United KingdomBritish Telecommunications plc said it will buy Control Data Systems Inc., a software company based in Arden Hills, Minn., for $340 million. The purchase will expand British Telecom's service offering. Control Data makes software that links programs from various suppliers, letting companies file...
The U.S. Department of Justice cleared the planned global venture between AT&T Corp. and British Telecommunications plc, said AT&T. In July 1998, AT&T and BT announced their intentions to form a global venture to serve the communications needs of multinational business customers and carriers....
The government of Kazakhstan's temporary ban on Russian rocket launches from the Baikonur cosmodrome has mobile satellite service providers with upcoming launch dates there watching the situation carefully.The ban was initiated after a Russian-made Proton K booster rocket carrying a Russian military satellite exploded...
NEW YORK-"The best news I will present today is that, for the first time in more than a year, there is significant interest by institutional investors" in private equity investments in satellite companies, said Hoyt Davidson, managing director of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission currently is considering how much mobile satellite service operators will have to pay to relocate incumbents in the 2 GHz band.MSS operators, particularly ICO Global Communications Services Inc., would like to offer services using the 2 GHz band. The problem...
When it became the first satellite-based global voice operator to launch commercial service last year, Iridium L.L.C. predicted its success would serve as the example other such carriers would need to follow.Not yet a year later, the company's dangerously low subscriber additions have resulted...
Orbcomm Global, a low-earth-orbit satellite provider specializing in data communications, signed an agreement with European Datacomm Holding to deliver Orbcomm satellite communications services to 60 countries and territories in and around sub-Saharan Africa, said Orbcomm. Belgium-based EDC will begin operations out of Johannesburg, South...
WOODBURY, N.Y.-Comverse Network Systems said it will supply enhanced messaging systems for ICO Global Communications, a low-earth-orbit satellite-based communications carrier.According to the agreement, Comverse will provide platforms enabling advanced messaging services like voice mail, fax mail, short text messaging and unified messaging. Comverse said...
UNITED KINGDOMICO Global Communications Ltd. said it has commenced a rights offering that will permit shareholders to purchase up to approximately 207.6 million ordinary shares of ICO at $5 per share. Shareholders of record on June 3 will be granted one nontransferable right for...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission has proposed rules to implement mobile satellite service in the 2 GHz band.The notice of proposed rule making reviews service rules and seeks comments on 2 GHz MSS issues, including whether MSS operators should be required to deploy enhanced 911...
The RCR research and editorial staffs have compiled this list of mobile satellite carriers based on interviews with industry contacts. The list is arranged alphabetically because most companies are not yet offering service and therefore cannot be ranked by subscriber numbers.Many of the companies...
JapanTu-Ka Phone Kansai Inc., based in Osaka, Japan, said it selected Brite Voice Systems and Marubeni, a large Japanese trading company, to launch an intelligent network-based version of BriteDebit, Brite's prepaid service. Brite said it will help Tu-Ka Phone Kansai with all aspects of...
After the embarrassing $1 license sales in the Wireless Communication Service auction two years ago and the C-block personal communications services bankruptcies, some began to question whether spectrum still had value.Others suggest the real question is whether spectrum management-which seems to have been abandoned...
BETHESDA, Md.-Comsat Corp. announced it reached an agreement with ICO Global Communications Ltd., settling a standing dispute between the companies.Comsat originally was contracted to build and operate ICO's satellite access node in the United States. Under the agreement, Comsat said it will be paid...
LONDON-The Middle East wireless sector continues to show positive signs, with several major contracts awarded and plenty of healthy GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) activity over the past year. In addition, carriers have begun to sign on with new mobile satellite services (MSS)...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-Iridium L.L.C. launched its global mobile satellite service last November, and demand for the service reportedly is high, but so far largely unfulfilled. Shortage of handsets is being cited as the main culprit.Such a situation is not uncommon in the early days...
With the Nov. 1 commercial activation of Iridium L.L.C.'s satellite-based global mobile phone network, the mobile satellite services industry proved it is technologically possible to extend cellular communications to virtually any point on the planet.With this validation behind it, the industry faces another, equally...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission this week will vote to consider lifting the 45 megahertz spectrum cap, revamping relocation rules for 2 GHz mobile satellite operators and auctioning spectrum mandated by Congress-three controversial issues with broad implications for future terrestrial and space-based wireless systems that...
ALEXANDRIA, Va.-ICO Global Communications announced an agreement with American Management Systems in which the latter will provide ICO a fully automated billing service to reduce activation time.The system will be extended to ICO's planned Global Roam service, which allows Global System for Mobile communications...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Uganda has one of the lowest penetration rates of telephone services in the world. As of July 1995, the Uganda Posts & Telecommunication Corp. (UPTC) had an installed capacity of just under 70,000 lines and approximately 42,000 subscribers. The result is a...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Iridium, the first GMPCS (Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite) system is set to become commercial worldwide on 23 September, but will not have a signal over South Africa."If we do not receive a license to operate ground facilities and services by...
NEW YORK-The Federal Communications Commission could propose by early next year rules governing eligibility for applicants seeking access to the part of the 2 GHz spectrum allocated for mobile satellite systems in this country.The commission set a late-August deadline for comments on a petition...
NEW YORK-After significantly reducing the size and price of its offering, ICO Global Communications Ltd., London, went public July 31, selling 10 million common stock shares at $12 each.Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp., New York, lead managed the initial public offering, which had...
Stet Hallas Telecommunications S.A., Greece, went public 3 June through an equity offering by a holding company. Stet Hallas is 20-percent owned by Bell Atlantic Corp. of the United States.Telecom Finland officially has changed its name to Sonera.Telstra of Australia announced it will take...
