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Technology Stocks : Nokia (NOK) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tero kuittinen who wrote (3445)	1/28/2000 11:20:00 PM
From: Lazlo Pierce	Respond to of 34857

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. in talks with phone giant Nokia msnbc.com By Johnnie L. Roberts NEWSWEEK Jan. 28 — Aiming to tap into wireless Internet access to entertainment, information and commerce, media mogul Rupert Murdoch has held exploratory talks with phone giant Nokia, sources close to the discussions say. Murdoch is said to believe consumers will want mobile phones and other wireless devices for access to the Internet. MURDOCH AND HIS NO. 2 executive, Peter Chernin, met with Nokia at the company's Helsinki, Finland headquarters the week of Jan. 9. Coincidentally, Jan. 10 was the day America Online announced its merger with Time Warner, a chief rival of Murdoch's Australia-based News Corp. With their alliance, AOL and Time Warner are betting that consumers will increasingly choose to gain access to the internet over broadband cable. But with a dominant global network of satellite television operations, Murdoch has already staked much of his entertainment and media empire on wireless routes into the home. Now he is said to believe that consumers will want to use mobile phones and other wireless devices for access to the Internet. Nokia is considered a leading force in such technology. (Nokia couldn't be reached to comment on the talks and a spokesman for News Corp. declined to comment. But sources close to Murdoch emphasize that he is exploring various alternatives for wireless distribution over the Internet.) The idea: You'll someday be able to watch Ally McBeal on your cell phone. Murdoch's News Corp. operates the U.S.-based Fox empire, which makes and owns thousands of hours of entertainment and sports that are broadcast or distributed over cable in the United States. In addition to Ally, Fox properties include “The Simpsons,” “The X-Files” and the movie “Titanic.” Murdoch's satellite television operations, meanwhile stretch from Europe to Asia to Latin America. (Murdoch also has extensive newspaper holdings in the U.K. and Australia.) Nokia could be an extraordinarily influential partner for Murdoch in the wireless world. It is one of the largest suppliers of mobile phones and a leading maker of mobile and stationary Internet networks and related services. Murdoch may be especially interested in Nokia's Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a so-called 3G, or third generation, mobile telephony technology. UMTS is supposed to allow mobile devices to work seamlessly from anywhere in the world. More importantly, because of its greater radio-band frequency — in short, a fatter pipeline — UMTS allows faster access to the Internet and enables a variety of new futuristic mobile services. Business development experts, for example, have touted such offerings as pay-per-view video for mobile devices delivered via the internet, and Sweden's Ericsson reportedly is working on a “video-mail” service to complement mobile e-mail. In June at the UMTS Congress in Monte Carlo, Nokia and some nine other global mobile communications companies, including AT&T Wireless, Ericsson and British Telecom, formed a group to advance Internet-based wireless systems based on UMTS. Murdoch has already placed one bet on wireless telecommunications by acquiring a 25 percent stake in Australia's One.tel Ltd, which in November signed an internet alliance with Lucent Technologies. The two are seeking UMTS opportunities in Western Europe. Rupert Murdoch, meanwhile, could be shopping for new opportunities of his own.

To: tero kuittinen who wrote (3445)	1/31/2000 6:45:00 PM
From: gdichaz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34857

tero: The news that Qualcomm may work out something relatively soon re the practical entry and then ramp up of CDMA in China could be very good news for Nokia - if Nokia ever decided to put out CDMA products which were of similar quality to its GSM products. Still puzzled that Nokia - which has the opportunity to excel in all wireless technologies - continues to fail to seriously ramp up in CDMA. But then, of course, neither do you. Will you reply that this China potential will be of little importance, and of no weight whatsoever compared to the GSM base there? Would be refreshing if you were a little more flexible. But don't expect you will surprise me with anything positive on CDMA or the Q ever. Best. Chaz