Australia
Northern Telecom Ltd. announced it will build a turnkey nationwide cdmaOne Code Division Multiple Access wireless network for Telstra Corp., Australia’s primary telecommunications provider, in a buildout project valued at more than $200 million. Telstra’s decision was much-anticipated in the wireless industry as it was unsure which digital technology-cdmaOne or Time Division Multiple Access Interim Standard-136-the carrier finally would go with. CDMA’s continued expansion in the Asia-Pacific region is critical for the technology as China rethinks its CDMA plans.
Brazil
A consortium led by Brazilian telecommunications company Splice do Brasil S.A. has agreed to buy for $50.9 million the little-pursued B-band cellular license for region 8, Brazil’s remote Amazon region. Two previous attempts by the government to sell the license didn’t attract any bidders. The Splice consortium, which also includes Brazilian telecom infrastructure vendor Inepar S.A., was the only bidder in the sell-off as one other interested group was disqualified. The sale of region 8 completes Brazil’s B-band auction program, ensuring cellular competition in every one of the country’s regions.
Canada
Clearnet Communications Inc. expanded its personal communications services to the city of Quebec. The addition of Quebec City expands pops covered by the Clearnet PCS network by more than 560,000 to about 12.84 million.
China
News of the Chinese State Council’s crackdown on the current “China-China-Foreign” (CCF) investment practice, used by international investors to indirectly invest in Chinese telecom operations through second telecom operator China Unicom, remains top news, but it still is unclear when and how the State Council will take action to reinforce the ban, according to market research firm Pyramid Research. However, Pyramid explained, the ban on CCFs is not a new decree or regulation that has been recently imposed. It never was legal to begin with. Essentially, all the Ministry of Information Industry did was remind the Council about the ban, said Pyramid.
