NEW YORK-Taking the pulse of the domestic cellular and personal communications services sectors as 1998 drew to a close, securities analysts from three major investment banks offered a positive prognosis for 1999 and beyond.When the full-year count is completed, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Corp....
Telephone and Data Systems Inc. said Friday it would pursue a spinoff of its personal communications services business Aerial Communications Inc., a segment that has been a continual drag on its cash flow and earnings.TDS opted to withdraw its offers to exchange tracking stocks...
NEW YORK-Conventional wisdom may hold that scale is superior when it comes to carriers and miniaturization is most desirable when it comes to handsets. However, neither attribute necessarily implies long-term profitability, said David A. Freedman, managing director of Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., New...
NEW YORK-By the tenor of their top executives' flirtatious banter Nov. 2, WinStar Communications Inc. appears to be an amorous suitor to a somewhat hesitant Advanced Radio Telecom Corp."Spectrum is a rare commodity, and the more we have the better. ART has some, and...
The recent stock market volatility has created uncertainty among investors, leading to a rather steep slide in wireless stock value, say financial analysts following the wireless industry.Paging stocks have been hit particularly hard, some are trading more than 50 percent below their value from...
Continuing his vision to build a worldwide telecom powerhouse, Craig McCaw and his gaggle of companies have agreed to share the cost of building Level 3 Communications' national fiber optic network by contributing $700 million.Newly formed Internext L.L.C., to be beneficially owned by competitive...
CINCINNATI-Convergys Corp., a subsidiary of Cincinnati Bell Inc., filed an amendment to its registration statement related to the initial public offering of Convergys shares.The amended statement proposes to sell 18 million common shares for $17 to $19 each. Convergys granted the underwriters an overallotment...
NEW YORK-Even if telecommunications giants seeking to combine with each other clear the myriad hurdles confronting their plans, the success of their bids to merge may depend ultimately on approval by the little guy.Holding what may be the ultimate trump card is the holder...
Second-tier wireless companies are hot properties, helping to push wireless stock prices past the Standard &Poor's index.Centennial Cellular Corp. earlier this month became the third second-tier cellular carrier to be bought by an investment firm when New York-based Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe agreed...
DENVER, United States-Personal Communications Services (PCS) carriers have made significant inroads into the U.S. wireless telecommunications industry, weakening the entrenched cellular carriers' net additions and driving down airtime prices.The total number of PCS subscribers in the States reached 3.1 million during the first quarter...
NEW YORK-And now let's have a round of applause for top executives of Arch Communications Group Inc., Paging Network Inc. and SkyTel Corp.These successful emigres from wireless telephony have spearheaded a positive reversal of fortune not only for their paging companies but also for...
MONTREAL-Telesystem International Wireless Inc. announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Dolphin Telecom plc, raised about $700 million in financing it plans to use to deploy enhanced specialized mobile radio networks in Europe.Proceeds from senior discount note issues, led by CIBC Oppenheimer and Bear, Stearns...
They say a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, a lesson paging carriers learned in a painful way last Tuesday evening when an estimated 90 percent of all paging subscribers in the country found themselves without service due to a faulty...
Nth Dimension Corp. this month launched a Web site designed to assist consumers in selecting wireless products and services.The site, Wireless Dimension, provides information for the 25 largest U.S. markets, including rate plans updated each day, said the company.The site offers separate guides for...
The wireless telecommunications industry has grown up more quickly than many other industries in the United States. The industry likes to boast of its relatively quick acceptance in the marketplace, comparing its acquisition of 50 million customers in just less than 15 years to...
A new niche segment of the wireless industry-build-to-suit-is attracting a lot of attention, both from carriers and Wall Street.The idea behind the build-to-suit concept is to shift all aspects of tower siting-including zoning, construction and maintenance-to a third party. Carriers, increasingly burdened with competitive...
NEW YORK-"The challenge for the paging industry is to reinvent itself so it can become a free cash-flow business, to put the brakes on capital expenditures and drive up revenues while unit growth is declining," said Brian G. Coleman, a director of Toronto Dominion...
NEW YORK-The merger spree in the paging industry during the past few years currently is at a lull, but acquisition activity is not over by any means."Among the top 10 or even the top seven, there is more consolidation to come," said Jeanine Oburchay,...
PrimeCo Personal Communications L.P. awarded Lucent Technologies Inc. a $500 million three-year exclusive contract to supply personal communications services equipment and services for the next phase of its network development.The announcement is a blow to Motorola Inc., which was in discussions with PrimeCo in...
AT&T Corp. admitted it might sell its Wireless Messaging Division-without actually confirming that the paging unit is indeed up for sale-after rumors surfaced that the paging network was on the auction block."We are being very aggressive at looking at our portfolio to make sure...
With 1997 drawing to a close, the paging industry is readying itself to go out with a bang.Whether the achievement of the carrier, reseller or distributor, fourth-quarter sales traditionally count for an average of about 40 percent of the paging industry's annual revenue, in...
NEW YORK-Wireless telecommunications carriers have placed high hopes on high-yield debt to help finance their early and intensive capital needs, and the junk bond market has shown some willingness to answer the call.To date this year, more than 70 individual issuers have sold or...
Since the passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, it seems rarely a week goes by without the announcement-or rumor-of another blockbuster telecom deal.The recent flurry of merger and acquisition activity clearly is changing the face of the telecom landscape and prompting debate about where...
NEW YORK-Chase Telecommunications Inc., a C-block personal communications services carrier waiting for favorable stock market conditions before going public, was expected to place privately last week a $125 million debt issue.Credit Suisse First Boston Inc., New York, is the lead banker on the deal,...
