NEW YORK-"We are our own unit, and we do not think our way of running the business will be affected by the merger," Massimo Arciulo, director of strategic and financial analysis for Telecom Italia Mobile, said last week of his company's merger plans.Germany's Deutsche...
CARROLLTON, Texas-CellStar Corp. announced it is consolidating its Latin America and North America regions into a new Americas region in an effort to increase growth in the U.S. market and to eliminate nonessential operating costs. The company also centralized the management of its Asia-Pacific...
AT&T Wireless Services Inc. announced record revenue growth in the first quarter, adding 378,000 customers and surpassing 10 million total customers.AT&T Corp. said it was raising its revenue growth target for the wireless division to more than 20 percent for 1999. While revenue increased...
SnapTrack Inc. last week announced a strategic partnership with Motorola Inc. under which it will license its personal location system to Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector.Motorola will use SnapTrack's technology through a royalty-bearing license agreement to offer personal location services as a part of its...
Sirius CommunicationsSirius Communications NV introduced the DataSat Code Division Multiple Access development system. It offers an alternative to today's very small aperture terminal systems. It works with all existing satellite bands, and TV satellite receiver antennas may be used to receive the signals. The...
INDIANAPOLIS-Brightpoint Inc. announced it entered into an agreement with AirTouch Cellular under which Brightpoint will provide warehousing and distribution services, fulfillment, repair and refurbishment and returns processing services for AirTouch Cellular's wireless handsets and accessories. The three-year agreement covers all of AirTouch Cellular's domestic...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission could make a decision on the strongest-signal debate as early as this month at the public meeting, said senior FCC officials last week.While the details of the decision are still uncertain, it seems the cellular industry's efforts to convince the...
HOUSTON-Seven Seas Communications announced it will unveil a new line of satellite communications products at the Offshore Technology Conference this week, which will include products from Iridium L.L.C., Inmarsat and American Mobile Satellite Corp.'s Oceancell venture.Devices include Iridium handsets made by Motorola Inc. and...
MIAMI-The market opportunity for international roaming is clear, present and growing, but domestic carriers so far have been focused on tapping the large and more immediate potential posed by burgeoning data traffic at home."Many of the U.S. carriers I follow have not spent a...
TOKYO-The PHS Memorandum of Understanding Group announced personal handyphone system data traffic in Japan continues to grow exponentially, with PHS providers such as DDI Pocket reporting a 2,700-percent growth rate since April 1997.Sales of handsets supporting "1,000 character messaging" have been sold out for...
NEW YORK-Amid good news about resurging American investments in Latin American mutual funds and the gradual rebound of Brazil's economy, Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette International announced it has started covering the region's wireless telecommunications carriers."In order to initiate coverage on the Latin American cellular...
Iridium L.L.C.'s first full quarter of operation was marked with handset production delays, distribution problems, low subscriber numbers and a deepening net loss, the aftermath of which has led the company to re-evaluate its strategic focus and upper management team.Since launching in November, Iridium...
MONTREAL, Canada-Montreal-based Telesystem International Wireless, through its London-based wholly owned subsidiary Dolpin Telecom, and Motorola have established a strategic relationship for deploying TETRA in Europe.The alliance includes infrastructure and handset business agreements valued at more than US$400 million, in part, for deploying a network...
Press reporters on both sides of the Kosovo conflict have been castigated for not toeing the party line. In times of conflict, reporting the facts can be an unwelcome stance. During times of war, the press corps is fed an unremitting diet of half-truths...
BANGALORE, India-Although cellular operators in India fear revenue losses of as much as 25 percent due to a sharp increase in the monthly rental, or service charge, from US$3.90 to US$15, many in the industry hope the new tariff structure will expand cellular usage...
If there is any hope second-generation CDMA technology will penetrate Europe, it may be through some struggling NMT 450 operators.The NMT MoU group, consisting of NMT 450 operators from Europe and Asia, wants members to vote at its October meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia,...
SAO PAULO, Brazil-Samsung in mid-March opened its first manufacturing operations for cellular handsets outside of South Korea. The company began manufacturing a CDMA handset for the Brazil market in Manaus, in the northern state of Amazonas, where Samsung has manufactured other consumer products such...
HONG KONG-Mobile number portability (MNP) has been in effect in Hong Kong since 1 March, but there is no sign yet of a switching spree among cellular customers in the territory.Offers of free handsets, free airtime, cash rewards and free services for a couple...
Nortele-mobility servicesNortel Networks introduced a portfolio of subscriber services, called e-mobility services, that provide rapid, flexible deployment of leading-edge voice and data capabilities optimized for the Internet Protocol environment. The services include Wireless Prepaid, Group Conferencing, Smart Mobile Access, Wireless Voice-Activated Dialing, Mobile Messaging...
DENVER, United States-May marks the first anniversary of the introduction of AT&T Wireless Services' Digital One Rate plan, which has dramatically changed the face of the U.S. wireless industry.In an effort to leverage its national presence and win lucrative high-use and business customers, AT&T...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-The trunked radio industry in South Africa is about to experience a revolutionary change with the introduction of new technologies and standards. An entirely new market is being unlocked, and old markets are about to be reshuffled to allow for a more...
DUBLIN, Ireland-Many in the trunked radio industry view the rollout of mobile data services as the development that will drive their industry into the next millennium following the adoption last year of TETRA as the standard for next-generation trunked radio systems in Europe.However, it...
Capping a string of negative developments leading up to its first-quarter earnings report that showed a net loss of US$505 million, Iridium announced Edward Staiano-the company's vice chairman, chief executive officer and most voracious supporter and motivator-resigned. Reports are that Staiano and Iridium's board...
As a resident of the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area since 1986, I have had the privilege of seeing some pretty cool events, with the requisite rich and famous. Not to mention powerful.I have always considered it a perk of living here to see famous...
