L.M. Ericsson said it withdrew a complaint filed in January with the European Commission, which charged that Austria’s award of a Global System for Mobile communications license to international consortium Oe-Call, was unfair. Siemens AG Oesterreich of Vienna holds 19.8 percent in Oe-Call. However, Oe-Call has since guaranteed Ericsson the consortium would not share any bidding information and quotes with Siemens.
U.K. cellular operator Cellnet established a trial microcellular network supplied by Motorola Inc. in London, Motorola announced. The microcellular underlay system can be deployed within buildings, shopping centers and commuter corridors to provide focused capacity and coverage in specific areas to ensure subscriber service quality is maintained at consistent levels, said Motorola. Following the completion of the trial in London, microcellular systems will be considered for deployment throughout the United Kingdom.
Grupo Iusacell S.A. de C.V. said it has secured a $65 million bridge facility that it anticipates will be replaced with an intermediate-term bond offering. The proceeds will allow Grupo Iusacell to fund business expansion and provide financing for the company’s radiotelephony project. Grupo Iusacell said it is waiting for approval of its technical and economic plans to begin widespread deployment of radiotelephony service. The company also reported a net loss of $73 million for 1995 compared with a loss of $67 million the previous year. Grupo Iusacell said the loss was due primarily to foreign exchange losses arising from a continued decline in the value of the peso, as well as the decline in operating margins resulting from the impact of high domestic inflation on operating expenses.
Polish Telephones and Microwave Corp. signed a contract to sell about $6.1 million of wireless telecommunications equipment to Elterix S.A., a Polish telecommunications company. Elterix will use the equipment in a privately owned and operated public telecom network. The contract is contingent upon the Polish government’s approval of the equipment for installation and operation in Poland and licensing of appropriate radio frequencies for use with the equipment as well as Elterix being able to secure financing.
Motorola Inc.’s International Cellular Infrastructure Division announced it will supply, install and develop a Code Division Multiple Access network in Singapore under a $45 million contract from MobileOne. Motorola said it will install the network in phases during a two-year period. MobileOne plans to launch mobile phone and public radio paging services in April. MobileOne is a consortium comprised of the Keppel Group, Singapore Press Holdings, Cable & Wireless plc and Hong Kong Telecom.
