3G : UMTS Forum Has New Chairman

The UMTS Forum has confirmed the election of Jean-Pierre Bienaimé, Director of Group Technical Support at Orange, as its new Chairman, succeeding Dr Bernd Eylert, who ends his four year term as Chairman of the Third Generation mobile industry association. The election was confirmed at the UMTS Forum's 28th General Assembly, held in Berlin on 28-30 January 2003.

Bienaimé, 50, has a long and distinguished career within the France Telecom Group, including Director of International Development of its Mobile division when he managed operational support for the business development and launch of France Telecom's mobile activities worldwide.

After the purchase of Orange by France Telecom he was appointed Group Technical Support Director at Orange, where he provides technical support to the international zones of Orange and France Telecom for business development, as well as to the mobile affiliates of the Group world-wide for operations. He also contributes to Orange's corporate programs, such as rebranding, franchising and strategic reviews.

Jean-Pierre Bienaimé, commenting on his appointment as Chairman of the UMTS Forum, said: "Orange recognises the UMTS Forum as an important body in the promotion of the continued deployment and evolution of UMTS networks and services world-wide. I am very aware of the importance of the Forum in promoting a common vision of UMTS deployment, amongst regulators, manufacturers and operators globally. It is an honour to have the opportunity to continue the very good work achieved by Dr. Bernd Eylert."

In his closing address at the 28th General Assembly, outgoing Chairman Bernd Eylert welcomed his successor, while highlighting the achievements of the UMTS Forum since its foundation in 1996: "In a few years time, the formidable efforts which have already contributed to the realisation of UMTS will be taken for granted. With UMTS and 3G now turning from an exciting concept into a global, commercial reality, I am immensely gratified that Jean-Pierre Bienaimé will continue the pioneering work of the UMTS Forum in creating a successful technical, regulatory and market framework for all those developing and implementing 3G mobile services and applications."

This Press Release Sponsored by AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES

TODAY'S PRESS RELEASES

The deal enables consumers to personalize their handsets with a wide variety of premium images in categories that include animals, lifestyle imagery, humorous characters, travel scenes and calendar-quality landscapes.

BenQ and Symbian Ltd announce that BenQ, a leading Taiwanese consumer electronics manufacturer, has signed an agreement to license Symbian OS, the global industry standard operating system for advanced mobile phones.

T-Mobile International and Nokia announced that they will co-develop innovative mobile services globally for the Nokia N-Gage game deck. The new device enables enriched interactive gaming by means of a wireless multiplayer platform for both local and remote gaming.

I want more independent operators to enter the Norwegian mobile market. Increased competition will give consumers better and cheaper mobile telephony services, says Minister of Transport and Communications, Ms. Torild Skogsholm

It plans to approve licenses for TD-SCDMA, an original communications standard developed in China, as well as the WCDMA (wide-band code division multiple access) and cdma2000 standards now used in other countries.

Mitec Telecom announced that it has received orders from a major network provider to supply 800 MHz CDMA IS95 BTS micro base stations for supply to China and South America. The value of the contract is estimated at CAN $8 million.

SK Telecom Chief Executive Officer Pyo Moon-soo ( inset ) said the company's roll-out of third-generation (3G) mobile phone service is dependent on the condition of the economy.

KDDI Corp. and Okinawa Cellular introduce BREW, a new application platform for mobile phones, for third-generation (CDMA2000 1x) handsets, which offer high-speed data communications at speeds of up to 144 kbps.

The majority of UK corporate telecommunications infrastructure managers are intent on delaying deployment of mobile data applications until 3G networks are fully established, according to survey findings released today by Intuwave, a leading developer of mobile middleware software and services.

Calypso Wireless announced it has signed a 3-year, $500 million contract with China Telecom, a world class telecom carrier, for the delivery of Calypso's cellular broadband video phones.