United Kingdom
British Telecommunications plc said it will buy Control Data Systems Inc., a software company based in Arden Hills, Minn., for $340 million. The purchase will expand British Telecom’s service offering. Control Data makes software that links programs from various suppliers, letting companies file multiple files at once.
Vodafone AirTouch plc, formed following the recent merger between Vodafone Group plc and AirTouch Communications Inc., said 2.3 million new proportionate mobile phone subscribers joined Vodafone AirTouch networks between April and June. At the end of June, Vodafone AirTouch’s proportionate customer base was 28 million, excluding paging customers. The company also reported 537,000 new customers in the United States/Asia Pacific region, bringing the total number of subscribers to approximately 11.1 million.
Mexico
ICO Global Communications Inc. said it signed its first service agreement with a telecom operator to provide rural telephony service based on its satellite network, expected to be available next year. The agreement with Telecommunicaciones de Mexico calls for 24 million minutes of traffic in the first year through 4,000 ICO residential terminals. ICO’s business plan is to fill the coverage gaps of cellular providers around the world.
Iridium de Mexico, the Mexican branch of Iridium World Communications Ltd., received a network license from the country’s Communications Ministry-allowing it to market satellite-based phone and paging services in the country. Mexico was the last significant world market to grant Iridium a license to operate. The country would not give the consortium the license until Mexico and the United States could agree on a protocol for large international firms operating satellite services.
Germany
Yahoo! Inc. said German mobile phone provider D2 Mannesmann Mobilfunk and Yahoo! Germany have teamed to deliver Internet-based Web programming listings to users with Wireless Application Protocol enabled phones. The service is the first in a group of features the two hope to offer in coming months, such as Yahoo!’s mail, news, finance, sports and weather information services.
