Qualcomm Inc. announced a joint agreement with AirTouch Cellular, U S West NewVector Group and PrimeCo Personal Communications L.P. for the supply of Qualcomm’s Code Division Multiple Access digital Q phone and QCP series handsets. The agreement, valued at $250 million, is a continuation of a previous alliance between the companies. Products from the most current agreement have begun shipping and will continue through next year, Qualcomm said.
Lucent Technologies Inc. and Ameritech Services Inc. entered into a five-year, multimillion dollar agreement for Lucent to provide several voice-messaging services and products to Ameritech, the companies announced. It is the largest messaging contract win ever for Lucent’s Octel Messaging Division, created from the acquisition of Octel Communications Corp., said Lucent. The agreement, which replaces five separate prior contracts with Octel, covers Ameritech residential markets and business services markets, in addition to messaging systems for some of its own internal employees. Overall, Lucent’s Octel Messaging Division, based in Milpitas, Calif., will manage more than 1.2 million voice mailboxes for Ameritech.
Omnipoint Corp. announced it has arranged, through its wholly owned subsidiary Omnipoint Midwest Holdings Inc., for a vendor financing agreement with Northern Telecom Inc. valued at up to $400 million. The financing is being provided in connection with a $210 million purchase commitment for Nortel products by Omnipoint. The personal communications services provider said it plans to use the money for building out its Detroit and Indianapolis markets, and other markets built in the future.
Systems/Link Corp. announced it signed a contract to provide its RoamEx network to Sprint Spectrum L.P., providing the personal communications services carrier with a fraud-detection platform that monitors roaming calling activity in real time. RoamEx, an international data-exchange network, provides elements of a subscriber’s call-detail record to help carriers determine if a call is from a fraudulent user, said Systems/Link. Calls determined to be fraudulent can be shut down almost immediately. RoamEx covers about 95 percent of the U.S. cellular market, added the company. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.
