Miami
phone distributor turns attention to India Miami-based distributor
Brightstar Corp. started a new business in India to offer home and business phones
in areas with few or no landlines. Brightstar opened a "fixed wireless"
division in the south Asian nation, offering phones that look like standard desk
models but use wireless technology instead of landlines. "Fixed wireless" is hot in rural areas
worldwide and especially in India, home to more than 1 billion people. Indian
buyers alone are expected to purchase more than 4 million of the "fixed wireless"
devices this year, studies show. To capture some of India's market, Brightstar
said it is selling "fixed wireless" devices from several manufacturers,
plus its own "Avvio" brand developed specifically for India. Brightstar
launched operations in India last year and now has sales and distribution offices
in Mumbai and Delhi. Companies International law firm Hogan &
Hartson LLP set up an international arbitration room within its Miami office,
underscoring the trend for companies to use South Florida as a hub to resolve
cross-border disputes out of court. South Florida is popular for arbitration
of disputes related to Latin America because of its ample air links to the Latin
region, lawyers familiar with Latin business and its advanced communications,
lawyers say. Canada's engineering consultancy Rowan Williams Davies &
Irwin Inc. is opening an office in Miramar, with an initial 12 employees and 10,000
square feet, Broward County's economic development group announced. The
new office, slated to debut in the fall, will include a wind-tunnel testing facility,
the Broward Alliance said. Rowan Williams, which specializes in wind engineering
and microclimate consulting, is based in Guelph, Ontario. The consultancy employs
about 350 staffers in offices in North America, the United Kingdom, Asia and the
Middle East. Events The Association of Bi-national Chambers of Commerce
is organizing a business mission to Hong Kong Nov. 26-Dec. 2 to take part in the
World Small and Medium Enterprise Expo. More than 30,000 small- and medium-sized
enterprises from around the world are expected to attend. For information,
call the association at 305-365-7247 or e-mail news@abicc.org. Updates Results
are trickling in from Broward County's recent business mission to China, its second
trip to the nation in two years. Port Everglades said shipping line COSCO/Evergreen
added a weekly Broward stop on its route from Asia through the Panama Canal. Fort
Lauderdale-based Trade Center Development Corp. announced a deal for a World Trade
Center in Kunshan, an industrial city near Shanghai. The center will span an initial
140,000 square feet in a new tower to open next year, said principal Randy Avon. Other
executives say they're in touch with potential clients in China for offerings
from water pumps to legal services. "I've received at least a dozen
e-mails from businesses in China to liaise together, mainly for visas," said
immigration lawyer Richard Hujber of Boca Raton, who met with officials at U.S.
government offices in China to develop contacts related to visa approvals there.
He already had some Chinese clients before the trip. Broward Mayor Ben Graber
led the 12-day mission in June to Shanghai, Chengdu and Beijing. In the
first quarter this year, China emerged as South Florida's top source of imported
goods, outpacing Brazil. | 
