ROW Short Takes

Telus expands Ottawa public and gov’t affairs teamTelus Corp.’s newly created federal government relations and broadband policy team in Ottawa will champion issues related primarily to the company’s wireline communications business, but will lend a hand on wireless issues in specific circumstances. The expanded office will now include Janet Yale, executive VP of government and regulatory affairs; Ian Scott, VP of federal government affairs and broadband policy; and Jay Thomson, assistant VP of broadband policy. Industry Canada delays start of spectrum auctionIndustry Canada has delayed the start of the 2300/3500 MHz spectrum auction until late January. It also won’t publish a list of the qualified bidders until late December. A document detailing the complete revisions can be found on the Strategis web site. Sinclair releases new antennaSinclair Technologies Inc. has announced the commercial availability of new versions of the company’s flagship SC210 and SC310 exposed dipole antennas. The low-passive intermodulation (PIM) antennas complement Sinclair’s low-PIM SC229, SC323 and SC329 VHF and UHF base station antennas introduced earlier this year. Delivery of antennas will be made four weeks following the placement of an order, but beginning next February, the antennas will be delivered within five business days. In other news, the company has announced that Williams & Moore Capital Corp. has become a strategic investor in Sinclair. Zi Corp. introduces predictive text enhancementsCalgary-based Zi Corp. has introduced enhancements to its predictive text technologies with the release of Version 6 for eZiText and Version 2 for eZiTap. The new versions make text entry quicker and easier for end-users and reduce memory consumption. The enhancements provide increased learning and personalization, and more robust language dictionaries for more accurate prediction capabilities. Improvements to lingo entry and prediction, dual language messaging, next word prediction and multi-source prediction allow for a user to text personal vocabulary more quickly. Brandon Police select xwave mobile systemThe City of Brandon has chosen xwave to implement a new dispatching and police mobile workstation system for the Brandon Police Services. The new system is expected to launch in January 2004. The system is comprised of two key components: the computer-aided dispatch software found in the dispatch centre and the mobile application used on in-car laptop computers. GPS and automatic vehicle location functionality has been integrated into the system allowing dispatchers to locate officers in the field by looking at an icon on the map. Navco chooses mobile application from NextairNavco Security Systems has selected Nextair Inc.’s AIRIX mobile technology and its field force management system, DispatchForce, to wirelessly enable its dispatch and scheduling systems. Navco, which provides businesses with custom designed security systems, will now use the wireless technology to connect, dispatch and manage the scheduling and field communications for the company’s field engineers across the country. Rogers Wireless introduces colour BlackBerry to subsRogers Wireless Inc. has announced the commercial availability of the colour BlackBerry 7280 from Research in Motion Ltd. The 7280 offers a high-resolution 240x160 pixel reflective TFT colour display, supporting 65,000 colours, with a backlit screen and keyboard. The BlackBerry 7280 retails for $499.99 with a two-year service agreement. SR Telecom gear selected by Texas telcoSR Telecom Inc. has announced that Southwest Texas Telephone Co. has chosen its stride2400 fixed wireless access system to deliver voice and broadband data services to difficult-to-serve areas in the longhorn state. Southwest is expected to take deliveries of the product late this quarter. The Texas telco will deploy the first of its stride24000 networks in the area surrounding the Vinegarroon exchange. Wireless Matrix breaks into new vertical marketWireless Matrix Corp. has launched its mobile base station services into the less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation vertical market and an associated 30-day pilot project with a LTL carrier. The pilot project will begin with the deployment of 250 units in early January 2004. The initial deployment is valued at more than $700,000 over three years. John Herring, president and CEO of Wireless Matrix, says the company is now able to attack this market since it expanded its direct sales force. The contract is equally significant since Wireless Matrix has taken over the contract from a competitor. Contec expands target markets into VAS marketContec Innovations has expanded its target markets to include the value-added services (VAS) market for mobile data. The company noted in a news release that this new industry segment is aggressively driving mobile data traffic, and initial response to its Hornet product has been positive. The Hornet server’s capabilities will allow VAS providers to introduce new products to their subscribers quickly and cost-effectively from a secure, efficient mobile data delivery platform. The VAS market is made up of wireless application service providers, content aggregators and media portals that have developed independently from mobile operators, but need the operator’s network as a gateway to provide their customers with data services. IDC trims down, focuses on satellite businessInternational Datacasting Corp. has completed its restructuring following the sale of its Storm wireless Internet service provider subsidiary during the third quarter. The company now has a clean balance sheet and is ready to compete more effectively in the satellite broadband business. Canadian telecom firms ranked in treating online customersRogers Communications Inc. topped the list of Canadian telecommunications service providers’ treatment of online customers, according to the Customer Respect Group. Bell Canada and Microcell Solutions Inc. rounded out the top three spots. Aliant Inc. took the tenth and final position.

ROW Short Takes

News | December 16, 2003

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