Parliament in Germany Approves Controversial Telecoms Legislation
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The German parliament has approved a controversial amendment to the telecoms law, which gives the green light for the country's incumbent, Deutsche Telekom, to close its new high-speed VDSL network to rivals. The move is a success for Deutsche Telekom, Europe's largest telecoms group, which has been lobbying the government to ...
Qualcomm Builds up Bluetooth and WLAN with Two Acquisitions
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U.S.-based chipmaker and CDMA specialist Qualcomm has announced that is has made two acquisitions to enhance its presence in wireless networking technologies. Qualcomm is to pay US$39 million for the majority of Bluetooth-related assets of RF Micro Devices Inc, which is based in San Diego. Qualcomm will also pay an undisclosed amount for ...
Alcatel-Lucent Says Its Space Unit Won 661 Million Order With Globalstar
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PARIS -- Alcatel-Lucent said today that its space unit won a euro 661 million contract (US$882 million) with Globalstar Inc. to design, manufacture and deliver 48 low-earth-orbit satellites. The contract also includes the provision of support services before and during the launches and mission operations support ...
Unblocking Laser Signals
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Laser signals can be blocked by many different types of objects, including trees, buildings and mountains. But it's the little things, like fog, rain, dirt and dust, that unpredictably interfere with laser communications and tend to vex users the most. Penn State University researchers are now working on a solution to this problem. ...
FCC Grants License, Some Winners Talk Plans
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The FCC officially awarded half of the 1,087 licenses that were up for sale in its August-September Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) auction to winning bidders late yesterday. The agency says it granted 550 of the 1,087 licenses won in this past summer's Auction 66 of advanced wireless spectrum. The licenses granted ...
TeliaSonera Goes 3G In Spain, Meets Swedish Goal
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TeliaSonera's 76.6-percent majority-owned Spanish mobile operation Xfera launched commercial services today under the brand name 'Yoigo' promising the cheapest 3G service in that country. The operator's initial commercial tariffs see it offering the same prices for both contract and prepaid customers, an unusual ...
More About Meraki
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Wireless mesh startup Meraki Networks Inc. has confirmed it's gotten money from Google, among others, and that it's helping the search giant with its WiFi plans while preparing its own commercial release for next year. Recently, Unstrung revealed that Mountain View, Calif.-based Meraki is working to improve indoor coverage ...
LSI to Buy Agere for $4B
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LSI Logic Corp. is buying Agere Systems Inc. in an all-stock deal valued at $4 billion, the two chip companies announced today. The transaction will create a storage, networking and 'consumer powerhouse' that will supply chips, systems, and software to equipment vendors, the firms say. LSI Logic is a major ...
Alcatel-Lucent Stays Tight-Lipped
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Alcatel-Lucent is alive and kicking, and has been showing off its new purple corporate logo. But today's introductory press conference in Paris provided little else in the way of visibility on staff cuts, product rationalization, or expectations for 2007. Non-executive chairman Serge Tchuruk and CEO ...
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