Attempting to slash its debt load by as much as $14 billion and boost sales, which have fallen by as much as 50 percent this year, British Telecommunications plc announced a companywide restructuring plan that includes plans to sell off up to 25 percent...
BERNE, Switzerland-Only five bidders will compete for four Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses in Switzerland, as three contenders dropped out late last week, down from an original 10 interested companies.The licenses could bring a much lower amount than originally anticipated, with only one more...
WASHINGTON-The chief wireless regulator in the United States has been spreading the message of auctions as a key licensing tool in various overseas trips during the last year."You are struck when you travel that people are interested in the perspective of the U.S. government....
TOKYO-The third-generation (3G) business plans and service strategies of three Japanese cellular carriers are becoming more concrete. NTT DoCoMo and J-Phone Group, the mobile business of Japan Telecom, are going to launch 3G services based on wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) technology in 2001, and the country's...
ROME-The results of the Italian third-generation license auction are unfortunate for the Italian government and British Telecommunications plc, while most opportune for the five companies that have unofficially won licenses at prices much lower than anticipated.After just two days of bidding among six mobile...
ROME-The Italian auction for five Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses began last Thursday. Italy is Europe's largest cell-phone market, with six groups participating in the auction process, which is expected to raise around $21 billion.The German UMTS auction, which ended in August, drew nearly...
SAO PAULO, Brazil-Vodafone Group and British Telecommunications announced committees focused on the auction of new-generation cellular telephony licenses in Brazil in the C, D and E bands.William Kiever, president of Vodafone for America and Asia, said the company does not rule out an eventual...
NEW YORK-New Skies Satellites N.V., a commercial spinoff of Intelsat, became a publicly traded company Oct. 4 when it sold 28.5 million American Depositary Shares priced at $9 each.The offering, lead-managed by Goldman Sachs & Co., went to market only three weeks after filing...
NEW YORK-Telecommunications carriers worldwide are under significant pressure due to the bandwidth explosion, rising capital expenditures, competition from new players and delays in commercial rollout of new technologies."I take a cautious view of the telecommunications services world at the moment, although I believe there...
NEW YORK-As part of its evolutionary path, AT&T Wireless Services Inc. plans to offer EDGE services in the United States by mid- to late 2001, said Michael Bamburak, vice president of its technology development group.The company has not yet decided whether to launch individual...
NEW YORK-Speculation continued last week as to what actions AT&T Corp. and its wireless business, AT&T Wireless Group, would take to boost their lagging stock prices.AT&T reportedly will discuss how to boost share prices at a board meeting this month. Reports indicate AT&T Wireless...
NEW YORK-If Silicon Valley's view is correct, all distribution of products and services will migrate to the Internet and companies will therefore close their call centers and stores. But this concept is far from accurate, others argue."The idea of disintermediating channels and going on...
TORONTO-Stratos Global Corp. signed an agreement to acquire the Inmarsat, VSAT and aeronautical businesses of British Telecommunications plc for $227.8 million in cash, Stratos announced.Stratos President and Chief Executive Officer Derek Woods said the transaction, expected to close later this year, expands the company's...
TORONTO-The consolidation trend in the North American wireless sector is intensifying. The prevailing wisdom is that it is no longer good enough to be merely a regional or national carrier with transborder capabilities. The game plan is to be part of a global presence,...
NEW YORK-The number of licenses awarded, not the prices paid for them, likely will lead Standard & Poor's Corp. to downgrade the debt ratings of many winning bidders in Germany's recent third-generation wireless auctions."The total paid, 50.5 billion euros ($45.85 billion), conforms to our...
Speculation is running high about what moves AT&T Corp. will make to bolster its tumbling stock price.The company's stock has lost nearly 39 percent of its value this year since hitting a 52-week low of $29.63 in recent weeks. The sell-off has come as...
In a surprise ending, six groups walked away with Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses in Germany at a total cost of $45.85 billion, the largest amount raised yet in a third-generation spectrum auction, hitting the ceiling of most analyst predictions.Each of the winners-Deutsche Telekom...
MAINZ, Germany-Bidding for 12 blocks of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System spectrum picked up speed last week with the total bid amount nearing $4 billion. The amount is still substantially less than projections that the auction will bring in around $32 billion for the German...
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands-Versatel Telecom International N.V. said it ceased bidding in the Dutch Universal Mobile Telecommunications System auction, ending the award process of five licenses. The bids at the end of 305 rounds totaled about $2.5 billion, much less than original estimates.The U.K. government...
AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and BT Wireless announced the first phase of their strategic alliance designed to create seamless mobile communications services worldwide for global travelers and multinational companies.The carriers nine months ago announced the alliance called Advance, which complements the companies' cooperation in...
The Netherlands opened its auction for five third-generation Universal Mobile Telecommunications Services mobile-phone licenses Thursday, and immediately two of the eight bidding companies bowed out. Hutchison 3G Netherlands and Nogenta Swedish Acquisitions withdrew from the auction just as it was getting under way. The...
LONDON-Virgin Atlantic said it will use a system developed by British Telecommunications plc which will allow passengers to charge air-to-ground calls to their Global System for Mobile communications accounts and receive mobile calls on the plane's handsets.The passenger will swipe a Mobile Connect card...
NEW YORK-As a consultant, Phone.com Inc. is building a portal that British Telecommunications plc intends to offer by the end of June, and this arrangement points to an expanding suite of product and service offerings, said Alan Black, chief financial officer of Phone.com.Phone.com, a...
They may be working closer these days, but make no mistake about it, the GSM Association, the CDMA Development Group and the Universal Wireless Communications Consortium remain strong competitors.All three associations will convene this week in Las Vegas at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association's...
