Wireless News
Wireless News

Wireless News

Sanyo Shares Slide on Battery Recall

Shares of Sanyo Electric Co., the world’s largest maker of rechargeable batteries, fell to a 31- year low after 1.3 million of its cells used in mobile phones were recalled on concern they overheat and rupture. The lithium-ion batteries, made by a unit of Osaka-based Sanyo, are used in Mitsubishi Electric Corp. handsets on NTT DoCoMo Inc.’s high-speed service. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. confirmed it found six cases of burst batteries used in its Panasonic phones, responding to a Yomiuri newspaper report [see Japan Times in English]. Matsushita spokesman Junji Kanegawa said Sanyo wasn’t the battery maker, declining to name the manufacturer.

DoCoMo Issues Battery Advisory

NTT DoCoMo and Mitsubishi Electric announced today, at a hastily called press conference, that some D06-series batteries, which were manufactured through May 2006 and installed in the D902i-series handsets, could generate excessive heat and possibly rupture during charging if the batteries have been subjected to a strong external impact. The companies estimate that some 1.3 million D06 series batteries were manufactured through May 2006. Sales of the D902i, D902iS and D903i have been suspended for the time being.

SoftBank Mobile Subscriber Stats

According to an article on the Financial Times, SoftBank Mobile quietly changed the standard subscriber accounting procedure in October. Their ‘new method’ resulted in numbers which saved the company from having to announce a net loss of customers during their debut month. “The telecommunications group was able to report a net gain in subscribers only by extending the period for which it counts inactive users from six months to a year.. this allowed it to include prepaid subscribers who had not used their mobile phones for nearly 12 months. Japan’s other big mobile operators generally use three months as the cut-off period.”. We had speculated they would post a net loss in October — the TCA numbers for November will be released soon — Stay Tuned.

OKI and Huawei Collaborate for WiMAX

Oki Electric and Huawei Technologies today announced an agreement to collaborate in the mobile WiMAX business to the telecom carriers in Japan. OKI will provide Huawei’s mobile WiMAX Series products to telecom carriers in Japan starting in the fiscal year ending March 2008. OKI will also provide its products globally with the support of Huawei. OKI has been conducting business in China from the early 1980s, and has been working with Huawei in various areas including optical components. Huawei provides wireless products worldwide, including mobile WiMAX and 3G mobile phone systems.

Panasonic Develops New Mobile LSI

Panasonic announced that it has developed a new system LSI for mobile phones by applying its second-generation Integrated Platform for Digital Appliances. The new LSI MN2CS0035 model can greatly improve the playing time of SD audio and the graphic processing performance on mobile handsets. The use of LSI technology enables the existence of multiple functioning on a single chip in cellular phones such as long time music and movie playback, high-performance 3D graphics, and mobile DTV (ISDB-T) viewing. The company will commence shipping product samples in December 2006.

ACCESS to Exhibit at Telecom World

ACCESS announced today that it will exhibit and demonstrate its latest mobile software solutions at ITU Telecom World 2006 to be held in Hong Kong from December 4 through 8, 2006. In addition to showcasing solutions and success stories developed to support Chinese handset makers’ global strategies, ACCESS will demonstrate server solutions developed jointly by its Beijing-based group companies, RedZero and ACCESS Media Solutions. ACCESS will also exhibit a variety of cutting edge technologies — including its IMS Solution for businesses that integrate Internet viewing and messaging environments as well as audio and visual media — for global telecommunications carriers.