to drum up carrier business. ACL...

University study finds cell phones could be classified as hazardous waste.
March 8, 2004... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA A new government-funded study says mobile phones and other high-tech gear often release enough lead to be classified as hazardous waste under federal law, a finding that could force the Bush administration and states...

Hutchison 3G U.K. offers live streaming video.(News)
March 8, 2004... Hutchison 3G in the United Kingdom announced it will offer live streaming video to mobile phones through its "Today on 3'' mobile news and entertainment channel. The carrier said the video service will be updated throughout the day and...

Nokia to equip TeliaSonera.(News)
March 8, 2004... Nokia Corp. will modernize and upgrade TeliaSonera's existing GSM/GPRS/EDGE Nokia network in the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. According to the agreement, Nokia will supply its GSM, GPRS and EDGE system and...

UMTS market set to explode, Lucent, Motorola late to market.(Wireless Metrics)
March 8, 2004... Lucent Technologies Inc. and Motorola Inc. are at the short end of wireless infrastructure contracts owing to their late start in the UMTS market, according to a report from Allied Business Intelligence. Lucent has an 11-percent market...

Northcoast, Thumb Cellular choose TCS for E911.(News)
March 8, 2004... Northcoast PCS and Thumb Cellular will use technology from TeleCommunication Systems Inc. to meet the Phase II E911 requirements set forth by the Federal Communications Commission. The carriers will use TCS' HPDE service, which combines...

UWB protocol up for vote for fifth time.(News)
March 8, 2004... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE The ultra-wideband protocol is like a child born to divorced parents, neither of whom have custody rights. So far, compromise seems to be a lost cause. A new proposal, known as common signaling and sponsored by...

Process to streamline tower sitings back on track.(News)
March 8, 2004... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER The Federal Communications Commission could adopt rules as early as this week that will help streamline the historic-preservation process wireless facilities must go through, an issue so controversial that...

California PUC likely to delay vote on revised bill of rights.(News)
March 8, 2004... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA So serious a matter for industry is California's proposed consumer bill of rights that its powerful national trade group-the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association-spent more than a half-million dollars in...

Nation's first DO operator shuts doors; Monet to file Chapter 11.
March 8, 2004... Byline: MIKE DANO CDMA 1xEV-DO operator Monet Mobile Networks Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Thursday, and its network is scheduled to be shut down April 2. The wireless Internet carrier covers eight cities in Wisconsin, Minnesota...

CTIA previews new mission statement to state regulators.(News)
March 8, 2004... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association will unveil a new logo, mission statement, and set of core values when it meets in Atlanta later this month for its Wireless 2004 conference but on...