Stories by Martyn Williams

Report: China Telecom to Focus on Data Networking

China Telecom Ltd., the dominant player in the fast expanding Chinese telecommunications market, plans to focus its resources on expanding its data communications network, according to a report on the state-run Xinhua news service.

China-US Optical Fiber Cable Enters Service

The first part of the China-U.S. Cable Network, the first undersea optical fiber cable to directly link the U.S. and China, has entered service, according to the consortium building the system.

Japan to Get Web-Based Convenience Store

Two major Japanese convenience store operators and two of the country's most aggressive Internet investment firms have announced plans to form a joint venture to operate an Web-based supermarket.

Softbank Starts VC Fund for Latin America

Japan's Softbank Corp., a major investor in Silicon Valley Internet start-ups, has announced plans to establish a venture capital fund for Internet companies located south of the U.S. border.

Newbridge to Expand China Data Network

Newbridge Networks Corp. has won a contract to expand the data network of China's Guangdong Post and Telecommunications Administration (GPTA). After expansion, the system will be the largest such data network in China, according to Newbridge.

Harris Inks Further China Unicom GSM Deals

Harris Corp. says it has signed a series of deals, worth a combined US$22 million, with China United Telecommunications Corp. (China Unicom) to provide wireless transmission equipment for the company's GSM (global system for mobile communications)-based cellular network.

Japanese Cellular Market Grows 20 Percent in 1999

Japan's mobile telephone operators ended 1999 with 9 million more subscribers than at the beginning of the year, a rise of 20 percent, according to preliminary data from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT).

Goldman Sachs, Kyocera on HDR Wireless Data

Hitachi Ltd. will jointly develop equipment and participate in a field trial of Qualcomm Inc.'s High Data Rate (HDR) technology, a high-speed wireless data service based on Qualcomm's CDMA (code division multiple access) technology, Hitachi said today.

Goldman Sachs, Kyocera Form Japanese Hi-Tech Fund

Japanese electronics maker Kyocera Corp. and investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. announced plans Friday to create a 30 billion yen (US$285.7 million) venture fund to invest in local high-technology start-up companies.

Mitsui, DLJdirect, Others Plan Japanese ECN

Mitsui & Co., DLJdirect SFG Securities Inc. and other brokerages are currently in talks concerning jointly establishing Japan's first after-hours market for trading of stocks, or electronic communications network (ECN).

SD Memory Card Format Gets Boost from Industry

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., Toshiba Corp. and SanDisk Corp. today announced a large vote of support from the electronics industry for their new SD (Secure Digital) memory card format.

Japan's DDI, IDO Launch 64K Cellular Data Service

Japanese cellular operators DDI Cellular Group and Nippon Ido Tsushin Inc. have launched a new packet data service on their CDMA networks that enables users to transmit data at 64K bits per second (bps).

Matsushita Unit to Produce Internet Telephone

Kyushu Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., a unit of Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., which is better known by its Panasonic brand name, has signed an agreement with Internet telephony company Net2Phone Inc. that will allow it to integrate the latter company's technology in future consumer telephone products.

NEC Develops Prototype Video Search Engine

TOKYO (01/07/2000) - Researchers at NEC Corp.'s C&C Media Laboratories say they have developed the first prototype of a search engine capable of locating digital images, photographs and video scenes regardless of data format.

Korea Thrunet Makes First Infrastructure Buys

Korea Thrunet Co. Ltd., a provider of broadband Internet access systems in South Korea, says it has acquired stakes in eight regional cable television system operators in the country.

[]