WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission suspended its re-auction of 422 personal communications services licenses on Thursday with bid amounts nearing $12 billion.The re-auction will resume on Jan. 5 after taking a holiday break.The FCC doubled the bidding rounds last week from two per day to...
As wireless carriers began bidding on 422 personal communications services licenses up for grabs in the government auction last week, investors were hoping carriers were not feeling extra generous due to the holiday season.Previous spectrum auctions have seen prices escalate rapidly-along with investor fears...
WASHINGTON-The C-block auction isn't a cheap date.Bids topped more than $1 billion in early rounds of an auction taking place largely because a previous winner was unable to pay the steep amounts it pledged.The Federal Communications Commission began auctioning 422 personal communications services licenses...
BIENNE, Switzerland-The auction of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses in Switzerland ended quickly last week, with only four companies bidding on four licenses, raising $120 million for the government.Swisscom; dSpeed, the combined diAx and Sunrise Telecom; and Team 3G, a consortium including Telefonica, Sonera...
WASHINGTON-As the Federal Communications Commission frantically prepared to re-auction 422 C- and F-block personal communications services licenses beginning tomorrow, the agency on Dec. 1 released the names of those planning to participate in the auction and those that had been rejected.Of the large companies...
Isn't it ironic that German and Japanese interests are planning to take significant stakes in U.S. wireless telephony-countries that were sworn enemies of the United States nearly 60 years ago this week, when Pearl Harbor was attacked, catapulting the United States into World War...
WASHINGTON-Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) late last week raised questions about Voice-Stream Wireless Corp.'s eligibility to bid for mobile-phone licenses in the Dec. 12 auction, citing possible foreign-ownership problems.In a Nov. 30 letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard that was released to the...
The Federal Communications Commission has extended the comment period for the merger of VoiceStream Wireless Corp., Powertel Inc. and Deutsche Telekom AG to Dec. 13 and Jan. 8. The FCC granted the extension at the request of Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.), ranking member of...
The hunt for spectrum by wireless carriers continued last week as Verizon Wireless, the country's largest operator, offered more than $2 billion for Price Communications Wireless, a wholly owned subsidiary of Price Communications.While the purchase was not surprising-Price has been looking for a buyer...
NEW YORK-The telecommunications environment has become so dynamic that it is forcing rapid and radical change in the way internal information technology departments and external middleware providers operate.Carriers' legacy computer systems are scalable and reliable but also resistant to change. Even some middleware companies...
NEW YORK-Despite substantial increases in subscribers and revenues last quarter, VoiceStream Wireless Corp. experienced growing losses it attributed to rapid growth and expenses related to acquisitions.VoiceStream, headquartered in Bellevue, Wash., posted a loss of $661.3 million, or $3.02 per share, on revenues of $562.2...
VIENNA, Austria-Europe's fifth auction of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses ended after less than two days of bidding. All six participants gained licenses to operate UMTS systems in Austria, drawing about $728 million, much less than anticipated.The auction came to a halt for five...
VIENNA, Austria-The Austrian auction of third-generation licenses began today, amid investigations into illegal activities among some of the already-completed European 3G auctions.In Austria, six bidders are competing for 12 licenses. Companies are expected to acquire up to three licenses.After six rounds of bidding, bid...
PRAGUE, Czech Republic-Cesky Mobil, the Czech Republic's third mobile telephone operator, is seeking to differentiate itself from its competition by offering low start-up costs and emphasizing ease of use.The formula has paid quick dividends. In its first four operational months, it signed up more...
WASHINGTON-Network-based solutions to meet the wireless enhanced 911 Phase II mandate may be winning the battle with handset-based solutions because handsets are not available as the deadline looms for carriers to make a choice.While many of the largest carriers-including Verizon Wireless, Sprint PCS and...
WASHINGTON-Aggressive industry lobbying and strong bipartisan backing by the Washington state congressional delegation in this election season of giving helped win removal of a measure that would have killed the VoiceStream Wireless Inc.-Deutsche Telekom AG merger in the final days of the 106th Congress.Sen....
BUCHAREST, Romania-Bulgaria, a small country in Eastern Europe, has been shaken during the last few months by a scandal in the communications market.The mobile communications market in Bulgaria, a country with more than an 8 million inhabitants, last year grew 159 percent. The country...
WASHINGTON-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) last week said a controversial provision that would kill the Deutsche Telekom AG-VoiceStream Wireless Corp. merger was dropped from a major appropriations bill, but added it could reappear in legislation being negotiated between Congress and the administration that...
NEW YORK-The $41.6 billion bid by Deutsche Telekom AG for VoiceStream Wireless Corp. was the largest merger announced last quarter and the second-largest during the first nine months of this year, Mergerstat L.P., Los Angeles, reported.The semiconductor sector, with mergers totaling $49.5 billion, led...
WASHINGTON-Congress last week passed a bill to repeal the century-old federal telephone tax, while Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) sent out conflicting signals about foreign-ownership legislation he is sponsoring that would kill the proposed $50.7 billion merger between Deutsche Telekom AG and Voice-Stream Wireless Corp.Congress,...
BEIJING-Vodafone, the world's largest mobile-phone operator by total subscriber numbers, is set to take a 2-percent stake in China Mobile (Hong Kong), the listed subsidiary of parent China Mobile Telecommunications in Beijing. Vodafone agreed to purchase shares valued at $2.5 billion in China Mobile...
WASHINGTON-As the unlikely union of labor and business leaders ratcheted up pressure last week to kill legislation that would nix Deutsche Telekom AG's $50.7 billion purchase of VoiceStream Wireless Corp., it appeared the controversy could get dragged into a bigger fight between European Union...
WASHINGTON-With Congress stuck in town at least another week and prospects growing that pending legislation will be rolled into one or two catch-all spending bills, the fate of several key wireless bills remains unclear.GOP lawmakers particularly are anxious to wrap up the 106th Congress...
WASHINGTON-The German government said it will sell its stake in Deutsche Telekom AG, a move that could blunt legislative attempts to prohibit DT's takeover of VoiceStream Wireless Corp.Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said last week he opposes legislation that would prohibit U.S. telecom...
