Today, GlobalCast has more than 100 customers on its network and it has plans to roll out more base stations. But Jennersj s task is to take the company to its next level. Despite his relative youth, his full head of hair is already light grey. But the real telltale sign about Jennersj is the earpiece that s clipped to the collar of his plain white shirt, its wire running to the cell phone on his belt. That s worth noting because, in Stockholm at least, it is so common.
Swedes are wild about wireless.
Like Jennersj , Stockholm s citizens all seem to have a phone plugged into their ears, or carried around in their purses or on their hips. In part, the popularity of wireless phones in Sweden can be attributed to the influence of homegrown LM Ericsson Telephone Co. and its close Nordic neighbor, Nokia Corp. of Finland. But it s not just telephones. Over half the population of Sweden is logged onto the Internet, and that s created a boom in Internet start-ups. An estimated 900 Net-related companies have sprouted up in Stockholm one for every 850 of its residents and more per capita than any other European centre.