Brazil
Microwave radio equipment manufacturer Harris Corp. announced plans to open a plant during the second quarter in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In addition to its manufacturing operations, the new facility will employ engineers, sales representatives and customer support staff, and is expected to export microwave radios and systems internationally by 1999, Harris said.
Italy
Omnitel Pronto Italia added more than 2.5 million wireless subscribers in just more than two years of service, its parent company, Bell Atlantic Corp., announced. Omnitel had 2.46 million subscribers on Dec. 31 and added 40,000 new customers in the first week of January, a traditionally slow period for sales. Omnitel ended 1996 with 713,000 subscribers and experienced a 250-percent growth rate during 1997.
Mexico
Innova Corp., which designs and manufactures advanced digital microwave radios, announced that Mexican telecom provider Alestra signed a $3 million purchase order for its XP4 radios and associated Simple Network Management Protocol network management interfaces. Alestra is a joint venture between AT&T Corp., Groupo Alpha and Bancomer. The order brings to $4.8 million the total value of Alestra purchases received by Innova to date.
Korea
SK Telecom announced that its Code Division Multiple Access subscriber base reached 3 million at the end of December. The company introduced its commercial CDMA cellular service in January 1996, gained 1 million subscribers by March 1997, and reached 2 million subscribers in August.
Great Britain
Orange Personal Communications Services Ltd. announced it plans to launch a “paperless” contract May 1 designed to cut paperwork and make it easier to subscribe. The new contract shortens the notification time needed to terminate a contract from three months to one.
