Agere goes small

Chipmaker Agere Systems announced it will provide the chips and software that a Chinese wireless company will use in cell phones that are smaller than a business card. Former Lucent Technologies subsidiary Agere will supply the product to PTIC Capitel, which began selling handsets in the Chinese market a few weeks ago. The phones weigh about 2.4 ounces and run on the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) standard, a protocol used by many global carriers. Capitel has designed the phones to be able to handle data services such as Web access but the software needed for such services will not be ready until about the first quarter of next year. New Jersey-based start-up Mobicom designed the high-end phones, which measure 68 millimeters long, 38 millimeters wide and 20 millimeters thick. Mobicom started in 1998 with funding from Capitel and California-based Crossroads Venture Capital.