Telephone and Data Systems Inc. elected George W. Off to its board of directors. He replaces Robert J. Collins who retired Jan. 7. Off will become chairman of the company's stock option compensation committee and its audit committee. Off is president, chief executive officer...
Several low-earth-orbit satellite systems will have initial launches this year, marking the beginning of services that a Washington, D.C., consulting firm says "will fill the gaps other wireless systems don't cover."Big LEOs and medium earth orbit systems will not only be viable but will...
NEW YORK-Globalstar Telecommunications Ltd. plans additional financing to help build and launch 56 low-earth-orbit satellites for digital wireless voice and data service covering most of the world by mid-to-late 1998.Headquartered in New York, Globalstar is a limited partnership led by Loral Space & Communications...
SAN FRANCISCO-Canadian Satellite Communications Inc., AirTouch Satellite Services and Loral Space & Communications formed a joint venture to provide fixed and mobile wireless services throughout Canada using the Globalstar L.P. communications system. Canadian Satellite will own the majority interest in Globalstar Canada if approved...
Globalstar L.P. said it plans to sell $250 million of senior notes due 2004 and warrants to purchase common stock of Globalstar Telecommunications Ltd. in a private offering. The company said it will use the proceeds to develop, construct and deploy a worldwide low-earth-orbit...
Metawave Communications Corp. appointed Kathryn Surace-Smith general counsel for the company. She will provide legal support for Metawave's business development activities including customer contracts, licensing agreements, strategic partnerships and financial, operational and corporate matters. Previously, Surace-Smith was international counsel for Alcatel Telecom.Glenayre Technologies Inc....
Editor's Note: No other debate has ignited the wireless telecommunications industry like the one that rages between TDMA and CDMA technology. For several years, the greatest argument against CDMA technology was that it was not commercially available. That changed in 1996 as both cellular and...
AirTouch Communications Inc. signed a memorandum of understanding with PT Intidaya Sistelindomitra to offer wireless services in Indonesia using the Globalstar satellite-based communications system. The companies will pursue a license and establish operations to sell Globalstar service in Indonesia. AirTouch said it plans to...
Motorola Inc.'s Messaging Systems Products Group licensed its FLEX technology to paging infrastructure manufacturers EcoSoft GTCO and Tecnomen Oy. EcoSoft said it will use the technology to make inexpensive paging terminal equipment for Russian and Commonwealth of Independent States markets. Tecnomen Oy plans to...
MONTREAL-Low-earth-orbit mobile satellite operators Globalstar L.P., Iridium L.L.C. and Odyssey Telecommunications International Inc. said they will cooperate in efforts to secure global authorization for radio frequency spectrum to be used by their services.The companies said they agreed to a frequency-use plan, premised on the...
Olivetti SpA is seeking to sell part of its stake in Omnitel Pronto Italia, Italy's privately owned Global System for Mobile communications cellular carrier that is experiencing rapid subscriber growth rates.Omnitel Pronto Italia said Olivetti has been negotiating with Mannesmann AG of Germany to...
Italy plans to issue a tender for a third mobile phone operator this fall, announced the government, which recently passed a bill establishing the guidelines for the tender.A license is expected to be issued by the end of the year to a company or...
The European Commission has invited comment on the Iridium satellite system and its impact on European mobile communications, although the EC has said it "intends to take a favorable view" of the Motorola Inc. project.The European Union is considering the future role of satellite...
IRVINE, Calif.-AirTouch Cellular of Los Angeles introduced a standard roaming rate of 79 cents per minute for calls made in California but outside a customer's home-rate calling area.Roaming rates were previously based on the user's location and included daily access charges that varied by...
The abundance of new wireless licenses in Indonesia could have as much to do with politics as market opportunity, said a Pennsylvania State University college professor who specializes in international telecommunications."Many of the ruling elite have recognized the value of wireless communications and want...
NEW DELHI, India-Crompton Greaves Ltd. and Pertech Computers Ltd. of India, and the Korean consortium of Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. Ltd., Dacom Corp. and Hyundai Corp., have formed a joint venture company that will provide Globalstar satellite-based telephony service in India.Crompton Greaves and PCL...
BRUSSELS, Belgium-A move by the European Commission to regulate satellite communications systems has been thwarted by the Telecommunications Council of the European Union.The commission drafted a proposal last fall saying that licensing decisions elsewhere in the world-namely, the United States-would establish satellite phone operations...
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan-Hasan Associates Ltd., a Pakistani telecommunications company, and Hyundai/Dacom, a consortium in Korea formed between Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. Ltd., Dacom Corp. and Hyundai Corp., have formed a new company called Pak Globalstar Ltd., Globalstar L.P. announced.The new company will offer Globalstar worldwide...
WASHINGTON-Where mobile satellite service policymaking is concerned, federal regulators are not promoting the friendly skies. Far from it.Competition is the name of the game at the Federal Communications Commission. The heavenly stage is being set for wireless Star Wars-close encounters of the unfriendly kind...
A galaxy of new wireless services may soon beam down on the telephony-poor regions of the world.Mobile satellite systems-just like terrestrial-based wireless networks-are evolving from serving specialized markets to providing consumer pocket telephony as well as plain old telephone service. Right now, many of...
L.M. Ericsson announced its subsidiary, Ericsson Australia Pty. Ltd., has signed a contract to install a switching system for 4,000 mobile telephones in Rangoon, Burma's capital. Ericsson said it will also build four radio transmitting stations to expand the city's phone network. This is...
Now that the flap over Lockheed Martin's acquisition of Loral's defense electronics and system integration divisions earlier this month has died down, strategists at Loral Space & Communications-which owns a 31 percent stake in low-earth-orbit satellite licensee Globalstar L.P.-have had a chance to assess...
BETHESDA, Md. - Lockheed Martin corp. and Loral Corp. announced an agreement on a series of interrelated strategic transactions with an estimated value exceeding $10 billion.Under the agreement, Lockheed Martin will acquire Loral's defense electroincs and system integration business for about $9.1 billion. Of...
Globalstar L.P. of San Jose, Calif., said it has completed a five-year, $250 million bank financing. The company said that with the bank facility, its remaining external financing requirements are about $600 million for the $2 billion Globalstar project. Globalstar will offer digital global...
