2001

LONDON—Equipment vendor Marconi posted a US$7.4 billion pre-tax loss in its first-half report, attributing the results to a flagging market and the uncertainties created by the 11 September attacks in …

LONDON—The Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC) announced it is planning a domestic initial public offering (IPO) early next year. Indications are that it will involve around 10 percent of the company. …

LAS VEGAS, United States—Nokia and Sony announced they are developing an open and common middleware platform with the intent of achieving interoperability between mobile handsets and consumer devices, and between …

TORONTO—Microcell Telecommunications plans to raise C$250 million (US$150 million) of its C$350 million (US$220 million) in financing needs through an equity offering. But Deutsche Telecom, a 15-percent owner of Microcell, …

ATHENS, Greece—Greek company Ote Telecoms won a license to operate a second mobile network in Macedonia. The 22-year license price was US$25 million. Local company Link Telecom originally offered US$80 …

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Agilent Technologies says it will cut another 4,000 jobs, making the total job reductions 8,000 since August, representing 19 percent of its work force. The test-and-measurement equipment vendor, …

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—Coinciding with its Telecom Africa 2001 event this week in Johannesburg, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) released a report detailing the state of telecommunications in Africa. The report …

BELLEVUE, Washington, United States—VoiceStream Wireless officially unveiled its General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)-enabled iStream wireless data network nationwide. VoiceStream said the service, which has been advertised on the carrier’s Web …

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—Cell C, the third cellular license operator in South Africa, plans to officially go live on Saturday, 17 November. The operator announced at Telecom Africa 2001 this week …

TOKYO—KDDI, the second-largest mobile operator in Japan, announced it will launch location services using the global positioning system (GPS) satellite system and motion picture services with 64 kilobits per second …

LONDON—The London-based Investors International consortium has been named the preferred bidder for a 51-percent stake in Nigeria’s state-run Nitel. The consortium is backed by Portugal Telecom, Nortel and KPN. According …

BELLEVUE, Washington, United States—VoiceStream Wireless said it will acquire the majority of bankrupt MobileStar Network’s equipment and contracts for an undisclosed sum. The deal was reached last week and must …

MIAMI, United States—Brightstar announced its third-quarter revenues show it remains the market share leader in Latin American wireless outsourcing. The company’s US$161.5 million in revenues was well above competitors CellStar’s …

WOODBURY, N.Y.—Comverse has been chosen to provide its unified messaging solution to Portugal’s Vodafone, a mobile operator that has 2.6 million cellular customers and holds 35 percent of the market …

SUNNYVALE, Calif.—Mirapoint announced China Telecom purchased the company’s messaging products and will offer the services to customers in the Guangxi province. The announcement comes just weeks after Mirapoint released new …

ATLANTA—EMS Technologies Inc. is providing Atlanta’s Henry Medical Center with Mobile Clinical Workstations, patient care carts that allow hospitals to use wireless applications at the patient point of care. “Utilizing …

FRANKFURT, Germany—Siemens AG reported a fourth-quarter loss of $968 million, although it exceeded analysts’ estimates. However, the company which attributes its loss to the down market in telecom equipment, said …

BEDMINSTER, N.J.—Verizon Wireless unveiled www.vtext.com, a short text messaging Web site designed to help customers send text messages to individuals and groups and set up information alerts. The service works …

ATLANTA-AirGate PCS Inc. reported $62.2 million in total revenue for its fourth fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with $16.6 million last year. While revenues increased, net loss dropped from …

ATLANTA—Cingular Wireless announced its Be Sensible partnership with theater exhibition company Loews Cineplex Entertainment encouraging wireless courtesy in movie theaters. As part of the deal, Cingular produced a 15-second on-screen …

SAN DIEGO-Microsoft Corp. selected Silicon Wave Inc. to provide Bluetooth solutions for its Windows CE .NET operating system. Silicon Wave said its solution will allow original equipment manufacturers to produce …

LONDON—British Telecommunications plc received final court approval for its demerger of the mmO2 business. The demerger will create two new holding companies—one for the BT Group businesses and one for …

TOKYO—NTT DoCoMo Inc. reported it will launch a video-clip distribution service over its FOMA third-generation network November 19. The carrier said the I-motion service will allow users to obtain video …

SAN FRANCISCO—Long-distance, credit card and online services company Working Assets has chosen Sentori Inc. to provide its new wireless billing solution, Sentori 3G, which will be hosted by billing and …

SAN DIEGO—Leap Wireless International Inc. won the “Most Innovative Wireless Service” award from Andrew Seybold’s Outlook 4Mobility during the organization’s 11th Annual Wireless Dinner in Las Vegas.