Cable & Wireless plc announced it is in discussions regarding a proposed merger between Cable & Wireless HKT Ltd. and Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. Such a merger would create the largest independent telecom group in the Asia-Pacific region."These talks are at a stage where there...
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados-Jamaica is banking on two additional cellular licenses playing a lead role in spurring competition for current monopoly provider Cable & Wireless and financing its emerging information technology sector.The two licenses, scheduled to be awarded 1 January, 2000, by auction are for either...
LONDON-Cable & Wireless plc reported revenues for the six months of $7.3 billion, a 25-percent increase from the $5.9 billion reported for the same period the previous year.The company recorded earnings of $5.6 billion, or 23 cents per share, compared with $1.8 billion, or...
The first satellite for the Asia Cellular Satellite (ACeS) mobile telephony and data services communication system is scheduled to be launched in November from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, according to the satellite's manufacturer Lockheed Martin. The ACeS System is owned by Bermuda-based ACeS...
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados-Cable & Wireless and the government of Jamaica announced a historic agreement that will lead to the introduction of telecom liberalization far sooner than was scheduled under the carrier's former string of 25-year licenses.However, the British company has won key concessions that allow...
TOKYO-Japan's major carriers said they had taken all necessary measures by the end of September to cope with any potential Y2K problems. Now, say the carriers, they are busily preparing for counter measures for the upcoming critical days.Reports say there could be two types...
HungaryMotorola Inc. said it is providing Hungarian mobile operator Westel 900 its Mobile Internet Exchange communications platform. The trial is Hungary's first deployment of the Wireless Application Protocol. It will allow mobile users to access Internet content via Internet portals such as Yahoo! and...
NEW YORK-Contrary to headlines about heavy merger activity in all sectors, the $234 billion worth of transactions for which dollar values were disclosed last quarter doesn't come close to either of the prior two quarters.Nevertheless, aggregate merger and acquisition deal values stood at $992...
GENEVA - Sonera SmartTrust and L.M. Ericsson announced a digital signature solution for secure wireless e-commerce using Wireless Application Protocol-enabled phones. Sonera SmartTrust developed wireless security solutions based on Public Key Infrastructure, digital signatures and 1024 bit RSA data encryption. Ericsson developed the new...
GENEVA-Finnish personal communications services carrier Sonera said it bought the business activities of ByeDesk from TeamWare Group of San Jose, Calif., for an undisclosed sum.TeamWare is a subsidiary of Fujitsu Software Corp. and operates the ByeDesk service in collaboration with its parent company. ByeDesk...
LONDON-Cable & Wireless plc said it agreed to sell its mobile telephony interests in Japan to Vodafone AirTouch plc for $411 million in cash.Cable & Wireless sold its shareholdings in the Digital Phone Group on Sept. 22, and has completed a definitive agreement to...
AustraliaACCC, Australia's corporate regulator, rejected Telstra Corp.'s proposed terms and conditions for other carriers to interconnect with its analog and digital mobile networks. The decision followed another decision by ACCC to reject Telstra' proposed terms and conditions for interconnect with its fixed network. Mobile...
WARWICK, United Kingdom-Castle Transmission International, the U.K. subsidiary of Crown Castle International Corp., said it is working in cooperation with One 2 One on plans for a mobile network in Northern Ireland.Under terms of a preliminary agreement, CTI will design the One 2 One...
SANAA, Yemen-The government of Yemen issued a tender for two Global System for Mobile communications licenses. The closing date for receipt of the bid application is Dec. 5.Yemen currently has only one cellular operator. Teleyemen, which operates Total Access Communications System and Code Division...
NEW YORK-As the Internet accelerates the globalization of telecommunications, mergers and acquisitions among traditional and nontraditional players have eclipsed initial public offerings as the preferred strategy for retaining competitive advantage."In the United States, the Internet economy generated $301 billion in 1998 and will generate...
HONG KONG-Paging subscriber numbers continue to fall in Hong Kong, while the popularity of cellular keeps rising as stiff competition among the six cellular carriers drives down tariffs close to those of paging. Handsets, now in all shapes as well as prices, also are...
United KingdomDeutsche Telekom is acquiring U.K. operator One2One from Cable & Wireless and MediaOne Group. Deutsche Telekom Chairman Ron Sommer called the acquisition "key" to Deutsche Telekom's international strategy and said it is an important step toward offering a cross-border mobile product.British Telecom (BT)...
BEIJING-China Unicom has big ambitions. That's no big news. When it was established in 1994, the company hoped to capture one-third of the mobile phone market and a 10th of the fixed-line market by 2000. However, today it has less than a 2-percent market...
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados-When the time came for the Dominica government minister to address Caribbean telecommunications executives at the annual conference of the Caribbean Association of National Telecommunication Organizations (CANTO) in May in Aruba, he dropped a quip about his country expecting to enter the new...
AustraliaLeap Wireless International announced that it is selling its wholly owned Australian subsidiary, OzPhone Pty. Ltd., to an affiliate of AAPT Ltd., Australia's third-largest telecommunications company, for Australian $25 million (US$16.3 million). OzPhone holds licenses covering 6 million potential customers in numerous regions. The...
LONDON-Cable & Wireless plc announced it is considering selling some of its interests in cellular phone companies, particularly in Japan.The company said it will focus on providing data services to business customers, and will dispose of shares in companies not central to that focus,...
SYDNEY, Australia-In a year-end earnings announcement Aug. 12, Australia's Cable & Wireless Optus reported after-tax profits of $113 million for the fiscal year ended June 30."The after-tax profit result is 74 percent higher than the company's forecast in its prospectus last November," Optus said.Chris...
AerisAeris Communications Inc. added to its senior management team, naming Peter F. Stone chief financial officer and Patricia E. Hart vice president and general counsel.Aeris also announced Douglas M. Pavicich is its new director of operations. Pavicich will oversee all the day-to-day operations and...
LONDON-Following weeks of industry speculation, Deutsche Telekom on Friday won its bid to buy U.K. mobile carrier One 2 One in a deal valued at about $13.6 billion.The deal is made up of about $11.2 billion in cash and the assumption of about $2.4...
