Executives said the new company, called WirelessKnowledge, will offer a "back end" network operating centre to cellular telephone service providers, including nine of the nation's biggest who already have announced their support.

The carriers could begin offering wireless access to data such as electronic mail using the new service as early as April.

A Qualcomm executive told analysts that Microsoft and Qualcomm each have contributed $25 million to launch the venture, according to Pete Peterson of Volpe Brown Whelan & Co.

John Major, who was named chief executive officer of WirelessKnowledge, told Reuters he hopes to bring the venture public in early 2000 after getting additional investments from telecommunication companies.

"The timing, we think, is just right," Irwin Jacobs, chairman andchief executive officer of Qualcomm, said. "It is time for wireless and the Internet to really merge together."

"This is the next bastion of growth for the wireless communication companies," Peterson said. "But this is just the start. It's only the second inning for wireless data."

Microsoft and Qualcomm hope to promote expanded use of digital wireless data, beginning with corporate customers, by offering a centralized clearinghouse to transmit data based on Internet protocols.

Initially the service will be focused on providing service for companies that use Microsoft back-end software for their corporate networks, executives said.

While the primary market is for mobile business users who need access to electronic mail and other information off their corporate networks, the service also will be marketed to consumers, officials said.

Wireless Knowledge will offer the service on a wholesale basis, charging the carriers a monthly fee for each subscriber, according to executives and analysts.

Pricingwill vary depending on the carrier but could be based on amount of data sent, rather than on time of connection, allowing users to maintain a connection to their network wirelessly.

Among the cellular carriers who say they will offer wireless data using the new service are Sprint Corp.'s Sprint PCS venture, BellSouth Corp. and AT&T Corp.'s AT&T Wireless Services division.

Contrary to previous reports about the new venture, executives said WirelessKnowledge would offer its services to any carrier on an "agnostic" basis, regardless of operating systems or technical standards.

While Microsoft is promoting is Windows CE operating system for hand-held computing devices, the Redmond, Wash.-based company also is offering new, free "Micro-browser" software for accessing the Internet over wireless telephones and pagers.

Similarly Qualcomm is closely associated with the CDMA wireless data standard but said the new venture will support other standards including GSM, which is prevalent in Europe.