AustraliaTelecom New Zealand acquired an 80-percent stake in AAPT, Australia's third-largest phone company. AAPT is building LMDS and CDMA networks and resells GSM service.News Corp. said it agreed to invest a further US$127.2 million in One.Tel, increasing its stake to about 25 percent. News...
NEW YORK-Wholly owned subsidiaries of VoiceStream Wireless Corp. and Omnipoint Corp., whose merger is expected to close by spring, have secured a $3 billion bank loan, Standard & Poor's Corp. said last week.VoiceStream also is in the process of acquiring Aerial Communications Inc. The...
NEW YORK-NTT Mobile Communications Network Inc., Japan's largest mobile carrier, said Dec. 2 it plans to buy a 19-percent interest in Hutchison Telephone Co. Ltd., Hong Kong's biggest wireless provider, for $410 million.Under terms of the agreement, reached with Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., which is...
TEL AVIV, Israel-Just as the cellular fight in Israel intensified with the latest marketing campaigns, the Ministry of Communications announced it may license a fourth and maybe a fifth provider by the end of next year.Deputy Prime Minister and Communications Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer recently...
During the last five weeks, merger and acquisition announcements have flooded the telecommunications arena. Carriers in Asia, Europe and North America continue to jockey for positions in an industry that promises to exclude players without multinational footprints.Telia/TelenorThe merger of Telia of Sweden and Telenor...
VoiceStream Wireless Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Stanton said the carrier is likely to complete its mergers with Omnipoint Corp. and Aerial Communications Inc. in the first quarter as the companies wait for government approvals.Three parties have lodged protests with the Federal...
Mannesmann AG, parent of Germany's top mobile communications company, confirmed last week it made a bid to buy U.K. mobile carrier Orange plc, which Orange's largest shareholder accepted.The bid values Orange, the United Kingdom's third-largest mobile operator, at about $32 billion.Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa,...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission and Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) were thwarted last week in their attempts to attach language to the FCC spending bill that would allow the government to take back licenses from bankrupt operators.The conference committee charged with melding together the House...
NEW ORLEANS-GTE Telecommunication Services Inc., Tampa, Fla., announced at PCS '99 it has developed a universal roaming services agreement to help wireless carriers simplify and expedite their launch of international roaming.GTE TSI said its offering is unique in that it "guarantees payment to serving...
BANGALORE, India-Paging operators in India are optimistic. Optimistic they have always been. However, having burnt their fingers once, this time around they are not expected to make wrong predictions, especially in terms of subscriber growth.The Indian paging industry plunged into a deep crisis last...
HONG KONG-The CDMA Development Group announced it expanded automatic roaming services throughout Asia.Code Division Multiple Access operators Hutchison Telecom in Hong Kong, Japan's DDI Corp. and IDO and Shinsegi Telecomm in South Korea have signed agreements to provide comprehensive automatic roaming service for subscribers...
MELBOURNE, Australia-New mobile operator Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) unveiled plans to release next year a CDMA mobile phone that charges users for calls made within a "local zone," usually bounded by the home, at the flat-rate cost of a local call (about 20 Australian cents)....
AustraliaThe Australian government will auction a further 30 megahertz of paired spectrum in the 1.8 GHz band early next year. The auction, which will be conducted by the Australian Communications Authority (ACA), is expected to reap up to $200 million (US$130 million). The government...
WASHINGTON-The wireless industry scored on public safety, liability protection, federal-land antenna siting and sales commissions in Congress last week, while fending off a Pentagon assault on federal spectrum management and a pro-state challenge to federal numbering policy.Wireless gains on Capitol Hill came after a...
WASHINGTON-The Securities and Exchange Commission is continuing its investigation of alleged insider trading of Omnipoint Corp. stock prior to the announcement that VoiceStream Wireless Corp. is buying Omnipoint.On July 26, the ongoing investigation resulted in a Hong Kong investor, Samson Hui, agreeing to pay...
NEW YORK-In a move apparently intended to get ahead of the crowd, Hutchison Telecommunications Australia Ltd., Sydney, announced July 12 it plans to sell 29.5 percent of the company in a $215 million initial public offering next month.The Australian branch of Hong Kong-based Hutchison...
MELBOURNE, Australia-In a bid to revive Australia's flagging paging market, Hutchison Telecom has launched a new data broadcasting network using the VHF band and Motorola's FLEX protocol.The new system will be used to broadcast a range of information services, including financial exchange data and...
AUSTRALIATelstra will extend its CDMA network in Australia to include country locations currently covered by its GSM network but lacking in analog coverage, said the company.Hutchison Telecoms in Australia announced it will adopt the brand name Orange, the global communications brand of the Hutchison...
VoiceStream Wireless is becoming the catalyst for GSM carrier consolidation in the United States. VoiceStream and Omnipoint Communications in June announced plans to merge in a deal valued at US$1.7 billion, ending Omnipoint's search for a strategic partner that dragged on for more than...
HONG KONG-China United Telecommunications Corp.'s plan to deploy Code Division Multiple Access technology ensures its survival into the next generation and creates momentum for cdmaOne technology throughout the Asia-Pacific region, cdmaOne proponents indicated at the CDMA Development Group's fourth annual CDMA World Congress in...
NEW YORK-Moody's Investors Service, London, assigned a speculative grade rating of Ba3 to Orange plc's planned private placement of $562 million in 10-year senior notes."The Ba3 rating factors in the risks associated with Orange's funding of its capital ... requirements to provide sufficient capacity...
EricssonBrazil. With Tele Norte Celular for upgrade and new TDMA.Value: US$50 millionChile. With Entel PCS for GSM 1900 equipment.Value: UndisclosedChina. With Liaoning Post & Telecommunications Administration for its GSM network.Value: US$150 millionCroatia. With VIP-Net to supply base station subsystems for its new GSM network.Value: UndisclosedUkraine. With Digital Cellular...
