PRAGUE, Czech Republic-The Czech government agreed to sell some of its 51-percent stake in SPT Telecom, the country's fixed-line monopoly. The tender should be completed by the end of 2000 or early 2001, according to international press reports.SPT Telecom owns 51 percent of Eurotel...
BUCHAREST, Romania-A subsidiary of Canada's Telesystem International Wireless (TIW) won the third Czech Republic mobile telephone license in September. The price tag for the GSM 1800 license was fixed at US$29 million.The license requires Cesky Mobile, the TIW subsidiary, to cover 37 percent of...
BUCHAREST, Romania-The recent licensing of a third mobile operator in the Czech Republic has established more competition in the country's wireless market than in the wireline arena. In addition to three cellular licenses, the country has one RDS and two ERMES paging operators, the...
DUBLIN, Ireland-The mobile communications market in Eastern Europe offers massive untapped potential for cellular operators and market entrepreneurs. Indeed, some companies have already taken a stake in operators there, expecting exponential subscriber growth like those experienced in countries such as Sweden, Italy and Ireland....
The announcement last week that Comcast Corp. and MediaOne Group signed an agreement to merge in a $60 billion deal driven by broadband cable networks could affect the wireless industry halfway around the world.MediaOne's international wireless interests, which cover 4.3 million customers primarily in...
CANNES, France-CNN Interactive last week announced at the GSM World Congress its CNN Mobile service, a mobile telephone news and information service using a platform it co-developed with Nokia Oy. The service will allow consumers to get text-based CNN news on their handsets, and...
STOCKHOLM-Ericsson Inc. and EuroTel Bratislava said they have signed a $51 million contract to expand EuroTel's Global System for Mobile communications system in Slovakia.Under the terms of the contract, Ericsson said it will provide base stations, base station controllers and service solutions.In the past...
ATLANTA-LHS Group Inc. and Compaq Inc. announced Slovak mobile carrier EuroTel Bratislava is migrating its customer base to the upgraded version of LHS' Business Support and Control System.Compaq is the prime contractor and LHS will provide full-service database migration support, maintenance and on-site production...
L.M. EricssonArgentina. With Telecom Personal to expand its D-AMPS/AMPS network.Value: up to US$77 millionArgentina. With Telefonica Comunicaciones Personales to expand its D-AMPS IS-136/AMPS network.Value: US$45 millionBosnia. With PTT Bosnia and Herzegovina for 30,000 GSM mobile lines (and fixed equipment).Value: US$59 millionChile. With CTC-Startel for expanding its D-AMPS...
EuroTel Praha awarded Nokia Corp. a three-year frame agreement valued at almost $200 million to continue as the sole supplier to expand its 900 MHz Global System for Mobile communications network. Nokia said it will supply base stations, base station controllers and high-capacity mobile...
Puerto RicoA consortium led by GTE Corp. signed a definitive pact to purchase for $375 million a controlling interest of 50 percent plus one share in the Puerto Rico Telephone Co. from the government there. GTE made the initial purchase and plans to sell...
Bell Atlantic Mobile agreed to acquire the remaining minority interests in the cellular license for the Reading, Pa., metropolitan area, covering a population of 350,000 for about $20 million. Bell Atlantic already owned 51 percent of the Reading area license, and now has purchased...
PRAGUE, Czech Republic-EuroTel Praha, a cellular operator in the Czech Republic, reported that growth increased 250 percent between third quarter 1996 and the third quarter 1997, ending the period with more than 316,000 customers.Total revenues for the first nine months were $238 million, for...
ENGLEWOOD, Colo.-U S West International said the number of customers served through its wireless joint ventures in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia has grown from fewer than half a million to more than 1 million in the last nine months.U S West...
LISLE, Ill.-Tellabs said it won a contract to supply its MartisDXX managed access and transport network solution to EuroTel Bratislava, which provides Global System for Mobile communications, Nordic Mobile Telephone communications and packet data services throughout the Slovak Republic.The MartisDXX solution is being deployed...
TORONTO-Microcell Telecommunications Inc. signed a handful of new roaming agreements with European operators, and announced its Fido personal communications services network will be active in Toronto starting next week.Microcell Connexions Inc., the network subsidiary of Microcell Telecommunications, signed roaming agreements with Global System for...
ACC Corp., through its wholly owned subsidiary ACC TelEnterprises Ltd., signed an agreement with Paging Network of Canada Inc., a paging company affiliated with PageNet in the United States, to resell PageNet services under the ACC brand name. The paging services will be bundled...
Polska Telefonica Cyfrowa of Poland started its "Era GSM" Global System for Mobile communications service, offered at rates lower than those of existing operator Centertel, announced U S West Media Group.Elektrim SA is lead partner in PTC, while U S West holds a 22.5...
U.S. partners in a Slovakian phone venture are confident they can restructure their company to meet new license qualifications unexpectedly created by the Slovakian government.Slovakia is scheduled to issue two new Global System for Mobile communications licenses Aug. 27. One license was promised six...
Eastern European countries and those of the former Soviet republics launched cellular services in the early 1990s using the Nordic Mobile Telephone-450 standard, an analog technology developed to operate at 450 MHz. Most nations initially selected NMT- 450 instead of Global System for Mobile...
A German-Italian consortium won the outstanding 49 percent stake in the Czech Republic's second cellular operator, beating out strong contender California-based AirTouch Communications Inc.Deutsche Telekom's cellular arm, DeTeMobil, will hold 84.5 percent of the 49 percent stake; STET International will own 12 percent; two...
A total of 36 companies have declared interest in bidding for 49 percent of a wireless license offered by the Czech Republic, confirming the economic ministry's belief that participation would be high in the market.Bidders include Southwestern Bell Corp., Deutsche Telekom AG, France Telecom...
The Czech Economics Ministry is firming its plans to issue a tender for companies interested in becoming partners in one of two groups that will hold licenses to operate Global System for Mobile communications cellular networks in the Czech Republic.The U.S. Embassy in Prague...
