JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-As Africa enters the threshold of the African Renaissance and progresses toward privatizing and liberalizing its telecommunications sectors, powerful alliances are being forged in the wireless arena."The rapid privatization of the telecommunications sector in east African countries and southern Africa is attracting...
NEW YORK-MapInfo Corp., Troy, N.Y., agreed to acquire On Target Mapping, a Pittsburgh, Pa., provider of mapping data solutions for telecommunications companies, including AT&T Corp., Cable & Wireless plc, MCI WorldCom and Sprint Corp.On Target Mapping will add telecommunications expertise to complement the business...
PREFERRED NETWORKSPreferred Networks Inc. announced its founder, president and director, Michael Saner, will retire Dec. 31. Saner previously held upper-management positions at several paging companies, such as Paging Services Inc., a paging repair, maintenance, installation and sales company he founded, which was acquired by...
NEW YORK-Cable & Wireless Optus Ltd., Australia's second largest multiservice telecommunications carrier, sold a wildly successful initial public offering Nov. 17, raising $1.56 billion, double the amount it expected.Optus operates a Global System for Mobile communications network with 1.6 million customers, or a 30-percent...
The new head of Italy's communications ministry said the government expects to hold its tender for a fourth mobile phone license by the middle of next year.The ministry originally said the tender would get underway by the end of this year, but that was...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-The "Year 2000" problem has become a priority item on the agenda of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), reflecting the reality that the global network is only as strong as its weakest link. In the telecommunications sector, tackling the Year 2000 problem,...
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados-Caribbean governments appear more serious recently about breaking the monopoly stranglehold Cable & Wireless plc has on more than a dozen countries in the region.Ministers responsible for tele-communications recently agreed in Jamaica to adopt a regional approach to negotiating with the British telecom...
The Argentine government, in an attempt to proceed with the PCS auctions currently in judicial limbo, is considering selling two PCS licenses each for the northern and southern regions of the country, excluding the greater Buenos Aires area. This maneuvering would speed up the...
NEW YORK-Cable & Wireless Optus, Australia's second-largest multiservice telecommunications carrier, plans to raise about $600 million in a stock sale Nov. 16, its initial public equity offering.Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. and Warburg Dillon Read L.L.C. are global coordinators for the IPO, whose shares...
LONDON-Cable & Wireless Global Mobile said it reached 3.1 million customers representing a year-over-year customer growth rate of 45 percent.The company said it had strong performances in Singapore through M1 with 15-percent growth for the quarter and in Panama through Cable & Wireless Movil...
JapanA large Japanese carrier in the Asia-Pacific region selected Brite Voice Systems to provide voice-activated dialing services to its markets throughout Japan, said Brite. The company values the contract at $15 million. The carrier, supporting more than 8 million wireless subscribers, plans to implement...
LONDON-Cable & Wireless plc completed its $1.75 billion cash acquisition of MCI Corp.'s U.S.-based Internet business, including its Internet backbone services, about 1,000 specialist employees, as well as its retail and Internet Service Provider customer base.Cable & Wireless now owns and operates an Internet...
NEW YORK-Moody's Investors Service, London, announced it has placed the long-term ratings of about $4 billion of Cable & Wireless plc debt under review for possible downgrade because of the carrier's business exposure in Hong Kong.The rating agency said it is reviewing concurrently for...
NEW YORK-Take heed wireless telecommunications carriers! The chickens have come home to roost, and royalties are due for the systems that run up to 90 percent of all prepaid telecommunications services in the United States.After a seven-year review, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-The United Kingdom likes to portray itself as a pioneer in cellular. Certainly it was early on the scene, with two analog TACS (Total Access Communications System) networks entering commercial service in January 1985.In mid-1992, the United Kingdom was at the front...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-The licensing of two additional cellular carriers in South Africa will represent the biggest opportunity for black empowerment in Africa-and for some, the last chance to become involved in the vibrant telecommunications market here.When the Department of Communications issues tender invitations later...
LONDON - Cable & Wireless plc announced plans to sell its 25-percent interest in Mobile Telephone Networks Holdings (Pty) Ltd., a South African Global System for Mobile communications operator, to two companies for about $417.13 million.Cable & Wireless will sell 74 percent of its...
PAGEMARTPageMart Wireless Inc. promoted two executives, Wayne Stargardt and Donna Regenbaum. Stargardt was named vice president of the company's fastest-growing business unit, the Carrier Services Division. Stargardt previously was PageMart's vice president of marketing. Before joining the company, he served as vice president of...
NEW YORK-Telecommunications carriers broke records Aug. 6 in the debt markets, with WorldCom Inc. selling the largest corporate bond issue ever and a Bell Atlantic Corp. subsidiary, the biggest exchangeable note deal.The magnitude of the issues is all the more remarkable given a dicey...
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...
Italian telecommunications operator Telecom Italia has abandoned its plans to buy minority interests in certain global holdings of Cable & Wireless plc, the companies confirmed last week.The two have been working for three months to create a global alliance to exploit what they called...
WASHINGTON-The European Commission last week gave conditional approval to the proposed merger between MCI Communications Corp. and WorldCom Inc.The approval is subject to the divestiture of MCI's Internet services business, which overlapped with WorldCom's to give the combined entity about 50-percent market share. The...
WASHINGTON-The European Commission in early July gave conditional approval to the proposed merger between MCI Communications Corp. and WorldCom Inc.The approval is subject to the divestiture of MCI's Internet services business, which overlapped with WorldCom's to give the combined entity about a 50-percent market...
Cable & Wireless Communications plc confirmed the company is in negotiations with four mobile telecommunications operators in the United Kingdom for the possible sale of its mobile services division.The company is talking with Vodafone Group plc, Orange plc, Cellnet (owned by British Telecommunications plc...
