WARSAW, Poland-The Minister of the Polish State Treasury closed an agreement with a France Telecom consortium to sell a 35-percent stake in Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. for $4.23 billion.According to the agreement, France Telecom's Cogecom subsidiary will take 25 percent of TPSA's shares, and Kulczyk...
FRANKFURT, Germany-Deutsche Telekom said it signed an agreement to sell its 24.5-percent stake in Wind, its joint venture in Italy. Enel and France Telecom will purchase the stake for about $2.5 billion.After the transaction, Enel's stake in Wind will increase to 56.6 percent from...
Let the bidding frenzy begin. Possibilities are blowing open now that Sprint Corp. and WorldCom Inc. ended their $115 billion merger plans and reports of suitors for VoiceStream Wireless Corp. circulated last week.Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG and a partnership of Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo...
WASHINGTON-Wireless telecom trade advanced on two major fronts last week, as the United States and Vietnam struck a sweeping trade agreement and the Senate signaled it was prepared to vote on the historic China trade bill before Congress recesses for the month of August.China...
The Netherlands opened its auction for five third-generation Universal Mobile Telecommunications Services mobile-phone licenses Thursday, and immediately two of the eight bidding companies bowed out. Hutchison 3G Netherlands and Nogenta Swedish Acquisitions withdrew from the auction just as it was getting under way. The...
WASHINGTON-An uncertain wireless industry realignment could be in store as a result of Justice Department's rejection last week of the WorldCom Inc.-Sprint Corp. merger and new legislation forbidding foreign government ownership of U.S. telecommunications firms."Instead of two wireless players for international buyers, you now...
PARIS-To prepare for rollout of third-generation wireless systems, France Telecom reported plans to test wireless services offering integrated high-speed voice, data and animated images based on the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System standard.The trials, to be conducted by France Telecom R&D, are set to begin...
DUBLIN, Ireland-The massive sums being invested in third-generation (3G) licenses, network development and acquisitions have placed the major European operators firmly under the financial spotlight. While observers agree there is no significant cause for concern yet, it is also clear operators are being forced...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-Cuba's government decreed that the new millennium begins on 1 January, 2001, and to mark the event, grand celebrations are being prepared. In tone with the decision, the country's cellular telephony company, Cubacel, is migrating its analog AMPS network to a digital...
Europe is embarking on a third-generation license auction frenzy the rest of this year, and operators are not happy about it.Since the United Kingdom raked in a whopping $35 billion earlier this year, other countries are moving away from the traditional method of granting...
HOUSTON-Crown Castle International Corp. said France Telecom agreed to sell approximately 24.9 million shares of Crown Castle common stock through Salomon Smith Barney Inc. and Goldman, Sachs & Co. in an underwritten public offering for $693.1 million. The sale was scheduled for Thursday.When the...
As the wireless Internet evolution develops, government should resist the temptation to bury the industry in regulations and instead, let competition for customers shape the market.In France, customer ownership issues are under scrutiny. A Paris trade court recently ruled that France Telecom must stop...
NEW YORK-In a move that, ironically, furthers consolidation in Europe's deregulated telecommunications market, France Telecom said May 30 it would buy Orange plc from Vodafone AirTouch plc for $38 billion plus the assumption of $2.7 billion in outstanding Orange debt.The acquisition gives the French...
FRANKFURT, Germany-The German telecommunication regulator approved 11 bidders to participate in its Universal Mobile Telecommunications System auction, set to begin in July. The regulator excluded only one company from bidding in the auction.Germany plans to sell 12 frequencies of radio spectrum, which could yield...
LONDON-France Telecom is expected to make a $45 billion cash and stock bid for Orange plc early next week, according to international press reports. The French telecom company is reported to have secured a $29.7 billion bank loan to acquire the United Kingdom's third-largest...
PARIS-France Telecom entered a framework agreement with Deutsche Telekom and Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau that will reverse the cross shareholding agreement between the two European telecom companies.The agreement calls for France Telecom to sell its 1.8-percent holding in Deutsche Telekom to KfW between Dec. 15...
LONDON-NTL Inc. reported the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in England approved France Telecom S.A.'s investment in NTL without a reference to the Competition Commission.NTL noted that all necessary conditions to the Cable & Wireless Communications plc scheme of arrangement that form...
CAIRO, Egypt-Orascom Telecom (OT), which owns stakes in Egypt's largest mobile provider, agreed to buy 80 percent of Telecel International, a pan-African telecommunications company that holds 12 GSM licenses in Sub-Saharan Africa. The deal is worth US$213 million.OT already owns a GSM license in...
BUCHAREST, Romania-The Moldova republic, a former Romanian region, is a small country with a population of 4.3 million and a small economy. The mobile market is not currently dynamic, reflecting the general situation of the country. Licensing problems are affecting growth potential for several...
FinlandPriority Wireless, a unit of United Pan-Europe Communications, said it won a license to implement a wireless local loop system in Finland. The 26 GHz license covers the nine most populous areas of Finland, including Helsinki. Priority Wireless plans to begin rolling out the...
Bidders in the U.K. third-generation license auction appeared to exceed their budgets last week. Bidding for the five licenses totaled an eye-popping $35 billion, and the auction will linger on into this week.The auction seems eerily reminiscent of the U.S. personal communications services C-block...
PARIS-France Telecom announced several wireless data initiatives, including General Packet Radio Service and Wireless Application Protocol-based services.The carrier announced the first phase of GPRS service will be rolled out in the greater Lille area in northern France on its Itineris network, as well as...
LONDON-The European Union Commission notified Vodafone AirTouch plc last week it received Phase 1 clearance for its acquisition of Mannesmann AG, moving the companies one step closer to creating a European telecom giant with more than 54 million customers in 25 countries."After what has...
ANKARA, Turkey-Italy's Telecom Italia SpA and a leading Turkish bank, Turkiye Is Bankasi AS, won a license to operate Turkey's third mobile telephone network with a bid of more than $2.5 billion.Turkey's current 7 million wireless customers are split between Turkcell, a partnership between...
