The Italian government named the Wind consortium the winning bidder for the country's third mobile phone license, bringing to a close a tender process that began in the fall of 1996.The Ministry of Communications made the announcement June 10, the day its adviser, Italian...
NEW YORK-BEA Systems Inc., a major player in providing mission-critical middleware solutions, announced BEA M3, which it said is the first and only production-ready Object Transaction Manager.Among other things, M3 will make it "easier for carriers who want to bundle services," said Frederick A....
Sprint Corp. announced its deal to gain ownership and management control of Sprint PCS, its wireless venture with Tele-Communications Inc., Comcast Corp. and Cox Communications Inc.The Kansas City, Mo.-based long-distance carrier will issue shares of a new common stock that tracks Sprint's wireless operations...
Croatia has announced a tender to construct and operate a nationwide GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) network. Bids were due 15 April.A consortium led by ABN Amro Bank N.V. and N.M. Rothschild & Sons has been appointed to advise the Estonian government in...
Switzerland last week awarded national licenses to two of five rival consortia-diAx mobile and Orange Communications SA-to operate wireless networks in competition with the country's single operator, Swisscom.The winning consortia beat out Unilimitel, which partnered Deutsche Telekom with France Telecom; Fortel SA, a venture...
ROME-Three consortia have submitted bids for Italy's third mobile phone license, due to be awarded mid-year.Two of the bids were expected for some time. Picienne-a consortium led by the Italian TV broadcasting company Mediaset and British Telecommunications plc-and Wind-comprised of Italian electric utility company...
After years of delays and controversy, the Italian Ministry of Communications began accepting bids for the country's third mobile phone license last week.The ministry set an April 15 deadline for interested parties to apply to participate in the auction for the DCS 1800 MHz...
Although the Italian government awarded fixed telephony licenses last week to two companies, confusion and frustration continue to surround the decision to bestow a much-delayed third mobile phone license.The Italian Senate is said to have set a May 31 deadline for the Ministry of...
Telesystem International Wireless Inc., Canada, signed a letter of intent with SOGERA to acquire, for approximately US$13 million, the French trunked radio operations of France Telecom that were marketed under the brand names Praxiphone, Heliophone and Armoricom, announced TIW. With this acquisition, TIW's French...
MexicoGrupo Iusacell inaugurated its new Code Division Multiple Access network with a phone call by the company's president, Fulvio del Valle, from its headquarters in Mexico City to a nearby community. The launch marks the first phase of Iusacell's $200-million network modernization plan to...
Winter Olympian Elvis Stojko, the Canadian silver medalist in the men's figure-skating event, is one of dozens of North Americans using GTE Telecommunications Services Inc.'s GlobalRoam technology in Nagano, Japan.GTE TSI last month completed two-way functionality of its GlobalRoam service between North America and...
NEW YORK-Deutsche Telekom AG has received an investment grade rating of Aa1 from Moody's Investors Service for its $3.26 billion debt issuance program sold in European Currency Unit denominations.An ECU is based on a basket of European Community country currencies. One ECU was valued...
Sprint Corp. reportedly is intensifying its search for a European partner to construct a possible merger or partnership scheme that could give the long-distance carrier enough cash to buy out its cable partners in the personal communications services business.Analysts close to the situation indicate...
ROME-A joint venture of France Telecom Group, Deutsche Telekom AG and the Italian electric company, Enel, was formed to bid for the third mobile license and create an alternative carrier in Italy, the fourth-largest market in Europe.Enel holds 51 percent, while Deutsche Telekom and...
Italy's award of a third mobile phone tender has hit another snag. The country's Post and Telecommunications Ministry delayed once again the long-awaited process until February due to an October dispute in the government over budget issues.Italy's telecom ministry plans to tender an 1800...
The Dutch government most likely will auction two mobile phone licenses in the spring, rather than the end of this year, because the European Commission blocked the government's plan to charge existing mobile phone operators for their licenses.The Ministry of Public Works and Transportation...
HAIFA, Israel-Elbit Ltd., a communications company in Israel, announced it has formed a joint company with Hutchison Telecommunications Ltd. and Matav-Cable Systems Media Ltd. to bid on a cellular license tender in Israel.The country's Ministry of Communications issued the tender to attract a third...
NEW YORK-Matav Rt., the telecommunications carrier that controls more than 60 percent of the Hungarian cellular market, plans to become a publicly traded company Nov. 13.The equities sale, for which Merrill Lynch & Co. and Credit Suisse First Boston are joint managers, could raise...
EL DORADO HILLS, Calif.-Global One announced it chose International Billing Services as its statement processing services provider for card products. Global One-a joint venture of Deutsche Telekom AG, France Telecom Group and Sprint Corp.-provides global voice and data services in more than 60 countries...
WorldCom Inc.'s surprise bid to acquire MCI Communications Corp. has touched off speculation of other possible mergers, including widely reported talks between AT&T Corp. and GTE Corp.Neither GTE nor AT&T would comment on the speculation, but several analysts said the two companies have at...
Consolidation as a means to expansion has been the tradition in the wireless industry. Look no further than Craig McCaw, amassing a wireless fortune one cellular license at a time.Each merger, each alliance, each buyout, has been greeted with surprise, then understanding, and finally,...
NEW YORK-Like late night talk show host David Letterman, Jerome Lucas, president of Telestrategies Inc., McLean, Va., has a top 10 list-this one for wireless telecommunications industry trends.In the near term, the biggest winners won't be the behemoths. Instead, they will be the small...
Today is the deadline to submit bids for a Digital Cellular System 1800 MHz license in Austria.A winner could be announced next month.The tender was announced about two months ago, at which time Waltraud Augesky, a commercial specialist with the U.S. Embassy in Vienna,...
Groups led by AT&T Corp. and Telia of Sweden are among those that recently purchased bidding packages from the Argentine government, which plans to award two 1900 MHz personal communications services licenses this fall.Interested companies must present initial offers, including technology plans, by Aug....
