Telesystem International Wireless Inc., Canada, signed a letter of intent with SOGERA to acquire, for approximately US$13 million, the French trunked radio operations of France Telecom that were marketed under the brand names Praxiphone, Heliophone and Armoricom, announced TIW. With this acquisition, TIW’s French subsidiary, Regiocom, would add approximately 25,000 subscribers and become the largest trunked radio operator in France, according to TIW.
PageOne Communications Ltd. of England announced it will launch a FLEX-based paging system. It is the first United Kingdom-based operator to select the protocol.
Russian cellular carrier StavTeleSot has opened a new network in Stavropol, covering a population of 350,000, announced Telenor, a partner in StavTeleSot along with Russian companies Elektrosviaz and StavTelekom. StavTeleSot plans to develop the network in the rest of the Stavropol region over the next few years.
Global One, the international joint venture between Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom and Sprint Corp., has named Gary Forsee its new president and chief executive officer. Forsee, who most recently headed Sprint’s long-distance operations, succeeds Viesturs Vucins as top executive of Global One.
Motorola Radio Network Solutions Group has created a dedicated TETRA (Trans-European trunked radio) manufacturing facility and integration center at its production site in Berlin-Spandau, Germany, said the company. The announcement coincided with the start of a six-month TETRA trial by German federal agencies based in Berlin and Brandenberg. The trial is being run by Motorola in conjunction with Deutsche Telekom and Nokia Oy.
U.S.-based Orbital Sciences Corp. announced its Pegasus rocket successfully launched Teledesic L.L.C.’s T1 satellite, an experimental satellite designed and built by an Orbital, Teledesic and Boeing team. The T1 satellite is part of Teledesic’s ongoing developmental effort to build its global, broadband “Internet-in-the-sky” network, said Orbital.
Panasonic Telecommunications Systems Co. entered into a two-year exclusive contract with AT&T Wireless Services Inc. under which Panasonic will provide its new generation of tri-mode handsets operating on the time division multiple access standard, announced AT&T.
