CANADA
Rogers Cantel Inc. said its prepaid offering will be sold by Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix under a new retail agreement between the companies. “Cantel AT&T Pay As You Go” will be available in 650 of Shoppers Drug Mart’s 850 stores across Canada by the end of the year, said Rogers Cantel. Rogers Cantel has about 1.8 million Canadian wireless subscribers.
EUROPE
Schlumberger and Itron Inc. announced they have signed two agreements in Europe to provide the European utility industry an automatic meter reading system. The agreements follow an October 1997 memorandum of understanding. The AMR system is compatible with Itron AMR software and system architecture, Schlumberger MAPS technology, as well as hand-held devices jointly developed by the two companies. They also will have the possibility to jointly develop new AMR products integrating their core communications technologies, the companies said.
ISRAEL
Orange plc of the United Kingdom said it licensed its brand name to Partner Communications of Israel, representing the first in a series of brand-licensing agreements designed to position the company as a global communications operator. Partner Communications is the operator that in February won the bid to operate Israel’s first Global System for Mobile communications network. Orange belongs to consortia which have won licenses to operate networks in Austria, Belgium and Switzerland, and has services provider businesses in France and Germany.
GRAND CAYMAN
Island Electronics (Paging) Ltd. is expected to offer its customers in the Caribbean paging services from PageMart Wireless Inc. later this year. Island Paging provides numeric, alphanumeric, and voice paging around the clock through its call center and Web site. The affiliate’s 900 MHz paging system covers more than 98 percent of the Cayman Island’s population and geographic area. “The Cayman Islands are now more than just a great tourist destination,” said Rick Nelson, PageMart International president. “International commerce with the island country is expanding rapidly.”
